Chapter Two Ace
Iwas up at dawn, as usual. There was no need for an alarm clock. The sun streaming through my bedroom window was all I needed. Rolling over in bed, I stretched, the blankets pulling low on my waist. Sunlight warmed my skin as I stared out the window.
Another beautiful day of solitude.
And that was just the way I liked it.
I threw the covers aside and hopped out of bed. Stepping up to the window, I stretched once more, enjoying the feel of the sun warming my naked body. It was mid-June, and the morning temperature was already high. That meant it was gonna be a hot day and that I should get out in the garden early if I wanted to avoid sweating half to death. It was better to do deliveries during the hot part of the day. That way I could enjoy the AC in my truck. Today was delivery day for the hotel anyway, so that would work out just fine.
But the first order of business was coffee.
The best part about living in a small one-bedroom house you built yourself was that everything was exactly where it should be. I didn’t have to worry about rooting through cupboards or searching for my perfect mug. There was one mug, the same one I always used, and a small coffee pot. I was a plain and simple kind of guy. Coffee was black, without any bells and whistles. Sure, I splurged a little bit on the coffee itself, making sure it was the best I could find, but there was nothing complicated about it.
I tried to keep my life as uncomplicated as possible. Ever since I’d moved to Shifter Grove at the age of seventeen, keep it simple had been my mantra. I worked my ass off doing odd jobs so I could buy a little five-acre plot of land on the outskirts of town. After that, I lived in a tent while I cleared a section of it by hand. Once the garden was planted, I began work on the house. It was an odd construction made completely out of reclaimed materials. More than likely, it didn’t meet the local zoning ordinances, but it was warm, water-tight, and had everything I needed. I even had indoor plumbing.
The house was surrounded entirely by forest on all sides, which is why I didn’t think twice about stepping out into the garden with just my cowboy hat and a coffee mug. The earth and grass were cool under my feet, still wet with dew as I walked through the garden sipping my coffee. My growing method was a bit unconventional. I didn’t really do plants in rows. Actually, the place looked pretty wild. But, if anyone looked closely, they’d realize all my plants were intercropped with beneficial partner plants. And that’s why everyone thought I was a magician with vegetables. I didn’t use chemicals or grow like traditional farmers, but my produce was always the first bought at the farmer’s market. In fact, I usually had to pack up early because I just plain had nothing left to sell. My customers were ravenous.
And, every week, I took a few crates of veggies over to the hotel as well. No matter how many times Sam offered to pay for them, I turned him down. When I’d shown up in Shifter Grove all those years ago with no pack, no family, and nowhere to go, he took me in without question. He was a werewolf like me, and both of us rogue Alphas. The bond of friendship grew quickly between us, and even after all my time in Shifter Grove, he was really my only friend.
Sure, I was nice to everyone. I had to be if I wanted to keep my customers. But I liked to keep to myself. I still remember what it was like being part of a pack and having a big family way back when. And how they all turned on me the moment I told them I was different. I just never had a reason to trust anyone again after that, except Sam, of course.
But I tried not to think about all that. I loved my life in Shifter Grove. It was quiet, peaceful, and I could just do my own thing. I had my own house, my garden, my coffee, and no neighbors to see my dick flopping in the wind every morning. It was sheer bliss. And that’s how it was going to stay if I had anything to say about it. While the world outside my property got more complicated, my world did not. I was just a simple wolf living off the land. What more could a guy ask for?
After five minutes of wandering around the garden and taking stock of everything, I inevitably found some weeds that needed to be pulled. Crouching down, I sat my mug in the grass and began to work. Before I knew it, I’d worked my way down the entire path, checking on things and harvesting as I went, my coffee abandoned and cold at the other end of the garden. After a quick trip to the shed for a crate, I collected my harvest for the day along with my coffee mug and headed back to the house. There, I sprayed them all down, getting off as much of the soil as I could. Of course, by then, I was completely covered in dirt, sweat, and mud myself. Gardening naked came with the understanding that showering was a frequent experience.
Instead of going inside and tracking mud through the house, I just stood out on the small porch and sprayed myself down with the hose. I kept a spare bar of soap out there for just such occasions. The water from the hose was freezing cold, but after the heat of the sun on my skin all morning, I relished the sudden shock that caused goosebumps to break out over my body. I soaped myself up and rinsed myself off once more before grabbing my hat and taking a seat in the single lawn chair I had.
Stretching out on it, I let the sun dry me off, turning myself over halfway through. By the time I’d finished with all of that, it was getting close to noon, and I figured I should probably get moving. Sam liked to have enough food in the hotel for his guests, and dinner was the meal they usually requested. Besides, I could chat with him a while and maybe grab lunch in town. I had a hankering for french fries that I just couldn’t shake.
With a sigh, I pushed myself up from the lawn chair. Putting clothing on was the worst part of the day, but necessary if I wanted to go into town. Sam was a good friend, but we weren’t that close. And I doubted he wanted my balls all over his furniture anyway.
