Chapter 12

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Evelyn couldn't believe it.

Finally she was driving, after more than three months of being confined to the compound and fighting for survival she was driving, driving her mother's Honda. She had never owned a car but she occasionally used her mom's Honda. She felt free as if she had broken the shackles that confined her, she never thought she would be so thrilled to drive!

While she was driving to her destination she recalled the conversation Jeff had with the pack members. They were expecting a few guest to arrive at the hotel owned by the pack in the town, they needed extra hands and wanted anyone to volunteer and the best part they get paid!

Anyone who was interested were asked to give their name out to a Roma wolf waiting outside and then they needed to report to the hotel and the Roma wolves would short-list the candidates they wanted to work in the hotel.

She couldn't grab it fast enough, she added her name to the list right away and once she was done with her work...most important one. She would then drive down to the hotel and try her luck out, some extra cash sure would not hurt.

She had finally reached her destination and gently guided her car in to the parking lot and parked, she got out, gathered her things and stood straight staring at the building in front of her...a building she had not seen since the rogue attach started...her high school. In determined strides she walked in to the building.

***

"We need the top floor secure" Adrian said to a bunch of the men standing in front of him.

"Alex will set up electronic surveillance, anyone who is setting foot in this floor has to be thoroughly vetted by us, we should do background checks and background checks on the background checks done" The men nodded. They understood the seriousness they could not effort to fuck this up.

"I need all windows draped and closed, I want our men to take up positions in opposite building rooftops, every rooftop within a sniper range" he added.

The hotel had been taken over by the Roma wolves completely. Adrian had the list of folks from Nick's pack who volunteered for various jobs in the hotel, the hotel has been in a closed down state as many of the staff were wolves from Nick's pack and most of them were now dead. Nicks pack was just one third of its original strength, they had saved this pack from the brink of extinction. He had been vetting names all this morning and paused on the name on the list.

Evelyn Parker

He paused for a moment and even though she had not shown up yet he put a tick mark next to her name. His brother trusted her and he trusted Alex's judgement. He moved on, he needed to have the list ready, all volunteers were asked to report to the hotel in the afternoon and even the slightest suspicion would be a cross mark on the list and they would have to go back.

***

"Miss Parker!" the school counsellor exclaimed "You sure are a sight for these sore eyes! Come have a seat, how have you been?"

His enthusiasm was understandable, she was one of the brightest students of the school, who showed promise. The school staff had been disappointed when she had to withdraw due to family emergency that too close to term, the current term ended in just three months.

Evelyn sat down, she was use to preferential treatment by both teachers and administrative staff and she was in fact the" goody-two-shoes" of the school.

There was a fierce competition between schools to churn out successful students, it meant higher rating and more funding and she fell right smack in to that category.

"Well, I am back" she announced.

The grin on the counsellor's face spread "I am glad to hear that!"

"I am ready to work on what I have missed" she started off "I want to attend classes that are remaining, I would need help of course..."

He waved her off "Don't you worry, I am sure we can cobble up a plan, me and the teachers. I know it means you need to clock some serious hours to play catch up but, for you, I don't see a problem and I will work out a schedule with the teachers to help you out every day post regular school hours for an hour or two"

She smiled, relieved "Thank you so much!"

"What about the exams, can I take them this term itself?" she asked worried

"Why not? If you think you are up to it and if your teachers think you are up to it, you can take the exams and graduate with rest of your classmates"

"Thank you!" she sounded relieved, she would graduate school this year itself.

He waved her off again "The least we could do for a student such as you, why don't you join back fresh on Monday, lets this week go, you can drop in and collect your assignments tomorrow. You know, to get things rolling"

She stood up relieved "Sure sir, I will be back tomorrow" It was Wednesday today so, she would have a couple of days to catch up

"See you Ms. Parker" He dismissed her with a smile.

Evelyn walked out of the school building to her car, now she felt a sense of purpose. She was always a planner and now her plan was falling in to place. Between school and the hotel job, if she got it. She wouldn't have time even to breath. Which was good. With death knocking on her doorsteps, everything else had taken a back seat. Her textbooks were safely tucked in the shelf where she placed them.

