Seeking to Belong: Wolftale Series~Book 1

by M. Ekman

  Ruth’s lips parted, “Alpha,” she emphasized, “you cannot expect me to just up and switch packs. I still haven’t decided what to do about…”

  He leaned forward suddenly intense, “Ruth, it would be wonderful,” it took a conscious effort to get that word out, “if he came back to you, groveling and begging for forgiveness. However, what will you do if he doesn’t? Would you want to stay in the same territory with him?”

  “Honestly, I have no idea,” she said in a small voice.

  Tyler began to reach out for her but thought the better of it and simply let his hand fall to his lap.

  His next words he spoke more gently, “We are a small pack of barely 100 but I can promise that if you needed a place to belong you could find one here.”

  Ruth paused closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. She wasn’t angry or upset, but rather Tyler felt as if he’d somehow struck a cord with her.

  Just as Ruth opened her eye’s Tyler felt a shove in his mind. “Yes, Violet?” he linked.

  “You have had her long enough. Stop hogging the girl.” Tyler would have rolled his eyes if Violet had been in the same room with him.

  “I’m not hogging anyone. You just have no concept of patience.” Violet grumbled incoherently through the mindlink.

  “Just for your interruption, I think I’ll have her meet you all tomorrow,” this statement he broadcast to the rest of the pack before cutting off his link entirely. Though he didn’t cut it soon enough to avoid hearing Violet’s loud curse.

  Tyler’s eyes focused back on Ruth who was silently waiting for him to finish. He felt embarrassed over so obviously ignoring her, what with the glazed over look he was sure he sported while talking to the pack.

  He let out a sheepish chuckle, “I’m sorry Ruth. I didn’t mean to—”

  She waved off his apology, “You’re an alpha. It would be weird if your pack didn’t communicate with you.”

  Tyler couldn’t help the smile that emerged at Ruth’s simple acceptance of him. “Speaking of my pack. I’m afraid I’ve kept them at bay for as long as I can.”

  “What?” Ruth squeaked.

  Confused as to where this sudden panic had come from Tyler just stared at her for a beat. He nearly smacked his head at his own idiotic wording before finally assuaging her fears.

  “In such small numbers, it is easy to pick out new scents, so this morning Jason let everyone know that you were staying with us. He didn’t divulge anything you told us, just that you were here as a guest.”

  “Oh,” Ruth blinked confusedly, “but um why would you have to keep your pack at bay? Do they want me gone?”

  In one fluid motion Tyler stood and obliterated the space between them in one aggressive stride. Placing both hands on either armrest effectively trapping Ruth, he leaned down so that his face was inches from hers.

  His eyes glowed amber as his deep voice rumbled, “no one would ever dare. You are m—” Tyler clamped his mouth shut to stop himself from uttering the unthinkable.

  He took a breath and with conscious effort put some distance between them.

  Not able to look at her he continued, “You are my guest and as such this pack will respect you. We are more secluded than most and so many members get excited when visitors come.”

  “Oh, oh well...”

  Tyler’s gaze was drawn back to the she-wolf once more. Her cheeks were glowing and she seemed a little dazed. He couldn’t help the chuckle that slipped out. Ruth was just too adorable when flustered. Maybe he’d have to find out more ways to push her buttons. What—no! Tyler had to stop thinking like this before he hurt himself, or worse, Ruth.

  The silence that fell upon them was broken by an insistent knock at the door. He sighed in a resigned manner, “Come in Violet.”

  Without looking to see the door open Tyler brought his hand forward to lift Ruth from the chair. She must have still been a little discombobulated since she took the proffered limb almost instantly and without comment. Either that or the brave little warrior before him was actually nervous.

  He heard rather than saw Violet throw the door open causing it to bang against the wall. Only once Ruth was on her feet did he finally turn to look at the tiny troublemaker who’d entered his domain.

  Violet’s honey-colored hair was twisted in an intricate braid at the top of her head, and her eyebrows were raised at seeing the two’s joined hands. Once again Tyler had forgotten to let go of Ruth after helping her to stand.

  Glaring at him Violet announced, “You’ve had long enough Alpha.”

