Taking Down the Alpha

7 Hunting Expedition

Before I could put my plan into action, it took two months of preparation while dodging propositions from the alpha, the beta, and several other unmated males who seemed to think I was fair game now that they knew I'd given in once. I gritted my teeth and managed not assault the stupid horn dogs by focusing single-mindedly on my goal of setting out on a champion hunting expedition. Drawing attention to myself by fighting was not at all good for my plan. My fake work smile got so much exercise I was probably doing it in my sleep.

Alpha Hudson wasn't particularly interested when I submitted my forms for a leave of absence from my job. He might have been more worried if he realized how much of his job I covered for him. I'd used almost none of my vacation time since I took over for his last administrative assistant so he'd never had to experience it.

While I'd sometimes felt underappreciated while working for the pack, his lack of attentiveness came in really handy once I started plotting against him. He'd barely even glanced at the papers I set in front of him about Denise and Liana going along with me to visit other packs to see if we could find our mates. It was the perfect cover, since it was pretty common for young unmated wolves to take this sort of journey in their early twenties. My useless alpha didn't even question it. He just signed the forms and the letters of introduction I wrote for him, all the while whispering wildly suggestive comments that I did my best to brush off even though they still did affect me on a purely physical level.

Unfortunately, my show of resistance only seemed to make him more determined to convince me to give in again. If I didn't find a champion, I was going to transfer packs to get away from the situation. I barely cared that it would be admitting defeat since my patience was almost at its end. My determination to find the perfect fighter to represent us increased by the day. Finding any of our mates would be a definite bonus, but it was so far down my priority list that I barely even thought of it other than as the perfect cover for my schemes.

I didn't allow even a hint of my inward triumphant smile to escape when every T was crossed and every I was dotted, granting us iron clad formal permission for our journey. As much as I'd previously considered vacation to be a waste of time, I was looking forward to time away from the pack so that I could communicate freely with my accomplices without worrying about someone overhearing our plans. The sneaking around was getting old.

My family saw me off. I hugged my parents and my brothers. Jake, the youngest, was only nine and was happily oblivious to my fall from grace into the alpha's bed. Our middle brother, Kevin was seventeen and sadly not so oblivious. He was furious, and the fool had wanted to challenge the alpha when he heard. My parents and I talked him down by assuring him that my mate was the one who would deal with it. My mother really believed it, because she was a complete dreamer. My father was more pragmatic like me and knew as well as I did that there was nothing a regular pack wolf could do against the alpha even if he was angry about what had happened. It was the injustice of our hierarchical system. But he kept his mouth shut so as not to disabuse my mother.

I also kept my mouth shut about my plans so as not to put my family at greater risk if things went wrong. It was safer for them to know nothing and to not be a part of anything. As much of a fool as Alpha Hudson could be, alphas were often good at detecting liars with their heightened senses, and as dull as he was, Alpha Hudson was good at reading people when he was actually paying attention. He probably wouldn't take out my actions on my family, but I couldn't be too cautious. It was bad enough that Denise and Liana were already involved as my co-conspirators. I was especially worried about what would happen to my quiet friend if we were found out. Hopefully no one would believe that someone as meek as her would ever be involved in plots against an alpha.

We just had to execute my plan perfectly so it wouldn't come to that.

"You'll find him, I just have a good feeling about that," my mother said fervently as she hugged me. Other than visiting relatives in her birth pack, I'd barely ever left Huntstone, and my parents had almost always been with me. All my education had been done online or at schools in the nearest human town. I patted her shoulder and smiled to humour her, pretending that I was really excited and hopeful. As much as it would be nice to find my mate, finding a champion would be even better. The mate could wait.