Her Arranged Alpha Husband by Alicia Banks

Chapter 3

Ben

When Ben arrived, the first thing that he noticed was that his soon-to-be-bride wasn’t there to greet him. Her parents were there, as well as a few other people in their family to make the greeting big enough for who Ben would be one day soon. Soon, he would be the Alpha to an Alaskan clan of shifters named after the town they lived in, Divule. It was a position that would put his power above all others in the area, and Ben knew that he had to act in a certain way because of it.

“Where is she?” Ben hissed the question to his friend and confidant, Mark.

“I don’t know. Do you want me to find out?”

Ben agreed immediately. He wanted to know what was going on. His bride should have been there waiting to greet him. It was in poor taste not to be. How was that going to look for the rest of their lives, if she was starting out disrespecting him? Ben didn’t care as much as he should have. He knew what was going to be said and that bothered him, but he didn’t actually care one way or another about the rest of it.

He was still trying to orient himself in the heat. Her clan was smack dab in the middle of a place called Death Valley and once he was there, feeling the heat for himself, he wondered if he could ever survive there. The three weeks that he would be there were going to be miserable. He could see now that his new bride was going to have quite a change to get used to. Ben was going to have to hold her all night just to keep her warm. He already thought about what it would be like to have a woman in his bed after the fun was over. It was going to be a new experience, one he wasn’t going to be able to have if she wasn’t around to have it. He was perturbed, but as he got out and greeted his new in-laws, Ben tried to hold all of his questions and concerns for later.

“Thank you for the greeting, Evelyn and Ross. I was hoping Teri would be here, but I am glad to see you just the same.”

Ben couldn’t help but say something about her absence. He waited for an answer, but it wasn’t as forthcoming as he would have liked. Instead, the mom just nodded her head, looked down, and Ben was left to wonder what that meant.

Ross clapped him on the back and told him that he must be a strong man.

“How so?” Ben wondered.

“The Elders paired you up with my daughter, so there must be a great spirit on your part to match hers.”

Ben didn’t like the sound of that. Ross made it like his daughter, which he had been told was very beautiful, was a handful.

“Am I to believe that she is not here because she didn’t want to be?” Ben asked with annoyance. His future wife didn’t want to be paired with him? That wasn’t what he wanted to hear. Maybe this all was a mistake. Ben had to remember that it didn’t matter. Mistake or not, he was there to get married. When the father said that the girl would come around, Ben waved it off. “If it is meant to be, then there is nothing that either one of us can do about it.”

Ross agreed, unsure what Ben meant. Ben wasn’t sure either. He hadn’t considered that she wouldn’t want to be with him. He was to be the Alpha of a large clan, in charge of thousands of shifters’ lives. Why wasn’t that enough for her or any woman?

Ben walked with his new in-laws and hoped that the rest of the trip would be more routine. He was there to get to know and then marry Teri. He couldn’t do that if she wasn’t part of it. He ignored the nagging worry that her absence caused. Instead, he took a look at the place he was going to call home for the next three weeks, and even though he was sweating to death, he was already started to acclimate himself to the area. It wasn’t at all like his home back in Alaska, not near as pretty either, but there was something to be said for people that lived in such harsh conditions. It was relatable, considering that many thought that his home was just as dangerous.

The two men walked long after the rest of the welcoming committee was gone. Ben was asked if he knew why he was paired with his daughter and Ben shrugged. “I have asked my father, but he says that you saved him, and a debt was given. The Elders took it into account when picking my mate.”

Ross’ face tightened for a moment. “Of course, he would see it that way. I like to see it as Fate put me in his path so that I could save him. My daughter will gain exposure as your mate and it will elevate the family, but it was Fate that made it all happen.”

Ben could see that there was a lot more to the story, and maybe one day he would hear it. The way his father made it out to be, it was a debt that made him marry Teri, not Fate. When Ben pushed to get his answer and was given that one, he didn’t know what to say or do.

“How many people live here?” Ben wondered.

Ross told him that it was about two hundred and Ben was amazed by all of the people and diverse faces he saw. It wasn’t at all like what he had back home. Everyone seemed happier for some reason, and while his eyes took on the people of his new wife’s town, he wondered where she was. Was she out there watching him? Ben hoped that if she was, she would like what she saw and come to introduce herself. How else would he get to know his wife?

When Ben didn’t see anyone right off the bat that looked like Teri, he tried to ignore the slight, even though he could thoroughly feel it. There wasn’t much to be said about the fact that his soon-to-be-bride hadn’t even shown up.

After a few minutes of walking through the small shifter village, he saw a reflection high up on a hill that caught his eye. There was a woman wolf staring down at the procession. She was a jet-black color, eyes a deep purple hue that took his breath away. Ben knew without knowing that was Teri. She was the one that he was to be mated to. He didn’t have to see her up close to know that she was the one whose beauty was talked about by all. He squinted to see more, but the wolf was gone once his eyes adjusted, and Ben was left feeling out of sorts. What did that mean? Did she find him lacking?

He felt the father’s large hand on his back. “Come on, I will show you to your rooms.” Ben agreed, though he wondered what the father knew. His eyes gave him away. He knew something. Ben had the urge to ask questions, but instead he waited until he was alone. His mind went to the wolf he’d seen and while he just knew that it was Teri, he still wondered when she was going to approach and come out of hiding. He’d never considered that his mate wouldn’t be happy to be so. He was going to be Alpha; she should be enthused. He was going to bring her family and her own rank up. Didn’t that mean something?

Why was Ben so bummed about it? It wasn’t like she had a choice; he didn’t either. They would work it out because they had to. That was the end of it.