An Alpha for Hire

4 Finding a pack.

Haven

“What did you do?” I stare my brother in disbelief.

He swings his computer screen to face him after he’d showed me the email that states that I’m hired to be a substitute alpha to some pack a few miles from us. Not only a substitute alpha, but I’ll have to marry some girl for me to be the alpha.

“You said you needed a change, but you don’t want to start your own pack because that will take you away from me, yet you can’t remain here because of your alpha instincts. So…” he shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal. 

“f**k, Nick,” I growl dropping into the chair in front of his desk. I stare at him, trying to understand his motive for doing this.

“It’s only a few miles from us, I don’t understand what the big deal is. You’ll have a pack and I’ll have…”

“And I’ll have to marry some poor girl to do it. Send them an email and tell them I can’t do it,” I say earnestly, and I can hear the horror in my own voice.

Damn, what was he thinking?

“I don’t think you’re thinking this through,” he says with a shake of his head. “All I see here is an opportunity to get what you’ve always wanted. Your own pack close to mine. And this will give you that. They want you brother, take the win,” he says his voice taking on a strange tone, that makes me fidget in my chair. As the oldest Nick has a way of commanding me to do anything he asks, even though we are both alphas. He has a gentle way about him that I admire. Even when he took over from my father, there was no fight. The transition happened on its own. One minute my father was the alpha, and the next it was Nick.

And I can feel him doing the same with me. He was gently pushing me out.

But am I ready for this? Being responsible for my own pack, and wife.

The pack part, I can see it, but the wife part…I don’t know.  

“What if I find a mate? What will happen to then?” I ask knowing very well that was a possibility. I haven’t meet a wolf who didn’t covet a mate. We are all waiting – hoping and praying that the goddess will grant us that one being that is made for just us. And I can’t wait to meet mine. Even though there hasn’t been a wolf to find a mate in our pack in a very long time. The mate this was more of a myth now. And some wolves have even given up finding one.

But I wasn’t one of them.

I am hopeful.

I guess that’s one of the things that makes me hesitate about leaving and starting my own pack. I don’t know what it is, but I feel I need to remain here just a little bit longer. I even don’t know why.

It’s just a feeling I have.

“It did say the marriage is only on paper, right. I think I did see that tiny bit of information, right here…” Nick looks down at his computer screen, clearly reading the ad again. “Yup, its right there.”

I sigh, knowing arguing with him was a waste of time.

“Are you chasing me out of your pack?” I ask laughing slightly because I know he wouldn’t do that. He looks up at me, his face serious and slightly hurt.

I shake my head at him, letting him know that I’m not serious.

“This doesn’t have to be permanent if you don’t want it to be,” he continues as if he knows that if he keeps talking I’ll agree to it.

I get up and walk out of his office. I’m done with this conversation.

“Haven?” he calls as I reach the door. I turn around to look at him. “This could be good for you. You’ve been aimless for a long time. I was only trying to help.”

I look up at the ceiling. Yes, of course at twenty-nine I should know what I’m doing. And not wondering around waiting for my alpha instinct to take over and force me to challenge my brother. I’ll never do that, but on the last moon run I could feel my wolf chaffing at the rope I had tied around him to keep him in check. Just the sight of Nick’s wolf, was arousing its instinct to show its strength and lead the pack. My wolf is strong and big, and it knows it can take Nick’s wolf…but I know this is not my pack. And I don’t want it, even if my nature says otherwise.

I look down at my feet, and then at Nick. His brown eyes steadily take me in, waiting me out.

Our brotherly bond is strong and I want it to remain intact.

Fuck… I want to stay around my family, but…my time might be up. And Nick’s plan might just be the perfect way for me to remain close.

“Let me think about it,” I say. I can see the bright smile spreading his lips wide as I walk out of his office. Damn, he was incorrigible.    

I walk down the hall, and straight up the stairs to my room needing a little time alone, before I join the pack for dinner. The pack house is always full to capacity. Even though most of the members don’t live in the house, they usually like spending time in the house. It’s like Nick draws them to him like a moth to a flame. Nick is always busy with some renovation or other to expand the house for those who needed to stay.

I wonder what he’ll do once he meets his mate, with everyone always underfoot.

But he loves the chaos. I love it too, and that’s way it’s hard to leave it. Blackthorn pack is really an amazing place to be.

I meet some of the pack members as I walk down to my room. I close the door behind me, and breathe out. I walk to my bed and sit down.

I look around the room – at the barren walls and neutral colours that don’t really show my personality or taste.

For someone who grew up in the pack house, in this very room, I haven’t left my mark on anything. But I’ve always known that I will have to leave, and I didn’t want anything to hold me here. However, it would seem my family has managed to do that all on their own.

My wolf and I just wouldn’t handle the separation.  

But if I am a few miles away…I think about the possibility. And I must say, I am not averse to it. Except for the marriage part.

But the marriage will only be on paper.

Maybe they were thinking about the possibility of finding a mate too. Then that will make it easier.

What do I have to lose, I ask myself staring at the empty walls.

Nothing.

I’ll be gaining a pack instead. And get to stay close to my family.

Okay, I say to myself. My decision made. And then get to my feet and I pull off my clothes feeling the need to go for a run. This might be my last run here.

I open the sliding door that leads to a garden that surrounds the house at the back. The garden ends at a row of trees that lead into the forest. I take off at a run, enjoying the breeze that plays off my naked flesh. At the edge of the garden where the trees begin I give in to my wolf’s desire to be let out. I get to my knees and let the transformation come over me. Bones pop and shift, until a black big wolf stands in my place.

I scent the air loving the smell of my pack and our lands.

I hope I love my new pack, as I love it here.

I guess, I’ll find out tomorrow, I think as I let my wolf go exploring.