  Tyler heard Ruth give a small intake of breath at Violets audacity; most would not be permitted to speak to an alpha in such a way. Unable to resist Tyler leaned down and whispered in Ruth’s ear, “don’t mind Violet. We have tried to rein her in but to no avail. She’s the little whiny sister I never wanted but, according to her, I am sorely in need of.”

  Ruth’s cheeks colored only slightly before Violet, of course, chimed in. “Now Alpha, there’s no need to whisper. Haven’t you heard that that’s rude? And anyways I’m sure our guest is getting tired of your domineering presence.”

  Releasing Ruth’s hand Tyler stalked towards Violet with an evil gleam in his eye. “Oh, I am the one without manners, huh?”

  Violet let out a squeak and dodged Tyler’s lighting fast arm just in time. “What are you doing?!”

  Grinning Tyler went after her again, “Payback, for the worms in my boots.”

  Violet’s eyes widened in fear, “What!”

  “Please. You could not possibly believe that I didn’t know that was you, Princess Prankster.”

  Shocked her mouth opened with a pop, “Alpha I—I—”

  Whatever she was attempting to utter was cut off as Tyler managed to finally grab hold of her arm and wrapped the small girl in a vice grip pinning her to him. Then he slowly lifted his free hand menacingly towards the top of her head.

  Squirming to get out of his hold Violet shouted, “I just finished my hair! It took forever!”

  Tyler stopped his ascending hand at the last second and twitched her nose instead, “you’re lucky I’m feeling in a forgiving mood, but Violet, don’t forget that your time is coming and payback’s a—”

  “Tyler!” Ruth, who had been watching the whole scene unfold with equal parts amusement and surprise, scolded.

  Violet smiled at Ruth’s interjection and twirled out of the Tyler’s suddenly loosened grasp. “It would be, but we both know you’re too soft to do anything to me. I’m your favorite after all. However,” Violet’s eyes shifted to Ruth, “that might no longer be the case.”

  The coy statement froze Ruth on the spot, but Tyler merely rolled his eyes and waved Violet away in a shooing motion. “Go ahead and take her to your little gathering before you get yourself into real trouble.”

  Smiling victoriously, Violet snagged Ruth by her wrist, which contact caused Ruth to inhale a sharp intake of breath. Tyler gritted his teeth and had to stop himself from ripping Violet off of her. Luckily, she picked up on Ruth’s discomfort and casually dropped the limb as Violet backed out of the door beckoning the other she-wolf with a beaming smile.

  Ruth glanced back at Tyler in confusion before stepping across the threshold, which caused a small smile to tick at the corner of his mouth. He sent Ruth a wink that got her glaring and marching after the tiny antagonist. It appeared he liked pushing her buttons too much, as Tyler couldn’t wipe the smile from his face even after returning to his dreaded paperwork.

  CHAPTER 6

  Ruth had been taken aback by Violet's chastising tone towards an alpha, considering she smelled like an omega. Omega’s were the weakest members of the pack and as such always served their alphas with great difference. They were usually assigned to do chores and take care of the other basic needs of the pack since they were unable to assist in anything strength related. Omegas weren’t necessarily treated poorly, depending on which pack they were in, but that didn’t prevent them being seen by most as a lesser wolf.r />
  Once Alpha’s Office door was closed Violet had, thankfully, released Ruth’s arm and cheerily declared, “We have a kind of… welcoming to our territory for you. But don’t worry. It's just going to be us girls. No males to muck things up.”

  Ruth couldn’t help but laugh, not only over Violets words, but also her happy demeanor. The omega was a ball filled nearly to bursting with energy, at least, if her huge smile and bouncing strides were any indication. And just like that, the nerves that had been building up ever since Tyler had said that the pack wanted to meet Ruth dissipated.

  Ruth and Violet descended the stairs in a happy companionable silence, but as soon as they made it to the open doors of the mess hall Ruth nearly bolted. The entirety of the room was filled with, what must have been, every woman in the pack. Not only that, but there were large circular tables interspersed throughout the room covered in delicate white tablecloths with crystal centerpieces.

