Not My Business

Wyatt 

It takes a lot to leave me speechless, but that fucking did it. 

It also raises more questions. 

Not going to lie, I'm feeling slightly out of my fucking element here. How the fuck do I go about it without sounding like an insensitive asshole?   

Fuck! 

Now I really want to kill these motherfuckers just for the simple reason of making me question myself like this, never mind the other despicable bullshit they are most likely guilty of. 

Speaking of, how many of them are guilty of doing despicable shit because I thought Alpha David was alright, old school but decent. Judging from how Tess just described him, I may have to rethink that. And let’s not forget what she said about Isaac.   

I let out a sigh, and without thinking, I pull out a cigarette and light it up, wanting to buy time before I open my mouth. 

“Oh shit. I’m sorry. I didn’t…” 

Tess shuts me up by dismissively waving her hand and opening her desk drawer. She brings out an astray and slides it over to me. “Don’t worry about it. This is gonna be a heavy conversation.” 

She then turns her head to Anne. “Can you open a window?” 

Anne sighed as if it were a bother, but she did it before returning to her little desk in the corner with her back to us.  

I thank Tess and bring the astray closer to me. I take another puff and sit back, looking around this almost barren office, still thinking about how to delicately ask about what was said. 

The walls are dull grey, and the only decoration is a few faded posters about workplace safety. There isn’t much besides Anne’s little desk in the corner, a bigger one between me and Tess, and a couple of chairs. 

And here I thought mine back home was simple, but even mine has a little personal touch to it. Anyone who walks in can easily tell it’s mine.    

Tess’s low, amused chuckle breaks me out of my thoughts. 

“Alpha Wyatt, I can see the wheels turning in your head.” She said, her tone breaking the tension in the room. 

I nod in confirmation, exhaling the smoke. ‘’Sorry, it’s just being…delicate is not exactly who I am an…” 

“You’re wondering how Angela could leave her pup behind?” She asks, cutting me off, her eyes downcast. 

I nod. “I just don’t know how to ask without sounding insensitive. I was about to say.” 

She presses her lips together and nods. “Yes, well, a lot of us have done things that we normally wouldn’t do.” She says somberly, looking down. “But of course, some will spin it and make us out to be the bad guys and judge us for it.” She says bitterly, throwing a glare in my direction. 

I ignore her look and dig. “Well, I don’t know any story or stories you are alluding to, and even if I did, I ignore stories. As far as judgment goes? You won’t get any from me, that I assure you. I just want to fucking know what’s going on, and yes, color me curious as to why a she-wolf would leave her pup behind.” I say, slightly harshly, not liking how she keeps testing me. 

“Because she knew what was about to happen and most likely what would happen if her slimy brother caught her.” Anne nonchalantly answered as if it was common news before Tess could get a chance to do so. 

I frown, turning to Tess, who sighs and rubs her temple. “Anne, I thought we agreed that if you were to stay in the room, you would be quiet." She scolds. 

Anne lazily turned around, wearing a bored but annoyed look. “He was annoying me with his dumb ass. I thought it would be freaking obvious.” She said, rolling her eyes. 

I turn to look at her, head tilting to the side. Did she just call me a dumbass and roll her eyes at me? 

“Anne!” 

“What?!” 

“Drop the attitude and apologize right now!” Tess says, raising her voice and pointing her finger. 

“Ugh, fine. I’m sorry, but…” 

“Enough! Either be quiet or leave. I am not dealing with your attitude while talking about this.” 

Anne throws her hands up, rolls her eyes again, and returns to her desk, mumbling that she is not a pup and other such things.   

“Sorry about that.” Tess mumbles to me. 

“That’s quite all right. It’s been a while since someone had the guts to talk like that to me. It’s actually a bit refreshing.” I chuckle, taking another puff. 

“But I am not as dumb as you claim, little girl.” I say a little louder with a condescending smirk, smoke slowly coming from the corner. “Not only did you grow up looking like your father, but you also seem to have inherited his annoying attitude.”   

