Chapter Two

Xerxes

“Alpha, the females are here. They are lined up and ready.”

I looked up from the computer for the first time since dawn and scrubbed my hand down my face. “Another lineup? This is ridiculous, Titan. What am I, some pompous, rich alpha who has females brought to me because I can’t sniff out my own mate?”

Titan furrowed his brow. “You don’t really want me to answer that, do you? Besides, it isn’t just for you. You know this.”

I stood, bracing my fists on the desk as leverage. “Then why don’t you go out there and filter through them, so I’m not wasting my time?”

Smoke chuckled in the corner. His hands were clasped in front of his groin. He was looking especially brooding today. Black shirt. Black pants. Black ball cap pulled down low over his brow.

“The council is insistent on you doing this because you’re the alpha and need a luna to balance you and provide an heir. Plus, you asked me to set this up last night. Should I go on?”

“You shouldn’t take orders from me after I’ve had a glass of rum.”

“Is that an order, alpha?” Another low rumble from Smoke.

I growled deep down in my chest, trying to show my disapproval. “I have things to do. Issues to handle in this pack that have nothing to do with females or the council or mating.”

“Xerxes,” Smoke spoke, his bass echoing off the walls of my office. “It’s not just the council, and you know it. The faster you get out there, the faster you can get back to making sure Jimmy shows up for his field work shift or whatever you’re doing.”

He wasn’t wrong. Smoke, Titan, and I had grown up in this pack. We’d bonded as soon as our wolves presented, and there was never a question as to whether or not we would share a mate. We would. Period. Our wolves knew it.

Did the council know that we would share a mate? I had no idea. Didn’t really care. All they cared about was how our pack looked to other packs. A luna gave the alpha and the pack strength. She was the glue and the foundation—the heart of the community. A luna showed a pack’s strength.

“I’m well aware. Is it so wrong to want to meet our mate naturally? Happen upon her in a meadow? Meet her in a store or on the street? Catch a book from falling on her or warn her of a puddle she’s about to step in?”

Titan plopped into one of my leather chairs. Apparently, all of his rush and impatience had vanished. He let out a long sigh, scrubbing a hand through his dark hair. “It’s not wrong, X. But we’ve gone through all those avenues. We’ve had pack runs. Gone to multi-pack meetings. We’ve traveled to other packs and met every female from A-Z. This is our last resort.”

Smoke stepped forward. “I told you, she’s near.”

“Well, near doesn’t fucking help, does it?” I roared, frustration boiling over.

My beta had a point though. All three of us had sensed our mate was close over the past year or so. Sometimes, when we went into town, my wolf would pick up a scent that fueled him on a wild goose chase but, after a while, the scent faded, leaving us back to square one. I almost believed our mate was a ghost or a shadow. Sure as hell seemed that way at times.

“Neither does parading females through the pack house like cattle, but it was your idea.” Titan had closed his eyes.

“Let’s stop talking about the things that aren’t working and focus on what can.” Smoke moved across the room to sit next to Titan. He was leaner than all of us, and his feet barely made a sound as he walked. “We have the ball coming up. The ball the council suggested. I have an idea.”

“Name it.” I leaned against the front of my desk, crossing my arms over my chest. If Smoke had an idea of how to find our mate, I was kind of pissed he hadn’t spoken up earlier. Still, Smoke only talked to us like this. To others, he spoke minimally. It was his way. Always had been.

He went on, “You need to open up the ball to everyone. I don’t think for a second our mate is one of those pampered princesses we keep bringing here. I have a feeling she lives in the shadows, or in someone else’s shadow.”

“Explain,” Titan said, sitting up.

“Merchants. Traders. Store owners. Servants. Farmhands. Riders. Seamstresses. Every female in our pack’s domain needs to be here. With or without a wolf.”

His last sentence had me curious. What was my friend thinking? “Smoke, I can’t mate with a human. We…we can’t mate with a human.”

His eyes met mine. “I never said human. There are some who haven’t shifted yet. Latents. Those who are half shifter who maybe weren’t comfortable coming to the runs or weren’t selected to come here and twirl their dresses in front of the alpha. Every female needs to be here. It’s the only way we’re going to find her.”

Silence hung between us for a few moments.

Then I nodded. “Titan, I’ll go down and look at the females, just in case. Smoke, send word to the printer and double, no triple, the amount of invitations to print for the ball. And at the bottom, make sure it reads to dress in your best. I don’t want anyone not to attend because of something as stupid as a dress.”