The wedding went off without a hitch; I was just settling behind my desk, getting ready to finish up for
the day, leaving the night manager to handle the end of the wedding. I was about to log out when my
phone vibrated.
Valen: Still waiting for that invoice?
I planned on ignoring him and dealing with it tomorrow, but his next text message had me scrambling
for my email.
Valen: Do I need to stop over and deal with it personally, force you to submit and make the booking?
Maybe I may mark you too.
Ivy: Sending it through now and the booking confirmation.
I quickly reply, going through the calendar to find a suitable date. I added it to the schedule when an
idea hit me. If it costs too much, he would surely decline.
Writing up the invoice. I sent it through to his work email, which he texted through earlier in the day. I
chuckle to myself when my phone starts vibrating on my desk. I stifle my laugh and pick it up.
“Fifty thousand dollars?” Valen exclaims. I pull the phone away, so he doesn’t hear me laughing before
composing myself.
“That extra half-star rating costs a lot, you wouldn’t know, you only have what is it? Four stars? ” I tell
him having a dig at the fact my Hotel’s rating was currently half a star higher than his.
“It is outrageous, what are you serving that it will cost that much, do I at least get my cock sucked for
that much?” He asks.
“Oh, you know the finest finger food, fairy bread, with premium sprinkles, frankfurts and tomato sauce,
the good stuff reserved specifically for the Blood Alpha, if I am feeling generous, I may add in a pass
the parcel and goody bags, but as for the cock sucking I ann sure Ashley will do a fine job, I would
rather skip on any STD’ s,” I tell him. Valen growls.
“I don’t have any STD’s. You think this will turn me away?” He snaps.
“I am hoping so,”
“No, chance. Fine, you want to serve all the Alpha’s in the City, kids party food, go for it. Check your
bank in the morning; the money will be there, oh and Everly?”
“Yes, Alpha, ” I say, bored and wanting to go to bed.
“I will be seeing you real soon, and if I am paying this much it wanna come with a happy ending from
you personally, ” He laughs and hangs up. I wonder what he means. I hadn’t even gotten back to my
apartment when my bank notified me that a payment was placed into the Hotel’s bank account. That
was fast; I groaned as I opened it and saw it was definitely from Valen.
” Damn it,” I mutter. I was so sure he would refuse. Not only was he officially holding the Alpha meeting
here, but he had also paid in full, and I now had to host for Four packs. The girls are going to kill me,
the last thing rogues want is to be spoken down to by Social elites all night, and the catering team will
be fuming when they see we are not hosting for one Alpha but four plus a few neighboring city Alphas.
Hmm, I could bribe them with a bonus, maybe?
Stepping inside, Zoe was watching TV, yawning. She looks back at me over the couch.
“Oh no, what happened,”
“We may be hosting the Alpha meeting. Well, we are hosting the Alpha meeting, ” Zoe sighs.
“This is what you didn’t want to tell Macey and I when we asked how you got the delivery truck and a
fridge in?” I nod, chewing my lip nervously.
“Charge him double that will send him packing, ” “I charged him fifty thousand, ” Zoe laughs.
“That’ll definitely send him elsewhere, ” She laughs, but I don’t.
“No, no, he didn’t, ” I shrugged, pressing my lips in a line grimly.
“That son of…. Lovely lady, ” Zoe corrects.
“Shit, what do we do about the kids, Valarian and Casey? Both their fathers will be there, and if Micah
is here, guaranteed he will bring his mate,” Zoe says, chewing her lip worriedly. Micah was Casey’s
father, and he still hadn’t told his mate he had an illegitimate child, which worried Zoe because his mate
Ana was struggling with fertility.
“Maybe we can ask Macey’s mum; it’s not for three weeks. We have time to figure out something, “
“It is what it is,” Zoe says with a shrug. “What about your father?” She asks.
“He will probably just ignore me, I would say, I haven’t seen him since the hardware store years ago,
“Maybe he might be over it, want to reconnect?”
“Maybe I don’t though, he tossed me away, although Valarian asked me about my family today, also
asked about Valen, ” I tell her.
“What did you say? I saw the family tree thing. Casey brought one home too, “
“Valarian added you, Macey, and the girls on it,” I smile.
“Bloody better have I am the best Aunty anyone could ask for,” Zoe states, and I chuckle.
“Did they go down easy tonight?”
“Casey had a tummy ache, but Valarian went down easily, he asked when you would be home, and he
was digging around in your room earlier too. He took some pictures from the photo album.” I nod.
“Yeah, I told him he could” Zoe chews her lip nervously.
