Lost and Found

chapter 6

 We walk up a few more flights of stairs, I count as we go, the stairs stop on the 5th floor and we head down the hallway.  We come to a stop at one of the doors,  Ez pulls out a key, he opens the door and walks through. I step in and this "room" is bigger then the last foster home I was in. The style is very clean and modern, shades of gray, white and a few pops of color. Along the wall to my right is a side table extending the length of the wall, the wall breaks into a doorway which heads to a small kitchenet with a fridge, oven and sink. The L shaped counter is a sparkly white quartz with waves of pink its pretty much an Island allowing the room to feel really open.  There is also a  small sitting area, with a comfy looking blue couch and chair, behind those I can see a sliding glass door that leads out to the balcony.  Farther to the right there is large bed near the middle of the room, kiddie corner to the sitting area and the bed is a white brick fireplace with a large T.V. mounted. There is another small hall way at the other end of the room, I am guessing leads to the bathroom and closet. Above the bed is a stunning chandelier, "a freaking chandelier!? wow this place is fancy." I think to myself. 

  I catch Ez staring at me as I take in the size and beauty of the small apartment. He is smiling, its a strange expression, not one anyone has given me, but one I have seen on other people. Parents, or boyfriends that give someone a gift, the look they get, like they hope they like it. I can tell he wants me to like it, but there is no way he can think I wouldn't.

    "What do you think?" he asks. 

    "Its fine. It will do." I say trying to keep my excitement under control. 

    "Excellent. I am glad you find it acceptable. If you are hungry there is a phone by the bed and you can ask the kitchen staff to bring you something. The fridge isn't stocked yet, I will send someone in for you to speak with if you have questions about the house logistics. You saw where my office is, after you have rested please come down tomorrow morning and speak with me. We have much to discuss." 

    I nod my head, "Sounds good." I respond, I see it is starting to get dark out side. Ez stands there for a moment, unsure what to do. 

    "Ok well have a good night, If you need anything my room is farther down the hall, the very last door." He hands me the key to my room, he walks out and closes the door behind him. 

    I take a seat on the couch, trying to absorb everything. I close my eyes trying to decompress everything that has happened. 

 I hear a knock on the door and I jolt awake. I realize it is now morning, the crick on  my neck tells me I spent the entire night on the couch. I look at the big comfy bed, feeling a little sad I couldn't enjoy it.  I hear the knock again and I head to the door, I open it and see a woman at the door. She stands a little taller then me, with an athletic build, she is wearing shorts and a tank top. Her micro braids go down to the middle of her back,  she has a Monroe piercing and her almond eyes show a familiar kindness.

    "Hey, I am Isis, you must be Selena." she gives a warm smile.  "Alpha asked me to come by, talk to you. You are new to this and he wanted me to field any questions you have."

    "Sounds good,  I kinda just woke up, but come on in." I step to the side letting her in. 

 She goes towards the sitting area and just looks around.

    "Everything ok?" I ask after a couple minutes of silence. 

    "I'm sorry. Its so strange. The alpha's family are all kind of like ghost stories. No one even knew you existed, and my dad told me you grew up as a human. You never even knew what you were. This is strange for me but this has got to be crazy for you."

    I shrug. "What do you mean by ghost stories?" She looks to the ground, embarrassed. 

    "Don't tell them I said that. I just mean, he has no family, blood family.  Which is uncommon for our kind. We are pack animals, we keep our family close. He lost his mate in a war with a rival pack a long time ago, he only sired one child. As you know he lost her too, so he has been alone a long time. He is the oldest alpha around, but he doesn't have one one to succeed him yet. So he just keeps working."

    "What do you know of my mother?" she starts nervously biting her lip. thinking before she responds. 

    "That's not for me to tell, and I only know rumors. I don't want to say anything that isn't true. That is something you will need to speak with the alpha about."

    "Ok, well when can I speak with him?"

    "Do you wanna shower first? get changed maybe?" She asks tentatively

 I look down at myself, I have seen better days. I nod, yep, and head to the bathroom. 30 min later I come out and Isis is chilling, laid back on the couch with a plate of waffles. I see there are several other plates of food on the table.

    "I figured you would be hungry, but I didn't know what you like so I just had them bring a bunch of stuff." She waves her hand across the table, inviting me to take anything. 

 I sit next to her and grab a plate, I'm not picky.  "Who is them?" I ask.

    "Huh?"

    "You said you had "them" bring a bunch of stuff. Who is them?" I ask again.

