Raven's Rose (Charity Series Book 3) (15 page)

             
“Very good, Wesley. You can meet my team to switch her out at the location we mentioned earlier.” His voice broke off, and for a moment all I heard was his intake of breath before he said, “Thank you, Wesley.”

             
“You’re welcome, sir. I will see your team there. Oh, and how are the Vanderburgs settling in over there?”

             
“Fine, fine. They’re like a part of the family already. They’ll like it here. I’ll tell them you asked about them.”

             
“No!” I snapped, but then caught myself. “I mean, nah, that’s not necessary. Well, gotta go. I’ll keep you posted.” I clicked the phone closed. Whew, that was close. The last thing I needed was Raven thinking I cared anything about him or his wife. I’d never hear the end of it. It was bad enough that I got duped into this stupid mission. Babysitting a brat. Great.

                      
                          * * * * * *

My grandfather, Papa Windsor, along with my grandmother, Nana Butterfly (that’s what we’ve always called her) used to run this pack. That is, until I turned eighteen. That’s when I inherited my right to
be alpha of our pack: the Windsor Pack. I had a feeling Papa Windsor was slightly disappointed in my leadership. I had always felt his disapproval, even when I was a kid. I felt he loved Levi more than me. I could do no right in his eyes, and Levi could do no wrong. I guess that’s why I was always doing things to get Levi in trouble. The problem was no body bought it. I figured that was one of the reasons I focused so much effort on the rivalry with Levi’s pack. But I was relieved the rivalry was over. I had regained my honor during our last fight in the clearing months ago. I wasn’t fooled though. I knew Levi had staged his injuries so I could win. The truth is, it touched me deeply that he would suffer for my benefit, though I would be hard pressed to admit it to anyone. I did try to hide the fact that it touched me, but Charity saw it. That’s okay though. It was worth it. Keeping up the hatred was exhausting. Besides, I needed to be focusing on my own pack—and now on getting this stupid girl here.

Suddenly, I had a thought that seemed to come out of thin air. Maybe Nana Butterfly could take this Hope Mason under her wing? She could put her to work in her greenhouse. That would keep the brat busy and out of my
way. I smiled, pleased with myself for the first time today. Maybe this babysitting thing wouldn’t be so bad after all.

                                    
Chapter Two

Wesley

“What do you mean, she’s gone?” I yelled into the phone. “She ditched you? How on earth did she do that? You guys are werewolves, right?” I was so mad I was seeing red. Somehow I sensed they were just ready to be rid of her—not a good sign. They were probably planning to pin her escape on me and my guys. I knew I had to get there right away. This girl was beginning to really bug me, and I hadn’t even met her yet. “Okay fine. We’ll be there soon, and then we’ll locate her scent and take over from there.” I hung up the phone and cursed. I would have to find a way to make this girl suffer for the annoyance she’d already caused me. Hope Mason. The only thing I knew about the girl was that she was trouble. And I sure didn’t need any trouble right now.

              Thirty minutes later, I and my elite, Andrew, Li, Jax, and Mitch, arrived at Douglas International Airport to locate this Hope Mason, bane of my existence. We picked up her scent near the ladies restroom nearest the exit. I stuck my head in and called for her, but there was no answer. I heard movement in one of the stalls and, with anger spurring me on, I plowed into the ladies restroom without any other thought other than to find the girl with the blue hair.

             
“Okay, Hope Mason, I know you’re in here, I can smell your annoyance! Don’t worry, I’m annoyed too. Now come out and we can compare degrees!” It was taking all my strength not to rip out every stall door and jerk a knot in this girl’s head. I passed a sink and happened to glance down to recognize pink dye splattered all over it. Hmm. I shrugged and continued my walk down the long row of closed doors. “You can come out, Hope, I’m not going to hurt you. Let’s just pick up your bags and get going. I’m sure it’s been a long day for you, and you would probably enjoy a warm bed and a hearty meal. So what do you say?” I smiled, thinking I wasn’t so bad at this nice stuff, even if I was pretending like crazy.

             
“Fine! But just because I’m hungry, that’s all!” she spat as the last door swung open wide and a petite girl maybe five foot tall stepped out with her arms crossed over her chest defiantly.

             
I studied her slowly from head to toe. She was wearing combat boots with skinny black jeans and a black shirt that was ripped at the sleeves with the thumbs-down symbol smack-dab in the center. The light reflected, drawing my eyes to her shiny lip ring and then to her curly hair that was cropped to her shoulders—and it was pink.
Pink!
It clicked. I snapped to attention. “Did you just color your hair pink?” I yelled, my anger returning with a vengeance.

             
She smirked and cocked her head, clearly enjoying my reaction. “Yeah, so what?” she challenged.

             
Using way more effort than I typically needed, I took control of my rage. “So that’s why you ditched your pack, so you would have time to change your hair color from blue to a more obnoxious one for my sake?” I stepped closer and put on my most intimidating gaze. “I’m flattered, but you really shouldn’t have done that.” My gaze intensified. “We’ll take care of that when we reach the facility. Now, let’s go!”

             
She jumped at my command and then she narrowed her eyes, placing her hands on her hips. “I don’t know who you think you are!”

             
I stared down at her, silencing her at once. “I’m Wesley Windsor, your new boss. And you’ll do as you’re told or you will be shipped back to papa. Now move it!” I spun and made my way out of the ladies restroom where a line of curious women had gathered and were listening in on the conversation.

“She’s my runaway sister,” I said to the ladies in case they were alarmed. I surely didn’t need security called in. I put my hand to my heart, dramatically. “I’m so glad I found her. We’ve been so worried.” I faked a thrilled expression before continuing my walk.

