Page 24 of Impregnated By the Alpha

Violet agreed, and soon we were sitting at my favorite booth at the quirkiest restaurant in Pinedale.

“What is this place?” Violet asked, looking around at the eclectic furnishings at the diner.

I chuckled at her bemused expression, remembering that I had a similar reaction when I had first stumbled into the restaurant with my rogues over six years ago.

“A little of this and a little of that,” I explained. “But they have the best food in town. I promise.”

“There’s a tricycle on the ceiling,” Violet remarked wryly.

“Did you see the signs in the corner?” Penny asked excitedly, pointing toward a collection of neon signs.

“Those are pretty cool,” Violet agreed. “Which one is your favorite?”

“I like the ‘car wash’ sign with the flamingo,” she said.

The next few moments passed quickly as we took turns discussing the most interesting components of the diner’s decorations. This turned into a rousing game of “I Spy,” and by the time our food had arrived, Violet was happy and smiling. I hoped that whatever had caused her mood to be off earlier today had been erased from her memory.

We finished up our meal and were heading out when we ran into a few members of the pack coming in for a late lunch.

“Alpha, good to see you,” one of the wolves said as he came over to our table. “And how’s our favorite wolf princess doing today?”

Penny smiled shyly and replied that she was good. I noticed that they didn’t speak to Violet, or even acknowledge that she was sitting with Penny and me.

“Would you mind if we sat with you, Alpha?” a female wolf asked. “It’s pretty busy right now, and we only have a little while before we need to head back to work.”

“Actually, we’re just finishing up, so you can have our table. The girls had a busy morning, so we should probably head home and let Penny have some rest,” I said.

I stood and offered my chair to one of the wolves. Violet and Penny followed suit.

“Diana mentioned that she saw Penny this morning,” the woman said. She gave Violet a look that said there was more to the story, and I saw my mate stiffen at the mention of my mother-in-law.

“Violet, can you take Penny out to the car?” I asked. “I’ll be there in a minute. I just need to pay and then we can head home.”

The girls headed outside, and I felt a pinch of guilt at my half-truth. Ididstill need to pay our tab, but first, I wanted to find out what the wolf’s barb about Diana had been referring to.

“Everything alright, boss?” the woman asked, noting that I hadn’t moved away from the table yet.

“I’m not sure,” I admitted. “Maybe you can tell me. You said that Diana saw Penny this morning, but I got the feeling that there was more that you weren’t saying.”

They looked at each other uncomfortably, and I could see that they were deciding how much they wanted to divulge to me.

“Look, you aren’t in trouble,” I assured them. “But I need to know what’s happening in my pack. So why don’t you save us some time and just tell me—what is the issue?”

One of the men gave a defeated sigh, making up his mind to speak.

“Some members of the pack have had some misgivings about your new luna,” he began. “Maybe it’s none of our business, but we’ve heard some things that gave us concern.”

“What kind of things?” I asked.

“Well, you know how we’ve been trying to get the money together to build a better training area out in the forest? We heard that she drained the savings account for that so that she could buy a whole new wardrobe,” he said.

“And that she has been taking your credit cards and racking up debt at some of the shops in town,” another wolf added.

“Honestly, it just seems like she’s spending all the pack’s money along with yours,” the woman said. “It’s making everyone nervous.”

“I see,” I replied, the wheels in my head turning as I put together everything they were saying. “And I assume that because you mentioned earlier that Diana is the source of all these claims. Am I right?”

They nodded.

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