The Alpha's Pretend-Boyfriend

The Hunt

Sheila Bennett was not how Louie thought she would be. He had only seen her from the pictures that Dane had showed him before, in which she looked formal and unsmiling in her pantsuit or elegant dresses. And from the stories that he heard about her, he expected her to exude the same aura as Dane's strict father. So when she greeted Dane with a big hug, and flashed a kind, welcoming smile to Louie, he was gladly surprised and relieved.

“I see my brother has finally decided to settle down,” she said, pinching Dane’s cheeks. “Tell me the truth, are you forcing him to come here or do you just really like him?”

Just like that, the relief Louie felt was easily washed away. Sheila had said it in a joking manner but he could still feel his hands start to get cold again.

“Sheila, that’s not a nice question to ask,” their mother, thankfully, stepped in. “It’s very nice of you to join us, Louie,” she sweetly smiled at him.

“Thank—” Louie was about to say, but it came out squeakier than he thought. He cleared his throat and straightened his posture, trying to emanate confidence—especially since Mr. Bennett had just walked into the room. “Thank you for inviting me.”

Dane’s father only nodded at Louie to acknowledge him, while Mrs. Bennett turned to her daughter and said in a light scolding tone, “Stop teasing your brother.”

“I’m kidding, of course,” Sheila chuckled. “It’s just that you’re the first person he's ever brought to officially introduce to us. Pleased to meet you, I’m Sheila,” she held her hand out to Louie.

Louie shook her hand, making sure it was firm and brisk. “I’m Louie. Louie Farrik, ma’am,” he said, then was immediately horrified as he realized he just called her “ma'am.”

Thankfully, she didn’t seem to think it weird, and only laughed at it. “You can just call me Sheila,” she said with a smile. “So Louie, you’re an omega werewolf, aren’t you?

Mr. Bennett, who had been keeping quiet up to that point, suddenly became interested in joining the topic. “Ah right. Tell us, Louie, do you plan to have kids? And if so, how many?” Louie turned to him, unsure which question to answer first.

“Louie, dear,” Mrs. Bennett piped in, “do you get regular checkups? Omegas have really unstable pheromones.”

Overwhelmed with all the eyes expectantly staring and all the questions being directed at him, Louie felt himself take a small step back as he opened his mouth. Only, no sound came out. It was then that Dane quickly walked up to him and placed a hand on his back.

“What is with all the questions?” Dane asked with a lighthearted chuckle. “If I knew there was going to be an interview, I would’ve told him to wear a suit and tie. Can we please go to our room first and unpack our bags?” He looked to his mother for some help in the matter.

“Oh, you’re right,” she easily agreed. “You two should go ahead and prepare.”

“P-Prepare for what?” Louie asked in a small voice.

“We’re going hunting,” Sheila let him know. “You are coming with us, aren’t you, Louie?”

The human quickly glanced at Dane, then at the rest of the Bennett’s who were awaiting his reply. “Well, the thing is…” he began to mutter.

“The thing is,” Dane smiled at him, and gave him a look as if to say he was going to handle the situation. “Louie sprained his ankle just yesterday and his muscles are sore from, uh, work. So, he can’t really join us.” Before anyone else could get a word in, he continued, “But don’t worry, I already took him to the doctor and they said he’ll be fine, as long as he rests his ankle.”

“Th-that’s right,” Louie joined in, wildly nodding. “My ankle hurts real bad. Would it be okay if I just watched? Or I-I can do some chores while you’re out.”

“That’s too bad,” Sheila said, although the look in her eyes didn’t seem to match the expression. “You can still come with us and look over our things while we’re gone,” she suggested, to which their parents seemed to agree with.

“Alright then,” Dane said, picking up their bags from the floor. “We’ll head up and meet you down here in 10.”

“Be careful on your way up the stairs, Louie,” Sheila called behind them as they made a quick exit. Louie wasn’t sure if he was just being paranoid, but there was something about Sheila that made it seem like she was suspicious. It wasn’t good, especially considering that they had only known each other for a few minutes.

This suspicion was quickly solidified when, as soon as they arrived in the bedroom, Dane locked the door, pulled Louie to the farthest corner from the hallway, and whispered, “I think my sister is onto us.”

Louie let out a breath. He was slightly relieved that he wasn’t crazy, but he was also very worried that they might get found out. “I think so, too,” he said.

“But don’t worry,” Dane managed to smile at him, trying to sound as assuring as he can. “She's just a generally mistrusting person. It’ll blow off as long as we keep to the script and no accident happens. Okay?”

Louie nodded, his heart beginning to calm down as Dane’s warm hands gripped his. “Okay,” he replied.

