Page 26 of Lightning Strikes

Chapter 10

Angela

__________

With my car out of commission, I’m borrowing Ella’s old Suburban to take into town to have a lunch meeting with Cassie and Melissa… Cassie is finally coming back to work next week, albeit still several weeks before her maternity leave is up, and I want them to take over the clinic.

Either that or I sell it, and I’m not sure if I could actually do that. I make decent money owning the entire building and leasing out to the other businesses on either side of the clinic. I built the extension for the hospital when I bought the building and decided to leave the other two suites empty to make money if the clinic didn’t do well.

It did. They’re all doing well and I have enough in savings for a new life. I just hope that Cassie and Melissa agree to my plan and don’t ask for too much information.

I pull up to the small Italian restaurant a few streets down from the clinic and step out into the crisp, fresh air, sighing as I rub my stomach. I still want to be angry and kill Adam and Carolina… But it’ll only feel good for five minutes until the guilt kicks in. Plus, killing the alpha probably won’t win me any points for any prospective packs we’re looking into.

Priorities.

“Angela!” I hear Melissa’s voice calling to me from the front door and I wave at her as I continue walking up the concrete steps.

“Hey, is Cassie already here?”

She nods and her red hair is flying around in the wind. “She is! She brought her son with her so… Maybe we should order a few bottles of wine.” She winks at me as I chuckle and shake my head. I follow her through the dark interior and watch the candlelight flickering shadows against the dark walls. At least I’m not nauseous or sick like humans get while pregnant. Apparently shifters only have mood swings and want to murder people.

Mel leads us to a booth in the back corner and I smile at Cassie and her newborn son cooing from her arms. “Holy shit, he’s getting so big!” I lean down and hug her before sitting across from her, scooting over for our resident lush to relax beside me. She’s not one for babies… Well, not human babies.

Cassie chuckles and stares down at her babe with hearts in her eyes. “He’s such a calm baby. We’ve been so lucky.” I smile at her as I look her over. It’s been a few months since I’ve seen her. Her brown hair is as sleek and shining as it always has been, pulled up into a bun with thin tendrils framing her oval face. Her light blue eyes are twinkling with calm, unbridled love for her son, and she’s wearing a tight pink blouse over gray slacks. As polished as always.

“Well, let’s order some food and drinks and talk about a proposition.” I wink at the girls then focus on perusing the thick menu. I’m craving a steak but will settle for some classic spaghetti and meatballs with… fuck. Can’t have wine. Ice water it is. We place our orders and I take a few sips of my water, ignoring the scowl and glare from Melissa as she pours her second glass of wine.

“Spill, boss. What’s going on?” I glance over at Melissa and chuckle as she tries to finger comb her unruly mass of red curls from her thin face. She’s wearing her hot pink scrubs and tapping her foot along the tiled floors under our feet.

“Too much. I’m leaving Prescott soon…” I blow out a breath and close my eyes before blinking them open, staring up at the dark ceiling. “I’m pregnant and want to get away for a while. I trust you ladies with my life and wanted to offer you management positions.” I look at Cassie and smile at her. “I want you to manage the vets. Hire whomever you need or want, change whatever you’d like. I’ll still be the owner, but more of a silent partner. I still lease out the lawyer and phone provider on either side of the clinic, so I’m not too worried about cash if you want to hire a full-time emergency vet and more help in the office.”

Melissa clears her throat and frowns at me. “You don’t want to stay here and raise your baby? I thought you loved it here.”

I sigh internally and chew on my lip. “I did love it here, until my parents disappeared. You were both here for me, covered for me, and helped me through it. There are just too many memories and I want to make new ones instead of staring at the ghosts of what could have been.” I blink the tears from my eyes. “Well, and you, Mel… I want you to manage the vet techs and work with Cassie. Hire an accountant or a business manager if you’d like. I trust you both. I want you both to have raises and if you don’t want to be a tech anymore and just oversee the techs and sit at the receptionist desk… Or use the office for your hacking hub, I’m okay with that.” I wink at my red-headed friend and she smirks at me.

“When will you be leaving?” Cassie whispers over her sleeping son’s head and I shrug.

“Not sure. Probably within the month.”

Melissa starts up a conversation with Cassie about the changes she would love to make… Advertising around the city, placing new hire ads as soon as possible, and offering more services. She’s always wanted to add grooming for more income and now is her time to shine.

I leave the restaurant in a daze. Sad that I’ll be leaving this life behind, but also happy that my business and friends will thrive.

I stop by the grocery store on my way back to Mac’s cabin and make sure to pick up Ella and Tom’s favorite treats. They offered to watch both Max and Scout for a few hours while I ran my errands, and it’s not like they have anything better to do. Another pro on the pro/con list to get the hell out of Dodge. I drive through the dense forest trails leading to the cabins and sigh as I park.

Adam is sitting on Mac’s porch with his head in his hands. He’s leaning up against the front door, looking as disheveled as ever. I hop out of the Suburban with a scowl and cross my arms over my chest as I stomp up to him. “What now,alpha?Sending your little bitch to come destroy some more property?”

He sighs and looks up at me with deep, dark purple bags under his gray eyes. He runs his fingers through his limp, black hair. He shakes his head and leans his head against the door. “No. She’s gone. I called up her family and they chartered her a flight for early this morning. They’re paying for her damages and wired me the money. Do you want it, or would you like me to pay for the damages and contract it out?”

I purse my lips and lean back against the wooden railing as I mull it over. “I’ll take the money. I’ll make sure to get the quotes to see how much the damages are. I know for a fact that just the furniture is costing me about five grand, since it’s all new. I just fucking bought it over the last few months. All of my clothes, toiletries, appliances, and windows… The scratches in the hardwood floors and holes in the walls are probably going to cost another ten. My car is another story… It was new and my insurance isn’t going to pay out for this shit.”

He nods, stands up and stays several feet away from me. Smart man. “They wired me one hundred thousand along with an apology and desperate confusion… They were told that I asked for Carolina to stay since apparently we were in love and I wanted to mate. Little did they know that she trapped me with a pregnancy and tormented our pack for months.”

I cock a brow at him and send him a deadpan stare. “Mhm. Sorry your little mistress ended up being a psycho, but that’s your own fault. Should have been a better man, a better alpha for our pack. You knew everything she was doing here, and you’re damn lucky she’s pregnant or I would have killed her, Adam. That’s not a threat, it’s a fucking promise. I’m sick of your shit. You’re a sad little man that warms his bed with new women to forget about the life that you’ve beenhanded.And you disgust me. I loved you as a friend, a lover, and a hopeful mate for more than half of my life. You were strong, confident, and a promising alpha. Now? Now you’re the laughingstock. Now, I can’t fucking wait to get the hell out of here. You just sent the mother of your child away and who the fuck knows how many other pups you have out there in the world?”

He nods as he presses his lips together and stares at the ground. He’s so pathetic, so sullen, and I wish I had it in me to care. He was an enigma. An alpha heir that actually didn’t want the job. He loved his life, had dreams and aspirations… But pack members have been leaving our little town for decades. Shit when I arrived at fifteen, there were hundreds of shifters here.

The last straw for many of them was when Adam’s parents and sister left for a new pack. Everyone was shocked, disgusted, and enraged that they would just abandon us and leave an incompetent thirty-year-old party boy in charge.

---