Purpose and Poise

Lucy’s POV

I took a breath outside of my parents’ office, steeling myself for the scolding I was sure I was going to get. Sure, I was an adult; but that didn’t mean I had no obligations since I chose my career path. One of those obligations was having security details with me; something that I evaded regularly, giving my parents headaches, I was sure.

“Enter!” I could hear my dad call out as I knocked, bracing myself one last time as I opened the door.

“Lucy, baby girl!” My mom ran up to me from her perch on my father’s lap, pulling me into a hug right away and planting a kiss on my forehead. “Why didn’t you tell us you were finished early?!”

“And why did you ditch your security detail again?” My father grumbled as he stood up and joined us, pulling g both me and my mom into a hug. “I am both proud and pissed at you, young woman.” He scolded.

“I was going to go and spend a little extra time with Rowan before everything this weekend.” I admitted, getting a tsk from my mom.

“I still say you should wait for your fated. I mean, I wish I did. It would have saved me a lot of heartache in the beginning; isn’t that right, Teddy?” She smiled and kissed my father deeply, getting a growl from him in turn.

“Well; you don’t have to worry about that anymore.” I admitted, watching both of their eyebrows shoot up. “I caught Rowan cheating with another wolf by accident.”

My mom’s mouth dropped in surprise as my dad’s growl deepened into something predatory. “I’ll kill both of them.” Dad fumed, his jaw clenching in anger.

“No need. At least for half of the parties involved. Turns out that the other female didn’t know about me at all either. We’re fast friends now and I’d hate to see her dead. Rowan can go eat the shit he stepped in for all I care.” I said nonchalantly.

“What?” My mom and dad both shared a confused stare at that as I waved them off, checking a little to myself.

“It doesn’t matter; but the placement and name cards will read “Suzy” next to me now, just to tick him off further.” I smiled.

“Suzy who? We need to have her vetted before that can happen.” My dad went over to his computer and pulled up the records for the London for wolves, his life’s work of census files all on hand just with the click of a button.

“Good question.” I shrugged, making my dad frown again.

“Lucy. You cannot be lax with security like this! We have enemies. One’s that will not hesitate to see you dead or even worse.” He scolded. “And I’m taking Rowan off the lists for the event.”

“Thank you, and I’m sure she’s fine. She didn’t even know who I was until the welcome committee showed up.” I shrugged.

“It is highly unlikely she didn’t, love.” My mom patted my shoulder, sighing a little. “Your picture is on updates and newsletters for all packs constantly.”

“Oh! She said she’s from Ohio and that her parents are coming to the event on Monday!” I snapped my fingers at the memory as I watched my dad type away furiously at that.

“Hmmm… Suzy.. Suzy… Suzy…” a few more minutes, and he had a ping on his computer. “Denis and Glinda Billberry and son Jason and daughter Suzanna..”

“See?” I smiled. “It’s fine. Now, if you both will excuse me, I have a guest to take care of and I want to get things set up to have a family dinner like we used to have tonight.”

“Ah, great idea sweetie! I’ll let everyone know and go make some brownies to go with it.” Mom smiled at me as she went over to the desk and kissed my dad before leaving. “I’ll see you later, handsome.”

“You too, babe.” He smiled at her as she left the office, turning his attention back to me. “And not so fast, young lady. We need to talk about Monday.”

“Don’t we already have everything set up? All I have to do is basically smile, wave, and mingle that evening for the Samhain festival and then my birthday.”

“Security. No avoiding them that evening.” He glared at me, his aura slipping out slightly to let me l so how serious he was. “Tensions are brewing for something big lately, and I can’t put my finger on what it is.”

I wanted to roll my eyes, but my father was currently staring daggers at me to let me know how serious he was. “Alright. Alright.” I conceded, getting him to relax some in his chair. “No more shirking the guards..”

He smiled at me then, relaxing as I agreed. “And wag to go kiddo, I’m so happy you graduated. You’re growing up so fast.” He stood up and pulled me into another hug,asking me giggle as he twirled me around like I was a little girl again. “No, let’s go make sure this party goes off without a hitch this weekend.”

*****

Suzy’s POV

“You can wait here. Also; what size are you in clothing?” The maid asked me as she showed me to a decent sized bedroom with a king size bed and a bathroom attached.

“I’m a large, size fourteen pants and dress; waist is twenty seven, chest is thirty two, hips are thirty.” I rattled off my measurements as the maid nodded and smiled.

“Alright, let me go and see what we can do.” She left me and closed the door behind her, leaving me alone now as I peaked out the window in the room.

Finally! I sighed as I hopped onto the bed and sprawled out on the mattress. Goddess, I had thought they’d never leave me alone.