“An omega,” he explained.
“Oh,” I said.
“Don’t take it as an insult. You know what alphas are like, especially at that age. It’s the right time to knock them down a peg or two and remind them that they aren’t any more important or above anyone else,” he told me.
“Try telling Cole that,” I said under my breath.
He laughed and patted my shoulder.
“Stephanie should be here any minute. Take her to the cleaning supplies cupboard and kit her out. You know the routine: take her with you and put her to work. You’ll be done early,” he said.
“What if she doesn’t listen to me?” I asked, and even asking the question embarrassed me, but I didn’t want to deal with a reluctant teenage alpha who likely saw me as beneath her in the first place.
“You’ve nothing to worry about. She knows to be on her best behaviour. You’re claimed by Colette; no baby alpha is going to risk upsetting her,” he said confidently.
We heard the door from the cloakroom open and shut, and we both turned to the office door in anticipation.
A girl, maybe seventeen or eighteen, with long, straight blonde hair and an expression that said she wanted to be anywhere else, hesitated near the entrance to Alan’s office.
“Come in, Stephanie,” Alan told her. “This is Harriet. Harriet is your superior today; she’ll show you the ropes and make sure you put in a day's work. Harriet’s going to be documenting your performance. If you slack off, I’ll know, and Pat will know.”
She turned her stare to me, her nose scrunching like I smelled bad or something.
“Hi,” she said.
“Hi,” I replied.
“Well, better get started,” Alan said, walking us towards the door.
***
“You expect me to wear that?” Stephanie asked as I held out an apron to her.
“Well, it’s the apron or you’ll ruin your clothes with cleaner and dirt,” I told her.
She huffed and snatched the apron from my hand. I picked up my cleaning supplies bucket and locked the cupboard behind me.
Stephanie didn’t like me. It was evident in the small rumbling of a growl anytime I got within a couple of feet of the perturbed teenage werewolf.
We had worked in relative silence, and it wasn’t until all touchpoints had been cleaned that I spoke up next.
“We should move on to the council members’ offices now. I empty the waste baskets and the recycling first, then ask if they would like the office vacuumed, dusted, or any other tasks they might want done,” I explained as we climbed the stairs to the second floor.
“Just grab the trash and recycling and be done with it. Why offer to do more? Are you an idiot?” Stephanie hissed.
I wasn’t shocked by the way she spoke to me, but it wasn’t something I would just put up with.
“We do the task right; there’s no point in doing it at all if we don’t. You’re here to work; we’re not cutting corners,” I told her.
I expected some snarky response, another insult. What I didn’t expect was to be violently shoved backward.
I lost my footing and tumbled down the stairs, colliding with the wall at the bottom.
“A genetic mistake as wrong as you does not tell me what to do,” Stephanie nearly shouted, a growl rumbling in her chest.
I got to my feet, quickly assessing myself for injuries. I was aching, but nothing hurt in a way that made me worry.
Stephanie began to descend the stairs towards me.
