The Alpha's True Love

Megan Anderson, OTR

Jet lag sucks. 

Looking at my phone, I noted the time was 2:45 pm. That meant it was around 7 pm at home. Home was the State of New York. Although 7 pm is not necessarily late, knowing it was only going to be 3 o'clock here was exhausting. I'd be awake for at least another six hours settling into my new home, meeting my hosts, and getting ready for work the next day. The flight here was exhausting too. I arrived at the airport in New York at 6 am. Maybe it was too early to arrive for a flight that departs at 7:30 but it was my first flight ever. I was too nervous to allow myself to arrive any later than 6. I was beyond anxious that I'd boarded the wrong flight, waking up several times during the journey in a cold sweat, thinking I was flying to the wrong place.

Despite some stomach-turning turbulence, my flight landed with ease and was only half an hour overdue. Gloria Steger, my boss, for the time being, had met me in the airport and was now driving us to where I would be staying for the next three months. She'd drove by the office that I would check into and out of each day, telling me a little about it as we passed. 

Gloria was cheerily chattering beside me, her driving careful and cautious. I could tell her navy Chevy was old, perhaps a 2008. Its engine was throaty and the tires squealed around every turn. Speaking of turns, almost every road we'd been on so far was either a sweeping hill or had turns sharper than a needle.

"We're so excited to have you here! For a small town, we have a huge caseload. We tend to the surrounding towns as well, mainly Seaside. And we send people out to Portland too. That's a bit of a drive though. I won't send you out there until you're familiar with Gearhart first."

I laughed nervously. "I appreciate that." I considered what to say next, the silence settling between us seeming to be impossibly long. I felt the familiar scratchiness that wells up in my throat when I'm anxious. Thankfully Gloria saved me.

"It's only about a ten-minute drive into the office from where you'll be staying."

"Speaking of, where will I be staying? I searched the address but nothing came up."

Gloria chuckled nervously. "About that. You will be staying in a kind of...communal living house."

I tried to hide my frown. Flashbacks of living in a dormitory crossed my mind. Would I have a roommate? 

"The property is very secure. It's got a huge fence running around the perimeter and a fancy gate with a camera and guards. I've only ever seen the house once, and that was when I was hiking up one of the surrounding mountains. It was a speck in the distance but I know it's massive."

"Why the tight security?"

"Jeff- Sheriff Wade says it's private property. Everyone that lives there is from the same family. A multi-generational kind of thing. Their property is huge and they don't want trespassers on their land. Oh, and they enjoy their privacy. I see some of the family every once and a while in town but usually it's always the cook getting groceries at the store or the housekeeper getting supplies."

Housekeeper?! They're big money I thought to myself. 

"What's their surname?" I asked.

"Walker. They're responsible for a lot of things in town like the town park and the addition to the library. Sheriff Wade said they jumped at the chance to board you. They said they'd do any favor Jeffrey asked of them. Good friends I guess." Gloria smiled to herself. I nodded, noting the switch of formality when it came to Sheriff Wade. She giggled a lot when talking about him.

"It's very charitable of them to house an absolute stranger," I added.

"Mhmm," Gloria nodded excitedly. "They've always been philanthropic. But they never like to show their faces much. Rich people are weird aren't they?"