Chapter 15
Chapter 15
83%
“You know I don’t like getting in your business, Vy, but you gotta shake this thing with Thorne. It’s not good for you. You proved that you were more than capable of being out on your own. You’re that bitch, sister. Come home. I need you,” Vince hugs me before getting in his car.
“I made lasagna yesterday. I packed some for you, Dad, and Matt. Just take the plastic lid off. Open up the foil for the garlic bread and stick it in the top oven for twenty minutes.”
“The electric one?” he asks as he reaches over to place it on the floor of his passenger seat.
“Yes,”
“Thank you. It’s my favorite,” he smirks. “Stop moping. You know you never told him because you knew it wasn’t going to work.”
28
“I never told him because I was afraid it would flame out, and I would have to crawl back home with my tail between my thighs to beg Dad to take me back,” I admit. “Or worse, he found out I was a wolf, and then I’d have to-”
“Crawl back. I got it,” he sighs. Wrong. I’d have to kill my boss and his family. “I know Dad was hard on us, Vy but he’s the fucking alpha. What did you expect? He lost his mate. It changed him.”
“It changed all of us, not just him. We were fourteen taking care of an infant and a toddler while standing in for Mom in the pack business. I couldn’t stay there with him, Vince. There were times I thought he was going to kill one of us.”
“I know,” he stands and hugs me. “But he’s a relic now, Violetta. The pack needs us. You know how it is here. Humans are getting bold. We all need to stick together.”
“I understand,” I nod. “I’m thinking about it, Vince. It’s not just Zander anymore.”
“Good,” he pats my head and gets in his car a second time. “Be safe. Let me know if you need me to send some of the juveniles over to help with the move.”
“I hired some already. That’s what I’m doing tomorrow.”
“Nice. I could have gotten them to do it for free,” he shrugs.
“Asshole. Get out of here,” I laugh and shut the door. He grins and starts the car. I move over to the elevator and wait for him to leave the building before I repeatedly tap the elevator button.
“You bitch,” Verona is holding my phone that’s plugged into the charger in my walk-in closet. “You’re fucking Alpha Barnes,”
“No,” I snatch it out of her hand. Pepper runs into the room with a massive grin on her face.
“Oh, shit she knows too,”
“You told Pepper and not me?” Verona shoves me.
1/4
13:33 Wed, 13 Aug
Chapter 15
“She’s known for like an hour and no I am not fucking him,” I look down to see that he put a shirtless picture of himself as my screen saver. “Oh, my fuck,”
“Tell us everything. I thought you were all hung up on your boss,” she laughs.
83%
“Eww, de human,” Pepper says in her fake French accent and then bursts into giggles the way she does every time the issue comes up.
“Shut up,” I shove her head. “I just met Alpha Barnes. The night I lost my phone,”
“At Wise Men Say,” Verona clarifies for Pepper.
“You went to Wise Men Say? I heard from Brittany H. that Brittany J.’s cousin found her fated there. That is a wildly popular wolf bar,” Pepper smiles.
“It was empty when I was there. I wasn’t there for long,” I say. “They did make really good drinks,”
“The Love’s bane in them. To help heighten your wolf spirit,” Verona nods. That bartender bitch set me up. Years of keeping my bitch in check all fucked because of a little pink flower. Got dammit.
“I didn’t know that. Anyway, I met Alpha Barnes there, and I kind of ran away. I thought I was trespassing. I left my phone on the table.”
“Fucking boring,” Verona growls shoving my face.
“It didn’t look that way to me,” Pepper shakes her head. “You two were like close and arguing when I arrived. He couldn’t take his eyes off you when he got on his bike. It was super intense. He was all kinds of into you. I hear he has the rizz.”
What the fuck does that mean?
“He thinks it’s funny to scare me and then walk away. He knows I can’t be disrespectful because he’s alpha and a rival pack member. I was reminding him that until the ball, the treaty isn’t set in stone.”
“Right. How did you know we were going to have a ball?” Verona asks. “You keeping tabs on the pack?”
“Yes, who do you think helped Vince pass his classes? And I am well-versed in pack traditions. I have four degrees in Pack studies and management. I am a part of this pack. Just because I hate Dad doesn’t mean I was going to forsake everyone else.”
“Oh, yeah. I forgot you were Violetta Wilde now. You know he’s going to make you change it back to Wolfe when you come back,” Verona says, taking an empty box and starting to put things in it. That’s never going to happen. He made his choice a long time ago.
“So, I was wondering if maybe once you’re settled, I can move into the Clock Tower with you?” Pepper blurts out. “I already asked Dad for permission, and he told me that he would need present confirmation from you.”
“When do you start school?”
2/4
13:33 Wed, 13 Aug P PO
Chapter 15
“January sixteenth,”
“Yeah, you can take one of the rooms on the first level.”
“It would only be Monday through Thursday, I still have pack duties and Beta training over the
weekend.”
83%1
(+20)
“I can work with that. I’m out most of the day anyway. I don’t get home until five, and there will be days when I’m out later.”
“So, you’ll tell Dad you’re cool with it?” she takes my hand excitedly.
“I’ll talk to him when I drop off Verona in the morning.”
“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you,” she jumps into my arms.
“You should get home before Dad sends the betas.”
“I’ll walk her down,” Verona says. She hands me the box. I continue to pack things into it when I hear my phone ping. I go over to it to see that it says ARSENIAL in all capital letters. I almost laugh.
-You there?
-How can I help you, ALPHA BARNES?
-The important thing is that you answered. You get half a good girl.
I roll my eyes, but what the hell is this?
-So a Good? How generous of you, sir.
-Change of plans, Princess. Something came up. Would you like to meet me for breakfast? 8:30. JJ’s Cafe on Lacy Blvd.
I look around the room, taken aback by the location. JJ’s is literally my favorite Cafe in Magique City. Did he choose that by coincidence? That’s weird, right?
-Sure. I’ll be on that side of town anyway. I’m dropping off my sister at the packhouse and seeing my dad in the morning.
-It’s a date. Wear something cute for me, Baby Girl.
-Stop calling me that. My father calls my little sister baby girl.
-Princess it is.
-Think of something better. I’m most definitely not a princess.
-You most definitely are a princess. Good night, Violetta. I hope you’re thinking about me as much as I’ve been thinking about you.
3/4
13:33 Wed, 13 Aug
Chapter 15
-Good night, Arsenial.
-(heart emoji)
“This is so fucked,” I say to myself. “So, fucked.”
4/4
