Taking Down the Alpha

8 What's Your Poison?

The Evergreen Lake gathering was set out in a large clearing surrounded by towering evergreen trees, and the party revolved around a huge bonfire with sparks flying up into the sky like rising stars. There was a variety of potluck style food on tables and everyone seemed to be having a great time chatting and feasting. They held one four times a year, inviting other allied packs to help give their members a chance to find their mates. After chatting with some of Evergreen Lake's administrative staff, I was impressed by the strategic way they would invite two guest packs at once, but never in the same configuration to increase everyone's odds of finding their mate.

I wondered why we didn't do similar things back at Huntstone, but possibly our womanizing alpha liked having more unmated females around since mated females were far more resistant to his advances. Or maybe it was just that no one had thought of doing it, because our nearest surrounding packs didn't exactly invite us over either.

I'd have to change that. Wherever I ended up, it would be a good idea to organize something like this, I decided as I took a moment off to the side to watch my friends and other single wolves mingle. There were many younger, older, and already mated wolves around, too, so clearly the event was good for community cohesion. As the sky grew dark, the children were gradually herded off to bed by their parents, and the older wolves and mated pairs gradually followed, leaving the unmated wolves to their fun.

All in all, it seemed a great thing for intrapack unity and interpack cooperation. I was impressed.

"Never seen you here before," a black-haired guy commented as he walked up to me, a plastic cup in hand. He was about average height for a male werewolf and therefore slightly taller than me. He was reasonably attractive with straight features and eyes that sparkled with curiosity. My wolf perked up hopefully as he neared, like she did whenever a potential unmated male came near, but a quick sniff told her he wasn't the one she was searching for, and a quick once over told me he wasn't the one I was looking for either. He looked durable and was definitely tough, maybe even strong enough to be a beta, but sadly not champion material.

I smiled anyway. It wasn't his fault that he didn't fit my criteria. "My cousin lives here. It's the first stop on my friends' and my journey to find our mates," I told him amiably.

"I'm guessing no luck so far, since you're standing here alone?"

I smiled. "I don't mind. It gives me a chance to figure out the next step on our journey." There were several options, but if we found a different lead I'd have to adjust them.

"Damn, not just beautiful, but a thinker, too. When I saw you I just had to come over and double check that you weren't the one for me."

"Too bad," I said, smiling, although he was likely just being polite. He did smell good to my human side, but it was nothing near the euphoria that mated couples described. "And I'm not looking for anything less than that," I added quickly, trying to soften my words with a smile, more real than my work one, but fake nonetheless.

"Nothing to worry about from me. I'm waiting for my mate, too. Name's Justin, by the way." He held out his hand, and I shook it. Why couldn't our alpha be  someone amiable and respectful like this guy? Or most of the other wolves on the planet? I wouldn't have to waste my time looking for a champion to take him down, and could be spending my valuable time keeping Huntstone running smoothly. Since we left I'd already gotten an email asking how to complete a simple task I usually handled. As tempted as I was to ignore it, I gave in and responded because I didn't want to return to a complete disaster.

"Nice to meet you, Justin. I'm Jessica."

"Need another drink?" he asked. "I'm going to head off for a refill."