Page 135 of Why Cruise

“Of course? Why can’t we have them?” Mackenzie asked.

My brain lit up with irrational fear. Ren got the same look on his face that I had.

“It’s an alpha thing,” Ren explained. “I don’t think either one of us would sleep if you were closest to the door.” She shrugged, accepting that as truth. I rubbed away the literal heart palpitations that started.

“Seriously, though,” Theo stepped into the hall. “Did you just look at a picture and say, give me one of everything?”

“Or if you want, we can buy something else. Move to the suburbs. I can commute. Oh, we can buy the apartment below and make it a duplex. I’m going to call my real estate agent.”

“Port Haven has everything, so maybe there is a store just for nerdy yet sexy alpha decor.” Mackenzie spun through the living room with her arms out, looking up at the vaulted ceilings.

“Maybe we can do the living room up in ex-car thief chic.” Theo added.

“Ex? You quit your job. I didn’t say I was going to quit mine.”

Theo glanced up at the ceiling, too. “This place is big enough for a jungle gym and a swing.”

Mackenzie gasped and spun to Ren.

“Absolutely,” he vigorously nodded his head. “We are getting a swing for your nest. Absolutely.”

“Alright, you’ve had your giggles over my poor little rich boy life. Let’s go to Cuddle Puddle and buy beds. We’ll book time with a nest consultant to make everything perfect for you. I’ll get Aria to recommend interior designers.”

Theo folded his arms and gave me a look.

“Okay, fine. Yes, there was a bedroom I liked on PackSpace. I contacted the designer and had her give me exactly that. Happy now?”

“You have a PackSpace account?” She asked.

I sighed and hung my head. “I have sock puppet accounts.”

“Of course you do.”

I sorted through the mail on the side table by the door and ripped open the envelope Glenn had sent by courier. I handed out the cards to my pack. My pack. Even after a week on that yacht, none of this seemed real.

“It’s a Black Card.” Theo said, looking at it.

“What’s a Black Card?” Mackenzie asked.

“It’s just a credit card.” I said, sorting through other mail with my fingertip.

“Oh, for necessities. Where do we put the receipts?”

Confused, I looked at her. “My accountant…” I closed my mouth. Daryl had kicked her out with no bank account. No money. Now I had to wonder if she ever had money of her own. Anger flared in me so hot that my vision dimmed.

“Just.” I didn’t know if Ren said that out loud or just in my head or the pack bonds or whatever.

I swallowed. While we’d bobbed on the ocean for a week, I’d discovered that I could hold back my more intense emotions from the pack bonds. From the omegas at least. But never from Ren.

Lying under the stars while they slept those first few nights, Ren and I had talked about the Mackenzie issue. We put together what we knew and what we suspected had gone on in her relationship with Daryl. We touched on financial abuse, but it wasn’t uncommon for omegas to not work or deal with finances at all. The problem arose when money was used as a tool for manipulation. The bigger problem was that we didn’t think she saw the red flags as red flags. The line between being a shitty alpha and abuse was so fine, you could blink it away. We didn’t see immediate value in pointing it out to her and digging for details. We knew enough to start plotting retribution, the rest we’d deal with later.

“It’s just a credit card. Use it however you want. My accountant will figure things out.”

Theo poked his head into the kitchen.

Ren held the credit card in his hands, staring at it like he was in shock. I rolled my eyes.

“Ren, I don’t want to do this. My teeth are on your neck. The pack registration is already filed. The paperwork is all done. New IDs are on the way. All the accounts and trusts are set up. It’s not my money. It’s pack money. And I don’t want to get into a dick measuring ego contest about who makes what money. It’s pack money.”

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