Solace

Chapter 3

Iris

A throat clearing startled Iris awake, jostling the wolf and woman on her flanks. Iris opened her eyes, looking for the source of the sound, and saw Alex, leaning against a wall watching her. It was then she noticed that she wasn't surrounded by only a few wolves and May. No, it seemed as if the whole pack was there, all sleeping around her both as wolves and humans. Someone had even brought blankets and pillows, making the scene look like a giant sleepover.

"Did you sleep well, love?" Alex asked, looking slightly amused.

Deciding against saying anything about the endearment, Iris cleared her throat from sleep and looked at him, blushing slightly. "Yeah...What time is it?" She realized it was dark outside. How long had she slept?

"It's half past eight." Alex stopped leaning on the wall and put his hands in his pockets. "I just got back from town with my Betas and noticed my pack missing. Turns out you stole them for yourself. Have I been replaced?" An amused glint was in his eyes.

"No! I— Uh, I don't know what happened. I swear! They just came to me, I didn't—"

"Hey, hey, relax. I was just kidding. They seem to like you." He quickly stopped Iris' rambling and under his breath said, "I certainly do." It made Iris blush something fierce.

"Hello, son of mine. How did it go?" came a woman's voice from somewhere in the pile, strong and rich with age and motherly warmth.

Iris turned toward the source and saw a woman, maybe in her late forties to early fifties, with black unruly hair like Alex and the same commanding aura of an Alpha, sitting up and stretching her hands. She was beautiful, Iris thought, like a queen.

"They agreed on the terms, we should expect a new meeting soon," Alex informed her and went to help her up.

She stood on two strong feet, back straight with her yellow sundress flowing nicely down her body. Iris knew she was in the presence of someone great.

"I don't believe we've been introduced yet," the wolf mother walked over to Iris, standing nearly a head taller than her. "My name is Melanie Evans, I was the Alpha of this pack before my son took over. I've been wanting to meet you for a while now." The woman hugged Iris before she knew what was happening, but Iris was fast to hug her back. "Welcome to the pack, dear."

"Thank you, uh, Melanie. I'm Iris Parker," Iris introduced herself after letting go of the woman.

"Oh, I know who you are." She glanced at her son meaningfully, who in turn looked away with a cough. "Come along now, we should get dinner started. It's late but all of us are hungry, yes?"

"Sure am Mama Evans." Wes sauntered to the living room, all smiles and windblown hair.

"Go take a shower, Wesley, you reek like a bear who's been rolling in the aftermath of a skunk's lunch." Melanie leveled a look at Wes whose face immediately fell as he picked at his shirt, sniffed the collar, and grimaced. With a salute, he went toward one of the bathrooms Iris had seen on the tour.

Iris was dragged to the kitchen by Melanie—May, and Alex right behind her—where people had started to get dinner ingredients out of the cupboards and turned the radio on. Melanie sat Iris at the counter with a knife and a cutting board, and soon onions were being rolled her way. The previous Alpha started peeling potatoes and sat down next to Iris.

The kitchen was loud, people milling about, trading bowls and frying meat. A few cubs were running at their feet, playing around. Iris noticed Melanie watching her from the corner of her eyes, a curious glint in her eyes.

"You're an odd one, aren't you?" she finally said. "I don't mean it in a bad way, of course, quite the opposite."

Iris could only raise one eyebrow, completely perplexed by what she heard. Odd in a good way? What was that supposed to mean? Iris saw Alex's eyes flash bright red as he looked at his mother, who simply scoffed in response.