Chapter Six

Jamie

“Are you sure you have everything?” Seth asked, handing me my bag. He’d been acting like my big brother instead of the younger one he was, since I got the invitation.

He’d researched the hell out of Bearclaw Inn. I was surprised the place even existed.

“I have everything. It’s only two nights and two days. And I saw you sneak that expensive cologne into my bag.”

He chuckled. “What? It’s known that it enhances your pheromones. If nothing else, you get laid.”

This brother of mine, I swore. “Well, if all your research is correct, then I already have a mate lined up. No need for special cologne or flirting, which I am terrible at.”

“You aren’t terrible. Just a little nerdy.”

Scoffing, I slipped on my shoes. “Says the man who spent the week eyeballs-deep in Bearclaw Inn lore and myths. You could write a damned book about that place.”

“When you get back, you have to tell me everything.”

I blew out a breath. “What if I find my alpha, and he sweeps me away. Maybe I end up on a worldwide trip.”

“Bullshit. You’d never do that without telling me. And when you call to tell me, you can spill the beans about Franklin. I have to know. There’s a whole Reddit thread.”

“Stop. I’ll be back. Mated, if all your stories are correct.”

I wished a small goodbye to Sylvia who wanted to know if there was a Bearclaw Inn for older females as well. I promised to ask Franklin.

Gods, we spoke of Franklin as though he were someone we knew. We did, but only from the tales of others.

As I got into my Jeep, the nervous jitters punched me in the gut. I was sure they’d been buzzing there through the last few days, but I’d ignored them in favor of packing and shopping for a few new clothes. Wouldn’t want to meet my alpha in one of the outfits I wore to the coffee shop.

I set up my GPS and let it calculate before pulling out of the parking garage underneath our apartment complex and onto the road. It would take me at least an hour to break free of the city. In the meantime, I enjoyed the views. I rarely got to the other sides of the city except when I went to the big museum or caught one of the concerts.

And, of course, I couldn’t really get on the road until there were snacks.

Gas station snacks were imperative.

Loaded with food that nature never touched, I got on the road and heard the GPS call out my arrival time. Two and a half hours. Two and a half hours, I’ve been living away from an inn that promised without words to find me a mate. Seth said that people from all walks of life and ages went there, expecting a weekend to themselves and by Sunday, or earlier for some, they’d found their mate or mates.

Some of the omegas were even pregnant by the time they got on a plane to go home.

I didn’t know if I wanted that, but I longed for an alpha, a mate, a partner to go through this life with.

While I drove, determined to enjoy the trip, I listened to the cheesiest romantic songs I could find. Or, rather, that Seth could find. He’d insisted on making the playlist. Seth was more invested in this whole thing than I was, and that was saying something.

I’d bounced back and forth on my feelings about this trip. Most of me and my wolf wanted to believe we were only hours from a weekend away from it all where romance would blossom. Then there was a smaller but louder part, one that rolled its eyes at the very idea, tearing all the stories up in the name of logic and common sense.

The thing was, there was no logic and common sense in anything that was mating. Not the instant attraction. Not the knowing somewhere deep that the person was your mate. Not the tingling.

Hell, there was no sense in the fact that, at will, I could turn into a damned wolf.

Those two parts of me, the wanting-a-mate part, and the sensical one, were currently at war.

Neither was winning.

After a few hours of eating junk food and wailing out the lyrics of eighties tunes, I finally made the turn, the last turn that would lead me to the inn. No fancy signs out front. The Bearclaw Inn was beautiful, right out of some magazine with highlights of stunning homes that were too good to be real.

Except this place was real. Right in front of me.

I sat there in my running Jeep for a while. Hard to admit, but I was scared. Nervous, sure, but down deep I was scared. Scared that the alpha would take one look at me and go the other way. There was no reason for me to feel that way.

Feelings didn’t have to have solid reasoning behind them, I supposed.

My stomach dropped as I cut the engine and the front door to the house opened.

This was it.

I got out and grabbed my bag.

The sun was already bidding good night in the sky, throwing out shades of rust and lavenders on her way out.

“Hello!” the man called.

“Hello. I’m Jamie. Is this the Bearclaw Inn?”