In the Alpha’s Arms

Bank Run

Lita angrily sat in a very stuffy bank office as she waited for her trust fund paperwork to be finalized. She'd

already initiated this porcess at another bank branch closer to her apartment a few days ago, but she didn’t

have much tbefore her mother would know she wasn’t on her way home. The sum left to transfer shouldn't

have been an issue. Thankfully, Lita had been transferring her assets slowly over the last month, worried that

large money moves would trigger snotification system and her parents would fond out.

Lita huffed, she should have been happy to be out from under their thumbs, and yet... She couldn't put her

Enger on exactly why she was so upset but It didn’t make it any less true. Brody sat in the chair next to her,

tapping away on his phone.

It still frustrated her how she ended up with a babysitter. Cole kept saying bodyguard but the real meaning was

clear, they did not trust her to be alone. Especially since Andres said no one know where Cole’s pack grounds

were, so it wasn’t like she'd be followed. Plus, who would know exactly

what bank she was going to and at what time? That was ridiculous, even for supernatural creatures.

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No, it was more likely they didn’t want her to run off. Or maybe they didn’t trust her with their secret. She rolled

her eyes. Cole thought she would run off and start telling people something insane? No one would believe her.

She didn’t even believe her own own eyes.

fter what happened in the bedroom, Cole was on Lita’s last nerve, and she was determined to steer clear of him

when she got hack.

After

When she realized she needed to iron out these banking details before her mother knew she wasn’t coming

home, Lita seized the opportunity to get away from him for a little while. She'd had to call in a favor with the

bank supervisor she worked with for her other transfers. The commission she promised would cover opening the

bank for her on a Sunday.

She had never noticed, but now assumed, that control over Lita’s life was her mother’s number one goal. Why

else was her money use monitored so beavily? Because if anyone had this much money to their name, they

didn’t need to ask permission to spend money at the mall.

Her mother just wanted to keep tabs on her. And it terrified spart of Lita to find out just how far that control

really ran. Where had things really gone wrong? Had it been like this when she was a kid? The more she tried to

think, the more she realized the remembered little her childhood at all.

Lita intended to continue the conversation about her family, and Brian too, when she got back to the house, but

her head was already swimming with details that didn’t quite make sense as it was. Perhaps she would be better

off leaving it for another day.

Lita just wanted to go back to the way things were on Wednesday. Before date night. Before Cole. Before all this

new information. How could she know how much her life would change? She desperately wanted out of her

situation and now she was, but at what cost? What did she owe Cole in exchange?

Because that’s the type of transactional love she was used to with Brian. Something given for something

received. Why the hell was she putting love and Cole in the ssentence any fucking way? That was the

bigger worry.

Of course when she’d mentioned needing to go to the bank, who was the first to demand she have an escort?

Cole. And who was hell-bent on being that escort? Cole. After several spirited refusals, she settled on Brody, the

least ego-driven of the bunch. He'd exposed her photograph, which say he was distrustful, something she could

understand. And he was standoffish with her but Lita figured that meants less talking.

Lita drummed her fingers on the desk as she waited for the manager to make copies of her signatures. Oddly

enough, after popping three p shouldn't have been capable of any jitters. But she found herself still an edge

without a straightforward explanation.

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“You're fidgety,” Brody sighed, “It's kind of annoying.”

She cut her eyes at him, but couldn't really find a reason to be upset. It was annoying her even more. She rolled

her eyes, “Sorry, | think Cole just puton edge.”

“Yea, Alpha does that. Though it’s not really the effect he usually has on women,” he laughed, shaking his head

at his phone. “He keeps textingto gee if you're okay, you know. It's interrupting my phone game. Maybe you

should exchange numbers?”

Lita scowled, “He’s an ass. I'm good.”

Brody's eyebrows shot up as he turned to stare at her, “He definitely pissed in your cereal this morning. | get it.

This is all a shock, but, I thought you'd be grateful?” He shifted in his seat, giving her a perplexed look

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Bank Run

*Grateful? For insultingand annoying me? No, I'm not, Lita stared him back down.

“Seriously? No, | meant grateful for rescuing you? He's going out on a limb to do that. You get that right? He

squinted at her, like he couldn't make sense of what was going on in her mind. Did he think she was selfish?

Self-centered?

“What do you mean?” Already, Lita’s big talk and bravado had taken a back sept. She'd somehow forgotten all

about what brought her to this specific set of circumstances. And in her defense, it had been a lot to absorb in

such a short amount of time. Wolves, manipulation, and lies seemed to be what they built her whole life around.

People didn’t just warms up to those thoughts in an hour.

“Con, what do you think?” he tucked his phone into his pocket, “An Alpha intervenes with another Alpha’s

property? Excuse the phrase... mate or not, and trashes his apartment. Basically kidnaps you from your

boyfriend-sorry ex-boyfriend-who I'm assuming is as high profile as your family if they're forcing the marriage...