So she would graduate, she would get permission from Alpha to leave to peruse higher studies, Medical school...here I come!

Little did she know that come Monday, School would be least of her worries.

***

"Did the egg come first or the chicken?"

"What?" Adrian asked, totally confused by Alex's question out of the blue.

They had taken a break from the busy schedule to arrange everything for Roma's arrival. The seventh floor of the hotel was completely quarantined, the Roma wolves had cleaned it up and had it ready. Some folks from Nick's pack began to arrive and already started working on restoring the rest of the hotel to a liveable condition

The empty hotel was slowly limping back to life in an effort to get it ready for the VIP guests that it would soon host. No body knew who the guest was and they were being kept in the dark. All Nick's pack knew was the Roma wolves were moving in to the hotel from the compound they have been occupying and some more of them were arriving, the rumour was that there were some business deals going to be closed to help the pack back up to its feet. Which was a good news for them.

Alex & Adrian were having lunch in the ground floor restaurant on the hotel when Alex out of the blue threw up the question

"So?" Alex said again "Egg or chicken?"

"How the fuck would I know?"

"The egg came first then the chicken"

"Now how on earth would you know that?"

"Simple, see the egg we ordered that came first followed by this lovely tasting chicken by the way" Alex said pointing at their lunch they almost finished. The kitchen was barely functional but chef they hired did a good job with the food.

Adrian looked at Alex nonplussed "Sometimes, you scare me man"

"Bow, to my superior intelligence, that's all you need to do. No reason to be intimidated, it's not your fault that you got the raw deal from the gene pool" Alex responded with a mouthful of egg.

Adrian started to respond but stopped as he looked at the entrance of the hotel. He saw a girl who just enter and was looking around lost.

"Isn't that the chick you went on a date with?"

"Who?" Alex turned to look "Oh, she is a friend" he started waving at her but she was not looking his way.

"A friend you took out for a date?" Adrian asked.

"No...we decided...never mind" Alex said and his waving did not catch her attention.

Adrian wolf whistled and she looked their way.

"See" Adrian winked to Alex "A whistle is useful" he was making a fun of the fact that Alex did not know how to whistle.

Evelyn looked at them hesitantly not sure if she could intrude on their lunch but looking at Alex waving her to come over furiously she started towards them.

"She is a friend. Don't spoil it" Alex warned Adrian, who had an expression on his face that said who? Me?

Evelyn reached the table "Hello" she waved meekly to both of them, she was asked to show up here for work but was not sure who to approach and she was still a little lost.

"Did you have lunch?" Alex asked.

"I...." She started but her stomach grumbled...indicating its hunger and she went red in embarrassment.

"Well...we have our answer" Alex smiled at her and pointed at the empty chair between him and Adrian "Sit, we can eat together"

"Um...I" She still was hesitant, especially with Adrian around. While both brothers looked like photocopies, they had different auras. Alex was bright and shiny. Adrian was all dark and gloomy. While people gravitated to Alex they automatically made space around Adrian where ever he moved.

While she formed a bond of friendship with Alex, she had hardly spoken two words to Adrian till date and on top of that the talk around the pack was he was one a wolf you did not fuck with.

Adrian saw her hesitation and got up and pulled the chair back "Please Sit" he indicated taking any further decision out of her hands.

She slowly sat down and he indicated to someone to get a fresh set of plates and cutlery and some additional food. He then sat back down in his chair

"So" Alex said "Did you meet my brother?" She just nodded her head negative but looked at him and politely said "Hello"

He smirked at her "Hello...back"

The food came in and they waited as it was placed on the table. Alex took the initiative and started serving her.

"Thanks Alex"

He simply smiled at her.

"So" Alex said between mouthfuls "You..want...o...rk...er?"

She looked at him perplexed as he was chewing away without a care.

"What my, ill mannered, immature brother is asking that, are you looking for work here?" Adrian added.

"Yes" she said nodding her head affirmative.

