by M. Ekman
While Ruth’s cries had subsided, the whimpers that replaced them were so much worse. It was this broken sound that was driving Tyler’s wolf side insane with the drive to do something, anything that would ease her intense suffering. Moving without conscious thought Tyler hooked one arm around Ruth’s knees and carried her bridal style towards the large leather armchair located in the far corner of the bedroom.
Once settled within its plush folds, Ruth snugly tucked under his chin, he nuzzled her head and blew softly on the tops of her ears. Tyler had no idea why he thought his scent surrounding her further would help. However, his odd ministrations seemed to be working, as the whimpers grew softer until they disappeared altogether. Ruth didn’t look up or even move from her cradled position, so Tyler didn’t feel a need to break the calming silence that followed.
The scent of mint, along with something else he couldn’t quite name (maybe cinnamon?) enveloped Tyler’s nose. He knew he would never grow tired of the titillating mixture. Tyler lost track of time as he sat there holding Ruth closer then he’d ever held anyone in his life.
CHAPTER 4
Ruth’s eyes felt sore, and her muscles stiff and cramped. She finally managed to peel open her crusty eyes to find herself securely enfolded within someone’s arms. In a moment of panic at waking in such an unusual manner, Ruth flung herself backwards, ungracefully landing in a heap on the floor. The sudden and jarring nature of her crash to the hardwood caused an involuntary cry to escape Ruth’s lips.
Almost immediately upon her outcry, the room was filled with a ferocious roar. Ruth squeezed her eyes closed, stealing herself to be eaten by whatever wolf-man she seemed to have awoken. However, minutes passed without so much as a nibble on her soft still-human flesh, though the deafening roar had lowered to a menacing growl. Slowly Ruth looked above her to see a belly of tan fur completely compassing her prone form.
Shocked, she tilter her head to the left and right finding herself trapped on either side by wolf paws. Ruth twisted awkwardly to see the wolf looking around, posture stiff, and seemingly searching for something. In that moment, Ruth realized the wolf was protecting her. He must have thought her earlier exclamation was caused by some threat.
Well, this was a first; no one had stood in between her and danger since the day Ruth’s mother was taken from her. If Ruth could just clear her dazed brain enough to remember whom the creature over her was, then hopefully she’d understand why he was behaving this way. Maybe seeing his face would help jog her mind.
Trying to extricate herself from the odd situation, Ruth awkwardly cleared her throat. This garnered absolutely no reaction from the wolf above her. She tried a couple more times becoming louder with each repetition, but he seemed to be so focused on “the threat” that he didn’t hear. With a grumble over the ridiculousness of the situation Ruth cautiously reached out to touch his front paw.
His fur was silkier than she’d thought it would be and Ruth let her hand remain for a second longer than she’d intended. What was wrong with her? You didn’t just go around holding paws with a stranger. In response to her touch the wolf let his head drop to stare at Ruth upside-down.
“Um…I’m fine. I uh…I fell,” she stammered sheepishly.
Without a sound the wolf quickly sat back on his haunches and, more swiftly than Ruth had ever seen before, shifted into a crouching man. Upon seeing the man’s deep chocolate-colored eyes staring searchingly into her own, Ruth’s brain clicked. The wolf that had stood over her to protect her was Alpha Tyler.
In a rush Ruth’s memories came flooding back. She remembered telling him and his beta all about what had happened between her and her mate. Ruth didn’t mean to reveal so much, but was unable to help herself when Tyler’s entire being had been so honed in on her. Ruth hadn't been the sole focus of someone's attention like that, ever.
She was beyond embarrassed at having broken down in front of someone, let alone that Ruth had actually cried on the broad and muscled chest of an alpha. With that thought, her cheeks began to burn and she quickly pulled herself into a sitting position while firmly keeping her eyes down, wishing to disappear into the floor.
Alpha Tyler reached for her chin and hooked a finger under it raising her gaze to meet his, “you have nothing to be ashamed of. I’m the one who should be apologizing. I had planned on leaving once you fell asleep, but it appears that I’ve failed in that regard.”
