ROSE

Upon entering the large skyscraper that is owned by Evans Enterprises, the receptionist, Lori, looks up to give me her usual smile and a wave but does a double take at my new coat color. Her face crinkles into a weird frown. I just smile politely back as I head to the stairs to descend to the basement, where my workday starts. I remove my coat and extra shirt layers and hang them in my locker, but leave my gloves, scarf, and hat on. I’m still feeling cold and those are black, so they aren’t against dress code. I know I’ll warm up soon enough.

I head into the mailroom where my mail cart is waiting. Rolando, my supervisor, works the early mornings to sort the mail into our carts, and they are always loaded and perfect upon arrival. Because so many things are sent electronically these days, there isn’t much need for mail clerks anymore, so there are only 2 of us for the entire skyscraper and only Rolando in the mailroom for sorting. The three of us, Me, Rolando, and Monica are a tight-knit little family, always looking out for each other.

“Good morning, Mi bonita!” Rolando hollers out from his office.

“Morning Rolando,” I reply back as chipperly as I can muster.

“Uno momento, Rosie,” Rolando makes his way to me and hands me two granola style protein bars. I look at him confused. “Donna looka me like that seniorita. I know you no eat. You too skinny. How long been since you eat meal?” he asks me in his slightly broken English/Spanish combo.

I roll my eyes, “Rolando,” I begin with a sigh, but he cuts me off.

“NO! La esposa chase me with shoe if you no eat. Eat or I chase you with shoe!” I laugh at his exasperated face. The Hispanic cultural norm of a mom chasing their kids with a flip flop when she’s angry is some of the funniest shit I’ve ever heard, but I guess it’s scary because even Rolando cowers at the thought of Maria chasing him with her flip flop. Honestly, I’d love to see it!

“Okay, okay,” I concede, “I’ll eat the bars.”

“Bueno! Then you come back and eat lunch with me. Maria pack extra for you y Monica. No argumento.”

Mondays and Fridays are always the same, Rolando’s wife Maria packs extra food for me and Monica. Somehow, they know I don’t eat on the weekends, giving everything I have to Maddie. So, they fill me up on Fridays and refill me on Mondays. Sometimes that is all I eat for the whole week. It is such a sweet gesture and I know they care so much for me and Maddie. The coat Maddie has, was given to us by Maria, one of their grandkids had outgrown it and they knew she needed a new one. Sometimes it takes a village.

I kiss Rolando on the cheek and just nod. I grab my cart and head for the service elevator just as Monica arrives in the basement. We wave hi at each other and continue onto our own routes.

The Evans Enterprises building, or The Tower, as everyone calls it, is quite large. 62 stories, most of those are occupied by Evans Enterprise employees or one of their numerous subsidiaries. There is a hotel on the first 15 floors and then there are a few medical and legal offices on the 16-19th floors that aren’t associated with Evans Enterprises, but for the most part the entire building is theirs. Monica delivers the mail for floors 1 through 30. I have 31 through 62.

Delivering mail is not a hard job. I don’t have the education for much. I am quite smart, but no formal education makes it hard to get a decent job. My job is quite monotonous, and it gives me free time to think. Too much time, actually. I wish I had enough money for a phone and cordless headphones because it would be nice to fill some of this time with audio books.

Maddie and I visit the public library every single Saturday morning. We check out the maximum number of books that we’re allowed, and we finish most of them before the next visit. We are both speed readers and enjoy learning as much as we can on almost any subject. But I can’t read on the job, so despite the library having free books on audio, most of my day is spent in silence.

I always start my deliveries with the CEO’s office on the 62nd floor, Tyson Evans. He wants to have his delivery first thing. That way he starts his day off with all the information he needs right at his fingertips. Afterward, I go down to the floors with the individual CFOs and COOs for Evans Enterprises subsidiaries. They get the same treatment as Mr. Evans, priority delivery first thing. There are over two dozen of them. Then I make my way back up to the top floor and work my way down the floors to deliver to everyone else.

