Chapter 37
Rubbing my shoulder, I stared at the plans on the hood of one of the crew’s trucks. We were currently debating how far we wanted to push back the house from the street. There was a minimum amount of feet, but the lot was pretty long. Pushing it back meant more of a front lawn.
“Yeah, but we have to move the existing pipes.”
“We already cut the pipes shorter because of the damage. Extending them was a must. This just means we would need to extend them more.”
Rubbing my eyes and then pinching the bridge of my nose, I had to listen to the contractor and the plumber argue about where everything went for the past hour. This was the first house we were finally setting into motion to build. It took weeks to get everything cleared. I also worked with every single family whose house was destroyed. We either went with the original plans or made some alterations.
If alterations were done, I had the family cover the costs of the alterations while the pack covered the rebuilding itself. The whole rebuild was going to be so expensive, but it had to be done. We also worked with the state and got some emergency funding from them as well. We mostly used that funding to restore power and water as quickly as possible. The rest we poured into clean up and rebuilding.
“Let’s move it back.” I finally chimed in.
The two men stopped arguing and looked at me.
“As Freddy said, we have to extend the lines, anyway. We have the room. I don’t want to go too far back, but I think if we set up every single house to be a little further back, we can give ourselves some breathing room.”
“How far?”
I hummed, looking at the plot itself and then the house plans. “I think…maybe three or four yards?”
“I think four would be easier, honestly. The cut off, especially for this one, is at an even number. Four yards makes it a nice twelve foot even distance.”
“Then let’s do that.” I made a note on the scrap paper sitting in the corner of the plans. “Every house we will have it set to this distance from the street. We extend what we need to for it to get fixed. If it’s extra, it’s extra. I don’t want to run into an issue if someone decides to extend out their porch or wants to make a deck later on.”
They both nodded and barked at their guys. Everyone moved, and I leaned heavily against my cane. Our head contractor, Freddy, smiled at me.
“Why don’t you go get some rest? You’ve been out here more than I am and that’s saying something.”
I chuckled. “Maybe. I still have things I need to do. I didn’t expect to be the decision maker for this today.”
“You doing okay?” He looked down at my legs. “Everything working out?”
“For the most part. I get a little weak by the end of the day, but I muscle through it.”
Freddy frowned, but nodded. “We should be good now. I don’t think there is much else we need you for right now. Today, we will get everything marked out and work through what we need to adjust for the original foundation.”
“Perfect. Thank you. I’ll have my phone on me if you need me.”
Nodding, I backed up onto the sidewalk and headed back towards the center of town. I’d been doing my best to walk as much as I could. If I could walk where I needed to, then I would. The only issue was that I wasn’t sleeping well these past few nights. It was making my already overworked body that much weaker.
“Beta!”
I smiled and waved at Ida. She was jogging towards me and I narrowed my eyes. Her group was supposed to be handling the last bit of cleanup for the pack house. So she shouldn’t have been over here.
“There’s an issue at the cafe. Someone is trying to start a fight.”
“What? Who?”
Ida shook her head. “I don’t know who it is. That’s the problem.”
We headed a little quicker back into town, and I could hear this issue before I could see it. The cafe was off the main road on the other side of the street. It was close to the park, and it had the best coffee outside of the coffee I made.
Ida opened the door for me and I stepped in. To my surprise, I found Mer stepping into whatever was going on. She was helping around the area with donations and getting families what they needed when they lost their homes and everything in it. On top of that, she was keeping tabs on all of us leadership because she knew we would fall apart without her.
“What is going on here?” My voice boomed through the small cafe and everyone stopped, turning to me.
“Beta.” Mer sighed in relief. “This gentleman was trying to start a fight with Janice over him, not liking how long it was taking her to serve him.”
My eyebrow rose as I looked at the guy, who was fuming at the counter. He was definitely human. Shorter than I was, he was portly and his hairline had receded back to nearly his neck. Stepping forward, his eyes glanced down at my cane and he grimaced.
“This child was trying to make me wait. I ordered my coffee and I expect it on time. If this is how you all are going to treat humans in your territory, then you are going to be in for a hard time.”
Eyes narrowing, I stopped and leaned against my cane with both hands. “I’m sorry, sir. What number of order were you?”
“What? What does that matter?”
I smiled, my eyes crinkling shut. “If your order was number five, you would have been served fifth. Human or not. Unless you think we should give humans priority over everyone else. Because then it would actually be the opposite issue, as you just stated.”
