Page 1 of The Alpha

1

“You’re making progress, Pari, I’m proud of you.”

Pari Mae Lindir sat in her usual chair across from Dr. William Merrill. He was the kind, old, grandfather she never had. She never knew her grandparents and liked to picture Dr. Merrill in the role.

“Pari?”

She looked up. She’d been picking at her fingernails again. “Oh, sorry.” She rested her tattooed arms on the chair’s armrests as her nerves switched to her right leg. She moved it back and forth, knowing Dr. Merrill couldn’t see it from where he was sitting.

“So, what were you saying about your new friends?” He looked at his notepad. “Halden and Raina?”

She relaxed at their names. “My uncles think I’m nuts.”

He steepled his fingers in front of him. “And why would they think that?”

She drew in a shuddering breath. “Because I’m letting them stay with me for a while.”

His head tilted to the right, and she noticed the hair in his ears. She pressed her lips into a firm line. She didn’t think shecould stand having hair growing out of an ear. “Why would they think that?” he asked.

She drummed her fingers on her still moving right leg. “I… sort of just met them.”

“Just?”

She nodded. “Saturday.”

He jotted something down. “Do you feel that was a rash decision on your part?”

“They were in trouble.” She shifted and tucked her left leg under her. “They’re visiting America from Germany and lost their luggage. The airline still hasn’t found it. They had to sell some of their things to my uncle just to get money to buy clothes.”

“That’s awful.” Dr. Merrill sat back in his chair. “Happened to me and my wife once. We never did get our luggage back.”

“Yeah, well, it’s starting to look like they might not either. But maybe they’ll get lucky.” She ran a hand through her short-cropped hair.

“One can only hope.” He glanced at his notepad. “So, how is having them stay with you working out?”

Her right leg kept moving as she looked at her hands, now in her lap. “I like it. I like the company.”

He wrote something else down. “And you made some new friends?”

Her eyes darted to him, then back to her hands. “I think so.”

“And they’re not taking advantage of you, as your uncles seem to think?”

She met his gaze. “I never said they thought they were taking advantage of me. I said my uncles think I’m…” she looked at her hands again. “…nuts.”

He drew in a breath and let it out slowly. “Pari, your Uncle Al and Uncle Leo are just worried about you. You’ve shared withme how they feel about some of the life choices you’ve made and how adamant they are to see you make better ones.”

Her insides shook, just like they always did when all the times she’d messed up as a teenager were discussed. “Yeah, I know,” she said in a quiet voice. It hurt to look at her past, and she didn’t like doing it. She didn’t need to be reminded of her screw ups…

“Do you feel safe?”

Her head came up again. “What?”

“Do you feel safe around your new friends?”

“If I didn’t, they wouldn’t be in my house, now, would they?”

He gave her a warm smile. “No, I suppose not. How long do you think they’ll be staying?”

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