Wolfe's Den (Wolfe Creek Book 1)(4)

"It's her. Get her to take the job," I snarled. I stood up and paced the  room, my blood pumping through my body, forcing the other me to come to  the surface. I could feel the shift coming, but I fought it back.

"Wait, her? As in your mate?" she asked as she turned in her seat to  look at me with a confused expression. I could only snarl at the stupid  question.

"Find a picture of her. Now!" I roared, as I continued to pace with building tension.

My sister was playing on her tablet doing what she did to make things  happen. It took her only a moment to locate an image, but it felt like  forever. I knew from the gasp that involuntary escaped her lungs that I  was right.

"Show me," I demanded as I rushed to her chair. I knew it was her, but confirming it seemed to make it real.

She handed me her tablet, or more like I tore it from her hands, and  there on the screen was the woman I'd marked every night. My beautiful  Catherine. A human? How? I was going to need answers and was going to  pay Creed a visit.

"Take Gage and bring her to me. I'm out of town starting tonight, but  I'll be back the following day. Keep her safe. I need to go get some  answers," I commanded as I grabbed my things to leave. I turned back to  my sister, and added, "And Chloe, thank you for finding my mate."

"I didn't find her, she found us," she admitted with a supine grin.

"Yes, but whose idea was it to promote the resort?" I smiled. It was my  first genuine smile since I became the Alpha. My mate finally was  calling me, literally.

I had to calm down, so I called my Beta Rocky Lake and told him to meet  me at my house. My need for answers and to get back to her as soon as  possible made me race through the town. I got to my house faster than I  ever had before. All thoughts were on Catherine and making that dream a  reality.

Rocky got to my house five minutes after I did. I packed a bag to go  over to Redding and was already placing it in my truck. "I need you to  watch over the Creek while I head over to Redding."

"Why? What's up?" he asked in surprise. Anytime I left for a day or so, I  let them know and usually it was with at least a week's notice.

"I'll tell you when I get back," I said. I wanted to shout it out to  everyone that I'd finally found my mate, but something inside me held  back. I didn't know what it was, but I think it had something to do with  the fact that she was human. I didn't know what challenges would arise  from this. There was someone always ready to test an Alpha. I had seen  it in several packs before. No one had tried me yet, but I often felt  that a couple including my Beta had an interest in being in charge.                       
       
           



       

"And this couldn't be said in a call?" he grouched.

I snarled menacingly at him, angry that he dared to question my decision  as though he had the right. Being already on the edge, I wasn't in the  right frame to tolerate his insolence.

"Sorry, Hunter. It's just I was about to eat when you called," he admitted sheepishly.

"I don't give a shit what you were doing. It's a part of who you are as a  Beta," I thundered. My wolf was ready to rip through my skin and he was  on verge of feeling my teeth. "Now, I'll be back on Wednesday morning.  Keep an eye on the surrounding areas. Do you have a problem with that?"

"No, Alpha," he murmured with a bowed head.

I could sense that he hated being the Beta, but that was his lot in  life. If he didn't like that shit, he could go find another pack. I  didn't select him; it was passed down from his father, just like I took  my father's place.

I dismissed him and jumped into my truck. Going to Redding was going to  take about six hours, and I wasted most of the daylight already. I  wanted to come back by morning, but I needed answers and I wanted to be  fresh when I saw her, so I wasn't going to see her until the following  morning.

Creed Holt was the elder of the Redding pack, but not the Alpha. His  great-nephew Kane was the Alpha and a great guy; he was still waiting  for his mate, too. All our history has been passed along each generation  through the historians. Our two packs shared strong ties and our  histories were intertwined, so Creed was our personal historian. I  barely gave him a heads up that I was coming to see him because I didn't  want anyone to know that I wanted to go see him for something  important.

The pack was starting to think I was losing it. My temper stayed so high  that I was barking at everyone at any given time. None of them  understood what I was going through. No one ever complained of dreaming  of a mate they couldn't find or see. Mating normally was straight  forward, they scented each other and mated within a short span of time.  Hell, Mary and Eddie mated in minutes a few weeks ago. It was so fast  that they almost didn't have time to get out of public. That was one of  my concerns with inviting humans into our world. We could shift at any  moment and it was harder to control when you were ready to breed.

I'd been ready to breed her for a very long time. Six months of  unquenchable longing. Every night I took my cock in my hand and eased my  urge to breed her. It was tolerable most of the early days, but as the  weeks progressed the pain to fill her grew. I didn't know if it was  because I was the oldest virgin or because my mate was human. What did  it mean for us? I had a list of questions running through my head, ready  to toss at Creed.

I arrived late at his house; it was almost midnight. "Welcome Alpha  Grey. Come in," Creed gleamed as I walked up his front steps. He wasn't  frail for a man near a hundred and fifteen. We lived longer than humans,  but we weren't immortal. Most of us didn't make it to one-fifty.

"Elder Holt, thank you for seeing me on such short notice," I said as I bowed to the elder.

"It's Creed, Hunter. Enough with the formalities, and you know you can  come to see me anytime," he said with a friendly smile. He and my father  had been close before my father's untimely death. He helped me make the  transition I wasn't ready to make to the role of Alpha at the age of  twenty-four.

I walked in and saw Kane standing around the room almost pacing. "Hey, Kane. What's up?"

"Nothing much Hunter. I was visiting when Creed said you were stopping  by. I thought it was something that might need my attention since it was  so unexpected."

Kane looked uncomfortable, like something was bothering him big time.  "It's not really, but seeing I need answers and you're almost as old as  me without a mate you might want to be here."

"So what brings you to see me?" he asked as he poured me a cup of coffee.

I turned to look at all the books he had on his shelves. There were  books of all sorts everywhere. I took a deep breath and said, "I have  questions about mates."

"My boy, you're not the first to have to wait longer than others for a  mate. Kane's right behind you on that. Not to mention your great, great  grandfather waited until he was your age to meet his mate. And I'll tell  you boys a huge secret," he paused for effect. "She was a human." My  mouth dropped open at the revelation. So there had been a human mate  before? Kane gasped deeply.

I had a million questions, but the first one was why was it a secret?  "So how come I'm just learning about this? Shouldn't we all know about  it?"                       
       
           



       

"A big reason is that he wanted it kept a secret, and they pretended she  came from a different tribe from the North. After that we had the great  fire that killed many of the elders and most of the historical records.  Tales of her existence seemed to disappear from our history and it  became only a legend. Those who knew the truth kept her history from the  rest of the packs because there was too much tension between them.  Besides, after their first litter she became a shifter as well."

"So she wasn't human after all," I whispered. That was disappointing  because Catherine was definitely human. Kane looked upset, too.

"No, she was human. Her parents and the descendants all down her line  had been human. It's one of the interesting things about human mates.  They shift after they birth their first pups."

"Only an Alpha could possess a human mate. He is the strongest, and it takes the most powerful Alpha to have a human mate."

"Why?" It was peculiar because humans were weaker than us.

"Because until she bore him his first born pups, she possessed no  special abilities. She was extremely vulnerable, and it takes a mate  that could handle an attack on her and their unborn pups. Before she  changed, they had no idea that she would ever grow to have the ability,"  he informed me.