“But I stand by my word,” Alpha said, tilting his head to the side but looking like he had a nasty taste in his mouth. “I’ll protect the fucking deer.”
Wolfe tried not to laugh.
Logically, it would be easier to let the humans hunt, luring them toward a deer, killing it, and then they’d move on.
But … Alpha took his role as alpha seriously. He had to protect the deer as it was in the best interest in the pack. Even if it was for one of their lowest of the low pack members.
It was also one of the reasons Wolfe would never act on his attraction to Amelia. She was at the bottom of the food chain.
****
Working at the Poison Bar was way better than working at the diner. Sure, the smells at times could be a little gross, but it wasn’t overwhelming. She hated the smell of burning animal flesh in any form.
Amelia never told anyone that. Her parents had disowned her at the age of eighteen because of her … issues. Yep, that was what they called her. A daughter with way too many issues. A defective wolf.
She was so freaking annoyed with them. They never invited her to any of their family get-togethers. Ignored her at town meetings. Avoided any contact with her at all costs. Not that she needed them anyway. Being an outcast had become easy to her, seeing as no one had liked her for, like, ever. Through high school and now for the past seven years since she had become a wolf, as well as a full-grown adult. She took care of herself and had done so for a long time.
Without her parents’ support. She didn’t need them. She would never need them.
Putting the two bottles of beer on the counter, she offered the two men a smile. They were part of the second level of security, and both of them glared at her. Whatever. None of them were worth their shit anyway.
She had watched them all cower away from danger. None of them ran toward it.
Rolling her eyes at them, she moved down the bar, wiping the mess and gathering up the cases from the eaten pistachios.
Another thing—most of the pack were slobs. They never cleaned after themselves, always leaving it to someone else. She could have easily made money by being a cleaner, but they wouldn’t have her on their staff either. It was a miracle she’d gotten this job. When Val called her, she’d been surprised, but then Val was also kind of an outcast.
Val had refused to join the Poison Wolves MC, and it had resulted in quite a few arguments over the years. He was a nice guy, quiet. She didn’t know much about him other than the fact he had the best and only bar in town. Whenever he wanted to, he kicked people out, even if they gave him the wrong kind of look. He never needed a reason to be pissed off.
On the day he offered her a job, he told her he didn’t want any stupid vegan talk, not that she knew what exactly that was. She had to learn to serve beer, smile at customers, and take any shit they dished out. If they crossed any lines, he’d deal with them.
It all sounded rather nice.
She never said no to a job. In the past seven years, she’d had a lot of them. She’d worked at the library but been removed when she got a little passionate about people dog-earing pages, and of course, scribbling in the books. There was clearly no respect, but they had all laughed at her. They didn’t care about the state of the books. Then she had been removed from a florist shop as well, but that was only because she and the owner didn’t mesh well. The woman had loved to hunt and kept some of her stuffed kills mounted on her wall.
She liked to rub it in Amelia’s face, and the final straw was the day the woman tried to force-feed her meat. That had been it for Amelia, and that was the job she quit.
The only other job that had stuck was working at the daycare. She’d been let go due to some parents having an issue with the pack outcast being around their kids. That job had come to an end, and fast, which sucked. She loved being around children. They were so innocent, so curious about the world around them.
At least there was this job. The people here often ignored her completely. They were only interested in getting their orders of beer and alcohol, and telling her to keep her fucking nose out of other people’s business.
She was more than happy to do that.
Being the pack outcast was … okay. This was a role she was used to playing since she was a young child.
A couple moved in close to the bar. The guy glared at her, and it was down to the woman to ask for a drink.
Amelia served them, and they spun on their heels and left, the woman whispering in the guy’s ear. “Isn’t she a little fat to be a vegan?”
Did they not realize she had just as good senses as them? Her hearing was perfectly fine. Assholes.
One of the guys spilled his beer on the bar, and she rushed to clean it up, making sure he had another ready.
She served whoever approached, and by twelve, she was ready to head home, but three members of the Poison Wolves MC entered the bar, looking pissed off. The Alpha, Draco, and Wolfe.
They all commanded respect, all of them terrifying.
The Poison Wolves MC controlled the town and protected it. All the men within the biker club were alphas, or in some way the boss. They made sure to keep all of them safe, so they were able to live a normal life.
Mingling with humans was dangerous, as they were often captured and hunted. The scars Alpha possessed told a great deal of stories.
The humans that ever went up against him never lived to tell the tale. That wasn’t the only threat they protected them from. The bears, the foxes, as well as other shifter packs that wanted to take their territory away from them.
There was always a threat, always a danger. She hated it.
They were … goodish men.
Amelia had been on Alpha’s shitlist since the petition. They ruled the pack fiercely, but they were also fair.
A few years back the pack voted to try to get her expelled. Those had been a few tense days. She’d truly believed she was going to be kicked out, rejected, abandoned.
Alpha had come to her on the night before he was due to pass judgment. She expected him to kill her. He’d asked her a whole bunch of questions.
What did she think of the pack?
What was her place in the pack?
Why was she so fucking difficult?
Couldn’t she just fall in line?
These went on and on, and much to her surprise, she answered every single one to the best of her ability.
She loved the pack. Her place was simple, she was Amelia Stokes, the pack’s ultimate pain in the ass. She wasn’t difficult, she just had values and beliefs and lived by them.
Fall in line? Why would the Poison Wolves MC even ask that?
The questioning went on, and then, Alpha had gotten up and started to walk away. She’d been unable to leave it that way.
“Do you think this is right?” she asked.
Alpha had turned with a glare. “What?”
“I refuse to eat meat, but I don’t force anyone else to not eat meat. I don’t hunt in the forest. I’ve never truly caused anyone any hurt at all. I’m always there if they need a helping hand. The Smiths, their house was destroyed by a fire that they caused, I was still there, helping, attempting to rebuild what they had ruined. Whenever anyone needs something, I am there. But that’s not enough. Why? I don’t eat meat, and I won’t go and hunt. I do everything else. I just have to wonder if being an outcast is really that bad.”
Alpha had stared at her for several minutes.