Show Respect

Wyatt 

My head whipped to look at her retreating form, and my brow instantly rose in curiosity and suspicion. 

What the fuck did she mean by that? 

There is definitely something fucking weird going on around here, but she’s already walked too far for me to ask her, and don’t think I missed that wry-knowing smirk of hers as she turned. 

I moved to chase after her when I remembered Evan had shredded his clothes. 

Fuck! I better get some clothes out for him. I’m sure I got something in the trunk.

I ran my hand over my face and groaned, quickly walking to the back of the car.

To be fair, I don’t fucking blame him for running off the way he did. I bet Koa didn’t give him much of a choice after everything he learned and in such quick succession. I just hope he has enough common fucking sense to keep away his wolf back from going after certain folks. 

We can’t be out doing anything reckless. Yet. 

When the right time comes, I have no problem letting them loose. I suspect Evan won’t be the only one who will want revenge. 

‘And yet you wouldn’t let me out?’ Axel grumpily chimes in, feeling restless. 

I open the trunk and hastily rummage through it, looking for clothes. 

‘That’s because we have shit to do and not a lot of time unless you wanted to miss out on the slight possibility of seeing our mate this morning? Plus, we both know if I did, you definitely would have done something fucking reckless.’ I retort. 

Axel just grumbles, retreating into my mind. Yeah, that’s what I thought. Our temper is well-known for a reason. 

Once I find what I am looking for, I close the trunk and leave the clothes somewhere Evan can easily spot them before following Tess’s scent. 

I walk fast to catch up while texting Evan, telling him where I will be and telling him to go there when he’s done with whatever he needs to do.

“All done?” Tess asks when I catch up to her. 

“Yup. Can’t have him scaring anyone with his naked ass.” I say with a slight chuckle, pocketing the phone. 

“Much appreciated.” She said with a slight nod. 

We continue walking silently, not knowing what to say to each other. 

“So what did you mean by that?” I suddenly ask, breaking our awkward silence. No point beating around the bush; I want to know, so I might as well ask.  

“With what?” She said, shrugging one shoulder.   

“When you said ‘you were told I was good people,’ since I highly doubt that came from my mate.” I joke, awkwardly using my fingers as quotes. It's not something I usually do, but I want this woman to be at ease with me. 

Tess lazily rolled her eyes and chuckled. “And you would be right. It didn’t come from her.” 

I nod, ignoring my disappointment that my mate didn’t mention me. 

After a brief pause, she speaks again. “Let’s just say I have a very trustworthy source.”  

I quietly hum, my brows knitting together in curiosity. 

I glance at her while we walk, but she keeps her eyes forward. Her neutral expression not giving anything away. She’s obviously very good at keeping things close to the chest.

I wonder who this ‘’source’’ is...

“Your mate didn’t say anything too negative about you other than you were an arrogant, noisy ass.” She said, pursing her lips, trying not to laugh. 

I raise an amused brow. “Well, forgive me for wanting to know something about my mate.” I jokingly defend. 

“Yeah, well, good luck with that. That one has major trust issues.” She mutters as we walk up the stairs to the diner. 

“I fucking noticed.” I sarcastically mumble under my breath. I open the door for her, stepping into the busy diner behind her. 

She must have heard me as she gave me a quick, sympathetic half-smile over her shoulder before wiping it, becoming serious as her eyes darted around the busy diner, looking for someone.

“Angie, come here.” She says, motioning with her hand.  

Angie quickly cleans up the table and walks over. They briefly talk shop for a few moments while I stand by the door, taking in all the different scents. 

The place is a bustling mix of shifters and humans, but what catches my attention, besides the occasional human who doesn’t know the meaning of fucking showers, is that most of the staff are shifters and female lone wolves, like Angie and Tess. 

I also smell more she-wolves, but they must be in the back or nearby, as I can’t see them here. 

I feel Tess lightly tap my arm, bringing my attention back to the present, and ask if I want a coffee or something. I shake my head and politely decline. 

I’ve had more than enough this morning. 

