The Inmates Mate

The Inmates Mate

Chapter One

Ebony ... eb-a-nee

I finally had a day off work after working two doubles in a row. That is two 12 hour shifts in two consecutive days, and needless to say I was exhausted. It didn’t matter how many layers of compression socks I could put on my legs, it could not reduce the aching and swelling that I felt in my feet right now.

I was dragging my legs up each step as I rose up towards my small apartment. I was one apartment of eight in a unit making the building solid but also nosey at times. I gripped the wooden side rail tightly, not feeling the scratches that it left behind as I relayed on it for support.

The state prison had been working me constantly since one of the other nurses quit and I had to take over two of her shifts. I was off tomorrow, knowing fully well I will sleep until the late afternoon because of my tiredness.

I am a nurse at Michigan Reformatory, there were about seven hundred inmates in the facility. I am usually in the trauma center of the hospital since it pays the best but these past few days have been different. The nurse that quit handled medications to one hundred inmates; handing them all out in just half a day. I had to pick up the slack and it was hard for me to do it as quickly as her since there are so many medications to be given, but I have managed so far surprisingly.

It wasn’t my first choice to first work at a prisons infirmary but they pay graduate nurses really well, starting at $28 an hour. Compared to other hospitals that offered me sometimes less than $20 an hour to work for them.

I graduated and passed my boards about five months ago and have been working with the prison since. There weren’t as many bad experiences as one would think except you deal with a lot of mental health patients and sudden stab wounds. We still receive a few gang members from Detroit occasionally and they sometimes cause a bit of trouble.

But I try to just treat every patient like a human being, and as long as they are not violent with me then I won’t be towards them.

My fingers tightly gripped my keys as I opened my locked door hearing the neighbors dog across the hallway bark at me. As I shut the door behind me with a sigh I locked my door immediately, dead bolt included.

Diego, my black and white spotted cat came up to me meowing at my prescience again. I chuckled and bent down to pick him up, my back cracking three times on the way down. I held him tight in my arms as I scratched the side of his face.

“Hey buddy, how are you doin’?” I questioned while kissing Diego’s head.

He purred loudly as I walked to the kitchen. I set him down on the ground next to his food bowl. Diego below, meowing at me incessantly as I retrieved his canned cat food.

“Are you hungry, big guy?” I asked as I opened the can making Diego rub up against me, like he was buying my love for him to get his canned cat food.

I chuckled and placed the metal container in the glass bowl for him. He started eating, stopping his meowing at me now too distracted to talk shit to me.

My phone rang loudly from my pocket making my heart drop as I sighed. I knew who it was, I knew it was my mother calling but my tiredness was overwhelming and I didn’t know if I had the energy to speak to her after such a long shift.

“Osiyo mama,” I greeted her with as much excitement as I could muster at the moment.

“Ebony, it’s such a relief to hear your voice! How are you baby?” she cooed at me, her mothering voice making my shoulder slack in relaxation.

“I am very tired mama, I just finished a 12 hour shift and it was a difficult day,” I confessed into the phone.

“Aw baby, I am sorry to hear that. I will pray your day tomorrow is better,” she reassured me.

I could hear my grandmother in the background agreeing to my mother’s statement. I found a smile reaching my lips as their loving attitude rang through the phone making me crave a hug from them both.

“Thank you, I need all of the prayers I can get,” I chuckled as I heard my mother yell at my grandmother from across the room.

“Ebony, your grandmother and I would like you to come over for breakfast this weekend. We need to see you! It’s been over a week since the last time I braided your hair!” my mother exclaimed dramatically.

My mother always insisted from a young age that she braid my hair. It was something she enjoyed doing and I enjoyed receiving since my hair always looks its best after she was done with it. Even in adulthood she still insisted she do my hair at least once a week. I think it mainly helped her see me more since she missed my brother so much and wanted to baby at least one of her children. I was just lucky enough to be about 20 minutes from her house instead of hours away like my brother decided to be.

“We also need to make plans for the holidays coming up!” she suddenly remembered and yelled through the phone.

I sighed since I knew I would have to go to breakfast since they wanted to see me and make plans. I would have to bring my work schedule with me to tell her which holidays I am working so she can make arrangements with our distant family who normally travel in to her house.

“Yes mama, Saturday I am off so I can be by early morning,” I promised her making her squeal through the phone excited.

“That works perfect Ebony, your grandmother and I are very excited to see you!” my mother said as I heard my grandmother once again agreeing in the background. “I love you baby and see you in a couple of days. I promise you, you will have a better day tomorrow after grandmother and I are done praying.”

I giggled at her reassurance that her and grandmother would pray for me, “Thank you mama, I love you too.”

I ended the call with a sigh as I felt an excitement to see my mother and grandmother again so soon. We had lunch last week together, I took them out to a nice restaurant in the city which they swooned over. I loved my mother and grandmother, they were two of my biggest support systems in my life compared to my few minimal friends I still had from college. I loved them dearly and was glad I decided to see them so quickly since we last spent time together.

I leaned against the counter feeling dead as I walked to the freezer. There was a small personal size pizza waiting for me to put in my toaster oven to warm and eat before passing out. I placed the pizza in the toaster oven setting it to fifteen minutes, just enough time for me to take my shower.

