Chapter 4

• Maleah’s p.o.v.
• I walk into the bathroom to take a long shower, I turn on the shower before I take of my clothes and when I stretch out my hand I feel that the water has the perfect temperature. I step under the water to let the stress of the last week and a half wash away and as I feel the water cascading down my body my mind wanders back to the first time I ever set foot in the Pack-house.
• It was my eighth birthday and as every other time Dad was on assignment I woke up in an empty house, my Mother had done this every single time after she rejected Dad. She would disappear a few hours after Dad had left and she would somehow always return before he got home. She always made sure an Omega would bring meals to the house, but she never cared about me being left alone and I was always glad if this happened during the week.
• During the week I had school and that meant I wasn’t alone the entire day, but other than that I would be on my own. Looking back I think it is a good thing we were living in a Pack, because if we had been living in one of the towns or cities this wouldn’t have turned out to be any good and I would have been the one suffering.
• I had finished my breakfast that morning and after getting dressed I had gone off to school. I knew no one would wish me a happy birthday, because no one ever did in the two years prior and I had something else on my mind that day. I had been feeling off ever since waking up and it didn’t go away during the day, but the biggest surprise for me came when school was finished.
• Alpha Max had been waiting for me at school and he told me that I would be staying at the Pack-house until Dad returned from his assignment. He had walked me to the Pack-house while he told me that an Omega had packed a bag for me and that she had also prepared a room for me on the guest-floor. I had been in awe as we walked into the Pack-house, it looked so big to me but then again I was only eight years old at the time.
• Alpha Max had guided me to his office and when I walked in I was surprised to see a birthday cake on his coffee table, “Happy eighth birthday, Maleah.” He had said as he lifted me in the air to place me in an armchair, Luna Elyse had been there with the Beta and Gamma couple. After we had eaten a piece of cake Alpha Max handed me a present and he told me that Dad had asked him to give it to me if he wasn’t back today.
• “I went to your house this morning to talk to your Mother about having your party here at the Pack-house, but to my surprise she wasn’t home and I ran into an Omega that was getting some dishes from your house. She told me that your Mother had asked her to bring you three meals a day, but she had no idea where your Mother went or when your Mother would be back again. I will inform your Father about this when he returns from his assignment and if he is away on assignment you will come to the Pack-house if your Mother disappears again.” Alpha Max had explained.
• Dad had gotten me the sketchbooks I wanted for my drawings and I hoped I would be able to do some chores for him to earn some money for the skin tone pencils and the one hundred pieced pencil-map I wanted. I loved drawing very much but I only had the basics at that time and I wanted a few high-end items for my drawings, I wanted to practice for my current career.
• Luna Elyse handed me a present and told me it was from all of them and it made me realize that Dad had mentioned me to them more than once, because I got all the pencils I had wanted. They had even gotten me a metal case to store all my supplies in and the great part had been that I could carry it around with me. I had started crying after opening their gift and in between my sobs I had told them I hadn’t celebrated my birthday the two years before.
• I spend most of my time in the Pack-house after that day, even if my Mother was at home and I enjoyed every moment of it. The only training I got was at school because my Mother didn’t believe a female should train, but I trained in secret and it became easier after my eight birthday to do so. My stay at the Pack-house is how I met Ariel and her friends, we could both draw for hours and hours and her friends would just sit there and talk to us.
• After I get out of the shower I wrap a towel around my body and a hair towel over my long violet auburn hair, I walk into my walk-in closet to pick out an outfit for dinner. I pick my favorite pant suit, a jumpsuit with spaghetti straps and wide legs and to top it off it has a cardigan with lapels. I own this in three different colors and I pick the light purple one for tonight’s dinner, finishing it off with sand colored four and a half inch high heeled shoes with an ankle strap.
• I place it on my bed before I sit down at my vanity table and I start with blow drying my hair until most of the water is gone, than I pull my hair into a high ponytail before braiding it. I dry of the remainder of the water from my body and apply lotion to my entire body before I put on a lace thong and bra in the same color as my pant suit, once I am done putting my underwear on I sit back down at my vanity table. I pick peach and brique as my eyeshadow colors and a black mascara, I chose a light peach colored lip-gloss.
• I slip into my jumpsuit as I hear a knock on the door, “I am almost done, Dad. I will be right down.” I say as I put on my cardigan and I sit down to put on my shoes, after closing the ankle straps I get up to head down the stairs. My phone starts buzzing as I reach the door and I look down to see I have gotten a message from Pauline, I read through the information she has found. Fortune is getting agitated the more I read and I decide to leave it for what it is, I will analyze it in the morning.
• “Fortune, let’s concentrate on tonight first. They will ask questions and I know Alpha Max will always do what he needs to do to get answers, I doubt his Sons are any different.” I tell her to make her calm down, we need to stay in control of our emotions and once I am certain Fortune has calmed down enough I walk out of my room. Dad is waiting at the bottom of the stairs and I see the surprise in his eyes when he looks at my hair, but instead of saying something he just smiles at me.
