The Hunter's Alpha

33 Congratulations

Devon

I woke up the next morning lying on Amber's floor, still covered in my fur. She was on her side on top of the covers where she had fallen asleep, her chest moving gently with each breath. I wanted to transform back into my human form and join her, pulling her body against mine, but instead I stood up and trotted out of the room, leaving my clothing in a pile on the floor.

Sarah glanced over at me as I walked into the kitchen. "Good morning," she said in the most genial tone I'd heard from her since they came back to the pack.

"Good morning," I agreed amiably. I hadn't felt so light in months, and it had nothing to do with Sarah's improved attitude.

"You hungry?" she asked.

"I am, but I'll transform back first. I just wanted to let my wolf stretch his legs as much as I could here."

She laughed. "Yeah, I found that's the worst part of the city, not being able to run easily. I've been driving out of the city to the forest for the full moons, but it's not the same."

"Amber was here unprotected?"

Sarah rolled her eyes at me. "Would you have rathered I took her with me? She was fine, and Dan's kept her company since they became friends."

I didn't like that any better, but I couldn't complain. Amber had come to care about that vampire, so there was no way I'd be able to get rid of him. I didn't even really want to, if he helped her. I kept talking as I paced the living room. "Speaking of Dan, I'm going to need his address."

"Are you going to cause trouble?"

"No, and even if I was, it's your alpha asking, so you don't have a choice."

"Pulling the alpha card? Whatever. I'll text it to you." A few moments later, my phone went off in Amber's room where I had left it.

"Thank you. Although I'm surprised at how close you've become to the bloodsucker."

She frowned. "He's grown on me. At first I thought he was messing with her, but I think he's a pretty decent guy overall. Lydia's not too bad either."

"Lydia?"

"Owner of the place he stays."

"He stays in a coffee shop?"

"Above, and why not? He's down to earth, kind of like Amber is. Don't hurt him or she'll be furious with you."

"I don't plan to hurt him. I'm actually hoping to help fix my mistake."

She frowned at the reminder. "I hope you can."

"I'm as angry at myself as you are, Sarah. I know I screwed up."

She didn't try to argue against my point, and I hadn't expected her to since she'd made her opinion of my idiocy abundantly clear.

After a few more passes, I returned to Amber's room. I transformed silently, and pulled on my pants, just as her alarm went off. She opened her eyes and looked at me, and then she did a double take. I didn't miss how her eyes strayed over my exposed abdomen before darting away. "Good morning, beautiful." I pulled on my shirt.

"Good morning," she said, sounding a bit confused. Looking down at herself, she added, "I slept in my clothes."

"I slept as a wolf. Although honestly that is the best way to sleep on the floor. I'll probably keep doing that."

She smiled but didn't say anything. She didn't need to, because her smile went directly to my heart. I wanted more of them, and I wanted her to be content.

"You hungry? Sarah's cooking breakfast."

"Yeah, sure." She switched to the mind link as seamlessly as if she were born to use it. "Sarah can cook breakfast pretty well, but I've found the later in the day she's cooking the more likely it is not to be...appetizing."

"Well, we did usually eat suppers with our families or with the pack so there's less reason for wolves who aren't in the kitchen to learn how."

"How do you decide which wolves work in the kitchen?" she asked as she stood up.

"Well, like with any pack task, we start with volunteers, and then if there's an unfulfilled need we request, and if all else fails, we order. It rarely comes to that, since most werewolves have a desire to support the pack. Werewolves who don't pull their own weight are few and far between. Then when it comes to ranked titles, they're either inherited, chosen by me, or won in a challenge."

"A challenge?" She looked worried all over again.

"They rarely happen. I've never even seen one. Don't worry." I hoped she'd get sidetracked from worrying about it by breakfast.

"That only makes me worry more. Could I be challenged?"

I explained as we headed out to the kitchen. "Well, potentially, but there's no one in our pack who would dare. It would look cowardly to fight a human. And they'd be afraid of my reaction if they went through with it. Someone could theoretically win the acting luna position, but would they really want to deal with my anger? I doubt it."

"They think I'm a huntress though, right? Maybe they'd do it because they hate me."

"No one hates you, now that they know what you are. My pack members knew how I was spiralling. They'll just be happy I'm more like my old self again."

"I'm sorry about that."

"No, it's not like you asked for any of this. I'm just glad you've changed your mind."

She smiled at me as we sat at the table. Sarah looked at us suspiciously. "Wait? Are you two mind linking?"

"Uh..." Amber said.

Sarah had already drawn her conclusion. "He marked you?" I couldn't tell if my cousin was excited or upset with that bit of news.

I intervened, looking over at my cousin. "Don't be all weird about it."

Sarah narrowed her eyes at me and outted my private words to her ruthlessly. "I'll be all weird about it if I want. How did you convince her?" She had a real gift for getting just one step away from what I would tolerate.

Amber was frowning and she straightened her back. "It was my idea, Sarah."

"Your idea?"

"Yeah. I mean, obviously I only know about it because he tried to do it to me before. His wolf seemed to need it, so I decided to go for it."

"He explained—"

"Yes. He tried to let me back out a bunch of times, too. I was..." she swallowed hard and continued, "Looking back, I was miserable the whole time we were apart. I just hid it because that's what I do. I don't want to leave him again. So leave it alone, Sarah."

Sarah inspected my mate for another long moment, before nodding as if she saw whatever it was that she was looking for. "Congratulations, both of you. I'm happy for you."

Then the issue was over as if it had never been. I imagined it was the end of it. Sarah had always been like that. She was as fiercely opinionated as she was hot and cold. She might be a pain in my ass, but I was glad she was on Amber's side.

I also liked the way Amber now spoke up for herself when she disagreed with Sarah. The fact it was her decision to stay with me only made it sweeter.

We finished breakfast and Amber got ready for work. She let me take her there, and didn't complain when I checked the place out to make my wolf feel better, although I doubted there were any threats I actually needed to worry about. My pack had always largely kept to itself, so we didn't have a ton of enemies, and we'd come here under the radar, only a handful of people in my pack knew where we were located. The hunters were their own problem, but it appeared even they were not deliberately after us. She should be safe surrounded by human witnesses.

Once I was satisfied with her safety, I kissed her lightly and left her there. I had a vampire to find.