Aria's Alpha

2. Xavier

I noticed the back of a pretty blonde getting into a car as I approached the coffee shop. Wade, my Beta and Carson, my Gamma were heading into the coffee shop to grab a quick coffee before our next meeting. As I entered, I caught the fading aroma of some scent that captivated me. Drake, my wolf, stood up and took notice as well. Even faded, I sucked in the haunting essence of the warmest vanilla with a touch of whiskey. Subtly, I looked around the coffee shop for the source, but the place was empty except for the baristas who were pack members. I sighed, I must have imagined whatever that was.

"Alpha, Beta, what can we get you?" the barista asked.

"Couple black coffee's, please. How's the shop today? Everything going ok?" I asked.

"Just great. It's been steady but not too hectic. Everyone seems to really love the new blend we have. We've gotten a lot of compliments."

"Good to hear. Thanks for the coffee, ladies," I smiled as we left the shop to head to our next meeting.

I stared out the passenger window as Wade drove us to our next meeting--my mind wandering. I had taken over the pack from my father when I was 18 as was our custom. I assumed I would meet my mate shortly thereafter, but it had been 10 long years and I was still alone. There were times when it was hard to juggle my various businesses as well as act as both the Alpha and Luna for a large pack. My parents offered their support when they could, but they spent quite a bit of time enjoying their retirement and visiting my sisters and their pups. The first few years I was Alpha, I traveled to visit other packs to learn about their business practices and security processes and in hopes of meeting my mate, but I came up empty each time. In the last few years, I had traveled less and focused on my work.

Lately, my responsibilities had seemed more challenging. Drake, my wolf, was becoming more and more withdrawn and depressed and it was starting to affect me. I knew I was more moody and depressed because I had been snapping at pack members more often.

We were in town for the day for several meetings. The pack was hugely successful, largely based on several risky business moves that became hugely successful. As a result the pack owned about half the businesses in town as well as several in surrounding towns. As such, I served on several boards and committees within the community. The pack borders ran right up to the edge of town, though most of the pack lived deep in the forest about an hour's drive away. Shortly after I became Alpha, I upgraded the security technology protecting the pack so rogue attacks were few and far between these days. It left me more time to focus on my business pursuits and traveling to find my mate.

In the last couple of months, the pack had lost three pups to a sudden and fairly mysterious illness. Two other she wolves had miscarried, and I was extremely troubled by this. Werewolf pups were tough and didn't suffer from the normal childhood diseases of humans. We had been quietly investigating the deaths, but had no leads and no insight.

"Everything ok?" Carson asked, pulling me out of my morose thoughts.

"Hmm, yeah. Just going over things for the meeting."

"You sure? Thinking about the pups again?"

"Yep."

Wade gave me a sideways glance. We had grown up together and I knew he was also worried about this pup thing--especially since he and his mate, my youngest sister Jessica, were expecting their first pup soon. Hopefully, something would break soon and I could find my way out of this funk.