“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.
“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.