fact that I’d hoped one of the things that didn’t shift over with the transformation was periods, but no such luck.
As I wandered toward the small selection, I heard the whispers of thoughts as I passed.
I knew who was human and who was pack, simply because the whispers came from my people.
Yeah, my people.
These magical creatures who were both man and beast were mine now. Not the regular folk who wandered around, homo sapiens pure and simple.
The beasts from paranormal books.
My life had turned out better than I could have imagined, and Kali Sara, was I happy for that.
If I thought about how miserable things had been less than two weeks ago, I’d probably start crying.
Which was why I didn’t think on it.
Why I couldn’t.
My future was bright now, gleaming like the sunlight through a hundred gemstones, and even if it would take a while to be accepted by the pack, I could deal with that.
They couldn’t be much more suspicious than carnies of a new member on the staff.
The store was as small as Ethan had warned. He told me the staff drove the two-hour ride to the nearest Walmart once every ten days with a pickup truck to get most of the groceries.
Men.
What was I supposed to do until then?
Just gush blood on the floor?
Even as my lips twitched, I heard a soft cry from someone in the back of the store, and I twisted around just in time to see one of the pack children eying the back of his hand and rubbing it.
It was bright pink.
Outraged, I stared at the person who’d slapped him. I was even more angered when I realized the guy was human. Not pack.
“Sticky fingers get slapped,” the human snarled, and I strode over to the child, not knowing who he was, but just aware that he was one of mine.
“How dare you slap—” In his head, the boy whispered, “Daniel,” so I tacked on, “Daniel. He was helping me shop!”
The grocery store manager scowled at me. “Ain’t never seen you around this store before, but I’ve seen him plenty. Always got his fingers where they shouldn’t be. Well, I’m sick of it—”
I glared at him. “If you have a problem with him, you should contact Eli Highbanks.”
The manager frowned at me. “Why would I do something like that? Mr. Highbanks has nothing to do with this—”
“This, what?”
The guy sniffed. “Oliver Twist.”
The little boy started sniffling at that, and I felt his misery at the likeness.
Something was going on here, something I needed to figure out, so I ground out, “Contact Mr. Highbanks, and whatever Daniel has stolen, put it on my bill today.”
The manager, a guy whose tag on his plaid shirt told me his name was Robert, huffed but nodded. “Will do, don’t you worry about that.”
When he stormed off, I reached for Daniel’s hand and stared into his face. “How old are you, Daniel?”
The little kid bit his lip. “I’m nine, ma’am.”
I crouched down so I wasn’t looming over him, and asked, “What did you take from the store, Daniel?”
“Some candy,” he whispered.
“Do you know who I am?”
He bit his lip harder this time. “Yes.”
“Who’s that?”
“You’re the alpha’s lady—the new omega.”
“So you know I can hear what you’re thinking? Even if you don’t say it?”
He gulped. “Yes.”
“That means I can tell when you’re lying, doesn’t it?”
Another gulp. “Yes.”
I hummed. “So, with that being said, do you want to tell me why you wanted to be naughty and take candy from the store?”
“I’m hungry.”
My eyes narrowed. “Didn’t you eat lunch today?”
He shook his head.
“Why not?”
“Because I can’t.”
I frowned. “Why can’t you? Doesn’t your mommy or daddy give you a lunch for school?”
“I don’t go to school,” he whispered.
I blinked, wondering what the hell was going on, but of course that was the moment the tampon situation became critical.
Huffing a breath, I held out my hand as I stood up, muttering, “Come with me, Daniel. Let’s get you some real food.”
When I made it to the counter after I picked up a box of cookies as well, I paid for my things and the tab Daniel had run up, ignoring the manager’s mean-spirited scowl as he watched us leave.
The sight of the she-wolf didn’t have Daniel tensing in fear, which I’d almost expected, because I knew from Eli’s and Austin’s reactions that she was a lot bigger than they were used to dealing with.
As it was, Daniel stuck his hand in her scruff and tugged on it, holding on like he