1 called downstairs. "Jora?"


    "Hey Amy, what can I do for you?"


    "We need to go to the superstore off campus."


    There was a pause. "For..."


    "I need to get supplies I thought I had for="


    "Dinner." Wendy interrupted me and I smiled, giving her a thumbs up.


    "Your cooking dinner now? It''s nearly eleven."


    "Jora, we are wolves. Sometimes you just have to eat a full chicken roasted with fresh herbs." Hisugh let me know I had him..


    "Fine. But next time, I''m expecting some of the chicken." There was some rustling. "Meet me down at the van. We will have to make this quick." I nodded like she- would see it.


    "Of course." I hung up, and we ran out the door. "That was surprisingly easy." Toya and Wendy both snorted." What?"


    "They love you here." Toya looked at me from the corner of her eye.


    "Not only do you treat them with the respect they deserve. You are an Alpha who isn''t in their pack and still treats them with the status and respect they deserve." Wendy pointed at me with her finger.


    "And you genuinely care about them. You ask about their families, their pups. You get them gifts."


    I turned to face them. "So do you guys." But the two girls shook their heads.


    "Honestly, it wouldn''t have urred to me." Toya lifted her shoulder. "I would have been respectful. But I wouldn''t have gotten to know them."


    Wendy nodded. "I honestly would have just given them polite smiles. They are way above me in rank and my momma always told me to be silently supportive. Be nice, and unobtrusive." The elevator opened onto the basement parking garage and Jora was waiting.


    He smiled, his orange red hair was shaggy in this weird growing stage, and I nearlyughed. His green eyes were bright and his freckles stood proudly on his pale skin. "Come on,dies." He called as he slid into the driver''s seat as we walked over.


    I opened the passenger door, and the girls slid into the back "You are reallymitting to the long hair, eh?"


    He threw back his head andughed. "When you say it like that, Aim, you make it seem like I don''t look devilishly handsome like my mate tells me."


    I cracked a smile as I waved my hands around his head. "It''s in this weird in between stage that looks-"


    "Horrible." Toya giggled and Jora pped a hand to his chest.


    "You wound me, Toya." He turned in his seat. "I''ll have you know I can just make


    the tiniest of ponytails." All of us lost it. He scowled as he turned back. "What can I say? My mate asked for long hair. I''ll grow the long hair."


    I nodded. "As any good mate would."


    "It works for the king" Toya pointed out and I felt my stomach flutter.


    Jora pulled out of the garage and he headed toward the store. "ir told me he had to silence his phone for the time being."


    "Who?" Wendy leaned in.


    "Rowan, the king, apparently he has email after emailing in nonstop all day. And normally, while he would usually be more and more agitated with each passing notification, this time his smile got bigger and bigger." Jora turned to me. "Know anything about that?"


    "Whose ir?" She asked again, and everyone else turned to look at her.


    "The elite personal warrior to the king?" Jora dropped his head. 1


    "The most badass woman in the history of women." Toya grabbed her shoulder. "Wendy, you have to have heard of ir."


    She just shook her head. "She is the best female warrior there is."


    Toya turned to me. "I think you might actually give her a run for her money." I scoffed, but she shook her head. "We know you hold back during training,"


    "Well, I''m stronger than you guys." I turned back and shook my head. "Anyway, the emails made him happy?"


    Jora howled. "Very much so. The council was all confused, asking why he was receiving so many emails so quickly. But then they got a call from someone and the council mood shifted."


    "Shifted how?" Toya leaned between the seats.


    The smirk on Jora''s face said it all. "Every email that came, Rowan would smile and then would frown. By the end of the meeting, they were asking the king to give them ess to his personal email so that they could handle them.”


    I rubbed my forehead. "Please tell me he said no."


    Jora shook his head. "He told them to go fuck themselves. That this was his personal email and they wouldn''t get ess to it ever." I felt the knot in my stomach loosen.


    "Good."


    "They tried to argue. Said they had the right to see all applications. But the king just told them they were getting half of the applications and already have to deal with those. The ones emailed to him. He would handle himself. That way, he was a part of the process.''