Chapter 15

Cara

After a while, my pregnancy symptoms finally improved.

Alaric let me return to the office as a Beta. My reward for being such an invaluable asset to the pack was to not only resume all of my usual Beta work but also planning Alaric’s wedding.

One day, Alaric and I were reviewing details of some pack business when I saw a list of names on top of a stack of resumes.

“What’s this?” I asked the Alpha King curiously.

Alaric raised an eyebrow before looking down at the papers. “Oh, that.” He sighed. “That was a failed attempt to replace you. Fortunately for all of us, that’s no longer necessary.”

I smiled politely. I had been doing my best to hide my true plans from Alaric.

He couldn’t know that I was planning to leave the pack after all and start a new life. If he found out, I’m certain he would do anything he could to stop me.

So I played my part. I bought ridiculously expensive jewelry for Lilia. I ordered food for her from the fanciest restaurants. I obeyed Alaric’s every command.

I was the best Beta, a perfect Beta. Or so they thought.

As a result, Alaric was increasingly kind and gentle towards me.

“And how is my bodacious, bold, and beautiful best Beta?” Alaric asks me flirtatiously one morning. We’ve started playing this silly alliteration game when we’re alone.

“Amazing, my audacious and alert Alpha!” I reply.

“’Audacious and alert’? That’s the best you could do?” His cold face broke into a smile.

“Hey! ‘A’ is a lot harder than ‘B’!” I chuckle back to him.

Things were better between us than they had been for the past three years.

I wish I could be the same about everyone in the office.

George hated me as much as ever. He chose to express his feelings in the most frustrating ways.

One morning I was running particularly late to pick up wedding tablecloths, and I called George to ask if he would kindly pull up the address for me.

Surprisingly, he quickly gave me the location. I thanked him for being so helpful.

The address he gave me was for a fish market an hour in the opposite direction. In an area with no phone service.

Three hours later, I finally arrive to pick up the tablecloths. The worker was shocked to see me.

“You’re here? The Gamma called earlier and said you’d called off sick.” He leaned in closer and whispered in my ear, “He actually said you were out late last night trying to seduce the Alpha King and were too the morning…”

I swallowed my rage and plastered a calm smile on my face, thanking the worker for patiently waiting for me. And for being so honest about what George had said.

“I’d never believe anything like that about you, Cara. I’ve worked with you for too long to listen to those lies,” the worker told me on my way out the door.

When I get back to the office, I don’t have to wonder for long about what other lies George has told about me. I can overhear George gossiping with one of the secretaries.

“It’s a shame not all of us around here can simply sleep with the Alpha King to get promoted.” He chuckles to himself, not realizing that the secretary is laser-focused on her computer screen, clearly trying to exit the conversation.

“Well, what can you expect from those low-borns though? And an orphan to boot, honestly!” He picks up a paper, “And look! She didn’t even get the free kitchen’s phone number correct on this pamphlet! You see, this is why commoners should never be Betas!”

“Hello, George!” I smile brightly as I march confidently into the office, determined not to let George get the better of me. “Hello, Trina!” I smile at the secretary and ask how her daughter is.

The secretary smiles back happily and tells me her daughter’s dentist appointment had gone well, and she thanks me for remembering such a tiny detail.

“Sometimes the details can be the most important things,” I reply. “And George, speaking of details,” I turn to him, my face getting more serious. “Please take note of the new phone number for the free kitchen.”

George pales, realizing that I might have overheard his criticism of my work.

“The phone service had to be reinstalled, and a new number was necessary. Funny, the phone company said they left you several messages, but never heard back? Don’t worry, I handled it for you.” I smile triumphantly at him as his face turns to a glower.

George clears his throat and mumbles an excuse that I don’t care to hear anyway.

Just then, Alaric walks in and asks to know what we were discussing.

“Hello Alpha King. I was just explaining to George why we had to reprint all of the free kitchen pamphlets.” I say simply.

“The phone number mishap, right?” Alaric asks immediately.

