Chapter 58

Chapter 58

***Chastity***

***Beep Beep Beep**

I sighed when I heard my alarm go off. I had set it for 5:00 am so I could get to the kitchen to make the

croissants. I went to stretch, but found myself restricted by something wrapped around my waist, and

pressed against my back. That’s when I remembered that I fell asleep in Rowen’s arms the night

before. I sighed, and snuggled back closer to him. A few more minutes wouldn’t hurt anything. I

instantly froze when I felt something poking me in the back, and Rowen groaned.

“Sweet girl, I need you to stop wiggling.” Rowen grumbled.

“I…uh. Sorry.” I whispered.

“It’s ok. Go ahead, and get up. I’m going to lay here for a few more minutes.” Rowen said as he

released me, and rolled onto his back.

I quickly scrambled out of bed, grabbed clothes, and sprinted to the bathroom. I couldn’t believe that

happened. What I couldn’t believe more was that what I felt made curious. With a shake of my head I

hopped in the shower. Once I was clean, I dressed, I headed to the pack kitchen. I did giggle on my

way. out at the sight of Rowen fast asleep with Lilac curled up on his chest.

I found the kitchen empty when I first got there. With a shrug I pulled out everything for the croissants,

and got to work. I was just putting the first batch in the oven when I heard some one walk in the room. I

turned to find Lucy standing there smiling at me.

“Good morning Lucy.” I said brightly.

“Good morning Chastity. What are you doing?” She asked as she moved to the refrigerator to grab

eggs, and sausage.

“Making my croissants.” I answered as I started on the next batch.

“Ok. Since you’re here, can you show me how you make your coffee so Colby shuts up about it. That

boy whines worse than a toddler about his damn coffee.”

“Sure. Can you grab me the french roast, dark roast, and hazelnut coffee please? Oh, and the empty

plastic container next to the coffee.”

“Here you go.”

“Thanks. Take one scoop of french roast, dark roast, and hazelnut, put them in this container. Shake it

up really well then dump it into the filter, and start.”

“That’s it?”

“Yes.”

“Well now I know what I was doing wrong.”

“What’s that?”

“I was using vanilla instead of hazelnut.”

“Oh. Yeah. No one really likes the vanilla very much.”

“Have you ever tried adding cinnamon?”

“Once. Aurora flipped out, and accused me of trying to poison everyone.”

“She was such a bitch.”.

“Yeah.”

After that Lucy got to work on making the rest of breakfast, and I returned to the croissants. I didn’t

realize what time it was until I heard people start coming down to the dining room. I was putting the last

of the croissants in the basket when, of all people Naomi walked in the room. As soon as she saw me

her eyes widened, and she looked to the floor. I thought of saying something to her, but decided

against it. There wasn’t much to say at this point. She stood off to the side as Lucy, and I loaded the

cart I used to use, and took breakfast into the dining room.

I smiled to myself when I saw that Alpha Joseph was taking back his usual seat. I had been a little

uncomfortable sitting there the night before Rowen sat to his right, and pulled out a chair for me, next to

him. I smiled as I sat. I almost jumped out of my seat when I heard what sounded like a herd of

elephants running down the stairs. Braxton, and Colby came barreling into the room. Both took big

whiffs of the air, and smiled, broadly!

“CHASTITY’S CROISSANTS!” Braxton yelled as he dropped in his seat, and grabbed a whole basket.

“I REALLY hope it’s Chastity’s coffee in that Urn.” Colby grumbled, and I giggled.

“Son, you can’t eat all of those yourself.” Dimitri growled playfully.

“But…but they’re blueberry! My favorite.” Braxton whined like a pup.

“It’s too early for whining.” Lexi grumbled as she walked in behind Molly, and Jax.

“Once you taste these you’ll find out that there is plenty of reason to whine.” Braxton mumbled.

“What’s the big deal with those things?” Lexi asked as she dropped into the chair next to me.

