Hidden Creek

Chapter Seventeen

Bammiuk

“Haven is slipping as Alpha.” I stared across Davidee’s desk at him. 

“Most Alpha’s get a break every now and then. She’s not slipping, she’s exhausted.” Davidee sighed, leaning back in his chair. 

“And what about the human boy?” I hissed.

Davidee rolled his eyes and propped his elbows on his armrests. “Nikolas? He’s nice, and he makes her happy. She deserves that, Bammiuk, especially with everything going on around here lately.”

“He’s human. He doesn’t belong here.”

“Bammiuk,” Parsa placed a gentle hand on my arm. “Is him being human your objection or is it Haven’s s****l attraction to him?”

“Watch yourself.” I growled low in my throat. “You get to stay with the rest of us because you were lucky enough to be the Beta’s mate. You’re not ranked yet, and even if you were, I outrank you by three positions.”

Davidee slammed his fist on the top of his desk. “That’s enough. You are way out of line.” He growled back. “Haven needs time to herself every once in a while. Nik offers her that. You rejected her, Bammiuk. Accept that you shirked the position of Alpha for the position of Zeta.” 

“Don’t act like you understand what happened.”

“What I understand is that you broke my sister's heart and told her you never wanted to be Alpha. I don’t care what the reasoning was. All that matters is that it happened.” Davidee shrugged. “As far as I’m concerned, if Haven decides to turn Nik, that’s between them. Read my lips, Zeta. It has nothing to do with us.” He enunciated each word carefully, eyes locked on mine. 

“She won’t turn him. She’s using this ridiculous farce to make me jealous. She just wants to get a rise out of me so that I’ll...” Could that actually be what she’s doing? She did reject my proposal... “She’s just trying to get me to accept her as my mate again.” 

Davidee chuckled. “You’re deluded. Did you honestly think she’d wait around for you all of these years and never move on?”

“That’s not the point of this meeting.” I growled. She has to want me back... “The point was, she’s showing fewer leadership skills by the week. She’ll get us all killed if we let her.”

Parsa’s jaw tightened angrily. “Is this about her recruiting new members? I don’t agree with it, but she has her reasons.”

“Yeah? What are they?” I scoffed. “She hasn’t exactly been in a sharing mood recently.”

“You’re not on the email chain.” Davidee smirked. “She’s sharing information with those who need it.”

“And you agree with her?” I asked, not believing for a second anyone else was on board with the suicide mission Haven set us on. “Even after the Coyote attack on Salt Water? It decimated them, Davidee. Their numbers fell from in the two hundreds to ninety-eight.”

Davidee tapped his index and middle finger rhythmically on his desk before answering. “Salt Water isn’t our concern. And no, I don’t necessarily agree with her.” He shrugged. “I’m not the Alpha, though. It’s not my job to make decisions like this, and I’m beyond grateful for that. She’s making a hard call right now, but just like us, she’s batting blind. That job doesn’t come with an instruction manual, and she’s figuring it out as she goes. I think it’s the lesser of two evils, and we have to accept it for what it is.”

“And what is that?” I already know what he’s going to say. There was no point in even asking.

“Orders from our Alpha.”

Exactly.

***

Haven

“Okay, let’s do this.” I motioned Parsa into my office as I opened the door.

“I saw Nik leaving.” She winked at me. “Fun night?”

Despite my best efforts, a small smile spread over my face. “Not in the way you’re thinking, but yeah.” Parsa sat across from me with a smile of her own. “So, you wanted to talk with me about changes you think would be beneficial to both our community and the surrounding human communities.”

“That’s right.” She perked up, pulling out a thick binder. 

“Oh, fuck...” I muttered under my breath as she started leafing through.

