Talia rushed into the kitchen.
After her exercise, she chatted with Maya, Keith, and with others in the lounge of the training center, and it was fun, but now she was running late.
"Sorry, sorry…", Talia said breathily while entering the kitchen. She went straight to the pantry door which had a hook on the inside with aprons hanging.
Talia started tying the apron around her and asked Stephanie, "Where should I start?"
Talia paused at the sight of Stephanie who was cutting meat, and two Omegas. In her hurry, Talia didn't notice two other women in the kitchen.
"Good that you are here, Talia. We could use extra hands.", Stephanie said and gestured with her chin toward Omegas.
"That's Dawn."
The young woman with the blonde pixie haircut who was peeling potatoes nodded.
"That's Zina", Stephanie said, and the redhead with her hair pulled into a bun, who was at the sink washing vegetables, glanced at Talia, and nodded.
Stephanie pointed with her chin toward the serving plate that was on the kitchen's island.
"Talia, can you take this to the living room before you get messy?"
Talia grabbed the serving plate that had crackers, cheese, and several different types of dried meats arranged around grapes.
"Remove your apron. Just in case guests are there."
Talia paused at Stephanie's words.
"Someone is there?"
Stephanie was not sure. "Alpha Maddox and future Alpha Axel arrived. Caden will meet with them in the living room, but I don't know if they got down already."
Talia removed the apron and took a moment to compose herself before heading to the living room.
'Even if someone is there, I can do this. I only need to put this on the coffee table and leave… I can do this…', Talia chanted internally.
Talia's steps halted for a moment at the door of the living room. Two people were inside, a man and a woman.
The man was burly with short dark hair and a goatee. His sportish suit didn't make him less intimidating.
The woman had shiny brown hair reaching just below her shoulders, and she wore a white top and dark blue suit pants that ended with black stilettos.
The duo was sitting in silence, each with a phone in their hands.
Talia didn't want to attract attention. She lowered her head and made a beeline toward the coffee table.
"Tch…", the young woman tched as Talia lowered the tray on the table, and on an instinct, Talia's gaze met the woman's golden-brown eyes who scrutinized her.
"I didn't expect that the biggest pack in North America is employing child labor.", the woman said.
"Mindy!", the man exclaimed in a reprimanding tone.
"What?", she asked innocently.
"Be quiet."
Talia's eyes darted between two people, and she wondered if the woman was talking about her. Well, she might be skinny and smaller than werewolves of her age, but she doesn't look like a child. At least that's what Talia thought.
Seeing that no one said anything else, Talia left the room in hurried steps.
'Why did you raise your voice at me, Max? Don't embarrass me in front of kids.', Mindy asked her brother Maddox through the mind-link.
Maddox rolled his eyes. 'She is not a child. That girl is obviously an adult, but malnourished and abused.'
He saw the bruise on her arm (aka Cassie's handprint), and that Talia is skinny. That combined with Talia's timid behavior created the image of Talia's past.
Mindy made a face. 'I didn't know.'
'That much was obvious.', Maddox responded curtly, and a second later continued in a calmer tone. 'I know that you are proud of our pack, but don't try to antagonize the Dark Howlers pack. If Alpha Damon heard this, he wouldn't like it.'
Mindy rolled her eyes. 'Alpha Damon this, Alpha Damon that. If I don't know better, I would think that you are in love with him.'
Maddox grunted in disapproval. If that was said by anyone other than his sister, heads would be flying.
'Control your mouth, Mindy. Especially in front of Alpha Damon.' With that, he returned his attention to the phone in his hand.
Alpha Maddox is the Alpha of the Blue River pack. They are neighbors to the Dark Howlers pack.
In terms of size, the Blue River pack is about tenth in North America, but they are first in terms of taking care of werewolves who don't have a place to go. That includes orphans, homeless, disabled, victims of abuse, and werewolves who have mental issues.
Maddox has a good heart but taking care of those people costs a lot of money, and Damon is his biggest financial supporter.
Alpha Maddox came here with an intention to discuss several new initiatives and to improve their relationship further, and if he knew that his willful sister would cause problems the moment they arrived, he would leave her at home.
Since she was fourteen years old, Mindy traveled across North America, visiting other packs, and finding stranded werewolves. She is the biggest ambassador for sheltering vulnerable werewolves, but the amount of pride she takes in her work and the Blue River pack sometimes make her appear unpleasant.
In the kitchen…
Talia pushed the incident from the living room to the back of her mind and focused on tasks that Stephanie assigned to her.
