Lahat ng Kabanata ng Alpha's Dirty Secrets: Kabanata 771 - Kabanata 780

I told her mother that her daughter had a bright smile and a cute nose. Saying 'your pride and joy would look good handcuffed to my bed' wouldn't win me points. As the desk sergeant and I finished, out walked two wasted teen fashion queens with a female police escort."Sign for the over-privileged skanks," the Sergeant directed me.Desiree pushed me aside and took custody of Marilynn and her high society pal, Vienna Rothmore. The two young ladies joined us as we left the station."Sorry to mess up your date, Desiree," Marilynn snickered. Yeah...right, she was soooo sorry."He's not my date," Desiree ground out. "He's one of our new hires.""Oh, cool," Marilynn slurred. She reached up from the back seat and put a hand on my shoulder. "I want you to come home with me and help me test my sheets to make sure they are comfortable," she giggled. "I have delicate skin.""You also have a problem with substance abuse, taking things that don't belong to you, and a lifetime of making poor choice

She also reinforced my libido driven ambiguity – essentially she encouraged me to be a man-whore because I had a voracious sexual appetite. Thus the reason I knew I could pick up a date at any bar within five minutes. Of greater relevance was that I could tell the difference between Dorian and Attic Greek, real 19th dynasty Egyptian versus a Cairo backstreet knock-off, Old Kingdom Hittite and Gaelic Celt from the Early Roman Republic period.This one room was worth a mint. I was brought back from my ruminations by a sublime call to order. The room grew quiet, the women stood solemnly and then Ms. Hayden St. John (aka Marilynn's Grans) began a deep intonation – a chant. Each of the elder members of the board took up the song based on seniority. When all the board members had taken up the anthem, the junior women uniformly began to sing a different song at a higher pitch.The final refrain ended with a sorrowful echo. The women sat down and the business began. Now I knew why they didn't

"It is a matter of respect," Katrina answered. "I am giving him an opportunity and he is grateful for the chance to prove himself." Not that I 'understood' her being nice to me – almost. Absently, Katrina reached out and caressed the top of my head. While not maternal, I definitely sensed this was something she might do to a favored child."What of his unrestrained violence? We are already working on turning the first one docile because he could not control his crude masculine instincts. Why should we diverge from the traditional treatment with this one?" A different senior, this one Egyptian maybe – spoke in Hittite."Oh, really," Katrina mused – same language. "Cáel, hit Buffy," in English. Huh?"Please explain why I would do that to one of your people, Katrina," I raised my head. That caused some murmurs."I wish you to do it, so hit her," Katrina insisted."No, that would be wrong," I kept studying my mentor."Fine, attack that woman over there," she pointed to the senior Egyptian

"What really happened?" Helena repeated so I told them the whole story. This was the first time Buffy heard the whole thing in a language she could understand - English."Why didn't you simply let her hit you that second time?" Helena asked. Buffy nodded."Seriously, you two need to get some backbone," I glared at them. They looked peeved. "Listen, those other ladies don't have the right to treat us like crap. We are not doormats, we are facilitators and fuck them if they don't appreciate our worth.""Yet you bowed down to Hayden, Katrina and me," Buffy countered."You are my bosses," I sounded exasperated. "I'm here to learn and that means listening to, and observing, those who have progressed farther than me. That means when you tell me to bow, I presume you have a good reason for it and do as I'm told.""The other new hires don't kneel," Helena pointed out."It's not my fault they are not as smart as me," I snickered. We all knew that was a lie."I hope you make it," Buffy patted m

"Come by tomorrow morning and I'll finish the work," she offered."Work up five more suits for him," Buffy ordered in an off-handed manner. "We'll pick them up tomorrow afternoon.""Two o'clock," the lady tailor nodded."How in the heck am I going to get here at two?" I whispered to Helena. She flicked my nose."Put it in an order with Executive Services, you Idiot," she mocked. "You know - where you work." Okay, I had walked into that one. I looked suitably ashamed. We were given my old clothes in a bag and headed out. Dinner with Katrina wasn't for a half hour so we decided to walk around.My new shoes were killing me so, of course, we were taking a long walk."Why does Havenstone - a female-only company - have an account with a men's clothier?" I wondered."They do both men's and women's suits," Helena offered."How silly of me," I glanced her way. "It stands to reason they would have women's suits in my size, with my shoulder span and corresponding pants...and shoes.""Be careful,