Chapter 3

The morning after the full moon ran, Ruby woke up as the sun drenched her room with its warm light. It was an incredible run with her family and old pack. Ruby thought back of how the night went with a smile on her face. Scarlett ran alongside her parents and brother. Wind blew through Scarlett’s red-brown fur as Jeremy playfully ran ahead and then back to taunt her into a race. Scarlett yipped and then charged forward, leaving Jericho, Jeremy’s wolf, in the dust. Jericho caught up and snapped at Scarlett’s tail in a joking way just before the pack returned to their starting point.

The following day, Jeremy and Ruby spent most of it in their wolf forms and running through the territory. Jericho taught Scarlett how to hunt quietly as they stalked each other through the woods. It turned into a game that Scarlett loved to win. Since Jericho had a lot more experience than she did, he won more often. Jeremy tried to hold that over Ruby’s head, but Scarlett let out growls each time that he joked with her. To say Scarlett was a protective wolf was an understatement.

Dinner with her family was spent talking about the future of the pack. When Davis brought up Jeremy taking over, he would purposely say that he was still young and could run the pack for another century. Jeremy tried to laugh it off, but Davis kept a straight face, and his tone made Ruby think he was serious. Davis had already run the pack for about five decades and Shifters did live long lives. The joke ran until Heather told him to knock it off.

Ruby’s bedroom was not touched, so she was able to sleep in the comfortable bed and blankets that smelled of the lavender fabric softener that the Omegas washed them in. Both nights, sleep was almost immediate in the comfort of her old bed as soon as her head hit the pillow. Not even her own bed back home could do that.

Her family drove her to the airstrip to say their goodbyes. Ruby hated that she was only allowed to stay for two days, but Tyson would only grant that long. David argued with him for her to stay longer, but Tyson would not budge. Since he was Alpha over the Sanction, they had no choice.

As they got out of the car, Heather mentioned visiting within the next few weeks. Ruby nodded as her throat went dry and did her best to fight back the tears that were threatening to form on her eyelids.

“Don’t worry, Honey. Maybe once he is mated, he will calm down. Then you can visit whenever you want,” Heather told her as she pulled Ruby into a hug.

“She means once he finds out you are his mate now that your wolf has emerged,” Jeremy whispered, but with wolf hearing they all heard it.

Heather playfully smacked Jeremy’s arm and let out a soft growl. “That is not at all what I meant.”

Davis pulled her into a hug next. “Don’t let her fool you. She is definitely hoping you are his mate.”

Heather growled again, this time it was not soft at all. “I do not! Would it be great that our daughter is the She-Alpha of the Sanction? Yes. Am I going to pray to the Moon Goddess every hour for it to be true? NO!” Heather threw up her hands in annoyance. “Men. Ruby, honey? Are you sure you don’t want a woman as a mate? It’ll be much less of a headache for you.”

Ruby barked out a laugh, “as much as I agree with you there, no. I’m afraid I am not interested in women.”

Heather narrowed her eyes at her mate and son, “then make sure your phone is nearby at all times. You’re going to call me often to complain about your mate if you find him.”

The boys laughed and high-fived each other. They always did a high five when they annoyed Heather for the day. It was their goal to do this at least once every few days.

Hmm. Maybe I do want this as a relationship with my mate.

It would definitely mean our lives would not be boring.

Jeremy gave her a quick hug, a kiss on her forehead, and then kept her close to him, “and you call me if any wolf gives you a tough time. It’s going to happen a lot now that you have come of age. There are a lot of older wolves in your pack who haven’t found their mate. They might try to be extra persuasive to make you theirs.”

“I know. Everyone warned me of that when I transferred.”

“Well, now it’ll be worse since you can go into heat. If your mate is not in that pack, lock yourself up in your room when you go into it.”

Ruby nodded. Her parents were already by the car and did not hear their conversation. She knew that they would agree with Jeremy since their own pack had seen an unmated female go into heat. It is not pretty. Davis had to put one into a safe room a few days before she went into it so the pheromone would not drive the males mad.

When she got onto the plane, she looked out the window and waved to her family. Her eyes stung from the tears that were forming, and with each breath, she had to stop herself from crying. All three of them were waving at the car with smiles on their faces. They all wanted her to be happy in her new pack as Ruby would eventually be miserable within this one. Yet her heart broke as the plane rolled down the runway and then began to ascend into the air.

When Red Cove was out of sight, Ruby got lost into her own thoughts. She felt Scarlett within her and decided to connect with her. At first it was small talk, mostly because Ruby had no idea how to have a conversation with the other being inside of her. It was not long before Ruby was able to feel like she could talk to Scarlett about anything.

What if we don’t find our mate within the pack? Clearly we did not find him here. We saw everyone and none of them were ours.

Finding our mate is not our only destiny. We can live our lives just fine without one.

That is true. I guess because mom always talks about me finding mine, I have felt like it is the only thing I should be focusing on.

She is a mother. She wants you to be happy. Did she find a mate immediately after she shifted for the first time?

Actually, they were betrothed. Mom was from another pack, and the Alpha wanted to form an alliance. Grandpap was old school and thought the only way to form alliances was through marriage. The day mom showed up to meet dad after she shifted, they found out they were mates.

Is that why they transferred you to West Coast?

That was part of it. With being an Alpha, they thought it would be better to get me into another pack because I would not have been happy watching Jeremy run the pack.

I quite like Jeremy and Jericho. It would not have been so bad being under his rule.

Good to know that you would not mind going back home. If things don’t work out here, I could ask to transfer back.

Meaning if we are not fated to the Alpha?