I felt extremely dirty after my shift, dealing with one tuberculosis patient was enough for me to burn my scrubs here and now. The patient was in isolation and I had to suit up like going into war just to take his vital signs every time but I knew I still needed a long shower.

I threw my clothes in the laundry basket, taking my ponytail out from behind my head. My black hair fell into an awkward curve to the middle of my chest. The strands were straight and greasy from me not washing it the night before.

My mother was one fourth Cherokee Indian, making me one eighth. I have long black hair and lightly tanned skin to thank her for. My eyes were a dark brown with specks of gold in them from my dad. I was on the curvier side thanks to my ancestors, holding more meat and fat on my bones than most girls carry.

I sighed as I stepped into the steaming hot water, loving the way it beat against my tired muscles. I washed my hair and body making the steam filled room foggy with a fruity aroma from my body washes. I brushed my teeth in the shower, making sure to scrub extra hard today to get all the bad germs out of my mouth.

As I stepped out I heard the toaster oven ding, telling me it was ready. Diego was waiting for me outside my shower, almost brushing against me but realizing I was wet. He meowed at me angrily before licking the side of my wet leg in protest.

I rolled my eyes and entered my closet. I put on a pair of underwear and a t-shirt to sleep in with my hair tied up into the towel to dry. I retrieved my pizza from the kitchen, grabbing a Bud Lite in the refrigerator to drink while I ate.

I slipped into my bedroom, turning on the TV while placing the Bud and plate on my lap. I switched on something easy, a mind less TV show that I could laugh to while eating. My eyes hung low as I made it through half the pizza, the Bud Lite almost gone as well.

I finished by licking the last drop from the cold bottle before placing the rest on the ground. Diego will find it later tonight. I kicked my feet back into the covers, my six pillows surrounding me as I fell back into their comfort for the night.

With my hair still wrapped tight into my towel, my eyes found their way closed and all I saw was darkness.

Raul ... ra-ool

The conviction came too fucking early, it was like I blinked and I was behind bars again. I have been arrested six times before this but I had only been in a state prison one other time. I knew I wouldn’t be here long, but it still took too much of my fucking time up.

I killed a guy and didn’t cover my tracks very well, leaving the police to actually have enough evidence to convict me of the crime. The guy just so happened to be a well known alpha of the territory and I just so happened to kill him.

I was trying to become an alpha myself but still ended up getting caught with this bullshit. I have to wait about one week before my people on the outside pull enough strings and pay enough money to get me out of this. The werewolf council can’t have a fucking werewolf in a state prison, it would end in a catastrophe.

My world doesn’t plan on coming out to the public anytime soon, so that meant I was getting the fuck out early. Then I can take over reign as the new alpha in this territory and across half of Michigan.

I was strong enough for it, and crazy enough don’t doubt that. I just haven’t found my mate yet which is rare at my age. I was already 27 and haven’t found her. I wasn’t particularly ready to have a life long relationship quite yet, even at 25. But now I can feel my loneliness drowning me and I want to find my girl.

And it defiantly won’t be while I am stuck inside these four fucking walls. I had two cell mates and I could hardly breathe with how much everything around me stunk. One cell mate of mine was a guy I met back in the pin the last time I was here. The other guy was some white supremist with the fucking Nazis symbol tattooed on his throat.

He was skinny and looked like he did too many bowls of meth on the streets but was able to get into prison for a bed and a meal. He didn’t talk much to me luckily but then again none of us talked a whole lot to each other anyways.

We were currently in our bunks supposed to be sleeping but I couldn’t get much more than four hours in the joint. Everything was too fucking loud, people yelling or snoring in their sleep.

The guards were especially loud because all they did was snack and drink coffee on the night shift. They stood in little huddles at the end of each cell block and joked about the lack of pussy they get back at home.

My hearing and sense of smell was heightened and being inside here did not help. It made my stay even more miserable.

I was already on my first week inside and I wanted out. One of my guys plans to call me tomorrow about coming out so hopefully I will be released in less than a week. Or else I’m going to kill another person in here out of rage.

My wolf wanted to be out of this fucking place, I could feel him inside me on guard at all times. He didn’t like the feeling of being caged and unable to release himself whenever he wanted.

The food here was shit and everyone was always on edge and ready to fight you. In the yard it was the worst since most guys always tried to prove shit about each other.

I wasn’t into that bullshit, but I had two other guys that stayed by me that worked for the wereeolf council. They were in and out of prison like some of us werewolves and kept us in numbers so people would feel more threatened.

The last thing we need is werewolves getting angry and our wolves shifting and ripping three people’s head off. That just wouldn’t be good on anyone’s part except maybe mine since most of these guys didn’t deserve to live. A large number of them are rapists, pedophiles, and mass murderers.

I shifted in the bunk that held me, the mattress was the most uncomfortable thing made on this earth. The ground would most likely be more comfortable than this piece of shit.

I turned to my side, closing my eyes suddenly becoming extremely tired and finally falling asleep.

I will be doing an updating schedule for this story so stay tuned! This is a story I have spent A LOT of time writing and editing. Please tell me what you think so far! I am excited to hear peoples opinions about this book! Thank you and love y’all!