Page 96 of Alpha's Regret: My Luna Has A Son

Opening the front page, there’s an old black and white photo of Valarie’s parents from when they owned it. I pull it out and pass it to him. In the photo, there’s a man and a woman holding a baby, which Valarie said was her.

“That doesn’t look too bad?” Valen states and I snort before flicking through to the photos Zoe and I took when I first came here. I pass them to him before grabbing another one out. Macey’s brother took one of us facing the ruined hotel with our backs to the camera—all four of us standing out the front. Valarie’s also in it, cigarette between her fingers as she looks at the rundown place. I hand it to him.

“This the woman?” he asks, and I nod. “And Macey and Zoe. So you all started it together? The place looked like a dump,” he states.

“It was,” I say.

“So the four of you did all this?” he asks, sounding incredulous.

“Yep, four rogue whores and three babies restored this entire place,” I tell him.

“Who took the photo?”

“Macey’s brother.”

“He didn’t help?”

I raise an eyebrow at him. “What are you trying to say?”

“Nothing. Just… four women fixed all of this?”

“We may be women, but we’re resourceful. Besides, Macey is more manly than her brother. She fights like a guy, too, so stay on her good side.”

He laughs, handing them back. “Noted. She definitely looks like a scrapper.”

“Oh, she is. I watched her beat a man with a 20 pound bag of flour once. She hauled it around like it weighed nothing.”

“What’d he do?”

“He asked her how much.”

“How much for what?”

“How much for a night, Valen. He thought because she’s rogue, she’s a prostitute; that was when we first opened up. It was a bit of shock when they found the place was run entirely by rogues. We ended up with a few creeps in at first.”

“So, how did you handle that?”

“A few of the older ladies started bringing their sons in for the night shifts. Day shifts were easier; Macey would turf anyone that looked at us wrong,” I laugh. “Come on, we should check on Valarian and give Zoe a break,” I tell him, and he follows me through the hotel to the apartment. I’m stopped a few times by different staff, and by the time we get back to the apartment, it’s dark.

Walking in, I see Zoe doing puzzles with the kids. She smiles as she glances over the back of the couch at me before her eyes narrow in on Valen and her lips pull over her teeth. She stands abruptly, pointing an accusing finger at him before remembering the kids are in the room.

I have no idea why she’s mad, but I can tell she’s livid about something. She steps over the kids and moves toward him. Valen, completely unaware of her anger, says ‘hello’ to her before she opens the door behind him and shoves him out, slamming it shut behind her. I move to the kitchen window and peered out. Valen has his hands in the air, and I crack the window open a little to eavesdrop.

“You keep your creepy sniffing friend away from my daughter,” she snarls. I glance at Casey, wondering what happened. Valarian looks up at me.

“Auntie Zo’ is upset because we asked what shampoo and detergent she uses,” Valarian explains, which only makes me more confused.

“You tell him to keep his sniffer away from my daughter.”

“He just liked the soap you use,” Valen tries to explain.

“Casey said he sniffed her repeatedly,” Zoe growls at him.

“I’ll speak to him, but it was nothing bad. He just said the soap smells nice, jeez.”

“It’s fucking creepy. You don’t go around sniffing people’s kids. If that doesn’t set off alarm bells in your head, nothing will.”

“My Beta is not a creep. He would never harm your daughter, Zoe,” Valen says, defending Marcus.

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