Hiding from the Alpa

Chapter 2:

Connor:

    I don't have time for this. 

    As I cross over onto the Summer Moon pack's land I can't help but feel annoyed. Events like this always prove to be uneventful, and no alpha wants to talk about possibly treaties at a party. I have only one consolation: that I might find the unmated daughter of a powerful alpha and woo her into marrying me and securing political ties to a strong pack. I know Alpha Samuel, the host of this celebration, has two daughters. Perhaps I can convince one of them to encourage an alliance. 

    My wolf paces in my chest, restless. I need to get back to my pack. When I walk into the main pack house, however, I can feel my wolf become more uneasy. Something must be wrong. 

    "Hello Alpha!" A female of no more than sixteen bounds over to me like an puppy asked if they want a treat. She reaches for a notebook that was sitting on a nearby end table and flips through the pages. "Now," she says, "if you can tell me your name I will make sure you get into your room, alright?"

    I find her perkiness mildly annoying, but I school my voice to not show my displeasure. "Alpha Connor of the Blood River pack." She flips scans through the list until she sees my name.

    "Aha! You will be staying with a few of the other unmated alphas on the second floor. I'll take you there." Without leaving me the slightest room to protest, she grabbed my duffle bag from my hand and dragged me up the stairs. "My name is Annabelle, but everyone calls me Annie. I'm Alpha Samuel's daughter."

    I change my expression from one of mild annoyance into one of practiced charm. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Annie. I am lucky to have been greeted by the most beautiful she-wolf I have ever seen." Yes, I'm laying it on thick, but I'm desperate. Annie may be too young for me right now, but if I can encourage a longer engagement she may be exactly the wife I need. My mind wanders, however, as we make our way down the second story hall and I catch a whiff of the most amazing scent. 

    Words cannot describe how good it smells. I breathe in deep, savouring the sweet, welcoming aroma that is growing stronger the closer I get to the end of the hall. Annie opens a door and ushers me inside a room with bunkbeds. 

    "Here is where you'll be staying with some of the other unmated alphas. Now, if you'll excuse me, Alpha Connor, I need to go downstairs to greet the other guests. 

    "Wait!" I call out too late; she's already gone. I spin in the middle of the room, taking in the full bookshelf and the curtains that are covered in some sort of floral pattern. I grab the edge of the fabric and pull it to my nose, noticing how that scent has permeated every inch of this room. 

    My wolf is bounding with excitement now, and I realize why he has been so unsettled today. There is only one reason why this smell would impact me so greatly: I have scented my mate.

    My mate is here. 

    I am in her room. 

    I scan the room again, this time to look for any indication of who she might be. Besides a shelf of textbooks that gives me an estimate of her age, I find nothing. My wolf is getting antsy. He just wants to find her and bring her home to the pack as my luna. When another alpha walks into the room and throws his bag on one on the beds a growl rips through my chest. 

    My wolf does not like that there are other males in her bedroom. The other alpha looks at me strangely, and I apologize. "Must be something I ate," I half grumble, and he walks out. 

    Driven by my wolf's frantic urge to find my mate, I wander the pack house, sniffing the air. I stop in front of the kitchen as the rattling of pots and pans are met with a yelp of shock. I stick my head into the door and catch the back of a woman stirring a giant pot of some sort of soup. Her hair was a violent shade of red and trailed down her back in a single braid. I watched her move with a rushed grace through the kitchen, trying to catch a glimpse of her face. She turns to the door and I am struck by her.

    Mate. 

    My gorgeous mate. 

    She never looks up to meet my eyes, but I study her. She is not a conventional beauty. No, her features are not sensual, but rather angelic. Her nose is small and upturned; her cheekbones high and prominent. She has the features not of a cherub, but of a warrior queen. She mumbles to herself as she works, and I fixate on the movement of her full lips.

    I want to kiss those lips more than I want to breathe, but then I see her eyes. 

    Her eyes. 

    They don't meet mine, and she is still unaware of my presence, but she looks at the clock on the wall beside the door, and I see the fierce green of her irises. She is perfection personified. 

    And she is mine. 

    "Alpha Connor." A voice down the hall calls me, and I move out of the doorway before she can see me.

    For the rest of the evening I play the charming alpha, savouring my meal more than usual because it was made by my mate. I wait outside the kitchen for hours after dinner, but she does not come out. Finally, well after midnight, I go upstairs to bed, but I listen intently until I hear the faint tread of my mate's footsteps as she pads down the hall and into one of the bedrooms. 