  All of this couldn’t be for Ruth; it was too much for someone they didn’t even know. She had no idea what to do with herself, but before Ruth could make any kind of excuse to get away, Violet shouted, “She’s here!”

  Almost in unison, the various women cheered and began clamoring towards Ruth all at once. Ruth became powerfully overwhelmed, due to her general lack of receiving this level of attention before.

  Despite Violet’s seemingly flighty and flamboyant nature, she was quick to catch on to Ruth’s discomfort. “Ladies, ladies. First things first, where is the chocolate?”

  A few women scrambled out from the midst of the crowd and disappeared behind a door, seemingly going to the kitchen. The rest of the 30 some odd women broke into little groups and went to claim their seats.

  Violet used the distraction to covertly talk to Ruth. “I know we may seem a little much but it’s just so rare for us to make new friends. Everyone is just really excited. You don’t have to do or say anything you don’t want to, but we would all like to get to know you. We also want to make you feel as at home as possible, so expect a lot of questions about your likes and dislikes.”

  Given a brief reprieve, Ruth looked around and just took everything in. Most mess halls were purely designed for function not comfort or ease of talking to others. Her own pack mess hall was just rows of long tables, more orderly but not exactly cozy. But here it was different. The smaller round tables were clumped together in a way that would make conversation between groups easy, but they weren’t so close that one would feel caged in.

  The only table set apart from others was at the far end raised on a kind of platform, most likely for the alpha, beta, and their families. Even though the table stood above the rest, there were still plenty of the smaller round tables around it. It almost felt to Ruth like the design was inspired by a king, surveying his kingdom and conversing with his subjects.

  Before Ruth could ponder anymore on differences in this particular pack, the women who’d disappeared into the kitchen had returned bearing heavy trays. Each one was laden down with all kinds of chocolate treats from chocolate covered strawberries to small chocolate cakes and tarts. They set their trays down with heavy thumps at one of the circular tables in the middle of the room. Violet made as if to grab Ruth’s hand but stopped halfway and instead gestured for Ruth to follow. No one else moved, still laughing and talking to each other like one big loud family.

  Violet stopped when she reached the chocolate covered table with a beaming smile, “I have to say everything looks pretty amazing!”

  Finding her voice, Ruth asked, “When did you all have the time to make these?”

  Violet laughed, “Since this morning when Beta Jason said that there was a she-wolf visitor. Also, I might be a little obsessed with desserts. I can go a little overboard when we have any kind of special occasion.” Instead of sounding sheepish or embarrassed by her confession Violet seemed proud.

  “Wait, you made all of this stuff by yourself?” Ruth uttered incredulously.

  “Duh, you think any of these other lazy bones have half the talent I do. I am the head pastry chef after all.”

  “Sugar pie, lies are unbecoming,” Maggie cut in, “You didn’t do all this by yourself. The only reason you’re the ‘head pastry chef’ is because I’m the alpha of the kitchen.”

  Violet stuck out her tongue at Maggie who in turn rolled her eyes. “Daughters can be so exhausting,” she said sending Ruth a wink. Ruth blinked in shock, Maggie didn’t look a day over 30 and Violet had to be in her early 20s.

  Before Ruth could voice her confusion however, a huge red dinner plate was thrust in her direction by Violet, “Grab whatever you want. There’s plenty more where this came from and then we’ll do a little Q&A.”

  When Violet noticed Ruth’s hesitation she took charge and loaded Ruth’s plate with so many confections it was practically overflowing. After also portioning herself out a large helping of everything, Violet led Ruth to the raised table at the back of the room.

  Confirming Ruth’s earlier suspicions about whom this table was for Violet said, “This is typically where the alpha and beta eat, however, since it’s just us girls and you’re the guest of honor, we can use it.”

  Ruth numbly sat in her seat still dumbfounded by all that had been done for her. However, not wanting to seem ungrateful, she shook it off and picked up a chocolate tart. As soon as it hit her tongue Ruth had to make a conscious effort not to groan out loud. The tart was the best thing she’d ever tasted in her 18 years of life. It was smooth like satin but also thick like a mousse. Before Ruth really knew what she was doing her entire mound of sweet delectables had been devoured.

