Blue Collar Alpha

Glaring Issue

Jack

My head is pounding as I crawl out of bed. Ajax is pacing and whining about finding our mate soon. I try to ignore my wolf as I stumble into the bathroom to splash water on my face. “You shouldn’t have stayed out so late drinking, Jack,” I admonish myself. The faint hint of jasmine keeps going through my mind as I get dressed for work. I put on some old jeans and a solid red shirt that is faded and stained. I don’t think the goats and cows will care. I comb my hair and head out of my room.

“Hungover?” Mom says from behind me.

“No,” I grumble.

“You came in late last night, Jacky,” She mentions as we go downstairs.

“I’m allowed to stay out light, Mom,” I roll my eyes.

“But you don’t do that, Jack,” She looks at me straight on.

I shake my head, “I just had drinks at Ricky’s bar.”

Mom shakes her head as we reach the bottom floor, and she heads for the kitchen. “I am making waffles this morning. Do you want chocolate chips in yours?”

“Sure,” I smile and kiss her cheek.

Ray is waiting for me outside with my sister and their two pups. Emily has one-year-old Kenna on her hip while three-year-old Jayden runs around with a toy truck in his little hands.

“Uncle Jack,” He squeals and runs over to me. “Look at my truck,” He holds up the toy.

“That is a very cool truck, JayJay,” I say to him.

“Mom got him a bunch of new trucks,” Emily laughs while Kenna struggles to get down. “Okay, Kenna,” Emily sets her daughter down.

Both pups are now circling me. I pick up my niece, and she squeals in protest. I kiss her cheek and set her down. “Have fun, Kenna,” I say as she runs after her brother.

“My truck!” Jayden screams as his sister grabs for it. He runs off screaming with Kenna on his tail.

“Great, Jack,” Emily protests as she runs after her pups.

Ray looks at me and sighs, “You know she is going to yell at me, right?”

“Don’t we have animals to take care of,” I slap his shoulder and walk towards the barn? My head is pounding as I walk in.

“No, it’s not my turn, Ben,” Ken yells at his twin.

“f**k you, Ken,” Ben yells back angrily while throwing something at his brother.

“Whoa!” I yell at the twins. “What the hell is going on here?”

Ken and Ben turn to look at Ray and me. “Alpha, Ben says it's my turn to wash the n*****s,” Ken holds up a bottle we use to feed the calves.

“It was my turn yesterday,” Ben complains.

“What does the schedule say?” I ask and look towards a whiteboard hanging on the wall of our makeshift office.

“Beta Ray changed it,” Ben adds.

“You two asked me to change it,” Ray huffs. “Ben had an appointment, and you agreed, Ken. So it’s your turn,” Ray explains.

“I don’t remember that,” Ken whines.

“Smoke less weed, and you’ll remember s**t better,” Ray snarls.

I sigh as they argue. “The schedule says, Ken,” I point to the board.

“Alpha,” Ken whines while Ben smirks.

“But since both of you want to argue, you can both do it. Ray and I will do the feedings and milking until you are done,” I say with my hands on my hips. “I’ll just have to be late to the Murphy house.”

“You still working on that mess?” Ben laughs.

I nod, “Get to work,” I mumble and head towards the animals.

It takes a few hours to finish taking care of the animals. While Ray deals with Ben and Ken, I walk toward the garage. Isaac is loading up the truck as I walk over to him.

“Hey, Isaac,” I greet him.

“Did you get Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum figured out?” He laughs.

I shake my head, “No,” I snort. We hop into the truck and head over to the Murphy house. Metallica is playing on the radio, and I bop my hands against the steering wheel while Isaac has his nose in the phone.

He smiles and looks at me, “Lauren was just feeling sick.”

“And that made you smile?” I laugh.

“I was going to wait to tell people, but she is pregnant,” He grins ear to ear. “She didn’t want to have another one after Kaitlyn, but we just found out a few days ago. I haven’t even told my Dad.”

“Well, congratulations, Isaac,” I tell him. I feel mild jealousy as Isaac is only twenty-one and has a four-year-old pup and another on the way. All of my friends have their mates, and I am still alone.

‘You won’t be for long,’ Ajax muses.

I shake my head, ‘You have said that before,’ I grumble at my wolf. He says nothing else and retreats. I pull into the driveway of the house. I take a deep breath, “Let's go see what s**t is wrong today.”

