LOGINShare
This Life Looks a Lot Like the Old
Last Updated:
2024-10-29 19:42:56Jessie stepped off the stairs, back onto the lawn. He said she wouldn’t get anything unless she worked for it. Might as well start now. She dragged herself to a vehicle and picked up a few bags she recognized. After a brief word with their elderly owner. She took them to where they went. Inside the house, Hazel stopped her for a moment.
“Darling, you mind yourself. If you keep up like this, you’ll collapse again.”
“There are jobs to do and I’m the one told to do them. You know how it is. There’s no rest for the wicked.” Jessie didn’t want to stop for long because if she did, she might break down. No one said she’d like her life or happy with it. She only needed to live with it. “I’m sorry I need to go. There’s someone here to lend a hand unpacking. I must go make sure others get settled too.”
Feeling a little light-headed, Jessie took time to stand still outside the house for a moment. Then she realized she hadn’t eaten since lunch yesterday, and it was lunch now. She would have to find out what was an acceptable way to eat. Back home she would hunt rabbits and such when she needed food. It wasn’t much, but it was better than starving or begging for food from her brother.
Jessie walked back to the vehicles and stopped when Craig stepped in front of her. “Where have you been? Alrick has been looking for you. He sent me to hunt you down. Don’t you stay where you’re told to?”
“I was told to drop my bags in the entrance lobby of the packhouse. I received no instructions to stay in one place. People can always use an extra hand.” Jessie felt how tired she was, and her emotions were fraying. She needed to be careful not to snap at him. Craig was an unknown. She didn’t know how he would react to her snapping at him. She stepped around him. Changed direction and headed back to the packhouse.
“Hey!” Craig followed. “Look at me. You haven’t once looked me in the face.”
“I’m sorry, I learnt early that was a bad thing to do. I should find out what the Alpha wants.” Jessie didn’t turn around but kept walking.
Her words influenced Craig. He stopped and watched her go. He had to talk to Alrick. She wasn’t acting like a cold, callous creature. His stomach sank as he realized there was something off with her. He pondered the possibility that they still didn’t have all the information. He needed to ask questions from other members of the Iron Hill Pack. That would not be easy. The pack didn’t talk about themselves. He needed to have them trust him. So, they would open to him about the truth.
* * *
Alrick was glad to be back in his territory. The Iron Hill members were settling in and many could get rest this afternoon. He wanted Jessica close to him. Alrick feared she would cause trouble if he let her wander without purpose. She needed to take responsibility for her inaction, and it would start soon. He’d decided she would work within the packhouse for him, near him. Whatever he wanted her to do. That was what she would do.
Housecleaning, cooking, and anything else he could think of as time goes by. She’d be always at his side. Where he could see her. Alrick didn’t understand why he was feeling so about this, and he didn’t have time to investigate his emotions. Where was she? He entered his study and sighed in relief as he looked around the spacious room. No random papers appeared scattered. Not a cobweb or speck of dust visible. To Alrick, this was a room he could breathe in. He moved to a window and looked out over the action that was winding down out there. His eyes were now getting sensitive to light because he was so tired. Surprised that his eyes sought Jessica-Lyn in the crowd beyond the window.
When he found her, Alrick noticed his body relax? What was it with this waif of a girl? Craig was ever efficient and stopped her for a moment. Jessica-Lyn changed direction after saying something to Craig before stepping around him and walking towards the packhouse again. It made Alrick uncomfortable when he realized it irritated him that Craig frowned at Jessica-Lyn. What was going on with him?
Alrick turned from the window and ran his hands over his face. He needed food and sleep. Just like everyone else. He needed to check on the wounded too. They’d lost no one to the attack. Thank the gods. He threw himself into his desk chair and waited for Jessica-Lyn to enter his domain. Then he’d decide what her punishment would be. All he knew is she wasn’t going anywhere, and it wouldn’t be over soon.
Jessica-Lyn stepped into the entranceway and sat beside her bags. She couldn’t think of what else to do. So, there she sat with her back against the wall and her arms wrapped around her knees. Her chin rested against her knees as her eyes fell shut on their own accord. Only minutes later he was yelling again, and a booted foot kicked her own foot.
“He’s yelling for you. You better go see what he wants. It’s better to get it over with. You can sleep later.” Jessie didn’t recognize the shifter before her, but she nodded and struggled to her feet.
Entering the room, his loud voice made Jessie shrink into her already slight form. “You wanted to see me?”
“I didn’t permit you to leave. Where did you go?”
“Miss. Hazel needed help to find her way. It’s been a lot on her. It dealt her a blow by the pack, failing as it did. She’s been in denial of anything wrong for decades now. Holding up a mirror to it as you did has made the struggle real for her.”
