The Three Kings

Chapter 2

"I am forever stained with
the ink of your dark soul.
The words your tongue wrote on me,
Though now faded through the years,
Are still indelible and deadly.
Living somewhere beneath my skin."
~John Green

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Hanna
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"Good afternoon, Hanna." Alpha John greeted, not looking up from something on his desk. "How was your appointment?" He asked as I took a seat in one of the chairs before his desk.

"It was good. Helped me relax." I answered. I didn't get into detail about my session. I didn't like too. It was no ones business except mine and my therapists.

"That's good. That's good." He mumbled and looked around his desk for something.

"So, what is it that you'd like to speak about?" I questioned. I brought my thumb to my mouth and started gnawing on the nail. It was a nervous tick I picked up.

He looked up and stared me in the eyes. "The Annual Alpha Meetings are happening this Friday. Do you know what those are?"

"Um...not really," I fidgeted in my seat. "Julia mentioned them briefly over lunch but didn't get into explicit detail about them."

He ran his hand through his hair and scrubbed his face. "It's been a long day." He muttered. I couldn't agree more. "So, the Annual Alpha Meetings are a yearly thing that happen around this time. It's a three day event starting with a dinner, then moving onto meetings with the other Alpha's, Beta's, Luna's, and The Kings. We're basically just going to talk about pack business, politics-"

"What does this have to do with me?" I interrupted. I knew Alpha's didn't like being cut off or interrupted but I needed to know why I was being told this. I wasn't an Alpha, Beta, or Luna, let alone a "King".

He gave me a scolding glare and resumed talking. "All Alpha's, Beta's, and Luna's will be joining us here at our pack. We are hosting this year. I, ahead of time, wanted to warn you and offer you a proposal."

I raised my eyebrows. "Warn me about what?" I asked.

"I'll get to that, Hanna, but I have a proposal for you." He stopped talking for a moment and the room fell into silence. I could only hear the ticking of the clock.

"What proposal...?" I finally asked after a minute. I was on edge and tired. I just wanted to get this little "meeting" over with.

He sighed. "Friday night there will be a dinner. It's called a 'greeting dinner'. Everyone will show up, have a nice big dinner, chit chat, talk politics, anything. My offer for you, is that I want you to make the dinner. I want you to be the chef in charge of it all."

The room fell into silence as I tried to process his words.

Chef. My entire life all I have ever wanted to do was cook. I wanted to own a restaurant. I wanted to be a chef. A wave of happiness washed over me bringing a bright smile to my face.

"Now, I do hope you don't feel pressured to do this. I just wanted to offer it to you because I was originally going to just hire someone, but then I thought of you. You've always wanted to open a restaurant and cook, and I know this isn't exactly opening and owning a restaurant but you'll be working in one and in charge of everything. I just..."

The rest of his works were drowned out. I was in my own head, debating with myself. I wanted to do this. Needed to do this, but what if I failed? What if I screwed up? What if I disappointed everyone? What if I wasn't good enough?

These thoughts slowly diminished how excited I was. It was like all the happiness was just sucked out of me and in it replaced worry. The smile fell from my face. All I felt like doing was wallowing in my self pity in my bedroom.