    I toss and turn for hours on end, trying but failing to find sleep. She is the only thing on my mind, and I have to fight my every urge to not sneak into her room to watch her sleep. I'm sure I could find her room by scent, but I'm not sure how well she would like to wake up to find a stranger staring at her. 

    Is she sleeping alone?

    The thought hits me with all the force of bullet. It takes everything within me to not jump out of bed and open every door until I can find her and mark her as mine. 

    No. Not mark her. I can't do that to my pack. 

    I need to stop thinking about her. I saw firsthand today that she is not the influential female I need in order to protect my pack. While all the alphas and lunas dined together as equals, she prepared food and cleaned. I do not see her as less valuable, but accepting her as my mate would not be the political move I need.

    I still want her though. 

    Dawn comes and I still have not slept. I slide out of bed, thanking the moon that I am not on the top bunk. Moving into the hall, I follow my nose to track my mate, stopping at the door three down from mine. I can hear noises from inside the room, and I step away from the door before she can hear me. 

    Why is she awake so early after going to bed so late? I make my way down the stairs and into the kitchen, opening the fridge to look for a bottle of water. There are faint sounds of people waking from their sleep, and I bide my time. She will come downstairs soon to prepare the meal. 

    Only she doesn't come to the kitchen. Two older females enter the kitchen with baskets of food in hand, chattering to one another. I caught half a glimpse of red through my periphery, and I followed it until I saw her, kneeling before a young boy in the foyer and tying his shoes. 

    "Don't forget to get the food I packed for you and your daddy. I don't want you going hungry." The boy responded, but my head is reeling. Is this her son? So many emotions war with each other in my head, and I can't hold back the snarl that reaches my throat. Her head snaps up, and her eyes finally, finally, meet mine. 

    My entire world becomes her and only her. 

    Damn, she is so beautiful. 

    "Mate." she breathes. 

Charlotte:

    I have never seen a more hansom male in my life, and he's all mine. 

    My mate.

    He's easily six and a half feet tall, but he isn't lanky. No sir, he is all muscle. He looks like he could probably bench three of me in one go. It takes all of three strides for him to cross the foyer and make his way to me, and it takes even less than that for me to throw myself into his arms. I look up at him, hoping to the moon that he can see the love in my eyes. 

    "Hi"

    He gives me a lopsided smirk, "Hey."

    "Miss Charlie? Can I go outside now?" I hear little Andy's voice from by my feet. From his tone he has been asking me for a while. I squat down to his level, and I reach out to hand him his lunch bag. 

    "Of course you can. Make sure to tell your dad that I say hi-" a low growl interrupts me and before I can register what the hell is going on, my mate has slung me over his shoulder. I shriek, but he either doesn't notice or doesn't care. He swats my butt when I squirm, so I just content myself with staring at his back, or more precisely, his ass. And what a fine ass it is. 

    "Hey, kid. Don't tell your daddy anything for Miss Charlie except that her mate will break him if he ever so much as looks at her again." 

    Andy just looked up at him with a bewildered expression. "Don't listen to him. Tell your daddy hi and don't forget your food." In a flash he was gone and I was alone with my mate, draped uncomfortably over his shoulder. 

    "Okay, you can put me down now." 

    "I don't want to." I kick my legs but he doesn't put me down. Instead, he walks me right out the front door. 

    "Where are you going. Put me down right now!" 

    He marches right on past the narrow driveway and makes his way into the forest around the pack house. I squirm and kick, but this giant of a male is completely unmovable, his hand across the backs of my thighs anchoring me to him. 

    We go on like this for a few more minutes, with me squirming and kicking and him silently k********g me, before he stops abruptly. 

    "This seems like a good spot. Less of an audience." He says before unceremoniously dropping me. I stumble, and he pulls me up by my arm about a second before I land on my ass. 

    "Sorry." He mumbled. I smile at him and step back into his arms. Regardless of the fact that I just spent the last five minutes asking to be put down I don't want to leave his arms. He pulls me closer to him, and I revel in the tingling warmth of his touch. My hand reaches up to wrap around his neck, and he cups the back of my head, pulling me in for a searing kiss. 

    My whole body erupts with pleasure as his mouth moves against mine. I mould my body to his and try to get closer still. His tongue probes the seam of my lips and I open for him. We stand there for a long while, the intensity between us getting stronger and stronger, until I break away from him with a gasp. 

    "My name's Charlie," I murmur, my eyes never leaving his face, "and I should probably know what name I'm going to be moaning in a moment, so if you want to get on that I would really appreciate it."

    And then I heard the most beautiful sound in the entire world.

    The sound of my mate's laughter.