As I make my way toward the enormous double mahogany doors on the 62nd floor that lead into Mr. Evans’ office, I see his current assistant, Rachel posted up at her desk. She is such a bitch. Tall with bright red hair and nasty hazel eyes that always sneer at me, like I’m something to look down upon. She guards his office like a fucking hawk when she is here early. I deliver all CEO, CFO and COO mail directly to their respective desks and she knows this. I have permission to enter directly from Mr. Evans, despite having never met the man; those are his only standing orders for me. But she still interrogates me on it when she happens to be at work early. I have noticed she has started making it a point to arrive earlier and earlier this last week. I have no idea why either.

“Stop right there, freak,” Rachel spits at me as I try to ignore her and open Mr. Evans’ office door.

“Rachel, we go through this every morning. You know I have permission to enter and put Mr. Evans’ mail on his desk. You know he wants to sort and open it himself. And why do you insist on calling me that name? It is quite rude and unprofessional.”

“What else would I call you? That scar on your face makes you look like a freak. Besides, you’re a nobody. It’s not like I need to be professional to you, you aren’t a professional. You’re just a mail clerk, the office equivalent of the shit I stepped in on my way into work.” She replies with her nose in the air.

I just sigh and step around her without answering back. It isn’t worth my time to explain to her how I got my scar or try to defend myself more. Bullies like her exist everywhere in life, I just do my best to ignore her.

I open the doors to the office, and I deeply inhale as I slowly walk to Mr. Evans’ desk. The whole room smells like coffee and dark chocolate, two of my favorite scents. This is my favorite part of the day, walking in here and smelling his office. When Rachel isn’t here, I linger for a little while, just trying to breathe in enough of this heavenly smell to calm me and help get me through my long day.

I’ve only ever seen Mr. Evans from afar, walking across The Tower courtyard. He is the epitome of sex on a stick, if that was something I actively thought about. He is tall and broad shouldered, with long black hair that is shaved short on the sides. He keeps it neat and pulled into a sleek ponytail or man-bun. He keeps his full beard trimmed short and neat. Even from across the building courtyard, I could see his bright cobalt blue eyes shining out from under his full black eyebrows. He exudes confidence and sex appeal, only the second man I have ever been attracted to.

When I turn around after setting the mail on Mr. Evans’ desk, Rachel is standing at the door, glaring at me. I don’t think much of it since that is all she does when we are near each other, glare. I’ve never even seen another expression on her face. But when I get closer, she steps inside the office and closes the door, shutting me in with her. She grabs my face with her right hand and angles my face up to meet her eyes. I know my eyes go wide, not in fear, but shock that she would touch me, let alone so aggressively.

“He is mine, bitch! Don’t even think about it,” she threatens then literally spits on my face.

“What the hell?! Let go, Rachel! I don’t care who is yours or who you think you belong to; I just want to do my job in peace. LET ME GO AND MOVE OUT OF MY WAY!” She might be bigger and taller than me, but I know how to defend myself. Thanks to the homeless thief from last year, I took some free self-defense classes the city police were offering at the local YMCA. My police instructors were rather impressed with my abilities and quick learning.

Rachel is startled by my yelling, not expecting me to be offended by her assault. I wipe the spit off my face as I move around her easily, thankful I didn’t have to use any defensive maneuvers with her. I’ll need to be more careful when I am alone with her. She’s becoming much more hostile toward me. I’ll also need to mention this incident to Rolando and file a complaint with HR. I don’t care who’s assistant she is or how insignificant my job is. No one will treat me like that or make me fear for my safety while at work.

I emerge from Mr. Evans’ office and quickly head to the service elevator with my cart, not turning back around. I try to ignore the glaring eyes I can feel following me, but the hairs on the back of my neck stay standing at attention.

