Page 3 of The Alpha's Bargain
Sage had been my best friend since birth. We didn’t belong to the same pack, though. Her pack was run by her brother Luca. They had been around for as long as we had, and our grandfathers had been very good friends; therefore, we were allies and looked out for oneanother.
The world had thrown many things our way, but the two of us had stuck together firmly. Even as close as we were, I never breathed a word about what was happening financially in my pack. Telling her would be a relief, even though my father now knew. However, Sage would set me straight. Maybe that’s what was needed here—for me to be put back on the straight and narrow. A friend to tell me that I hadn’t fucked everything up. A friend to listen and get all this washed off me, even for a littlewhile.
Turning over on my side, I watched as my best friend’s eyes widened in expectation. “This is just between you and me. Nothing goes out of your lips.Understand?”
“Gotit.”
Letting out a huge sigh, the story fell from my lips, including all my feelings of letting everyone down. She listened attentively, but her facial expressions were what caught my attention. The pinched brows, the running of her tongue on her lip, her eyes narrowing into slits—all of it told me so many emotions floating around that head of hers. All of which, for the first time since I’d known her, I couldn’t get areadon.
Inhaling deeply, the words hung in the air like a cloak waiting to fall over us, heavy and thick, waiting for Sage to tell me what a disappointment I was and chastise me for not being able to handlethings.
“Stop that shit right now,” she demanded, sitting up on the bed in a rush, shaking it as I followed suit. “This isn’t a guilt or failure thing. It’s a you-don’t-have-enough-money thing. Shit happens in life, and you deal and move on. Your father knows, so let him handle it. It’s off your shoulders now.” She made it sound so damn simple when it was far from being easy, quick, or withoutcomplexities.
“That’s the thing—it’s not. I’m still doing the bills and trying to finagle money around. The only difference is that now I have a little help, but nothing’schanged.”
“You’re being way too hard on yourself, woman. But you always are. Taking on things that weighed your shoulders down that didn’t need to be there. I know this is your personality, Cal, but it’s time for others to help out. You can’t fixeverything.”
She was right, but that didn’t mean I had tolikeit.
“Forget going out. Let’s watch movies, eat popcorn, and make homemadepizza.”
A smile graced my face. She always knew what I needed. That was the perfect night for me. Sitting back and relaxing, and hopefully letting the world fall away, at least for a littlewhile.
* * *
The pack housewas huge and hadn’t changed from the millions of other times I’d been to Sage’s home. The place was enormous. Sage said once there were thirty-five bedrooms, but not all of them were taken, just room for expansion when the time came forherpack.
Tan stucco, the color of clay, covered the outside, while styled bushes and meticulously kept flowers lined the walls. The curtains on the rounded topped windows were open wide, letting all the warm sun into theplace.
This had been my second home for so long I knew exactly where to park my Dodge Charger, and when I went to the door, I’d go right in like always. Normally, this was not a thing you did in another pack’s territory, but for me, it was natural. Sage’s pack had welcomed me for themostpart.
“Hello!” I called out, stepping through the heavy doors that were taller than me by a couple of feet and gave a slight creak. Being five-foot-nine without heels was normal in my pack, but others, males especially, grew way above six-feet tall. Pack houses accommodated this with extendeddoors.
“You’re here!” Sage called out from the top of the stairs as she raced down. They had one of those curving staircases, so when Sage came down, she looked like she was in amovie.
“I’m here.What’sup?”
She’d called me right when I got out of the shower this morning, excitement bubbling off her. When she had told me to get over here, there hadn’t been a chance to say no. It wasn’t unusual to get a request like this from her, but it had piqued my curiosity and made me double timeithere.
“Come.” She looped her arm through mine and led me through the entryway, down the hall where pictures lined everywhere, and then stopped in front of another tall door. I knew what wasbehindit.
“Why are we going to Luca’soffice?”
Luca Ainsley was the obsession that never went away. The older brother cliché of my best friend who I’d adored from afar for as many years as I’d been on this planet. He was also the man I stayed away from whenever possible because of said feelings for him and wolves were very physical beings. This was for self-preservation. So, standing in front of his door wasn’t contusive to me staying away from the man. It was opening myself up to a world I’d tried hard to avoid for a verylongtime.
“Don’t be pissedatme.”
My glare came out as tension coiled in my gut. No one said those words without it being bad, and somehow, I knew. I knew what she had done, which had fury bubbling in my veins likehotlava.
“I trusted you,” I whispered curtly. “Youtoldhim.”
Not only would this look bad to other packs, it would hurt mine tremendously. My father and brothers were going to be pissed at me, and they had every right to be. I had told her because I needed a friend, because I had needed someone to lean on, and she had told herbrother.
There goes, Cal. Fucking up onceagain.
“Please don’t be mad at me. I thought he could help, and he says he can, Cal. I just want you guys tobeokay.”
“What happened to letting my father handle it? What happened to letting it go and letting him figure it out? Isn’t that what you said to me two days ago?” I challenged as my temper got the best of me. I had a bad one and tried hard to keep it in check most of the time, but sometimes, it let loose and there was no stopping it. My father once said it was because of the auburn tint in mydarkhair.