Isaac huffs. We see the drywall guys are here as well. I know the lead guy Tony as I used to work for him. He isn't a wolf, but he knows all about us.

“Hey, Jack,” Tony shouts as he walks into the house with some tools.

“Tony,” I tilt my head toward him. “I didn’t think you guys were coming until tomorrow.”

“I had a cancellation and some free time,” Tony mentions.

We go into the house, and Charlie is waiting for us with his father, Bruce. The large older rogue eyes me. He has never been fond of me.

“Bruce,” I say to him, and he lets out a low growl. Isaac and I head into the kitchen. We are doing some wiring for new lights today. While working, Bruce comes in and out of the kitchen several times to get a soda or something else. He glares at Isaac and me each time.

“How does the wiring look,” Charlie asks awkwardly. He is standing in the doorway, blocking his father. “Sorry about Pop. He is nervous around you.”

“I am not nervous,” Bruce growls from the other room.

I shrug, “he’s not bothering us, Charlie.”

“Good,” Charlie nods. “Anyways, the wiring?”

“It’s looking good,” I respond.

It takes about three hours to finish today’s job. While cleaning up with Isaac, Bruce walks into the kitchen.

“When are you going to be done?” He asks with his gruff voice. The rogue is large and very well-muscled. I suspect he is of Beta or Gamma blood. He looks intimidating with his tattooed arms and shaved head.

“We still have a lot of work to do, Bruce,” I respond calmly.

“I don’t like you guys taking so long,” Bruce grumbles.

“There have been setbacks, Bruce. We are working the best we can,” I turn to Isaac, who is chewing on his cheek.

“You better not be conning, my kid,” He snarls.

“Pop, leave them alone,” Charlie walks into the kitchen with one of his sons on his hip. “Jack is doing a good job.”

“I don’t trust him,” Bruce growls.

“Papa,” Charlie’s son coos and reaches for him.

“Do you want to see Papa, Joey?” Charlie laughs and passes his son to his father.

“We’ll get out of your hair for the day, Charlie,” I drop some tools into my box.

Bruce rocks his grandson with a less harsh look on his face. I can sense his tension, and I want to get away from him. “I heard you were all chummy with some pack wolves at Ricky’s.”

“Yeah, they were passing through,” I mention and pick up my toolbox. “Are you ready, Isaac?”

“Yeah,” My gamma responds while eyeing Bruce.

Bruce sets Joey down and steps toward me, getting into my face, “I would hate for your little pack to take over this town.”

“We aren’t taking over anything, Bruce,” I walk around him. I don’t want to start a fight in front of his son and grandson. “The other wolves left, and that’s it.” I walk out of the kitchen, ignoring Bruce’s growling. Charlie’s mate, Jennifer, and their other son, Mikey, are in the living room.

“All done?” Jennifer asks with a grin.

“For today,” I smile at her. “We’ll see you tomorrow.”

Isaac and I rush out to the truck and start loading up. Tony is outside with two of his workers, eating lunch. I nod at him.

“Are you going to be at Ricky’s tonight, Jack?” Tony asks. “They are having a meat raffle.”

“I’m thinking about it, Tony,” I reply.

“Try not to win all the meat this time,” Tony laughs and elbows his worker, “Damn wolves eating all the meat.”

“I won two raffles, Tony,” I laugh and step to the driver’s door. Bruce walks out of the house and glares at me. “I’ll see you later, Tony,” I wave and get into the truck with Isaac. I get a strange feeling as we drive home.

“We have been in this town for decades, and that guy still hates us,” Isaac shakes his head.

“Rogues have it tough,” I sigh.

“Tough?” Isaac snorts. “That asshole owns a bigger farm than us.”

“I know,” I shake my head.

“He drives a brand new truck while we ride around in this twenty-year-old thing,” Isaac nearly yells.

I don’t respond and listen to the radio. We pull into the pack, and I see two black SUVs and a black limo sitting in front of the house. I tense up as I see Ray walking towards the house with Ben and Ken. I park the truck, and Isaac and I march over as a large man in an expensive-looking grey suit slides out of the limo. He has an air of familiarity about him.

Several other members of my small pack walk toward the vehicles as a dozen warriors file out of the SUVs. I position myself at the head of the pack with Ray and Isaac just behind me.

He smiles at me and holds out a hand, “Jack? Jack Watson,” A deep voice booms out of him.

I look at him with suspicion and shake his hand, “Yeah, that’s me,” I mumble. “And you are?”