“Miss Hazel will be fine. She’s in a better place now. However, that’s no longer your problem. You gave up that right when you didn’t alert anyone outside of your pack to the rot inside it.”
“Rot? Do you believe I didn’t try? They informed me; I was dishonouring my pack by speaking out years ago. They told me it was an ‘in-house’ issue and to deal with it ‘in-house.’ No one would help. All I could do was try to survive and help others stuck in the same situation as me. You say I did nothing. Yet you never asked me if I tried or what I was doing to survive. You never asked me what I have been doing to help ease the suffering of other pack mates. Where are you getting this information from?”
“That is none of your business. Right now, you are going to listen and listen well. Your punishment starts now. You will serve in the packhouse in any manner I see fit. When and where I want you, you will be there. Is that clear?” Alrick would not let her excuse her behaviour. She would take the punishment or leave. He didn’t contemplate that her leaving was an option and he would not give it to her.
“What do you mean? I don’t understand what you want of me.” Jessie stood there stunned but not surprised by his words. She didn’t understand his need for revenge. She didn’t see what punishing her would get him. But by the sound of this, it would be no worse than living with her brother. “If you hate me so much, why don’t you let me walk away?”
Alrick stopped himself from saying something at first. But said instead. “Because you need to learn, and I am the one that will teach you. You live and work here and at my whim. You try to leave; I will hunt you down.” His words didn’t surprise Jessie. No, it was his actions that shocked her into silence.
Alrick stood from his chair and was in her space. He caged her against the door, uncaring of the crashing sound reverberating through it to the other side. Now, with his hands on the wood on either side of her head, he leaned in. She couldn’t catch her breath as he breathed by Jessie’s ear. Her heart pounded in her chest and she needed to fight the urge to flee. Breathing, Alrick stated again. “You are here at my whim and your punishment is to appease it. Whenever and however, I want you to. Whatever I say, I mean it. When I want you. You will be there, and you will respond to me. Am I understood?”
With a trembling voice that matched her body, Jessie prayed he sensed her body betray her to him. Gods help her. She wanted him. Jessie could say in a breath whisper. “Yes, Alpha Alrick.”
Related chapters
Serving the Alpha at His Whim See Through the Haze
Alrick released her and let her escape for the time being. He was breathing like he’d taken the stairs at a run. Alrick adjusted the front of his jeans. He sat at his desk again. Alrick would take care of what was in his pants later. He grabbed his cellphone up off the desk where he’d dropped it when he’d first entered. Toying with it and sent out a few random texts. He was searching to get his mind off her. She infuriated and fascinated him. It was bothering him. Why was he so disturbed by her inaction? Why was he keeping her around? Alrick could smell her in the room. Even though she’d touched nothing. Her scent was on his very clothing. Ugh, he felt so tired. It was lunch, and he wanted to eat before sleeping. That’s when he got the brilliant idea.&nb
Serving the Alpha at His Whim Putting Some Pieces Together
Craig found a moment to himself since the attack earlier in the evening. The clean-up and retrieval took much longer than expected. It would take weeks to repair the damage. Right now, he needed some sleep. Everyone's still tired from the fighting only days ago. The new pup and mother were asleep across the hall from him. The mom was gentle but timid, and it worried him. There’d been very few young women and fewer pups in the Iron Hill Pack. But they’d the same expression and mannerisms. They were all withdrawn and on autopilot. He wanted to take a run but didn't feel it. Their pack’s doctor was busy with the injured. He couldn’t come and visit the new mother and pup until the morning.&nbs
Serving the Alpha at His Whim Next Morning
Alrick woke to a warm body in his arms. This was an unfamiliar experience. His previous encounters ended with either he or his partner leaving at the end. It confused him at first. Then Alrick remembered who was in his bed with him, and he realized it didn’t upset him in the least. She smelt like jasmine and honey.All warm and soft. He could become used to this. His body was responding in the most predictable way. Then he realized why he’d awakened. Someone was banging on his apartment door and now the warm body beside him was throwing herself from his bed with a scream of shock and dismay.She huddled in the corner of his room by the closet door.Sheshivered therein fear. He hated that smell. Sheneededto calm down.
