2. Return to Work

Return to Work

Dalton

" M y plan is just to seize the day, y'know? Just grab every opportunity while I can. This was a wake up call." I wasn't all that sure the nurse was listening to me as they took me through the stretches advised by Aldrin, our healer.

"Hmm?" they muttered. The nurse was one of the staff the council had hired to look after the pack while all the betas were sleeping from the beta sickness. I wasn't sure of their preferred pronouns, just knew they were a witch who was affiliated with the Northarbor coven, though not anyone powerful.

They frowned as Spice bounced his way along the bed to wrap himself around my neck. Priscilla swished her fluffy tail lazily from the new hammock in the window of my bedroom, beside us. I'd bought the new bed for her so she could watch the world go by like the queen she was. My pets had to be in the same room as me all the time since I'd woken. Clingy was not the word.

Clearly, the witch didn't appreciate cute animals. Rude. They would likely hate my alter. My raccoon was twice as cheeky as Spice when given the chance. Inside my mind, he made a squeak of indignance.

"I'm nearly back to full strength. It's time for me to get back to work." The nurse met my eyes, a vacant look on their admittedly pretty face. They were fairly androgynous in appearance, not really my type. I wanted to be the pretty one in the relationship, y'know? Plus, not liking my pets was a big no.

"Being in a coma for a month has taught me I don't live enough. There's no one who would miss me if I was gone." At that point I was pretty sure I was just voicing my thoughts, spreading them to the void for all the attention the witch was paying to me as they manipulated my limbs, making them burn and ache.

"Oh, you know that's not true," a voice drawled from the doorway.

"Let yourself in. Why don't you?" I snarked back, a smile on my lips.

Chase stalked into the room, then perched on the end of the bed, a matching grin on his face. He looked me up and down as I struggled into a seated position. Spice was jostled from his place around my neck. His nose twitched as he spotted Chase holding a piece of meat. Abandoning me for his friend, he ran over to Chase to beg for the treat.

"Looking good, Dalton," Chase said as he gave the morsel to Spice, earning permission to pet him. Like he had ever been denied. Chase was one of the few people to just automatically love my pets. It was pretty much the only reason he was still my friend after some of the stunts he had pulled.

"I'm so glad you're coming back into the office tomorrow. Ax is doing his best from Dakota's, but you just have the magic touch."

Okay, so he was buttering me up. Suspicion grew within me. I kept a carefully blank expression.

The nurse glared as Chase picked up one of my feet and began massaging it. I almost groaned at the firm touch of his fingers on the arch of my foot. Spice, hearing my stifled sound, rushed back into my arms.

"Sorry," I said, trying to pull my foot away despite really enjoying the pressure Chase was using. "Chase has no boundaries."

My friend just shrugged. "True. You are coming back tomorrow, right?"

"What have you done?" I asked at the same time the witch spoke.

"Do you have permission to return to work? "

Chase fixed them with a look. "He's assistant to our Second, and me. I think that's enough permission." To me he said, "nothing. Nope, not a thing."

I scoffed, not believing that for a second.

Instead of cowing to Chase, the nurse stubbornly jutted out their chin. "Aldrin or ívarr have to sign off on any beta returning to work, regardless of their position."

Determined not to be stuck in the middle of an argument, I interjected. "I have the necessary permission. In fact, I've been dealing with some of the dreaded paperwork from home this last week."

I was recovering faster than some of the other betas. Apparently one of the few benefits of being in my forties. The older we were, the quicker we were recovering.

Because of my chaotic upbringing, I didn't know exactly how old I was. Not that it mattered, since I didn't celebrate my birthdays. The date on my birth certificate was an educated guess from a doctor when I had ended up in the E.R. with a broken and shredded leg. Though with how small I was at the time, I could have been a lot older than I appeared. She guessed about six, making me possibly forty-two now, maybe.

That doctor was the only reason I got to go to a human school. She got the authorities involved, suspecting, rightly, neglect. My parents had too many mouths to feed and not enough talent or connections for a high-paying job. My parents frequently left my siblings and me to our own devices while they scraped a living. I got to stay with my parents, though not without conditions. The first being I attended school regularly, and we had random visits from social services.

The authorities didn't have that much power over our gaze as the council was supposed to monitor all shifter packs, clans, sleuths, troops, or whatever the collective noun was for the gathered shifters. Politics tied their hands. They did their best for me and my siblings, and thanks to them, things got better.

School had been a lifesaver for me. I'd already taught myself to read, but school was where I learned I was great with numbers, giving me, and my siblings, a way out of poverty.

As soon as I could get some work, I was doing all I could to improve things at home. My talents with numbers soon earned me more than what my parents were bringing in. They had wanted me to quit school to work full time, but I'd reasoned that an education would boost my earning power. Rather than let me go out of state to college, I went to the closest one. We even moved so I could stay at home instead of in the dorms.

Our entire gaze had moved, being absorbed into a larger pack. Unfortunately, for me anyway, that was the start of some really hard times.

