Chapter Nine

Alpha Joe POV

Settling into my office chair I gesture to the chair opposite for Jenni to take as I place a bottle of water in front of her. Stacking my paperwork on the side of my desk I let her finish off her sandwich in peace as she inspects my office, in return I watch her and try to figure her out, but I still come up with nothing.

It has been a very long day for all of us especially her, I really should have waited until tomorrow to talk to her she was probably up all of last night after bringing back Harry and Luke I still needed to find out what happened and how she managed to escape. Just as I go to ask her a question Dean slips in through the door stealthily, but she still picks up on it. "How is your princess?" she smirks winking at me when I look at her shocked, I would have never picked up on Dean coming in if I wasn't facing the door.

"How? You know what? Do not answer that" he says shaking his head before taking his place next to her "Chelsea is just settling her down for the night." she smiles and pats his arm gently as though she is trying to comfort him.

"No one going to take her away from you, big guy. I am sure Alpha Joe will make this quick so you can get back to her." I chuckle at the goofy face he pulls.

"I will not keep either you long. It has been a long day and I am sure everyone can do with a decent night's sleep."

"I sure can" Dean grumbles he really doesn't do well with lack of sleep and neither of us got any last night due to the search for Harry and Luke.

"Right so, Jenni I am sorry to drag you here tonight. I wanted to talk to you ever since you brought the pups back, but it's been a bit of a whirl wind with everything that has happened."

"Understandable Alpha Joe. I really appreciate everything you have done and are doing for me and the pups."

"Well, what I understand from the bits I have heard, Alpha Rick…well let's not talk about him right now. What I want to know is about the kidnapping last night." She looks perplexed for a moment as though she doesn't know what I am talking about, before it dawns on her that I want an explanation.

"Well, Cassey told me her brother and friend were in the forest and I went after them. It was fine until the hunter arrived. Stupid darts. Then when I woke up, we were in a basement. There were only two wolves, so I got us out." She explains giving me the smallest explanation I have ever heard, telling me everything in a nutshell but not giving anything away that could explain to us how she took out the wolves and get back to the pack.

"Sorry Alpha but I got to ask. Why were none of you in the bunker?" Dean blurts, turning her head away briefly she seems to contemplate on her answer to Dean's question.

"Seeming as I am now part of your pack my loyalty is too you Alpha Joe so will answer honestly. Due to our status, we were not allowed in it. So, to keep the pup's safe we stay in the cottage out the way. Due to the state of it not many rogues realise we are there and if they do sniff around, I have had enough training from before joining the Red Moon pack that I can protect them."

'What do you think she means by previous training?'

'Not sure Godric.'

"What do you mean by status you were part of the pack. What training did you receive and where were you from before the Red Moon? Is that how you killed the wolves that Cassey told us you killed?-"

"Beta Dean" raising my eyebrow at him I see him slightly blush as he realises, he was barrelling her with a ton of questions without breathing.

'Don't pretend that you don't have all these questions whizzing in your head Joe. Plus, how old is she?'

"Ok looks like you both are full of questions and confusion. Some of it I am not ready to talk about and I hope you will understand and respect that" I nod in confirmation but she is already carrying on "First off, all of us orphans were deemed as slaves, some of them were rogues, some even the Alpha doesn't know I rescued, most of the others he handed to me, some being from rogues who accidentally stepped onto his territory and some who had no family after they died and being lower ranks no one wanted to take them in."

Pausing briefly to let that digest I can tell she is taking the time to work out what she is going to tell us next. "As slaves we were expected to be the ones who kept the upkeep of the pack house and complete all the chores of it. If anything wasn't up to their standard or we did something that was not to their liking, we got punished." she slouches back into the seat as growls come from myself and Dean "I managed to stop most of pups having a single hand laid on them, but some still got hit now and again before I could stop it."

"No one should have laid a hand on any of you" snarls Dean his wolf fighting as much as mine no doubt trying to take over so they can go back to the Red Moon pack and rip them pack apart piece by piece just like our mates had wanted us too earlier.

"You kept them safe." I sigh knowing now why her brother was wary.