    "Ah, ok, I was referring to the Omegas. They work in the pack house and what not, cooking, cleaning, that kind of stuff."

    "Ok,  are they paid to work?"

    "Yea, if they choose to take up employment in the pack house then of course they would be paid, if they want."

    "If they want? Why wouldn't they want to be paid?" She rolls her eyes at me. 

    "Alright, look the land the pack lives on, we own it. All of it. The Alpha has business's, he the Beta, Gamma, and any one qualified to, works in them. The pack is a family, we don't have to pay for our homes, rent, we have our own grocery stores and things. If you live on the land you technically don't have to pay for anything. We do go by an honor system though, so for example if you do work and are paid then you should pay for some things, there are some small shops and business's other wolves have opened. Its good to help support them, we are a pretty self sufficient community but we do still ship things from outside. Some of us do work out of the village with the humans, jobs are hard to come by on the pack lands, or maybe something you are interested in, we just don't have anything in that field."

    "Wow. this is crazy, not having to pay for anything. What kind of business does the alpha have?"

    "He dabbles in a lot of stuff, the companies are of course passed down, as new alphas take over, sometimes they create new revenue streams, sometimes they just keep working with the old companies, and sometimes they liquidate it. Depends on what's making money, I don't mess with that side very much I know they do renovations, real estate, they have a few restaurants and shops out there with the humans." 

    "That's pretty cool, you have your own society here. What's up with the pack house? What does that mean?"

    "The pack house is what we are in now. So this is the pack house." She lifts her arms, gesturing towards the ceiling. "the leaders of the pack live here. The first floor is open to all, with hang out areas, eating areas. The omegas work out of the pack kitchen for anyone that wants to come through for meals. This is where all pack meeting's are held, the field out back is where we train. The 2nd floor on the East wing, is where the Alpha, Beta, and Gamma conduct their business, all of their offices and conference rooms are there. The 3rd floor is for the Gamma and his family, if he had one.  The 4th floor is for the Beta and his family, and of course the 5th, where you are, well that's obvious now, isn't it. Then you got the West wing, which is full of guest rooms and stuff, for whenever other packs come to visit or guests, we have space for them. "

    "And where do you fit into all this?" 

    "Me? Oh, I live one floor down. My father is the Beta." she states. Her eyes glaze over and she goes silent for a second. She snaps back and says "The alpha is asking for you to come see him in his office."

    "Umm how do you know that?" I am so confused

    "Oh, of course you don't know.  In a pack we can mind link each other. It makes it easier to communicate, especially in wolf form."

    "So people can just like pop into your head and tell you things? what if you are in the middle of something?"

    "Kind of, its like there is a barrier in your head, when someone is trying to mind link with you, it feels like a little bit of pressure and you can choose to receive the message or not. Once you become a part of the pack you will see. We can also block out everyone, for when we don't want to be bothered. Of course if there is something important going on, the alpha can over power any one, the beta can over power any one but the alpha, and so on."

    "That is so weird." Now we can read other peoples minds? She gets up and starts making her way to the door. I follow obediently, still processing. 

    "Not any weirder then turning into a wolf." 

  She has a point. There is a whole lot of weird going around. "Speaking of when does that happen? turning into a wolf? do I have to wait for the full moon or something?" She stops, and spins around to look at me. 

    "You are joking right?" She c***s her head slightly to the side. I think I might have just offended her. "No, we can shift whenever we want. The moon phases do not affect us. Once you can speak with your wolf you can shift, it is super painful the first few times, and your first phase will take awhile. Your body will not be accustomed, they can take hours for you to get the full form the first time. We will typically do a ceremony, but I'm not sure what we will do for you, best to just ask the alpha about it." She stops in front of his door. "He is ready for you. I will see you later" she waves and walks back the way she came. 

 "Alright" I say to myself, time to get some answers. 

 I walk into Ez's office, he is alone this time seated on the couch, he stands when I walk in. 

    "How are you feeling, did you sleep alright?" He reaches out a hand then drops it, he seems as unsure what to do in this situation as I am.  I stand in front of him awkwardly. 

    "Yea, it was fine. Isis got me breakfast this morning. She was filling me in on alot, but I guess you know that because you did a mind linky thing with her."

    "Its just a mind link, not a linky thing, just a mind link," He says with a chuckle. "Please sit. there is more to discuss, now that you are rested." He gestures to the couch, for me to sit. 

    "Ok. Lets begin."