I have since learned the two of them had played football together in the inter-pack football squads many moons ago. Back when my Dad considered himself quite the footballer. Back when he could actually run around without feeling like he would collapse and have a heart attack. No, I shouldn’t be mean, my Dad was still in quite good shape for a guy his age. That came with being a Beta of the pack, I guess. He had no choice but to keep training and had to stay at peak fitness.
I picked up my bag from my bed with my qualifications as well as examples of some of my teaching styles I preferred. “Coming!” I called, slipping out of my bedroom. Only to be greeted by my older brother leaning on the doorframe of his bedroom door, with a dirty look upon his face. “I’d say good luck, but…” he paused. “Nope, I don’t want to. You will fuck it up, like you do everything else.” He says with a nasty laugh.
I rolled my eyes at him, sticking my middle finger up at him, before turning my back on him before walking down the stairs to meet my Dad. “Come on Princess, let us get you to this meeting.” He smiles, as we move toward the door, and for once I am actually glad to spend time with my Dad, because he doesn’t seem to be on my case.
‘Good luck Bailey.’ I suddenly received a mindlink from Harley. I felt a warm feeling rush through me. I was touched that he had even remembered my interview. The two of us had been for ice creams as planned the other afternoon, and had found plenty to laugh about as we caught up. He seemed quite an easy-going guy, and really friendly. He seemed quite interested in the fact I had done my degree and asked lots of questions about it.
We had seen each other a couple of times since, casually around pack. And chatted via text and call too. He had been really enthusiastic for me when I told him of my potential job interview, knowing how desperate I was to find work. Though I don’t know if he realized how far away this pack was…
‘Thank you, Harley!’ I replied. ‘And thank you for remembering. I am just leaving now.’
‘Aww, just in time then. I just woke up, so I am glad I caught you. You will smash it, sweet cheeks.’ He tells me and I hold back a little giggle, he keeps coming up with funny names to call me, knowing they will make me laugh. But my Dad being with me means it is not a good idea to be laughing, as I do not need to be explaining this to him…
‘Thank you. I am with my Dad now, so I will speak to you later.’ I told him, knowing it wouldn’t be long until my Dad were to notice my glazed eyes to signal I was mindlinking, and then he would be asking questions. Plus, I would soon lose the ability once we left the pack as we would be too far away from him for the link to work.
‘Okay Bai, see you soon. Drinks on me if you get the job!’ Harley tells me cheerfully before cutting the link.
I sit in the passenger seat of the car as my Dad is driving through the quiet roads of pack. Few people would be about at this time of day. We were setting of quite early as the meeting was scheduled for mid-morning, and we still had to get there yet. I was nervous, but I was excited too. To avoid an incomplete reading experience, visit J o b n ‘i’b . c o m. I had been working toward this since I went away to study. This is everything I am wanting. I hope they like me and see the potential in me. I am a good teacher, I know I am…
I feel my mindlink crackling like someone is trying to get hold of me and I wonder if Harley is trying to reach me again, but suddenly a voice I did not want to hear comes through loud and clear, I especially did not want to be hearing his voice today of all days. Miles. ‘Where the fuck do you think you are going?’
I chose to try and ignore him, knowing we were coming toward the pack gates soon, so hopefully the pack link would be lost and he wouldn’t be able to continue mindlinking me. I go to put my block up, but as I do, he forces through again. ‘Don’t fucking ignore me Bailey. You were told you would stay within the pack. That you belonged to our pack. Yet you chose to apply for work away from the pack all the same? Go to your interview, or it will reflect badly on our pack, and you will not make us look bad. You cause us enough issues as it is. But you will not take that job. Do you hear me? Or I will find ways to make you regret it.’
A cold chill spread across my body at his words. Why would anyone threaten something like that? As my Dad pulled the car out of the pack gates onto the road ready to drive to Autumn Valley Pack, I was beginning to doubt my decision now. Miles is not going to allow this. It seemed my brother had gone running to his friend after all and done exactly as I feared he would. And if they offered me the job I had so desperately wanted, Miles would make me regret it, and knowing him, I could only imagine what that could mean.
The silence within the office was palpable. Awkward. I tried to keep myself occupied with some of the paperwork that lay upon my desk, but I found myself persistently checking the time. This appointment was due anytime now, and I truly did not want to be dealing with some randomer from out of pack.
Yes, it had been my choice to bring her here to interview her, but I am certain that the interview did not need three of us. The coffee in the mug upon my desk had not done what I needed in waking me up, nor making me feel better. Being polite and friendly was most certainly not within my rhetoric today because of the amount of sleep I had managed…
“Does she have much experience?” Caleb suddenly interrupted the deafening silence.
I turn to look at my friend and shrug. “This is all your Dad’s suggestion,” I said, slightly too snappily, and I saw both Caleb and Eden glance at one another. That knowing look upon their faces. The look I tire of. One of sympathy. Pity. Concern. Like I was such a worry for them. Yet, strangely, I was still more than capable of being the Beta of the pack. Completing my role and many of the tasks of Caleb’s too, if I am not mistaken, to lessen his responsibilities to allow him the time to spend with his young son, and his heavily pregnant wife. But they seem to forget that when they have these moments of great concern…
“I think she is newly qualified from what your Dad said.” Eden adds, with a small smile. “Are you sure you are okay, Asher?” her voice seeps concern and care, which only further irritates me. Why do they have to treat me like I am damaged? Like I am a fragile piece of glassware or a ticking timebomb…
I looked toward her, raising my brows as I met her beautiful blue eyes. “Yes, Eden. I am fine. Think we covered this already. I am just tired.” I dismissed her. “Though if this girl is not here soon, her meeting will be canceled, we have better things to do than sit around and wait all day for her.”
Eden glanced at her husband and mate once more, before smiling a tight and uncomfortable smile. The sort of smile that was becoming more frequent around me. “She isn’t due for another ten minutes, Ash.”
Another ten minutes? So why are we all sitting here already? Ten minutes… And that is before we even have to start the interview? My brain will be ready to evaporate into nothingness by the time I am done today! Either that or simply explode. My limit for dealing with others was going to be have been far exceeded. To think I used to be one of the pack’s more sociable members would likely not be believed now…
‘SECURITY ALERT! Rogues detected on the southern border!’ a mindlink suddenly came through from one of the pack warriors running border patrol, and I stood from my desk. There was no way I would be staying within the office now. I had other places I was needed.
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