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“I’m fine, Mrs. Perkins. Would you mind going upstairs to check on Simone? I want to make sure she got enough to eat and is comfortable.”
She bestowed a smile on him. “I’d be happy to, Alpha. Good night, Alpha.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Perkins, and good night.”
When he’d become alpha to the pack more than a decade ago, he had instituted some changes that had not gone over as well with the more senior members. One of those had been a sense of
less formality. Mischa didn’t believe respect could be demanded; it had to be earned, and it was more appropriately shown by actions than by the mouthing of meaningless titles. Mischa was leader of the pack because he was the most capable.
Valentin strode into his office and plopped down in the chair opposite him. “Hmm, down here on your own working. Either things went spectacularly well, and you left your mate in utter exhaustion and are letting the poor girl catch her breath,” Mischa growled low, “or things went incredibly badly, and you’re down here sulking and snarling at your best friend. I’m going to assume it was the latter.”
Mischa sat back and rubbed his temples. “To tell you the truth, I think it went well, but I’m still down here snarling at you because while we made progress and I made her come, I decided to hold off on claiming her—partly because I agreed to wait until after the bonding ceremony, and partly because I sense she isn’t ready for that but needed comfort and reassurance from me.”
“For what it’s worth, I like her. She’s timid, but I wonder if it wasn’t because of her family and upbringing. She became so animated when we talked about wine, and I suspect the rumors about her being the nose behind Bacchus wines are true. If that is, in fact, the case, then what we paid extra for her was more than worth it.”
“Would you not talk about my mate as if she was some commodity?”
Valentin started to laugh. “Oh, my god, you’ve fallen for her.”
“I haven’t. I don’t know her well enough for that.”
“Bullshit. You, the guy who swore fated mates were nothing more than legend, who chose a mate based on the same criteria he’d match one of our stallions to a broodmare, who went to Italy to get one daughter and came back with another, has capitulated to destiny’s choice and is now enamored of his fated mate.”
Mischa groaned. As much as he would have liked to throw all of that back into Valentin’s face and refuted each of his statements, he didn’t believe an alpha should lie to his beta. “God, it’s pathetic, isn’t it?”
Valentin leaned forward. “Absolutely not. The health and happiness of any pack is greatly influenced by its alpha. I’m not saying the pack has been in need, because this pack has thrived under your leadership, but seeing their alpha happily mated will give the rest of us a feeling of even greater stability. I know she’s a bit timid, and I haven’t known her even as long as you have, but for what it’s worth, I believe you did the right thing. I think Simone is where she needs to be—at your side and here in Alaska with us.”
“Then do me a favor.”
“You have but to ask, exalted one.”
Mischa snorted. Valentin was always able to lift his mood. “Make sure this bonding ceremony goes off without a hitch. Her family will be here next week. And if there’s any way to move the date forward, for the love of god, do it.”
Valentin laughed. “You’ve got it bad, old friend.”
Mischa chuckled. “I do, don’t I? Should I be worried that there are some things that just don’t add up about Simone?”
Valentin shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. I think I’m sensing the same—that something’s off kilter, just as you are, but I don’t think she is deliberately hiding something from you. Whatever it is, I don’t think she knows herself.”
“Then better she is here with us.”
“Agreed. But there’s been a development in the whole Otter Cove/Mystic River/Shadow League thing.”
“I don’t believe in boogeymen.”
“Nor do I, but I’m no longer convinced they are merely boogeymen. I’ve heard from the Dunnottar pack in Scotland. They’ve had a visit from Scott Hardaway, the lynx shifter who is mate to Colby Reynolds’ sister. He and his brother Graeme made a very persuasive argument about the existence and purpose of the League.”
“And this matters to me why?”
“Because, as you are so fond of pointing out, our kind is in decline and we need to band together. Garrick MacBeth is convinced they may be on to something.”
“Shifters usually give us no notice. We are rarely included in anything that happens in Otter Cove, even though we were here long before the town came into being.”
“Well, we haven’t been the most welcoming souls. It wouldn’t hurt to think about inviting some of the residents of Otter Cove to the bonding ceremony. Let them know we’re not as isolationist as they think.”
“You do remember we smuggle illegal things…”
“I do, but so does Colby Reynolds in Mystic River, and yet he is a large part of that community. If trouble is coming, and Garrick thinks it is, we’ll need them as much as they’ll need us.”