Anne freezes over her computer before slowly turning around to face me, clearly scared, nervously glancing in Tess’s direction. 

“How did you know?” Tess asks with a stammer, clearly shocked and maybe afraid I will do something. 

I shrug. “It's not hard to miss. Like I said, she reminds me of him. I’ve only seen him a few times over the years, but each time he annoyed the living shit out of me with his pompous, know-it-all attitude. It’s kind of hard to forget that part.” 

Anne breaks the tension by giggling. “Try living with him. It was non-stop.” She says, shaking her head. 

“Alright, I take it back. And I’m sorry.” She said, being genuine this time. She turned around again, and the rapid clanking of keys started again. 

“Apology accepted,” I say with a nod of appreciation. 

I turn my head towards Tess, who looks at me with sharp, narrowed eyes. 

I ignore the look she is giving me, but I think I will reveal what I know about her so she knows I genuinely mean no harm despite having this information. I wasn’t planning to mention how much I know, but she’s pushing it with the looks and subtle digs. 

I was about to speak when Tess held up her palm to stop me. She straightened herself up and displayed a stern, no-nonsense expression, letting us both know she was serious, possibly getting protective since I dropped that bomb about her stepdaughter. 

“Let’s get one thing absolutely straight, Alpha Wyatt. While I appreciate you being considerate of my/our feelings, let’s not waste time. Feel free to talk about how you normally do while we are here, and I will also. At least as best I can. As I said before, I won’t betray my girls' trust. I have Angela’s permission to talk about her, but her story is one of many. Some of the others have had it worse. So much worse…” She mumbled the last bit as she leaned back into her seat, looking away. 

“I see…” I drawl, tilting my head to the side, assessing her. 

“Can I get that drink after all?” I glance in Anne’s direction. Tess catches my drift and nods. 

“Anne?” She asks. 

“Yeah, yeah, I heard you. You do know I’m not a waitress…” But gets cut off by Tess’s low warning growl. 

She folds her arms, trying not to roll her eyes. “What do you want?” She asked in a huff, annoyed. 

“How much worse are you talking about?” I ask Tess. 

She looks at Anne. “Bring the strong stuff that Robbie keeps hidden in the back. Make sure he doesn’t see you.” She says with a sly smile. 

Anne rolls her eyes and stomps to the door. When the door shuts, I straighten myself up and look directly into Tess’s eyes. 

I want her to see that I am serious about shit and that I don’t bullshit people around. 

“Now that she’s gone, I want you to listen to me and listen good. I am here to fucking help. I want answers about my pack members, I want to find my mate’s ex-mate and fucking rip him to pieces, and I am sure my ranked members are going to want revenge for their family members.” I say with a low growl. She’s been pissing me off for a while now.

She responds with a growl and gets closer to my face. So close that I could feel the anger radiating off her like a raging inferno about to blow. 

“Well, where the fuck were you before?! We needed help, then! Oh, right, hiding in your mountain pack while your fellow Alphas and others were passing us around like fucking toys! Only useful for their sick pleasure and as baby fucking incubators, unless it’s girls, of course, then they beat the shit out of us to make sure we lose it. Because of them, most of us are fucking wolfless!” She snarls. 

“So don’t get all up in my face and start acting like a righteous asshole demanding shit! You have no fucking idea what it’s been like for us. You are only here because it began affecting your pack. Well, news-fucking-flash, Alpha, shit has not been right for fucking decades.”  

I momentarily stare into her eyes and then let out a heavy sigh of defeat. She’s right. There is a lot I don’t know about, and I have had my head in the fucking sand for far too long. And what she just said is un-fucking-believable. 

Goddess, I hope what she said was out of anger. 

I move back to sit in my chair. “Fair enough.” 

I chuckle when I see her blink rapidly, her eyes darting around, all confused. “Excuse me?” She says, moving back.  