I smile at him, “That’s the one.” At least someone around here is paying attention.

“Low-born bitch,” George growls softly.

Not softly enough, though, because it’s met with a much deeper, much more menacing growl from Alaric.

“What did you say?” Alaric asks slowly, his voice a deadly calm.

“I-I… I didn’t say anything, Alpha King, sir. I… umm… I was talking to myself.” George begins to visibly shake in fear.

Alaric steps closer, so close he’s only an inch away from George’s nose. Alaric is much taller than the Gamma, so much so that George would have to tilt his head just to look Alaric in the eye.

Not that George would dare.

“Just say it, you coward. Out with it. NOW!” Alaric commands him, daring the Gamma to disobay the direct order.

George seems to consider this for a moment. His cheeks redden and a wild look develops in his eyes. The Gamma seems to decide that he can bear it no longer; it’s time to say how he really feels.

“FINE! She’s a low-born bitch who NEVER should have gotten this job!” George yells at Alaric.

In my time working for the pack, I have never even heard of a Gamma, or any wolf for that matter, talking to the Alpha King this way. We all hold our breath, waiting for Alaric to respond.

Alaric sighs, but it’s oddly calm. “I had higher hopes for you, George.”

He picks a speck of dust off of George’s shoulder, before clapping his large arms around George’s shoulders.

George looks like he might wet his pants.

“There’s no place for that classist attitude in Pack DarkWood.” Alaric wraps a hand around George’s throat. “I will not tolerate anyone, noble or otherwise, talking down to my staff.”

I watch George try to gulp, but Alaric’s grip is too firm. George’s face is turning redder and redder by the minute.

“EVERY member of this office has been handpicked for their professional abilities. If you can’t,” Alaric grips George’s throat harder, “Or WON’T see that, then it’s time for you to go.”

A small drop of blood flows from the skin on George’s throat, Alaric’s nails pushing too deep.

“George Benson, you are hereby and forevermore EXPELLED from Pack DarkWood.” Alaric announced ominously. He releases George with a hard thrust.

“But- but you CAN’T! It’s all HER fault! She’s trying to frame me!!” George pleaded. He was shrieking.

“That’s ENOUGH!” Alaric yelled, loudly enough that all of us present jumped. “For that, you’ll live out the rest of your days as a packless rogue. I will personally call the neighboring packs and urge them not to let you join.”

Oh shit. To be packless, to be a rogue, was for most werewolves a fate worse than death. Our kind needs to be in groups.

The elders say sometimes it takes as little as a few days for a rogue to lose his mind entirely.

George had to be escorted out of the building by security. Alaric assured me he’d do everything in his power to keep George and his noble family far away from me.

Later that evening, Alaric again tried to proposition me for sex. I again used my medical excuse to turn him down.

“It isn’t normal for this sickness to last this long. You’re going back to the hospital.” Alaric was firm, the earlier encounter with George putting him in a positively sour mood.

I didn’t try to argue.

While at the hospital, Alaric was pulled into another room to speak with a doctor. I saw my opportunity at last.

My chance at freedom. Finally, after waiting for weeks.

I have to try. I’ll never forgive myself if I don’t.

I burst out of the room and run as fast as I can.

The flash of my bright red hair must have caught Alaric’s eye because I only make it a few steps before Alaric is chasing me.

“CARA! STOP!” He grabs at my elbow, spinning me around.

The force of the motion was so great, I nearly crash to the ground. At the last second, a hand reaches out to catch me.

My body is still spinning, so the hand almost touches my breast, ends up supporting my stomach, trying to hold onto me.

I look up at my savior and see a stranger with dark red hair.

Alaric’s face is terribly angry.

“Who is this man?!” The Alpha King demands, not tearing his eyes away from the stranger.

A shimmer forms around Alaric’s features, subtle at first, then growing more and more prominent. If it’s even possible, he looks even more handsome now as the shimmer intensifies.

His eyes began to turn red. I could almost see his fangs.

That shimmer can mean only one thing!...

...The Alpha King is about to shift into wolf form.