*** 

Four cups of coffee and twelve ideas for community outreach programs later, Parsa had taken me through only a quarter of her binder. “Okay.” I held up a hand, stopping her. “We aren’t getting through that whole thing today.” I rubbed my fingers roughly against my temple. “I think it would be smart for us to break this up into monthly meetings. Each month, we can go over five of your ideas that all sit in the same wheelhouse, and decide which one would be the best move for us. We’ll have to take into consideration things like how it’ll fit into our budget, the amount of necessary manpower, things of that nature.”

“I think that’s a great idea. So, given this first meeting, I think...” She unclipped five pieces of paper and slid them in a stack across my desk. “These five would be the best place to start.” 

“Great, let me go over this with Davidee. I’ll get back to you by the end of the day with my decision.”

She nodded enthusiastically. “Awesome!” She bounced up, smiling brightly. “I’ll see you later.”

“Parsa?” I called as she grabbed the door handle. “Good work today.” She nodded once before closing the door softly behind her.

Leaning back, I mindlinked Davidee. Your girlfriend just made your job more fun. Meet me in my office when you have a moment. My request sent, I pulled my phone out of my pocket. There was one unread message.

‘Sorry I had to leave. Work doesn’t really care whether I want to be there or not -N’

‘At least you don’t live where you work, some of us aren’t so lucky. -H’

“You wanted to see me?” Davidee poked his head around the door.

“Yeah. Come in.” I spread the papers out and waved my hand over them. “These are Parsa’s proposals for community outreach. This first one is a list of volunteer ideas for the ranked wolves, second is ideas for events we could sponsor here in our territory. Third is pretty much the same as the first, just more specific to community needs. Fourth is a list of charities that we could donate to. And last but not least, opening more jobs to nonnatives and nonwolf natives.” Davidee’s eyes narrowed as he looked down at them.

“I’m going to go ahead and rule out the second option. I don’t think now is the best time to be letting humans into our territory outside of the designated zones.” He moved the second paper to the side of my desk. “This one seems like we’d be getting too deep into trying to please everyone.” He stacked the third page on top of the second. “Uh, first ones actually a pretty solid idea. Fourth one isn’t bad, but our funds are limited now that we’re adding to our ranks. As for the fifth, I don’t think we have much choice in the matter. Do we have any available jobs within our pack owned businesses?”

“We could easily add some new floor positions at the brewery. Uh...” I mentally tallied our open positions. “There’s at least two openings between the brewery and the cafe. Maybe three. We’d have to check with Margaret as far as what kind of help she needs building the new neighborhoods Frank planned.” 

“I’ll have Goo pay her a visit and go over her openings and then I’ll go over our budget again. See if I can free up any money to add some new employees. If not, I’m going to say volunteering is our best option.” He shrugged.

“Make it so number one.” I grinned at Davidee and he chuckled, shaking his head as he stood.

“You got it, Picard. I’ll text you in a bit.” He turned, stopping suddenly.

“Everything okay, bud?” My voice took on a soft touch I reserved for family.

He turned back, chewing on his lip. “I asked Parsa if she wanted to have a binding ceremony...” 

I waited for him to continue, but he just stood there, fiddling nervously with his hands. “And? Did she say no?”

“Not exactly. She said she’s never thought about it before and would need time to process and mull it over.”

“I know that feels like a no to you, but think about who Parsa is for a second. In a week, she raked me over the coals and completely upended what I thought our rankings should mean, what they should look like. She’s a pioneer, and there’s not a doubt in my mind she’s going to change this world. I’m sure she really and truly has never thought about a binding ceremony because I’m sure she’s never thought about her life through the scope of finding love. If I know anything about Parsa, she’s spent most of her energy thinking of how she was going to build a better society that doesn’t rely on rank to make a change. Give her time. If it comes down to it and she doesn’t want a ceremony, it’s not a rejection of you. It’s a rejection of the principles that mandate she bound to a man in order to show her love.” I shrugged. “Have faith that she will make a decision that is best for both of you, not just herself, but most certainly not just for you.”

“You’re right.” He smiled. “That’s why you’re the Alpha.” He winked before walking out.

“And my work is never done.” I whispered to my empty office.