I take one last puff of my smoke before stubbing it out. “You are correct; I don’t have any fucking idea. No need to look that surprised.” I chuckle. Probably wrong timing for me to laugh, but I am enjoying her shocked reaction. 

I placed the ashtray on the desk, turning serious as I started to rub my hands together. “I admit it, I've ignored shit for too long, and now I want to rectify that, not just my mate or pack members, but everyone. Believe me when I say I didn’t know that this type of behavior was universally known and happening all over. Sure, I knew some Alphas like Klaus and Damon were fucking assholes because of what happened to some of my pack members, like my Delta couple, but not…” 

That piqued her interest. “You mean that Alpha from earlier?” She asked, interrupting me.

“Yes, and his mate Oscar, who is the older brother of that young girl. I suspect once Evan tells him about her, he will also be coming. Oscar and Evan are the reasons I knew about Klaus and Julius.” I growl but stop myself. 

“What do you mean?” She asks, fully invested. 

“I won’t go into details. Like you, I don’t talk about personal shit without permission. All I’m going to fucking say is that I don’t judge how people want to live as long as it’s healthy and consensual. And that I have no right to mess with whomever the Goddess mates us with. Certain shit is not my fucking business unless it’s a problem.” I narrow my eyes at her, and I watch her gulp nervously. 

Hmm, I wonder if she’s beginning to wonder if I know about her little secret. 

“Anyway, that is why I am here, and because it affects all of us one way or another, I know my pack will help and support any way we can. This shit ends now. Do you agree?” I ask, looking her dead in the eye. 

She nods her head, just as determined as I am.

“I have a question.” 

“Shoot.” 

“Why did you hide away?” She asked, her eyes narrowed. “I remember you being out and about when you first became Alpha, but after taking those packlands, you and your pack became hermits.” 

I shrug. “As I said, I don’t trust the fucking council, and I think their laws are bullshit, so I decided the further away we were, the better because then we or I, more like, could run the pack the way I wanted to, and council couldn’t say shit. Besides, I knew they were a bunch of lazy fucks to travel all that way, so it just worked all around. Maybe they thought at first we would wither and die when in reality that wasn’t the case, but I suspect that is why the kidnappings began happening.” 

She nods, and then a faraway smile appears on her lips as she looks down at her nails. “I see now why they called you the Rebellious Alpha.” She mumbled under her breath, amused.  

“How did you know that?!” I ask, surprised but hopeful because that means…

“We rescued a few women some months back, and they mentioned that they wanted to go home and that their Rebellious Alpha was a good man because he cared about them...” She pauses, her expression turning grim. “Unfortunately, they passed away, I'm sorry to say.” 

I ball my fist. “Then how did you know it was me?” I ask, clenching my jaw. 

“Anne found out when she learned their identities.” 

“Can I please have their names so we can do a ceremony to lay them to rest?” 

“Of course. When Anne comes back, I will tell her to write it down for you.”  

“Thank you, but before she comes back, there is one thing I want to know while it’s just us.” 

“Okay…?” She said, unsure, and her brows furrowed in apprehension.  

“Is Corinna Woods hiding among you, and does she know you who you are?” I smirk, wanting to see if she tells me herself. “Okay, two things I want to know.”  

I see the twitch in her eye, but she fights to keep her expression neutral. “Why do you ask, and what do you mean?” She retorts. 

“Well, earlier today, I saw a little boy with another she-wolf, not his mother; that was obvious, but he looked remarkably like your little brother.” I smirk as I watch her eyes grow big, but I don’t stop.  

“So I ask again, is Luna Corinna hiding among you, and does she know that you are her son’s aunt through your relation to Xander Woods, your little asshole of a half-brother who's the current head councilman and the daughter of former asshole head councilman Randall Woods, and last but not least the former mate to Alpha Roman who is Anne’s father. Have I got that right?” I taunt.

“How...” She mumbled, her face paled in shock and panic, but I did exactly what she did to me with my hand. 

“Last but not least, you are also mated to a bear shifter.”