Tess nods and turns to Angie. “Okay, please escort Al…” She stops abruptly, her lips nervously pursing while her eyes quickly look around us. 

Tess composes herself by faking a cough. “Uh, Mr. Wyatt, to the back office, and I will be there soon. I just need to have a quick word with someone first.” She said with a curt nod, turning on her heel and walking towards the kitchen. 

Angie finally let out the giggle she’d been trying to suppress from behind her hand, and I just shook my head, amused by Angie’s laughter and at how Tess addressed me, but fair play to her for catching herself since we were among humans, even though I don’t think they were paying attention.     

Angie shakes her head, composing herself. “This way.” She says, jutting her head in the direction she wants me to follow, and I nod, gesturing with my hand for her to lead the way. 

When we get closer to the ‘Employees Only’ door, I go around her to reach it first and open it for her since her hands are busy with a heavy tray full of dirty dishes. She gives me a grateful nod and walks in, and I follow her. 

After arguing with her when she says it’s not a big deal, I insist she take care of that first. I don’t miss the look of surprise when I take it upon myself to help her with it, but I don’t say anything. 

After she had put the washer on, she thanked me and asked if I wanted a drink. I politely declined again. She nodded and led me out into the hallway. 

Once we were further away from the noisy diner, I decided now was a good time to ask her about something. I’ve been curious since I realized who she was and deduced she’s a Beta. 

“Beta Angela?” 

“Yes, Alpha Wyatt?” She says apprehensively, without looking at me, continuing to walk in front of me.

“You said last night that your brother is Alpha Damon, right?” I ask. 

She stops abruptly at the mention of his name, and I almost bump into her. I don’t miss the slight shiver, but she shakes it off before turning to me. 

“What about him?” She asked, not bothering to hide the disgust in her tone.   

“I was just wondering how he became Alpha of the Sliver Claw Pack when he’s of Beta descent, right?” 

    

She doesn’t answer until she opens the door and gestures for me to enter. 

I nod in thanks and step into the small office. I see a young blonde girl sitting at a tiny corner desk with her back to us. 

“Hello, Alpha Wyatt and Angie.” The blonde says without looking at us, and I raise a brow. 

How did she know? 

Angie sports a knowing smirk. “Miss Annie girl, here is our tech girl.” But gets cut off when the blonde snorts and swivels around with a scowl. 

“Angela, do NOT call me that! You know I freaking hate that! My name is Anne, end of!” She lowly hisses, annoyed. She whips her head to me, nose still flaring. “And yes, I know exactly who you are, Alpha, so return that eyebrow to its original place. Give my congrats to whoever does your security at your pack. It’s not easy to hack into it.” She rapidly says. 

“You hacked my pack?!” 

She casually shrugs, not giving a damn. “Yeah. How else are we supposed to get information?” She says, acting like it’s a normal thing to do. I, however, think it’s a huge violation of my pack’s privacy. 

The door closing behind me catches my attention, and I shake my head. 

It’s okay; aside from feeling a little violated, Jason will probably have caught on and dealt with it. 

Angie gestures with her hand to a chair behind me. “Have a seat, Alpha. In here, we can talk freely, but a word of caution: try to keep the snarls and growls to a minimum if you can.” She said as we both sat down at the same time. 

The blonde, Anne, turned around and continued what she was doing, not caring we were there. 

I raise a brow, looking at her, but Angie’s slight giggle catches my attention. “Don’t worry about her. As you probably gathered, she’s our information highway, and if she doesn’t know something, she will find out in like 2 seconds flat.” She explains with a shrug. 

“Got that right. Plus, Tess asked me to be here. I guess I may need to hack into something, depending on what he tells us.” She says, pointing her thumb at me but never taking her eyes off the screen. “Anyway, I got bored, waiting for your lazy asses’ so I decided to poke around to kill time. Like I said, whoever did your security is good. Not my level good, but nonetheless. Been a minute since I had to work at it. Definitely took care of my boredom.” Anne says, keeping her eyes on the screen and typing.   

