by Jackie May
“So, can I ask you something?”
“Shoot.” His word is friendly, but he sounds wary and keeps his face to the grill instead of me.
“Okay, so packs are ranked, right? Like the alpha is the most dominant, and the second strongest is his beta, and so on…?”
His whole body sags with relief at the change of topic, and he gives me a cheerful, “Yup. The books get that part right.”
“But you’re more dominant than Alpha Toth, aren’t you? Wulf is, too, right? If I ranked you all, I’d place you first, Wulf second, and Alpha Toth third. What am I missing?”
Rook closes the lid on the grill and turns to gape at me, slack-jawed and bug-eyed. “You can feel dominance?”
“I didn’t realize I wasn’t supposed to.”
Rook comes over to sit on the couch near me. “Most non-shifters can’t, and humans never.”
I shrug, vulnerability washing over me. “I’m a bit of a psychic. Maybe that’s why. I can feel magic, too, and Terrance told me humans don’t feel that, either.”
“They don’t.” Rook shakes his head, eyeing me like I’m something special.
I squirm under his gaze, hating that I’m different, yet again, and turn the conversation back on him once more. “So, I’m right? You’re the strongest? How come you aren’t alpha, then? What’s your place in the pack?”
Rook sighs and then goes back to the grill to flip the steaks. “It’s a long story. How do you like your steak?”
“Medium rare. And we have to have something to talk about while we eat, right?”
Rook slides me a wry glance.
When the steaks are done, we move to the patio table and I give him a look. I’m still waiting. “You are relentless, aren’t you, woman?”
I just grin.
“Oh, all right. I used to be alpha.”
My brows shoot up. I hadn’t expected that.
Rook grimaces at my look and shrugs. “Our father—Wulf’s and mine—was the previous alpha of the pack. Our great-grandfather was the one who started it when the Detroit area pack split into two. Wulf and I were both groomed from the time we were born. Wulf always hated the leadership, but I was good at it. I think everyone was relieved when I turned out to be more dominant. Just before I was ready to take over for my father, I found my mate.”
I almost spit my drink out. “You were mated?”
Rook chuckles. “Is it really so hard to believe?”
I blush and shake my head. “No, of course not, but…you just seem so adamant about not dating.”
His face crumples, and I know immediately what happened. “Rook…I’m so sorry.”
He forces a pained smile at me. “Lily was everything to me. We were mated for nearly forty years.”
I choke on my food. “Forty years! How old are you? You look thirty, at best!”
Rook rears back, startled by my outburst, then throws his head back and laughs so loudly we catch the attention of all the wolves using the park or enjoying the river. Then again, the number of wolves in view has nearly doubled since we got here, so they may have already been spying on us. But now they’re openly staring.
“Sorry,” Rook says, trying to calm his laughter. “I thought you knew about shifters’ life spans.”
“Hu-uh. Just how long is it?”
“Wolves live to be around three hundred.”
“Whoa.”
“Yeah. I’m one hundred fourteen, so that’d be closer to thirty-five, in human terms.”
The man was one hundred fourteen years old. It took everything in me to play it cool. “Huh.” I blatantly ogled him for a moment, then said, “Well, you look great for your age, old man.”
Rook burst into laughter again.
When he quieted down, he seemed ready to talk about his mate without falling apart, because he continued his story without my having to ask. “So, like I said, Lily and I were mated for forty years, and though that’s not necessarily a long time to a werewolf, we were mated young, and we were happy together. Soon after we were mated, my parents stepped down, and Lily and I became the alpha pair. Thirty years ago, there was a vampire uprising in Detroit. A couple different clans who were having trouble with rogue shifters decided they were going to rid the area of all shifters. My pack was the largest and the strongest, so they attacked us first.
“We had no warning, and we were massively outnumbered. It was a slaughter. Over half of my pack was killed before we stopped them, including my parents and Lily.”
I gasp, completely caught up in the story.
He swallows, and it takes him a moment to speak again. His voice falls to a mere whisper. “I was devastated after the battle. Completely broken.”
