He's an Alpha: She doesn't Care

CH 5

Wynta

Edward had even sent her and her team down to check out that building. They’d all been met there by Chester, the pack’s Gamma, or to her team, one of the founders of the company they worked for. She and her team had been walked onto every floor and allowed to look at the apartments.

Just showing them around so they could get a feel for the type of people that were going to rent the apartments out. Chester had told them they would likely all be executive-type people. Nothing here was more than two bedrooms, and the space was large. There was no real room for children.

Chester had been watching her as they’d walked around. He walked right next to her the entire time and, although he’d been professional in his talking to her and the team, telling them what they wanted. She wasn’t so dumb as to not know why she had been chosen to lead this little project.

He’d stood and leaned on a window in one of the penthouse's living areas and stated, “It’s a nice apartment, got a fantastic view, close to the office,” He’d even pointed it out in the distance, for her to see. She knew where it was, she had walked down here with her team, a casual 30-minute stroll where they’d all gotten coffee along the way.

“I think this particular penthouse apartment would be fit for a single woman like yourself, don’t you think? It’s got lots of closet space too.”

Wynta had nodded and smiled at him, rolled her eyes a little and commented, “I’m certain one of the managers would like it.” and then casually walked away from him. She wasn’t going to be swayed into moving into a pack-bought apartment. She understood it was Edwards way of getting her to likely take a baby step into being part of his pack.

She was not fooled by this; she’d heard Chester chuckle softly and murmur, “You’re one tough nut to crack.”

“No, I’m not. I like my simple life, is all. It’s uncomplicated and no one tells me what to do.” She’d smiled at him.

She’d looked at Chester after walking about that penthouse, “You may tell Edward, I have a place of my own, and I’m comfortable living there, have been now for five years. I have a good rapport with my landlord.” She’d tipped her coffee to him and left the apartment.

She still lived in her ground floor studio apartment, just five blocks away, and she saw no need to upgrade to something bigger and better just for status’s sake. She also didn’t need the extra room; that just meant more cleaning to her, and shelling out more dollars for rent, not something she wanted to do. That was completely unnecessary in her eyes.

Her landlord actually maintained the building she lived in. She’d gotten new carpet two years ago and the entire place had been painted as well. It looked really nice, her rent was always paid on time, and she caused no trouble for him at all, so she was considered a good tenant. Though the place had lots of people moving in and out of it, mostly students from the local university lived there, so she got new neighbors quite often.

Living in her studio apartment had allowed her to create a nice amount of savings for herself, that money sat in her bank account, for that inevitable rainy day, when it came; that would see her up and leave, move away to a new place for whatever reason.

It could be a bigger, better job or that she just wanted a change of scenery, but she was comfortable right now, and that was the only reason she’d not moved on. Well, that, and she liked annoying Alpha Edward with her constant refusal to step onto his pack territory and making him stick to their original handshake deal upon hiring her.

She placed that invitation back into the envelope and then the box and put it on a shelf behind her desk. She had noted that there was no plus one on there. So at least she wasn’t expected to bring a date. Though that also told her Edward knew she didn’t have a date to bring.

She sighed to herself at the thought of spending her hard-earned money, and although she had the money to spend, she didn’t want to spend it. She saw it as a complete waste of her savings. She had a dozen suits, all of which were acceptable to wear to functions and made her look professional and presentable. But now this having to buy a full formal dress, she wondered if she could sell it after wearing it just once, to get some of her money back? Buying a dress, she also knew she was going to have to buy some sort of heels to go with that dress as well.

Wynta sighed at that thought, she didn’t wear heels. Even here in the office, simple, comfortable business style, black walking shoes was all. She was not out to attract attention to herself, and that aloof demeanor she had, kept most men at bay. Not all, but most, and she turned those that did ask her for coffee of lunch down, with a polite but firm “I’m sorry, I’m not interested.” She was straight to the point with all of them, so there were no misunderstandings to be had.

Though she’d never once been hit on by a wolf within the company, only the humans, and she knew why. It was because she was of rogue status, and none of them knew how she’d become a rogue. She did smell like one to those that worked here. Several of the she-wolves didn’t like that a rogue worked within the company.

Went out of their way to make sure she knew it as well, though she just ignored their so-called off-handed insults at how she smelled. One of her team had actually frowned once and muttered, “What the hell is she talking about? There’s no stench in here.” Looking about and that she-wolf, Carlotti had looked right at her on purpose, and then wrinkled her nose for her team to see and then just walked off.

They’d all looked at her after she’d left, and she’d just shrugged it off. Carlotti, or Lotti to the wolves of the pack, was from what Wynta could tell the youngest stepdaughter of the pack’s Beta, she’d seen that she-wolf call him daddy at times. She knew Ernesto was mated, and that girl wasn’t, so it wasn’t a euphemism for something else. She’d also seen the Beta’s actual daughter roll her eyes at the girl’s behavior and try to pull her into line once.

“He’s not your actual father and doesn’t need to give you anything.” Had come out of Meredith when Ernesto had left, “If you want money, go and get a bloody job and earn it like the rest of us do.”

It had become a sibling dispute between one that worked hard, and one that apparently did nothing and thought she was entitled to everything.

She’d seen Carlotti leave in tears when Meredith had snapped at her in front of the office, “You’re just a stepchild, will inherit nothing are not father’s actual kin. Just a greedy spoiled girl and when my brother takes over, you’ll be out on your ass for this behavior. I’ll gladly back him up.”

She’d looked to the gathered crowd and muttered, “Sorry family dispute, back to work all of you.”

Meredith didn’t seem to care that she was a rogue, but several others did. Likely Meredith saw that Wynta did her actual job within the company and didn’t cause any trouble either, so she was not offended by having a rogue work here.

The weeks passed and there was suddenly talk of Jared Hayes, Edwards' oldest son, coming home from Europe for his brother's wedding. It was the talk of the office. She’d seen several pictures of him over the years in the company magazine, highlighting all the achievements he was making and the growth of the company with a new office in France.

He was apparently the company’s hottest Batchelor, and still unmarried at 42, she’d nearly laughed at that, if only they knew his real age. Wynta knew that all of Edwards' children had reinvented themselves over the years and that Jared was in fact 82 years old but barely looked a day older than 35. He had jet black hair and blue eyes, and was rumored to be six-four. But all his brothers were roughly that height as Edward was, so it didn’t really surprise her.

She’d never met the Alpha’s oldest heir. He rarely, if ever came home, and was busy it seemed off building his own empire. Though she’d seen all the others over the course of the years, Edward had walked them all through her department and stopped to introduce them all to her. She’d nodded and been polite in greeting them, then just turned back to her work.

They didn’t pay her anymore attention than she did them, she only interacted with them if there was a need for it. Which mostly there wasn’t. None of them were in marketing, so it limited her exposure to them. Though each one of them had seen how aloof she was and that she only kept things to work terms. She never just talked freely with any wolf here in the building.

Though she was good with her human team now, she could smile and chuckle at the things they did or the stories they told about something funny happening to them. She’d worked with them all for five years now, and only taken this promotion on the condition that her team went with her to the new floor. They worked like a well-oiled machine and she actually liked them.

The office she had now was on the floor above the one they’d all originally worked in, and she had a large office with a glass wall and door between her and their desk out there. Though she had an open-door policy, and they could, at any time, holler out to her or just stroll in and talk to her. That window would frost over at the touch of a button, they’d been here now for a year and not once had she used it. Saw no need to.

She looked at them now. They were all a buzz with the news that Edward was bringing Jared to walk through all the departments, to see if things needed improvement, the Monday after his brother’s wedding.