Althena

30. Bad Day

I wake up at 6 with 4 missed calls and a ringing phone.

"Morning, love."

"You didn't call me last night, babygirl."

"Sorry, I had dinner with an alpha."

"What?" He's pissed.

"It was just dinner. He was curious about my marks. I'm waking up."

"Where are you?"

I look around. It's a nice bedroom. "I don't know."

"Woman."

"Mike. Stop. He was curious about my marks. He gave me a glass of wine. I must have fallen asleep."

"Did he kiss you?"

"No. He did like the idea of the training for everyone though."

"Woman."

"Love. Stop. I love you. I'm yours. Nothing happened. He never tried to touch me or kiss me. I had a glass of wine while we were talking and fell asleep."

"Where were you?"

"A French restaurant."

"Woman, that's a date."

"No. It's not. He was curious about my marks. He asked if I could explain them over dinner. I agreed. He asked nicely. It's not his fault I fell asleep."

"Me and you are going to have a serious conversation when I get there."

"That's fine."

"That's fine?"

"What do you want me to say, Mike?"

"No more dinners with him. No more time alone with him."

"Fine. He knows my story now though. He's not going to ask again."

"Yes, he will. And I mean it. Not again. We'll talk more about it when I get there."

"Ok."

"No alone time with any men."

"Mike. That's not fair. I need friends."

"Not until they know me, woman."

"I guess that's fair."

"Have you been alone with any other men?"

"No. Well, the future delta. It was something else though. It wasn't like dinner or anything. And he's dating Clover anyway."

"We can talk about that one later. You get your ass home."

"I'm going."

He hangs up on me.

"Whatever." I clean my face up and fix my hair. I'm still in my dress. I put my shoes on and stagger out.

A lady smiles at me. "Right this way, miss."

"Thank you. Where am I?"

"Pack house of Night Stalkers."

"Good to know. Anything else?"

"Not really. Bazaar district. Alpha Jaxon carried you in and put you in the guest room."

"Thank you."

"Of course." She opens the door.

I come face to face with his parents and the man who's always in a suit, at the breakfast table. "Good morning. I thought I was going to the car."

Jax comes in behind me laughing. "Eat something. Then I'll send you home."

His mom smiles. She's pretty. "Have a seat, sweetie. We don't bite. What's your name?"

"Thena." I rub my eye.

"You said May-Eve before."

I blink a few times. I am not awake. "My name is Althena May-Eve Sage. My grandma's middle name is May-Eve, so she tells everyone my name is May-Eve. The entire pack calls me May-Eve. I'm gonna go home and forget who I am when someone says, Thena."

She laughs. "She likes you were named after her."

"Yea, she is trying to get the whole city to use it."

"What do your parents do?"

"I'm an orphan."

"I'm sorry. What did they do?"

"My dad didn't want us. He refused the bond while my mom was pregnant. She held on for 13 years before she died." I scratch my head. "She lasted a long time."

His dad nods. "She did."

"She wanted to see me grow up. She tried."

Jax stares at his parents. "Change the subject."

They look at me.

I shrug my shoulders. "It is what it is. I just have to keep going forward."

Jax smiles. "Thena had a good idea for training."

20 minutes later, I finally get out. Jax sends me home in his car. It was a good breakfast, but I like showering first. I felt gross and awkward with his parents.

Mike calls when I'm almost home.

"Are you home?"

"Almost."

"How far away was it?"

"A little over an hour's drive."

"The 2 of you had dinner?"

"Yea. I told him about the pack marks. He asked me what I was going to do after I turned 18. Nothing serious."

"Did he put his pack mark on you?"

"No."

"Where did you wake up?"

"Guest room."

"Woman. That was a date."

"UGH." I hang up on him this time.

I stomp into granny's with my phone ringing. She cracks up laughing.

"I'm gonna STOMP ON HIS HEAD."

"Let me." She takes the phone.

She answers the phone and takes 3 minutes to stop laughing. "Mike, she's too young. She doesn't understand."

I run to my room and change. "I'M GOING TO TRAINING. MAYBE THAT'S A DATE TOO."

I leave her with my phone and go to the park.

Monte comes over. "You stayed with him?"

"What? How?"

"You smell like their territory."

"DAMN IT. Now I need a shower. WHY DIDN'T NOBODY SAY THAT BEFORE?" I yell all along the woods path to granny's house. I give her a dirty look and get in the shower. "People can't even tell me I stink."

I get out and try again, but they left the park. I have no idea where they went. Granny gave me my phone back, but it's quiet now. I have no idea what to do. I wish I could go home. I miss my life.

After lunch, grandma teaches me how to heal people. It's not hard. But it is hard to find injured people. So, I can't practice. Then she shows me a few recipes I can make that will do the same thing. They can heal different things.

I open the door at 5. Monte is standing there. "Are you sick or injured?"

"No."

"Damn. I need practice. Come in."

"So, you're a healer."

"Seems to be." Granny tosses something in the cauldron and a bunch of smoke comes out. "Sorry. That wasn't right. Go outside. Don't breathe that."

I get out and sneeze a few times. "What did you need?"

"See what happened. You were messed up this morning."

"Mike kept accusing me of going on a date with Jax. It was only dinner. He threw a fit though. Made me out to be some kind of monster. Jax gave me 2 glasses of wine at dinner. I fell asleep in the car. He let me sleep in the guest room. I guess that makes me a whore."

He nods.

"Then I hung up on him because I'm tired of being yelled at. I get over to the park, and you tell me I stink. Nobody told me before that. I took a shower, but you had all left. Now I'm here... hoping for injured people to visit." I sit on the steps. "I just want to go home."

He sits beside me. "You had a bad day. Don't give up."

"I wish I could be a rogue and not stink."

"Why?"

"I could stay at my coffee shop forever. Make coffee for everyone shopping. All the different packs would stop in. The king even likes a certain salad I make."

"You like to cook?"

"I love it. And gardening."

"Did you and Clover ever make it to the gardens?"

"No. Every time we try, we end up shopping."

He laughs and helps me up. "I'll show you where they are."

They have a huge garden. "How does it grow under the trees like this?"

"We have light magicians here. They sort it out. But the baskets are over there. You can do as much as you want."

"Thank you."

"My pleasure."

I get a basket and dig right in. I work until granny shows up with a plate of food and makes me eat dinner. Then I gather more harvest. I imagine they do this with magic, but I don't care. It feels good to get back in a garden. I work until I lose the light, then I go to bed. Maybe tomorrow will be better.