19 Unfair

Carrie

Dealing with complaining humans the next day was harder than usual. I had tolerated them in my quest for survival, but now that I was getting out of there and would have more important pack based problems to deal with, each petty complaint was more tedious than ever.

They weren’t all bad, of course. Most humans were nice or at least neutral. They were basically just weak wolf-less werewolves, otherwise not that different from myself. I didn’t mind getting things from the back or showing people things they couldn’t find, but the rude entitled ones...

They just got my wolf’s back up and it was hard not to snap at them. Literally or figuratively.

Still, I got through my shift and put in my two week’s notice. After that, I called my landlord and told him I would be leaving. I thanked both profusely, because they had given me a chance when I had been really low.

Max, the wolf Jason had sent along, came along to my little apartment, and I began to pack up some of my things. He was helpful and easygoing, so having him there wasn’t too bad. I would, of course, have preferred Jason, but I knew he had a lot to do.

Leaving my apartment with a final load of my things felt strange, but good, although I felt a bit of melancholy to be leaving the place where I had marked and been marked by my mate. Still, I was closing one chapter of my life and opening the next.

I made it through two more shifts before Amanda caught wind of my imminent departure.

“I heard you gave your notice, Carrie. Did you get a new job?”

I pasted a smile on my face. She meant well. “I did.”

“Oh, I’m so excited for you.”

“It is exciting.” She didn’t know the half of it.

“What are you going to be doing?”

The answer was easy, since I had my excuses already picked out. “Office work for Bronson Construction.” I wouldn’t actually be doing anything with the company that the pack partially used to support itself, but it did make a good cover story.

“Ooh, nice. When do you start?”

“I already have.”

“Wow, you must be busy then,” she said.

“I am.” And I loved it.

“I was going to ask if you wanted to come out, just one time, since you’ll be leaving, but...” Amanda trailed off, obvious disappointment in her tone.

I felt guilty. This human had tried to be a supportive friend, and all I had done was brush her off. I had been lost and depressed, but still... “Okay. I’ll come. If I can bring someone.”

“Your boyfriend?” she asked, perking up.

“And maybe a couple of his friends? I don’t know.” I hoped he would agree to come with me.

“Well, we’re all heading out to Angie’s tomorrow night. We’ll get there around seven, but we’re pre-drinking at my place first if you want to join us?”

I smiled. “I think I’ll have to pass on that, sorry. But I’ll—or maybe we’ll—meet you there.”

She looked excited and I was suddenly glad I had agreed. “Great, see you then, Carrie!”

Maybe I had not needed to feel so isolated when I had been living among the humans. Maybe I had, in part, done it to myself.

“Yeah, see you then,” I agreed.

“You want to go where tomorrow night?” Jason asked me. He was sitting in the small temporary office they had built in a rolling office chair behind a mountain of paperwork. With fascination, I watched the way the ink stretched on his arm as he extended it to put the paper he was looking at on the desk. He caught my gaze. “Come sit here,” he said, patting his lap.

Doing exactly what he suggested, I took a seat and kissed his cheek.

“That’s not the way you’re supposed to kiss me, Luna,” he said turning my face so he could reach my mouth. I went along with it happily.

“So you want me to go to Angie’s?”

“Yeah, it’s a bar in the human town. I’ve only ever heard stories. My coworker Amanda talks about it frequently. I already said I’d go.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Then I guess I’m going, too.”

“You don’t have to, if you’re too busy.”

“I’m never too busy to follow you to ensure a bunch of horny males keep their hands to themselves.”

Making sure he saw me, I rolled my eyes and pecked him on the cheek again. “They’ll all be human probably. I can handle human males easily.”

He scoffed. “I know, but I don’t care. Werewolf or not, scratch the surface a bit, males are all dogs.”

Beta Porter joined our conversation helpfully as he came through the door, “He didn’t view all other males with suspicion until about, oh I don’t know, maybe a couple of weeks ago, give or take?”

“Don’t you have any respect for your alpha?” Jason groused, but he was only pretending to be disgruntled. I smiled at their interaction. It was obvious that the two were very close.

“I respect you so much I don’t treat you like a whiny oversensitive alpha. You’re welcome,” Porter said without missing a beat.

I laughed.

Jason pretended weariness. “Why do I imagine a future in which my luna and my beta constantly team up against me?”

“Because you’re a smart man?”

“Because you see which way the wind is blowing?”

Both I and Porter responded almost at the same time and then we laughed.

“I’m doomed, huh?”

“Yep.” I kissed him again on the cheek.

“What did I tell you about giving me proper kisses, babe?”

“The beta is in the room with us.”

“I don’t care.” His mouth caught mine.

“Seriously, Jason, I’m standing right here.”

Jason shrugged and Porter’s grumbles and footsteps left a moment later.

Before he got too far, I broke the kiss. “Hey, Porter, want to come along to Angie’s tomorrow night?

“Sure. Why?”

“Some human friends of mine are meeting us there. At seven.”

“Yeah, I’ll tag along.”

I had more free time after I regretfully escaped Jason’s advances, so I set out continuing to familiarize myself with the pack. It really was rudimentary, but even in the short time I had been watching things had started to come together. The pack was a small eclectic bunch of twenty-eight people, twenty-nine once I officially joined, and they were all rogues who had handled their solitary lives without succumbing to feral madness. Many had come in pairs or small groups, which had probably helped keep them centered without a pack.

Besides a baby girl belonging to a rogue couple, the youngest member was a surly thirteen-year-old named Kain. He didn’t really talk much, but I did hear enough to know he was a member of the original pack Jason had come from, as were Porter and Max. I was curious about the story behind their time together, but I didn’t pry. I wanted Jason to tell me everything, when he was ready to talk about the sadness I sometimes felt leaking through our link.

In the meantime though, Kain was talking more than normal. “Why can’t I come, too?” he complained.

“Because you’re underage, kid,” Porter said.

“It’s not fair. Max is going, too.”

“Max is more than of age. And life isn’t fair.” Porter looked completely unsympathetic to his complaints.

I smiled at him. “Tell you what, I’ll go again with you when you’re old enough.”

He groaned, but he was finished arguing.

“You’ll just have to guard the pack while we’re gone,” Jason said.

He slouched in his seat, obviously not fooled by my mate’s pandering.

He muttered the word “unfair” again under his breath as I left the room, hiding my smile.