              Hope growled out a huff, stomping loudly behind me. “I can tell we’re gonna be great friends.”

              I smiled at her sarcasm but kept walking. “You have no idea.”

             
At the baggage claim, Li, Mitch, Jax, and Andrew all had bags in both hands, including a guitar case. “Just how many bags did you bring?” I asked in disbelief.

             
She shrugged, and after a brief moment, she stuck out her chin and said, “If you must know, I have my stuffed animals in most of these bags.” After noting my expression, which I’m sure resembled disgust, she added, “Well, I couldn’t just leave any of them behind. It’s not their fault my dad is a jerk and sent me away.”

             
I didn’t know what to say to that, so I turned and picked up the last bag from the conveyer belt. It was so heavy that the top flew open, spilling its contents all over my feet and the surrounding floor. She gasped and knelt with me to begin the cleanup process. I grabbed one of the books before she could stop me and read the title, “Lazy Days and Lustful Nights! What a stupid title! What kind of book is this?” I snapped as she snatched the book from my grasp, stuffing it, along with the others, into the suitcase.

I have to admit, she turned an adorable shade of pink and not the disgusting shade of her hair. My guys were holding back their laughter. She stood and eyed them with annoyance before turning to me. “Fine! I have an addiction to romance novels! If you don’t like it
, you can kiss my voluptuous rumpus!!”

My eyes widened and a laugh burst from my lips. “Um, what? I think that is the last thing I would call your tiny butt,” I said, twisting my head to take a look.

She jerked back and used her hands to cover her rear, her anger boiling over. “You are an overgrown, pig-headed dolt!” She pointed her finger in my face. “Don’t even think about talking to me again!”

I smiled. “Whatever you say, T
rouble. Come along then.” I reached down for the now secure bag and made my way toward the exit. In that moment, something told me my life was about to take a serious detour—one that would kick me in the groin and make me wish I was born a girl. Unfortunately, Trouble was coming with me.

                                    Chapter Three

Hope

I hated him already—this guy called Wesley—my new alpha.
How dare he criticize my romance novels—or my butt?
However, as annoyed as I might have been, I couldn’t deny that he wasn’t all that bad to look at. He was very tall with a muscled physique, black, messy spiked hair, and an intimidating gaze. But this guy was a bigger jerk than even my dad was. His sharp tongue and arrogant swagger were proof of that.

Sitting in the back seat of the tinted limo, staring defiantly at Wesley and the Asian guy named Li, I already wished I was ba
ck at home. I missed my friends, Cathy most of all. She had always been a good friend to me and such a great listener. My dad thought she was trouble. Little did he know that I was the bad influence on her, not the other way around. I smirked when I thought about it.

“What’s so funny?” Wesley asked. “Did you just think of how much fun it’s gonna be when we wash that pink out of your hair?”

My face straightened. “If you touch me you will die.” I snapped, my face burning with anger.

He smirked, nodding. “A challenge. Nice.”

“No, I mean it! You will not touch me or my hair! You got it!” I was fuming, while he was still smirking.

“I’m going to enjoy teaching you some respect, little girl.”

“I’m eighteen! And now I know why Charity chose Levi!” His face fell, and I knew I had victory. Though in the next second I wasn’t sure that was a good thing.

He gritted his teeth and his face became red with restrained anger, his eyes shifting yellow. Li touched his alpha’s hand and whispered, “It’s okay, Wesley. Shake it off. Shake it off, dude.”

I watched Wesley’s eyes slowly squeeze shut as if he was trying to gain control and made a mental note to be more careful when using the Charity card in the future.

Thankfully, we didn’t speak the rest of the ride, and I was relieved when the ramp to the forest dropped down and we entered their parking garage.

“Home, sweet home,” the Asian guy said as I was ushered from the car. Wesley began walking and we all followed as we made our way through the halls of the facility. This place wasn’t all that different from my home at the Mason House. The walls were made out of the same material and the layout seemed to be very similar, which brought me a strange peace.

We continued to walk for what seemed like forever, taking turn after turn.
I don’t think my home had this many turns.
I focused, trying to memorize the way. We finally made one last turn and came to a door with a big fancy wreath on it with a sign that said ‘DO NOT ENTER’.

Wesley ignored it and swung the door open widely. “Nana?” Wesley called.

I could hear tenderness in his voice, which surprised me. Who was this Nana? Maybe it was his grandmother.

We all took careful steps inside and entered what appeared to be a greenhouse, although I’d never seen one underground before. It was relatively small with some kind of special lighting. The plants and flowers that surrounded and cascaded around me were really beautiful, with vibrant and rich colors of green, yellow, orange, red, and purple. I was in awe, until Wesley turned to peer at me, and I quickly shifted my expression to indifference and narrowed my eyes at him.

“Oh, there you are, sugah?” a sweet voice squealed in delight.

I glanced over in time to see a strange woman coming from the back of the room with flowers draping in her gloved hands. She was an older woman, wearing a long plain dress with orange sneakers and a wide brim hat with a wreath of fresh flowers wrapped around it. Despite her odd, hippie style, her face was fresh and lovely, her eyes kind.

She passed all the boys and stopped right in front of me. I shifted my feet, slightly nervous as she studied me from head to foot. I was suddenly annoyed. “See anything you like?” I knew the words were wrong the moment they left my mouth.

She straightened and her soft eyes turned hard. “Now let’s get one thing straight right from the start. I’ll not tolerate any disrespect or backtalk. I didn’t allow if from any of my boys, and I won’t allow it from you. Are we clear?”

My face flushed with embarrassment, and I found myself nodding in agreement.

She smiled and her soft expression immediately returned. “Great, sugah. I think we’re gonna get along just fine. Now why don’t you follow me and I’ll take you to your room.”