Chapter 56 Awakening The Alpha Queen #2
I smile. “It does.” I look over the group. “Thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me.”
After the festivities, I take a stroll from the pack hall to my home.
Alpha Agnus’s house appears exactly as it did eight years ago.
With its rusty iron roof, the sagging porch, boarded-up lower floor windows and the chipped, nearly brown, white paint on the exterior walls.
Most of the homes I just passed by seem just as rundown.
I don’t know how much money is in the pack account or even if there are enough funds to accommodate all the new pack members, but I would like start by renovating their homes.
Heading to the office to review the business accounts and anything else I need to learn about my new pack.
I switch on the light, it flickers twice before it remains lit.
The large Mahogony desk in the center of the room is cluttered with piles of untouched documents.
The crumbling shelves that hold books are covered in dust and spider webs.
I let out a sigh. When I use to come here frequently, I would clean for her and ensure her home was tidy.
I haven’t been here for three years. It’s obvious no one else was available to handle the upkeep and cleaning.
I locate a trash can and start clearing up the desk.
Several hours later, pages and numbers blur. A knock at the door startles me. It slowly opens, and Sixes winces. “It’s seven am! Don’t tell me you were up all night working on pack business.”
I glance back down at the papers in front of me. “Then, I won’t.”
She wrinkles her nose. “Are you going over the financials?”
“Yeah. I honestly thought I was walking into a stable but moderately low financial situation. But…” She comes around the desk to peek at my numbers, which I transferred to a software program that Justin designed.
She whistles. “I did not see that coming.”
“Me, either.”
She cocks her head to the side and taps her thumb against her leg. I can see the wheels turning in her head. “Have you broken down the numbers—what you can use for housing, repairs, pack allowances, the school?” I click a button and show it to her. She laughs. “Damn.”
“What do you think?” I ask.
She puffs out a breath. “I think we should upgrade the place. There is more than enough money for it. I think the pack will appreciate it. Build new homes for the existing pack members with larger families, and fix the current ones for the new single members. Build a training facility for the guards. Maybe even upgrade the tea plantation, work on marketing. With that kind of money, the opportunities are endless.”
“I was thinking the same thing. I also have the entire seventh territory. We can expand into that area, even look at other business opportunities for the pack.”
She bobs her head, as if listening to a beat only she can hear.
“It’s like a blank canvas. I even put money aside for investments, and I…” I almost say I will talk to Justin to start a stock market portfolio, but then I remember I’m not supposed to talk to him anymore. “I also have my own money that I can use to expand into other business ventures, if I need.”
Sixes studies me. “Yeah. We can sit down and work on a plan. I think we should start with upgrading the place and finding you a mate.”
I don’t want to fight about the mate thing anymore so I hum in noncommittal agreement.
“Oh, shoot! I forgot. The reason I came in here was to let you know you have a guest. He’s waiting in the dining room.”
“He?”
“Yeah, so go get ready. Please wear something presentable.”
“Seriously? This is my home.”
She rolls her eyes. “Yes, but you are an Alpha now. You know what? Forget it. I’m going to lay out some clothes for you to wear. I planned to send your things down so they should arrive today.” She’s out the door before I can respond.
When I finally make my way to the dining room, freshly showered and dressed like an Alpha according to Sixes in a lavender long sleeved silk blouse and high waisted dark wash jeans complete with high heeled ankle boots.
Gary, my parents’ public relations guy, sits at the table.
He’s maybe my parents age, if I had to guess.
His dark blonde hair is slicked back with some greasy hair product.
He’s dressed in navy slacks, a light blue, short sleeved, collared button-down shirt, no jacket, the knot of his tie sits high against his throat.
I envision myself tightening his tie, and choking him with it until his eyes bulge out.
I had to get dressed up for him. Really? He frowns into his cup.
“Good morning, Gary. Is there something wrong with your coffee?”
He doesn’t even bother to look up at me and grumbles. “I’m just sitting here, wondering why I’m drinking coffee out of a teacup.”
