The Blood Pack (Book four)

Chapter one

~Ste~

"Come on Jonny. We never go out anymore." I huffed as I flopped down on the sofa beside him.

"We went out last week, and you went home with those twins from alpha Lycan's pack." Jonny shook his head at me.

"Ahh Fiona and Gabby."

"Chelsea and Lyndsey." Jonny shook his head. "Seriously Ste, are there even any women left in this town that you haven't slept with at this stage."

"I'm not that bad." I scoffed. "Besides, you never know, you may find your mate." I try to persuade him, although I know that I am not getting very far. "Come on." I whine.

"What are you complaining about now?" Cassy, our alpha female, asked as she walked in with Ash, her mate and our alpha.

"He wants to go out, again." Jonny quickly answered, rolling his eyes.

"Did the Rugrats go down alright?" I asked, quickly trying to change the subject before I received another lecture.

"They did, no thanks to alpha Ash who insisted in throwing Hendrix up in the air until I thought he would be sick with giggling so much. It took a whole extra story to get him to finally nod off." Cassy glared at Ash who held his hands up defensively.

"Hey, I am only enjoying it while I still can. My boy is going to be a big and strong alpha just like his dad. If he takes after me, it won't be long until I can even win him in a fair fight, never mind throw him up the air like a rag doll." Ash laughed, not sounding apologetic at all.

"You will love your son however he turns out." Cassy glared, not happy with the pressure Ash was putting on his son at such a young age.

"Oh course I will. And hell, if Rose is anything like her mother, I don't think I would make it out alive is they are both alpha personality." Ash laughed even harder at his own joke, a slight look of horror showing that he knew it was a possibility, given both Cassy and him were natural alphas that both their children could be too. "Anyway, we were talking about Ste and his wondering pee pee."

I glared at my alpha, hating how he always used his baby language now to stop him from slipping up and swearing in front of the kids. f**k was duck, s**t was shoot, crap was crackers, piss was pies and d**k was pee pee. One day Ash had shouted f**k at the top of his lungs and the twins had mimicked him for a good ten minutes before he got them to say duck and start quacking instead. They found his panic hilarious, where as Ash was franticly trying to get them to stop before Cassy found out. The kids would be one next week and they were starting to pick up on everything that people said, not understanding it, but mimicking certain words.

"I'm not going." Jonny huffed.

"Come on. Please Jonny. I need my wing man." I begged.

"Wing man or pimp?" Cassy asked, raising a brow at me.

"I am not that bad." I crossed my arms, hating how they ganged up on me.

"You don't even bother to remember their names anymore." Jonny laughed.

"I am always up front and honest. The girls I sleep with know it is only a one night affair, maybe two, nothing serious. If no one is getting hurt then why does it bother you if I am getting all my wild oats sown."

"There is a difference between quantity and quality." Ash said, looking lovingly at his mate.

"Yeah well, we can't all be the dream team couple like you two. Come on, nothing has gone side ways in ages. Okay, there was that one girl the stood outside the pack territory, thinking that we made a connection, but I let her down easily."

"And the girl who stalked me at the construction yard, trying to see if you had received her messages." Jonny grumbled.

"And the one that showed up at the book store hounding Margaret and Niomi to find out if you were still single." Cassy added, smiling sickly sweet at me.

"And let's all not forget the hired spy who tried find out what we knew about the humans who were hunting and killing our own kind." Alpha Ash growled.

"Hey, that ended up being the best lead we have had in over a year." I tried to defend myself but knowing that it was pointless. "Look, how about I go to her place this time? My cabin is a pig sty anyway. "

"That has never stopped you before." Jonny huffed.

"Come on man. One last night out. Me and you. Come onnnnnn."

"Fine!" Jonny held his hands up, obviously realizing I was not going to let up. "As long as this time, you actually tell me when you leave so I know not to spend almost an hour looking for you."

I clasped him on his shoulder. "Good man." I smiled as I pushed to my feet. "Meet me out front in an hour, you're driving." I heard Jonny grumble that he always drives but I just ignored him, happy that I had got my own way.