“I don’t even remember sitting down,” she muttered under her breath.
Tyler removed his rough hand from her face and awkwardly ran it through his hair. Ruth tried not to watch the ripples of his corded arm muscles, but didn’t completely succeed. Why couldn’t she keep her eyes off of him?
‘Focus on something else,’ she silently reprimanded herself.
Abruptly Tyler stood and extended a hand in front of her face, “Well, Ruth, why don’t we start over.”
“What exactly does that mean,” Ruth asked skeptically without taking the offered limb.
Tyler released a soft deep chuckle, which sent a shiver down Ruth’s spine. “I promise not to reveal any of what you told me or that we spent the night together,” he said with a wink before continuing. “We will say that you are here as my guest. End of story.”
Ruth felt uncertain about trusting a man she’d just met, in a pack she’d never been to before. Not because she didn’t believe Tyler would keep his word, but more so due to the training that had been ingrained into her.
Without her consent the words, “Alright. Thank you, Alpha,” escaped her lips.
Seeing the smile light his face, she knew she wouldn’t be able to retract the words now even if she wanted. Slowly, Ruth extended her palm softly placing it into the hand that had never wavered during her internal battle. Instead of shaking her hand, like Ruth had assumed Alpha Tyler intended, he jolted her arm up and swiftly raised her to a standing position.
Keeping ahold of her fingers even after Ruth’s feet were firmly planted he said softly, “It’s Tyler”.
Without thinking, Ruth automatically uttered, “Huh?” After a beat she recovered, “Oh right, of course. Thank you, Alpha Tyler.”
Alpha Tyler’s smile grew at her blundering, which somehow caused Ruth’s heart to skip a beat. “No, its just Tyler.”
Still in a daze over Tyler’s—well, over everything about this 6 foot 2 inch gorgeous man in front of her—Ruth simply nodded. His smile remained undimmed as she let him tow her to a door on the other side of the room.
“This is your bathroom,” he stated as he quickly turned the knob and thrust the door open.
Ruth quickly glanced around to see black marble countertops that shone as if just polished. There was also a wide frosted glass paned shower, much bigger than the one she was used to at home. Ruth’s eyes moved from the bathroom and began to scan outward towards the bedroom she’d woken in twice now. It was homey, decorated in bright pinks and yellows with a huge canopied bed, and white painted nightstands on either side.
Her father would be outraged if he learned of how she’d let herself be taken somewhere without at least checking for escape routes, let alone observing her surroundings.
“Your breakfast, though by now it’s a little past lunch, and a set of clean clothes will be dropped off for you. When you’re finished you can find me at the end of the hall in my office.”
His words stopped Ruth cold, “Wait—what? I slept in Alpha’s Quarters?” She nearly choked on the last two words of her sentence.
No one ever slept in this wing in any pack house except the alpha and his family. To be found anywhere near it could result in death. Tyler chuckled at Ruth’s exclamation, causing her train of thought to derail slightly. No person should be able to create such a deliciously distracting sound.
“Don’t look so shocked. None of the alpha rooms, other than mine, are being used so it isn’t as if you are intruding. I could have put you in unmated female rooms downstairs, but when I found you I wasn’t really thinking about where you
’d sleep,” Tyler began to trail off but seemed to shake himself out of it.
When Tyler’s warm hand slipped out of hers it sparked something in Ruth and she abruptly changed the subject, “How in the world are you able to touch me?”
It was the alpha’s turn to look stunned, “Ah, that…that’s a conversation for after you’ve gotten cleaned up. I’m sure you want to get off the grime from your long run.”
More than anything, Ruth wanted to get out of her stinky, tear stained clothes, but there was no way she was letting Tyler off that easily. How was he able to be so touchy feely without her body going haywire? And why in the world was she feeling all dazed and confused around him? There was something going on and she needed to understand what it was.
“Yes, of course. But you—” her words were suddenly cut off by a knock at the bedroom door.