I sigh and plop down in a chair opposite him. “I just got here, Gary. The previous Alpha didn’t drink coffee.”
“She could have at least had a cup for the coffee drinkers who stopped by.”
“Except she never offered it. Why are you here, Gary?”
“I’m here at the request of your parents. I was told to meet them here. I guess I arrived early. You should try it sometime.” Begrudgingly, he sips his coffee.
“Gary, if you continue to talk down to me like I’m some prepubescent, lazy-ass teenager, I will hand you a paper cup with your coffee in it and shove—”
“Sweetheart!” My mother’s voice rings through the dining room. “How was your first night in your territory?”
I narrow my eyes at Gary and stand to greet my mother. She draws me in for a hug. “Good. Everything has gone well. I didn’t expect to see you,” I admit.
She kisses my cheek. “Don’t worry about Luke.”
“Gary, you’re early as usual. Thank you for coming,” my father says as he walks in.
I glance behind him. There are no guards.
“I told them to take a break,” he explains. Then, he hugs me. “Plenty of guards to go around.”
“The paparazzi weren’t a problem?”
“No. I’m a recluse Alpha King—too boring for them to waste their time.”
Gary clears his throat. “I’m happy for this little reunion, but time is of the essence here. Thanks to the Princess revealing her alter ego ‘G’ and an anonymous source who spilled the “tea” regarding the Princess’s past, I now have to develop a media control plan.”
“Wait. You want me to do what?” I shout.
“Well, you agreed to move forward with finding a mate, so we thought this would be a suitable alternative,” my mother explains, sipping her tea.
“So, the three of you—four, if you include Gary—get to choose random men who I date, and I pick one and mate them before midnight on my birthday?”
“They’re not random men,” Anders counters.
“We know them and approve of them,” my father adds.
Gary shrugs. “You have had two proposals and shut both of them down so I think your parents’ alternative is good.”
“First of all, Gary, the betrothal contract is null and void, according to my lawyer, because, for one, there is no birth certificate of a Grit DuPont. Grit DuPont was never born or existed on the LS or anywhere else in the world. Two, they were dumb enough to fake a death certificate. So, in either case, Grit DuPont does not exist. I am not obligated to fulfill that contract. And Luke… that’s personal and none of your business. ”
“Sorry to burst your pink twinkling bubble, Princess. There is a shitshow of crap going on just outside the territory boundary. Your life is my business, especially if you need me to clean up what you started,” he sneers.
Fuck him. I’ll give him a pink princess bubble.
“You know what, Gary? Because you hate your job so much, why don’t we just save you some time and paste my crappy life on some reality TV show for a tell-all?
While we’re at it, just throw in the men I need to meet so the entire world can see just how incapable I am of choosing a mate for myself!
At least that way, you don’t have to lift a finger and do what you actually get paid for. ”
This time, Gary frowns and leans back in his chair. “Actually, that might work. I can make the arrangements.”
“No, Gary! I was being sarcastic, suggesting I want to get rid of your ass!”
He laughs, snapping his fingers and wagging his index finger at me. “I’ll be right back. Let me make some phone calls.” He leaps from his chair and exits the back door.
“You’re fired!” I yell after him, even though I’m pretty sure he can’t hear me.
My parents chuckle. “I know he has an attitude, Little One, but he’s really great at his job. Or I wouldn’t have kept him around as long as I have,” my father defends.
“Attitude? More like a personality disorder,” I scoff.
Gary returns shortly, crashing through the door with a bag hitched over his shoulder and a huge smile from ear to ear.
“What the hell is that?” I ask, gesturing to his satchel.
“You, Alpha Princess, are going to be the new star attraction on the popular reality TV dating show, A Game of Heart’s Desire!” he exclaims, clapping his hands together.
“The hell I am!” I shout, standing from my chair.
He laughs. “Oh, yes, you are. This was, after all, your suggestion.” He waggles his eyebrows. “And whether you like it or not, you and I will be spending quite a bit of time together. Filming starts in less than two weeks.”