“I can imagine,” I murmur.
“I blamed myself. I was Alpha. I was supposed to protect my pack. Instead, my pack was torn apart, and three of the people I cared for most in the world were dead.”
“It wasn’t your fault. You had no reason to think that vampires wanted to wipe out your pack. It was completely unprovoked and without warning.”
Rook looks at me for a long time but says nothing to my comment. After eating a few more bites of his steak in silence, he finally says, “I couldn’t be in charge anymore after that. Back then, I couldn’t live with myself. I was going to go off on my own, like Wulf had years before. Toth was my beta at the time. I handed the pack over to him and tried to leave.
“I roomed with Wulf for a year or so, but Peter came looking for me. He’d always been my best friend. He knew how much I still needed the pack. I’m not like my brother. I’m a social creature. Being a lone wolf was turning me dark. I would have eventually gone rogue. I’m not sure if Wulf called Peter for help, or if Peter came looking for me on his own, but he convinced me to come back.
“I refused to take the alpha position from him, but I swore my loyalty to him as alpha, so he let me stay despite my dominance over him. I don’t really fit into the pack now. I’m a bit of a misfit.”
I snort. If anyone knows about being a misfit, it’s me. Rook smiles, knowing exactly what I’m thinking. “People still like me well enough, though,” he says. “I’m basically the pack handyman now, and Peter uses me as a special advisor. He’s still my best friend. He tries to convince me to take the pack back every know and then—says I’m better suited for the job than he is—but I haven’t been able to bring myself to do it. Can’t seem to get back in the saddle after Lily, either. No matter how much Wulf tries to push me back up on the horse.”
Conversation dies until we finish our dinner. I help him with the dishes and notice a couple of women growl and glare at me when I enter Rook’s house. Again, I wonder if it’s because I’m human. Is hanging out with me some kind of werewolf faux pas, and Wulf just lied to me so I’d spend time with Rook and let him train me?
Rook washes and I dry. As he hands me a dish, I finally bring it up, because people are trying to spy on us from the park through Rook’s sliding glass door. I throw as much sarcasm into my voice as I can and say, “Don’t look now, but I think we’re being watched.”
When we both glance out the window, our lookie-loos scamper off. Rook chuckles as he hands me a plate. “I was wondering if you would notice.”
“Oh, I noticed the second we left the gym. Is it because I’m human? Wulf says you guys are friendly toward humans, but after I learned he was only trying to hook us up, I’m not sure I want to believe anything the meddlesome bastard says.”
Rook laughs again. He does that a lot for a guy who’s been through so much. He’s a lot like Wulf that way. For a loner, Wulf is one cheerful werewolf. “It’s not because you’re human,” he finally admits. “It’s because you’re hanging out with me. I may be well liked in the pack, but I’m not the most social. I’m polite and friendly to everyone, but I keep to myself as much as possible. Peter’s really my only friend.”
“Huh. I wouldn’t have expected that.”
He shrugs. “It’s awkward not having a real rank within the pac
k. Guys are on edge around me because I used to be their alpha, and the women…” He shakes his head and shudders. It’s the exact same gesture Wulf does whenever he talks about pack females. “They can’t help themselves. They have an instinct to mate, and their wolves are attracted to power.”
“Then that must make you the pack’s most eligible bachelor.”
When Rook grimaces, I snicker. “So, werewolves are the jealous type?” I ask, realizing that all the glares came from females, while the men only looked curious.
“Jealous,” Rook agrees, “and possessive.”
“So I should watch my back on the walk to my car, then?”
“No. I’ll walk you, but you’d be fine even if I didn’t. No one could challenge you unless I turned you and announced a mate pairing. Come on, the kitchen’s clean enough. Let’s get you back so you can go home and rest.”
I groan but follow him good-naturedly back toward the clubhouse and my car. “What do you mean, no one could challenge me? Do you mean fight me? Like your beta fought Wulf?”
