Chapter 7 Chapter 7 Fired

Christina's POV

I didn't even remember how I got out of that house.

All I had was one single, sharp conclusion echoing through my head-

I must not be their daughter.

How else could my own parents treat me like some expendable omega when I carried the same Crescent blood as Beatrice?

Akira, my wolf, snarled inside my mind. "They don't deserve us, Chrissy."

The moment I got back to my apartment, I collapsed into bed. I didn't move until my phone started ringing.

It was Ysolde.

"You ditched family dinner night?" she asked before I could even say hello. "Your father just called my dad and asked almost every pack member in the entire Carlisle pack, demanding to know if you were hiding out with me."

"Well, hello to you too," I groaned. "And no, I'm not hiding. I'm staging a tactical retreat after declaring independence."

"What happened? Wait,don't tell me. Niall did something spectacularly stupid again?"

I didn't wait for her to speculate further,I just blurted out everything.The final fight with Niall. My parents making me publicly confess to "cheating".

And, yes... I also told her about the one-night stand.

I left out the proposal.

Ysolde let out a howl so loud I had to pull the phone away from my ear.

"You had a one-night stand with your neighbor?! The one who looks like he stepped out of a Calvin Klein billboard? And you didn't send me a single picture?"

I switched the phone to speaker and tossed it onto the couch.

"He's not just hot, Ysolde. He's an Alpha."

"An Alpha?!" Her voice reached a pitch only dogs or werewolves could hear. "From which pack?"

"I don't know. I didn't exactly ask for his pack credentials while he was taking off my-"

"Don't you dare stop there, Christina Vance! Details. Now."

I dragged a pillow over my face. "You are the worst best friend in the history of werewolf friendships."

"And you're dodging," she shot back.

Yes, I was.

I never hid things from Ysolde. Not even when Niall started showing his true colors last year. Not even when Beatrice "accidentally" ruined my portfolio before the design competition.

But last night...

I slept with a man whose pack I couldn't identify.Just to wash Niall's memory off my skin-for a minute, an hour, a night.Whatever it took to feel free again.

"At least tell me this," Ysolde pressed. "Did your wolves recognize each other? Any... mating pull?"

My hand unconsciously went to my neck where his teeth had grazed my skin.

"I don't know," I muttered. "Akira was... unusually quiet."

"Holy moon goddess," Ysolde breathed. "You need to find out who he is."

"What I need is to figure out how to deal with my parents trying to auction me off to the next available Alpha now that Niall's rejected me."

Ysolde went quiet for a moment. "You know you always have a place with our pack if things get ugly."

I swallowed hard.

"Thanks," I managed. "I might need it sooner than you think."

I glanced at the time and cursed.

"I've got to go to work."

Now that my parents had made it clear I was as useful as a declawed cat at a mouse convention, my job was the one thing I couldn't afford to screw up.

Of course, they believed I worked as a barista at Ground & Pound.

In their minds, once mated to Niall, I should be home full-time-a perfect little Luna with no ambitions beyond pack politics and eventual pup-bearing.

They had no idea I was actually Nyx Collective's rising star jewelry designer.

The coffee shop was just my cover-my way of explaining where I disappeared to every day without revealing I was doing something my controlling parents would consider beneath them.

I dragged my exhausted body to Ground & Pound, already planning my escape route to my studio afterward.

"Chrissy."

My boss, Benny, greeted me like I was an IRS agent with a warrant-nervous, sweaty, practically whimpering.

"You don't need to be here today. I was just about to call you..." He stared at the floor as if it might open up and swallow him. "You're not on the schedule anymore."

My wolf bristled. "Excuse me?"

"You've been... fired. I'm really sorry. I didn't want to, but..." He finally looked up, his eyes wide with genuine fear. "Your father came by."

My stomach dropped faster than a stone in a lake.

"Said he'd have every werewolf in Highrise boycott us if I kept you on staff." Benny's nose couldn't pick up pack politics, but even he knew Alpha Franklin wasn't someone to cross. "I'm sorry. I couldn't do anything."

