"Are we doing something wrong?" she asked looking at me with a tilted head and scrunched brow like she was afraid she offended me. I was starting to think I was living in a dream; then again, I hadn't dreamed of anything but my imaginary lover in a very long time.
"No, it's just too much," I sighed, resigning myself to their ways.
"We do what Mr. Grey asks. He listened to your voicemail and told us to bring you to the Den." She sounded as though she had nefarious designs on me. It was silly, considering I called my parents in front of her for safety sake.
"Will I be meeting Mr. Grey?" I was very intrigued to meet him even though he was sounding like a bossy tyrant. Generally, I would be intimidated by a man like him, but I couldn't wait to see what he looked like.
"Yes, but he will not be back until tomorrow. He's out of town at the moment. We'll get everything set up for you."
"I'm kind of hungry," I lied. I was starving. We stopped off at Wendy's, and I got a salad. It was so fresh, and I totally needed it. It was awkward eating in front of her while she just sat there, but she informed me that she already ate before they picked me up.
She was constantly on her phone, texting and looking at emails. Suddenly she huffed, then said, "The boss would like to talk to you." She handed me the phone which I shakily took from her.
"Hello, Mr. Grey," I murmured nervously. I waited for a response, but there was nothing on the other end, so I said, "Sir?"
He didn't say anything, so I thought I lost him and asked again, "Sir, are you there?"
"Catherine, I'm here," he whispered. His voice sent shivers down my spine as my ears heard his rough timber. His voice was beautiful, but strangely familiar.
"Mr. Grey, I can't thank you enough for this opportunity. I'll do whatever you ask. I really need this," I gratefully admitted.
I heard a low growl, then I heard the word that had been ringing through my ears for the past six months. "Mine." Then the call ended. It was him, my dream lover. I looked up at the woman in front of me, eyes opened wide. That was why their eyes seemed familiar. They were like his except they were green compared to his gorgeous blue.
Turning to Chloe, I asked suspiciously, "What's going on?"
Chapter 2-Hunter
"Any news on the woman fitting my description?" I asked my sister as she sat in my office. We had other matters to discuss, but all my being was focused on the other half of my existence. The last six months had been unbearable torture. I hungered for my mate and had no idea who she was or how I would find her. Her sexy curves and curly brown hair tormented me every waking hour.
Chloe fidgeted in her seat, and I knew there had been no progress. It was hard on her to watch me slowly lose my mind. I shifted every night, running for hours, trying to fight sleep because dreaming of her was too much, but staying away from her was just as hard.
"Sorry, Hunter. We can't seem to locate her in any of the packs in the Northwest. Gage is about to go down to the southwest territories and see if any female meets your description."
"I need to find her. These dreams are slowly killing me. She's my mate. I need to find her," I snarled. Every day I struggled to contain my wolf. He wanted to leave the area in search of her, but being the Alpha I had to remain strong and do what I had to do for the rest of the pack. My emotions were coming to a head. I had to shave twice a day because my wolf laid at the surface. No matter how much I tried to calm the beast he came to life after he claimed her. I was a shaggy mess every morning and this morning was no different. I needed to focus on the resort, but I wanted answers on my mysterious mate.
Chloe's green eyes dilated as she nervously asked, "Hunter … what if she's not in a pack? What if she's a human?"
"There's never been a female human in our pack. Have you ever heard any tales about it?" We weren't as informed about our past as we would have liked to have been. After a massive brush fire ripped through our lands in the late 1740's, all records were lost. The packs moved further north settle along the Cascade Mountains. The only records were kept secure. Rumors were the great fire was set intentionally by one of our own in an attempt to end the lives of the Alpha's family, my family, and destroy our pack history.
"No, but we can call the elder in Redding to see if he has any ideas if it's even possible," Chloe suggested. She did have a point. Creed and his family had some old books, none of which were very detailed or if they were, they had been singed too severely to even be interpreted.
Gossip floated through our village just like any other. There were claims that there was a human mate, but it was just a myth to give some of the pack hope when a member took too long to find their mate. But with all the searching for my mate and no luck, I was starting to believe in that tale.
"I need to find her. She's mine. I'm thirty-two already. I should have found my mate many years ago," I growled, the pain of never finding her ripped through my chest. My dreams weren't a thing for our species. Once our mate was found, they smelled each other and mated within the day. I'd been dreaming of her for six months, reliving night after night of overwhelming, heart pounding passion that defied belief. Maybe it was no different than other shifters in that area, not that I would know, but I felt her soul as we mated in my sleep.
"We'll find her," she promised. The determination and conviction in her voice made me believe her. Brushing off her skirt and laying her tablet on my desk, she said, "Let's try to take your mind off the mating hunger and talk shop."
I sighed, "That's probably for the best." She was right as always. I wished I could have made her my Beta, but unfortunately it was passed down from generation to generation from another family. It was our own way of checks and balances. One family couldn't possess total control.
"We only have a month before we open, and we haven't even started the hiring process. I know there are several locals that need a job, but we need more than them," she remarked. I knew where she was going with this, but I was too riled up with mating hunger that I ignored it.
"I'd say in the next two weeks we can start hiring the local community to run the resort," I added.
Immediately her eyes opened wide and she snapped her fingers, a little quirk she had when she had a brilliant idea or remembered something. "Oh, yes, we've already received a call about a job from a woman in Oregon named Catherine. She sounded desperate. I feel terrible that we can't hire her." Chloe was soft at heart unless you fucked with her family. It was in her personality to care about a kitten, something laughable to our kind.
"Is she a shifter?" I asked. What was the big deal? A shifter we could hire unless there was something really wrong with her.
"No, she's a human, but she sounds like she's about to break if we don't hire her. Gage thinks we should. It would help if we hired a few humans." I gave her the warning glare. We talked about this before, and I wasn't totally against it, but I wanted to be super selective if we did hire one of them. It's one thing to see them in passing as guests, but daily contact could risk everything. "Don't look at me like that. I know the danger of daily interaction with the same people, but just … well, just listen to her message." Chloe got up and leaned over my desk, then dialed the number and voicemail access code and put it on speaker.
"Um. Hello, this is Catherine Kinney … I know you didn't have an application for employment up, but I really need a job … " she sighed. I hit the replay button, not letting her message finish. Chloe looked at me in disbelief. I didn't answer her stare. I listened to the same part again.
A growl ripped through my chest, and I demanded, "Bring her to me."
I continued to listen to the plea from the warm voice I'd come to worship. I knew every inch of her body, the beat of her heart, the taste of her flesh, and the scent that drove the beast in me insane with hunger. Most of all, I knew what it was like to hear her sighs of ecstasy as I claimed her every night. It was her. My mate.
"Hunter, are you well?" Chloe asked as she sat straight up. I was feeling a range of emotions and it was noticeable in my eyes and my sudden release of my fangs, rattling my sister who was concerned for me. She was real, she was mine, and I wasn't going to let anything stop me from claiming her.