Tyler practically ran to answer it, though he only opened it a crack so Ruth couldn’t see who was outside. He quietly exchanged a few words with the person who’d interrupted them before glancing at Ruth with that stupidly perfect smile back in place.
She had never been a weak-in-the-knees kind of girl before, but Ruth felt she was on the fast track becoming one. Especially if Tyler didn’t stop shining his pearly whites at her like she was the sun after years of storm filled days. Ruth needed to get a grip.
Tyler opened the door all the way to allow a slightly plump woman in a mussed apron to enter. “Ruth this is our head cook, Maggie. Maggie this is our guest, Ruth.”
Without another word, Tyler strode out of the room, which caused Ruth to let out an exasperated huff knowing she would be unable to chase after him with the cook barring her way. Maggie chuckled at Ruth’s reaction, but didn’t comment on it as she set a tray of food on the bed.
“Sorry, I was just—never mind. I appreciate you bringing me something to eat,” Ruth said tiredly. With Tyler gone it was as if Ruth’s emotional exhaustion from the night before threatened to overwhelm her again. She needed to figure out how he was able to affect her so much.
“Don’t even worry about it, sugar. I also brought you some of my daughter’s old clothes,” Maggie said as she pulled a bag off her shoulder that Ruth hadn’t even noticed.
“You can keep them as long as you like. Her closet is full enough for an army of girls.” Maggie had a sweet southern accent when she talked and a smile that reached all the way to her hazel eyes.
Even through the heaviness Ruth was experiencing, she could feel the woman's warmth and sincerity. Instead of saying this out loud, Ruth simply replied, “Thank you, Maggie.”
“Us girls need to look out for one another. I can’t have you running around the pack house in your nightie. It would send all of the unmated males into heat.”
Ruth looked down at her pajamas and turned bright red, as she’d forgotten she had on her ‘bite me’ top. When she looked back up at Maggie, mortified, the older woman let out a tinkling laugh.
“Oh, sugar pie, you make this too easy. I’m just teasing, Honey.”
Then much to Ruth’s surprise the woman hugged her, squeezing tight. Ruth couldn’t remember the last time she’d been hugged, other than her weird crying fit with Tyler earlier, though that hardly counted. Ignoring the pain from her unclaimed bond Ruth returned the woman’s embrace with a fierceness she didn’t know she possessed. Apparently, Ruth had needed that kind of motherly contact more than she’d realized.
After a second, Maggie broke the hug and smiled at Ruth, “I do hope you intend to stay for a while. We need someone around here to keep that alpha in line.”
Embarrassed, Ruth stumbled, “I—Well, I mean I—”
Her mouth just couldn’t keep up with the muddle her mind had become. Maggie couldn’t possibly think that Ruth and Tyler were—that they—. Cutting through her thoughts, Maggie let out a laugh and shooed Ruth in the direction of the bathroom.
“You just go ahead and get freshened up, Honey. If you need anything, or Alpha gives you any kind of trouble you just let me know, you hear?”
Ruth could only manage a nod. Maggie’s smile widened further, and gave Ruth a pat on the hand. The action elicited another painful barb that made Ruth freeze with the effort of not crying out. Thankfully, Maggie didn’t seem to notice as she glided out of the room, that smile of hers still firmly in place.
This pack was certainly something else, if Tyler and Maggie were any indication. These people were not like any she’d ever met before, and Ruth had a feeling that they weren’t the only ‘odd balls’ in this pack. The only thing Ruth couldn’t puzzle out was whether that was a good thing or not.
CHAPTER 5
As he sat at his ornate desk Tyler couldn’t help but feel antsy. He knew it wasn’t Alpha’s Office that had him on edge, because despite the harsh memories he could never hate his one place of refuge growing up. Tyler snorted as he remembered how his father had assigned him paperwork as a form of punishment, never realizing that the real punishment was his “training sessions”.