Rook nods, like it’s no big deal. “It’s a werewolf thing. Once a mate pairing is announced, wolves can challenge the mated pair—the females for the right to take the female’s place, and males to challenge the male’s place.”
I stumble to a stop. “Wait. Two people announce they essentially want to get married, and other people can fight them for the right to marry their lover instead?” Rook nods. “That’s awful. Why would anyone want to mate with someone who hurt their lover in a fight?”
“They proved they’re stronger—a better match.”
“That’s messed up. What about love?”
Rook sighs. “It’s hard to explain, but shifters have two different personalities—the human and the wolf. When it comes to mates, the wolf instinct is stronger than the human desires. Wolves mate with the strongest eligible pack member. If your wolf doesn’t agree to the pairing…” He shrugs again, a helpless gesture. “The pairing won’t work out.”
That’s insane, and I shake my head to let him know I think so. “Still, that sounds whacked.”
“It doesn’t happen often,” Rook agrees a bit sheepishly. “Most werewolves want their human side to be as happy as their wolves. But it’s always a possibility. Peter and his luna are that way. Marie was the next strongest female after my Lilly. When I gave up the alpha spot, Marie challenged Peter’s girlfriend for the luna spot and won. Peter accepted the pairing because an alpha needs the strongest female to be his luna, but it was hard for all of them for a while. Peter’s lover eventually left the pack when Peter and Marie were mated.”
“Wow. So Alpha Toth just let his girlfriend go and mated the luna, even though they don’t love each other?”
Rook shrugs. “I think they do, now. When wolves accept each other, they can have a strong influence on their human sides.”
“Huh.” I blink a few times and shove my hands into the pockets of Rook’s jacket. It’s hard to imagine having another spirit inside me and having to reconcile with its instincts. “Learn something new every day. Werewolves are strange creatures.”
Rook laughs. “I guess it’s a good thing we’re not dating.”
I smirk. “I guess so.”
We finish our walk in companionable silence. When we get to my car, I shrug awkwardly. “Well…this is my stop.”
I start to take off his jacket, but he stops me. “Keep it. Give the busybodies around here some good rumors to spread,” he says with a wink.
I snort, but push the zipper back up. “As if they don’t have enough gossip fodder already?” I slide into my car. “Thanks for making me lunch. Well, second lunch. I feel like a hobbit, but it tasted great.”
Rook grins. “You’re welcome. Now, go home and take it easy. I don’t want to see you back here until Sunday for the pack social. We’re not training this week.” He means business, so I don’t argue. His jaw relaxes when I nod. “Meet me at my house, and we’ll walk over to the social together.” I cock a brow at him, and he shakes his head. “Trust me, you don’t want to show up to the social alone. They’ll swarm you.”
Yeah, I don’t want to be swarmed by werewolves, no matter how friendly—or not so friendly, in the women’s cases—they may be. “Your place it is. See you Sunday.”
Sunday comes too quickly. I’m a little nervous for my first werewolf party. So far, as a whole, I’ve really liked werewolves, but it’s like they’re all extreme extroverts. Haven’t met one yet that wasn’t energetic, outgoing, fun, flirty, and intense. Even Wulf—the lone wolf—is still extroverted. He just doesn’t like other wolves. Get him around anyone else, and he’s the life of the party.
I’m not shy, but nor am I an extrovert. Little wallflower me is going to be strung out by the end of the night. I can just sense it. Even the guy in the guard shack as I enter the compound tells me his name is John and asks me to save him a dance tonight.
The party is held in the large multipurpose room in the pack’s clubhouse. There’re no decorations, just a stage at one end where a DJ has a nice setup, and there’s room to dance on the floor in front of the stage. The other half of the room is filled with tables and chairs, where families and friends are eating and socializing. There are buffet tables lining the back wall piled with food. The party seems to be potluck style, with the exception of the hot dogs and cheeseburgers they’re bringing inside from some sliding glass doors that open to an outside picnic area.
