The Alpha's Red Wolf

FourYears

Chapter 3 - Four Years

Four years.

I had been looking for my mate for four f*****g years.

Midnight was convinced this was somehow my fault.

You don't look hard enough.

I kept my eyes on the paperwork covering my desk.

I'm hosting a ball for several hundred unmated wolves.

Could host two.

I stopped writing.

No.

Silence.

Then—

Three.

I leaned back in my chair and rubbed a hand over my face.

There were days when being Alpha of Ember Ridge meant protecting territory, settling disputes, negotiating with other packs, or making decisions that affected hundreds of wolves.

And there were days when it meant arguing with the enormous black bastard living inside my head.

Today, apparently, was the second kind.

A knock sounded against my office door.

“Come in.”

Jake walked in carrying another stack of papers.

I stared at them.

“No.”

He dropped them on my desk.

“Yes.”

“What are those?”

“Final confirmations.”

“I hate you.”

“That's fine.”

He sat across from me.

Jake had been my Beta long enough to know exactly how much s**t he could give me before I threw him out of my office.

Unfortunately, the answer was a lot.

“How many?” I asked.

“Three hundred and twelve confirmed so far.”

I looked at him.

“For a Mate Ball?”

“You invited eight packs.”

“I invited their unmated wolves.”

“Apparently they have a lot of them.”

Midnight stirred.

Good.

Of course he thought so.

“Security?”

“Covered. Derek has the outside rotations. I've got the main hall and entrance assignments. Visiting Alphas can bring two guards each, but they'll be briefed before entering.”

“Alcohol?”

“Limited until after midnight.”

“Guest housing?”

“Almost full.”

“Almost?”

“Cole.”

“What?”

“We have three days.”

“Exactly.”

Jake stared at me.

I stared back.

“You know normal people get excited about parties, right?”

“This isn't a party.”

“There's food, alcohol, music, dancing, and several hundred people dressed up.”

“Security nightmare.”

“Party.”

“Potential territorial dispute.”

“Party.”

“Hundreds of wolves hoping to identify the person they're biologically compelled to spend their life with.”

Jake grinned. “Really f*****g weird party.”

I couldn't argue with that.

Mate Balls had existed long before either of us was born. Packs were scattered too widely for wolves to rely on chance. Gatherings gave unmated wolves the opportunity to meet members of packs they might otherwise never encounter.

They worked.

Jake was proof.

Last year's ball had barely started when he'd caught Jasmine's scent from across the room.

I'd been standing beside him.

One second he was talking to me.

The next, he wasn't.

His entire body had gone still.

Then he'd said one word.

Mate.

I'd watched my best friend disappear into the crowd and return with a woman attached to his side.

Midnight had been unbearable for weeks.

Still am.

I ignored him.

Jake picked up one of the papers on my desk.

“You're doing it again.”

“What?”

“Thinking too much.”

“That's generally encouraged in an Alpha.”

“Not about this.”

I knew what he meant.

“I'll find her.”

Jake's expression changed.

“You know that isn't what I was going to say.”

“No. You were going to tell me not to put pressure on myself.”

“Actually, I was going to tell you to stop being a miserable bastard.”

I looked at him.

“That too.”

I almost smiled.

Almost.

Four years was a long time to walk into rooms wondering if she was there.

I had turned eighteen expecting it to happen quickly.

Most wolves did.

Every unfamiliar scent made Midnight alert. Every gathering came with the possibility that somewhere in the crowd was the one person we'd recognize instantly.

At nineteen, I was still optimistic.

At twenty, less so.

By twenty-one, I'd stopped walking into every event expecting anything.

Now I was twenty-two.

I'd met hundreds of eligible wolves.

Nothing.

That didn't mean I doubted the bond.

I'd seen too many mates together for that.

My parents.

Jake and Jasmine.

Warriors I'd known my entire life.

I knew what was waiting for me.

I just didn't know where the hell she was.

There had been women.

Of course there had.

Some had been interested because I was Alpha. Others because they genuinely liked me. A few had made it very clear they weren't looking for anything permanent.

