Love Thy Alpha

JENNESSA

“Yes, ma’am,” I heard Daniel say, his voice deep but friendly if I had to describe it.

“Well, come on in,” my mother said, only too happy to open the door wider for Daniel to walk through.

As he did, he started looking around—whether to find me or to get familiar with his surroundings, I wasn’t sure—and it gave me a chance to study him for a second, and whoa was he a big boy!

He must have stood six feet tall, maybe a little taller, his shoulders as wide as a linebacker. He wore a classic black tuxedo that fit him like it was made for him.

When he finally turned to me, he smiled kindly at me. My mother was correct. This man was handsome. He had dark brown, almost black hair, and his baby blue eyes were welcoming.

He had the right amount of a five o’clock shadow on his square jaw. When he smiled, he showed the perfect set of white teeth, as if his smile alone wasn’t beautiful enough.

“Hello,” he said politely to me as he reached his hand out between us to shake my hand. “I’m Daniel, your date for tonight.”

“Hi,” I squeaked as I shook his hand. “I’m Jennessa, but you can call me Jessie.”

His blue eyes swept over my body and when his eyes came back up to meet mine again, he smiled in approval.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Jennessa,” he said, my name rolling off his tongue slowly, as if he were savoring it. I couldn’t help the blush that crept over my cheeks.

“You kids should get going now,” my mother interrupted Daniel and me. I had to fight not to roll my eyes at being called a kid.

“Shall we?” Daniel asked, offering me his arm in a chivalric way.

I bit my lip, trying to hold back the grin as it tried spreading across my cheeks and shyly grabbed ahold of his arm. I couldn’t help myself. I lightly squeezed, and his biceps were rock solid.

Daniel led me to a large truck parked outside my house. I had to hike my dress up halfway to my knees and basically jump to get in the passenger seat.

As he walked around the front of the truck, I started thinking maybe tonight wouldn’t be so bad after all, but then we started driving.

Not long into the drive I realized Daniel and I didn’t have much in common, and the conversation was a bit awkward between us at times.

His first comment, though probably meant with the best intentions, started with: “You look beautiful, by the way.

“I wasn’t aware people from the Reduced community had enough money to buy a dress like that,” he said, his blue eyes landing on my dress before he returned his gaze to the road.

“Not to mention the dress your mother was wearing as well.”

He and his mother live in Alpha Mainland, well off and respected. My mother and I were fortunate enough our last name and my father’s memory weren’t lost on the majority of the pack.

A lot of the population that makes up both Training Hill and Alpha Mainland saw themselves as elite or above the rest of the factions and made no secret of it.

People like Daniel’s mother owned shops in the nearest town, and some would berate people from the Reduced because of where they lived.

My mother and I never received as severe treatment as other people in our faction, but it always made me sick to my stomach when I was around and saw it for myself.

I wasn’t one to let a bully get away with being a bully, and I’ve lived in their communities before; therefore, I knew what each side of the coin looked like.

I knew better than to think they were better than anyone else. When I saw it with my own eyes, I was usually the only one to step in and stop it.

Everyone was afraid to upset the status quo inside of this pack, but I was not a follower. That was not how I was raised.

It wasn’t necessarily Daniel’s fault. He was obviously a good guy. But the way he talked sometimes, it made it very apparent that he was ignorant of the pain and hardships the Reduced had to go through.

Although my mother and I were lucky that most people remembered who my father was and what our last name represented, so many didn’t try to push us around or demean us.

But that was not to say that we weren’t a real part of the Reduced community. We were just as broke as everyone else.

We had nicer clothes than most because of what we brought with us from Alpha Headquarters, but even then, time had started to wear on our clothes, and they didn’t look nearly as nice as when we purchased them.

My mother also traded a lot of her jewelry and dresses to some of her friends back in the Alpha mainland, which helped us greatly.

Daniel never had to deal with the hard times and hardships my mother and I had to, so it was hard to connect with him.

The drive to Alpha Headquarters was close to forty-five minutes, and I’d been silent for the last thirty of them when he made his final comment.

“I hope you won’t mind if I ask your mother for a dance. Any man would feel lucky to get their hands on a woman like her for any length of time.”

When we finally got to Alpha Headquarters, where the ball was being held, I found myself relieved to be out of the car with Daniel, which was truly saying a lot.

Plastering a smile on my face as I accepted his arm, Daniel and I walked through the front entrance of Alpha Headquarters.

We were standing in the foyer with other groups of people who arrived before us, and they were all dressed to the nines.

The place had a moody ambiance, with what seemed like a thousand candles lit and mounted to the walls and standing in groups on various tables. The chandelier hanging above our heads was on, but only casted a low, warm light.

There was a grand staircase in front of us, which was usually where the alpha and his ten closest wolves sleep, and below it was an arched doorway.

Through there was where pack business was held, like meetings, ceremonies or, like tonight, where the ball was being held.

I took a deep breath before I started making my way to the archway. I had to get this over with, so the sooner I got in there the sooner I could leave.

Just keep your head down, I reminded myself over and over again.

As Daniel and I entered, people stared at us. There were a lot of people I recognized from around town or people I used to go to school with.

Some people smiled and waved, some people said hello, and others stopped to chat with us.

It was nerve-racking knowing we were making such a spectacle of ourselves, but I smiled through it and hoped no one noticed how nervous I really felt.

“You seem tense,” Daniel leaned close to my ear so I could hear him over all the other chattering people around us once he and I were relatively alone in the packed room.

I was honestly surprised he noticed until he patted my hand. Only then did I realize it was gripped tightly to his bicep.

“Oh,” I said, feeling embarrassed and letting go. “I’m sorry.”

“You’re stronger than you look,” Daniel said, teasingly. I smiled and apologized again. “No big deal. Do you want me to grab us a drink from the bar? I know I could use one.”

“Yeah, sounds great,” I said, trying to be polite. I looked over at the bar, and to my relief it was packed, so it would probably take him a while to get back with drinks.