I’m glad I meet Rook at his house instead of showing up to the social alone, because when we get there, the party is in full swing and every pair of eyes looks my way when we walk in. There are almost five hundred wolves here, from babies to elderly, and every single one of them stops what they’re doing to openly gawk at me. That they’re all smiling doesn’t make me feel better about the staring.
Maya dissolves the awkward tension by breaking away from the group of people she was talking to and shooting straight for me, squealing my name. “Nooooorrrrraaaa!”
I brace for the tackle hug, but Maya is so strong that if Rook didn’t reach out and steady me when he did, we would tumble to the ground. “Easy on the human, Maya,” he growls.
Maya blushes under the reprimand and lets me go. “Sorry. I keep forgetting you’re so fragile,” she says to me. Her grin quickly comes back. “I’m so glad you made it. I’ve got a ton of people to introduce you to.” She elbows me and winks. “Everyone’s interested in the woman who saved my life and got Wulf to come home, even if temporarily.”
She grabs my hand, and her thoughts immediately swarm me. She doesn’t just have a list of people to introduce me to; she’s been talking me up to all of the pack’s single males. She likes me—likes how brave I was when we were captured last month—and hopes to find me a mate within the pack so that I’ll join. I hate to burst her bubble, but that’s not going to happen, for several reasons. Still, for this job, I do need to be social, and I couldn’t have thought up a better plan than to have someone else throwing me at a number of dance partners.
“Hang on a minute, Maya,” Rook says, grabbing the hood of my jacket before Maya can successfully sweep me away. “Alpha Toth wants to introduce her to the luna, and I get the first dance.”
Maya pouts, but it’s playful, and she hands me back over to my escort. “Oh, all right. But don’t hog her all night. She’s my friend, too, and I promised I’d introduce her to a few people.”
Rook snorts, as if he knows Maya’s plan without needing to read her mind. He drags me away without promising her anything. “I don’t know whether I should thank you or yell at you for acting like you own me,” I tease Rook as we make our way to the stage, where Alpha Toth is standing with his mate.
Alpha Toth is talking to someone who has a clipboard and is saying something while pointing toward the food. He’s wearing designer jeans and a nice button-down shirt, and is holding hands with a beautiful blonde woman wearing a warm smile and a short black cocktail dress. The handsome couple makes me feel underdressed in
my jeans and hoodie. “You said this was casual,” I mutter to Rook, who’s got my hand tucked in his arm like some old-fashioned gentleman.
Rook chuckles. “I said casual, not sloppy.”
I scoff, but he has a point. “For your information, I have on a nice halter-top blouse that Cecile picked out for me under the hoodie. And my hair is down, for once, thank you very much.”
Rook looks at me with an envy-worthy cocked eyebrow that I immediately find annoying. “And you’re wearing the hoodie because…?” he asks.
“Hello. It was cold outside. We humans don’t have the same inner heater you werewolves do.”
He sighs as he leads me up onto the stage beside the alpha and the luna. “All right, fine, you’re excused, but hand it over.” He holds out his hand to me, waiting for me to give up the hoodie, and my stomach drops. I know I need to glean some thoughts from these people, and I can only do that by skin-to-skin contact, but knowing that and being ready to do it are completely different.
“Come on, take it off.” Rook shocks me by leaning in so close to me that his lips brush my ear. He rubs his cheek against mine and says, “You were the one who said you’d need to show a little skin to get good reads on people, or whatever.”
I gasp when he lifts the bottom of my hoodie up, forcing my arms into the air. He slowly raises the hoodie over my head, caressing my sides as he works it off, and tosses it aside, all while giving me a heated gaze, as if we’re in a bedroom about to get naughty. The move is sensual and so full of tension that it makes my body shiver and my face flush.
My eyes grow so wide they begin to hurt. Rook has just marked me with his scent and sort of undressed me in front of the entire pack. Rook’s mouth twitches, snapping me out of my shock, and I immediately punch him on the arm. “Rook!” Everyone in the room laughs—Rook most of all. I hadn’t realized they were all still watching us. My face turns bright red. I lean in and hiss at him. “I can’t believe you just did that! That is beyond giving them something to gossip about.”