I never judged them for it.

I just wasn't interested.

Not when Midnight and I both knew someone else existed.

Ours, he said.

Yes.

That was the problem.

I'd been waiting for someone I'd never met, whose name I didn't know, whose face I couldn't picture.

And somehow, I already missed her.

Jake's phone buzzed.

He checked it and smiled.

I didn't need to ask.

“Jasmine?”

“Yeah.”

“Go.”

“We're working.”

“You've been here since six.”

“So have you.”

“I'm the Alpha.”

“And I'm the Beta.”

I pointed toward the door.

“Go home to your mate before I start hating you.”

He laughed and stood.

“Jealousy is ugly on you.”

“Get out.”

He made it halfway to the door before stopping.

“Oh. Derek says Emma kicked his ass again after we left.”

I looked up.

“She did?”

“Apparently he wants a different training partner.”

That got a laugh out of me.

“He outweighs her by seventy pounds.”

“Which I mentioned.”

“What did he say?”

“That she's a menace.”

Accurate.

Emma had been training with the warriors long enough that most of them had learned not to underestimate her.

Derek apparently needed another lesson.

“She reads movement well,” I said. “Better than some of the recruits.”

Jake leaned against the doorframe.

“You really think she's ready for trials?”

“Not yet.”

His eyebrows lifted.

“She needs more conditioning and experience against different fighting styles. But give her time? Yeah.”

Jake nodded slowly.

I knew that look.

Big brother trying not to look proud.

“You tell her that?”

“She overheard us, remember?”

He grinned. “Right. Conveniently located water.”

I shook my head.

Emma had always been like that.

Quick mouth. Faster brain.

Jake's annoying little sister had somehow turned into an even more annoying teenager.

But she worked harder than plenty of wolves twice her size.

If she wanted a place among my warriors, she'd get a fair shot at earning it.

“She'll be good,” Jake said.

“She could be.”

His phone buzzed again.

I pointed at the door.

“Now I'm ordering you.”

“Yes, Alpha.”

“Asshole.”

He grinned. “See you tomorrow.”

The door closed behind him.

Silence settled over the office.

For approximately four seconds.

Three hundred twelve.

I sighed.

I heard.

Many females.

Also males.

Don't care about males.

“I am painfully aware.”

Midnight pushed closer to the surface.

At times I could almost feel his size beneath my skin.

He was massive even by Alpha standards. Pure black from nose to tail, without a single streak of another color anywhere in his coat.

Other wolves tended to lower their heads when he appeared.

Midnight expected it.

He expected most things.

She will be there.

I looked toward the windows.

The pack grounds stretched beyond them, lights glowing between the trees.

You said that last year.

Was wrong.

My eyebrows rose.

That might have been the first time in four years he'd admitted it.

And the year before.

Silence.

I smiled.

And the year before that.

Enough.

There he was.

I returned to the paperwork.

Another list of visiting wolves waited beneath Jake's security assignments.

Names.

Ages.

Packs.

Any one of them could be her.

Or none of them.

I wasn't going to spend the next three days obsessing over it.

I had a pack to run.

Tomorrow's schedule was already full, and Emma's birthday was the day after that. Jake had mentioned some kind of family dinner, which meant he'd probably disappear early.

Then the following night, Ember Ridge would open its doors to hundreds of unmated wolves.

For Midnight, it was another chance.

For me, it was another responsibility.

At least that was what I told myself.

I picked up my pen.

She'll be there, Midnight said again.

This time I didn't argue.

Maybe he was right.

Maybe somewhere beyond Ember Ridge, a woman I'd never met was choosing a dress, packing a bag, or preparing to travel here without the slightest idea that her mate had been waiting four years for her.

Maybe three nights from now, I'd finally catch her scent.

Maybe I'd turn around and see her for the first time.

And maybe four years of waiting would suddenly make sense.

I looked down at the guest list.

One more ball, I told Midnight.

His answer came immediately.

Ours.

I shook my head.

But this time, I smiled.