Nine: Wolves Work Too

JOSE

I couldn’t get enough sleep because I spent all night thinking about all the events that happened, thinking about her, and I don’t know why she’s clouded my brain and is ruling my thoughts, but she is, and she’s made it really difficult for me to sleep or do anything in general. But I won’t let her distract me.

Besides, I’m a twenty-five-year-old who has two jobs. I run a company, the family company my father left me after he died, and I’m the alpha; it’s my job to lead werewolves to protect humans from harm's way.

Demons, vampires, fairies, rogue werewolves you name it. We destroy them before they get a chance to destroy anyone. That’s the covenant our ancestors made with the gods, years and years ago.

When I found out I was going to be alpha, I was thrilled, and I knew that I was going to be doing great things. All I had to do was wait for the other alpha to retire, but he didn’t retire; he was killed by a vampire, and when an alpha dies, the next one takes after.

It’s a whole Buffy the Vampire Slayer situation.

I did feel special. I am stronger than my other werewolf peers, faster, smarter. I thought I was going to be the only powerful wolf. That’s until she came along, a shifter and an alpha. A regular shifter is already more powerful than the average werewolf, so imagine a shifter who happens to be an alpha.

That’s how powerful she is, and she doesn’t even know that. Maybe she does after she created a crack on my window last night.

Or maybe I’m not really thinking about that; maybe I was just thinking about her as a person and how she was naked in my arms, but not in a creepy way. She is beautiful; everything about her is beautiful. Anyone can see that. But I still despise her, though.

Yes, what happened to her mom was sick; I know that. It’s not fair, and I’m going to do everything in my power to protect her from those sick shifter hunters. That’s what I was chosen to do.

But her existence has given me a bruised ego because I thought I was going to be the only alpha in New York. If news gets out about this, I am so going to get made fun of by my enemies.

I get out of bed. I didn’t have enough sleep, but oh well, who does these days? I do my normal routine: I work out and go for an early morning jog. I always do that with Candace, but she doesn’t join me today. After working out and running around New York City, I shower, and I put on my suit and tie to get ready for work.

I’m a very simple man; I don’t like disorderliness, and I value planning and perfection. Which is why Soraya arriving has thrown me off of that orderliness. Now I don’t just have to think about my job, or the people I have to protect, but I have to think of a shifter who didn’t know she was a shifter a while ago, and she’s now being hunted.

God, this is going to be an insane year.

I head downstairs, and I smell something cooking. I walk over to the kitchen, and I see a lady wearing my shirt making eggs and bacon.

“Oh, good morning, darling,” she says with a smile. Yes, after I dropped Soraya off, I had sex despite how tired I was. Jackie was already here, so I fucked her.

“Good morning,” I say. “Smells good.”

“Well, that’s a good sign. I figured you’d want a home-cooked meal since all you eat is cereal every morning.” She looks at my Cocoa Puffs with so much disgust.

“Hey, don’t hate on the puffs”, I say pointedly, and she laughs, and I love her laugh, but I don’t love her.

I love her company; Jackie Sparrow is one of the hottest female werewolves out there, and we both love how we keep each other company. I just hope she knows that.

Jackie has piercing blue eyes, framed and defined arched eyebrows, and full, darkened eyelashes. Her hair is long and dark, styled with a clean middle part framing her face. High defined cheekbones, a clear tanned complexion and full lips featuring a glossy finish.

All the werewolves want her, but she picked me because I was always nice to her in high school and the fact that I’m hot, her words, not mine.

I just hope she doesn’t think we should be in any kind of relationship because that will just ruin the dynamic we have with each other. Because she has never cooked before. It was only sex, and normally after sex she would just leave the building before I even woke up. So I was surprised to see her still on my bed when I woke up.

She places the plate of eggs and bacon on the table, and then she puts coffee on the side, and then I sit down, still wary about what is going on.

“What?” she asks me when she notices me staring at her as if she might just murder me.

“Why did you decide to do this all of a sudden?” I ask, and then she rolls her eyes.

“I told you I wanted to do something nice for once. What is it? Do you think I planted wolfsbane in there?”

“Honey, I’m an alpha. I can sense when there’s wolfsbane in my food,” I say.

She scoffs. “Yes, yes, rub it in my face that you’re the alpha.” I chuckle, and so does she. “Will you please eat something so I don’t feel like I wasted my time here?” she says.

“Okay, okay, you never waste your time here,” I say, winking at her, and I’m glad she’s smiling; that means she immediately understood what I meant.

I start eating my eggs and bacon, and I pause and eat slowly to see if I’d love it, and I do.

“So, do you like it?”

I shrug, and I continue eating. “Not bad,” I say, and then she sighs.

“Really, that’s all I get?” I look at her with a mischievous smile on her face. “You dog!” I laugh and so does she. God, I love the way she laughs.

“Okay, in all seriousness, this is amazing. Thank you.”

She blushes, but he tries not to show it. “Anything for you, my alphaness.” She bows, and I shake my head at her.

After eating, I go downstairs, and I walk straight toward my car. Mickey, my chauffeur, greets me, and I pat him on the back.

I’m about to get into the car, but I pause, then I look at the cracked window. Then I remember Soraya slamming the door. She crosses my mind in general. I think of her anyway.

“After work, head straight for the mechanic to change the window.”

“Alright, sir.”

I get in, and we get a move on.

We arrive at the company that my father had passed on to me after he died. No one liked the fact that a young man like me could have the balls to run a muilti-billion-dollar company. But I proved them wrong when I got more money for the company; I proved them wrong when Forbes named me the youngest billionaire right now.

Now no one sees me as a kid; they all see me as a grown adult who is smart enough to pull this shit off.

Everyone here greets me as I step into the building. It’s the same old normal routine. I say hi to everyone, they say hi to me, ensuring a stable and healthy working environment. My father ran this place with an iron fist, and he might have thought he was respected, but he wasn’t; he was only feared, and I didn’t want to be feared. I wanted to be respected, and I wanted to respect others.

And I think I’ve done a good job of it right now.

The elevator takes me upstairs, and I’m headed into my office.

“Good morning, sir.”

“Good morning, Miranda,” I say to my Wasian secretary.

Her dad is white; her mom is Japanese. She’s in her late forties, and she’s been working for my dad for as long as I can remember. She’s been a good asset to this company, and I respect her a lot; we respect each other a lot.

And she’s a human who knows about the supernatural world.

“How was your night?” I ask her.

“It was good, uh, the investors are waiting for you for the meeting.” My eyes widen at that statement.

“Shit.”

“You forgot?”

“I forgot,” I say with my eyes closed shut because I hate forgetting things. I really do; it makes me cringe.

“Okay, it’s okay, it’s alright. They’re in the meeting room; they’re not going to be here for too long. Just go in there.”

“Ugh, but I hate talking to those men; they’re annoying,” I whine.

“Now’s not the time to be whining; you have a lot of work to do. I know they’re annoying, but you can do this.” She pats me on the back, and I let out a sigh. I walk over to the door, and then I walk in without thinking too much of it.

“HEY, there’s our boy!” I put on a fake smile. Let the annoyance begin.