"I certainly don't miss this," I mumbled as I stared at the stack of papers on James' desk. I promised James I would help him with his overflowing paperwork since they were so kind enough to buy me all these clothes and products.
"You don't need to suffer with me. How many times do we have to tell you that it was our pleasure?"
"I don't do handouts," I growled. "What even is all this?" I asked gesturing to the large stack.
"Transfers, births, deaths, inventory, you know stuff like that."'
"Why is there so much? You couldn't possibly experience that many transfers."
James scratched his head sheepishly. "I may have fallen behind."
"Behind?! You call this falling behind? You come to the pack house almost every day. What do you do in here all day?" He walked from behind his desk and pulled out a book that was attached to a system. The middle piece of the book case slid to the right revealing a flat screen hanging on the wall. "You can't be series. Seriously, James, a flat screen?"
"This office is boring," he whined.
"You're the damn beta!"
"Don't judge me, Savannah."
"I'm judging you hard," I mumbled. "Well we better get started," I sighed. It was James' job to sign off on the paperwork and then he would hand it to me so that I could store it. I also had to store an electronic copy which was more frustrating than I thought it would be. Willow didn't store their documents electronically. It was probably handier in case something happened to the hard copies, but the wolf world was behind the human one. There were a lot of packs who still practiced old traditions. They thought electronics were the work of pure evil and didn't wish to bring it to their own packs. Those packs were barbaric. The old ways were barbaric. The real beasts came from those packs.
Willow didn't follow those old traditions, but they weren't as progressive as some other packs. Blackhound was transitioning. More packs every day were transitioning to new ways because we needed to keep moving forward. We had to stay current with the human world if we were to outsmart them and remain hidden, especially for those packs that were so close to human territories.
"How the hell do you do this?" I growled, shaking the thin laptop.
"Relax, Savannah. That's delicate."
"It's infuriating, that's what it is," I growled. "How do I even scan this?"
"I take it you've never done this before."
"Hell no. We didn't bother with learning how to. I'm tech savvy." James chuckled.
"I could have one of the gammas teach you. Hell, I think I need a refresher. It could come in handy when you go to your new pack. Most of the packs around here are trying to transition to technology."
"I guess that would be best," I said. "I can't really help you if I have no idea what I'm doing."
"And I prefer if you didn't break the expensive laptop." I rolled my eyes.
"For as much as it costs, it weighs nothing. It's so flimsy." Eventually a young female gamma showed up at James' door. The knock she gave was faint, but we could still hear it.
"Come in," James said, and the door was pushed open. The gamma smelled like a gamma, but she stood like an omega. Omegas had a hard time being around the higher ranks. It was the work of nature. Their auras were so similar to humans that it couldn't handle being around the aura of an alpha or beta. Auras is the power that surrounds us. Everything that's alive has one. Only children of the moon were able to sense them. Humans, children of the sun, could not.
"You requested me, Beta James?" the gamma asked.
"Yes, you see Molly, Savannah and I aren't sure how to work our new filing system. The word around here is that you're a genius when it comes to computers." Molly looked down at her feet in embarrassment.
"That's too kind of you, sir."
"We'll see if what they say about you is true," I said, and she turned to look at me with wide eyes. Molly was timid, but the girl knew her stuff. She was patient with James and I since we kept making mistakes or growing frustrated.
"Have you ever thought about being a teacher?" I asked her when she finished.
"No, I wouldn't be any good at that," she said as she shook her head.
"Says who?"
"Molly you're kind and patient. Plus, you just taught two betas how to use a computer. I'm a hundred percent sure that you would be an excellent teacher. You know, Shan has been telling David that need more help down at the school. You should consider it."
"If you say so, Beta James."
"I believe it." Molly gave him an appreciative smile before bowing and leaving. After her basic lesson, I was able to store the paper work more efficiently.
