I quickly stepped out on the sidewalk trying to identify the smell. My body felt on edge and I just wanted to be surrounded by that smell. I gazed down the street and that's when I saw him. My breath caught in my throat, he had dark brown hair, a stocky build probably no taller than six foot and arms built to throw a girl against a wall. He was too far away to see anymore. I felt drawn to him.
My body was reacting in ways that were foreign to me even at this distance I was becoming wet and I felt little pangs in my lower abdomen. I quickly turned away and headed the other direction. It was dangerous for an unmated females to be so aroused in public, I needed to calm down and quick.
My face had to be flush as my whole body felt like it was burning deep within. I chanced a small glance over my shoulder and could tell his face was now pointed in my direction. I urged my feet to move faster although it wasn't easy my whole body felt like jelly. I couldn't lose myself here. I rounded the block and headed down an alley way. I pushed myself forward down the narrow sidewalk until I could no longer smell him, I leaned against the buildings side to catch my breath and gather myself. What was that? I have never lost myself so much. My legs felt shaky and my body felt weak as if I had just run a long distance.
After what felt like an hour, in reality it was probably more like 15 mins. I felt like I has pulled myself together enough I could risk going back to the main street. I peaked around the buildings corner to make sure the coast was clear. I didn't see him anymore, part of me was relieved, but another part couldn’t imagine anything worse than his absence. I headed towards the bakery to get Amber's order before high tailing it home.
When I got home, I left the cookies on the counter for Amber and headed to my room. All thoughts of training had left my mind. I couldn't stop thinking about him, I barely even saw the man but I couldn’t put him out of my mind, I sat on my bed lost in thought for a while until I realized all the boxes sitting around just waiting to be unpacked.
I started unpacking them, I mindlessly put my belongings in place, as my mind was otherwise occupied. Who was he? Would I see him again tonight, at my pack welcome ceremony? If I did, could I control myself better? I had to! I couldn't get aroused like that in front of the pack.
Hours passed and I was unpacking my last box when Amber poked her head in my room.
"You better start getting ready, we need to leave in about an hour." She stated
"Oh wow, I guess time flies when you are having fun" I said with a sarcastic laugh.
I headed to the bathroom to get a shower. Tonight, was important, the pack would see and get their first impression of me and I wanted it to be good. I could feel anxiety building inside me. Tonight I would also pledge my loyalty breaking ties with my previous pack and forming new ties with this pack.
Once I finished my shower and dried off, got dressed in a dark blue day dress with some black flats, that I had picked out while unpacking. I topped off the look with my mother’s diamond circle necklace designed to represent the moon. I added a light coat of makeup, which is something I only did for special occasions, I threw my hair into a sleek ponytail and gave myself a once over in the mirror. All eyes would be on me tonight, so you know no pressure.
Amber hollered up the stairs it was time to go. I headed downstairs and out to her car. My initiation ceremony would be at the Pack House.
“Damn girl, you clean up pretty good!” Amber said while sliding into the drivers seat.
"Thanks” I said breathlessly, my anxiety was building making it hard to breath. “So what is the alpha like again?" I asked Amber
"Like I said, he is a really nice guy, currently unattached, but stern and scary when need be."
"How old is he?"
"26, he took over as Alpha 3 years ago, when his mom and dad felt he was ready, they are currently traveling and won't be in attendance.”
The pack house was only about a ten minute drive from Amber’s farm house. The pack house was situated close to the middle of the territory.
There were trees on each side of the drive and I could see wolves patrolling the grounds. We rounded a small corner the house came into view. It was a large 3 story farmhouse with white siding and dark green shutters beside the windows. There were already several cars in the large driveway.
I could feel my stomach starting to turn to knots. So many people, I took a deep breath and counted to ten in my head. Amber parked the car and hoped out.
"Ok here we go" I said out loud to myself as I put my hand on the car door handle to pop it open. As I put my foot on the ground it felt like my heart was in my throat. I was nervous enough as it was but then the thought that my mystery man might be here also popped into my head.
When we got to the door Amber opened it and waved me in. I stepped into the foyer that had a light-colored wooden floor. With cream-colored walls decorated with various pieces of artwork. I could already hear the roar of many people happily chatting away somewhere nearby, I could also smell various foods aromas floating in the air. Amber led me down the hall to a room with double door entry. Before I could ask her to give me a minute Amber popped the doors open, the sight inside almost took my breath away. It was a large banquet hall lit by hundreds of candles and the tables were adorned with shining gold tablecloths, in the middle of each table was a large flower arrangement primarily made up of white lilies, and there they were my new pack, my new family. Once we stepped through the door, the roar of conversation almost came to a halt and several faces turned to our direction most were friendly and welcoming although I did catch a couple sneers. Its hard to even describe how nervo
I answered the phone, and it was Shirley the lady who owned the craft store. "I'm sorry to bother you dear but my daughter needs me to babysit unexpectedly, do you think you could come in and cover the store?" She asked"Uh yeah I can do that, just let me get changed and I will head that way.""Oh, thank you so much!" she exclaimed clearly happy that I was available."No problem" I replied, even though I had been up all night, it's not like I could sleep anyways. I hung up the phone and told Amber I would be starting work today. "I don't know how you do it? Aren't you exhausted!" She exclaimed "Oh, it's ok, I can sleep when I'm dead" I replied with a smile and nudged her in the shoulder.When we got home, I got a quick shower since I smelled like the woods and sweat. I got dressed and headed to town. Shirley gave me a quick walk through and left. As I sat at counter waiting for someone to come into the store, I realized unfortunately there wasn't much to occupy my mind. It quickly
When it got close to closing time, Shirley came in to lock up the store. She asked me how my first day went and thanked me again for covering the store, so she could babysit. I told her it was no problem and everything went good. Once she finished locking up I went straight home, not sleeping the previous night was definitely catching up to me and I was starving which didn’t help matters. Luckily Amber had some dinner waiting for me and I didn’t waste anytime in eating it. It was some kind of spaghetti bolognaise, it tasted amazing as far as I could tell, but I was shoveling it into my mouth and swallowing as fast as I could. "I see Alpha Ethan found you." Amber said while I still had a mouth full of pasta. “hmm” was about all I was able to get out with my mouth packed full of spaghetti noodles, I raised my eyebrow at her question.She pointed at my neck. "how lucky it was he found it.""What?" I said confused having swallowed the large bite of food "how did you know it was him?"