In the human world, it’s not that big of a deal, but in the wolf world, we're very territorial. He just picked a fight

with what’s-his-face’s entire pack. And probably your parents too. That's high-profile shit for a pack that likes to

stay lowkey.”

“Brian. His name's Brian,” Lita gulped. She hadn't ever considered it like that. Cole had really gone out of his

way for her, taken risks for her. And she hadn't even thanked him. Suddenly she felt guilty, and without having a

better word to describe the feeling, ungrateful.

“Yea, Brian-piece-of-shit-Alpha. Anyway, | see my mate beaten up by a wolf? td have probably done the same

thing, Hell, maybe even for a friend. | don’t like abusers. But I'm not an Alpha. That comes with certain

responsibilities that ain't in my job description, you know? I've got more freedom in that aspect. Alphas have to

put their pack before everything else. And you are the only thing he’s ever put ahead of the pack, You need to

understand that. You need to get that.”

“I-I'm sorry,” she whispered, “I didn’t realize... maybe | should...”

“Don’t even think about it. He'd never let you. Bringing you in was a huge statement. Whether he’s going to

admit it to himself or not.” Brody sat back in his chair. “Plus, it's not that big of a deal, nobody died... yet. And we

all love a good fight.” He was smiling, excitedly.

“What do you mean, “whether h

is that much of a statement.”

he’s going to admit it to himself

If or not? He said he’s planning to reject me, anyway, | don’t think doing the right thing

“Yea, that’s what he’ll say but listen,” he leaned forward like he was about to tell her a secret, “Rejecting is

pretty common shit, okay? Wham-Dam- thank-you-ma’am. Most of the time, wolves reject the person within the

first few minutes of meeting them. Pretty by the book, actually. Especially if you have shit going on. But it's been

what, a little over a month since he’s known?”

Lita nodded, confused.

“Yea I'm not buying it. He could've rejected you when you first met, without you even knowing what the hell was

going on. Could’ve just walked up and said it. Would have confused you. You probably would have thought he

was crazy but it wouldn't have mattered. He probably doesn’t know what to make of it, or maybe his wolf

doesn’t, but if he wanted to reject you, he would have. Just my two cents.”

He shrugged and looked to the door where the manager had returned with the paperwork. That effectively ended

the conversation for them both.

“Looks like everything is in order, Ms. Dillard. Here's your bank account information, your new card, and all of

your copies of the paperwork,” the manger said, sliding a large, open folder across the table. Brody's nosiness

surpised Lita as he leaned up slightly in his chair, “Jesus Christ, you're even richer than Alp-I mean, Cole was,”

Brody eyed the manager wearily, as he stood and helped Lita gather her folder

“Was?” Lita asked, taking her things to the door and waving goodbye to the manager.

“Yea, was, you think the industrial park was cheap? That many acres on the west coast? A cool couple of millions,

if | heard correctly. Your brother helped put in for the land, but most of his money was used for renovations and

he died before they were complete.” Brody held the exterior door for her, then continued, “And since he and

Stace weren't married, his money defaulted to you a few weeks after he died.”

Lita stumbled over her next steps. “What?”

q uw . ) ”

Brody whistled, “You didn't know?” He

2 TLR

shook his head, “His purse money,

: : : )

his Inheritance, everything he'd Piqde

was all wired toyauas erhis will. |

mean, Joh sof that was your

inheritance, James had close to a

million and a half through inheritance,

| think: But your account is way

heftier than that. You never

" .

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2/3

Bank Run

Lita shivered, suddenly cold in the warm sunlight, “My mom h

handled my

finances. | never sa

never saw the transfers.”

Brody nodded. “Maybe that’s part of what Brian wants.”

“My money?” Lita balked, following behind Brody.

“Yea why else would an Alpha knowingly mate a human when it’s unheard of Names only get you so far in the

elite. You've got to have the money to back it up.”

The walk back to the car felt odd. It

was like a giant weight had settled on

o , q

Lita. Hadn't her mother always said a

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nwas important but it was

nothing without moaef? Lita Warited

7

tqrvemb Ant pit had been

crushing her insides. Her mother was

. p

a liar. That part wasn't very hard to

imagine. Her mother and father were

wolves. That part was hard to

imagine. That part made her mind

want to pop out of her head and run

off to someone that would use it with

: P

more sense. Lita couldn't help but

feel lost amid such a large revelation.

But at least now, she was financially

free. No need to ask for permission

to spend money. No need to lie to

make her abusive boyfriend happy.

And god, no more needing to sleep

with him whenever he eniochl

fear of being furt NO ore being

b . Pp

Srokd to do it. She hadn't ever really

let herself deal with that part and she

, q q

wasn't planning to start now, opening

the car door and sliding into the front

seat. One day she was going to have

to toe that line in and see what came

back, but for now, she was just

content with not being afraid all the

time. Her phone rang, lighting up with

)

her mother's nacross the

screen. Lita felt emotion rising up in

her, but she hit it back and swiped

the call away, turning her phone on

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|

x

if Brody doesn’t becher biggest ally | dont want it swith andres.