Golden Valley (Pack 3)

***

“This entire situation is suspicious.” Alpha Berger was back to pacing from one side of the guest room to another. “Who invites visitors to their pack land, ignores them over a ridiculously fast dinner attended by a random pack family, and then locks them in their room?”

The door hadn’t been locked at any time during their visit, but Ricky couldn’t muster the energy to point it out because what did it matter? His mate hadn’t acknowledged him.

“Maybe they’re hiding something.” Alpha Berger’s forehead crinkled. “But what? And why? They knew we were coming weeks ago. It’s not like they couldn’t get prepared.” More pacing. “What was even the point of us spending time with people who didn’t talk to us?”

Was it possible Morgan didn’t sense they were mates? No. They had been in the same room for an extended period. An Alpha couldn’t possibly miss something any shifter with a nose would notice in a few seconds time.

“Maybe it’s a power play. They get new Alphas here and treat them like crap as a message that Golden Valley is superior.”

He was pretty sure Alpha Berger wasn’t making sense, but maybe the problem was his own muddled mind. How could he think about anything but the fact that he was under the same roof as his mate? Morgan’s scent strummed through Ricky, sending an internal message about what was supposed to be happening. Touching, talking, licking. Him and his Alpha. That was what he should have been doing. He ached at the denial.

Not just his dick, which had been hard since he caught the first whiff of Morgan. But also his heart, his head, his soul. Mates were supposed to be together. Without a conscious decision, Ricky’s legs straightened. He needed to find his Alpha.

“I should call Jobe. See what he thinks.” Alpha Berger pulled his phone from his pocket.

Ricky had been paying almost no attention to whatever Alpha Berger had been muttering. None of it made sense, and even if it did, it didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was being with his Alpha. But with Alpha Berger so out of sorts, there was no way Ricky could tell him about what Morgan was to him. Not if he wanted to spend the night in his mate’s arms instead of warding off a battle between Alphas.

“Maybe you could, um…” He licked his lips, trying to think of a plan, something made nearly impossible by the increasingly thick fog of need swamping him. “You should get out of the house.”

“What?” Alpha Berger pulled his eyebrows together.

Closing his eyes tightly, Ricky shook his head. Think. Think. Think. “For privacy.” He looked at Alpha Berger, hoping the words coming out of his mouth made sense. “The call with Red River.” He pointed at the phone. “Privacy.”

Alpha Berger tilted his head to the side and squinted at Ricky, his expression uncertain. “Privacy?”

That was a question, probably, but Ricky didn’t have an answer or really any words at that point. His skin itched, his stomach burned, and his groin ached. He needed his mate and nobody was going to stop him, not even the Purple Sky Alpha. He couldn’t think of Brian as his Alpha, not now that he had met Morgan.

“You think they’re listening to us in here?” Alpha Berger whispered angrily.

His ability to exude dangerous rage at a remarkably soft tone caught Ricky’s attention enough to clear a small amount of fog from his brain. He used his newly earned concentration to tell his feet not to move toward the door. If he could wait a few seconds, Alpha Berger would be gone and nobody would be there to stop him or question him about where he was going.

“You’re probably right.” Alpha Berger bobbed his head. “Best not to take chances.” He flicked his gaze around the room. “I’ll go outside.” He turned toward the door and mumbled to himself. “If anyone asks what I’m doing, I’ll just say I’m getting something from the car.”

“Uh-huh.” Hands clenched into tight fists, Ricky watched him leave, mentally urging him to hurry. After the door closed, he told himself to count to twenty, but he only made it to eight before he was wrapping his own palm around the doorknob and then stepping into the hallway. Heart racing, he jerked his head from one side to the other, trying to decide where to go.

He took a step to the left, decided it was the wrong way, and pivoted in the opposite direction only to stop again. Golden Valley’s wealth was evident in the size of the Alpha’s house, and Ricky hadn’t received a proper tour, so he was familiar only with the route to the front door and the dining room—neither were places he expected to find Morgan. After a few more false starts in both directions, Ricky realized he was basically turning in circles.