"He's just Alpha, Benny. Not the Alpha King of all the packs."

"Maybe not, but he's got The Crescent pack wrapped around his finger. And they're half our customer base."

I took a deep breath. Yelling at Benny wouldn't do anything. This wasn't his fault.

Before Akira could urge me to do something stupid,like shift right there and tear up the espresso machine,I stormed out.

I didn't hate that job. Being a barista was just my alibi.

What really paid my bills,what no one in my pack knew except Ysolde,was my jewelry design work.

Ever since I was a pup,my father had told me I was average.Ordinary. Unexceptional. Every time I tried to shine, he dragged me back into Beatrice's shadow.

Eventually, I learned to hide. I buried my ambition, wore gray feathers.

So no, I didn't care about losing the coffee shop job.

What infuriated me was that this was clearly a power move. My father's influence was all over it.

It was his punishment. His response to me rejecting Niall. Rejecting the arrangement that would have bound our packs. But Beatrice had already taken my place in this ridiculous marriage. Why couldn't he just leave me alone?

He was sending me a message,"You don't get to walk away from the pack's plans. I can destroy any independence you think you've earned with just one word."

If he thought I would come crawling back, belly-up like I used to, begging for the pack's approval...

He could go howl at the moon.

I wasn't his obedient pup anymore.

I was done playing the good little daughter.

Thirty minutes later, I shoved open the front door of the pack house.

No knocking. No announcing myself through the pack mind-link. I didn't care.

I had come ready to start round two of our family dispute.

What I found instead was something far worse.

My parents were sitting on the couch, sipping blood-red wine worth more than my rent, laughing-actually laughing-with a man I didn't recognize.

The scene was picturesque. Like they'd stepped right out of How to Host the Perfect Alpha-Wannabe Dinner.

The man looked like a slimy, watered-down version of a 1950s mogul,maybe one who'd spent time in prison for stealing another wolf's territory and came out with a tailor.

Custom suit. Shirt unbuttoned to mid-chest, revealing a patch of chest hair that looked like someone had just trimmed the pack Christmas tree and glued the clippings to his sternum.

His teeth were too white, his smile too polished.

"Darling," my mother cooed,"come meet Mr. Leonard Shaw, Alpha of the Silver Heights pack. A true self-made wolf.There's so much you could learn from him,about turning wolf talent into real pack success."

It hit like a silver bullet to the face.

Leonard grinned ear to ear. His eyes went straight to my neck, searching for mating marks.

"Lovely to meet you, Miss Vance," he said. "I do hope we get to run together soon. I always enjoy taking young she-wolves under my wing. Especially unmated, beautiful ones like yourself."

I didn't bother hiding my expression.

It wasn't disgust. It was the look a wolf gives right before it tears out a throat.

He was practically licking his chops.

I could hear his wolf howling mating calls in his head.

"Christina," my father warned in that threat tone, "don't be rude. Show Mr. Shaw proper respect as an Alpha."

I didn't move. I didn't even blink.

My mom's laugh rang out, high and brittle, like a fox caught in a trap.

"Young she-wolves are so temperamental these days, aren't they?" she said to Leonard, with the practiced tone of a Luna placating an Alpha.

Leonard just waved it off. "I like a female with spirit.Makes the chase more interesting."

Yeah, and I like hunters who don't use silver bullets. We can't all get what we want.

And my father, the same man who had told me "we'll handle everything" just days ago, was now nodding at Leonard like a hotel concierge hoping for a good tip.

That's when I understood.

This wasn't an introduction.

It was an offering.

I was the sacrifice on display tonight.

This wasn't about meeting a 'promising Alpha male.'

This was a pack alliance negotiation. I was being marketed like a breeding female with a bonus dowry.

When Leonard finally left,I turned to face them.

"What the hell was that?"

My mother raised her wine glass, took a triumphant sip.

"That," she said, "was your future mate."