“They’re fruit filled, and Chastity makes them with homemade fruit sauce inside. There is apple,

strawberry, and BLUEBERRY!” Braxton said excitedly.

“Is he related to Norm by any chance?” Lexi asked as she looked at me.

“Um…no.” I responded with a snicker.

“Try one, and you’ll see.” Braxton stated with a sniff.

“Fine. Where are the apple?” Lexi questioned, and I passed them to her.

Everyone was quietly digging into their breakfast until Colby burst out with, “Oh thank the Goddess it’s

short stack’s coffee! Sorry Lucy, but Chastity’s is better.”

“Oh hush pup! My coffee is plenty good.” Lucy snapped.

“I never said it wasn’t, but this is better.” Colby stated.

“Ok. Ok. I get it. It will be right from now on. I didn’t know I was using the wrong flavor for one.” Lucy

shook her head as she grabbed two plates of food, and went back to the kitchen.

“Lucy doesn’t eat in here?” I ask quietly.

“No. She prefers to eat in the kitchen to keep an eye on Naomi. After she caught Naomi trying to sneak

away from doing her chores, Lucy started eating in there. She takes a plate of food for Naomi, they eat,

then Lucy makes sure she does her work.” Gamma Peter explained.

“How long will Naomi have to work like that?” I questioned.

“Until she understands what she forced you to do every day of your life.” He responded.

“You don’t….”

“No. Goddess no, but she needs to understand what her demands on you were like. I realized that

Naomi wasn’t as physical with you as the other two, but I know she was very demanding of you to have

everything perfect, always. Until she understands what that truly entails, and can appreciate the hard

work you really did, this is her life.”

“How is it going so far?” Lexi asked before I could say any more.

“Not so well honestly. She has been caught multiple times sneaking away from unfinished work or

simply not doing it, and sitting down to play on her phone when no one is watching her. I’ve had to

resort to treating my own mate like a pup, and took her phone. She also has to have someone

watching her at all times to make sure she does what she is supposed to. She got into a nasty fight

with Beth her first week. because she thought if she ordered Beth around to do the work for her, she

could get out of it. Beth didn’t take that well, and Naomi found out that all three ladies have my

permission to reprimand her. They don’t hit her or anything, but they tell her how it is. Although I think

one time she called Lucy a disgusting Omega, and got smacked for it.” Gamma Peter stated.

“Lucy hit her?” I asked quietly.

“Unfortunately yes, but I think Lucy was also at the end of her rope with Naomi, and needed to make a

point. Not that I agreed with it, but Lucy was pushed too far Being called a disgusting Omega was just

the catalyst for that day. Naomi had been ridiculing Lucy, Beth, and Tina all day I guess Lucy had

enough. Lucy got reprimanded for striking another, and it hasn’t happened since Naomi also never

ridiculed Lucy like that again.” Gamma Peter explained

“I’m not sure how I feel about that.” I said.

“Believe me, neither did I. I had to let Joe handle the situation because I didn’t know which way to go.

Protect, and defend my mate or tell her she got what she deserved for how she was acting.”

“Lucy was banned for a week for striking another.” Alpha Joseph advised.

“Oh. It hasn’t happened again?” I questioned.

“No. Don’t worry Chastity. We’re not ignoring those things now. At the same time Naomi does need to

understand what she did. She also needs to realize that what she thinks it ok, is really not.”

“…I think I understand.”

“You’re still helping with decorations for the party today, right Chastity?” Gina asked me.

“Yes of course. I’m looking forward to it.” I told her with a smile.

“Goody!” Gina clapped.

“Lexi, share those with me.” I heard Braxton whine.

“What? I thought you liked the blueberry?” Lexi mumbled around food in her mouth.

“I do, but the apple are good too. They are also Dad’s favorite.” Braxton stated.

“It’s alright Braxton. There is whole basket of them down here. It appears that your sister made double

what she usually does.” Dimitri said with a chuckle.