• We talk about my upcoming project, I have purchased a new boutique in the town of Albarr and I have a lot to do when it comes to the inside of the boutique. Albarr is known for their wealthy inhabitants and I know a boutique that carries my name will become a success, like every boutique I have bought in my career. I am still grateful for the inheritance of my maternal Grandparents, without it I would have never bought my first boutique.
• It was a boutique my Mother would drag me to in hopes that I would suddenly start wearing dresses, but it only resulted in my love for fashion to become bigger. I would talk to the sales ladies and the owner about the latest fashion or about the interior of the boutique, my Mother never liked it much but in the end it made me realize I wanted to own boutiques throughout our world.
• I talked to Dad about what I wanted to do and when the funds from my inheritance came in Dad helped me with purchasing the boutique, he supported me with my new endeavor. I changed the interior of the boutique and I allowed Ariel my Omega friend from our Pack to sell her designs in the boutique, a way for her and her friends to have an extra income.
• I know they use their extra income to make things a little easier for the other Omegas in our Pack, they aren’t treated like trash as in some Packs and I know Alpha Max appreciates it when anyone is able to contribute to the Pack in one way or the other. It was after I purchased my eighth boutique I decided to do a little more research into the designers that get to use my boutiques.
• About three months after reopening the boutique I received a message from a client from one of my other boutiques and I found out that the female who used my boutique wasn’t the designer, she was forcing an Omega to hand it over to her. I asked Pauline to investigate for me and soon found out what she did was pretty despicable.
• She was forcing an Omega to design clothes and other Omegas to make the clothes, before she would sell them in my boutique. She had been planning it for a long time and when I reopened the boutique she had more than enough clothing to put in my boutique, but I put a stop to her plans. Ever since then I do a major background check before I allow someone to sell their designs in my boutique and it has improved the lives of those designers and their employees.
• I have made a few changes for the use of my boutiques and one of those changes is a contract every designer has to sign, but I never asked Ariel to sign one. I never asked her because she is the only one I know for sure designs the clothes herself, I have spent quite a few hours growing up with Ariel drawing in the kitchen of the Pack-house and I loved every minute of it.
• Between the age of eight and thirteen I spend a huge amount of time in the Pack-house with Alpha Max and Luna Elyse, but that might be a story about my life I will tell another time. Dad guides me up the steps to the Pack-house and I feel the same excitement I felt as a child walking into the Pack-house, I doubt it will ever change. I can’t wait to see Luna Elyse again, I have only had contact with her over the phone the past few years and I haven’t been home long enough to visit the Pack-house.
• “Diego, you can head straight up. The entire leadership is waiting for the two of you, dinner will be served in ten minutes.” An Omega says the moment we step into the door. I follow Dad up the stairs to the Alpha floor and I wonder what kind of questions I will need to answer, one of them I already know. Why did I hide the fact that I have a Lycan? I know I will tell them the truth and I know Dad, Alpha Max and Luna Elyse will understand why I didn’t tell anyone.
• I open the door to the Alpha floor and I smile when I see the drawing I made for Luna Elyse when I was ten, a drawing of her sitting behind a desk and Alpha Max standing behind her as both of them look down at a file they were working on. I remember looking over at the desk from the small table I used to draw at and both of them were engrossed in reading a file, I started drawing it in seconds to give it to Luna Elyse on her birthday a few weeks later.
• I step into the living room to hear a few gasps and I get wrapped into two arms that feel so familiar, “Maleah, what are you doing here?” I hear Luna Elyse ask me as she squeezes me tight and I chuckle as I wrap my arms around her and lift her of the floor. She squeals as I spin around once, I know she hates it when someone does that as I remember her scolding Alpha Max for doing the same thing.
• “Maleah, could you put my Mate down before she decides to kick your ass for a chance?” I hear Alpha Max from my left and as I put Luna Elyse down I look into her eyes, winking at her before I turn towards Alpha Max. “I know you loved it every time she kicked your ass, no matter how much you complained.” I say with a sweet smile on my face and I hear everyone laughing their asses off while Alpha Max looks at me dumbfounded.
• He shakes his head as he pulls me in for a hug and after that I get hugged by our former Beta and Gamma couple. “Okay, are you going to answer what you are doing here?” Elyse asks me and I tell her I was ordered to show up for dinner, that there would be no excuses. She turns towards her Sons with a look in her eyes that would make the toughest Warrior crumble, “Luna Elyse, something happened when I got home and I think your Sons just want to get a few answers. I know Dad would like some answers himself.” I say.
• “What the fuck did that bitch do this time?” Luna Elyse growls and I can tell by the look on everyone’s faces that they haven’t heard her cuss like this before, the only exceptions are her Mate, the former Beta and Gamma couple and of course my Dad. I look at the younger males in the room, but I have no idea who is who and I turn to my Dad.
• “Why didn’t you tell me Alpha Max stepped down, I have no idea who those guys are but something tells me that at least one of them is my Alpha?” I ask Dad and he tells me that the Alpha ceremony was during the fashion weeks in Gravta, “I told Diego not to inform you, we know how much time and effort you had put into it and it wouldn’t make a difference if you were here or not.” Alpha Max responds.