Love, Alpha

Chapter 21

Celus gripped his phone in his hand, building up the nerve to call his uncle. He felt foolish denying him a few days ago only to call him up and asking to come later.
Salen sat supportive across from him in one of his office chairs. Celus set the phone down on his desk with a sigh before picking it up again and holding it to his ear. He dialed his uncle's number before he lost the nerve and listened to it ring.
"Hello?" His uncle's deep voice echoed from the other end. Celus straightened up in his seat and cleared his throat.
"This is Alpha Celus." He winced at his formality. There was a silence on the line, the only sound passing through was rustling from movement. The sound of a door clicking made his ear perk.
"Sorry. I had to go somewhere private. So, what can I do for you?" He asked, his voice becoming lighter.
With a sigh and an unsure look to his mate, Celus spoke, "I'll do it."
This caught his uncle's attention. "That's great!" He cheered. "To tell you the truth, Kristopher is really struggling with the training. He just doesn't have what it takes." Alpha Landrews laughed breezily, making Celus flinch. Even though he really didn't know him that well, he felt bad for his cousin. He knew how hard it must have been for him to be groomed for the title only to have it ripped out from under him. "So when shall I expect you here?"
Celus gripped the edge of his desk and flickered his eyes to Salen. "Well, I actually have a few stipulations first."
"Okay." Landrews dragged. At this point, he would do anything just to get his nephew there.
"Salen is coming with me to my training." He agreed quickly, waiting patiently to hear the rest. "I also want Brady."
Landrews coughed. "Your Beta? Why?" Celus reached his hand over and took Salen's from across his desk, enjoying the sparks that erupted at her touch.
"Because." He grumbled. "He is the only beta I trust." His uncle sighed, lowering his voice.
"I'll see what I can do." He bleated. "It's going to be difficult, though." Celus frowned, tightening his grip of Salen's hand.
"Why?" He asked.
His uncle's voice was tense. "We already have someone that has been training most of his life for that position." He sounded remorseful over the phone, but Celus wasn't willing to budge. If he was going, Brady was going with him. "It's just not going to be easy." There was a moment of tense silence before Landrews cleared his throat, his tone becoming less serious. "I'll figure it out."
Celus thanked him, his body becoming slightly less tense. Salen gave him a friendly smile as she watched his uncomfortable interaction with his family. His face was serious and he had furrow lines as he frowned, but the lighting from the new lamp made him look like he was glowing.
Mandry, once seeing the mess Celus made, had someone come in and remodel his office. She managed to salvage his desk, but everything else was replaced. That included new designer chairs on account of Salen's request. She was going to spend more time in there with her mate, and the guest chairs that were once in there were not the most comfortable.
Mandry even went as far as replacing the flooring. It was now a natural wood instead of laminate that was made from the trees in their land. She had it specially made for him as a gift.
"I'll make sure to have rooms set up for you. Brady will have to go through training as well, and it will be a lot of work." Salen adjusted so she could hear Landrews' voice over the phone. "It won't be easy, but I think you should be okay. Give your mate my love." The line went dead and Celus set the phone back onto its stand.
"So?" Salen asked. Celus gave her a goofy look and rolled his shoulders to relieve some tightness. "When did he want you there?"
He sighed, slouching down in his chair and running his hands over his face. "Next Monday." Her heart raced in both nervousness and excitement for him. "I need to take care of some things here first. I need to appoint the temporary Alpha, finish some paperwork, pack..." He picked up loose papers, collecting them neatly and dropping them onto his desk with a thud. "There's just so much to do." He slapped his hands on his desk and pursed his lips.
Salen was enjoying getting to see the goofier side of Celus. Even though it rarely came out, and even when it did is was just around her, it was a nice difference to his serious facade he usually had for show.
"Don't worry about packing." She gave him a warm smile and lifted herself up out of the chair. "I'll do it. Just get everything you need done here."
Celus thanked her, sitting up to place a kiss on her lips. She smiled against his, cupping his face. He released a low growl that made her giggle and pull away.
"I'm going to go start getting things together." He nodded as he watched her leave his office.
Salen was quickly becoming well liked by her new pack members. As she walked through the maze of hallways towards their bedroom she waved to all the people that passed by. Many stopped and watched her as she radiated kindness.
A few young children ran up to her and frantically tried to get her attention. She knelt down, still smiling, and spoke to them with a gentle tone until they got distracted and wandered away from her.