“Triple actually.” I giggled.

“Why don’t you ever make these at school” Lexi questioned me.

“Um. Where would! make them?” I asked teasingly.

“Um..Norm, and Marcus’s kitchen.”

“Trying to cook in their kitchen would drive me crazy. It’s a mess all of the time.”

“Oh true. I’m surprised Marcus allows that. He’s so tidy in the rest of the place.”

“He hates doing dishes, and Norm won’t stand still long enough to do them. Norm is better for putting

stuff away, and vacuuming because he’s always moving while doing it.”

“Yeah. That’s true.”

Chatter continued around the table until everyone seemed to be finished eating. Once we had all put

our dishes in the sink, I found myself struggling with not washing them. I had just picked up

the sponge when Lucy stopped me.

“No you don’t girl. That’s Naomi’s job. You have decorations to go make. You’re here to have a good

time with your family, not work. Now move it.” Lucy growled at me.

I nodded, and scrambled from the kitchen. I found Gina, Molly, Melissa, and Lexi waiting in the hall for

me. Gina was giggling while the other three were shaking their heads at me.

“What?” I questioned.

“That’s not your job any more Chas. Get used to it.” Molly said as she threaded her arm through mine,

and pulled me along behind Gina.

“I’ll try, but it’s hard. I spent years washing every one’s dishes after a meal. It’s hard not to jump right in,

and do them.” I admitted.

“Is that why you stuck to cooking in our apartment the few weeks you were with us?” Molly asked.

“Part of it, yeah.” I answered.

“What’s the other part?” Gina asked curiously as she led us into the sunroom on the back of the pack.

house.

“A combination of fear, and not being comfortable being in there. Until last night I never ate a meal in

there, only served.”

“Oh. I didn’t realize that.”

“It’s ok. It’s in the past.”

“Yes it is. Now lets get started on the decorations. I am making red, white, and blue tissue blossoms. I

want to braid red, white, and blue streamers to wrap around the railings of the patio. I also have a lot of

red, white, and blue balloons to blow up. The air tank is in the corner. I also want to put these silver

stars in the middle of each blossom.” Gina explained as she showed us all of the materials, and there

was a lot. “How many people are you expecting at this barbeque?” Lexi asked looking over all of the

decorations. “Oh. The whole pack comes. It will be held in the back yard of the pack house. All of the

food will be set up in here. My dad gets a pig to roast out in the pit being dug now. He also has a cow

butchered for steaks, and ground beef for burgers. Mrs. Dyer bakes a huge cake. The rest of the pack

brings dishes to share. It’s a potluck, outside the meat dad gets. We have a bunch of water stations set

up. Also sodas. juice, and alcohol for those that want it. We don’t have food or drinks served that day.

Everyone gets their own, and all of the businesses close. The only ones working that day are the patrol

wolves, and they’re given shorter shifts so they can all come to the party for at least a little bit. At ten

fireworks are set off. There will be games, face painting, those that do homemade crafts can set up a

booth to sell things if they want. There will be music, and dancing. It’s a lot of fun.” Gina explained.

“That does sounds like a lot of fun. Dark Moon tries to do something like that, but on a much smaller

scale Most families get together, and do their own thing. A fireworks display is set off in the pack center

at ten.” Lexi said.

“Why don’t you do something as one big pack?”

“Because we have such a big need for constant patrols, and extra patrols in town that it’s easier to let

families do their own thing instead.”

“I guess that makes sense. Alright every one jump in.”

I took a large stack of the different colors of tissue paper, string, stars, and a glue gun over to a table,

and spread everything out to get to work. Lexi sat down with me holding some tape, and three rolls of

streamers. Molly joined us with tissue blossom materials as well. Eventually Melissa pulled the air tank

over to us, with bags of balloons. Gina decided to braid streamers as well.

We all got to work as we listened to Gina chatter about all she had been doing so far over the summer.

