Hidden Creek

Chapter Three

    The knock at the door startled me from my nap, sending me bolt upright in my chair. When did I fall asleep? I peered groggily at the clock on the wall and groaned. I had been out for two hours. “Come in.” 

    “Alpha?” Long brown hair swung through my doorway, followed by a round face housing enormous hazel eyes. “Can I talk to you for a moment?” Parsa asked in a hushed whisper.

    “Of course. Have a seat.” I waved my hand at the chair Goo had vacated not too long ago.

    I watched patiently as she took a deep breath in, completely avoiding eye contact with me. In one big rush she breathed out, “I would really like to go to college, I want to be theta one day.” 

    My eyebrows rose on my forehead. Parsa? Theta? The thought intrigued me. She’s a smart young woman with a lot of potential, she could easily rise in the pack and as it stands, we currently have only one iota. “Okay. Request granted. I’ll find a school nearby to enroll you in unless you already have one in mind.”

    “I want to go to a human school, not a pack school.” She averted her eyes as she spoke, fear radiating off of her.

    “A human school? Parsa… I don’t know about that. You know we have to keep a low profile within the community; it would be terrible for us if we had humans sniffing around here.” 

    “I promise I’ll blend in!” She insisted.

    Watching her, I could see right through her. Yes, she wants to be an iota, but more than that, she wants to make new friends. Maybe it’s time we stopped hiding. Maybe it would make it harder for the coyotes to wipe us out if we had more ties to the human community. The other packs don’t seem to want to help us. “Alright, I’ll enroll you at Central Alaska. It’s outside of our territory, so you’ll have to be on your guard. I’ll enroll our highest ranking eta to accompany you.”

    “Amittu?” Parsa’s face went white for just a moment before she composed herself. She quickly cleared her throat and smiled. “Okay. That’s fine.”

    Gazing at her quizzically, I nodded my head. “If that’s everything, I’ll start working on the paperwork.”

    Three rapid nods and she got to her feet. “Thank you, Alpha.” 

    I smiled, maybe a little bitterly. “You can call me Haven.”

                                                                                            *    *    *

    “You wanted to see me?” Amittu stood like a statue just inside the doorway, always on guard like the warrior she is. 

    “Yes, have you ever thought about college?” We exchanged grim smiles.

    “Not really, no. I’m happy with my place in the pack.” 

    “Well, one of the psi wants to advance. She wants to go to a human college and study medicine to eventually become theta. I want you to go with her.”

    “Does she really need a bodyguard for college?” She scoffed.

    “Maybe not. But she’s only eighteen and she’ll be on a human campus alone. I can’t risk something happening to any of our members.” I shrugged.

    “Alright. Who will I be babysitting?”

    “Psi Parsa.”

    Ammitu’s mouth dropped open as she gaped at me. “You’re kidding.” 

    “No. Is there a problem?” They reacted too similarly. Something is going on. They couldn’t be mates, Ammitu is thirty-two and Parsa is eighteen. 

    “She was mated to my brother, but he rejected her because of her rank.”

    “I see. Are there hard feelings between the two of you?”

    She grimaced and shrugged. “My brother and me? Yes. It was selfish of him, and in my opinion, the stupidest thing he’s ever done. Parsa and me? No. It wasn’t her fault, and I genuinely felt bad to see it happen to her.” 

    “Good, I can trust you to protect her then. You’ll be taking two core classes just to have an excuse to be there. I’ll email you her schedule and yours as soon as I have them.”

    “Looking forward to it.” She sighed and left the room.

    “I need a break.” I whispered desolately to myself. This is exhausting. Taking a fortifying breath, I picked up the phone and called the administration office at Central Alaska University. 

    “Hi there! Thank you for calling CAU, how can I help you today?” A perky voice buzzed through the line. 

    “Good afternoon. My name is Haven Waska, and I would like to enroll two of my employees.” 

    “Oh, allow me to transfer you.” The line quickly switched from her cheery voice to what was essentially elevator music. 

    “Administration, Alicia speaking.” This voice was much less happy, immediately putting me on guard.

    “Hi, I need to enroll two of my employees for the upcoming fall semester.” Let’s get this over with as quickly as possible. 

    “Alright, what is your company’s name?” She asked shortly.

    “Red Moon Literature and Editorial Services.” 

    “And what degree will the students be applying to?”

    “One will be studying medicine, one will be exclusively taking core classes.”

    As I repressed a sigh, the question I dreaded came through. “Why does an editorial company need to put an employee through medical school?”

    Smiling tightly to myself, I tried to reason through something that had no logic to it. “We pride ourselves on our eduction and tuition assistance here at Red Moon. She’s worked the necessary hours to attain the assistance, and though we will be sad to see her go, we’re happy to help her succeed in her future endeavors.” Please, just accept that and don’t ask any more questions. 

    That seemed to satisfy her, to my great surprise and satisfaction. “Alright, well, if you could send over high school transcripts and any other relevant documents from previous education, we will mail back the forms for their applications. We can’t guarantee them a spot, so getting this taken care of in a timely fashion is the best option.”

    “Thanks so much. I’ll get those over to you as quickly as possible.” I slammed the phone down on the receiver and rubbed at my temples. Humans ask too many questions. Keeping my eyes closed, I forced my focus to Goo. 

    Goo, I need you.

    On my way. His reply was immediate as he mind linked back to me. As I waited for him to make his way to my office, I prepped all necessary paperwork for Parsa and Amittu. And Davidee mocked me for keeping all of this stuff. I smiled smugly to myself as the door opened. “Everything okay?” Goo asked as he stepped into the office.

    “Yeah, I just need these two packets mailed. I’ve taken care of everything, they have mail slips and everything. All you have to do is drop it into the outgoing slot at the post office.” I handed the packets over and he eyed them suspiciously. 

    “That’s all?” He raised an eyebrow at me quizzically.

    “Mhm.” I affirmed.

    “Consider it done.” He turned on his heel and left.