Chapter 2

(Siobhan’s P.O.V)

           Waking up at the ass-crack of dawn was not what I wanted to do but we needed to get to California as soon as we possibly could. I meet Camilla at her apartment which was down the hall from mine so we could Uber together to the airport where we were meeting everyone else. When we get through security, we all stop at Starbucks near our gate to caffeinate ourselves before the long flight.

Mmm, coffee

Drink up little wolf, we are going to be running on nothing but caffeine and sarcasm for however long we are in California.

Don’t need to tell me twice.

           Tala enjoys coffee just as much as I do, particularly when it’s early as all hell and we barely slept the night before because we were freaking the fuck out about going home. Don’t get me wrong, I love my parents and siblings, but I just never fully fit in with the family. We were the Beta family, known for being strong warriors and highly intelligent…except for me. I WASN’T a warrior, I hated unnecessary violence or fighting, I preferred reading my books and focusing on my schooling. I was never going to be Beta since I was the second born of 6 kids, but I was the oddball, and that made for strained relations between myself and the rest of my family. That, and my mom was always pushing for me to find my mate and I’m not interested in finding him any time soon even though I’m 28. I already know that my mate will want me to quit my job and stay at home and breed pups, fucking sexist assholes.

           We all take our seats at the gate as we wait for our plane to arrive, which doesn’t take long. The flight goes smoothly and thank the Goddess above this was a flight with no layovers, so we landed in California after five and a half hours on a plane, Tala and I are itching to go for a run. Camilla and Nala, her wolf, and Artis and Orsa, Artis’s bear, are probably itching to shift and run as well. We don’t do well in confined spaces for extended periods of time like this. We depart the plane and make it to baggage claim where a man is standing in a crisp suit and a small sign that has my name on it.

“Hi, I’m Siobhan Williams. Who are you?” I ask as I reach him.

           He’s tall, and from the smell of him, he’s a werewolf, probably warrior status based on his size. He has a chiseled jaw and high cheekbones, beautiful hazel eyes, and short black hair.

“My name is Jordan and I’m here to escort you and your companions to your accommodations.” He says his voice is deep and causes a chill to run up my spine.

           After we have grabbed our luggage, Jordan escorts us to a blacked-out SUV big enough to accommodate all of us and our luggage. He drives us to the hotel we are going to be staying at and, after we have checked in, helps us get our luggage to our suite. The hotel is beautiful, and the suite we are staying in has enough bedrooms for all of us to not have to share. Thank the Goddess that I didn’t have to pay out of pocket for this because it looked fucking expensive.

“Thank you for your help, Jordan, we appreciate it,” I tell him, trying to get him out of the suite so that we can get settled and begin working.

“You’re welcome, Ms. Williams. The Alpha and the Beta will be here in an hour to discuss why you are here.” He says before walking out the door.

“So, your Alpha is coming here?” Anders asks.

“Apparently and so is my big brother. Oh, happy day.” I say sarcastically as I take my luggage to my room and slam the door.

           I take my time getting everything unpacked and organized before I jump in the shower to wash off the flight and to get myself as relaxed as possible before the reunion of the century occurs. The hot water feels amazing against my skin and loosens my tense muscles, making me relax.

Can we go for a run after this little meeting?

Of course, that was the plan. We’ll go with Orsa and Nala because I’m sure they are bugging Camilla and Artis to be let out.

Oh, thank the Goddess.

I need you to stay calm during this meeting though, I know how you feel about Patrick, so you need to ignore him or I’m not going to let you out.

I wasn’t planning on doing anything! Why do you always make these kinds of assumptions?

Because the last time we even spoke to Patrick, you came forward and told him to go deep-throat a cactus. I mean who even says shit like that!?

Well, he shouldn’t have been being a dickwad.

I understand.

           Tala huffs and flicks her tail at me before sitting on her hind legs. Well fine, I didn’t want to talk to you anyways. I get out of the shower and quickly dress when Anders knocks on my door to let me know that my brother and our Alpha were about 10 minutes away. Patrick and I don’t really have that good of a relationship, actually, none of my siblings and I have a good relationship. They don’t understand why I love what I do and why I don’t want my mate. Our new Alpha, Tiernan, was a childhood friend of my brother’s and they grew up together and became close friends like our fathers had been. Tiernan took over being Alpha when he turned 21 and my brother took over being Beta from our father the same day. I wasn’t at the ceremony because I was working through my finals for my first degree. Yup, at 18-years-old I was completing my degree in Forensic Psychology. I started college when I turned 16 after graduating high school, having an IQ of 160 made it so that I sailed through school by skipping grades because I wasn’t being challenged enough.

           I walked out of my bedroom and sat on the couch in our sitting area, everyone looked as if they had all decided to get comfortable for the night and since this wasn’t a formal meeting there was no need to look professional. Tala began pacing in my head after having been quiet since our little conversation earlier.

Tala, what’s going on?

Our mate is coming.

Um, what the fuck?

I can feel it Si, he’s close.

           That was when I smelled him, my mate and fuck did this man smell delicious: whiskey and campfire.