I headed out of the pack house and through the trees to my own cabin. Most of the pack had their own little cabin on the packs territory, only Jen, Josh, Cassy, Ash and the pups sleeping in the main house. Mine was like my own little bachelor pad. I had my gaming consoles all set up attached to one large plasma screen, a leather reclining sofa with a fridge built in to the arm of the chair. I had asked for a single bedroom, but Jonny had talked me into having two in case I had family stay over or I had a pup of my own one day.

I could not see the appeal to be honest. Alison was a little angel, as long as she stayed attached to Jen. Hendrix and Rose where quickly taking after their mum and dad. Both being alpha personalities, they needed a lot of attention all of the time. I liked my space, my peace and quiet. The thought of having someone else attached to me for the rest of my life was not what I had in mind. Don't get me wrong, if I found my mate I wouldn't reject her, but I just wasn't ready. Not emotionally.

I had a hard job to do. Not only was a beta of the blood pack but I was also it's interrogator. If we had someone in our custody that we needed answers from, I was the one to get them, by any means necessary. Max, one of Alpha Ash's fathers had taught me. And he taught me well. But I struggled with the same issue he did for a long time. When you are not doing what he and I were trained to do, where did you put that piece of you, that beast that tried to push its ugly head into other aspects of your life. I hid mine behind a mask of childish banter and yes, man whoring. But without my mate, it was a victimless crime and it kept me sane.

I walked inside, stepping over the scattered pizza boxes and empty beer cans that scattered the floor. Like I said my place was a mess. One down side to living alone was that Jen the mother hen was not there to clean up after me. I ran up the stairs and quickly jumped into the shower, scrubbing away the sweat and dirt that had built up from my day of training and organizing the pack lands. We were scraping a part of the small river that ran through the pack territory so that it would be a lake where we could swim and hang out in the sun. There was an indoor swimming pool, but that was rarely used as it was in the basement, next to my domain.

I jumped out of the shower and patted my face dry before adding shaving foam and quickly shaving off the slight stubble that had grown on my face. I winked at myself in the mirror before heading though to my room to change. I pulled on a pair of baggy ripped denim jeans and a tight black t-shirt that showed off my bulging biceps and abs. Slipping on a pair of decent trainers I grabbed my wallet and headed back down stairs.

Although the pack had a pooled fund, alpha Ash had thought me how to invest in stocks and shares. After teaching me the basics I had taken it on as almost a hobby, like a game, watching and knowing which ones to buy and sell. My skill had made me enough money to live very comfortably on my own, although I hardly had anything to spend it on. We ate together as a pack, and apart from my proclivity for pizza and bear, I had everything that I need. I kept a nice little nest egg to one side in case of a rainy day but I called the rest of it 'fun money' that I would splash every now and again or reinvest to make even more money.

I grabbed my hair gel that was on a small ledge underneath a mirror behind the door. I ran my hands through my hair, styling it for about fifteen minutes before it sat in the perfect effortless look. Yes, the others said I took longer to get ready than most females, but I didn't care. I wanted to pull tonight and I needed to be in my top game.

I headed back out through the trees, rubbing my hands together in excitement. I mentally calmed myself down a little, reminding myself to not make a complete d**k on myself by hitting on someone I had already slept with, which had happened more than once ending in either an awkward morning conversation that we were still just casual or an instant slap to the face. I also had to avoid mated females that had come on a girls night out. After an painful apology to the mate of a female I had hit on and alpha black, I would not want to go through that again.

Alpha black, alpha Lycan, alpha drake and alpha Ash were all very close. We had been through a lot together and I respected the other alphas the same as I respected my own. Avoiding another incident like that was definitely high on my list.

I stopped outside the pack house, looking at my watch and waiting a few minutes before the front door opened and Jonny walked out in the same outfit he had just been wearing. "Seriously?" I asked, raising my brow at him.

"Hey, you are the one in the pull, not me. Let's go." he pressed the button on the keys in his hand, unlocking one of the jeeps. We both climbed in and I turned the radio up loud as we drove down the bumpy road, waving to Josh as we passed through the gate in the way to the shifter club in town.