My anger kept me awake when I first went to bed that night. There may be some good Alphas, but the party showed me there were none in a position of power willing to change things.The party reinforced my belief that the present werewolf lawmakers were mostly greedy and selfish individuals who didn’t care about the people they governed.I was still in a bad mood when William picked me up to go to the office. But it would be quiet there on a Sunday morning for me to learn.Plus, I was looking forward to spending time with William.Diana awoke and cheered when he opened the Mustang door for me, and I heard Mark calling her name.“How was the party last night?” William asked as he slid into the driver's seat.I made a face and shook my head.“It couldn’t have been that bad,” William said. “Was it?”“It was awful,” I replied. “The Alphas of the association are a bunch of greedy, selfish jerks.”“I thought you already knew that,” William teased. Then he saw how upset I truly was. “Do you wa
When I got home, I forced a smile on my face before checking on Alex. I didn’t want him to know I was upset.But he was in a deep sleep, and the nurse said he hadn’t been awake since I left that morning. The doctor was on his way, but they didn’t think there was anything he could do for him.Alex looked pale again, and when I took his hand, it was ice cold. I tucked it under the blankets and kissed his forehead before I left the room.I was going to cry again, and if he happened to wake up, I didn’t want him to see my tears.I felt as if everything was crumbling around me.As soon as I reached the hallway, sobs erupted from my throat, and I dashed into the living room before anyone saw me falling apart.I couldn’t stand to lose Alex on top of everything else. I only had him for such a short time. How could he die before he got to see me graduate, run the company, get married, and have children?When I lived with my adoptive family, I wanted to be alone. It was a life goal. But now tha
The next morning I was feeling much better. The doctor was confident Alex wasn’t near death yet. He had woken up by the time I returned to the mansion with Victor.He was well enough for the nurses to get him out of bed to sit in a chair while we had dinner!He ate well and seemed more alert than I’d seen him since he came home from the hospital.After the nurses arrived to help him prepare for bedtime, I came up to my room and sat on my balcony while I brainstormed ideas to raise more money for the foundation and other ways to help the poor.There were several ideas that I felt excited about, but I wanted to talk to someone with more experience in fundraising first to make sure I wasn’t jumping in over my head.Some of the ideas were pretty big, and I would need assistance. But, as Victor had told me, there was nothing wrong with asking for help.Perhaps I should talk to Lana. I hadn’t seen her for a while, and I owed her a thank you for straightening out the mess with the Sandersons
How did I get into doing so much public speaking?Yes, the program to use Alpha students to help Beta and Omega families was my idea, but if I couldn’t speak clearly to my audience, I wouldn’t do any good.I was terrified I would freeze up on the stage in front of the entire school and be laughed at and mocked like I was that day in werewolf history class.“Read it to Jennifer and me,” Victor requested as we sat together in the mansion's drawing room. Jennifer was honored when we asked her to help me practice.I stood before them and began reading the speech I had written to deliver at an assembly in front of the entire school.“Hello, most of you know me, but in case you don’t, my name is Daisy Wilson.”So far so good.“I’m on this stage today to talk to you about the urgent needs of families in our community. There are city blocks full of families who don’t have the things we take for granted every day.”They don’t have the money to buy food, clothing, or to pay their rent. Many can
The response to my speech was incredible. Two days later, at least a quarter of my school’s students had volunteered their time to help in some way.Homes were being cleaned and repaired, food drives were organized, and donations to the Wilson Foundation were setting records.But my success was bringing the reporters back into my life.Yet, I didn’t mind answering their questions about the charity work being done. The publicity was making more donations pour in.“You’re doing incredibly well, Daisy,” Victor said as we sat in my office at Wilson, Inc. “You learn incredibly fast. And what you’ve done with the charity is fantastic. You should be proud of yourself.”Victor’s words made me blush, but I must admit I felt good about myself lately. Everything seemed to be falling into place.Even Alex was doing better. He couldn’t work, but he spent more time out of bed each day.My happy bubble was about to burst when one of the secretaries buzzed my desk phone.I answered. “Yes.”“Miss Wils
“We better get started,” Victor told me as we sat in my office at Wilson, Inc. “Daisy, did you hear me?”“Sorry, I guess I’m distracted or something,” I said. “I was up late last night, studying those books you loaned me, and nothing seems to stick in my mind today.”Victor looked at me with concern on his handsome face. His gorgeous turquoise eyes narrowed as they studied me.“You need a break from all this studying, but you must be ready for the test,” Victor said.“I want to keep going.” I picked up a file that was sitting in front of me. “This inventory analytics report still has me puzzled.”“I think you should take a break.” Victor’s face looked concerned. “You don’t seem to be able to concentrate lately.”There was a knock at the door, and William rushed into my office.“Sorry,” he said. “Coach wanted to talk to me, and when I finally got to the office, they said that Daisy had already signed out. I thought maybe you took a cab. Thanks for picking Daisy up from school, Victor.”
Jennifer and I were enjoying the drive. It was a beautiful afternoon with lots of sunshine and a few fluffy clouds dotting the deep blue sky.With William giving Victor directions, I saw signs for Lake Pocono after we were on the road for almost two hours.Victor turned off the highway onto a road that led to a small town. We passed a grocery store, a post office, a hardware store, a police station, and several homes.The road became narrower and tree-lined as we continued out of the town. A moment later, I was thrilled when we saw blue water between the trees. It was the lake!“Watch for a blue mailbox on this side of the road,” William said. “The driveway to our lake house is directly across from it.”We were almost there!All four of us watched the side of the road, looking for the blue mailbox.Jennifer saw it first. “There it is!”We all chuckled at her enthusiasm, but I felt the same way. I couldn’t wait to get there.Victor turned back the narrow dirt lane that wound closer and
After I announced my decision, nobody argued with me. Yet the tension in the cabin continued to build as nighttime came closer.We ate our delicious supper of cheeseburgers and potato salad washed down with iced tea while William told us the history of the lake.“The town was built in the early 1800s by a group of Alphas who rented the land near here to Betas for farming,” he said.“The lakefront property was sold to other Alphas for vacation homes about a hundred years ago, and now there are about two dozen cabins around the lake.”“Betas in this area still farm the land or live within the town, working in the shops and stores.”“Has your family owned the property for a long time?” Victor asked.“No,” William replied. “My parents bought it last year as an investment. When I left the city after Daisy’s ball, it was the first time I had been here.”After the meal, I taught the guys dishwashing skills before we all went onto the porch to watch the sunset over the lake.It was stunning.