“He overheard you on the phone earlier, asked what being marked meant, “
“What did you tell him,”
“That mates mark each other, “
“Shit,” I pinch the bridge of my nose.
“He overheard me on the phone to Valen this morning, ” Zoe sighs,
” I figured, he is sometimes too smart for his own good that boy is,”
Monday two days later.
We were running late the next morning for school drop -off, and Zoe and I both forgot it was crazy hair
day. Macey reminded us when we walked out this morning and saw the kid’s hairs not done, so we
were currently on our way to buy some spray in hair color. Pulling up at the local grocer, Zoe ran inside
before returning with electric blue hair color in a can, and one called glitter bomb. We pulled both kids
from her little yellow Volkswagon. Casey giggled excitedly as her hair was changed to blue. Valerian,
however, pouted.
“I don’t want to look like a smurf,” he says.
“Zoe said it is the only colors they had left. It’s for a good cause, it’s to raise money for the children’s
hospital and for you kids to have fun,” I tell him.
“What about the glitter one?” Zoe asks. Valerian crosses his arm, looking at Casey dancing around the
car park beside the car with her blue hair.
“No, it will make my hair sticky, ” he says.
” Come on, Val, just a little, ” I beg him. Gosh, this child was sometimes difficult. Would it kill him to be a
kid for once?
“You will be the only kid without your hair done,”
Zoe tells him, and he side eyes, Casey. ” Please, ” I ask.
“Fine, just one line,” Valerian gives in, and Zoe draws a glitter line from the front of his head to the
back. She shrugs. You could barely see it in his dark hair.
“Better than nothing, ” She says, and we count it as a win.
Climbing back in the car, we head to the school. The teachers were waiting out the front hair, all done
up in colorful clothes and crazy hair. The school was run-down and derelict-looking. Covered in graffiti
and there were only around two hundred students total, and the teachers were barely educated enough
to teach at it.
It angered me that only two streets away on this side was Alpha Valen’s pack schoo1, and across the
road three other pack schools, yet children of Rogues or Rogues-whores were classed as undeserving
of getting a proper education, the least they could allow would-be actual teachers.
When we enrolled the kids in school, Macey, Zoe, and I walked through ; they barely had a library, had
only one old computer to be shared amongst the kids. We decided to raise money for the schoo1, so
for two weeks, half of all hotel sales and rooms fees went to the school. It was clear the packs weren’t
going to help, but in a way, they did without
knowing it by attending the fair we held at the Hotel. We raised enough that new laptops were brought,
and the library actually looked like a library, half the shelves packed with different books.
“I just had an idea on what the bonus from the Alpha meeting can be used for,” I tell Zoe.
” I still can’t believe he paid it,” I point to the run – down play equipment; Macey’s daughter Taylor fell
off last week and broke her arm on it after falling through the bridge between the two platforms.
Zoe smiles. “Thank you, Alpha Valen, ” she murmurs. “Was going to ask those willing to cater for the
event if they would take a double bonus for the night and the rest of the amount go towards the play
equipment at the school?”
“You know they will say yes, look how keen they were for the fair we held; everyone has kids that
attend here, “
“Yes, but it is also a big ask for them to put up with the Alphaholes, ” I tell her, and she snickers.
“True, but they will be happy, you’ll see,” Zoe says, smiling. I could tell she was excited, we all got
excited when it came to helping the other Rogues and children.
Opening the back door, I let Valarian out and peck him on the cheek, and he instantly wiped it off.
“What’s wrong with you?“ I ask him and he scowls.
“Who were you talking to on Saturday?“ Valerian asks. He had been in a mood all weekend.
“Just the delivery people,“ I tell him, knowing exactly what he was referring to. He had been probing me
all weekend every chance he got about his father.
“You’re lying, you said he couldn’t mark you, I heard a man’s voice. Zoe said Mates mark each other,
why did you say that man couldn’t mark you? Is he your mate, is it my dad?“ He asks and I glance at
Zoe, she mouths sorry at me.
“No, it was a figure of speech?“ I lie but his eyes narrow, reading straight through me, this kid was too
observant.
“Is this why you have been in a bad mood, “
“Why isn’t my dad your mate?“ He asks. Glancing around the teachers were pretending not to
overhear. All this over some homework, I sigh, wondering if I could find a way around this.
“Billy said you were a Rogue -whore and that is why my dad isn’t around, “ Billy was a little punk and
him Valarian were always fighting.
“He said that did he?“ I ask with a growl.
