Chapter 11 - Smile

Alice Forrest

“The wench is still here then,” Gina said, her voice echoing around me in the corridor.

“I’m a member of this pack Gina, if you like it or not,” I smiled at her kindly.

“Why don’t you leave, go back to your mate, don’t think I don’t see the mark on your neck. Or does he not want you?”

“How do you think your own mate will feel about you warming Alpha Black’s bed?” I asked, turning around to face her.

“I don’t have a mate,” she said flicking her hair over her shoulder.

“Don’t have? Or haven’t found?” I asked raising a brow at the lowly cut dress she was wearing.

“Don’t have,” she said with a cocky smile.

“Then I feel bad for you, especially if you think a mated Alpha will make you, his Luna.”

“Alice,” there you are, Jamie said appearing behind Gina with a pile of paperwork, “I the stuff we were talking about this morning,” he said, his eyes darting between the two of us.

“You have no right to say those things, you’re mated and you’re trying to sleep with him too,” she hissed, her face shifting in displeasure.

“She dosen’t have to try, Alpha Black will willingly drop his pants for Alice,” Jamie chuckled catching onto the conversation and grinning at me.

“Shut up Jamie,” I said rolling my eyes as he walked up beside me.

“You fucking hypocrite, what dose your mate thing about you sleeping with Alpha Black?”

“Am I still good to use my old office? Or has the Alpha repurposed it in my absence?” I said ignoring her and looking at Jamie as I picked up the first file, flicking through the pages.

“Yeah, he hasn’t touched anything of yours,” Jamie said with a weak smile now, and I could feel his eyes burning on my face, laced with worry and concern.

“Answer me, Wench!” Gina demanded, stamping her foot on the ground like a child throwing a tantrum.

“I’ll meet you in my office in a minute,” I sad, passing the file back to Jamie and redirecting my attention to Gina. “I left my mate, we wanted different things and at the time I wasn’t sure that I could deliver on those expectations.”

“What?” she said clearly taken back, “People don’t leave their mates, their wolves would go insane,” she scoffed.

“Well I guess it’s a good thing I have more control over my wolf that she dose of me,” I smiled.

“So, you’re a fucking runt then?” she scoffed looking down at me.

“No, but tell me Gina, what have you heard about the Luna? What’s the gossip?”

Gina sucked on her cheeks, “I don’t know anything, no one talks about her. I would have assumed she was dead, if Alpha Black didn’t wear her mark still.”

I smiled, “So that must make you the only gossip in the pack then,” I laughed, turning around and walking to my office.

“You know the Luna, don’t you,” Gina accused, and I could hear her heeled shoes echoing loudly, behind me.

“We’ve crossed paths,” I murmured.

“What, is she locked in the dungeon somewhere? Did the Luna cross the Alpha? Was she banished? Abroad? Kidnapped?”

“You have quite the over active imagination,” I chucked, descending the stairs and walking towards my office.

“Wait, you can’t go in there, that’s the Luna’s office,” she said, stopping midway down the stairs.

“It is,” I smirked, “are you going to dob on me? If you want, Beta Jamie is in here, you can tell him I’m using the Luna’s office, I’m sure he’ll listen attentively to your concerns,” I smiled seductively running my fingers down the carved wooded door.

Her face soured, but her nose twitched, and she twirled around, “Alpha Black, did you know that someone is using one of the private offices?” she said to Nate as he strutted down the hallway.

“Oh, Alice? Yeah, that’s fine,” he dismissed, walking past her, eyes glued on me. “What time do you need to leave tomorrow?”

“I have work at nine, and I’ve got a class so I’d like to be there a bit before that to prep, and I’d also like to change, so probably be in the city by eight.”

“What? They don’t accept ripped jeans at the university?” he chuckled.

“I don’t know, I’ve never tried,” I sighed.

“Well, there is a first for everything,” he chuckled, leaning against the closed half of the door and gazing at me shamelessly.

“Five am departure then?” I asked, crossing my arms and looking at him assertively.

“You look nice.”

“I’ll take that as a yes,” I said, rolling my eyes and stepping into the office where Jamie sat in my chair grinning shamelessly.

“Can I come in? Or are you two having secret girl talk?” Nate chuckled as I shooed Jamie from my chair.

“She’s going through the floor plans for the new houses going up in the new subdivision off Hazel Street,” Jamie laughed.

“Oof, no thanks, you can deal with that.”

“You should talk to Gina,” I said, flicking my head towards the door, “she’s very territorial of you.”

Nate grumbled and rolled his eyes, and closed the door behind himself, leaving Jamie and I in my office, the sunlight streaming through the sheer curtains, everything the same as when I’d last been in here, even some of the notes for my thesis proposal still scattered on the desk.

“Why don’t you just tell Gina who you are?” Jamie asked as he leaned against the desk, handing me a file of floor plans.

“Because that would mean I would be staying,” I said with a smile.

“This is the happiest he’s been since your tour,” he sighed, running his hand through his hair.

I stared blankly at the file, my eyes running across the words, but my brain didn’t absorb a single bit of information, “Don’t say things like that,” I replied harshly.

“Don’t hurt him, please. I hated seeing him like that, everyone did.”

“I haven’t promised I would stay Jamie; I can’t promise that I will.”

“Then why fuck him hey? Why string him on?”

“You can’t reject someone after you’ve been fully mated Jamie, and I want to be with my mate, Spirits know I do!” I cursed.

“Then what?” Jamie said, his brow furrowed aggressively.

“What would you do if Grace killed Nate? Not Alpha Black, your best friend Nathaniel Black? What would you do?”

Jamie opened his mouth before closing it slowly, “You want to say that you’d stay with Grace, but you can’t, you can’t actually form the words in your mouth, can you? They’re like dirt, no- mud. Do not give me shit Jamie, not you of all people.”

I looked down and the floor plans. “Who the fuck designed this?” I said, flicking to the next page, and the page after this.

“Is that a good reaction or a bad reaction?” Jamie asked, his expression now morbid.

“Bad Jamie, this looks like crap, any would perform horribly too.”