CHAPTER 5

Alpha Blake

I was waiting on the front steps of the pack house with my beta, Luca, when the first SUV crossed onto my land. Luca and I have been friends since we were kids his father was my father's beta and best friend before him. Both our parents left to travel a few years after I became alpha. They came back for a while to help with Aspen when he was small, but now they live in a retirement community for former high-ranking and retired council members, in a little town just outside the werewolf council's reach.

"I'm sure everything will be fine, Blake," Luca said, catching me deep in thought.

"And if it's not, she'll find it same as last time," he added, misreading exactly how deep that thought had gone. It wasn't only the enterprise or the finances weighing on me. I was about to have two strangers living inside my territory, and while humans are no match for wolves physically, that didn't mean I wanted anyone getting hurt on my watch. I trusted Isaac. I didn't trust strangers so easily anymore not after learning someone close to me had been stealing from under my nose for years. He'd been the head of one of my departments. I'd thought we were friends. The betrayal still stung more than I liked admitting, even to Luca.

"Alpha, a dark SUV and a teal sports car just crossed into the city limits," Warrior Alex mind-linked me.

"They're coming into the city now," I told my beta.

The Orion Pack was massive over ten thousand members, practically a self-sufficient city of our own. I'd only hired Isaac's firm because I wanted an outsider's perspective, someone with no loyalty to anyone already inside my walls.

The ten minutes it took them to reach the pack house felt like an hour. When they finally pulled up, I felt like I could breathe again until I realized I couldn't see through the SUV's tinted windows. A young man got out of the sports car first, and I was caught off guard when I scented that he was a wolf.

"Alpha Orion," he said, approaching and extending his hand. I shook it.

"I'm Channing Halliwell," he introduced himself.

"Good to meet you. Call me Alpha Blake. This is my beta, Luca," I said. Channing was about the same age as Aspen, similar in build, with the same dark hair. The one real difference was their eyes Aspen's hunter-green, like his mother's, and Channing's an unusual, striking grey. I'd never seen eyes quite like his.

"Is Mr. Halliwell going to be joining us?" Luca asked, shaking Channing's hand. Channing looked at us, confused.

"I think you mean Miss Halliwell. My mother," he corrected.

"Miss?" I questioned. A car door closed, and a beautiful woman came around the SUV. Her wavy blonde hair fell to her shoulders, and she shared her son's grey eyes. She didn't look old enough to have a son his age I know wolves age slowly, but she barely looked twenty-five.

She was dressed simply: fitted jeans, a white v-neck, white sneakers. Somehow she still made it look effortless. I could scent that she was a wolf too, but there was no mark on her neck, which struck me as strange. If she had a son, she had a mate.

"Mr. Orion," she said, and my name on her lips did something I hadn't expected.

"Miss Halliwell," I greeted, shaking her hand, grateful my mouth was still functioning.

"Please, call me Ryley," she said, smiling.

"I'm Beta Luca. If you need anything, I'm your man," he said, shaking her hand in turn.

"Thank you, Beta Luca. If there's nothing else, I'd like to get us settled. I also have another matter to finish before I officially start on Monday," she said.

"Another matter?" I asked.

"Another client needed help with something personal. It'll be wrapped up by Monday morning, before I start on your case," she explained. My stomach twisted with something uncomfortably close to jealousy. Personal matter?

"Very well. Luca, show them to where they'll be staying. Miss Halliwell as of Monday morning, you work for me. Only me." My voice came out sharper, more demanding than I intended, but I couldn't help it. I didn't like the idea of her time going to anyone else. I turned and walked back into the pack house without waiting for a response.

"What the hell?" I heard her exclaim behind me before the door shut.

My mind raced with questions as I stormed into my office. I was angry, angry that she'd be spending her time with someone else, angry that I only knew her first name and already didn't want to picture her with anyone but me.

"The only question you should care about is how well she'd take your dick," Gunner snickered.

"And how the hell does she have a son and no mark on her neck? I still bear Mia's mark, and she's been gone almost eighteen years," I said. Gunner whined.

"Sorry, buddy. I miss her too," I sighed. My fated mate, my Luna, Mia, would always be an unhealed wound. Smaller now, maybe, but never fully closed. I miss her every day.

A knock on my office door pulled me from the thought. Ryley's scent vanilla and wildflowers hit me, and Gunner started to purr.

"Come in," I called, and a very angry, very beautiful Miss Halliwell stormed in.