Cassandra came a little later with lunch to which I was thankful. If she hadn't come, then James and I would have settled for the food in the pack house. It was nothing like Cassandra's cooking and she wasn't scheduled to be in the kitchens today.
"Thank goddess, you're here with food. I'm starving," I said as my mouth began to water from the aroma that came from the picnic basket she was carrying.
"You're always starving," she said with an eyeroll.
"Your food is like a drug, Cassandra. I can't live without it." She shook her head with a goofy grin on her face as she placed the picnic basket on James' desk.
"How's the paperwork going?" she asked.
"Barely made a dent," James groaned.
"No thanks to you," I said, placing the laptop off my lap and reaching for the plate Cassandra was handing me. James glared at me behind Cassandra's back.
"Hot damn, my favorite," James said when Cassandra finally allowed James to take a peek inside the basket. "Meatloaf."
"Meatloaf for lunch?" I asked with a raised brow. "Doesn't that seem like a lot for just lunch."
"Hush up, Savannah, before she takes it away. I appreciate this so much, babe."
"I know you do," she smiled. Ryder then walked through the door and sat down on the floor, allowing Cassandra to have the last seat.
"How are the men?" James asked mid-bite.
"Good. They're training hard before this upcoming winter. I'm not looking forward to it."
"Who is?" James asked. "It's going to be nothing, but snow, deep thick snow. It'll be hard to run in that. We're going to be cramped inside the cabin together for the next few months."
"Whoopie," I grumbled. Willow never experienced much snow and from what they were telling me, I knew I wasn't going to like it. Being cramped inside for too long didn't sound like my idea of a grand time.
"Before the winter comes, my father thought it would be a good idea to come visit," Cassandra said and James dropped his fork.
"Your father? Coming here?"
"James, it's just my father."
"I get it now. This whole lunch, my favorite meal, is because your father is coming. Did you think a meatloaf would sweeten me up?"
"I knew how you would react. Is it so hard to believe that my father would want to visit his only daughter?"
"I don't want him here," James growled as he slapped his fists down on his desk. "Dammit, now my lunch is ruined."
"You're being ridiculous."
"No I am not. I need some air." James got up and stormed out followed by Cassandra who chased after him.
"Hmm, good meatloaf," Ryder commented as he put a fork full into his mouth. "What was that about?" I asked.
"James hates Cassandra's father."
"I could see that, but why? What's the story behind that and don't you say it's not your story to tell. I want to know the juice."
"It's not like it's a sensitive story or anything. Cassandra's father has hated James since the moment he met him. It was the first Alpha seminar that David allowed James to go to. This was before James officially was named beta. I only remember this story because David loves telling it to everyone. James isn't too bright—
"No kidding," I said and Ryder chuckled. "Now get on with the story."
"It was the day of the big meeting where all the alphas and betas gathered together to discuss any issues that their packs may be facing that could impact other packs. It was James' first seminar so I guess he was nervous, so nervous that he spilled a cup of hot coffee on Alpha Cole's lap. David swore it was funny as hell and to this day laughs about it every time he sees Alpha Cole."
"Probably was embarrassing for him to have a brown-stauned crotch for the rest of the meeting."
"It doesn't end there. James went to apologize to him after and only made a fool of himself. He couldn't get a word out he was stuttering so bad and somehow called the alpha's mother ugly. I don't know how it came about, but it did. I can tell you that Alpha Cole was pretty pissed when he found out his only daughter was mated to the one wolf he despised."
"But that happened years ago, and it wasn't even anything serious." I was disappointed in the story. I was expecting more juice than a steaming crotch. "This alpha sounds like a pain."
"Cassandra's father is stiff and likes to follow tradition. I don't care for him and David tolerates him because of Cassandra. James can't stand him."
"Then don't let him get near me. I won't hold my tongue."
"Behave, Savannah."
"Do you think I can?" I asked as I cocked my head.
"Goddess, please help us," Ryder sighed as he continued his lunch.
Comments (0)
See all