Loving Her Alpha

4. Mysterious Energy

Declan and his Gamma, Catelaya, cut training short due to the storm, and he walked into the pack house exhausted, though he was always tired since the loss of Ella. If there could be a bright spot in the singular darkness in which Declan found himself, it was that Ella was a chosen mate and not his fated mate. He wouldn’t have survived her death if their bond had been stronger. It was a semi-arranged match—Declan’s parents eager to advance the position of the pack and wanting an heir and grand pups. Ella and Declan had met a few times, and they were young and infatuated with each other. They fancied themselves in love and thought they could overcome anything—even if Declan happened to meet his fated mate.

In a moment of passion and loneliness, Declan agreed to the match. He had already been Alpha for a few years and his parents wanted to further step-back from their responsibilities. Plus, Ella lost her fated mate the day she turned 18 during a routine patrol. They had grown up together, but not recognized each other as mates prior to his death. She felt the loss and knew immediately what happened.

Despite the circumstances, the match was happy. Ella was groomed her whole life to be a Luna and the pack ran with remarkable efficiency. As werewolves, s*xual appetites are high and the s*xual aspect of their relationship was satisfying, but never fulfilling. A year after the mating, they had a pup. In a cruel twist of fate, Ella died in a freak flash flood on her way back to the pack. It appeared she lost control of the car as water rushed across the road, lost consciousness, and before her wolf could heal her, she drowned.

During the ensuing years, Declan was lost with a small pup to raise and a large pack to run. His cousin Whitney stepped up. She acted as Luna and all-around savior since Ella’s death. She was mated to Ben, the chief warrior in the pack and they had two pups a few years older than Maddox. Maddox considered their kids his other siblings and they spent tons of time together and got into all sorts of trouble. Declan loved the dynamic between the cousins. Declan had almost made Ben his Beta when Declan assumed the Alpha position, but Declan was more on the introverted and quiet side, as was Ben. Declan felt that he needed a Beta to balance him out more, so he promoted his other childhood friend, Flynn. Turned out it was the right choice. The warriors thrived under Ben’s tutelage and Flynn smoothed over Declan’s roughness with the pack.

Declan’s Gamma, Cataleya, or Cat as everyone called her, mostly lived with Declan’s parents in the other pack house. She was tough, but fair, and kept the central part of the territory in tip-top shape. It was a division of labor that worked well for Declan and the pack. Cat had decided to make a rare, in-person appearance for their monthly leadership meeting since Flynn was visiting his latest fling at the central pack house. Maddox chattered happily as they walked back and practiced the punches he observed during training. He almost toppled into the snow a time or two, as he was so immersed in his fighting.

As soon as Declan stepped into the pack house with Cat, he sent Maddox off to change out of his snow-covered clothes. It was then that he noticed something different. Declan couldn’t quite identify the change, but the energy or “some sh!t” he thought to himself, had shifted around the pack house. He wasn’t one that was particularly in-tune with that sort of thing, so it must be pretty obvious.

“Do you feel that?” He asked Cat.

“Feel what?” Cat looked over with a puzzled look on her face.

“Nothing,” Declan muttered, confused as to why he was feeling off. He turned the corner to head upstairs when Whitney met him. “I have something to tell you and you’re probably not going to like it.”

Cat took that as her clue, “I’m off to clean up. See you later, boss,” she waved as she headed up the stairs to the third floor where she was staying.

Declan pinched his nose and sighed, “what?”

“There’s a human here.”

“WHAT?” Declan growled lowly, patience never a strength. He was looking forward to a few days of freedom where the pack could cut loose and embrace their more animalistic side. It didn’t happen often.

“Don’t get mad. She was camping and hiking near the pack border and got caught in the storm last night. She must have bumped the sensor or something. Ben and the others found her with a badly sprained ankle about half a mile onto the territory. They didn’t want to leave her in case she died. That would attract a lot of attention from the normals so they brought her here. She’s at the far end of your floor so we can keep an eye on her. Her story checks out and I don’t think she’s a threat, but I figured you would want her close to assess for yourself. I doubt you will even run into her. She can barely walk and was planning to stick close to her room.”

“Fine,” Declan huffed. “It was the right call. But I don’t have to like it. Just take care of her and help her get a ride as soon as the storm clears. I promised Maddox ‘snow ice cream’ or some sh!t that he heard about in school and now I have to go figure that out.”

