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Chapter Two
Andrade
Our home was the nicest place I could imagine living. Not big, but then none of the homes at Gray Pack were, not even the alpha’s. And I was mated to the alpha.
“Are you sure you don’t need any more help getting ready?” Trish, the beta’s mate was buzzing around our packed suitcases as if she was prepared to lift our entire cabin and toss it in a duffle bag. “You’re going for two whole weeks.”
As if I needed to be told that. “I think it’s all we need. But thank you for all your help and for keeping an eye on the garden and everything while we’re gone. The pumpkins and winter squash are so close to ready, it would be a shame if a dry spell damaged them.”
“And the greens you planted as well. They’re the nicest I’ve seen.”
Gardening was one of my great passions. The other was Zion, of course. My mate. My love. My fated. But he was a busy man and as his mate, my jobs were not quite as time-consuming, so I took pleasure in growing as much of what we ate as I could. The shelves in our little cool basement were lined with jars of pickled vegetables, canned tomato sauces, salsas, and paste, even soups and pressure canned meats. All my frustration at not going on our honeymoon channeled into food security.
Unlike many packs, we weren’t too far from a town where many of our members worked. They shopped at the supermarket and big-box store, and sometimes so did I. But if I could grow it, can it, bottle it, pickle it, dehydrate it, or in any other way preserve something, I did. I had a picture of a freeze dryer cut out of a catalogue and pinned to my corkboard in the kitchen.
One day…
“You’re sure?” Trish’s impatient tone let me know it wasn’t the first time she’d asked. “Earth to Andrade?” Yeah, that confirmed it.
“I’m sorry, Trish. I’m a little distracted. But again, thank you. You’re the best, and I’m going to bring you back a present.”
She grinned and shook her head. “I don’t think you and that hottie alpha of yours will be doing a lot of shopping while you’re on your honeymoon.”
“We’ve been mated a year already…”
“That’s right. And we all see the way you look at each other. Just be safe and don’t fall off any furniture and hurt yourself. But I would love to see a picture of the cottage if you don’t mind? Your mom’s description makes it sound amazing, and my mate and I need a vacation, too.” She winked. “To stoke the flames as it were.”
“You’re a fine one to talk. Guillermo ogles you constantly.”
Her giggle was girlish for a woman of middle years. “He does, doesn’t he? All the more reason to get him alone for an extended period. Somewhere we don’t have to worry about sound carrying.”
As if they worried about it now. Well, they might worry, but they weren’t doing anything about it for sure. But nobody really cared. People in love were hard to be mad at. “Okay, then pictures for sure. And, in fact, if you pick a week, Zion and I will treat you to it. Not only are you taking care of my way-bigger-than-it-probably-needs-to-be garden, but he’s got the whole pack to take care of.”
“Your garden feeds a lot of people,” she pointed out. “And we don’t mind helping out. Guillermo is just doing his job. But I won’t say no.” Beaming, she came in for a hug, her ample figure enclosing mine for a second in a big, motherly squeeze before she stepped back. “You boys be good.”
“I think we’re going to be bad.” I gave a little involuntary shiver at the thought. “But you know what it’s like to be in love.”
“I sure do.”
And then she was gone and I was checking over my list again, making sure everything was packed or dealt with or addressed however it needed to be. Trish knew she could give some of the foodstuff in our cellar to anyone who needed it, but, at this time of year, nearly anyone who got hungry could easily hunt or pick something from the even larger pack garden. But there were a few differently abled folks, either due to age or illness or other reasons, who needed a little help. Another reason I preserved everything I grew as well as anything nobody else wanted from the pack gardens or orchard.
Everyone needed a little help sometime. Food, wood to burn for warmth, just friendship, a friendly word. That was, to me, what pack was all about. Otherwise, we might as well live separately and ignore each other.
Everything was ready.
All I needed was my mate, and he was due any moment.
But an hour later, he still wasn’t back from whatever tasks he had to finish up before we could leave, and my happy-go-lucky attitude was fading a bit into a worry that, like three times or more before, we would have to cancel.
I had been planning this trip for a full year, ever since our mating ceremony. Being mated to the alpha meant nobody goes on any kind of vacation, not even their honeymoon, unless things are going smoothly. And unlike most who mate a pack alpha, I hadn’t. Not really. He took office several hours after the ceremony, causing the trip my parents had gifted us with to be delayed.
A lot.
A year.
Too long.
Long ago, my mother and father had spent a long weekend at a small and nearly ignored beach about a hundred miles from the packlands. Their honeymoon had been much shorter than the one we’d planned, but at least they’d been able to go on it right away. I tried not to let it make me grouchy, not being able to take our wedding trip in a timely manner, but sometimes…