The next morning came, and I was filled with energy, lunch at the Alpha's house possibly followed up by a run. Nothing sounded better, plus three days of waiting was almost more than I could take.I was dressed and ready hours before I needed to be. I wore my black leggings and a dark blue dress that flowed to my knees. My hair was down with a blue headband holding it away from my eyes. Amber noticed how excited I was, as she suggested we could arrive a little early if need be. I didn’t even have to think about it, but I paused for a moment to at least act like I needed to, I knew Amber already had a pretty good idea that I liked the Alpha, but I was never someone who could openly talk about my crushes, not until I was sure the other person felt the same. “Yeah, I guess that will be alright” I tried to say calmly without smiling, but inside, I was beyond excited.I was hoping maybe today would give me a chance to talk to Alpha Ethan without so many people around, and maybe I could
The next week passed by slowly, I tried to occupy myself by keeping busy with work and training. A couple days had gone by since the disappointing Saturday when I came home from the craft store to find Amber preparing a feast. I spotted serving dishes piled high with steaks, baked potatoes, and corn on the cob. It all smelled so amazing. "Umm I know we eat a lot, but this seems like a bit much for us." I laugh "Oh yeah Jonathan is coming over, so I figured we would need some extra." She responded "Beta Jonathan?" I questioned Apparently, this wasn't very out of the ordinary as him and Amber were close friends, she explained."Oh, I didn't know" I said smiling wondering if there was something else going on there. Amber wasn't as reserved as I was, and she was content "experimenting" as she put it with others until she found her mate. Soon there was a knock at the door. I went to open it. Jonathan was standing there with a tub of ice cream and the movie Underworld. "Up for a movi
I didn’t sleep well that night, me and Amber’s conversation kept replaying in my head. I couldn’t believe she suggested Jonathan and me should be chosen mates when we hadn’t even had a date. Maybe she was just trying to get her point across, when we used to talk about our mates together, Amber would always say why put off your happiness now, for something that might happen later. I understood where she was coming from, but I guess I was still caught up in the fairy tale of finding my mate. I finally rolled out of bed around 10 a.m. the next morning and headed downstairs for some breakfast, luckily, I didn’t have to work today and I decided not to train, I really just wanted a lazy day at home. As soon as I stepped in the kitchen, I was met with a booming happy voice."Hey there sleepy head." Beta Jonathan said surprising me. He was smiling at me while he was cooking something on the stove. I knew I smelled axe body spray and cranberries, but I thought it was just left over from the
Alpha Ethan’s (POV) I had just spent a week at the Alpha gathering in Nashville, and I was on my way home. I was ready to be home, back with my pack. Alpha gatherings can be such tedious affairs, but if I didn’t attend it would look bad not only for me but the pack.I ran into Renee's old Alpha, Joey and his mate Kristi although I don't think they were true wolf mates, more like they got tired of waiting. They were interesting, to say the least. Kristi bluntly approached me asking about, what I thought of Renee. I also couldn’t help but notice Alpha Joey seemed to be intently listening for my answer.I knew Renee was supposed to be Alpha Joey’s beta but declined the position. Amber said it was due to a difference in how they each thought the pack should be ran. To be honest it concerned me at first that Renee would decline such an important role in the pack, just because of a disagreement on how to manage the pack. I asked around to some of my contacts in other packs that had met Ren
Alpha Ethan (POV)They had her in a private room at the end of the hall, in a dimly lit room. The sight inside was heart wrenching, Amber was sitting right at Renee’s bedside holding her hand and Jonathan was standing in the corner looking far more stressed than I had ever seen him before. Renee looked so helpless on the bed. Her face and what I could see of her body was covered in a red rash, her eyes were swollen closed and very puffy, she had an oxygen mask strapped across her face covering her nose and mouth. Her breaths were shallow and weak."How is she?" I asked "I don't really know, the last time I talked to the doctor he said she was stable, but not healing how she should." Amber answered, her face was stained with tears. "I will go talk to them now." I said as calmly as I could, but I was annoyed what was taking so long why weren't the doctors doing more! As I was basically stomping out of her room, I almost ran over her doctor. "Doctor what is going on?" I asked my voi