Golden Valley (Pack 3)

A scent tickled him. Deeply familiar and yet new. Green apples. The kind that had a sharp tang perfectly balanced with their underlying sweetness. Without conscious thought, Ricky rose from the bed and stepped toward the door. He needed to get closer to that scent.

“What are you doing?” Alpha Berger said from behind him.

The question seemed to come from a distant place, and Ricky couldn’t shake his attention from the now stronger scent for long enough to answer it. Overlaid with the apples was something spicy. Almost like cinnamon but warmer and stronger. Nutmeg, maybe? Or chili? As he inhaled the intoxicating scent, his ears perked at a new sound. Footsteps.

“Someone’s coming.” Alpha Berger strode past him and blocked him from the door.

As an Alpha, his nature was to shield and protect a more vulnerable wolf, and normally, Ricky wouldn’t have minded. His own wolf recognized the action as caring. But in that moment, he wanted to snap his teeth at the man who blocked him from the enticing scent nearing them. Hands clenched into fists, nerves taut, and lungs working overtime, Ricky twisted sideways so he could see around Alpha Berger’s larger body.

“An Alpha.” Alpha Berger inhaled deeply. “A strong one. It must be Morgan Peters.” He widened his legs and crossed his arms over his chest. “He’d better be coming to apologize for the way his Beta treated us.”

There was no way the Golden Valley Alpha was going to apologize on his own pack lands for allowing them to hang out in a nicely appointed guest room. But even if Ricky wanted to point that out to Alpha Berger, which he didn’t, he wouldn’t have been able to speak. Because as the scent drifted closer, Ricky recognized something Alpha Berger didn’t, something much more important. The approaching Alpha was Ricky’s mate.

***

Earlier that evening, when he had scented his mate nearing, Ricky had been filled with excitement and anticipation. But then his hopes had been dashed when, just as quickly as the footsteps had approached, they had retreated, and several minutes later, instead of the arousing-scented Alpha knocking on the door, the same Beta who had greeted them upon their arrival came to see them. She stated the time dinner would be served, said they were to wait in the room until she came by to escort them, and then left again.

For the next hour, Alpha Berger had fumed, muttering under his breath and growling as he paced, and Ricky had sat on the edge of the bed and silently reeled. Alpha Berger’s complaints about the oddness of the situation were valid. He also had a point about their treatment bordering on rude, although Ricky thought the comparison of the room to a prison was taking it too far. But none of that mattered because all of Ricky’s emotional energy had been focused on calming his too rapidly beating heart and restraining his wolf for fear that if he shifted into his animal skin, he’d forget about propriety and run out of the room to track his mate.

Only the reminder he silently repeated to himself that he’d see his Alpha soon had kept him from flying apart. Time eventually passed, and they were led to the dining room. The large table was only half full and not one person in the room smiled or rose to greet them; it was the opposite of a welcome and the tension in the air was stifling.

Inside, Ricky’s wolf whined and the growl from Alpha Berger beside him indicated that he also wasn’t happy with this development, though for a different reason.

The Beta stretched her arm toward one side of the table. “This is my mate Ray Lopez, his brother, my brother, my sister, her mate, and my father.”

The man introduced as her mate nodded and, gaze averted, quietly said, “Welcome to Golden Valley.” Nobody else spoke.

Were they having a family dinner with the Beta? Where was the Golden Valley Alpha? Ricky was certain he was supposed to be hosting the meal.

“Please have a seat,” said the Beta.

“Good to meet you,” Alpha Berger said, his tone in no way indicated there was anything good about that moment. The loud stomping of his feet as he made his way to the chair didn’t help. Not wanting to add to the tension, Ricky kept his mouth shut and followed Alpha Berger.

Once they were both seated, Alpha Berger continued seething, the Beta spoke about the weather, her mate looked down at his plate, and the other people around the table nervously darted their gazes in Ricky’s direction and then glanced away when he looked at them. He had no idea what that was about, but he couldn’t ask without being rude, and if he was going to ask socially inappropriate questions, he would start with the one that mattered more. Like where was his mate and when was he going to get there.