Page 2 of Matched in Mayhem

“Not me,” I laughed. “Hemlock Wolf by birth but not by the blood of Frost and Juda as far as I know. Raven Hollow for the most part.”

“Well, this guy is a dragon and he has a very squeaky-clean background. He seems a bit moody, but that’s most alphas these days,” Aidan laughed. “This particular dragon is ready to host or travel, depending on what you’re most comfortable with.”

Looking out over the Sanctuary made the thought of leaving even for a few months bittersweet. I missed this place but seeing more of the world would probably be good for me.

“Alby, are you still there?” Aidan asked.

“Yeah, just thinking.”

“You can take your time. He doesn’t even know I have a possible match for him. Wanted to reach out to you first.”

“Sky’s grandson. Is he one of Star’s kids?” I asked.

“Yes,” Aidan said.

“Grandpa doesn’t mind Star,” I said.

It wasn’t really any of grandpa’s business what I did, but as much as I hated to admit it, his intuition was usually spot on. Most of the time the only problem with him was right message/wrong attitude.

“You’d be staying very close to the main house of Star’s estate if you traveled there,” Aidan told me.

“I think I will. I mean, I definitely want to do the experiment,” I said. “I think I will go there, though.”

“I’ll touch base with him and we’ll set everything up. Expect your packet soon,” Aidan said.

“Thanks for thinking of me. I know my granddad complicates things,” I grinned.

“No, he doesn’t. I think this particular dragon could handle your grandpa. Though… Never mind, that’s a long story,” Aidan said.

“Have they crossed paths?” I asked.

“I’m not sure. There’s something there, though. Something that makes the system calculate that you have a very small chance of being true-mates. Almost like you’ve been at odds before or maybe your ancestors.”

“Eh, ancestors are ancestors,” I shrugged. “Just because we’re not romantically compatible doesn’t mean we won’t get along.”

“All the optimists come from Hemlock Mountain,” Aidan laughed and we ended the call.

Chapter 2

Bennie

The Hemlock Wolf Pack, Star’s Territory

Two Weeks Later

For the last two weeks all Raziel talked about was this Alby guy coming in from Hemlock Mountain. It was as if Aidan Gilmore called and gave him the information and my best friend started basing his whole existence around this guy coming in for a few months. Alby was a wolf shifter who grew up on the Hemlock Mountain Sanctuary. His grandfather was some hotshot healer who’d helped in wars here and there. He was also very against dating from everything I’d heard about him. While Mated for Mayhem wasn’t exactly dating, I figured we’d have to deal with Clyde and his mate at some point while Alby was here. Well, if they could catch him and Raziel at home. He’d planned the first full month of Alby’s visit down to a T. He planned to take him to all these fun and romantic places. I wasn’t sure how he was going to get any useful information for the research project if they never sat down together with nothing else to do. You never really knew a person until you spent weeks doing nothing with them. Though, nothing was sometimes preferred over Raziel’s constant need to stay busy.

Alby’s arrival was set for tomorrow. So today, Raziel had somehow roped me into helping him set up the finishing touches on his room. He’d bought this big four poster bed that was more tedious than anything else to move up the spiraling staircase that Raziel insisted on building into his house. Then he bought a mattress so big that it didn’t fit through any of the upstairs windows.

“Are you sure you don’t want to ask your dad for help?” I eyed the giant mahogany beast as it was loaded off the moving truck.

“It’s not about strength,” Raziel shook his head, examining the woodwork for damage and finding none. “It’s about strategy and physics. We got it covered. I mostly need you to be my eyes so that it stays balanced and doesn’t break down a wall.”

“I miss doing nothing,” my tiger chimed into my thoughts. “We could be at home doing it right now. We could lounge in a sunbeam. Maybe chase a frozen watermelon around the yard later if we get bored.”

I yawned. That sounded like a better plan than wrestling a bed up a spiral staircase but we both knew that’s exactly how I was going to spend my afternoon. It wasn’t even that Raziel and I spent most of our time as teenagers together. It was that one of the men who raised me was a priest of Frost and Alby was an omega. To deny him top-notch comfort while visiting from far away felt like I was toeing the line of breaking some tenet of Frost.

“Maybe the fourth one because our families fought side by side. Definitely the sixth one about being kind to strangers. Plus, we’re in the same pack. So I’m sure there is something else too,” my tiger rambled on as Raziel, and I double-checked that all the doors were opened.