Chapter 17

Darren

“She’s not my girlfriend.”

I took the phone from my Beta and quickly declined the call, sending a brief text: “Long day. Can’t talk right now. Talk tomorrow?”

A few moments later, a reply came through: “Fine… Can’t wait to see you! XOXO ;)”

My Beta, who’d been looking over my shoulder, snorted. I shot him a burning glare and shoved the phone back into his hands, turning one last time.

Aria was still standing on the stoop, green eyes wide. I felt a pang upon seeing her. Despite my intentions to unmark her and break our bond, the part of our souls that were intertwined felt… guilty.

I needed to explain.

“She’s not my girlfriend,” I repeated, loud enough for her weaker human hearing this time. “She’s just an old friend.”

Liam smirked and folded his arms across his chest. “So he says. They’ve been on a few dates.”

“And nothing more.” I sent a thrum of disapproval down the pack bond, a silent warning to my Beta to stop fanning the flames. He was angry that his Luna was a human, I knew—but he was acting bloody disrespectful.

Liam’s face paled, and he muttered an apology before quickly climbing back into the car.

Aria pulled her shoulders back. “If it’s more than that, I’m not bothered by it. We’re not in love, remember?”

Liar, I thought. About the bothered part; perhaps we were not in love, and perhaps my marking her was a mistake, but she was still my mate. Jealousy wasn’t something that either of us could control.

I walked up to the base of the steps again and looked up at her. “It really is true. Sarah, she… helped me through a tough time when we were younger. Since then, she has struggled financially, so I’ve hired her as an assistant to repay her favor.”

Aria quirked an eyebrow. “You date your employees?”

A flush began to creep up my neck at that. “No.” I looked away. Sarah was my employee on paper, yes, but…

She was really just a sinecure. I gave her a salary to repay her for what she had done for me as children, but there really weren’t any job expectations except for showing up occasionally to help me with work trips and the like—oblivious to the world of werewolves, of course, seeing as how she was a human herself.

That was how we had wound up going on those dates; she had come with me on one of my business trips and had expressed a romantic interest in me one night while we were drinking at the hotel bar.

I’d never really looked at Sarah that way; she was a human, and, well… She had changed since we were kids. She wasn’t the same girl I remembered.

But I agreed to the dates—if only because of the fond memories we shared as children.

After all, it was impossible to forget the way she had sheltered me and nursed me back to health as a pup. When she had found me on that roadside, nearly dead and trapped in my pup form, she didn’t have to save me.

But she had. And for that I would be forever grateful.

“Anway,” I said, snapping myself out of my own train of thought, “I do plan on talking to her tomorrow. On telling her that I don’t intend to take the relationship further.”

Aria’s eyes widened. “You don’t—”

“I do.” I held my hand up to stop her. “Don’t feel bad. It doesn’t have anything to do with you.”

This time, I felt my Beta’s voice through our Mindlink: “Liar…”

In response, I sent him an image of myself flogging him through the bond. Not that I would ever actually do such a thing, but he finally shut up after that.

Aria looked shocked for a moment, maybe even a little hurt, but then relief seemed to cross her features. She nodded, muttered a goodnight, and then slipped inside.

…

Aria

When I woke the next morning, I sort of hoped that everything had been a strange dream.

But I was back in my own bed, the date lining up perfectly. If it hadn’t been real, then perhaps I still would have been sleeping on Darren’s sofa, a fluffy Lucas curled up next to me.

No. It had all been real.

I was still processing when I walked the dogs that morning. Still processing when I came home and made lunch. Still processing even by the time I went to bed again.

By the time Tuesday morning came around, my mind had finally begun to settle. Werewolves were real… It was just like a childhood fantasy coming true. I, like most other children, had always wanted to live in a world full of magic, right? If anything, this just made the real world more interesting.

And dangerous.

But hopefully just interesting.

When I got to work, the rest of the puzzle pieces began to click into place. No wonder the employees at Lunar Labs had seemed so far removed from myself, talking about humans and Alphas and hunts. No wonder Lily had been so interested in my lifestyle as a human.

Because they were all werewolves.