They had things roasting and baking, and this was the first time for Talia to see all four ovens working simultaneously. The pots and pans on the stove were frying and simmering, while four women worked on sauces, dressings, stuffings, and the whole kitchen smelled delicious.
Talia loved that Stephanie played some pop music, so they were humming and swaying while working. It was harmonious.
Suddenly, Stephanie wiped her hands with haste and reached for her back pocket. She glanced at her phone. "I need to take this… Zina, watch the sauce so it doesn't burn. It needs to be stirred on every minute or so. Dawn, keep an eye on the pastry. It's almost done. Talia, finish the salad…" And with that, Stephanie left.
"Do you think we will get a chance to bring food to the dining room?", Dawn asked in a half-whisper when Stephanie was out of the earshot.
Zina rolled her eyes. "You are still hopeful?"
Dawn shrugged. "There is nothing wrong with hoping."
"What are you hoping for?", Talia asked reluctantly. She wanted to be part of the conversation.
Dawn glanced in the direction where Stephanie left before inching closer to Talia and speaking in a low voice, "This is one of the rare occasions when high-ranking members of other packs are here. What if one of them is my mate?"
"Dream on.", Zina said teasingly.
"I am dreaming, my dear.", Dawn responded to Zina in a singing voice. "But keep in mind that sometimes, dreams come true." She turned to Talia. "Don't listen to Zina. She is a grumpy one because she is twenty-five years old and still searching for true love. I'm only twenty, so there is still plenty of hope for me. A lot of people coming from other packs are unmated because other than for fun, games, and pack business, they are also hoping to find their mate. Imagine if that's you. I mean… one day you are mixing the salad, and the next day you are a Luna. Hmm? And it's more than just being a Luna. All those guys are hunkalicious. I would kill to have one of them dote on me." Dawn said while waggling her eyebrows at Talia.
"Good luck.", Talia responded with an awkward smile.
"See? Talia also doesn't believe in your nonsense.", Zina said with a smirk, and she leaned on the kitchen island with her arms crossed over her chest, silently challenging Dawn.
"Oh, no, no…", Talia said with haste. "It's not that I don't believe in it, it's just that… the chances for something like that are very slim, and I'm dealing with so many things that romance is the last on my mind."
Dawn gave Talia a knowing look. "Well, if one of those manly men is your mate, many of the things you are dealing with would just disappear. Powerful guys can do that. And who said anything about romance? I don't need dinner and flowers. For that, I can cook myself or pluck a few blooms from the garden. I'm talking here about raw and unrestrained sex. Pure carnal pleasures with endless orgasms without apologizing. All night long, baby!"
Dawn moved her hips in a humping motion, and Zina burst into giggles.
A moment later, Talia also started laughing.
Talia never had these scandalous girl-talks, but more than paying heed to her discomfort, Talia was glad that the mood in the kitchen was good.
Dawn and Zina talked to her in a friendly way and joked, and Talia hoped that she made two more friends. Combined with Keith and five other people from the training center, that makes it eight. Talia was pleased with his progress.
Dawn was goofing around while hugging her invisible lover made out of the air, and Talia remembered the man from the living room (aka Alpha Maddox).
What if he announced that Talia is his mate when she brought the tray with snacks? He was big and intimidating, and he even raised his voice at the woman who accompanied him (aka Mindy).
Talia couldn't imagine her reaction if Alpha Maddox claimed her as his mate. Would she collapse and pee her pants, or stand rooted in the spot? Maybe her survival instincts would kick in and she manages to run away. Scary. She decided to avoid them at any cost.
"Hey…", Zina called Talia. "Is it true that you are staying in the packhouse?"
Talia paused, unsure if that's a good thing or not, but she didn't want to lie. "How do you know?"
"Rita told us.", Zina said. "She is cleaning the rooms and she saw you a few times, and we know that no new Omega appeared in the common buildings, so I guessed. This pack is huge, but we who come to the packhouse are few in numbers and we all know each other. You are a new face, so we got curious."
Talia saw that both Zina and Dawn were looking at her expectantly, and she feared what question will come next. She didn't expect it will come from behind.
"Did the sauce burn?", Stephanie asked when she entered the kitchen, and Zina swiftly moved to the stove and started stirring the pot in question.
Dawn was already checking the pastry that was baking in the oven, and Talia was mixing already over-mixed salad.
Zina released a breath of relief before responding, "The sauce is fine."
Stephanie definitely saw them chatting and if anything burned, Stephanie would scold them.
Check out Alpha Maddox's and Mindy's photos in the comments.
