Shifting Boundaries

Original Chapter 15

Everett

Last time I came to Lakota, I had been following Meleri in. She talked to the guards at the front gates and they waved me through, no problem. This time, I was on my own. I stopped in front of the closed gates and waited while a guard approached my car.

I rolled down my window when he got close and he said, "State your name and business."

I was expecting something a bit friendlier, but I shook it off. "Everett Ibarra. I'm transferring into the pack." I pulled the transfer paperwork out of my bag, though it didn't really prove anything since Spencer hadn't signed or stamped them yet. "I'm meeting with the alpha at eleven."

It was 10:36 now, which should give me just enough time to find my way to his office without feeling rushed.

"Wait here," the guard said, taking the papers from my hands and walking into the guardhouse. I watched through the big window as he made a phone call, clearly reading from the paperwork. Finally, with his expression still completely neutral, he returned to my window. After passing me my paperwork and a map, he said, "You'll want to follow the trail to the left. The office building is right here. Don't go off on your own until after you've seen Spencer."

Then he walked away, closing himself back up in the guardhouse. The gates swung open and I eased through them, feeling a little off-balance from the whole encounter. Was this what the rest of the pack would be like? Was this how it was, living in a pack that always faced the possibility of attack?

I drove down the path to the offices slowly, palms sweating as I started to have serious doubts about what I was doing. I didn't belong here. What was I thinking, moving to this place?

I drudged an image of Felix to the forefront of my mind and it calmed me down a little. I was doing this for him. This was what Felix needed from me, though he wouldn't come out and say it, and I would be damned if I didn't at least give it a shot. Besides, I reminded myself, Neil had said Felix and I could join Delta if things didn't work out here.

I parked in front of the office building with eight minutes to spare. I needed them to finish steeling my resolve. I shut my eyes and tried to recall the way Felix smelled. What my mind could conjure was a shadow of the real thing, but even his imagined scent made me feel better – especially knowing I would have the real thing in just a few hours.

I just had to get through this meeting. Then I would go back to the cabin, surrounded by Felix's scent and his things, until he got home. Maybe I would even have dinner waiting when he arrived. It seemed a little late to try making a good impression, but no harm in trying, right?

I cursed myself for having too good an imagination when the memory of his scent grew so strong it hurt me like a punch. Just a few more hours, I reminded myself. I would meet my new alpha and then just have to get through a few more hours before I had Felix with me again. After two weeks, what were a few hours?

But they felt like a lot and I was shaking like a junky, trying to keep myself from running through the pack lands looking for my mate. He worked near the cabin, I knew that much. I could pick up his scent there and follow it to him. Maybe after this meeting –

Someone pulled on the handle of my car door, which was locked, then rapped on the window. I jumped and looked around wildly, in utter panic mode. Then I saw a familiar pair of dark eyes through the glass and the panic disappeared. There was no room for it with the utter joy that filled me at the sight. I flung my door open, narrowly avoiding hitting Felix with it, and launched myself at him. Felix's arms wrapped around me and we stood like that for a solid minute, breathing in each other's scents.