Whitney laughed. Declan didn’t want Maddox to lack for anything so he tried to be both mother and father—which included spending time cooking things with Maddox. Declan endlessly struggled in the kitchen and it was source of much teasing and joking among the pack members closest to him. The Omega’s did most of the cooking and lodge housekeeping, but Declan tried to do fun things with Maddox without an Omega pitching in. He headed up the stairs, Whitney’s laughter ringing in his ears, flipping her off as he walked.

As Declan approached the fourth floor, that weird energy feeling got a little stronger. He chalked it up to the storm and headed to his room to shower since he was still a mess from training.

Before he reached his room, a door at the end of the hall creaked open and the most enchanting creature limped out. She was a muddy mess with leaves and twigs tangled in her hair, and she was the most beautiful woman Declan had ever seen. For the first time since Ella died, his wolf stood up and took notice of a female. She smelled … good, like an apple pie in the middle of fall. There was some other scent, something deeper, that he couldn’t quite characterize. She wasn’t Declan’s mate, at least he didn’t think so since there wasn’t that instant connection, but he was suddenly curious about her. There was something both magnificent and a little weird about her scent and her aura.

This woman looked up and gave him an embarrassed smile, “Excuse me, do you know where I could find Whitney?”

“Uh, she’s downstairs, I think.”

The lady sighed and started limping his way, “thanks.”

This was obviously the human about whom Whitney had warned Declan. He could tell her left ankle was swollen and it was painful for her to walk, judging by the grimace on her face. He kind of wanted to get closer to her and see what was up. His wolf definitely wanted to get closer to her for some reason. Besides, he needed to assess if she was the cause of the energy shift and a threat to the pack.

“Here, let me help you. Can I grab something for you?” Declan asked as he approached her. He saw her suck in a breath and wiggle her fingers a little like she was calming herself. Her ankle must be worse than it looked.

“Uh, well, I was going to shower, but I don’t have anything clean or dry. My stuff got wet in the storm. I was wondering if there was laundry around or something …?” She trailed off and looked embarrassed.

“We have laundry and I’m sure you can borrow some stuff from Whitney. I’ll go check with her and have her leave stuff outside your door, if you want. Doesn’t look like you should be walking much on your ankle.”

“Really? Wow. That would be great and so nice. Thank you so much!” Declan was at her side and held out his arm so she could steady herself since she was wobbling trying to keep her balance.

“Happy to,” he mumbled trying to figure out what, or who, this woman was. There was something … there. But he couldn’t figure it out. Up close, she was even more beautiful. She had platinum blonde hair, but it kind of looked gray-ish and her eyes were stunning. They were blue or gray with an amethyst outline? Or maybe they were amethyst with a blue outline? He wasn’t sure because they were shifting and changing as he looked at her. Or maybe that was just the light in the hallway. No normal’s eyes would change like that. Would they?

Declan grabbed her arm, halfway expecting the telltale tingles from finding his mate to travel through him, steeling himself if that was the case. He was too miserable to allow another person into his life. But there were no tingles, a subtle spark of static electricity, but no other sign that this enchanting creature might be his mate. Despite her muddy appearance, she still smelled great to Declan and he thought it a pity she would be using their lodge shampoo. Hers was so much better.

She leaned into Declan a little more easing off her ankle and he instinctively wrapped an arm around her waist to support her. Her skin was freezing and his wolf was immediately concerned. The animal was quite protective of her already for some odd reason, but wasn’t giving any rationale for the weirdness. This only made Declan more curious. He decided his actions were best described as “assessing a threat,” of which this lovely woman was not.

Those remarkable eyes turned up towards him, “thanks,” she murmured.

His breath caught as he stared at her. Up close, she was even more beautiful. Declan wanted to tighten his arm and pull her closer; after all, he was a man with a beautiful woman in his arms, but he didn’t want to take advantage and make her nervous.

“I’m just going to add human sherpa to my resume after this,” he joked to ease the awkwardness he was feeling

A small snort came from the woman, “Climb many mountains?” she asked

“Not many, no.”

“Should probably leave the job off your resume, then,” she advised.

Declan opened the door to her room, “Noted. I’ll have Whitney drop some clothes off.”

She turned and looked at him, “I’m Everly.”

“Declan.”

“Nice to meet you and thanks again.” Everly gave him a little smile as she shut her door. Quickly, Declan mind-linked Whitney while heading to his own room to shower. He wasn’t sure what Everly’s plans were, but if she was going to be out and about in the pack house, he wanted to be around so he could “accidently” bump into her again. Declan didn’t think she was a threat, but there was something about her that he wanted to figure out. Everly was mystery he needed to solve.