I was glad to hear that she had reconnected with all of her friends after her stint of homeschooling. She

talked about the sleepovers she had, movies they watched, playing around a bit with make up, and the

boys some of the girls liked. We all giggled at her stories, and some of the things her friends were

doing to gain the boy’s attention. It was a lot of fun just spending time with this group of girls.

Next Molly, and Melissa talked about the things they had been doing together. Molly also talked about

all of the prep work she was doing to start teaching in the fall. She told us about having to pretty much

relearn to teach the way we did. She said that she much preferred how we did things with the pups

because it kept them more active. A lot more was play based instead of sit, listen, fill out the paper. She

also liked that we did not believe in standardized testing for the little ones.

Melissa talked a lot about the conservation class she had started taking, and how excited she was

about it. She also talked about something called crop rotation. I didn’t understand what she meant at

first, but once she explained it, it made a lot of sense. Finally she told us that she and Ross were going

to hold a public mating ceremony two weekends before Colby left for Denu. I promised her I would be

home for it. Lexi agreed to come as well.

Lexi and I told them about the things we had been doing. Most of our fun things we did on weekends

because of school. We also told them about our drawing class. When we got to talking about the self

defense class we were taking Molly, and Melissa started to look a little concerned.

“What?” I finally asked them.

“Um. Is there a reason this Matt guy keeps touching you? Especially after he’s been told not to?” Molly

questioned.

“He’s just adjusting my stance, and movements to make sure they’re correct.” I responded.

“He doesn’t need to touch you to do that.” Melissa stated.

“Oh. Well I don’t know then.” I said with a shrug.

“I think he has a thing for small fry here.” Lexi said.

“I doubt that.” I retorted.

“I agree with Lexi. Just be careful Chas. If he’s ignoring your request to not touch you, that’s not ok.”

Molly

stated.

“I’m sure it’s fine.” I shrugged it off.

“Chas….” Molly started, but stopped.

“Oh. I took Lilac to see Bandit on Thursday, after my session with Dee-Dee. I have never seen a

raccoon so excited.” I said with a giggle.

I told them all about how Bandit all, but took Lilac from me, and hoarded her from himself for a good

twenty minutes. He checked her over carefully then thoroughly cleaned her. I told them about how Lilac

kept trying to climb on him, but he would have none of it then they chased each other around the room

for the rest of the visit.

“Jax won’t admit it, but he is mesmerized by that kitten. His wolf not so much. He said his wolf kept

huffing at him for playing with a furball.” Molly said with a giggle.

“How come the kitten doesn’t have a problem being around us wolves?’ Gina asked.

“She was brought to the playground at a few weeks old. She has spent her whole life around wolves so

she’s used to us.” I answered.

“Yeah, but still. Don’t cats have a natural aversion, and fear of wolves?”

“Not when they’ve been raised by them. If they are young enough, they associate the wolf as family.

They never learn the fear if they’re never threatened.”

“Huh? I guess that makes sense. How does she help you though? Cats don’t seem like the type.”

“Just like any animal that is raised, and cared for by someone, they build a bond, and attachment.

They, like all non-shifter animals are more in tune to emotions. Especially with the one their closest too.

Lilac can sense my emotional distress, and all she wants to do is make me feel better. She will get right

up on me, rub against me as rubbing is a way cats sooth others, and purrs. Purring has a calming

effect because cats purr out of happiness, and contentment. She knows I need to feel happiness in that

moment so she purrs for me.”

“Aww. That’s kind of sweet.”

“It really is. The night Chas had her panic attack, Lilac was going kind of nuts until I put Chastity down

on the bed. I don’t think she felt her, but Lilac was climbing on Chastity, rubbing her head against her all

over, and purring until I put her against Chastity’s neck. She didn’t move again until Chastity sat up,

and then it was only to move to Chastity’s shoulder so Chastity could still hear her purr.” Lexi explained.

“You had a panic attack? What happened?” Gina asked.