The Alpha's Rose -

TYSON POV

I look up from my cell phone as I step out of the elevator on to my floor of The Tower. From the corner of my eye, I see the back foot of someone stepping into the service elevator and disappearing from view. Probably the mail clerk going about their day. Excellent. That means the mail has been delivered to my desk already. I have time to review the finalized contracts for the smaller security company I am buying out. I’ve asked Rachel to arrive early for the last week so we can get this nailed down and over with.

As I walk through the open concept office space to my doors, I stop in my tracks as I deeply inhale the scent I’ve come to love this last week during my early mornings, honeysuckle and roses. Zeus, my wolf, has been much more active and agitated this week than normal. When I get a whiff, he starts going crazy and running in my head.

“Dude, what’s up with you lately?” I ask in annoyance.

“That scent. It gets stronger and more desirable for me each time we smell it. I think it might be our mate. But I won’t know for sure until I see her,” he responds.

“I wish. We’ve looked everywhere for her. Don’t you remember me checking all employees a few years back? I also meet all new female employees in person to be sure too.” I stop walking again as something dawns on me, “Oh shit! What if our mate is male? I haven’t checked any of them, anywhere, at all!”

“Calm your tits, Ty. We aren’t gay. If we were interested at all, I would have had you checking them too.” Zeus reassures me, but with an eyeroll.

“I know I’m not interested, but that doesn’t mean the Goddess wouldn’t give me a male mate. I’d never reject my mate, I just… dunno, never thought about checking the males out. Was that short sighted of me?”

“No, like I said, you aren’t gay. I’m not gay. Being gay is fine, look at Thomas. We accept him and his mate, Adam. So does most everyone else, but we haven’t looked because that’s not for us. Now focus. Follow that scent because SHE is the one for us, I’m almost positive.”

I do as Zeus demands and follow the scent. It leads to my open office door; I’m almost pleased until I see Rachel going through the mail on my desk. I’m angry now.

“Rachel! I have told you repeatedly to not go through the mail on my desk.” I growl out at her. Once I enter my office the honeysuckle and roses smell is gone, drowned out by Rachel’s overwhelming scent of chemicals from her nasty perfume, makeup, and hair products. I can’t even smell Rachel’s natural scent over all the fake she has on. It’s frustrating as all hell because that is all I can smell now.

“Sorry, Tyson. I was just checking that the mail freak did her job correctly.” Rachel responds with a tilt of her head in a show of submission, but I caught that gleam in her eye. I made the mistake of fucking her, once, years ago, and it has given her an overly inflated sense of self-worth when it comes to me. She thinks I will choose her as my mate and Luna. She is quite wrong.

“Rachel, I will not remind you again after today, you WILL refer to me as Mr. Evans when in the office and Alpha when among the pack. If you even think of disrespecting me again by not using the proper title, you will be removed as my assistant. Am I clear?” Rachel just nods in response. “Now, go to your desk and do your work. Tomorrow, you will not wear that perfume and you will use less makeup and hair products. Your entire body smells of chemicals and now, so does my office.” Rachel’s face turns scarlet as she quickly shuffles out of my office, closing the door behind her.

“Fire her, I don’t like her,” Zeus grumbles in my head.

“You’ve never liked her, Zeus.”

“I’ve never trusted her. She’s trouble. Besides, she sucks at her job,” he says simply in reply as he goes to sulk in the back of my mind. I just roll my eyes and get to work for the day.

The Alpha's Rose -

ROSE

I am beyond angry at what Rachel just did to me. Instead of heading to the CFO and COO offices on the other floors, I return to the basement to see Rolando to give him my official complaint for HR. As I exit the elevator, I can hear Rolando and Monica talking. As I get closer, I realize it is about me. Crap.

“Rolando, I wasn’t trying to snoop. It was on the locker room floor. I picked it up just to see what it was. Honest. How will she afford this? Maddie needs the school, but Rose is killing herself already to pay the tuition. What do we do?”