Twenty minutes later, I was pulling into the rear entrance of the hotel in my rusty old pickup. The back entrance went directly into the kitchens, where the walk-in cooler was. I had a key to the place, thanks to Sam, so I grabbed a crate and headed inside. Before I’d even made it back to fetch the second, Sam appeared.
“There you are!” he smiled, pulling me into a quick hug. He nearly knocked my hat off but reached up and put it back in place. “Took your time this morning, huh? I was starting to think you wouldn’t show up today.”
“I’m here every Tuesday,” I replied. “You know that.”
“I know, I’m just giving you a hard time.” He gave me a nudge. “Want some help?”
“Sure.”
Sam followed me out of the truck, the pair of us making three more trips to bring all the produce into the cooler. Once we had it in there, I helped him put everything in its proper place. After delivering for years, I knew where he kept each little thing. It was ten minutes of comfortable silence. Sam, thankfully, understood I wasn’t much of a talker.
“Well,” he said, helping me carry the empty crates back to my truck. “I suppose you’ll be wanting lunch.”
“I can grab something on the way home,” I replied. “I know it’s late.”
“Nah. Don’t worry about it.” Sam was always happy to feed just about anybody. The man loved to cook. “What have you got the taste for?”
“Fries,” I said simply.
He rolled his eyes. “You and your french fries. I swear. You’d think a werewolf would say something like steak orburgers. But not you.” He clapped me on the back, leading me back inside. “One day, you’re gonna wake up and find that you are made of nothing but potato.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“If that’s what your heart desires,” he sighed. “I guess it’s fine.”
We stepped into the kitchen, Sam directing me to a seat at one end of a long stainless steel prepping bench. He went into the cooler and came back with all the fixings for a decent lunch. There were potatoes, to be sure, but also some greens, tomatoes, onions, two small chicken breasts, and a bucket of ranch dressing.
“You know me too well,” I said, looking at the ranch.
“I’ve fed you every week for the past five years,” he replied. “And more often before that. I ought to know what you like by now.”
“Are you eating too?” I asked, looking at the extra chicken breast.
“No, I already had lunch. But I had a new wolf wander in pretty late last night.” He sighed, pushing the potatoes toward me. “Cut these up while I prep everything else.”
That piqued my curiosity. It wasn’t very often that a new wolf wandered into town. Back when Sam first started the hotel, there was a bit of a glut. But as the world slowly began to accept more types of people, so too did the wolf packs. They had no other choice. I had a cousin in the Allard pack on the other side of the state whose pack nearly disintegrated due to stodgy traditional pack laws. The younger generation just didn’t put up with that sort of thing anymore.
“What’s the new guy like?” I asked, pulling out a knife and cutting board. Sam would kill me if I used a knife directly on the steel table.
“It’s not like you to be nosy,” he replied, lifting an eyebrow in my direction.
“Just curious,” I said with a shrug. “Not a lot of excitement at my place.”
“If you’d try to find a boyfriend, I bet that would be different.”
“Don’t want one.” I started slicing the potatoes into thick wedges. “I like my solitude.”
“I think you’re just scared of being happy.”
I lifted my gaze, giving Sam that look I’d given him a hundred times that said stop pestering me. He sighed, shrugged a bit, and went back to working on the chicken.
“New guy is young,” he said, going back to my original question. “Probably twenty or so. And whatever happened to him, it happened fast. I could smell the fear and desperation on him the moment he walked through the door. He just started sobbing when I told him he could stay. He got cleaned up and came back downstairs to eat. You should’ve seen how he gobbled down his meal. Poor thing hadn’t eaten for days, and he’s already so skinny to begin with.”
“Alpha?”
Sam shook his head. “Not from what I can tell. Just a lone wolf from a small-town pack somewhere down south. He’s got the cutest little twang to his voice.” He sighed as he turned around and lit the fire on the stove, popping a pan down on top of it. “Poor kid will probably be scarred for life after hitchhiking all the way up here.”
“I did that to get here from Traverse City.”
“Yeah, but you were already a tough little thing,” he replied. “This kid seems… I don’t know… kinda fragile. There’s more to it than just losing his pack. I just can’t place my finger on it.”
“I wonder what it could be.”
Sam shrugged again. “No idea. But I’m sure it’ll come out in time. I’m gonna give him a few days to get a hold of himself, and then I’ll help him figure out how to get back on his feet. Something tells me he’s never been on his own before, so it’s gonna be a project.” He turned around, pointing a spatula at me. “Do you need help with that garden of yours?”
“Not really,” I replied, chopping through my last potato and tossing it into the bowl. “Then again, I can’t really make it any bigger without help. But I’m not sure if I want to. I’ve got enough money, and I like my privacy.” I pulled the salad greens toward me and started prepping those for the side salad. “Besides, I don’t talk much, and you know how that makes people uncomfortable.”
“Maybe that’s what this kid needs.” He leaned to the side, flipping on the deep fryer for the fries. “But I’ll figure that all out later. Something smaller might be a better start.”
I breathed an internal sigh of relief. The last thing I wanted was someone on my farm all the time.