But I couldn’t let on that I knew what they were. So I went on pretending as best I could.

It wasn’t easy, going about my day like I was oblivious to my coworkers’ true nature; especially not when I had so many questions.

Thankfully, though, Darren called me into his office within the first hour of the workday starting. It seemed as though I would be getting some answers.

“Well?” he asked as I settled into the chair opposite his desk. “How are you feeling?”

“About as well as one could hope,” I replied, then thought for a moment before adding, “I’m the only human here, right?”

Darren nodded. “Yes. Sort of. If you don’t count Sarah.”

“Right…” I ignored the pang in my chest at the thought of the elusive assistant who apparently had a history with Darren. “She doesn’t know about everything?”

“No. And I intend to keep it that way.”

I couldn’t argue with that. Apparently, my knowledge of the werewolf world was already causing enough trouble. I couldn’t imagine what sort of trouble two humans might cause.

“I didn’t just call you in here to talk about werewolves, for what it’s worth,” Darren went on. “Any progress on that Puppy Playground campaign?”

I sighed and glanced out the window of Darren’s office, where the cubicles were on display. His office was situated in a loft, overlooking the entire office. And from here, it was plain to see the others slacking off in their usual manner.

“Take a look for yourself,” I said, gesturing to the cubicles below.

Darren’s face tightened. “I guess I can tell you now why they don’t care about losing their jobs,” he began. “The employees here… They’re not just employees, but my pack. Lunar Labs is comprised entirely of my pack: Moonglow.”

I frowned as I looked down at the employees below. No wonder they seemed so… close-knit.

“Anyway,” Darren went on, “werewolf society is very rigid when it comes to hierarchy. One’s status—Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Omega—isn’t a choice, but rather it’s in our blood. We are born into our positions.”

He rose from his chair and crossed to the window, gesturing for me to follow. I joined him there, and he pointed down at Arthur, Melissa, Lily, and Brandon. “Gammas.” He pointed at a few other employees who I didn’t recognize by name yet. “Omegas.” He pointed at Liam, who was sitting in his own office down below. “Liam is my Beta, but you already knew that.”

“So there is only one Alpha and one Beta? And the rest are Gammas and Omegas? With no chance of moving up in the hierarchy?”

Darren nodded. “My father was an Alpha, and his father before him; same with Liam’s family. Like I said, our status is in our blood.” He sighed. “Of course, a Beta or a Gamma could technically challenge the Alpha and ascend, but it’s a… bloody process. Not something that we really do anymore.”

“What about Lunas?” I found myself asking, recalling the title he had used for me the other night.

“A Luna…” Darren glanced over at me. “Anyone can become a Luna, so long as they’re mated to the Alpha. Regardless of prior status.”

I felt a blush heat my cheeks, but I quickly looked away and instead asked, “Can people be demoted?”

“Sort of.” Darren pursed his lips. “But demotion would require doing something heinous.”

I nodded slowly, considering. “So… That’s why no one is motivated,” I mused. “They each get their own position in the company depending on their status, and that’s that.”

“Exactly.” Darren turned to me. “They have no chance of moving up, but also no chance of moving down unless they did something truly awful, like harm another pack member or something of the sort.”

Frowning, I said, “But they’re all slacking off all the time, and you said yourself that company profits are declining. You have to do something. What about incentives? If they can’t be promoted, they could at least receive money and rewards for good work.”

Darren seemed to consider this. “I guess you’re right,” he said, scratching his head. “As a pack, everyone is taken care of already when it comes to food and housing—so money isn’t really something that we think of often. But I suppose it could still be implemented.”

He turned to me then. “This is what I meant when I said I’m glad to have someone like you, Aria. You—”

“Sweetheart!”

Darren and I both startled at the sound of the faraway female voice. Turning, I saw a blonde dressed in a mini dress and high heels push into the office, her arms laden with shopping bags.

No…

“I’ve missed you so much, darling,” she cooed, lifting her enormous sunglasses. “I hope you missed me…”

“Sarah?” I blurted out, and the blonde turned, her eyes widening.

“Aria…”

I couldn’t believe it. It was Sarah, my stepsister…

And biggest childhood bully.