Soul Mate by Roxie Ray
Cal
Liv fell back to sleep with relative ease. It was a relief to see her sleeping peacefully rather than thrashing; even more relieving was that there was a bit of color back in her face. She didn’t look as healthy as I would have liked. Her scent was still fainter than it should have been. All that said, I was glad as hell she was lying there against me, and I could watch the steady rise and fall of her chest with each breath for the rest of my life, as long as it meant she was okay.
My wolf gave a tired noise, just as relieved as I was. He circled once…circled twice…circled for a third time and finally lay down. The past few days had been hell on us both. We hadn’t even been able to revel in my mother being safe for more than twelve hours before Liv had been struck down. Hell, I felt like I could drift off to sleep if I stayed still long enough, and all I’d done was keep a watchful eye on my mate. She had to do all the healing all on her own.
I heard the door opening behind me. I grumbled under my breath, turning to ward the doctor off for a few more minutes of peace; instead, I was met with Danny. My brows bounced up. I hadn’t expected to see my best friend just now.
He gave a small wave. “Hey,” he whispered, voice low. “Sorry, I wouldn’t bother you unless I had to. You need to follow me.”
I paused for a moment before sighing. As much as I wanted to stay here, I knew Danny wouldn’t bother me unless he felt like he really had to. Leaning in to press a gentle kiss to the top of Liv’s head, I slowly began to extract myself from her bed, careful not to disturb her. She tipped her head and made a tiny noise as I left and I froze…but she stayed asleep. I gave Danny another look. Before I could protest, Maren poked her head back into the room; clearly, my best friend was one step ahead of me. He knew I wouldn’t leave my mate alone.
As Maren walked in to take my seat, she gave me a silent wave. I stood and grabbed my shoes and padded out of the room, not pulling them on until the door shut behind me.
“What’s going on?” I asked, allowing Danny to lead us.
“You’ll see…”
We didn’t have to go far. As soon as we walked out the front door of the meeting house, I was ambushed by a bouquet of scents. Wolves. Dozens of wolves, even. I paused at the top of the steps, blinking a few times in the daylight as my vision adjusted.
I didn’t recognize any of these shifters, and that was enough to make my skin prickle. “Who are these wolves? How the hell did they find us?” I hissed to Danny, and he gave a one-armed shrug.
My mind was already starting to race. If these wolves had found us, how long did we have before Ben did?
As I walked down the steps into the courtyard, I realized I recognized at least a few of them. There was Arthur, an older wolf who’d left Bridgehaven when I was still a boy. His dark brown hair was messy and plain, and I only remembered him because he had the gall to challenge Jeff…unsuccessfully, clearly, as he was chased out of the pack afterwards, but here he was. Had he become alpha of a different pack since then?
I was debating if I recognized the one with blond hair when one of the wolves broke away from the others, approaching me with an extended hand. On autopilot, I accepted the man’s hand, and gave a firm shake. “Calum Meyers, I assume?” he asked in a dark, gravelly voice.
I gave a short nod. “You can call me Cal.”
“My name is Samuel Baker,” he introduced himself, hand landing on his hip. “I am the alpha of the Tega Cay pack in the Carolinas.”
My brows bounced up. Carolinas? “That’s quite a hike,” I replied, mildly impressed. Especially if he’d run the whole thing.
The corner of Samuel’s mouth quirked up. “Would’ve preferred if I only had to saunter over to the Outer Banks, but that’s not the way it was.”
My expression faltered. I felt like I was missing a part of the conversation I was in the middle of. “The way what was?”
“Ah, sorry. Getting ahead of myself, there. I’m lucky enough to be from a long, long line of alphas. Tega Cay has been led by a Baker for…well. Hundreds of years. Someone’s always kept a record. Kept the stores. I was raised hearing about the Queen of the Packs.”
My mouth dried so quickly I felt like I had swallowed sand. They knew? There were wolves that had known, all this time? I knew Bridgehaven was relatively young, as far as wolf packs went, but still…
When I didn’t say anything, Samuel cleared his throat, head tipped to one side. “I’m here to fight. Alongside the alpha.” He frowned before clarifying. “The Queen of the Alphas, I mean. And so are they.” He nodded over his shoulder, and the remaining wolves all shuffled. All eyes were trained on us. “She’s going to take on the fae, isn’t she? So are we.”
I blinked. I had been prepared to take on this fight with Danny’s rogues and Bridgehaven’s wolves, with Malachi and Finola, and the few supernaturals they had recruited in the past several years. This… This really changed some things.
I have myself a little shake and finally nodded at Samuel. “We’re happy to have you.”
“We are indeed!”
Malachi’s voice made me jump. I hadn’t heard the door open, much less the prince walk down the steps to stand right next to me. I shot him a glower, which seemed to bounce right off him. The man was beaming, as radiant as he always seemed to be, taking Samuel’s hand in his to shake it. The werewolf looked slightly alarmed, his hazel eyes flickered to me. I gave a subtle shrug and he exhaled, dipping his head to Malachi.
“We have plenty of space for everyone,” Finola said from behind. She was still by the door. I glanced up, realizing she was holding it open. “You have all made quite a journey. If you will come inside, my brother and I will make sure you are fed.”
“There’d better be drinks too,” said one of the wolves in the crowd.
The princess gave a dainty laugh, her eyes sparkling. “But of course! We are not stingy hosts. Now, come.”
