His Warrior Alpha

The Calm before the Storm

Melody’s POV

I quickly put away the food truck order the whole while being lectured by Greg.

“Yanno, I could already be out of here if you weren’t lazy and slept in.” Greg loudly complained.

“I’m going as fast as I can.This is the last box,” I said as I checked it off my clipboard and signed the paper showing we had received all of the contents of our order.

“It had better be. I would tell the Alpha myself if he wasn’t in the meeting with the future Alpha and Beta.” He snatched the clipboard from me and threw the pink copy of our invoice at me.

“Well Greg. It sure was a pleasure.” I snapped back as I carried the last box inside. As I walked through the door, the box was quickly taken from me by Quinn, who had just arrived.

“Hardly working?” She joked as Celia, the self-proclaimed ‘Gamma’, tossed me a rag to wipe the sweat off my face.

“Oh, you know me. Slacking off as normal. I might go take a nap.” I responded.

“So any news for us?” Quinn wagged her eyebrows, her green eyes full of mischief as always.

“No news.” I lied. I couldn’t share anything yet and I still didn’t know what would happen. “Our mate will accept us.” “-Reed won’t be able to. You know that. He is the Beta and the Alpha will not just allow him to take me as his mate.-” “Warrior trials are soon, more reason to fight. Win our freedom and…” I cut Aria off. “-And even as a warrior I still have to serve 4 years in the pack. He shouldn’t have his life on hold for 4 whole years for us. I’m going to accept his rejection when it comes. It might hurt, but it is for the best. For both of us.-” I sighed.

“Sure, sure, that's why you just went silent for the last couple minutes. Talking with my bestie and you won’t even let me in on the secret,” Quinn pouted.

“That is why Celia is my bestie and not you.” I laughed and tossed the towel at her. She growled at me.

“Hey! You leave me out of this Mel. Last time you said you liked me better she put green food dye in my soap. I was green for 2 days until it wore off!” Celia shook her head as she helped to put away the boxes from the truck.

“That wasn’t because she said she liked you better. That was because you tried to say you were our Beta.” Quinn rolled her eyes.

“Shut up, Quinn, you can’t yell it to the world while we are in the pack house. Are you insane?” I unintentionally let my aura slip out. I shouldn’t have an aura as strong as I do as my brother and I should have been stripped of our rank when our pack was taken over.

Quinn stopped in her tracks and smirked as she walked over to me and whispered “Yes, Alpha.” Goddess, this girl was going to get us in so much trouble one of these days. Thankfully, it was only us in the pantry area. Everyone else who was on duty was making breakfast and out of earshot, even with werewolf hearing.

Quinn really was testing the universe today. While I loved her like a sister, the freckle-faced red-head was very mischievous. She was the daughter of my father's Beta and she had been in the pack house on the night of the m******e. Her mother was able to get her and her brother Jeremy safely to the lock-down zone but had been killed while trying to ensure all the packs children were there safely. She was nineteen and would be twenty in 3 months, so we had been best friends since we were in diapers.

Celia was a lot quieter in comparison, normally deep in thought, and spent every free moment reading anything she could get her hands on. She was a petite blonde with blue eyes and Jeremy followed her around like a puppy. He had told me and Quinn on several occasions how he was certain she would be his mate. He didn’t even mind when Quinn teased him about the fact that he would have to take on the Delta title for our pack, as Celia was Gamma. He didn’t tell her, but Quinn and I both knew that he had a special deal with the librarian to get any damaged books so he could give them to her. In exchange, he would do work for her garden that she was not able to manage herself.

If we factored out having to be around Greg, I really did enjoy the days we had trucks. It was normally just me, Quinn, and Celia for a few hours. We would talk and put away the truck's contents and, for a moment, the reality of the world we lived in would melt away. But today, it just felt like a calm before a storm that was brewing as I awaited my fated mate's rejection. I wondered if he was even torn about having to reject his mate? Probably not, if he was anything like the future Alpha, he probably got around quite a bit and even if he didn’t, he would have plenty of women ready to take his hand just to move up within the pack. I felt a pang of jealousy but decided to push it away and focus on something else.

“Did either of you speak with Melinda before we left this morning?” I asked as I grabbed a box labeled spices. It would go in the main kitchen so I needed to move it out of the way for now until breakfast had been cleaned up.

“No, she was busy with the pups.” Celia called from the doorway of the cooler. “Why?”

“Dunno, she asked to speak with me later. I didn’t know if you guys knew what for.” I walked over to a stack of boxes and grabbed the top one, which was filled with potatoes. I always tried to get the potatoes and flour before the girls as they were the heaviest. “I guess I will find out later then.”

