Page 6 of A Kitten for Alpha Kenny

“Have a good day, Daddy. Remember, tonight is story night. I want the one about Father breaking you out of jail.”

It sounded far more scandalous than it was.

“I can do that.” I kissed the top of her head and sent her off with her teacher.

The story requested was her favorite and one of mine, too, for that matter. I hadn’t been sure I should tell it to her until she was older. Having a little kid talking about their dad being a cat in a cage wasn’t ideal in human circles. But, since we managed to get her into Wolfe Enterprises’ pack school, I figured it was safe for her to learn everything right from the start. She could openly speak about all things shifter there.

One of the first things I did after we settled in here was to turn different parts of my life with her father into storybooks for her. I wasn’t sure when or how I would use them at the time, but I knew they were important. The one she wanted today was her favorite. It told the story of a human boy who worked at an animal shelter during college, saw a cat in distress, and snuck him home.

That cat was me.

Instead of being sent to quarantine like the director had sentenced me to, I found my home. We became best friends and eventually married. Growing up, I always thought I’d find my true mate and live out my happy ever after. That wasn’t how it worked out, but there was not a single moment with Jason that I regretted. True mate or not.

It was a very short drive to the office, and when I got in, I set my lunch on my desk and headed straight to the conference room. My boss was already there, as well as the alpha and beta.

Shit. I hadn’t thought it was one of those kinds of meetings.

“Alpha, beta—”

“This isn’t pack business.” The alpha pointed to the open seat. “Join us. I want to talk to you about a new fundraiser.”

For a brief second, I thought that meant this meeting wouldn’t be that bad after all.

How wrong I was.

The alpha knew the story of how I met my husband—how some do-gooder was pretty sure I “had rabies” and dropped me off to be put down. And by “pretty sure I had rabies,” I meant, they were pissed I was in their yard and thought I was the cat who’d been pooping in their flower beds. Which I was not. I was just chasing a mouse away from my college rental. But that was another story.

After hearing the tale, the alpha began to loop me in on things related to animal rescues. And lucky me, Animals was having a huge fundraiser for exactly that—the local shelter.

“Karma has done a great job getting everything arranged and we wanted to have someone from the company there to represent us. And, I thought—who would be better than you?”

I could name a thousand people who would be better than me—a shy house cat shifter in a room full of dragons and bears and wolves, all drinking, everything loud—and just no. But instead, I worked hard not to let him see it.

“Sounds good, alpha.”

Because the truth was, without the alpha, I’d have nothing. No job. No home. Nothing. He made my first few days here so much better than they would have been. I hadn’t been surviving on gift cards in a roach-filled hotel. I had a nice apartment, food, a job, and an entire office building full of people who treated me as if I belonged. If me being happy-happy over an event I wanted no part of was required, so be it.

“What kind of attire should I be expected to wear?”

The beta, AKA Grampa Swale, stood up. “That’s where I come in. We’re going shopping.”

Great. Shopping. Another thing I detested. But, at least, it was with Grampa Swale.

As a surprise to no one, I came home with a tutu for Madeline—a glitter-ific sparkly one. Because, in his words, “Every princess needs more glitter.”

I had a feeling my vacuum wasn’t going to agree with that. Not that I had room to talk. I was as just as bad as he was when it came to spoiling her. And if seeing her smile over a brand-new “fancy” skirt meant vacuuming all day, every day, so be it.

Chapter Five

Kenny

Because I was so fried from endless days and nights of trying to undo the damage caused by my predecessor, I took Beta Zoe’s advice and made plans to stay off the packlands for a day or two while meeting with Aspen and attending the event at Animals. If things went well there, I might be able to set up some face-to-faces with other alphas and continue my program of reconnecting our pack with those who had been so close to us until recently. Rebuilding trust was not for wimps, and while I never groveled, I also did not hesitate to agree with them when they said our pack had not been the best of friends with anyone for a while.

I didn’t have to say it was because the alpha had been an asshole. A pack not only took its tone from its alpha, it always had the option to replace them if they didn’t do a good job. All it required was someone to challenge them and win. Which sounded easier than it in fact was because the one they sought to replace had won his seat in battle and generally was pretty strong.

The wolf-to-wolf fight had caught me off guard for a second because most challenges I’d ever heard of at least began in two-legged form. And many modern challenges were anything but to the death. Nobody had to tell me this one would be. Every move the old alpha made was an attempt to kill us. Leaving me no option but to end it as I had.

I’d expected to be more freaked out by having done that, but the second he left his body, the gloom over the entire packlands lifted. What kind of evil had he held? Of course, that didn’t mean I was fine about it or that all went right into the land of perfection, but after a lot of hard work…it was better. It hadnever been my plan, but it was a burden I shouldered out of love for my people.

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