Serving the Alpha at His Whim Crime Tally Increase
Alrick wasn’t enjoying the morning as he thought he would. “Drug manufacturing. They weren’t just manufacturing drugs; they’d a hedge mage cursing it so that their clients became addicted after the first dose.” “As if those drugs aren’t bad enough alone. Cursing them? How does Jessica-Lyn fit into this?” “I hate to say what the hedge mage claims because we’ve not verified it for accuracy. But he claims Jessica-Lyn was the one that paid him for his work.” Alrick said as glowered at Craig over the news but stayed silent. “Everything I h
Serving the Alpha at His Whim Facts Don't Lie
Alrick didn’t think about privacy. He’d worked himself up with his own thoughts and concerns. Entering the bathroom, he found damp clothing draped everywhere. Confused by the sight he’s found, Alrick continues looking around the small room. He finds her slight form in fresh clothing but curled up on the floor by an open toilet. Her hands and knees cradling her head. Jessie’s hair covered her face. It was still damp from showering. It took him some time to understand what he was seeing. She’d done what he told her to do. She’d showered and changed. Washed her clothing and hung it. How few clothes did she have? But she was now ill. Why? Nothing made sense to Alrick. He knew she shouldn’t be alone.
Serving the Alpha at His Whim Examinations and Revelations
Alrick couldn’t bear the doctor removing him from his own apartment while Jessica-Lyn received an examination. He hated the not knowing part. Not knowing if she was ill or getting worse. He’d other fears, but his mind wouldn’t process them. It all made him antsy and hence he was acing the hall.Craig leaned against the banister that overlooked the pack house entrance. There he watched his friend work himself into a ball of stress.“You’re going to hate me for what I’m about to say. Calm down and get your head straight. I need you with me. We have things to deal with.” Craig’s phone chimed just as he finishes speaking. “The team of enforcers we sent out are back. They’ve locked the mage and evidence up.”“Good, what’s taking him?” Alrick watched his apartment door again. It had only been twenty minutes at most since they had left Jessica-Lyn with Doc. J.J.“We need to
Serving the Alpha at His Whim Live Goes on Either Way
Alrick could take her out to visit some others. Craig kept talking about the new mother. He should organize a meeting. He could deal with both by gathering everyone together.Maybe host a gathering that wasn’t just him welcoming them. He could find out their concerns and they could meet others of his pack.“Here’s a thought that will cover multiple needs. You want to see them. I need to know their concerns. A meeting hosted here would fix that. At the end, we host a gathering where both packs meet. A formal welcome and all the trimmings. What do you think?”Jessica-Lyn was quiet for so long that he feared she wasn’t listening. But she said. “It would help them. No one listened before.”“Good, that’s something that will happen. I’m going downstairs to get some things done. You’re coming with me. That water is only a stopgap. So, while I suffer paperwork. We’ll have food brought for you
Serving the Alpha at His Whim Mistakes Happen
Alrick dismissed Craig and Dale, leaving him alone again with Jessica-Lyn. She was curled up in a chair after finishing a little food. He couldn’t tell whether she was ill, pretending to be ill or making herself ill. But the information he was sitting on. It now contradicted so much that it frustrated him. He looked at her. Alrick now saw her as a victim of her brother. Just like the rest of her pack. He decided to bring her into the fold. If he was wrong, he would have to explain why he harboured a fugitive. With NARC’s rules, his pack may lose access to needed resources like medical services. He hedged on the side of caution and punished her. What if he was wrong? She was innocent and that was punishment. Would that make him worse than her brother then? If he was careful, he could tr
Latest chapter
Serving the Alpha at His Whim Epilogue
Three months since the mine returned to the Silver Ridge Pack’s control. It’d been out of their hands for almost six months in total. The miners could finally return to the mine safely. Oddly, the Fae never returned to the region. Perhaps the Fae thought better of returning for some unknown reason? Either way, the pack now settled into their new way of life. Everyone lived more closely together and now grew closer to each other every day. Kelly and Kyle focused on themselves and the things going on in the tavern. Making changes where needed to make life easier for the suddenly overflowing pack living and working under the tavern’s roof. Not everyone initially was a pack member, which meant there were strangers among them, but they were in the same position as the pack. They would come to find their places in the pack. It wasn’t smo
Serving the Alpha at His Whim Kyle’s Intent
Kyle left Craig’s office and went back to the tavern. The changes around here didn’t sit well with him. He didn’t know how he’d tell Kelly the truth about him. He’d told Alpha Alrick when he approached him to ask for membership, and they both agreed that they would take it easy and not tell anyone about it. He entered the warmth of the tavern and went in search of Kelly. There were more people staying here. Kyle would need to get used to it. On a good note, someone started preparing the bar for tonight. He wondered who that was. He’d need to find out and see what he could arrange. It would be nice to have someone else behind the bar a few nights per week. He’d have time to focus on Kelly and Eddie. Here’s hoping it wasn’t Kelly. She would have so much on her hands right now. He w
