Alpha Unknown

Chapter 1

Lucas

Damien and I sat in silence as we drove down the winding roads back to the pack. "What do you think?" I asked Damien.

"I think we need gas and I need some coffee." I rolled my eyes, as he also said, "we need to gather some more Intel and compare them with Alpha Hemming."

"Agreed. We need to figure out how many packs of rogues there are, and where they could be hiding."

Between our pack and the neighboring pack, we had seen an increase in rogue attacks and sightings.

We pulled into the small human town approximately 2 hours from the Packhouse, which technically fell into our pack lands, but that was due to our pack’s expansion over the years. Damien pulled up to the small 4 pump gas station, got the gas pump started, and started trudging into the gas station for coffee. A minute later he returned with nothing and said, "they only have coffee that looks like it's been sitting all day, but there is a Café across the parking lot that has coffee and a bakery."

"I'm game." I said as he finished pumping gas. We drove over to the Café and then walked in.

It was a small building with a couple of teenage girls working behind the counter filling customers’ orders. The other side of the counter was a bakery case with various pies, cupcakes, and pastries, most of which looked picked over. We stood behind a couple of people waiting in line to order, as a female carrying a travel coffee mug came walking towards us, yelling back at the girls behind the counter, "have a good day girls, let me know if you have any problems!"

It was then I smelled it, cinnamon with a hint of lavender and rose. All of a sudden, Gavin was in my ear "mate!!"

He drew me toward this girl with the coffee. She was about 5'6" shoulder length strawberry blonde hair, she was curvy but in all the right places. Gavin stepped in front of her, as she almost ran into me as one of the gals behind the counter yelled " Val! Max's coffee!"

Val

"Have a good day girls, let me know if you have any problems!" I said as I headed toward the door, before I was late for the range.

I almost ran into a wall of muscle as April yelled" Val! Max's coffee!"

"Oh sorry!" I said to the wall of muscle that was about 6'5" with extremely wide shoulders with muscles to match. He was handsome and he smiled with bright white teeth. His hair was dark, almost black, and his eyes light blue, with almost dark flakes in them. I could smell pine with a hint of fresh mountain air, as I almost collided with him. Someone has just got a new air freshener, I thought! I would say he was built like one of the military guys we see here from time to time, but not with his longer hair pulled up into a man-bun.

I turned around and grabbed Max's coffee. "thanks girls, he would have killed somebody without this!"

I turned around and headed out to my SUV waiting in the parking lot. As I approached my vehicle, I could feel someone following me. I turned around and saw that it was the same wall of muscle from inside. " I'm sorry, did I spill some coffee on you? I'll replace your shirt or give you a free coffee? Please tell me my clumsy self, did not burn you? “ I said in a panic.

Lucas

"No, you didn't spill a drop from what I could tell.", I tried to say in a smooth velvety tone. "I'm sorry I got in your way. “

"No, no, I was in a hurry. I should be more careful. " Her sweet smooth voice tantalized my ears.

"I'm Lucas, by the way, Lucas”. I stopped for a second, “Noir, Lucas Noir."

We had stopped giving our normal family names to humans, since my grandfather was Alpha. It almost seemed to scare people, dad said. She looked at me curiously, seeming to think about whether to tell me her name or not, her light brown eyes evaluating my trustworthiness. "I'm Val” she said as she sat her 2 coffee cups on top of the car as she pulled out her keys. " I'm sorry I have to be going", nice to meet you, Lucas!"

"Stop her! Mate!! Gavin was screaming in my head.

"I know! I'm working on it, calm down." I told him.

I knocked on the window, as she rolled it down only about a third of the way, staring at me as if to say yes? " Do you want these? " I asked, holding her cups of coffee she had left on the roof of her car.

"Shoot! Yes!! Thanks again! I would forget my head some days if it wasn't attached, I swear!" She said frazzled.

" Well, how about you thanking me by letting me buy you a cup of coffee tomorrow?" I said as I smiled at her.

She giggled slightly, causing the hair on the back of my neck to stand up, "well I own the Café, but I would be happy to buy you a cup, for saving my coffee, along with any pastry you'd like".

"It's a date!" I shouted slightly.

A little taken aback, she rummaged in the center console of her SUV and pulled out a sharpie, " Here" she said, writing her number on my hand.

"Text me! And we'll figure out a time tomorrow". " Sorry I have to head to the range. Bye Lucas!"

With that, she backed out of her spot and headed down the road.

"What was that all about?" Damien asked as he walked up holding both our coffees.

"I'll explain in the car, let's go!" I said.

Damien handed me my coffee, and we entered our SUV and headed back to the packhouse.