“You’ll do nothing,” I answer her question as I enter the room and take the tuition notice from her. Both sets of eyes snap over to me and widen in surprise at getting caught. “I’ll figure something out, I always do. It isn’t for you to worry about.”

“But…”

“No buts, Monica. I have someone helping me look into scholarships and other assistance. Everything will work itself out, you’ll see,” I say with a halfhearted smile.

“Mi bonita, we raise money, si?” Rolando says with a nod. I just sigh.

“I’ll think about it, okay?” I relent, simply because I just don’t have the energy to fight them. They love me and I love them, but this isn’t their concern.

Monica crosses her arms, and she gets that stubborn look in her eye that I am all too familiar with, “We aren’t letting this go, Rose. We will brainstorm and figure it out. You’re not alone, why do you always act like you are?”

“As much as I care for you both, you need to realize that I am alone. I’ve always been alone. Monica, you have your own school to deal with and pay for. Rolando, you have Maria and her health issues, plus all the grandkids. I am not either of yours’ responsibilities, neither is Maddie. So please, I beg you, don’t fight with me on this. Now, Rolando, I need to speak with you about an incident and place a complaint with HR please.” I say, trying to end this embarrassing conversation. I hate not being able to provide everything Maddie and I need.

Rolando moves back to his computer and opens up his HR link. I turn to Monica, “I appreciate the concern, Mon, I really do. Maddie and I are lucky you all care for us like you do. But I’ll handle it. You need to get to your route before you have your own HR complaint about laziness.” Monica just rolls her eyes at me and leaves.

I place my complaint and go into details about the incident with Rachel. Rolando is concerned about this coming back to bite me in the ass, but I don’t care. No one will make me feel unsafe at work. I’m totally screwed if it costs me my job, but staying quiet is how more bad things happen to good people. We have to let those in charge know when power is being abused, so changes can be made. Even if I’m not taken seriously, the next person might be because I started the ball rolling.

I finish up my route with no other issues. My mind is reeling though. The conflict with Rachel floating to the back of my mind, it is less important than the tuition problem. How will I afford this? I think about it all through the day and I have come up with zero solutions other than stripping and prostitution, both of which, are completely out of the question. I sigh as I change into my uniform for my second job and don my winter wear at the end of my shift. I head out to pick up Maddie from school, still chewing on the problem at hand, but with complete awareness of my surroundings.

Maddie is a bundle of bouncing energy when she emerges from the school building, like she always is after her day. She adores school. She had a pop quiz in Algebra that she aced, of course. She gave her presentation in English and the teacher loved it. Her fellow students apparently calling her a kiss-up, but she doesn’t care. She loves the praises from her teachers and seeing those big red As at the top of her papers.

I know the situation could change at any moment regarding her classmates though, so I listen intently, making mental notes on any kids she mentions and file them away for later. We walk hand in hand to Patty’s Diner where I wait tables until 9pm during the week, 10pm on weekends. We come through the doors and Patty, the owner, just beams down at Maddie.

“There’s my little genius Mad Hatter! Come give Patty Melt a big hug!” Patty has a thing with nicknames which I find adorable. Plus, she always finds a way to comment on Maddie’s brilliance and sweet personality versus beauty and that pleases me so much. Beauty fades, but a sharp mind and kind nature stays with us forever.

Maddie runs around the counter and engulfs Patty in a monster hug as I make my way to the back to put my things away and get my apron, waving hi at Stanley who’s manning the grill. I see Maddie settling into her little 2-person booth as she pulls out her homework and Patty sets chocolate milk and a fruit yogurt parfait in front of her as her snack. Maddie is chatting excitedly to Patty, telling her all about her good day and it makes me smile. I have to keep her in that school. She doesn’t have many friends, but the education she is receiving is top tier. Public school can’t come close to giving her what she needs.

I roll my shoulders back, pull out my notepad and greet my first table of customers for the night.

The Alpha's Rose -