Mr. Red Riding Hoode

Her reaction when she found out had been priceless. Rick still winced whenever he heard that flea and tick jingle. A simple MP3 player set to max volume and some headphones had made the Luna’s point quite well, and Rick had changed Pack protocol to accommodate the Luna, who couldn’t hear him in her head.

“My Pack.” Chela felt her Alpha’s regard envelope her, his protection wrapping around her like a father’s arms. It was one of the many ways an Alpha strengthened his connection to his Pack. The ability also gave the Pack an advantage during battle as the Alpha could direct them even from a distance and while in wolf form. “The lodge is doing well, and our Pack is doing well.” Rick went over some numbers that had some of the members gasping in happy surprise. “In light of this, the end-of-year bonuses I had hoped to give you will definitely be coming through.”

Some of the married members of the Pack exchanged happy glances. While the lodge had been struggling, times had been hard, but within two years of Rick taking over it was back in the black. No one could be prouder of their Alpha than she was. She, more than anyone except perhaps Belle, knew how Rick worried and fretted over things. As the Omega, it was Chela’s job to ensure that everyone from the Alpha down to the smallest pup was taken care of on an emotional level.

Rick nodded at the happy expressions on the faces of his Pack. He might look stoic on the outside, but on the inside he was dancing like a happy puppy. “Now it’s time to discuss the important Pack issues.”

“I have one.” Ben stepped forward, his emotions all over the place.

“Speak.”

“Our Omega has found her mate.”

Chela hid her wince as every member of the Pack turned their gazes on her.

Rick knew, of course, but until he gave his official blessing the Pack might not accept her mate, an outsider, the way they’d accepted Ben and Dave’s mating. As both were already members of the Pack they hadn’t needed Rick or the Pack’s approval, although Chela could have told them they had it. Rick could override the Pack if he felt Steve would ultimately benefit them, but he might not be willing to risk the Pack’s displeasure. They could make his life a living hell if they decided he’d stepped over the line.

It was a fine dance an Alpha stepped with his Pack, one Chela was glad she didn’t have to deal with.

Rick would go the formal route for Steve, a man he’d once denied Pack status. The Pack had been far too unstable to introduce a new, human member when Ben had asked, but it would work against Steve in this instance. Ben had understood why Steve had been refused, but the rest of the Pack would only know that he’d been denied. It could lead to all sorts of problems if the Pack felt he’d been denied due to, say, an unstable personality like the one Ben’s father had suffered from. They could try and force Chela not to mate him, or worse, not to bite him.

They would lose, but they could try.

She was proven right when the Alpha spoke. “State his name and whether he is Pack.”

Chela straightened her shoulders. Here we go. Thanks to Ben blurting out about her mating to the Pack, she’d had no time to inform Rick privately. She just prayed Belle had said something to the Alpha. Rick hated surprises. “Steven Hoode. He is human, from New York, and our Marshal’s best friend.”

The Pack grumbled a bit at that. While human mates were not unheard of, she could sense that not all of them were happy at the thought of adding another mouth to feed or another soul to house.

“Why should the Pack accept him?”

“I can answer that.” Ben stepped forward, glancing toward Dave for a moment before smiling at the rest of the Pack.

Chela gulped. If the Pack refused to hear Ben’s reasons she’d be forced to either give up her mate or leave the Pack.

Really, there was no option. Her Pack was no longer her top priority. The blond with the smiling blue eyes was.

Ben stared Rick straight in the eye, a gesture that could be viewed by some as a challenge. “Steve is a good man who shielded me more than once when my father came after me.”

The Pack’s grumbles stilled. Rick had made clear Ben’s past while Ben had chased his mate to Disney World to claim him. They all knew now how Ben had been abused by his father and neglected by the previous Alpha. That Steven had shielded Ben from his father’s rage spoke well of him. A recommendation such as this would go a long way toward getting Steve accepted as an Omega’s mate. His compassion, fearlessness and loyalty would ease many of their fears.

Rick nodded. “Anyone else?”

Surprisingly, Dave stepped forward. “He enabled Ben to come after me when he could have denied Ben the use of his timeshare. He gave selflessly to a friend in need.”

Selflessly might not have been entirely accurate. He’d bargained for rooms at the lodge in exchange, but he’d given up the warmth of Orlando for the cold of the Poconos. Chela had seen the way he shivered. That was not a man who was fond of snow.

“Anyone else?”

No one else stepped forward, so she did. She gathered her courage, the part of her that Belle had helped strengthen, and squared her shoulders. “He’s mine.”

The entire Pack turned to face her, almost causing her to panic. Too often she’d been under a Pack member’s scrutiny only to have someone strike out at her.

Belle had definitively put a stop to that, standing at her side and showing her exactly who Chela was meant to be.

She tilted her chin, allowing her power to flow through her. She would claim her mate, with the blessing of the Pack, or without it. “Steven Hoode is my mate, and I will fight for him with every breath in me.”

Slowly, one by one, the Pack lifted their faces to the moonless night and howled their approval. Rick was last, giving the Alpha’s blessing.

Only the Luna held back, her gaze amused as the Wolves howled. When they were done, they all turned toward her, waiting.

For Chela, Belle’s approval meant everything.

The Luna gave it in her own unique way, the screaming cry of a Puma rending the silent night as Belle gave her blessing to Chela’s mating.

Rick grinned. “Then I declare this meeting adjourned. Shift, and let’s run.”

The Pack shifted, ready to run into the night, play in the snow. Chela embraced her wolf, fur sprouting along her body. There was no blinding flash of light, no sound of crunching, grinding bones. It was more like watching water flow through the person, moving them, bending them, blending them with their animal in a liquid haze of a dream until the man was gone and only the wolf remained. Anyone looking on from the outside would assume the feeling was wet or slimy, but it wasn’t. It was airy and tingled in her palms. It was sensual and innocent in a way a non-shifter could never understand.

Then the wind shifted, and the most alluring scent drifted across her senses. She turned in place, already knowing how the Pack would react to the intruder in their midst.

She just hoped she got to him before any serious damage was done. They might not physically harm him, but they could do a hell of a lot of damage to a mating that hadn’t even taken place yet.

She just hoped she got the chance to explain things to him before he ran all the way to Abu Dhabi.

Steve bolted through the woods, only one word pounding in his brain over and over again.

Werewolves.

Je-sus.

Leave it to him to go on vacation in the one place that was chock-full of Team Jacob.

He could hear them baying behind him, hunting him. If he could get to his car, he’d be safe. He’d take off, pretend he never even came here. He could have Ben ship his laptop back to him, right?

Right?

Shit.

Ben had changed into one of them too, and worse, the son of a bitch knew where he lived.

Moscow sounded pretty good. No one would think to look for him there. Except he hated borscht. And the cold.

He was going to miss the hell out of his computer.