Wolf's Pack (Wolves Next Door #3) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,200

Mrs. thing. In our pack, however, they both deserve it."

I smiled at him. "Thanks."

"Not lying, Elena. And with all the changes? I think it's a good thing that we have a strong pair as our leadership. Gabby's probably going to be a busy girl, too."

"And speaking of that," I said. "Can I speak to you in private for a moment, Michelle?"

She got up and followed me, but I didn't miss how her eyes kept going back to the trees. "He's going to be ok, right?"

"He is," I assured her, stopping at Bridget's car to lean against the hood. "He's also never going to be human again, Michelle. What Sasha and Theo were talking about? Being exposed by sex. Theo gave his boyfriend one blow job. Well, two, it sounds like. That was all it took, and now he's a tiger. Jonah will never be able to have a normal relationship with a normal human woman again. If he tries, she'll become a wolf. He can use condoms, but he has to do that every single time."

"He should anyway," she reminded me.

"Even when he's forty and married," I countered. "Not just right now while he's in high school. This thing? It doesn't go away. He'll have a need to be near his pack, too. Right now, that's us. No, he doesn't need to stay, but the two of you are welcome to."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Do you own your home?"

She shook her head. "We're renting."

"Then move here." I gestured around us. "Let him have access to the trails, be around his own kind - and others - and have access to people who can help both of you when he has a problem."

"I'd love to," Michelle said, "but I can't afford this place. Elena, the god's honest truth is that I'm a month behind on rent, and I need my son to work so we can just scrape by. I work at a pharmacy. I'm not the pharmacist, I'm just the cashier, and that's not enough money to live on."

"How do you feel about answering phones and sending emails?"

She gave me a strange look. "It's kinda what I do every day. Why?"

But I kept going. "Calling people and telling them they can't have what they asked for?"

"Pretty much my current job," she assured me. "Why, Elena?"

"Because Wolf's Run was a test. It succeeded, and now we're looking at expanding. That means I won't have time to be the Alpha Female, a mother, a wife, and the Leasing Agent. I've already talked to the Langdons, and they agree with me. We'd like to offer you a job, Michelle. It's eighty thousand a year with free rent. The hours are insane, you will be asked to put up with things that are literally inhuman, and you'll have to figure out how to turn all the rich, spoiled humans away, but it's a good job. It used to be mine."

The woman lifted a hand to her mouth and had to look away because her eyes were getting misty. "Why me?" she asked.

"Because everyone deserves a second chance. What you do with it is up to you, but I know what it's like to be a single mom and desperate. I was once where you are now. This, Michelle, is a clean slate. Living here will be the most magical and simultaneously mundane experience of your life, but it's a good home. These are good people. If nothing else, the job will give you the chance to get back on your feet, get your son through high school, and then decide what comes next, right?"

She sniffed, wiped her eyes, and then looked at me with a timid smile. "Are you at the 'comes next' part?"

I just nodded. "I'm marrying the five men of my dreams. My little girl has the kind of fathers I can be proud of." I laughed once. "And me? I figured out that I did all of this to become a strong woman, but I'd kinda been that way the whole time. Now, it's your turn."

"If my son makes it through this," she decided, "then yes. I'll gladly learn anything I have to. Thank you so much..." She paused, then added, "Alpha."

"Elena's fine," I promised. "Also, we do wine at Ashley's place on Thursdays. Oh, and we're looking at getting shirts, because we are officially the Sisterhood of Being Too Old for That Shit. Well, this shit!"

"I know," she agreed. "I think my son's going to give me a heart