“Good, now I don’t know how you’ll handle the next part. Us werewolves are used to hunting, but I’m not so sure about humans. How well can you handle the sight of blood?”

***

As it turned out, Louie could handle blood very well. As a human from the countryside whose father used to be a farmer, he had seen and experienced slaughtering farm animals to help put food on the table. When he went to the city, where most food came in ready-to-eat boxes, and meat and poultry were bought frozen, he didn’t think he would have any use for his knowledge in animal anatomy. Yet, there he found himself, sitting next to a campfire, skinning a deer that Mrs. Bennett had caught.

Once he and Dane had finished unpacking, they found that Mr. Bennett had already set up a campfire and a work station just a couple of meters outside of the house.

“Can’t get blood on the carpets,” he had explained to them then, before asking Louie how well he could use a knife. That led to Louie being delegated to the task of preparing the meat that they were about to bring back. Just like that, they all went running into the trees.

The last to leave was Dane, who had to make sure first that Louie would be alright alone.

“If you’re in trouble—no, even if you just think you’ll be in trouble, just yell out my name, okay? I’ll come back as fast as I can,” he whispered, looking deadly serious.

“I’ll be fine, Dane,” Louie said, “I have weapons, see?” he lifted a cleaver to show to him, but Dane didn’t seem convinced.

“Maybe I should just stay here with you,” he said, “I can come up with another excuse, like, say I also injured my ankle—”

“No,” Louie chuckled, lightly pushing him away. “Go, I can handle myself.”

Dane sighed. “Alright, fine,” he muttered as he began slowly walking away. “You’ll call when you need me, right?”

“I will,” Louie smiled at him.

Dane nodded and smiled back, then he started to run. The last thing Louie saw of him before he disappeared into the woods was him taking off his shirt before his body changed into a large brown wolf.

The first one to come back was Mrs. Bennett, who had brought a deer. Of course, Louie didn’t actually know that it was her for certain, but there was something about the wolf's kind eyes and gentleness that made him think so. After the animal was brought to him, the wolf simply ran back into the woods.

Louie busied himself with the meat, carefully making sure that he did an exceptional job—just for show to the Bennett's. After a while, he heard the rustling of leaves, only to find Sheila walking back while fixing her hair and her clothes.

“Nice work,” she admired as she passed by him to wash her hands. “Does your family hunt often?”

Louie continued what he was doing, but just to have an excuse to avoid eye contact with her. “From time to time,” he answered. “Do you, um, enjoy hunting?”

“Not so much,” she wiped her hands on a towel as she walked towards Louie. “But it’s the only family time we have where we don’t have to talk much.” She sat on a foldable chair across from him and watched him as he worked.

“Oh, that’s… good,” Louie said, unsure what else they could talk about.

“So, how long have you known my brother?” she asked, wasting no time. Louie quickly glanced at the trees, hoping that Dane would come back soon.

“Around five months, I think?” he answered, remembering their made-up backstory. “We met at the restaurant.”

“Oh, yes, Hestia's,” she nodded and thought for a second, that Louie thought she would drop the subject. Then she spoke up again, “And who made the first move? Did Dane like you first or…”

“I, uh, I think I liked him first, but he was the one who asked me out on a date,” Louie said, thanking the stars in his mind that he and Dane were able to discuss that certain detail.

“Really?” she crossed her legs and leaned back, looking at Louie as if she was deeply intrigued. “What did you like about him?”

“Well, um, he's kind,” he answered. Sheila chuckled, making him look up at her for a second, confused as to what she found to be amusing.

“And what else?” she urged him to continue.

“He’s very passionate at what he does, and he takes care of his employees like family.” Louie put down the knife and sat up straight. This was one question they hadn’t prepared for, but it wasn’t difficult at all to think of things to like about Dane's personality, and that gave him confidence in his answers. “He's also caring, and just the right amount of goofy and he wears his heart on his sleeve—which one wouldn’t expect for someone who looks like him,” he chuckled, thinking about how Dane was almost as tall and big as Gadreel, yet he smiles with no reservation that it almost makes him seem child-like.

“Don’t you think he's a bit childish that way?” Sheila asked.

“It’s endearing, actually,” Louie said with a smile.

“Hmm,” she hummed as she began to think. “That’s nice, then, that you seem to like my brother. Do you think you’re in it for the long haul?”

Louie blinked at her, a bit surprised at how direct she was.

“I don’t mean to be rude,” she said with much sincerity, “but, he is part of the family and if you two get married, so will you be. Of course, as much as I want Dane to be happy, I also want to make sure that the new addition to our family will be… stable. A marriage is still a deal, after all. It can dictate the future of the business my family built from the ground-up, so we don't take relationships lightly. We date to marry and we marry to have children. Are you willing to have children?”