"Cool" Alex said, grabbing a glass of water and gulping it down "You are hired and..." he smiled with a gleam in his eyes "I am your boss"

She rolled her eyes "So boss, what am I to do around here?" she asked.

"Kitchen" Alex replied immediately and turned to Adrian "She makes a mean sandwich"

"Mean, is it? Just my type" Adrian quipped back.

"You should definitely try it..." Alex added.

"So when do I start?" Evelyn interrupted Alex trying to focus attention away from her sandwich making ability, Alex was surely exaggerating.

"Right away, once we are done with the lunch of course"

Evelyn reported to the kitchen once she was done with lunch with the twins. Though Alex was considered a friend now and she was comfortable around him. Adrian was still an enigma, he was very nonverbal throughout lunch and he was always polite though but very silent brooding person.

And once in kitchen the crazy work started, they had to get a non-functional kitchen in to fully functional one in a few hours, she was glad to discover that she knew some of the people already busily working there, she was teamed up with Ria and Amy and she was glad as they had already worked together in the pack kitchen.

The three of them together scrubbed, cleaned, washed every corner of the kitchen all the cutlery and made the kitchen presentable for the chef to get started.

The rooms were getting occupied in the hotel by lot of new Roma wolves who had come down. It was said that the pack was getting paid for the hotel, which was a good thing. They needed the money badly.

By evening when Evelyn and the others stepped out of their shift, they had earned every cent of their pay, they were thoroughly exhausted and they piled up in to Evelyn's car since Ria and Amy had hitched a ride in the morning and drove back to the pack house to crash for the day.

***

Drake did not know what day it was...he even did not know what time it was....he was not even sure why he was even alive.

He was still in the same facility that was once his pack's headquarters, but slowly his former pack members were shipped out in batches, where? He did not know. He was glad that they left with their life...they would make a new life, where ever they were being shipped off to. Thee would start as omegas in their new pack, will have to prove their loyalty to their new Alpha and any other rank they would have to earn it in the new pack ...at least they would get a second chance.

From the time he was captured, he was put in a holding cell, the very holding cell he had used to torture and convert wolves he defeated to shift their loyalty to him or die. How many wolves had he killed here? Far too many to count.

The irony did not escape him, in the cell next to him was his mate. They let her see him once every day. They left her alone and did not abuse her. He was thankful, grateful considering everything, Adrian was being generous. Even him, they simply put him in the cell and provided him meals apart from that, there was no interaction. Yes he had guards, watchful ones but they were silent observers.

But that changed today, a few hours ago he was dragged from his cell and out in the hallways, his mate had been screaming in anguish from her cell as she saw him being dragged away. He finally thought the time to meet his maker had come but surprisingly he was dumped in to another room. His hands and legs were chained and in turn were connected to a chain in the wall, the chain gave him a couple of feet moving space, apart from that he was pretty much chained to a wall. He was again injected with some inhibitors so there was no way he could escape. About 10 feet from him a chair was placed. That was hours ago.

He had waited, eventual sat down and fell asleep near the wall, he got up when he heard the door of the room open, he was still sleepy and it was almost dark in the room, he could only see a silhouette of a person near the door outline.

His wolf was whining, restless, clearly detecting an overwhelming threat. His wolves flight instincts at its highest as clearly fight was not even an option here.

"Who is it?" he weakly asked standing up and squinting his eyes.

The person, instead of responding moved forward and light slowly reflected on the person's face.

Drake took a deep breath recognizing the person in front of him, his eyes winded, his wolf whined for him to submit to the power radiating off that person. His wolf had recognized the threat even before his human form did, he was right in his pondering earlier...he would meet his maker today.

"Roma" he whispered still not believing his eyes, whispering her name ... When had he last seen her?before all this started, before everything went to shit, before he betrayed the very people who trusted him. She looked the same, the same beautiful woman, but instead of the carefree twinkle in her eyes, he saw determination and something else...something he was ever scared to decipher.

She came forward her eyes on him impassively and quietly sat on the chair.

"So, you wanted to talk to me" she said slowly. The steel in her voice sending shivers down his spine.

"Here I am" and she looked pointedly at him and said "Now. Talk"