Mated to the Grumpy Alpha

Declan "Here are your next three days," Jonah said. He was reading off the back of a feed receipt and holding it at arm's length, because he refused to admit he needed glasses. "Tonight is dinner at Silas's. Tomorrow at ten is the Council wives' tea. Fourteen women and a seating chart." "I'll look at the chart after the county work," I said. "Noon is the Pruitt and Mercer sheep dispute. They both named the sheep, so it's personal now." He turned the receipt over and frowned at the blank side. "Sunday is the winter pantry audit and eleven pup blessings." "I can bless a pup." "With a speech. And a casserole, which also gets blessed." He sighed. "That's three days of Luna work, Dec. A Luna would be doing it." "I have you." "You have a Beta with a day job." He set the receipt on my plate. "I think you need a Luna for this. Between the county work and the pack, it's busy enough..." "I haven't found a mate." "What's a mate?" Dustin asked through a mouthful of cereal. My nephew was five and wore a cereal mustache. "A friend," I said. "Do you have a mate, Jonah?" "Lots." Jonah buttered his toast with great calm. "A new one every week." "They rotate," I said. "Do you have lots, Uncle Dec?" "I take people to dinner sometimes." Pam had nagged me into six dinners last year. None of those women got a second one, and my wolf sat through every course with his back turned. His name was Axel. "Mommy says Vivi should be your mate so you won't be grumpy anymore." Dustin licked milk off his spoon. "She also says you need one because you're getting old." Somewhere in my head, Axel yawned so wide that I felt it in my teeth. "I'm thirty-two," I said. "That's old," Dustin said. Jonah made a noise into his tea. "Did your mom tell you that?" I asked. Dustin shook his head. "I heard her tell Daddy." "Uncle Dec." He tugged my sleeve. "I want a bird." "Your mother said no pets." "She said no puppies. She didn't say birds." He had his mother's logic. "The clinic in the Landing has strays," Jonah said. "Adoption only." "Fine." I pointed at Dustin. "One small bird. A friendly one." "Can it talk?" "It can be polite." * * * Betsy's heater had one setting and it was angry. I patted the dash anyway. "You're doing it again," Dustin said from the middle of the bench seat. "Doing what?" "Talking to her. Mommy says it's weird." "I'm encouraging her." "I'm naming the bird Steve." "You haven't picked a bird." "Steve is a good name for any bird." "Vivienne texted." Jonah scrolled. "Lemon bars or apple for Sunday?" "Whatever she thinks is best." "That's what you said last time. She agreed with you." "She's agreeable." "Silas told her the sky was green last month." He put the phone away. "She said it did look a little green." I watched a hawk sit on a fence post for a mile and envied it. Six weeks to the Hunt Moon Gathering. Clause Nine said an unmated Alpha got a Luna chosen by the Council, and everyone at that table knew whose daughter they would pick. "I'd take any Luna at this point," Jonah said. "Even a Pruitt." "No way." "See? You have standards." At the town's one stoplight, Corrie Pruitt stood on the curb with her phone in her hand. She waved it at us. "Don't wave back," Jonah said. "Hi, Corrie!" Dustin waved with both arms. "She'll post that by lunch," Jonah said. "Post what?" "Whatever we do next. She's never wrong." My phone buzzed on the dash. It was Pam. Did you tell him no puppies? The first text said. The second came before I could answer. Don't let him pick a snake. "Is that Mommy?" Dustin tried to read it upside down. "She says hello." "She doesn't say hello. She says don't." "She also says eat a vegetable," Jonah said over my shoulder. "I had a pickle." "A pickle isn't a vegetable." "It started as one." * * * Corbett's Landing Animal Clinic smelled of disinfectant and wet dog. A woman came through the back door hip first with a clipboard and a green budgie on her shoulder. She hit the doorframe on the way and didn't seem to notice. "She hit the door," Dustin whispered. The room tilted toward her and my palms went warm. Orange peel and warm bread came in with her. Axel lay down on the floor of my skull and hummed. The sound was coming out of my chest. Warm, he said. Look at her mouth and her neck, and take her home. Dustin looked from me to the woman. "Why is he standing like that?" "Like what?" she asked. "The way Betsy does when she won't start." "Dec," Jonah said out of the side of his mouth. "You're humming." "I'm not." "It's a refrigerator sound. Stop it." Ciara, Axel read off her name tag twice. I can read. "Hi!" Dustin said to the woman. "Do you have a bird?" "We do." She crouched to his height and the budgie walked down her arm. "We don't sell them, though. They're free, and they come with a lecture. Do you want one?" "Yes!" "I'm Ciara," she said. "Loud or polite?" "Loud," Dustin said. "Polite," I said. She looked from him to me. Her hair was coming out of its clip, and she had a bite scar across one thumb. "I have a parrot who swears in two languages," she said. "Does that count as polite?" "Which two?" Dustin asked. "English and Portuguese. Her name is Dolores, and she is mostly rude." "Can I have her?" "No," I said. "No," Ciara said. "But I like your style." She stood and tilted her head up at me. "You're staring. Do I have something on my face? It's usually jam." Keep going, Axel said. She smells like toast. "Your ceiling." It was a lie and a bad one. "That beam is carrying more than it should." She glanced up and back down, amused. "It's carried it since 1962 and never once complained. Are you an engineer?" "Yes." "Of bridges," Jonah said. "He yells at them when they sag." "Does that work?" "Not once. He's committed." "Good," she said. "Somebody should be." She's funny, Axel said. Marry her. "Is something wrong with your friend?" she asked him. "No." Jonah was enjoying himself. "He's just a little occupied." "Uncle Dec needs a..." Dustin began. I put a hand over his mouth. Axel was still talking, and the last thing he'd said came out of me. "He needs someone soft to keep him warm at night," I said. Her eyebrows went up. Jonah looked at the ceiling and shook. "A bird," I said. "He needs a bird." Dustin pried my fingers off his face. "Mate!" he said. "Uncle Dec needs a mate!" "What's a mate?" she asked him. "A friend." She smiled at him. It was the first time she had smiled at anyone in the room, and I felt it in my knees. "I can be his friend if your uncle is nice," she said. Friend, Axel said as he rolled onto his back and showed me his belly. I want to be more than her friend.