Louie swallowed, but there still seemed to be something blocking at the bottom of his throat.

“And if you do have children,” Sheila continued, “I hope you’re ready to stop working to focus on your kids. That’s what my mother did, and even my husband is ready to quit once we have a child—” She stopped when she noticed Louie's fazed expression.

She uncrossed her legs and leaned her elbows on her knees. “I’m not telling you this to scare you away,” she said. “I just want to make sure you know what you’re getting into. One date is one date, but Dane bringing you to meet the family must mean things are serious. They are serious, right?”

Louie couldn’t look away from her eyes, but he couldn’t open his mouth to speak either. It was no where in his cheat sheet, nor did Dane ever discuss this with him.

It was by sheer luck that he was saved from answering the heavy questions that Sheila put forward. Right as he was about to part his lips, he heard another rustle and Dane saying, “Sheila, what are you doing?” with a sigh.

Louie quickly turned to the direction of his voice, very much relieved that he had come at the right time to save him. A shirtless Dane walked towards them, alongside his parents as he helped them carry a bear.

“I hope you’re not telling him stories about my childhood,” he raised an eyebrow at his sister, as they let the animal down on the floor.

“I wasn’t,” she rolled her eyes as she stood up to walk over to them. “What’s this for?” she asked.

“A rug,” Mr. Bennett replied, wiping off the blood from the side of his face. “Everyone clean up first,” he announced before turning to Louie. “Are you good here? You know how to properly skin a bear, son?”

“Yes, sir,” Louie stiffly replied.

Mr. Bennett only nodded then headed into the house with his wife and Sheila, while Dane sat beside him.

“You okay?” he asked, looking worried as he wiped his hands on his jeans.

“Yeah,” Louie replied, trying his best not to look at Dane's naked torso. “You can go wash up, I’ll just continue this.”

“Actually, I need your help,” he sheepishly said. “I lost my shirt somewhere and it’s getting dark. Do you mind helping me find it? It’s not that deep into the woods.”

“O-of course,” Louie nodded, quickly standing up even though his knees felt wobbly from the conversation he and Sheila just had. “Lead the way.”

***

It was obvious that Louie was spooked and was trying to hide it. For one, he seemed too enthusiastic to search for a shirt amongst the trees in the late afternoon. It also didn’t help that he acted clumsily than usual, tripping over a few roots and even walking right into a bush. It was clear to Dane that Louie's head was somewhere else.

“Did my sister say anything weird to you?” Dane asked as Louie finally stopped yapping about the different ways he had butchered farm animals.

“Uh, just a few things,” he answered in a small voice, his back turned towards Dane. “She just asked when we met, what I liked about you, and just a couple of other things.”

Dane spotted his shirt hanging from a low-laying branch and managed to pull it off. “Like what other things?” he asked, watching as Louie continued to part the same set of leaves for the third time.

“Like, um, if I was serious and uh, something about kids…” he trailed off.

Dane leaned his bare shoulder against the trunk of a tree. “Did she give you the speech about how serious relationships should be and how it’s a business deal of some sort?”

Louie stood up and turned around so quickly that his foot got caught in a vine. His foot twisted and he felt himself fall to the side as he tried to grab onto anything. Dane quickly caught him by the shoulders just before his head hit a tree.

“Geez, be careful!” Dane exclaimed as he helped him up. “You almost hit your head!”

“Sorry,” Louie muttered. He took a step to avoid the vine that caught him, but when his foot landed on the ground, he felt a sharp pain that made him wince. Dane caught this and was immediately back at his side.

“What is it? Did you hurt yourself?” he asked, looking wild with worry.

Louie moved his foot around and chuckled. “I think,” he said, “I really did sprain my ankle. But hey, I guess you found your shirt.”

Dane, also seeing how ridiculous the coincidence was, also smiled with him then put his shirt back on. “Come on,” he said, offering his back. “Let’s get you back to the house and patch you up.”

Louie nodded, and even though it made his cheeks burn with embarrassment, he took the man's offer and climbed on his back. With his arms around Dane's neck, and with his legs secured under his arms, Dane began to walk.

They carefully went through the forest in silence for a minute or so, with the sun beginning to set above them. Louie rested the side of his head at the back of Dane's as he admired the orange glow peeking through the leaves and branches. It was starting to get cold as the nighttime approached, but the heat from Dane's back kept him warm. For a while, Louie focused on what was happening in the present and rid his mind of his worries—specifically the new ones that Sheila had put forth.