  “Good stuff isn’t it?” Violet mock whispered behind her hand.

  “Good doesn’t even begin to cover it. This is amazing Violet,” Ruth smiled.

  Violet beamed at the compliment before turning to the rest of the women and raising her voice, “alright everyone, settle down. Ruth is going to give us a quick recap of her story and then we will open up the floor for questions.”

  Ruth couldn’t hold in the snort Violet’s words caused, and she wasn’t the only one. The peppy she-wolf made this sound like Ruth was going to be in some kind of formal interview. Violet flashed a glamorous smile and pushed Ruth to her feet.

  “Okay well, I guess everyone already knows that I’m Ruth,” she awkwardly began, “I am from the Forest Stone Pack.”

  Ruth looked down at Violet who nodded encouragingly, “I have been in training all my life to become an enforcer like my father. I…um...” Ruth really wasn’t sure where to go from there.

  Violet whispered, “How did you come to be here? Jason didn’t say much, just that you were a guest of Alpha’s.”

  “Oh right, well...um...I had my 18th birthday a few days ago...” Ruth hesitated not wanting to tell the truth but also unwilling to lie to the kind and welcoming women before her.

  Violet came to her rescue yet again, “How wonderful! Did your entire pack come to your party?”

  Ruth gave a humorless smile and released a breath, “No, not exactly. See my father is not just any enforcer but Head Enforcer of my pack.”

  A few women tittered at this but were silenced by a glare from Violet. Being Head Enforcer was a big deal, it was the equivalent to being an alpha’s third. If anything happened to the alpha or beta the head enforcer was in charge of the pack until a new alpha was instated.

  “What does your father’s title have to do with your birthday,” Violet asked?

  “Ah, well...my mother is no longer—that is to say, she has gone to the Great Luna. And with my father being so busy with his duties…” Ruth trailed off not wanting to say more, but as it turned out she didn’t need to.

  Instead of putting on a show of pity for Ruth Violet jumped to her feet with a huge grin on her face. “Are you saying you haven’t had a birthday party yet?”

  “Violet! Can we please focus on what’s important, Honey?” Maggie rolled her eyes.

  “No, don’t you see what this means? If Ruth hasn�
��t had a proper birthday party then we have to throw her one.”

  At this the entire room erupted in a cacophony of excited chatter. Everyone was trying to talk over each other to get their ideas out until Violet raised her hands like some kind of grand conductor. “Now, now. First we need ask Ruth’s opinion on the idea. Ruth,” Violet said turning, “would it be alright if we threw a birthday party for you?”

  Ruth was shocked, and not just because complete strangers wanted to throw her a party when her own father hadn’t even remembered it had been her birthday. Ruth had seen exactly what Violet was doing, the deceptively peppy girl had seen the tight spot Ruth was in and easily diverted the entire group’s focus onto another subject. Ruth would have to watch herself around this she-wolf. Violet was more cunning than the sleek merchants that passed through pack territories to sell the “newest and greatest” tech.

  Noticing she’d paused too long, Ruth blurted out, “Sure.”

  Again the noise level of the room rose but this time the voices were directed at Ruth. However, due to everyone talking at once, Ruth couldn’t really pick out what anyone was saying. In a huff, Violet’s arms lowered to her hips, which again caused the group to go quiet, though it took longer than the last time. What kind of position did Violet hold? She might smell omega, but she controlled the room like an alpha. Perhaps there was more to her and Alpha Tyler than what he’d told Ruth.

  “We are not a bunch of heckling hyenas. One at a time ladies. Since I am the only one here with manners I’ll start.” There was a collection of equal parts groans and sardonic chuckles from the crowd, which Violet haughtily ignored. “Ruth, tell us, what is your favorite color?”

  Ruth’s gaze took on a bewildered expression, “My favorite color? What does that matter?”

  “Because it just does. Answer the question missy.”

  The rest of the evening passed in laughter with some of the most random questions being thrown Ruth’s way. From asking if she had any siblings to if she ever considered getting a nose piercing. The latter question was asked by a younger she-wolf who dressed in all black for some reason.