Page 6 of Knot All Is Lost: Part 1

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“Josh,comeon,we’ve been friends since college. I know you can do better than that. Our existing shelters run fully off donations and help from government assistance. We need a loan this time because our newest shelter will have to be built from the ground up,” I argued. “Having that high of an interest rate is ridiculous, not to mention you want it paid back in ten years.”

“We both know if you wanted to you could pay for the building out of your own pocket and use it as a write off,” Josh argued. “You want the loan to prove to the government you need the assistance when you don’t. Banks aren’t as willing to extend to non-profits as they once were, with how many have gone bankrupt and shut down. If you wanted to ask for the loan under your personal name, then I can give you a much better deal.”

I raked my hands through my hair trying to keep my irritation from showing. “Everyone knows the CoF is doing a huge push for these shelters to be in place and we are the example for the others to follow. If you won’t give me the loan, what will you do when one of them walks in here?”

“Nixon, first of all, they won’t come to this bank. We wouldn’t let them in the door seeing as we only work with clients in a certain income bracket. If you want to be the everyday man on this, then you need to try with another bank or take the loan out personally,” Josh answered, shrugging his shoulders. “To be honest, I shouldn’t have taken this meeting knowing you were going to ask for this, but the partners thought it was only fair to explain this to you in person.”

No longer able to fight against my Alpha nature, I snarled at the Beta across from me. “Next time do us both a favor and just tell me over the phone. It’s clear I’ve wasted both our time so I’ll take my leave,” I got to my feet, fixed my suit jacket, and headed for the door. Reaching for the door handle I paused and looked back. “Let the partners know if they are unwilling to help Marius and myself in this project, then we might need to find another bank to do all our dealings with.”

I caught a glimpse of Josh’s stricken face as he sat behind his desk, my threat doing exactly what I’d hoped it would. Marius and I have worked for years to make this dream come true, first with our shelters, and then with him getting elected to the Council of Four. These were the stepping stones to helping our people find balance again.

After the attack by the terrorist group known as Equality for Betas or EQ , where they tainted a massive batch of a serum that helped to create more Omegas in utero, killing thousands of mothers and babies in one fell swoop. The terrorists believed Alphas and Omegas were treated far superior to Betas, given more privileges and cared for more lavishly. In removing Omegas they hoped to create more reliance on Betas now that Omegas were so rare.

What we found out from this catastrophic attack was that Omegas were so much more than breeders. In doing what they did, the once common practice of having a bonded pack was fading out of existence. It was no longer feasible for Alphas to bond with their Beta partners since an Omega was required to be part of their pack. This, of course, didn’t stop people from taking Beta partners but the pack dynamic was lost and became something far less common.

The vibration from my phone in my pocket snapped me out of that train of thought back to what was happening around me. I found myself standing in front of the elevator, having yet to push the button to go down. Looking at the screen, I saw it was Spencer, my Beta and manager of our flagship shelter.

“Hey, what’s up?” I answered. He’d known I would be in and out of meetings so this must be important.

“Look I know today is crazy for you but we have a situation,” Spencer explained. “There’s a young girl who called in asking for a pick up. It would take the van a half hour or more with evening rush hour to get to her. You are only ten minutes or less to her location. I was listening in on the call with Clara, and I think we need to get to her sooner. She agreed if you were available to get her.”

“Spence…,” I hesitated, rubbing my forehead trying to decide what to do. “The meeting with Purity Holdings didn’t go well and I lost my temper, threatening to pull all our money from them. In twenty minutes I have a meeting with the zoning commissioner on permits for breaking ground.”

“And? I’m telling you, Nixon, I wouldn’t have made this call if I didn’t think we needed to get to this girl. Something in my gut as I listened to her tells me leaving her alone for much longer is going to be trouble. I’m sure Marius could talk to the commissioner and smooth things over by canceling at the last minute. If we can’t use our connection to an Official that shares our bed, then what’s the point?” Spencer teased.

Groaning, I knew he was right. “Okay fine, where am I going? Also, you’re the one who gets to tell Marius why he’s sucking up to the commissioner.”

“He better not be sucking anyone but me!” Spencer said indignantly.

“Spence,” I answered with a warning growl.

He let out a heavy sigh. “You can be so serious sometimes, Nixie. Learn to laugh a little or you’ll have wrinkles making you look far older than you really are.” I growled louder, reminding him to get to the point. “Right, so Clara already sent you the information. She’s staying on the line with Cambrie, that’s her name by the way, until you get there. Her answer to the question is also in the message.”

“Thank you, Spencer,” I said sarcastically, shaking my head at the antics my Beta got up to.

He was right though, Marius and I were both driven, goal focused, and didn’t take much time to smell the roses. Maybe that’s why we both fell for the fun loving Beta who wreaked havoc on our perfectly planned lives the past five years.

“Love you, see you both when you get here,” Spencer chirped before hanging up.

Pulling up my email I found the information Clara had sent me and was shocked to see she was indeed just down the street. It would take me longer to get to the garage and into my car than to arrive at her location. Another email pinged giving me the intake questions. The poor thing was only eighteen. I tried to remember back twelve years ago when I was first starting college with Marius. The biggest struggle we had was that Oscar, another Alpha in our pack, was going to a different school after we’d become family during our six years together at boarding school.

Sliding into my car I hit the start button causing it to purr to life. The classical music I’d been listening to filled the space, making me smile. It would seem if her answer were truthful about never hearing it before I would cross that off her list in the first few moments of our meeting. Pulling onto the road I had to double back a few streets with all the one-way roads but soon enough I pulled up to the given location.

I put the car in park, made sure the doors were unlocked and got out. When I spotted her over the top of my car, my Alpha instincts were on high alert. Clothed only in an oversized trench coat, blonde hair mussed with wisps blowing around her face as she hunched against the cold with no shoes, only socks, was the girl I was sent to pick up. Large azure-colored eyes met mine for a moment before falling to the ground. The color was made brighter by the bruises on her sunken face making me snarl. I couldn’t catch a clear scent to pick up on her designation, but my guess was she was a Beta. Outrage flared inside me at the mistreatment of this girl and I wanted nothing more than to scoop her up and protect her.

Knowing I couldn’t approach her until my anger was under control, I took a few deep breaths and unclenched my fists, then approached. “Hello Cambrie, my name is Nixon. Clara said you were looking for a ride to the shelter for the night. Do you like classical music? It’s what I’ve got playing right now, but I can change it if you’d like?”

As I spoke, her body hunched, trying to make herself an even smaller target. She shuffled on her sock covered feet, almost as if she was thinking of running. “I don’t know…” she whispered. “I’ve never listened to it before.”

I offered her a gentle smile and cocked my head to the side trying to pick up anything off her, but still got nothing. “Alright, I’ll leave it and you can tell me whether or not you like it. How does that sound?” I asked as I pulled open the door to the backseat and stepped away so she didn’t feel crowded.

Cambrie chewed on her bottom lip which was still full despite how skinny she was. Gripping her jacket tighter around herself she took one tentative step forward. “Can you open the window? I—I need to know I have a way to get out if I need to.”

My heart shattered at her request. What had this poor thing been through to even have to consider leaping out of a car through the window to get away? Her hands had scuff marks on them as did her chin, which looked fresh. Could it be that something similar had already happened?

“If that will make you feel more comfortable I can do that. I’ll make sure to crank up the heat so you stay warm as well,” I offered as I stepped back to the door and rolled down the window. I wanted to prove to her that nothing was blocking her.

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