The bedroom wasn't much farther from her so it didn't take long to reach it. She turned the knob and pushed the door open, pausing in the doorway as Celus' scent instantly engulfed her. She sighed, kicking the door closed behind her and walking towards the closet to find a suitcase or something to pack their clothes in. With no luck, she turned and went to find Mandry. She figured of all the people she really knew here, which wasn't a lot, she probably had something they could use.
Mandry was down in the kitchen socializing as some pack members were making themselves food. When she spotted Salen, her eyes lit up.
"Salen!" She grinned, racing across the room and throwing her arms around her. "It's so nice to see you. What can I do for you?" Salen leaned back, giving everyone a friendly smile before pulling her off to the side.
"Do you have a duffel bag or suitcase I can borrow? Celus doesn't seem to have one." She thought for a second before nodded and leading her up the stairs to the next floor. They stopped in front of a white door that looked like every other one in the house, Mandry pulling a key out of her pocket and opening it up.
"I should have something you can use. Just give me one second." She waved her hand, disappearing into her closet. The sound of falling items and crashing made Salen wince. "Here it is!" She called out, practically falling out of her closet with a large black duffel bag in her hand. "Will this work?" She asked, fixing her hair with her free hand as she struggled to cram her closet door shut.
Salen nodded quickly, taking it from her and giving her a quick 'thank you.' She left Mandry alone and went back to their room. She started pulling out clothes she thought they would need, Celus' being more difficult.
She packed two suits and multiple pairs of shorts. She threw in some t-shirts and underwear and grabbed a handful of balled up socks. Once she decided that was all she was going to pack him before he came back, she turned to her clothes.
Darron was nice enough to send over some members of the Moon Dust Pack with all of her belongings. It wasn't much, and she hadn't had the chance to put anything away yet so it was just sitting in a pile on the floor of the closet.
Celus cleared out half of the walk-in closet for her so she could set up her things when she first moved in. He also set up a dresser on an empty wall for her to use.
The first item Salen packed was the dress Celus had just bought for her. 'Just in case.' She thought as she folded it neatly and placed it in the bag. Then there was some leggings, a pair of jeans, nice shirts, a few old shirts she could train in in case they decided she was going to, and undergarments.
The bag was a little full when she was done, so she used her weight to hold it tight as she struggled with the zipper. Salen grunted, pulling as hard as she could but she just couldn't get the bag closed.
The sound of the doorknob rattling caught her attention. Celus walked in with his eyes trained to his phone. When he looked up, he started to chuckle at the sight of her. She was sprawled out over the bag, her legs dangling over the side of the bed and her hair was stuck to the sweat on her face.
"Need help?" He smiled, tossing his phone on his end table and stalking towards her with a sloppy grin on his face. She nodded, standing up off the bag as it popped back open, the clothes overflowing from the top.
With one forceful tug, Celus had it closed completely with nothing hanging out. Salen scrunched her nose, huffing at his strength.
"Thank you." She wiped her hair from her face and sat at the edge of the bed. She watched as Celus moved confidently around the room, pulling out multiple pairs of shoes and anything small he needed to pack.
"Where did you get the bag from?" He asked, emerging from their closet with a suitcase in his hand. Salen frowned when he gave her a cocky smirk. "Mine was on the top shelf over my shirts." He gave her a wink as he shut off the light in the closet and closed the door.
"I didn't see one in there." She whined, falling backwards into the comfort of their blankets. Celus dropped the open suitcase on the floor and started throwing random things inside until it couldn't hold anything else. "Mandry leant us this one."
"You have everything you need?" He asked as he zipped it up, stacking it along with the duffel bag next to their door. Salen just nodded, admiring the muscles in his back as he moved around.
He looked over his shoulder, catching her staring at him. He turned slowly, taking preditorial steps in her direction until they were only inches away.
"You're so damn beautiful." He bent down and kissed her cheek, smiling to himself as she blushed before he backed away. "I need to go find Brady. I'll be back in a little bit." Salen frowned, not ready to lose his presence just yet. She stuck her bottom lip out and huffed. "Don't worry." He chuckled, kissing her protruding lips. "I'll only be a few minutes. Then we can go get something to eat." Salen reluctantly agreed, giving him one more kiss before he left the room, closing the door quietly behind him.