As the wolves started to file towards the main building, Malachi broke away, turning towards Danny. “If you could also gather the alpha types from your group…”
Danny shook his head. “You’ve got it wrong, sir,” he said. “We have no alphas.”
Malachi smiled, but it was a cool expression. “Not every alpha leads a pack, Danny,” he said in a low voice. He fixed my friend with a long, hard look; to my surprise, Danny was the first to look away, scratching the back of his neck.
After a moment, he shrugged. “Yeah…yeah, fine. I’ll get the rogue alphas. They aren’t all alphas, though.”
“I know. And no one need be forced if they refuse.”
With nothing else to say, the man swept up the stairs. Before I could ask Danny what the hell that was all about, my friend was already striding off towards the training ground, presumably to round up the others. I sighed, finally heading up the stairs. I wasn’t going to get that nap, but at least I’d get a meal out of it.
I didn’t realizehow hungry I was until I joined the others in the dining hall. My stomach growled and I swore there was an echo in my gut; frankly, I had no idea how long I’d been sitting with Liv. I had basically spent all my time there since she’d collapsed, and even more since Seven’s black cat, Mozart, screamed and ran off seconds before she— No. I refused to think of it. She was on the mend now, and if I never had to think about losing her again, it would be too soon.
I sat next to Danny at the edge of the table, reaching over to grab a spoon and help myself to the mashed potatoes. True to form, Corin had whipped up a veritable feast; I wondered how much warning they’d had on the wolves arriving, or if Corin was just that good.
I decided I was too hungry to really consider if I’d just been that out of it or if Corin’s magical abilities extended into the kitchen. I shoved a piece of chicken in my mouth and glanced around the table. A good handful of Danny’s rogues had come up from the training grounds; I hadn’t realized that many of them were actually alphas. A thought struck me, and I almost choked on my piece of chicken as my head whipped sideways, staring at my best friend.
He paused, pulling his cup away from his lips. “What?” he asked, brows furrowing. “You okay, man?”
“You’re an alpha?” I racked my brain for any memory of Danny exuding an alpha command, and I couldn’t think of one. He’d never made me feel territorial, never tried to force me into any sort of submission. He’d always been a rogue wolf to me.
My friend grimaced and shrugged one shoulder. “Yeah,” he said, washing down the admission with a long drink. When I continued to stare at him, he sighed and continued. “What? I am. But I told you, I hated my pack alpha. Hated everything about pack politics.”
I frowned. “But if you’re an alpha, why didn’t you just challenge your uncle? You could have taken over the pack. Changed it.”
He sighed, looking thoughtful for a moment. “Because I didn’t want to fight? The guy was an asshole, but he was still family. Besides, this was the same pack that gave me a hard time when I was thirteen and my cousin caught me kissing one of my classmates. He was like, what, seventeen, maybe? Kicked the snot out of me. No one did anything about it. Some of them even had the nerve to tell me it wasn’t his fault, he wouldn’t have had to kick my ass if I’d just kissed a girl instead.”
I bristled on his behalf. Danny had never been shy on his opinion on pack politics. He’d also told me he’d had an issue with his family, and that’s why he had no love lost for the pack, but I had no idea it had been anything more than Danny’s disapproval of how the pack was run. “Fuck them,” I said, not really thinking on it. “Some wolves are so ass backwards.”
Danny snorted, the corner of his mouth tipping up. “Some people are so ass backwards, Cal.”
“True that,” I grunted, knocking out shoulders together. “I’d follow you, you know.”
That made him laugh and he shook his head. “Yeah, until your Sleeping Beauty swept you off your feet,” he countered, grin spreading as I ducked my head. I opened my mouth to try to explain, and he shook his head. “Don’t worry about it, my guy. She’s your mate! And she’s an alpha. If you didn’t follow her, I’d kick your damn ass.”
We fell into silence as we ate. At some point, Corin dipped near me. “Hey, have you seen David? I told him about the meeting.”
My father, I knew, was not an alpha, but he’d been Jeff’s beta for years. If Corin thought he was worth inviting, I trusted her judgment. “Haven’t seen him,” I said.
“Me neither,” Danny added in, flashing Corin a winning smile. “Great meal, by the way.”
Corin laughed. “Flattery will get you everywhere,” she told him. “You should come by later. I’m making a cake.”
She sauntered back to the kitchen, leaving me to stew as I finished off my plate. Why hadn’t my dad shown up, especially if Corin had told him? I knew the witch wasn’t very fond of my father, but if she was passing on a message.
The longer I thought about it, the more I understood. He’d been run out of a pack. Maybe not by these wolves, but by an alpha, all the same. An alpha he thought was his best friend. An alpha who would have left him for dead, all to keep his secret. It made me bristle.
Danny wasn’t wrong. Pack politics could be really fucked up. I wasn’t sure I wanted to be part of this. I’d been run out just the same as my father. It would have been one thing if they just ignored us, but the Bridgehaven pack proceeded to harass the shit out of me and my mother. The thought of her made me bristle again.
Fifteen years later, and she’d just been attacked. I couldn’t prove that Ben was behind it, but I would put money on it.
“C’mon,” Danny said, nudging my shoulder. I hadn’t even noticed him get to his feet. “They’re going down to the meeting room.”
I didn’t bother withholding my sigh and pushed my chair back to follow him out of the room.