Ruby kind of hated that Scarlett was able to read through her thoughts. Not exactly.

I don’t think we would need to leave the pack in that case. That would look like we cannot handle making a mistake.

Scarlett made a lot of sense. There was no reason to run home with her tail tucked between her legs just because she flirted with the Alpha, and it turned out that he was not their fated mate. It just meant that she would need to stop so people would not get the wrong idea about her. The last thing she needed was the whole pack to think that she was only interested in Tyson because he was Alpha.

Let’s hope I don’t make a fool out of myself.

* * *

Ruby heardthe screeching of the tires connecting with the runway, and it brought her out of her daydreaming. A town car was waiting for her to take her home. It was a male Omega whose name she could not remember. He was an older wolf who had gray in his hair and green eyes. His nose was a little long and pointed, and his lips were a tad too thin for her liking. When she walked past him, she heard him sniffing the air.

“You smell delicious,” he said with a rumble in his chest.

Ruby ignored him and got into the back seat. He got into the driver’s seat and peered at her in the rearview mirror. Ruby looked out the window, but glanced at him through her peripheral vision. He was staring at her in the mirror and had not started the car yet.

“Did you have fun on your trip?” he asked her, and his eyes were wolf gold.

Oh yippee. Jeremy was right.

I was hoping he would be wrong.

“Yep. It was a blast, but I’m looking forward to being home.” She looked in his direction, and he was still staring. “Alone,” Ruby added with a little more of a threatening tone.

That did the trick. His eyes narrowed, and she thought she heard a small growl. Ruby looked out the window to show him that she did not care that his feelings were hurt from her rejection. The wolf finally started the car and began their drive back.

And so it begins.

You handled it well.

I have a feeling that this is only the beginning of a very long day.

Ruby spent the car ride having to look out of the corner of her eye every few seconds from feeling like she was being watched. It was not often that the wolf was lookingat her, which she found relieving. When they pulled up to the house, Ruby quickly grabbed her bag from beside her and ran into the house to avoid a confrontation. She passed a few she-wolves, who all rolled their eyes and scoffed at her, as she made her way to her room. Ruby kept her head held high, knowing full well that engaging in that situation would lead to a bitch fit. She felt Scarlett growl inside of her but only through their bond.

I’m with you on that one. It would be a bigger headache to engage.

When she reached her room, Ruby was thanking the Moon Goddess that she did not run into another male.

“Hey, Good Lookin’,” a throaty growl emitted from behind her.

I spoke too soon.

Ruby turned to find the pack Beta, James Bartley, standing behind her without a shirt, his hair damp from sweat, and a pair of gym shorts. His brown eyes appeared black from his pupils being dilated, and his lips were formed into a sly smile. She knew that he was probably going for a sexy look, but it just looked creepy to her.

“Hello, Beta James. How are you today?” She hoped being formal would show him that she was not interested.

“I’d be better if I didn’t just come back from an intense training session.”

“Oh I bet. Tyson really makes you work during them.”

“I’m sure you are sore from sitting on that plane. How about you come back to my room and we both give each a rub down?”

Really?

Is this guy new to flirting?

“Nah, I’m good. I’m just going to go.”

As Ruby turned around, she felt James’ body pressed against her. If she would have opened her door before the awful flirting session, he would have pushed her into the room.

“Even better. We can hang out in your room. Get to know each other better.” She heard him take a whiff and realized that he smelled her hair.

“Back off, I’m not interested.”

He growled and grabbed onto her arms. Ruby slammed her heel into his foot. His grip loosened, so she moved her elbow into his diaphragm. An “oof” came out of him, and his hands let go of her. She spun around and did a quick jab into his throat. As a gurgling sound came out of him, Ruby let loose a threatening growl. “When I say back off, you do it.” James nodded his head and limped to his room on the floor above her.

Want to go for a run?

Before we bump into another male? Absolutely.

Ruby opened the door to her room and threw her bag inside. She swiftly ran outside and did not even care that she was wearing clothes as she shifted into Scarlett. It was an outfit that she would have worked out in anyway–just a tank top and legging shorts. Once she felt her paws hit the sand, Scarlett took off on the usual route that the pack ran on full moons. After the rock formation, Scarlett picked up her pace now that she was in the forest. Ruby gave Scarlett some directions to take her off the path into other areas that she loved to take walks on. One led back to the rock formation but to a small part that was flat on top where she had picnics with Mack from time to time. Scarlett began to not listen to Ruby’s suggestions and just followed the paths that seemed interesting to her. When she caught a scent that appealed to her, that is when Scarlett really did not want to listen.

Mate.

What?

Mate. Our mate is on this trail.

Ruby smelled a mixture of amber and berry and felt a tug inside of her chest. Scarlett sniffed the ground with quick breaths to where Ruby noticed that the leaves and sand blew away when she let a breath out.

He is this way!

Scarlett took off toward a small path that did not look like it was walked on frequently. Ruby heard her paws hitting the ground rather loudly from Scarlett’s speed. A few branches hit her in the face, but that did not slow Scarlett down. It wasn’t until a small opening of trees was before them that Scarlett came to a halt.

Ruby gasped at the man standing at the edge of a small pool of water. There was a small cliff with a waterfall coming down that reminded Ruby of the one she jumped off of when she was young. His chestnut hair was damp, and his brown eyes were the color of chocolate as they looked down on her. Ruby found herself slowly taking in his thick shoulders, sculpted abs, defined v line, and thick legs.

Tyson breathed in her scent as a breeze swept through the area from behind her to him, and then he licked his lips. “Mate.”