“Why you little…”
“I suggest you stop right there.” My smiled dropped. “I am Beta Nathaniel Rivers. You might be at the behest of our Alpha, however, since you know of our kind, then you accept how leadership works here as well.”
He snorted. “You? Beta? You’re a cripple. No one would listen to you.”
“Everyone. Out. Now.”
My command rippled through the cafe, and everyone moved immediately. No one said a word and everyone, including Janice and Felicity, who were working behind the bar, left out the front door. Whoever this asshole was, he seemed to realize he messed up as soon as the door shut behind the last person.
“You see, Mr…”
“Stevenson.”
I nodded. “Mr. Stevenson…my pack listens to me. I am not usually the one to lose my temper. I leave that to our Alpha.”
Stepping up to him, my cane echoed in the now empty cafe. “But you see, I like to make sure our pack members are happy. I make sure that everyone knows the rules and abides by them.” I was within two feet of his protruding belly before I stopped. “I do not tolerate fights. I do not tolerate other people berating one another. You know very well that there were people in front of you. Even if there wasn’t and you ordered something more complicated, I suggest you have some patience. While that ability seems to have escaped humans, we wolves still practice it.”
He opened his mouth, but I put the end of my cane on his shoe. His eyes widened, and he tried to pull his foot out, but I leaned against it. Smiling as he squeaked, his shoes being too nice to hold any kind of support.
“You see, when you are here visiting, you are to abide by our laws. If you create a commotion, you don’t talk to Alpha Silas. You talk to me. Because that is my job.” I leaned a bit more on my cane. “So, next time I see you, Mr. Stevenson, I want you to be so exemplary that I’ll even forget you’re a human. Is that understood?”
I could see the argument in his face before I leaned most of my weight on the cane now. Since I’d been on my own, I’d been making my own meals. It helped to have some healthier recipes, and I was gaining weight back while working on also building back up the muscle. The top of his shoe caved in and he held back a cry.
“Yes. I understand.”
Nodding, I smiled and lifted my cane off his shoe. “Perfect. I hope you enjoy the rest of your stay, Mr. Stevenson. I’m sure you understand how big of a deal it is to be a human on a werewolf territory. Especially one that isn’t related to the pack. The other one is actually the chief of police from Jackson. So, maybe we can set you up with a dinner with him.”
Mr. Stevenson paled for a moment. “No. I-I only came f-for helping…Mr. Penn.”
“Alpha Silas.”
He quickly nodded. “Yes, yes. Alpha Silas. Excuse me.”
I motioned forward to Janice and Felicity, who quietly stepped back in. “Yes, Beta?”
“If you don’t mind, can you make Mr. Stevenson his coffee so he can be on his way? He promises to be a good boy from now on.”
The two of them held back their chuckles, but Janice answered me. “I can do that.”
As the two rounded the cafe bar and I asked the two of them. “What number was he?”
“Fourth, Beta. We were just finishing up the second drink when he got upset that he hadn’t served him his drink yet. He said that as a guest, we should serve him first.” Janice didn’t keep the disdain out of her tone.
Slamming my hand on the human’s shoulder, he winced as I squeezed it maybe a little too tight. “Well, we want to make sure we treat everyone that comes in with the same courtesy. As Alpha has advised the pack, we may start to have more humans visit and so we want to make sure we are doing our best to be accommodating, but that doesn’t mean we treat them any different from a wolf. Isn’t that right?”
Mr. Stevenson was buckling under the pressure from my hand. “Yes, yes. That would be…silly. Of course. We want to treat everyone equally. Thank you, ladies. For making my coffee.”
Winking at the girls, I let go of his shoulder. “If there is anything else you girls need, reach out, aright?”
“Did you want a coffee, Beta?”
I shook my head. “I’m doing my best to pull back on the caffeine. Thank you though.”
Both of them waved as I turned and left the absolutely shaken human and my two pack members in the cafe. Outside, I held the door open for anyone who wanted to go back in. Mer smirked at me and gave me a fist bump.
“That was lovely, Beta.” Ida chuckled. “I think you put the fear of the Moon Goddess in him.”
“Let’s hope so. Preferential treatment for humans. As though we are the lesser ones.” I snorted. “Also, aren’t you supposed to be at the pack house?”
She turned red. “I…y-yes. But the guys…wanted coffee…and I…”
Laughing, I patted her on the back. “It’s fine. Charge it to my card on file. They are helping clear out the pack house. It’s the least I can do.”
“But you are paying us!”
I shrugged as I walked down the sidewalk. “Enjoy, Ida.”