Since Alex was driving himself again, I borrowed Joe and the limo to pick up Amy and go to William’s last football game.“Wow, we’re traveling in style today,” Amy commented as she climbed into the back of the car with me. “It must be nice to be an Alpha.”Knowing what Amy would discover later this evening, I ignored the remark and hoped she would take the news well that she was at least half Alpha.She settled into the seat and stared at me. “You look different. I expected you to look a bit rough after surviving a boat explosion and a hurricane, but you’re glowing!”I held up my left hand and showed her my engagement ring.“You and Victor are engaged for real!” she gushed. “Congratulations!” She looked me over again. “You did it, didn’t you? You had sex with him.”I blushed. “Yes, I did, and it was fantastic.”Amy buckled her seatbelt. “I knew you looked different. Did it hurt? How did he propose? You gotta tell me everything.”I began answering her questions. “It hurt at first, but
“Daisy, did you know about this,” Amy asked.“Only for a few days,” I admitted.“And you didn’t tell me right away?” Amy started to cry. “The first thing I would’ve done was call you if I found out something like this about you.”“Amy, it wasn’t my place to tell you,” I insisted. “After your dad told me, he said he would tell you himself.”“Why did he tell you?” she asked.I knew Amy wasn’t really mad at me. The news had been a big surprise for her. She was slowly processing and dealing with a new identity.But I would have to tell her about the party. She wasn’t going to be happy until she knew every detail.“I’m planning a surprise birthday party for you,” I said. “I called your dad from the beach to make sure he didn’t have other plans for your birthday, and he told me he wanted to be alone with you that night and why.”Amy wiped away a few tears with the back of her hand. “But still, you should’ve told me right away.”“Amy, I made her promise not to tell you,” Mr. Gray said sternl
“You look lovely, Miss Gray,” Jennifer said as she fastened a jeweled ornament in Amy’s blonde hair.“Thanks,” Amy said. “But I’m getting crazy nervous. Everybody is going to be watching the birthday girl.”“Relax, sweetie,” I said and pulled her in front of the mirror. “Let them stare. You look beautiful!”Amy’s hair was arranged in an updo with loose pieces framing her pretty face. And Jennifer had accentuated Amy’s delicate beauty perfectly with makeup in an ivory, pink, and gold color palette.She was wearing a ball gown that was one of Gisele’s latest designs. Made of delicate pink silk, it had spaghetti straps and a full princess skirt. The edges of the bodice and the hem were trimmed with gold thread and pearls.“Yeah, I look okay,” Amy sighed. “But I know I’m going to forget the dance steps and make a fool of myself. Justin’s family will love having another reason to criticize me.”“Stop worrying. Victor gave you a refresher course,” I reminded her. “You know all the dances. Y
Jennifer helped Amy replace her beautiful ball gown with the plain brown ceremonial robe of a first-shift ceremony. She removed her shoes and all of her jewelry and loosened her hair.“All ready,” Jennifer declared.“Do you have it?” Amy asked me.I patted the canvas bag under my arm. “Yep, let’s go.”Amy walked solemnly beside me, but I could tell by the look on her face that she was almost bursting with excitement.To avoid the guests, we went out the west wing side door and walked around the outside of the mansion to the rose garden. Justin, Mr. Gray, and the priestess were waiting there for us.Amy wanted the ceremony to be private, so a few footmen were standing guard nearby to keep away any curious guests.The ceremony wasn’t as formal as mine, but I thought it was very beautiful.As the witnesses, Justin, Mr. Gray, and I chanted the ancient prayers, the priestess called for the Moon Goddess.“We ask for your prayers and intervention with Lycaon, dear Goddess,” the priestess int
“I’ve heard a lot of nonsense out of some of you tonight,” Andy scolded the crowd. “But I can assure you that Amy’s mother was not a prostitute, nor did she trick me into mating with her.”Alex and Victor heard the commotion and came to my side. They listened intently to Andy’s story.“Deirdre was a laundry girl at my home and a kind, wonderful, hard-working person, just like her daughter,” Andy continued. His soft brown eyes, exactly like Amy’s, dared his family to stop him.“We were fated mates and deeply in love. But my family was determined to keep us apart because they thought the pretty Omega girl who washed our clothes wasn’t good enough to be a member of the great Archer family.”Amy stared wide-eyed at Andrew Archer, the man who claimed to be her father, as he spoke. She was too surprised to say anything.“You look like your mother, Amy,” Andy said. “Except you have my eyes. I’ll show you her photo sometime if you want to see it.”When Amy still didn’t speak, Mr. Gray stepped
“I can’t believe Justin’s parents apologized to me,” Amy said as we prepared for our graduation ceremony in a school bathroom.“From the angry look in Mrs. Brown’s eyes while they were walking over to us, I thought I was in trouble,” Amy giggled. Instead, she said, ‘For Justin’s sake, I’d like to start our relationship over.’”“I'm glad the Browns decided to listen to Alex and be nice to you.” I straightened my cap over my hair. “You didn’t need any stress from them at your birthday ball. Meeting your biological father was enough drama on top of your first shift.”“It’s weird. I don’t think of Andrew Archer as my father,” Amy told me as we pulled on our caps and gowns in a school bathroom. “I mean, I have his genes and everything, but Elliot Gray will always be my real father.”“Good. Mr. Gray has always been a wonderful father to you. But do you have any feelings for Andrew Archer?”Amy pulled on her graduation gown over her dress. “I need to get to know him, and we’ll see what happe
Frampton University was the third school Amy and I traveled to in the new blue Mercedes Alex gave her for graduation.I was now learning to drive, but I didn’t have my license yet. The green Mercedes Alex gave me was at the mansion, waiting for my next driving lesson.We were visiting universities that interested us to tour the campuses before submitting our applications and fees.As a wonderful surprise, Andrew Archer offered to pay Amy’s tuition and expenses at the college of her choice. The Archer family had signed over Archer Enterprises to him the day after the ball.“I hope we get accepted by the same college,” I said. “It would be great to go to the same school.”“As long as they have a good journalism program, I don't have a preference,” Amy said. She was going after her dream of being a reporter.“I still think you should go with journalism for your major,” she added. “You would make a terrific reporter, too. You’ve been in front of the cameras lots of times recently.”“I don
“Um, Daisy, he’s still behind us,” Amy said as we reached the city limits.“I know. Before you get to the light at Oak Street, make a quick right,” I said. “Don’t use your turn signal.” I had my phone in my hand, ready to call for help. The man following us couldn’t be a coincidence.Amy did as I asked, but the old pickup stayed with us.“Maybe we should call the police,” Amy suggested.“I doubt they can do anything yet,” I said. “The guy hasn’t done anything to us. We need to lose him.”I thought for a moment. “Pull into the Market Street strip mall, drive around the building, and leave by the back entrance.”“Good idea,” Amy agreed.She pulled into the strip mall and pretended to be looking for a parking space as we passed the drug store, the liquor store, a supermarket, and a hair salon.The pickup tried to hide from our view and didn’t see when Amy suddenly drove along the side of the hair salon and pulled onto an alley that led to North Front Street.She made a few more random tu