The Goldmoon Letter

POV: James

The last piece of shit on my desk was an official letter. I picked it up, scanned the words while Jack stood there with his arms crossed, already knowing what was coming like he'd fucking written it himself.

Some pack was moving onto the land bordering ours. Usually not a problem. The forest out here was big enough to swallow a dozen packs without anyone getting territorial. But any relocation outside wartime needed the Werewolf Council's blessing first.

The Council was eight retired Alphas, one for each continent, each with enough reputation to make their word damn near law. Once they approved, the moving pack got a deadline to meet every requirement for staking their new territory, then two Council members had to sign off on it. Neighboring packs got notice, and tradition demanded the new Alpha visit every bordering pack within three months to introduce themselves.

Sometimes you made an ally that way. Sometimes an enemy. And every so often, somebody found their mate.

"Goldmoon," I said, tasting the name. "That's a lot of territory for a pack nobody's ever heard of."

"No history I could find," Jack said. "Doesn't mean shit though. Plenty of packs stay quiet until they need to make some noise."

I rubbed my chin, already texting my Gamma and Delta to dig up everything they could on this Goldmoon pack. Friend or foe, I wanted answers before their Alpha set foot on my land. Not paranoia. Just the kind of caution a man picked up after years of watching unfamiliar names on official letters turn into problems.

I looked at the letter again, and my eyes caught on the Alpha's name printed at the bottom. Something about it scratched at my memory, familiar in a way I couldn't place, like a word stuck on the tip of my tongue.

If Trishelle would stop showing up in my head completely naked, maybe I could actually think straight long enough to figure out where I know that name from.

I sighed and pressed my fingers against my temple, the start of a headache already crawling in.

There I go again. Why can't I get that Omega out of my skull?

Deciding my brain had officially checked out for the day, I waved a hand at Jack to signal the meeting was over. Jack gathered his papers and stood, but he lingered a beat too long, like he was chewing on whether to say something else.

POV: Jack

I stopped at the door, hand on the frame, and looked back at my friend and Alpha. I didn't like what I saw.

Red-rimmed eyes. Dark circles that hadn't been there a week ago. A grayish paleness under James's skin that talked about missed sleep stacking up night after night. He'd lost weight too, which tracked, since lately James picked at every plate set in front of him like it had personally offended him. I'd noticed it days ago and hadn't found the right moment to bring it up. Now the worry sat heavier in my chest, the kind that didn't shake loose with a joke or a shrug.

He even stopped letting Trishelle serve him. Has somebody else do it instead now.

I turned that thought over, slow. Coincidence, or was she tangled up in whatever had James looking one bad night away from falling apart? I thought of the girl, quiet, easy to overlook, always working twice as hard as anybody asked her to, and couldn't picture her hurting the Alpha on purpose. Still, the timing needled at me.

Is she slipping something into his food? Should I look into that?

I held in the doorway a beat too long, and James caught it.

"Jack. Something else?"

"No, Alpha." I hesitated anyway, weighing the words before I let them go. "But if something's eating at you, I'm here. We've been best friends since before we could crawl. You can talk to me. Whatever it is."

James's face did something complicated, gratitude and exhaustion knotted together, and for a second I thought he might actually spill it. Then the moment passed, and James only managed a tired smile.

"Okay, my friend. Thanks."

I nodded and let myself out, shutting the door quiet behind me. I stood in the hallway a second, chewing on my own helplessness, before heading off to find something useful to do with it.

Great. Now even my best friend knows something's wrong with me.

POV: James

Alone again, I pressed my fingers to my temple, trying to work loose the pounding that had taken up permanent residence behind my eyes, a pounding that matched the ache lower down that never seemed to fully let up these days. Just the thought of her had me hard as a rock, and since she seemed to camp out in every waking thought lately, that left me in a pretty constant state of misery.

Why not just take what I want? What's actually stopping me?

If it had been any other she-wolf who'd hooked me this hard, I'd have scratched the itch days ago and moved on without a second thought. The fact that the question kept circling back with no answer was exactly why it hurt so much. I hated how little sense any of it made. Hated more that my body had opinions my mind flat out refused to agree with.

Rubbing my head isn't doing a damn thing. Might as well try somewhere else.

I checked that my door was locked, let the memory that had been circling all day take over, and gave my imagination room to run.

What came next wasn't something I'd ever admit to, least of all to Jack. It ended, eventually, the way these things did, leaving me wrung out and no closer to understanding why my own body had decided one specific Omega was the only cure for whatever had taken root in me.

My heart slowed. I blew out a long breath and stared at the ceiling, disgusted with myself in a distant, worn-down sort of way. The silence of the office pressed in around me, making the whole thing feel even more pathetic than it already had.

Maybe I need to broaden my horizons.

A distraction. That was the call here. I showered, got dressed, grabbed my keys, and decided I was done sitting in this office chasing my own tail over an Omega who wasn't even supposed to be on my radar. The drive alone might clear my head, I told myself, even as some quieter part of me doubted it.

If the she-wolves in this pack aren't doing it for me anymore, maybe a pretty human girl will.

Deciding to go solo, I pointed my car toward one of the hottest clubs two towns over, telling myself the whole drive that once I finally got some action, things would settle back to normal.