Chosen to Fated

Sitting in the car for this long is killing me. Not literally, but I certainly feel cramped at the moment. All of my belongings shoved into the trunk, my sleeping baby beside me, and my best friend and her mate in the front seats. "You're going to love Crescent Band, we have such beautiful pack lands, and our new Alpha has been amazing with everyone." Sheera tells from the front seat as we get closer. "New Alpha?" I ask. I didn't know they changed Alpha's recently. Alpha Gage only stepped into power less than ten years ago, so he shouldn't have been passing his title to an heir yet. "Oh, yeah, Gage's little brother challenged him a few months back and won. Gage was running the pack into the ground, so Ares challenged him for the title and then banished Gage to be rogue." Sean answers while driving. Alpha Ares.. I like it. The name sounds familiar though, I guess probably because I grew up at Crescent Band Pack, so a lot of names sounds familiar. I quite like it too. Strong name for a strong Alpha, sounds yummy. Celeste, my wolf, tells me. 'Oh Celeste, down girl', I tell her with a snicker. As we pull up to the home Sheera and Sean share, little Brian starts fussing, so I tell Sheera I need to change and feed him (and myself) before we meet the Alpha at the packhouse. Most Alpha's require a formal introduction before even gaining access to pack lands, but Sheera pulled a few strings and my introduction would be a bit later in the afternoon so I could get settled before meeting him. She pulls me into her home, going room by room to show me her 'little slice of heaven' while poor Sean was stuck lugging my bags out of the car, I commend him for smiling through the whole ordeal though. I get little Brian changed and fed, I decided to put our best foot forward and changed him into his cutest little outfit, it even has a little bowtie, he apparently didn't get the memo though because as I changed into my semi-formal sundress, he went into a milk coma and passed out in the crib. I'm grateful for the quiet, but I truly don't know how I'm going to get him into the carrier without creating a very fussy baby. Sheera walks into the bedroom and looks at sleeping Brian and laughs. "He's super cute with that bowtie, but I doubt you'll be able to get him out of that crib." She tells me. "I know... and the meeting is in what? 20 minutes?" I say checking the clock on the wall. She chuckles lightly and dismisses the thought with her hand. "I'll watch him, you go meet the Alpha. I doubt he will care if you bring your baby or not." She tells me "It's not like he needs to make sure your BABY isn't a threat." She says with her signature eye roll. I thank her and start on my way to the packhouse. It is quite a beautiful territory, sprawling forest's surround the cozy little homes and in the center of all of it, is the packhouse. I remember it used to be white, but they must have repainted since then because it's now a navy blue with lots of dark wood accents. I like the change, it makes the large structure look a lot more modern, with a few aesthetic touches of greenery to make it feel comfortable, almost home-y. Making my way up the steps, a guard with a hard look on his face stops me and asks where I'm headed to. "I have an appointment to meet the Alpha" I tell him and his face softens mildly, but still seems all business, as he begins walking towards the door. "This way Miss..?" He stops with the question. "Blacke. Moral Blacke." I tell him with a hand stretched for a shake. He gives a short shake and leads me through the packhouse. It seems they've given the inside some updates as well, like the outside, everything is heavily accented with dark wood and fairly neutral colours. Potted plants are placed intricately around the grand hall, most filled with ferns and other non-flowering fauna. I start picking up a wonderful scent through the hall, it smells like a mixture of coffee and campfire marshmallows and something like cinnamon buns, it makes my mouth water. Looking around for the kitchen or maybe an open window, I find nothing that would send such a tantalizing smell to me, until Celeste starts getting very restless, mumbling and yipping for no reason. 'Whats going on?' I ask her. Mate. He's here. She tells me and my eyes widen. I look to the guard, Not him, dumb*ss. She tells me in an annoyed tone. 'He's the only one here, Celeste' Not HERE, here, but somewhere in this house. Our mate is here. She corrects my thoughts and I start looking around as the smell gets stronger. Celeste is basically clawing at my brain trying to get out and find mate, I keep telling her to stop because we have to meet the Alpha first but she keeps digging and growling and whimpering. I'm so caught up in my own head, trying to keep Celeste at bay, I don't even notice the guard talking to me until he stops just short of the door at the end of the hallway as if waiting for a response. I look at the floor a little sheepishly and apologize. "I'm really sorry, but I honestly didn't catch much of that.." I tell him, still inspecting the wood grain on the floor. He chuckles and brushes his shoulder against mine, "hey," He starts, but pauses, waiting for me to look at him again, "I said I admired your father and everything he did to help this pack. He always talked about his little girl and how much he wished you could have prospered here with him." he tells me with a smile playing on his face. "Oh, well, thank you." I reply with a blush. At least Celeste seems to have calmed enough that I'm able to focus, I think she enjoys hearing about dad as much as I do. However she is still itching to run around and hunt down her mate for.. pfft, primal urges and what not. Is it so primal to want to have the other half of your soul, to feel complete and loved and full? she retorts. 'The kind of full you want to feel with your mate right now is ABSOLUTELY primal, don't try lying to me.' I tell her sarcastically. When I look up at the guard again, his eyes are glazed over, which means he must be mind linking someone. A few moments later he clears his throat and tells me "I'm sorry Miss, it seems the Alpha is busy at the moment, he told me to send you in for introductions with the Beta in his stead." I smile and nod at him, even though something inside me feels a little let down, which is weird, but it's more than likely because my mate is somewhere in this building and Celeste is anxiously awaiting our dismissal so she can find him. He leads me to the second door from the end and knocks twice. When no one answers his eyes glaze over once again and the door at the end of the hallway opens to reveal a gorgeous hunk of a man "I'm in here, Ron." he tells the guard, who's name is apparently Ron. Good to know. Ron nods once at him, pats my shoulder with a smile and walks back down the hall toward the main foyer. As I turn to look back at the man in the doorway the scent hits me once again, this time stronger. I look back at the hunk of a man and realise that the smell is coming from that room, I search his face for any spark of the bond but find nothing. 'Celeste?' I call out to my wolf, looking towards the ground, she responds with No, not him.. But that room seems to have the smell wafting from in there, we should follow it. "and you are?" a hand comes into my view and startles me enough to flinch into the wall behind me. Sh*t, you psycho, he's going to think we're tweakers or something, get your sh*t together Celeste yells in my head. I quickly right myself as the man retracts his arm and holds his hands in the air to seem less menacing "I'm sorry Miss Blacke, but are you okay?" I shake my head to clear my thoughts and nod at him. "No, I'm sorry.. it's just been a weird few days.. y'know?" I tell him. He smiles slightly and drops his hands once again, placing one outstretched in front of me. I take his hand for a quick shake and he says "I'm Beta Robert Falcon - you're welcome to call me Beta Rob or Robert, I will answer to both." He smiles wider and drops my hand to lead me into the office.