"Dalton?" the witch asked impatiently, signaling they had been trying to get my attention for a while.

"Everything okay?" Chase raised an eyebrow at my unusual lack of focus.

"Sorry, I just…"

"Hey, it's alright. Maybe you shouldn't go into the office tomorrow." Chase's brows were drawn together in concern.

"No, I'll be fine. Honestly. I just get tired easily." The worst thing about recovering so far was being unable to visit people because even just a week ago, walking to my front door made me tired. While I was improving daily, progress felt slow.

Chase and the witch had a stare down before the witch sighed. "If you have to go back to work, light duties only. No heavy lifting and finish earlier than usual. Do not skip meals. You need the calories to regain muscle tone."

"Pft." I waved that idea away. "I work in the office. I won't be lifting anything aside from the phone. Even then, I avoid that as much as possible." I put plenty of sass into my words.

I caught Chase laughing .

Apparently sick of my shit, the witch said, "whatever," and packed up to leave. They muttered something to Chase as he walked them to the door, seeing them out of my house.

Priscilla deigned to leave her perch to curl up in my lap. "A nap sounds good, doesn't it?" I sat petting her quietly for a few minutes before wondering if Chase was coming back.

"Dal, I'm going to head back to the mansion, check on things there. You need anything?" Chase asked from the doorway as I was drifting off. His words snapped me awake.

His concern was touching. "What was the nurse saying?"

The flush that rose on his cheeks was charming. "He, uh, asked me out on a date."

"A date?"

He gave a humorless chuckle. "No. He told me he was DTF. I'm not interested."

"I'm going to regret asking, but DTF?" I didn't get out much, okay?

"Down to fuck." He grimaced. I understood why.

"Ah. You're not interested?" I asked, curious. Sometimes Chase was an enigma despite how open he first appeared to be.

He ran a hand through his shaggy brown hair. "Sometimes it's hard to remember who I've told this to—"

I cut him off. "Chase, you don't have to tell me, okay?"

We shared a smile. I loved all the Sweetwaters, some more than others. Chase was precious to me.

"Since I admitted it to myself… When Dakota gave me a label for it, I've just found it easier to be true to who I am. Not forcing it anymore. I'm done pretending."

Chase looked in need of reassurance. I didn't want to push for more. What he had admitted to clicked into place for me enough that he didn't have to say it out loud. He wasn't interested in the witch. Or anyone, probably.

"Good. That's really good. We have to take this as a restart, don't we? Getting sick changed things, even if we don't want to admit it."

"Yeah, plus, he was too aggressive for me. I didn't like how he spoke to you." A frown was back on his face.

A laugh burst from me. "I can handle myself, but thanks."

"You shouldn't have to. You're one of us, Dalton," he said genuinely.

"Uh-huh." I laughed. "Pretty sure you're just buttering me up. What have you done to my office? "

Chase made a face and escaped my house without answering.

"I'm going to murder him. Nope, can't. I'm too pretty for jail, okay? Far too pretty to spend the rest of my life in jail."

"What are you muttering about?" Deke asked as he approached.

"Have you seen the disaster zone in there?" I pointed to the door behind me, which stood ajar.

Deke leaned to look around me and winced. "Damn. So who are you killing?" He paused. "Chase, right? You'd never do that to Axel."

My heart sped up. "What do you mean?"

He leaned in closer. "Come on, Dal. Axel might be blind, but everyone knows you're into him. Also, if you kill your boss, there's no job for you anymore." His laugh was teasing. He didn't seem to be mad I had feelings for his cousin.

"It wasn't Axel who trashed the place. It had to have been Chase and whoever was looking after the place when we were all sick. Roan had assistants, didn't he?"

Changing the subject from Axel was probably wise. I felt my cheeks heat over my mortification. I couldn't believe everyone knew!

"Yeah, Larken was helping. I think a couple of omegas, too. The other alphas weren't much use." Deke scrubbed a hand over his face. "I hate that I wasn't here to help. What happened to Roan…"

Other alphas had attacked Roan while our Alpha, Blake, was with his mate. If Larken hadn't been there… I didn't want to think of what could have happened to my friend.

"Wasn't your fault, just as much as it wasn't Blake's or Roan's. Those alphas had it all wrong. Every pack has them. The ones who think they know what's best for the pack."

The look Deke gave me told me he remembered some stories I'd told him about the pack I'd left behind.

"Are you going to be okay with all this? Need some help?"

I stared at him.

"Not me, obviously! I can get Larken to help you. He's on the gate, but I can grab him—"

"Yes, please." I sighed with relief. The entire place needed putting back in order. It was days' worth of work, just me alone. Alpha muscle would be useful. "Since he helped make the mess, it's only fair that he helps clean it up. "

"Cool. I'll go take over for a bit." He hesitated. "Look, I know you probably don't want to talk about it, but I think you deserve to know before you see them."

My heart dropped to my feet. "What?"

"It's just a rumor. I've not seen them together to be able to tell if it's true—"

"Deke," I warned.

"Axel and the elf, Teárlach, are together."