Chapter 4: Fan Girl Crushing

(Jenna POV)

When Mr. McMahon told me about the trouble that his investigators were having with Blue River Mountain Pack, I thought the problem was that Alpha Rivers had something to hide.

Now, after three weeks and thirteen missed appointments, I was convinced that the problem was that Alpha Rivers was just in hiding, period.

The ladies at the hotel –who thankfully did not know or remember me from high school—told me that most wolves had not seen Alpha Rivers since he welcomed his new bride during her Luna ceremony a few months ago.

If I was a romantic, I might have found that kind of sweet.  It was not unusual for wolves to go through a honeymoon period after mating, and it sounded like that was what was happening with Alpha Rivers.

But I wasn’t a romantic.  I knew the other, uglier side of mating.  Hell, I had been born as a result of that uglier side.

You see, my parents were fated mates.  They met when my father was 32 and my mother was 20.  Male werewolves typically meet their fated mates between 20 and 25, and so my father was considered on the older side for mating… especially for an alpha.

When my parents met, my father was immediately smitten.  The only problem was that he had long since given up on finding his fated mate and had married someone else. 

He could not easily dissolve that marriage –it had been a political arrangement—but he did not want to give up my mother either.  So, for a while, he tried to have both.  His wife during the day, and my mother at night.

It worked.  For a year.  And then my mother became pregnant with me.

The pregnancy forced the relationship between my parents into the spotlight.  My mother was immediately labeled a homewrecker and a sl&t, and she was “relocated” to the Blue River Mountain Pack.  She received a monthly stipend from my father to take care of me, but she lost all of her friends, family, and support in her home pack.

This was something that she often thought important to remind me of growing up.  And, well, anyone who got close enough to either of us to get to know me.

As a result, I was teased and ostracized as a kid, and I had “b&stard” written on my lockers and belongings more times than I can count. 

When I moved away at 16, I promised myself two things:  1) I would never come back here; and 2) I would never be like my mother.

So far, I was striking out 1 for 2.

Anyhow.

Here I was, waiting on Appointment # 14 with Alpha Rivers, hoping that I could finally meet with him so that I could get out of this hell hole that was bringing back way too many painful memories for me.

I had hoped that my threat of going to the werewolf council –which my wolf, Willow, fully supported—would finally bring an end to the nonsense.  And for around 30 minutes, I thought it had worked.

But then, Andrew Rosen –the pack’s Head of Security— came in and told me that I would be meeting with Beta Nichols.

As in Danny Nichols.

As in, my secret celebrity crush, Danny Nichols.

Okay, so Danny wasn’t really a celebrity.  But in the werewolf world, he sort-of was.  Alphas and betas were fan-favorites for werewolf tabloids, and Danny Nichols was a fan-girl favorite.  He was tall, good-looking, and charismatic. 

When he met his mate, Beth, his appeal only increased.  Photographs of Danny looking lovingly at Beth made all fan-girls, myself included, swoon and wish that it was us he was looking at that way.  And when Danny and Beth eventually split up, the tabloids got even more intense, with everyone trying to speculate whether the split was temporary or permanent, and what may have caused it.

Now, you may wonder why someone like me would even bother to read tabloids.  But here’s the thing:  I didn’t have friends, so the gossip articles became my outlet… my secret obsession… my thing that I could focus on when my brain hurt from too much studying, or from crying after whatever stunt my mother or bullies had pulled.

So all of this is to say that, when Andrew told me that Danny would be meeting with me instead of Alpha Rivers, I reacted like a teenage girl:

“Yes, please.  That would be great.”

It was only after Andrew left that my brain caught up and I realized that meeting with Danny was NOT what I wanted or needed to do today.  I needed to meet with Alpha Rivers, get evidence for my case, and then go home.

URRRRRGGGGHHHH.

I was preparing myself to launch into exactly that speech …and an angry one at that, although I had no idea how I would justify it… when Willow started to get super excited in my head, and then I smelled the most amazing scent that I had ever smelled in my entire life.

It was a mixture of sandalwood and sage, and it made my mouth water.

“Mate is here!” Willow cried out.  “Our mate is here!!!!”

For a minute, I started to consider all of the possibilities of who it might be.  Who would the Moon Goddess deem the appropriate mate for the illegitimate and unwanted daughter of a married alpha?  For some reason, I had never wondered this before.

Would it be someone willing to move with me to the human world?  Or would they be willing to transfer to another pack, closer to my job?  Or would they want me to move?  That would not be easy, given my licensure requirements… but maybe we could find some happy medium? 

Just as long as we didn’t have to live here.  I could never live here.  But that shouldn’t be a big deal; most positions within a pack are transferrable, except for the officers.

Before I could finish thinking through the possibilities, the office door opened.

I immediately locked eyes with a tall, brown-eyed, muscular male werewolf, who was clearly just as interested in meeting me as I was meeting him.

He was absolutely gorgeous, and somehow familiar. Too familiar.

It took me about sixty seconds to realize why.

My mate was the grown-up version of my teenage crush.

My mate was Beta Danny Nichols.

Without saying anything, he closed the door.