The Alpha Queen's Mate (Book 5 of The Regal Eclipse Pack Series)

Chapter 4

The plane landed a few hours later on Salt Flats Pack lands. Most of the packs had their own private landing strips, making it easy for them to fly in. Not surprisingly, Mason had sent his Beta out to pick them up.

Noelle followed Nick off the plane and over to the waiting SUV. She crawled in the backseat, letting Nick sit in the front.

"Seely," the Beta greeted him, bowing his head.

"Rob. This is Caroline." Nick greeted him back and motioned to Noelle in the backseat.

"Hi." Noelle smiled at him. He nodded but didn't look at her. Rob was young, she noticed and doubted he was even her age. Awfully young to be put in his position as Beta of a large pack. She wondered how he was handling it.

The drive back to the pack house only took about ten minutes. Nick asked him a few questions, but Rob was vague and didn't say much and Nick finally stopped talking.

Noelle looked the pack house over as she climbed out of the vehicle. The place was immaculate and three stories high. Two men stood on the front porch with their arms crossed. Alpha Mason and his Gamma, Kane.

Alpha Mason had taken over the pack early because of his father's untimely death. He was only nineteen at the time, and while Nick had stepped in to help out for a bit, he'd quickly realized that Mason was quite competent in his leadership skills and knew what he was doing. Nick had been rather impressed with the young Alpha.

She could feel Mason's eyes on her and it wasn't pleasant. She felt like he was undressing her with his gaze. She crossed her arms over her chest, and followed Nick up on the porch. She wanted to stay behind him and avoid Mason, but she couldn't do that. If it wasn't for the fact that they were here on a mission hoping to uncover Salt Flats crimes, she'd put him in his place. For now, she wouldn't rock the boat.

"Seely," Mason nodded his head to him.

"Mason. Kane." Nick nodded back. "This is Caroline."

Both men nodded to her, then turned to walk into the house, Nick and Noelle on their heels. They followed them up to the Alpha's office, and inside.

Noelle looked around the house as she followed them. There was no one was around, but the place was absolutely spotless. Mason's office was as well, with not a thing out of place.

"Caroline..." Mason turned his leering gaze on her. "..can sit over there while the men talk."

She wanted to roll her eyes given that she was the most powerful one in the room.
She sat down on the couch in amusement. She could still plainly hear them. She pretended to be on her phone will they talked.

Nick discussed mundane things such as pack business, just getting a general reading of what was going on. Mason was much more talkative than his Beta and liked to drone on. Noelle listened carefully, though halfway through she was already bored and wanted to completely tune them out. She didn't though and perked up when they mentioned dinner.

The men stood and Noelle stood as well. Nick glanced at her, but he was the only one who bothered and she followed them out the door. They headed down to the dining room and stepped inside.

The room wasn't very large, and there was a long table with twelve chairs. Noelle watched the three men allow Nick to sit at the head of the table, and they sat around him. It was like she wasn't even there. She plopped down at the other end, though no one seemed to notice.

Her gaze met Nick's and he gave her a half smile. Two women walked into the room with a cart and began to pour drinks for the men. They served Nick first, followed by Mason, Rob, and the Gamma, Kane, who Noelle had learned was Mason's brother. They served her last, which annoyed her. They hadn't even given her a drink until after the men had their meals.

Noelle watched the two woman quietly. They both had the same demeanor as Hailey had. Quiet, and afraid. The fear on them both was palpable and she bet they'd rather be anywhere but here. But they served the meal flawlessly and it was absolutely delicious.

Finally, Nick informed Mason that they were leaving, and Noelle inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. She desperately wanted out of there. She felt so uncomfortable. While the men mostly ignored her, never speaking to her, she'd occasionally feel Mason's or Rob's eyes on her and it wasn't a friendly gaze. Kane had pretty much ignored her altogether.

They left the house, and again, she saw no one on the way out. There were a few men moving around the yard, but they were ignored. Noelle got into the backseat of the SUV and looked back up towards the pack house. Alpha Mason was staring at her, his eyes narrowed. The man made her so uncomfortable.

Once they were back on their plane, she took a deep breath in exasperation. "What was up with all of that?"

Nick had sat down across from her and shrugged. "Something isn't right. There's a heaviness in the air I didn't feel the last time I was here. Those she-wolves that served us tonight were so jumpy. Neither one of them said a word to me."

"Did you notice that they were the only two women we saw the entire time we were there?" Noelle asked him.

"Yup. I did notice that. I also noticed the way Mason and Rob were looking at you," he said pointedly.

He was right. She hadn't liked their eyes on her one bit. "I think we should go talk to Hailey," Noelle told him.

Nick lifted his eyebrows at her. "Your dad said she's not very talkative."

"No, she wasn't, but I'm wondering if it's because she was intimidated by my dad," Noelle said, lifting her brows back at him.

He scratched at the stubble on his chin thoughtfully. "Given what I saw tonight, you might be right. What makes you think she'll talk to you?"

"I'm a woman."

Nick smirked at her. "I hadn't noticed."

She rolled her eyes at him. Of course not. He probably still saw her as a teenager.

"Let's go to California and grab a hotel room for the night, then we'll go to Sierra Nevada in the morning, and chat with her before we head back east," Nick suggested.

"Sounds like a plan," Noelle agreed.

He went to let the pilots know of their plans, and Noelle got comfortable. The flight to California would be short.

She watched Nick walk back over and sit down. He stretched his long legs out in front of him and yawned. "Do you get tired of this?"

He looked up at her. "Tired of what? Traveling?"

"All of it."

Noelle had known Nicholas Seely her entire life. His father had been her grandfather's Beta, and while Nick didn't hold a traditional position in the pack, he still was a liaison to several werewolf packs around the world. Nick was basically number four in the pack leadership and had been since her father had taken over as the Alpha King some two hundred years ago.

Like all members of Regal Eclipse, he was immortal and had to be close to four hundred years old, though Noelle wasn't quite sure how old he was, nor was she about to ask. He was also still unmated, and the only one out of the top four who hadn't found their mate. She'd actually never seen him with a woman either, now that she thought about it.

Noelle herself was only twenty-two, and she'd been raised around those four and their mates. She'd considered Nick an older brother until she'd hit her teens and developed a small crush on him as he was the only one who was still single.

He still looked to be in his early twenties and had dark brown hair and beautiful green eyes fringed with long dark lashes. Like all werewolves, he had a lot of muscle, and was incredibly good looking.

He looked at her now and sighed. "Some days," he admitted quietly.

She could hear the sadness in his voice. She looked out the window of the plane, watching the clouds. What he wasn't saying was that he was tired of waiting for his mate.