Well, alright. Tess walked in just as I was about to ask Angie about her brother. 

“Hello, everyone. Sorry to keep you waiting.” She said, closing the door behind her. 

“No problem. I was just about to ask Beta Angela something, and while I am at it, blondie here can also answer something for me.” 

“It’s Anne!” She snaps. 

Angie and Tess laugh, and I just run my jaw, amused. “Excuse her. She gets a little touchy,” Tess explains before their laughter dies down. 

Suddenly, the women looked at me like I was some alien. 

“What did you just call me?” Angie asks, tilting her head to the side. 

“What?” I ask, confused. 

“You said Beta Angela, and come to think of it, you called the girl Gamma. Why? We all know only men have titles; we don’t,” Angie asks. 

I shrug. “Until you tell me otherwise, I show respect by using your titles like you do with me,” I say, leaning back into the chair. I then raise my ankle and rest it on my knee, making myself comfortable. 

“Unless, of course, we are around humans, then it’s Miss or Mrs.” I flash them a smirk.

Tess and Angie stifle their giggles while Anne looks around, confused, not understanding my joke. Again, not something I usually do. I’m really pulling out all the fucking stops to make these women comfortable with me. I didn’t think I would have to work this hard unless it came to my mate.

“In all seriousness, I mean it. There is no difference to me, man or woman, and from what I can tell, I am in the room with a Beta female and two Alpha females. So nice to officially meet you.” I say with a respectful nod.   

All three stare at me and each other, speechless. Tess finally broke the silence by clearing her throat. “Thank you. I’m sorry, it’s just we are used to, well, not being respected by men like you.” 

“All good, and no need to explain; your reactions spoke fuc...” I stopped myself. 

I cleared my throat. “Anyway, if it makes any of you comfortable, you can just call me Wyatt, but either way, I’m good.” I say, clasping my hands. 

“I don’t think so, but I’m good with you just calling me by my name. If you call me ‘Alpha’ I wouldn’t be able to take you seriously.” Tess answers, and the other women nod their heads in agreement. 

I give them a nod. “Alright. Before we proceed, I asked you,” I point to Angie. “A question. Can you please answer me now?” 

“What question was that?” Tess asks, looking back and forth. 

“He asked how come slimy Damon is the Alpha while Angie is a Beta,” Anne answers, having turned back to whatever she was doing. 

“Ah, I see,” Tess says, then turns to Angie. “Do you want to answer him or me to?” 

“It’s alright. Not much to say anyway.” She said, taking a deep breath before turning her gaze to me. “My asshole of a brother killed Alpha David, and I ran the moment I felt his tether snap.” 

“And what happened to his heir?” 

“Him too,” Angie whispers, her eyes moving to the floor. “I felt the tether snap as I reached the pack border,” Angie explains while Tess reaches over and takes her hand. “Can I go back to work now?” She asked, squeezing Tess's hand. 

“Yeah, of course.” Angie doesn’t waste a minute and goes to the door. “Before you go, do you want me to tell the full story or leave it there?” Tess asks. 

Angie takes a good, hard look at me before turning her gaze to Tess and nodding. “He seems different. I trust him. I just can’t…” She says, looking like she’s about to break into tears. 

“I know, sweetie. Go and get yourself a hot drink first to calm yourself.” Tess says in a motherly tone. 

“I apologize. I didn’t mean to upset her by bringing him her old Alpha.” I say the moment Angie closes the door. 

“Oh please,” Tess says, rolling her eyes. “She wasn’t upset about the old fucker. Alpha David was, to some extent, no better than the others.” 

My brows knit. “Alright…” I drawl out, confused as fuck. 

“The Alpha heir, Jesse, was her son.” She said with a heavy sigh, looking at the door. 

“That night, when she felt the tether snap, Angie had to make the biggest decision of her young life in a split second. Her or Jesse. She chose to save herself by leaving him behind.” She explained, her tone cold and clipped. 

Well, fuck. 

Out of all the things I expected to hear, that was not one of them.