Finding The Alpha’s Mate

Chapter 5: Maddison

I could smell the scent of him when the wind blew it towards me. My wolf poked her head up then, on high alert. “Mate”, she growled in my mind. That’s a word I haven’t heard in a long time. Ten years to be exact. I should have put two and two together. I knew I scented the smell of wolf shifter. I just hoped it would have been a new pack. My wolf, Ebony, was dying to belong to a pack again. To have a place to shift and run, without worry of being caught. I was hoping that after I gained a membership in the pack that I could find a home there and rent this place out. That’s not happening anytime soon now.

I finished painting the rest of the dining room. While I was cleaning up, I heard my phone ringing. Looking at the caller ID, it was a number I hadn’t seen before. I answered anyway and the voice on the other end instantly had tears falling from my eyes.

“Hi, is this Maddison Carter?” The voice on the other end spoke. I knew that voice, that was my brother’s voice. I couldn’t form any words, only a choked sob made its way out. “Maddie”, the voice continued, “turn around”. Spinning towards the front doors, there on the other side was my oldest brother, Jackson. He’s gotten taller. Now he’s sporting a thick beard, neatly trimmed. His hair is cut in a taper fade, and he has more muscle than he had before. He’s aged well, like all shifters. The phone slips from my hand as I go running towards the front doors, throwing them open. My wolf is right at the front, making my eyes glow. A purr escapes just as soon as we hug. My tears soaked his shirt.

“Calm down Maddie, it's okay. I don't want to walk around with a huge wet stain on my shirt. My mate might not like it.” Jackson tries to comfort me by patting my head. “I missed you little bit, we all have.” I can hear the tears in his voice as well.

“ What are you doing her Jackson, how’d you get my number?” I asked finally as I wiped my face. He looks at me like I have a screw loose and points to the sign on the door. My number is on there. I blush, “Oh yeah, I forgot about that.”

“Yeah, I see that. But seriously Maddie, we’ve all missed you. I came here with my mate to settle down here in this town when Alpha Gray decided to move the pack here. My mate is human and is from a small town too, so I figured she’d like it here. I’m glad we decided to come here. We saw this bakery the other day when we were passing through to the new house. Liz was craving something sweet, so I thought I’d come see what the bakery had to offer. Who knew it would be my little sister I’d find instead.”

“You have a mate? OMG! I’m so happy for you. Did Tristan come here too? Did he find his mate?” I could feel my wolf’s sadness at the mention of his mate, but I tampered it.

“Well actually” he begins, “he did, and we have the same mate. I guess twins really do share everything.” He laughs, “He’s at home with our mate, she’s pregnant. I drew the short straw, so here we are. I’m glad I did though. Who would have thought I’d run into you? Please tell me you're done for the day. I’d love for you to come meet our mate. Tristan is going to flip when he sees how grown you are now.”

“Yeah, I just finished painting the dining room. I bought the place a few months ago when my marriage imploded. I’ve been slowly transforming it over the weekends. But, luckily for you, I made some éclairs yesterday. They're in the fridge. I can get some and lock up and follow you home. That way, I'm not the only thing you bring home.” I turned around and walked back into the store. I grabbed my purse and ran into the kitchen to grab the box of éclairs I made yesterday and walked back out to my brother. “I can’t believe y'all are here. I’ve missed you guys, and I’m sorry I’ve stayed away with no contact”, I toss over my shoulder as I lock up my bakery. When I turn around, he’s just standing there. Eyes big and his mouth hanging open. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“YOU GOT MARRIED?” He growls down to me, eyes almost black, his wolf on the surface. Okay, he’s angry. I can’t believe you got married and it imploded. How does your marriage fail when it’s your fated mate? They are meant for you”.

“It wasn't my fated mate that I was married to," I told him. "Did you drive, or did you walk? I can tell you about it on the way to your house.”

“Oh, you will be filling me in on the way. We live just inside the pack territory but close enough to the woods that if either me or Tristan needed a run, we don't have that far to go, since our house backs up to pack land. It’ll take us about twenty minutes to get there from here. I’ll take you home later. You're going to stay for dinner and then repeat everything to Tristan. And since Tristan and I are still friends with the Alpha, it should be no problem getting you onto the land again. Maybe you’ll think about reinstating your oath.”

“Thank you and I’ll think about it. I do miss pack life, and my wolf is practically salivating at the thought of going on a run to hunt. We haven't hunted since we became one.” Even though I said I would think about it, I don’t know if I want to do that. My heart picks up just thinking about coming face to face with that man, let alone pledging my undying loyalty to him when I, as his fated mate, couldn’t even have that of him.

We made it to his car parked down the street and I told him everything. Well, everything about my marriage and not about my fated mate. I wasn’t telling anyone that. In my opinion, I didn’t have a fated mate anymore. He didn’t respect the mate bond, so I left. I found some happiness of my own and those dreams about saving myself for my mate left right along with wolf at the time. Now with the scent of he who should not be named and my brother’s presence, my wolf is determined to make an appearance. Who knows, maybe I’ll be able to shift again.

I told my brother how my husband had waited for me to come home from work to drop the biggest proverbial A-bomb on our relationship. How he had a pregnant mistress, and he wanted me to move out of his house so he could move his new fiancé in. I now live on top of the bakery I just bought that day and how my life is getting better. There's only two things that could make it better and that’s if my wolf fully reemerged and our parents were around.

After catching my brother up on what's been happening in my life recently, we pulled up to the gates of the pack. I had heard stories about the construction of this place, but I never thought of driving by here. Although it wasn’t close to the road, you could still see the fence through the tall brush of the landscape. It was at least two or three stories high. The gate was completely made of steel, and I could hear all the locks being turned as we gained permission for entrance. My wolf was on high alert. It has been about ten years since I have been on any packland. Although there was still some construction going on in town, most of the houses were built. Which is surprising. Jackson drove for about ten minutes after passing through the gate before pulling down a long road. The houses here were beautiful. A mixture of modern homes, Cape Cod style and even your typical log cabins. Jackson pulled into the driveway belonging to one of the most beautiful houses I have ever seen.