The Alpha Queen's Mate (Book 5 of The Regal Eclipse Pack Series)

Chapter 9

Nick glanced at Blake as they left Noelle and Hailey alone together. He didn't know the male at all but he could easily see his restlessness. "She won't Command her, Blake. Noelle will keep her word."

Blake looked up at him and nodded, but then looked back down. "I uh, I kinda came at her a little harshly in the hallway our first week in class. I was rude to her and.. I.." He swallowed. "I didn't know who she was."

"And you think she might Command Hailey to get back at you?" Nick asked him, wondering what he'd done.

"I don't know," he admitted.

"She's not like that, Blake. She would never ever hurt someone to get even with you. She'd rather beat the crap out of you than hurt Hailey," Nick said.

"She kind of already did," Blake admitted.

"Yeah?" Nick smiled.

"Yeah, she's got a nasty upper right hook," he said, his face a little pale.

"She break your ribs?" Nick chuckled.

"Yeah, among other things."

"She's broken mine too. More than once. She broke mine yesterday," Nick admitted.

Blake looked at him and shuddered. "Better you than me."

Nick glanced at Noelle as he drove away from the pack house a bit later. "You wanna call the pilot and let him know to get the plane ready?"

"Sure." She pulled out her phone and made the call.

He turned into the conversation and heard the pilot tell her that something was wrong with the plane. They wouldn't be able to take off until at least tomorrow. She hung up with a bit of a huff.

"When's your ball?" He asked her. The school she was attending was throwing a mating ball and he knew Noelle wanted to go. He promised her he'd get her there and he had every intention of keeping his word to her, even if they had to drive there. Which might result in him getting a few speeding tickets.

Noelle was taking a pack leadership class at the University and the class had only six students. One of those was Blake, who had been thrust into his position as Alpha early because of his father's execution.

He wouldn't be returning to school, which was probably a good thing, given his new relationship with Hailey. He needed to be with her as much as possible and gain her trust.

Two other Alphas, Liam and Finn Anderson had also missed class, along with Noelle and their professor, Astrid. Finn had almost died and was recovering from that, while he and Liam were also dealing with the fact that their entire pack had been slaughtered by an attack led by Blake's father, which was the reason for his execution.

Noelle was supposed to be in class this week, and off for all of next week, but Nick knew there was supposed to be a mating ball in there somewhere and she had every intention of attending. She was now the only unmated Alpha in her class. This week's classes would be made up after their planned week off.

"It's tomorrow night," she said, staring at the mountains out the window.

"We'll get you there one way or another," Nick told her. He couldn't blame her for wanting to go. He was still unmated himself and it annoyed him to no end. He almost wished he could go with her. When Daniel had found his mate, and then the others had begun to find theirs, he'd thought he'd be next. But that had been twenty-three years ago. He'd been left in the dust.

Nick worked more than anyone else in Regal Eclipse. He was the liaison for probably half of the packs in the world, and he liked it that way. It kept him busy and let him travel. And it let him look for his mate. It gave him something else to focus on the nights he was alone. Which was pretty much every night anymore. He didn't find any fulfillment in sleeping with random females. He was too restless.

'Because we're going to find Mate soon,' Luke had told him.

He hoped so. Luke was more optimistic about it all than he was, but he knew his wolf longed for his mate too. It was what got him out of bed every day and kept him going. The chance that this just might be the day they found her.

He'd had dreams about her. Erotic dreams that left him fully aroused and unfulfilled. He could never see her face though. But he dreamed of the tingles and her soft curves. If his real mate was anything like his dream mate, he'd never get enough of her. She was absolutely perfect.

He'd been a bit surprised when Noelle approached him and asked to go with him to Salt Flats. He'd never taken her anywhere with him before, but he understood why. She was bored, and longing to find her mate, too. The pack house was full of happily mated couples and she was left out. He understood the feeling all too well.

Plus, she took her future position very seriously and wanted to learn everything she could. The fact that she'd chosen him to go on her first pack visit with had been an honor, though he hadn't told her that. He would have thought she would have gone with her father. He knew they were very close.

He admired her for her drive. She would need a good strong male by her side, but one who could handle her dominance. It was a fine line. More than likely, she couldn't be mated to an Alpha wolf as the two would probably clash. It would be interesting to see, as Noelle was the first female heir to the throne. Whoever she mated would have to handle the fact that his wolf would always submit to hers. Most Alphas wouldn't like that.

He wouldn't care, but he'd always lived in the shadows of the Remington family. He didn't think twice about it. Plus, he was almost as powerful as she was. Not that it mattered anyway. Noelle wasn't his mate.

And now he was going to be staying another night with her. They had a full day to blow as well. He had no idea how to entertain her. Did he need to entertain her? "We might as well get a room again."

"We can go back to the same hotel," Noelle suggested, her gaze moving from the scenery to him.

"Do you want your own room this time?" he asked her. She hadn't cared last night, but then she'd been so tired, she'd fallen asleep while he was in the shower. He didn't care either, but she might not want to sleep in the same room with him two nights in a row.

"No, I don't care," she answered. "But I do want to talk about Salt Flats and our meeting with Hailey today. I want to know what you're thinking about it."

She was perceptive. "So do I," Nick responded. He'd actually talked to Daniel quite extensively about Hailey before they'd flown and gotten Daniel's thoughts on the entire situation. Daniel didn't want to be involved unless necessary because of his mate's pregnancy. Nick had happily taken up the case because it gave him something to focus on. He enjoyed it when something crept up that wasn't the norm. It was a good distraction and gave him a sense of satisfaction when he'd righted a wrong.

"So what do you normally do when you have a night like this? Stuck somewhere with time to waste?" Noelle asked him.

Nick shrugged. And there it was, the question he'd been asking himself. What do we do to entertain ourselves for the afternoon? A lot of times he'd find himself a female for the night, but even that he hadn't done in a long while. He wasn't even sure how long it had been since he'd last had sex. Too long. But going out to pick up women with Noelle was... No. He couldn't do that. Not with her with him. Given the size of the town, he wasn't sure he'd find a decent place to pick up women anyway. He'd probably sit in his hotel room and watch TV or read a book.

He also had no idea about Noelle and any relationship she might be in. He'd known her since she was a few months old, but she definitely wasn't now. She'd become a confident, sexy female and he could appreciate how beautiful she was, not that he could tell her that. But he'd definitely noticed her. Especially when he was sparing with her, he couldn't help but notice her.

But he would never stare at her the way he'd seen Mason and Rob do to her last night. That had irritated him to no end. He'd wanted to punch both of them in the face for it. There was no reason to ever look at a female like that. He knew she'd been uncomfortable with it, and he was glad that for the most part, they'd ignored her. He'd seen it irritate her a bit. Their wolves should be submitting to her, but she kept everything so well hidden, they had no idea they were ignoring their future Alpha.