Birthday party

Vanessa’s pov,

“Goddammit! Why does that doctor have to tell me? I have no idea what to do with this information. If I tell Don, I will be the bad guy but if I say nothing, he will just get more frustrated and take it out on the pack.” I grunted to myself.

“Let’s keep it to ourselves for now. Maybe an opportunity will present itself where we can use it to our advantage,” Spirit reassured me.

I gritted my teeth and took out my phone when I heard a text coming in. “Hi Vanessa, this is Joan the owner of the town’s bar. Today is Duke his birthday and we are throwing him a surprise party. Would be great if you could come. Starts at 18.00. Hope to see you there.”

I felt surprised Duke did not mention it was his birthday. I would have congratulated him this morning if I knew. Maybe he was one of those people that hated birthdays?

I looked at my watch and decided I could still join the training after lunch. I was walking to my room when I noticed that the breeding wolves’ room door was slightly open. Someone must have accidentally left it open. I decided that it would be a good opportunity to go check on the She-Wolves. I quietly slid in and walked to their cells. I immediately noticed that they all looked worse than last time. It was obvious that rape was not the only thing that happened to them anymore. Most of them looked timid and the bruises were hard to miss. I walked to the last cell again hoping that Allie would at least not be broken yet. I felt sick in my stomach when I found her crying in a corner. This was not the same feisty little wolf I left last time. “Allie?” I asked softly.

She looked up with her eyes filled with tears, “You came back,” she whispered.

“Of course! I just had to find the right moment to sneak in.”

“I thought you forgot about us.”

I took her hand, “No Allie never. I promised I would get you all out of here. I am working on it but I need to work myself up higher in the pack first.”

Allie pulled her hand back and looked at me angrily, “There is no time for that! You can clearly see he is getting worse and if no one gets pregnant we will probably be dead soon. Wouldn’t surprise me if he is barren or something.”

I stared at her quietly and she narrowed her eyes and looked at me sharply, “He is barren, isn’t he?”

She started laughing, “Ow that is rich! We get blamed, raped, and beaten for an alpha that can’t reproduce.” She became quiet like she was thinking and then grabbed my shirt and pulled me to the door, “Alpha’s can’t be barren! You must tell everyone and challenge him to take his place!”

“I can’t Allie. The doctor will never tell the truth to the Alpha. He is too scared. I wouldn’t survive challenging the Alpha right now without the full support of the whole pack. You have to hold out a little longer! I will figure something out I promise.”

All hope faded from Allie’s eyes. “Then we are truly lost.” She let go of me and went back to her corner to cry, unresponsive to whatever I said after that. I sighed and left the room with a heavy heart. “What if she is right? Spirit?”

“You can’t help them if you are dead. It is not only the Alpha that is in the way but also Allesandro. He would do anything to sabotage you. You need the full pack behind you by the time we make our move.”

“I know but why does it feel like I am making the wrong decision? They are suffering.”

“It is not your fault they are suffering Vanessa. You are doing what you can. No one has climbed ranks so fast within a pack as you did. Don’t lose faith, we will get there.”

I knew Spirit was right but still had a hard time concentrating on training. I couldn’t stop seeing their broken-down spirits and bodies in my mind. The rest of the day passed in a blur and at 17.00 I checked my phone and realized I had completely forgotten about Duke his birthday. I quickly jumped into the shower and put on some clothes. Luckily Lianna went out the other day and bought me some clothes under the Alpha’s orders. So, I now had a whole wardrobe full of clothes which were more than I ever owned. I picked a long dress with sunflowers on it that had a split all up to my outer thigh. I combined it with white sandals, and I left my hair loose.

Luckily Don Lorenzo gave me access to a private chauffeur if I needed to go somewhere. Working myself up the ranks had its perks. I arrived at the town’s bar at exactly 18.00. A curvy woman with a kind face came to me as soon as I walked in, “You must be Vanessa! Good that you are here. Duke will be here in 15 minutes. We are all going to hide and jump out saying surprise! I tricked him with an excuse about a broken window I needed help with.”

I smiled and shook her hand, “You must be Joan. Nice to meet you.”

The whole cafe was full of people, it warmed my heart that he had so many people caring for him. Everybody hid and Joan turned off the lights. I saw Duke his truck drive onto the parking, and he immediately took out his gun when he saw the cafe was all black. He barged into the door looking manly as hell. Joan turned on the lights and we all jumped up, “SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DUKE.”

His face went from focused to utter shock and then he started laughing. He walked to Joan and hugged her, “You finally pulled it off to trick me!” She gave him a kiss on his cheek, “You deserve to be celebrated, Duke. You do so much for this town.”

Duke said hello to some other people before his eyes landed on me. He stood still for a moment and his face got a soft expression. He walked towards me with his eyes fixated on me. My heart was racing in my chest. Everyone went quiet to watch us, but I didn’t notice because I was just looking at Duke. He looked so handsome, and I never had someone look at me like he did. I felt like I was the only person in the room. “You came,” he said lovingly. He put his hand on my cheek and pulled me in for a kiss. His soft lips locked onto mine with so much passion that he left me blushing and breathless when he pulled away. Everyone around us was cheering but I just heard it vaguely in the background. Duke put his arms around my waist and lifted me in the air for a tight hug. “It really means a lot to me that you came Vanessa.”

“Of course, I came,” I said, and I kissed him again.

“It was pretty last minute though, so I did not have time to buy you a present.”

“That is okay. There is something you can do though that would make this birthday even better.”

“Ow? And what is it that I can do?”

Duke took my hands into his and looked at me intensely, “You could become my girlfriend?”