Serving the Alpha at His Whim Inside the Chamber, Situation Status
In the Chamber, Dean found his people working hard to document everything they could. He thought of the worst-case scenario. His mind worked out vague plans on how they’d evacuate the entire pack or packs. He didn’t know where the blast radius would be. If they could use this magical leak to their advantage, they could use it to attract the magically starved Fae here. Because they’d attacked several wells of power in Europe. Well, ancient wells, wells that ran dry over a thousand years ago of their magic. “Sir! I think you need to see this.” One of the portal experts brought in to review what they’d found. “I need to show you what we have. Though I think we just might have a weapon on our hands that we can use.&r
Serving the Alpha at His Whim Digging into the Secrets
Dean left the Alpha’s office and moved towards the vehicle that would take him to the mine. His heart sank. Because of the lies he must tell these shifters. But the mage’s council ordered the information with a need to know thing. Those runes weren’t the mystery. It’s the placement of them. Dates and times didn’t add up for them. The meaning of the runes was what they wanted, kept quiet. Mages or even druids opened these portals. It’d been the humans, but that wasn’t the shocking thing. Humans didn’t possess magic, meaning someone was powering them. Someone supernatural, and the traces of power he’d found at the other site told him far too much. It took him several weeks to discover what supern
Serving the Alpha at His Whim All that Ends Well, Never Fully Ends
Alrick sat back in his chair as he watched Jessie walk from the room. He hated doing that, but the future didn’t look like it would be any easier. If Kelly and Kyle possessed any chance at happiness, they must work things out by themselves. Interfering with any part of the process would cause complications and all involved would suffer for it. He couldn’t stand for that. Now he needed to focus on the issues at hand and put out as many of the dumpster fires as possible. Craig found three incidents already where he’d forced wolves into time out, meaning they’d locked them away for a time to cool off. To wolves, this was like putting a drunk into a drunk tank to sober up. Territorial instinct still lingered within wolf shifter’s minds.&nbs
Serving the Alpha at His Whim The New Normal
Jessie now sat in Alrick’s office again. Alrick returned to the office and instantly went to his computer and copying something to everyone. There were two mages in there with them and they were watching a video Alrick took of the portal. “Well, it’s definitely not natural, and whatever is trapped inside the crystal isn’t as secure as we hoped. Look at this crack here. When the wall came down, it must have damaged it. We’ll get it secured as soon as we’re done here. But the runes are fascinating. I’ve not seen anything similar to this. We need to get copies of them. Then we’ll get people in translating them. But I know these aren’t from the local area. They didn’t have a written language when these runes appeared, that’s for sure. Someone came here and did this long
Serving the Alpha at His Whim Kelly's Future
Kyle couldn’t believe this. It took him several attempts to discover why this summons came so suddenly. When the enforcers first entered the tavern, he thought they were there to take him away from everything and everyone that he’d grown to love within the last few years. Now, with Kelly so close all the time, he didn’t want to deal with this. He just wanted to live a quiet life. Thank the gods he didn’t go off on them. Because what they called them in for was far more unbelievable. The Fae were back. Gods, the Fae. Now here they were setting up people to stay above the tavern. Several would stay in the restaurant, studying the human media for mentions of their actions. Others looked after the cattle. The mine would one day return to the pack, and only the gods knew when it would happen. NARC sent a motley cr
Serving the Alpha at His Whim Life Changing
Kelly couldn’t believe what was going on. Her heart pounded as they escorted everyone to the Audience Chamber. Her confusion increased when she saw everyone entering at the same time. Was there something wrong with the refugees? Before entering she asked several people but all she learnt was, it was an emergency. Once inside, though, she learnt quickly about some very unbelievable things. The Fae were back and roaming the world again. How could that happen? No one was aware of that. They could only find out that one enforcer on duty at the mine experienced an attack by an unknown Fae. Where and why were both great mysteries? Kelly quickly found Petra and retriev
Serving the Alpha at His Whim The Path of War: Guardians
Alrick sent the first force back to the Audience Chamber to help with organizing nearly three hundred shifters. They would fan out throughout the emergency land. When this pack first settled here, they laid out the main buildings in such a way that they could guard them easier, and the pack could monitor each others’ safety. The issue with this is it didn’t take into the changes within fighting over time. With machine flight, and now Fae using the Dream Realm as their public transit. They literally popped in and out at will. But at least it gave protection from physical attack and a false belief that everything would be okay. He prepared to go with his second set of forces for a short time. He needed to assess what truly was there. Not that he didn’t believe Herald. If Herald said he saw this, then Alrick believed