The smell of old tomes that lined the far wall, and the sunlight that streamed through the room’s two skylights had never failed to ease Tyler’s troubles. Or at least that is how things were before Ruth had run headlong into his life. Now Tyler couldn’t seem to sit still, as his mind revolved back to a certain blue-eyed beauty.
He turned to Jason, who occupied one of the two smaller desks’ that mirrored Tyler’s behemoth one, and blurted out, “Do you have a copy of a pack transfer form?”
Jason looked up from his papers confused, “Yes. Did Ruth ask to be transferred?”
“No,” Tyler replied without further explanation.
“Alpha.“
“What?”
“You’re different with her. She…” Jason trailed off as his alpha turned his now amber colored eyes on the beta.
“Be careful,” he growled through gritted teeth.
Jason grunted, “Fine. If you want to make a fool of yourself.”
He stood and walked behind both desks towards a wall of filing black filing cabinets that reached his chest. Jason slammed through various drawers as Tyler turned back to his desk and reached for the stack of papers that sat in a bin marked “review”.
After, presumably, finding the proper form, since the thumping sounds had ceased, Jason threw the form on Tyler’s desk. Instead of having the frustrated effect Tyler was sure the beta was going for, the form lazily floated through the air before landing lightly.
Jason sat back on his desk without a word and bent over the work he’d been doing before Tyler’d interrupted with his request. Holding back a chuckle, which would have only further sully his beta’s mood Tyler began to fill out the form. By the time he’d finished the five-page document and slid the form in a folder there was a light tap on the office door.
Knowing immediately who it was, Tyler couldn’t help the smile that spread across his lips as he called, “Come in.”
Hair still damp from her shower, Ruth entered looking resplendent. She was wearing a dark blue skirt that hugged her toned thighs tightly, too tightly if Tyler’s increasing pulse was any indication. His eyes trailed up to see a deep purple shirt that also looked like it was made for someone smaller than her, though Ruth would never hear him complain about it. His perusal ended at Ruth’s eyes, which were clear and bright, no longer seeming so heavy laden.
She tentatively smiled back at Tyler, but soon her gaze left him as she began scanning the room. Not knowing why, the alpha held his breath, but at Ruth’s increasing smile as she perused his office, he released it again. It was almost as if Tyler was nervous she wouldn’t like it, though why that mattered he didn’t know.
As Ruth’s eyes came to rest on Tyler again and take a step towards him, he belatedly realized that there were no chairs by his desk where she could sit. It wasn’t that he didn’t allow visitors in his office, but more that no one, other than his beta, spent any length of time there beyond what it took to deliver a message.
Tyler started to st
and to correct his oversight when he noticed Ruth had continued her forward movement and moved towards the unoccupied desk on Tyler’s right. Without asking, or saying anything at all, she’d simply plopped down in the smaller desk’s chair and turned to face him.
After her bold move, Ruth seemed to become more hesitant, “So…?”
Realizing that Tyler had simply been staring at the girl since she walked in, he clumsily cleared his throat, “I know this might not be exactly what you had in mind, but I just wanted you to feel that you have options. Your life…You can have more.”
Curiosity lit in Ruth as Tyler grabbed the folder off of his desk and gently placed it in her lap. Slowly she dropped her eyes and opened to the first page. The more her gaze roamed over the document the more shocked Ruth’s expression became until she uttered, “Alpha”
Since her face had not lifted from the pages before her, Tyler assumed that the title came unbidden off of her lips. He decided to reply anyway and maybe push her buttons a little bit.
“Tyler will work just fine.”
“What?” Ruth finally unglued her eyes to stare at him confused.
He chuckled, which he was pleased to note, caused a slight flush to her cheeks and a slight shiver. He would have to file that bit of information away for later.
“You called me Alpha again, and, as I told you this morning, there is no need to be so formal with me,” Tyler ignored a snort that came from the direction of Jason’s desk and continued, “especially considering the night we just had.”
Ruth face flamed red and she burst out of her seat, “Tyler!”
Still smiling, Tyler relaxed back into his high-backed leather chair, “see that wasn’t so hard.”
