Taking Down the Alpha

10 Package Deal

I was satisfied when we set out on the road. It had been a productive day and we were feeling hopeful as we grabbed a few more supplies and some food and headed out. We took turns driving, although I spent most of the time in the back seat plotting out our schedule for the next few days in greater detail. The cage match was something new to me, so I wanted everything to go perfectly. I'd taken my own training in the pack seriously, but only insofar as being a competent fighter was a pack member's responsibility. A recreational fight wasn't the sort of place I would have ever chosen to go in the past, but I had a good feeling about it.

I booked us a hotel for the following few nights that was fairly close to the fight location, and organized everything else so that we were as prepared as possible. I wasn't bringing a non-shifter into a crowd of rowdy werewolves who loved violence without a solid plan.

Upon arrival at the remote area I'd located next to a small lake, we started setting up our campsite. With the three of us working together, it didn't take long to have the tent pitched and our supplies organized. After we were set up we built a fire and roasted hotdogs as the forest slowly darkened around us. Sitting on logs that doubled as seats, we drank beer. The beverage had little effect on Denise and I, but Liana was giggling a lot more than usual at anything Denise or I said.

She was wrapped in a blanket since she was naturally colder than us without a wolf. She stared into the fire contemplatively. Even tipsy she was still pretty quiet, so I was surprised when she broke the silence. "What did you think of Justin?"

"He seemed like a decent guy. I kept thinking how much better our pack would be if someone like him were alpha," I said. I'd also liked the way he'd been instinctively protective of my weaker friend.

"I didn't talk to him much, but I got a good vibe from him," Denise agreed with a shrug. "I heard a lot of Evergreen Lake pack gossip while we were there, but I didn't hear anything bad about him."

Liana was quiet for a second. "I kept thinking how nice it would be if he were my mate. I've never had anyone pay that much attention to me before. I even told him that I didn't have a wolf, and he didn't seem to care. And he didn't seem to pity me, either."

"Things really would be so much easier if we could just pick our mates instead of some ridiculous random pairing," Denise grumbled, emptying the rest of her bottle in a long final swig. Even doing that she somehow looked graceful, as impossible as that should have been. "I bet the moon goddess is just sitting there, drunk out of her mind, rolling the dice of fate and laughing at our problems."

I wasn't quite comfortable with her talking about our deity like that, but I didn't argue. It was difficult to see they reason behind some of the bonds we were given.

Denise looked at her empty bottle mournfully. "We really should have brought some wolfsbane booze, too. Could have played drinking games. Wouldn't be fair for Liana with this stuff, though."

I shook my head. "I don't like it. I made the stupidest mistake of my life after drinking it." I stared into the dancing flames, my mood dipping at the memory of my night with the alpha. Besides the sourness of my memories, wolfsbane wasn't all that pleasant to begin with. Even in small doses it burned, and now even the memory of the flavour tasted like shame to me which was worse than any other effect.

Denise shrugged. "Well, no one here can look down on you. We both made the same stupid mistake that you did, and I've made it so many more times I can't even count. At least you can blame being intoxicated. I've got no one to blame but myself."

I glanced at her. "What happened?"

She grinned bitterly. "Well, you know, Alpha Hudson was in my grade in school. I actually had a huge crush on him when we were younger. You know, like writing his name with little hearts and silly stuff like that. I was convinced I'd be his mate when we were old enough to find out the truth. Then, when we were in high school, we dated for a while. He wanted sex, and I loved him, so I went along with it. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Eventually, I found out he was cheating on me, and it forced me to accept what I already knew deep down. He wasn't my mate." She shrugged again. "It's not like it matters. It was a long time ago. And he's a lot better at it now than he was back then. Practice makes perfect. Our current arrangement has been pretty entertaining."