'She took the beatings, the torture that they delivered.' Godric snarls in my head 'Alpha Rick should have taken care of them but took advantage of them instead.'

"I will always keep those who need protecting safe" she whispers before straightening up and putting her mask back on "Anyway to answer the rest of your questions Beta Dean. The training I received and where from I am not ready to tell you about yet nor the fact what pack I was from before becoming part of Red Moon. I will tell you that I was able to handle the attack due to my training but unfortunately the wolfsbane and silver from the hunter got the better of me. I am not sure who took us and was surprised they didn't kill me."

"That is a lot to take in Jenni." I muse still baffled in how she got trained and was able to take the wolves out. However, we still have no clue in who took them in the first place, and it worries me. "Why did they make you slaves? Surely the omegas worked before you arrived?"

"They did but after my guardian passed away no one wanted to take us in and well let's just say they didn't like us. When we are ready, I will tell you more about it all, Alpha Joe but I hope you understand that we need to be sure that you are all in it for the long haul. And please know we are honoured to be part of your pack and appreciate everything you have done and proved to us thus far."

"I understand but I hope you realise we are not going anywhere Jenni. And we are nothing like that pack. How about we talk about something a bit more positive?"

"Ok" she looks ready for a battle

"It is nothing to worry about, well saying that it depends on if you like shopping. We have a coach that belongs to our packs school which is big enough to take us all to the mall tomorrow. So, we can get you and the pup's new things for your fresh start." I can see the slight panic in her face "we have pack funds just for these occasions and our wolves do not like the way you have all been treated and want to take care for you all, just like you should have been in the first place." I try to reassure her knowing that she feels weird about money.

"Okay if this is-"

"Please Jenni you can choose, we would like you to choose. You are our equal, well to the other wolves in my pack that is, I am afraid we" I point to myself and Dean "and obviously some of the other high-ranking wolves will out rank you but we all still treat you fairly." a slight twitch of her lips has me curious but I put it on the back burner, knowing that I am not firing on all cylinders to work it out.

"Out of interest Jenni" Dean asks scratching his head nervously "how old are you we couldn't quite tell; well, we cannot tell any of your ages and it would be nice to know."

"Well princess" she smirks making him blush, dang she is good "is eight months and the newest addition to my little pack of pups, well was" she smiles "Sam and Conner are the oldest of them well apart from me, they are thirteen now and I am seventeen…" she then carries on telling us the rest of their ages and I cannot believe it.

"Your only seventeen?"

"Yeah, sorry to disappoint?"

"No disappointment we thought you were younger, but you carry yourself as though you are much older than seventeen."

"Thanks, I guess?"

"Before, I forget we would like to set you up at school in the next couple of days too, to make sure that you aren't missing too much."

"The pups would love that. I will be honest with you as I have a good feeling about your pack. I did manage to sneak them off to a local human school it was a community one outside of our territory that none of the pack went too so they didn't know that they were getting an education. I managed to cover by completing their chores. But for myself Alpha I would not fit in as I have not been for many, many years and would not know anything they would teach me."

'They didn't even let them have an education let me go back and rip them apart Joe, they deserve it and so much more.'

"We could set you up with online learning?" Dean suggests snapping my conversation with my wolf off before I could agree to his vengeance on behalf of our new pack members. "That way you could do it in your own time and not worry about understanding what is going on and if you get stuck on anything I am sure we can find someone happy to tutor you."

"Thank you."

"Ok, well I think we should go get some rest. I have a feeling our mates will be dragging are arses around every single shop tomorrow."

"Chelsea has already made a list of things she wants to get Poppy. Oh, and her and Sarah have made a list of shops that we need to go for all the other pups and what they need. Let's just say its long." He says exasperatedly making Jenni chuckle at him, it's nice to see her smile and laugh.

"That is my cue" she says sighing pointing to the direction of the door "Night" she calls over her shoulder as she makes her hasty escape, opening the door I then realise what she meant as the sound of a commotion drifts to us.

"What on earth?"

"Jenni!" someone shrieks and she picks up speed whilst having to weave around other members of my pack heading in the same direction to see what is wrong.