“Yep, so punched him in his ugly face, but then I thought about it what he said, and now I want to
know?“ he demands.
“Ok, we can talk about this when you get home, “ I tell him and he glares at me.
“The wind will change and your face will get stuck like that? “ I tell him and he huffs folding his arms
across his chest.
“Not here, Valarian, “ I tell him and he looks around.
“Fine, but when I get home I want to know who my dad is, and why I can’t see him.“ He frowns.
“I don’t like them calling you and Aunty Zoe names, “ he adds and I smile grimly.
“Well, Billy’s dad is a Rogue because he spat in his Alpha’s face,“ Zoe adds behind me. Valerian makes
a face of disgust.
“See, nasty boy he is,“ I tell Valarian.
“You promise you will tell me? “ I sigh and look at Zoe and she frowns.
“I will tell you what I can,“ “Pinky promise?“
“Pinky promise,“ I grab his little pinky and his
mood seems to lift slightly before he turns around.
Now, I had to figure out what I could tell him without giving too much away.
He rushes off toward the front gate with Casey, and I see Taylor there waiting for them.
” Hey Aunty, Zoe, Aunty Eva,” Taylor calls. Waving brightly with her broken arm in a cast. The kids had
all drawn on and colored in.
“Hey, sweetie, “
“Can I come over swimming on the weekend, ” Taylor calls out to us.
“Of course, if you want, I will even ask your mother for a sleepover, ” I tell her, knowing I am off this
weekend. It was the first weekend I had off in a year. The girls insisted, and I was actually looking
forward to giving Zoe a break. Macey always joked we would never need a man because we had each
other and was practically married with the way we handled the kids between us.
“Yes, ” Taylor fist bumps the air excitedly.
Zoe waves goodbye, and I climb back in the passenger seat, missing my truck. However, on the short
drive home, I drive past Alpha Valen in his Black Mercedes. The windows blacked out, but it was the
only one of those cars I had seen.
“Pull over and turn around, ” I tell Zoe. She looks for a safe place to turn around and we turn back the
way he was driving.
When we find his car, he is already out of it, and it is parked out the front of the public library. “Is that
Alpha Valen’s car?” Zoe asks, and I nod.
“No, no. Whatever your thinking, no,” Zoe says, pulling in beside it.
“What are you going to do?”
“He ruined Valarie’s car, so I am going to ruin his,” Also, I was still pissed off about the entire schooling
thing. Seeing the giant school two streets away that no Rogue child could attend irritated me. The kids
always asked what the big building was they could see from the main road.
The pristine white sandstone school was erected when the first packhouse was, along with the church,
the kids also weren’t allowed to attend.
Packs were allowed to travel freely where they wanted as long as they went by the other pack’s rules
while visiting the other territories. Rogue wasn’t even allowed to look, let alone attend anything that
wasn’t on the main street or in the designated Rogue areas.
Getting out, Zoe squeaks.
“Eve,” She hisses when I grab the cans of hair spray and also dig through her tiny trunk.
“What are you looking for?” “Got a screwdriver?” I ask her.
“You scratch that car he will lose it,”
“Not going to ruin its paint. Besides, this crap will wash off with water,” I tell her. She rolls her eyes
before rummaging around and passing me a tire valve remover.
“Why do you have that?” She shrugs, looking up at
the sky.
“I may have used it on Micah’s car a few times, ” She mutters, and I raise an eyebrow at her.
“And you are trying to stop me? You’re just as bad,”
” He owed me child support, ” Zoe huffs. I chuckle I was planning on stabbing the tires, but this will
work even better.
I set to work, and I toss Zoe the can of spray glitter, and she uses it to cover his car while also keeping
a lookout.
The air wheezed out of the tires quickly, and I raced to the front window and wrote on it with the blue
spray dye.
‘Alphahole xx’ I wrote instead of asshole.
I quickly rush back to Zoe’s car, his tires all flat, and we laugh as we drive away. We did no real
damage, but it would be annoying, yet I wondered why he was
at the public library.
“You know he will figure it out?” Zoe says. “Innocent until proven guilty, “
“Who else would be game enough to do that to the Blood Alpha,” Zoe snickers. She had a point no one
crossed him.
“Stuff him; he deserves it for making our kids attend shitty schools and for forcing me to hold the Alpha
meeting. He will live and I doubt he will bat an eyelash at the cost to get it towed and fixed if he is
willing to pay fifty K for an Alpha meeting, ” I tell her. “Well, I think he will be demanding more than a
happy ending when he sees you next for messing with his car, ” Zoe says and I pull a face, having
forgotten that part.
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