“Not until after you tell us your news.” Quinn smirked. “You owe us that later.”

“The news is you need to catch a couple of rabbits for Melinda so she can make stew.” I rolled my eyes.

“Not that news, the news that has you distracted all morning. Wonder if a certain someone found their mate and is hiding it from us?” Goddess help me Quinn was never going to give me a moment of peace if I didn’t tell her.

“What? Mel, you wouldn’t keep a secret about a mate from your sisters, would you?” Celia poked her head out from the walk-in. “You might as well tell them” Aria chimed in. Was no one on my side today?

“Ugh fine, I will tell you later. Please, until then can we talk about anything else?” I said, exasperated. I knew I’d have to tell them eventually. Quinn would pester me to the end of this lifetime if not.

“Okay!” They both chirped happily.

“So are we going to train today or do I get the day off for your birthday?” Quinn was the one to change the subject.

“I’ll make you a deal. You and Celia catch a couple of rabbits for Melinda and we can all take a break today. I checked the gardens before heading here and we have some tomatoes ready for picking. I was thinking Melinda could fix some stew for everyone if we got a hold of some meat for her.”

“You got it! I’ll even ask Jeremy to pick the tomatoes. You deserve some free time every once in a while. He said he wanted to meet up for lunch.” Celia grabbed another box and headed back to the walk-in cooler.

“Of course, Jeremy wants to meet you for lunch. The boy is head over heels for you Ceal.” I teased, causing her to go as bright as a tomato. “On second thought, you and Jeremy can hunt the rabbits. Quinn will pick the tomatoes.”

“Yes Ma’am!” Quinn saluted, flashing me a smile. She also pushed Jeremy towards Celia every chance she got. She hoped they were mates as well and she knew they would take care of each other.

We continued to put away boxes and chatted about what we needed to do around the quarters when we got home. It took my mind off things if only for a moment. It felt like only a few minutes later when I was back at the box of spices, everything else having been put neatly into its place. I looked at the clock and it was almost 11 now.

“I guess I will put this away in the kitchen. I’ll meet up with you guys later.” Celia and Quinn nodded as they turned towards the door.

As I walked toward the kitchen, I caught his scent again. Goddess, it should be a crime to smell so good. Dark chocolate with a hint of coffee. I peered through the window in the kitchen door and saw him. He was talking to an omega who I saw around the future Alpha quite a bit.

“He was told to break it off with you Sandra, but I know he doesn’t really want that. He just needs some persuasion,” Reed explained to her. It was odd he would be here talking to her, but I decided to just listen for now. “I’m sure if you waited in his room and surprised him, you could remind him how willing you are to be his future Luna.”

“Oh my gosh thank you, Reed!” She said excitedly. “I always knew you were on my side.” Sandra threw her arms around him and Aria growled in my head.

I was leaning close to the door to hear and lost my balance trying to keep Aria from taking over. I fell against the door as it swung open, and I spilled the spices everywhere.

“Watch what you are doing, slave.” Sandra spat. Reed growled at her but she didn’t notice.

“You better hurry up, he will be back in his room any moment now,” Reed said as he suppressed his anger. Sandra just nodded and happily bounced out of the kitchen. As soon as she was out of ear shot, Reed turned towards me. “Are you okay Melody?” His voice was suddenly soft. Maybe he was trying to let me down easy. He reached for a spice that had rolled in his direction.

“Umm yeah.” I realized I had been staring at him and quickly recovered, grabbing the remaining spices. “Just need to put these away.” I walked towards the spice rack to put them away. I could feel him staring behind me.

“Once you are done, can we find somewhere…. A bit more private to talk? I guess we could head down to the cellar… I’m supposed to bring you down there anyways.” Cellar? Shoot. I had almost forgotten I was also due for punishment now that the future Alpha had returned. “Don’t worry… I think he will be umm…. Distracted.”

“Oh. Okay.” I was prepared for his rejection but it still hurt knowing it was only a few minutes away. “He won’t reject us.” Aria seemed so assured. “-Okay fine, we will get punished by our mate and then he will reject us. Even better.-” I scoffed. “I’ll take punishment from him any day.” Aria was pleased with her jokes. I rolled my eyes and Reed gave me a quizzical look, but ultimately, he decided not to ask. Maybe his wolf was just as unruly as mine. His hand brushed mine as he grabbed some spices to put away, causing me to nearly drop the box again. Great Mel. Just great.