Chapter Fourteen

Xerxes

We’d agreed to be patient and wait to see the female at the ball, but it was easier said than done. I returned to the pack and to work, that face dancing in my mind. I’d gone to town for a bunch of silly errands anyone could have done in order to clear my head, and unlike other days, that did not happen. Of course, who could have known about the encounter I’d have on the street?

Last time I met someone that awful…what was her name? Unlike the beauty today, she told me. She and her…sister, was it? I didn’t remember at all. Preferred not to. But now that I’d met the girl with the long, silvery hair, I wished I had more information. What did she say to me…the pushy girl who kept putting a hand on my chest, my arm, anything she could reach? I shuddered at the memory, having hoped to forget ever having met her.

We generally only mingled with a few packs, but for the ball, we’d widened our invites for this event. The pushy girl seemed to think I was visiting from out of town, and I let her believe that. If she learned I was from a pack nearby, she’d find me.

Wasn’t it weird that now I was trying to find her. Or at least her family. It would be like threading a needle to get past the two of them to their friend or sister? Maybe she was visiting. She certainly didn’t have the same type of clothing they did; perhaps a poor cousin? Someone whose kind relatives invited her to come to the ball and maybe find her fated mate?

The idea was extremely appealing

I had a busy afternoon planned but after an hour of paper pushing, canceled all my appointments and texted Titan and Smoke to join me in my office. Surely, we could find one beautiful but clearly poor female shifter in the area somehow. Without having to wait to see her in the mob scene that would be the ball. I was under heavy pressure to mate and start the alpha family. Put a luna in place for all the duties that entailed. Titan and Smoke were subject to no such duress, but we’d always sworn to mate together.

I waited, pacing from the window to the door while Titan and Smoke came in from wherever they were on the lands. Both took on heavy responsibilities in the pack, and I often wondered how other alphas got anything done. Whenever I went to a conference or gathering of pack leadership, I heard nothing but complaints about betas and pack members who didn’t pull their weight. And few alphas were willing to take responsibility for the “laziness” endemic to their group.

Finally, a rap on the door announced their arrival.

“Enter.” I didn’t mean to bark, but if I got any more keyed up, I thought I might stroke out. “What took you so long?” Way to be a patient leader and good friend.

Titan came in first, cocking his head at me. “We were looking over some of the fields. Our farm leaders want to try to get away from monoculture, and it’s taking a lot of planning. Is something wrong?”

Smoke followed him into the room and proceeded to the sofa where he sat and crossed one leg over his knee. He said nothing, but his curiosity burned bright. He didn’t have to speak to make me feel guilty for being impatient with them.

I looked from one or the other and tried to think what to say. I’d put the pack’s needs before my own from the moment I assumed the role of alpha. And there were certainly many needs to meet for them on this day. But my wolf’s clamoring added to my human desire to meet and mate with this female overwhelmed my practicality.

“Is there anything we need to do today that cannot be put off until tomorrow?”

Titan shrugged, dropping to sit on the other end of the sofa. “Nothing we can’t delegate. Something we should do a bit more often.”

“Agreed. Then I have an assignment for the two of you. Well, the three of us. We need to find that female and mate her.”

Smoke, always the quiet one, spoke up. “Would you like to accomplish that by tonight, alpha?”

“Don’t be a smart-ass.” I fixed a narrowed glare on him, but it had no effect. When had it ever? “Let’s just say as soon as possible. I would expect you both to be more motivated. The moment I took her arm…” Oh. “I forgot you hadn’t touched her yet.”

“I haven’t even seen her,” Titan reminded me. “But if you think she’s the one, you’re probably right.”

No probably about it. But rather than a snappy comeback, I sat on the chair across from them and leaned back. “We need a plan.”