Oh. “Well, we operate like a town, but our currency isn’t monetary. There’s a small convenience shop by the front gate, a clinic equipped like a hospital, and a school that goes from pre-k to the end of elementary right on the premises. For middle and high school, we either head off land or use online schooling. Same for college, for those of us who go.”
“Are you planning on going?”
“No.” I nibbled on my bottom lip. “I’m a digital artist and make a nice income from it.” I shrugged. “Maybe I’ll go in a couple years from now. I heard you’re enrolled. How will that work out once you’re here?”
“We’re keeping our houses in Boulder, so Sarah, Amanda, and I are going to commute. Spend half the week there. Long weekends here.” She traced the stitching on the suede couch.
“What are you studying?”
“Business, with a specialty in accounting. I love numbers.”
I groaned. “I loathe numbers.”
“I’ll do your taxes and you can paint something fabulous for our new house in return.”
“Spoken like a true compound resident.”
She smiled.
“Can I askyousomething?”
She turned a little more toward me. “Of course.”
I dropped my voice. “Did you ever want the job?”
Her dark eyebrows knitted. “The job?”
“Alpha,” I murmured.
Her brow smoothed, and she relaxed back into the cushion. “No. I even turned down being one of his Betas. Too much politics and stress.”
“But you challenged him back when you moved to Boulder?”
“I just wanted a place in the pack, and those bastards wouldn’t let me pledge myself.” She tossed a fond glance atthose bastards. I looked, too. Found both Liam and August looking our way, well Ness’s way.
She turned her attention back to me. “Don’t ever let locked doors or barricaded windows stop you from getting in. There’s always a rooftop access.” She winked. “That’s the lesson I learned when I returned to Boulder.”
It was good advice. “Thank you, by the way. For killing Cassandra.”
“Don’t thank me. It was a team effort. I might’ve sank the killing fang, but Liam drained her of her energy, and August brought me back from the dead.” She rubbed a spot on her collarbone, her eyes glazing over as though she were back in the arena where she’d lost her life. “That was the day I learned what it means to be pack. You’re never alone.”
“Still, you’re an inspiration.”
“Wow. Really?”
“Yes, really. Most of the girls around the compound want to be you when they grow up, fierce and tenacious.” I leaned over and whispered, “Some, like May over there, just want to be you to get our Alpha’s attention without needing to sacrifice her life for it.”
Ness laughed. “What about you, Nikki?”
“What about me?” I asked slowly.
“Would you sacrifice yourself for your Alpha?”
Here I thought she was going to ask me if I wanted our Alpha’s attention. “I’d hope that’s the sort of woman I would be, but I guess one can only know when the situation arises. Hopefully, it won’t.”
“It’s funny.”
“What is?”