Lexi, and I explained exactly what had happened. Gina looked really upset about it. She even wiped a

tear away that trickled down her cheek.

“I’m so sorry Chastity.” Gina whispered.

“Gina, it’s not your fault.” I said quietly as I squeezed her hand.

“Yeah, but…”

“Gina, you didn’t have anything to do with any of that. You were only involved in one time I was

physically hurt, and we worked through that.”

“Does your doctor think you’ll have those for a long time?”

“It’s very possible, but only time will tell.”

“Is….is she really helping you.”

“Yes she is. I’m struggling a lot, but I know that it will get better eventually so I just try to keep moving

forward. I do my best to remember the things we talk about, and the things she tells me. She also has

me writing in a journal daily.”

“Does that help?”

“It does in a few different ways.”

“How?”

“Well if I can’t make sense of what I’m feeling I just start writing, and it helps me work out what’s going

on. I can make sense of what is going on in my head, and my heart. It also helps because when I’m

having

a particularly hard time, I can go back, read one of my happy entries, and that makes me feel better

because I focus on that instead.”

“Hmm….I’m still seeing a therapist to deal with mom’s death, how angry I get about it sometimes, and

to work on what I did to you and the guilt I feel from that. She never recommended a journal, but maybe

I should try it.”

“If you think it might help, there is no reason not to try it out.”

“I just might do that.”

I smiled at her. I was just finishing up another blossom when Beth came out to the sunroom with the

kitchen cart. It was loaded with prime rib sandwiches, veggies with dip, waters, and chips. She pushed

it up to the table, smiled at all of us, and left.

“Have you asked Lucy, Beth, and Tina to help with the party decorations?” I asked Gina.

“I did. Lucy said she is not crafty enough to do this. She plans to make sure the gardeners have the

back yard perfect, and that everything is clean. Beth said she does too much crafting at home with her

pups to want to do it here. Tina has been off for the last two weeks because of how close she is to her

due date. She was only here last night because she wanted to see you. She did say she is bored to

tears because all George will let her do at home is move from the bed to the couch, to the bathroom,

and back. She’s going to come to the party for as long as her body can stand it George will definitely be

bringing a chair for her to sit in for most of it, and wait on her hand and foot. He is so excited.” Gina

explained

“I’m glad Tina has been off. Midwife Wanda always said that the last month of pregnancy is the most

tiring, and difficult because you want to do all of these things you always do, but your body won’t let

you. You’re also tired, uncomfortable, or hungry all of the time I said.

“I can only imagine.” Melissa muttered.

“Molly are you and Jax planning to have a pup soon?” Lexi asked.

“No. We want to wait at least a year. I want to spend at least one year teaching before I begin the pup

journey, and Jax wants to have more of his responsibilities learned as well.” Molly answered.

“What about your and Ross, Melissa?”

“No. I only just turned eighteen four months ago. I’m not ready yet, and I want to be further into my

degree. before then. Plus Ross has another year of Gamma school.” Melissa answered.

“Well that makes sense.”

“Do you think you, and Rowen will start having pups soon after you’re mated Chastity?” Gina

questioned.

“I…uh……um….I’m still at the not being ready to be mated yet stage if I’m being honest.” I said with a

blush.

“Oh. Right. I’m sorry. I didn’t think.” Gina whispered.

“It’s fine really. What we’re doing really isn’t normal for mates. Under normal circumstances we would

already be mated. With things being what they were for me, and how much of a mess my head and

emotions are, I’m in no position to give all of myself to him like a mate should.” I explained.

“I guess that makes sense.” Gina agreed.

“Yeah.”

After eating our lunch we got back to our crafts. It was nothing exciting to most, but I was really

enjoying myself. It was nice to spend time with good people, do something pretty, and relax. We all

must have lost track of time because eventually Gamma Peter came out, and asked if we planned to

ever come eat dinner. With a bunch of giggles we all made our way to the dining room.