“I wonder what was on her phone?” Heath asked no one in particular.
“Something that made her snap back into hustle mode,” I answered, still staring at the street she’d disappeared onto. I wished she would come back. Change her mind.
“When I was at the bar earlier, she asked me if the other pack had sent her. If Clinton or Jeremy had sent me. One of the betas. Do we know of a pack with a beta named Clinton?”
Heath turned his head a bit. “You might be on to something. I don’t know anyone with that name, but there’s a database.” One side of our alpha’s mouth rose into a smirk as he turned his attention onto me.
“What? You want me to break into it?”
“Can you?” Heath asked.
“Of course I can. Their password is probablyshiftersruleor something stupid like that. Give me a few minutes.”
We all went inside and, while I fired up my laptop, James and Heath dug into the burgers Romi brought for us. Her scent still lingered a bit in the air. On the food bags. One day, our skin would weep with it, and I personally couldn’t wait for that moment.
It didn’t take long to find some information about a pack with an alpha named Clinton and his beta named Jeremy. In fact, it was too easy to penetrate their systems and see what was going on.
Clinton was the alpha of a broken pack.
I scoured their records and soon found what I was looking for. A picture of Romi. Younger, but it was her. Pack group pictures.
That was all fine and good, but they really needed better security on their systems.
Then again, it was a broken pack.
“What happened to her?” Heath asked.
“I don’t know but there are a lot of deaths recorded. Without her last name or anything else to go on, it’s hard to say. We’ll have to ask her. She was here for a moment, with us.”
James nodded and put down his burger. “She spoke to our wolves. She stayed when we asked her to. There’s an instinct there. She knows she’s safe with us.”
Heath grunted. “Let’s hope so. We have to earn her trust. But she’s worth the effort. Every second of it.”
Chapter Seven
Romi
I hadn’t meant to kneel down to touch their fur, to stay and talk with them. I was supposed to get back in my car, return to work, and forget about the entire encounter. But I was drawn to all three of them, in a way I didn’t understand. Maybe it was my wolf’s desire to be part of a pack again. That had to be it—nothing else made sense.
At least, that’s what I tried to convince myself as I drove away. It wasn’t easy, and if work hadn’t been waiting, I wasn’t sure I’d be strong enough. But I couldn’t afford to get fired, and when I got back, last call was being announced, which was good. It meant everything was going to be busy. Between bringing the last of the drinks, hurrying the customers along, and cleaning, I didn’t have time to think about them, or how kind they’d been to me, or how they didn’t look at me as less than omega.
I arrived home at a dark house, everyone sound asleep, and, after a quick shower, climbed into bed. I lay there replaying our conversation over and over again until sleep finally took me.
My alarm ripped me awake far too early. I had a lot to do in town today. It was the eighth of the month, and that meant my bills were due.
Maddox loved bill day. We would go into town, stop and drop off our utility payments, and hit up the coffee shop for a cup of whipped cream with sprinkles for him, coffee for me, and a cookie to share. It had become our monthly outing, and it started out of necessity one time when Gram-Gram was unable to watch him for me to go deal with the adult part of life.
Being a single mom wasn’t easy. Of course it wasn’t, and if I didn’t have Gram-Gram, it would be nearly impossible, but there was nothing I would switch out about my life so far. I couldn’t bemad at being forced to mate his father. We might not have loved each other, but he was kind enough, and he gave me Maddox. I couldn’t be mad at leaving the pack, and, even if my mate was still alive, that wasn’t the place to raise our son. They saw him as less than, and I refused to let him grow up being treated that way. And I couldn’t be upset at living with Gram-Gram. She’d become a pseudo pack member for me and the mom I wish I’d had.
I drove to town, Maddox in his car seat, still not big enough for a booster, and turned the radio up far too loud for most people, focusing on the bass so he could feel it. It wasn’t a hard drive, and I stopped at the general store first. It actually was more of a hardware store than a general store. I think at one point in time, it probably had traditionally followed its namesake, but now, if you needed hammers, nails, or paint, that’s where you went. But customer service also let us pay our electric bill, and, for those near the city, their water bill and gas bill.
It didn’t take long. I already had my tips counted out for each one. It was somebody different behind the counter. I’d seen them in town before and at the bar. They weren’t new here, but recently began the job, and they took care of things fine enough. I had my receipts, but not once did they acknowledge Maddox waving, and it ruffled my feathers. But we were in a small town, and small towns were like packs in a lot of ways. Causing a problem in the general store would get around. Neither of us needed that.
“Ready for a cookie?” I moved my hand in rotation to indicate. I really needed to get better about signing with him.
He hugged me tight.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” I kissed the top of his head, and off we went, the short walk to the coffee shop.
