Chapter 3
Alby
The Hemlock Wolf Pack, The Train Station in Star’s Territory
Like most alphas, Raziel was easy to slip by.
Unlike a lot of the alphas from the sanctuary might have, he didn’t show up to the train station hours early in case something changed in my itinerary.
Though, I counted on them being more hands off this far away from Hemlock Mountain.
After all, this used to be the Wildlands.
I wasn’t actively avoiding him, but I did tell him I’d be on an evening train despite arriving just after noon.
It wasn’t that I didn’t want to meet him, but tossing my bag into a storage locker at the train station and enjoying a few hours of exploring on my own seemed a better strategy than throwing myself right into the mix.
Besides, we had three months to spend together.
He could wait a few more hours to meet me.
Though, some habits die hard, and I had already looked for the nearest Mama Dragon’s franchise and headed straight there for a quiet lunch.
I had bought a new book before leaving the Sanctuary.
It was the dramatization of a real-life tragedy written by some guy out in Heartville.
So far it was interesting and the perfect lunch companion.
This book was going to break my heart, but sometimes one needed his heart broken to regulate his emotions and to remind himself that the world wasn’t always a kind place.
I had spent days scrolling through Raziel’s social media, but no matter how far back I went there wasn’t really anything about him there.
Sure, it was the pack’s social media network, but that was the only one I could find him on.
Mostly he shared upcoming local events and news.
He also shared a lot of events hosted by Alpha Talk, a support group for alphas, and for a company called Dark Soul, which might’ve been a meditation club out in the Raven Hollow Territory.
Having so many family members come from out there, I should’ve looked it up, but since I never planned on being that far east for long enough to participate, I didn’t bother.
So, outside of his bloodline and that he supported mental health services and pack events, I knew next to nothing about him.
If he had looked at my social media, he’d know I was an open book.
I posted everything from what I had for breakfast some days to what I was reading to random thoughts that went through my head.
I’d been offered sponsorships for products but as a general rule if you lived on the Sanctuary you didn’t advertise products if you didn’t personally use them.
It wasn’t in our laws, but new products circulated quickly around our neighborhoods, and it was just shitty to recommend something you never actually used yourself.
Still, there were plenty of rules about what you couldn’t post even from a visit to the Sanctuary.
So maybe mine was just as cryptic as Raziel’s.
“He has cute friends, though,” my wolf chimed off into my thoughts.
Yes, I had scrolled through his list of friends.
Mostly, it was people he was related to and a few others.
One named Benjamin had posted the most photos of them together.
At least, recently. The guy had been all over the world working with the Temple of Frost and other organizations helping to make the world a better place.
I was sort of surprised that he never ended up at the Sanctuary.
The Temple of Frost types always passed through.
Though, we are a self-sufficient community these days, able to fold newcomers into the folds without much outside help.
Still, Benjamin, Bennie, to his friends, was fascinating.
“Cute and well-traveled,” my wolf nodded from inside his inner sanctum.
After lunch and a bit of reading, I walked around downtown near the train station.
Everything from grocery stores and restaurants to high-end fashion boutiques could be found.
I only window shopped, not wanting to carry anything around with me all afternoon.
There were taxis and a ride service app, but growing up at the Sanctuary had taught me to never get into cars with strangers.
That’s how Grady Moore managed to kidnap so many people.
That’s how he got my grandcarrier. So, nope. No ride shares for me.
With less than an hour to go, I headed back to the train station, stopping only at a food truck to buy a taco.
It had the official Hemlock Wolf Pack sticker on it and its barcode showed up in the ‘SAFE SHIFTERS’ app.
It was a nifty little app that my grandsire and a few other wolves put together years ago.
Businesses that were officially registered with the pack and who never failed food and safety inspections got accreditations and listed as safe on the app.
Back at the station, I spotted Raziel before he spotted me. He was still in the parking lot sitting behind the wheel of a giant black truck.
“Does he think we brought our whole house with us?” my wolf chimed off into my thoughts.
He hadn’t spotted me and I wasn’t ready to give up my alone time just yet.
So, I took the long way around the parking lot before heading inside to grab my stuff from the storage locker.
I passed some vending machines full of candy bars and fruit snacks and loaded up before going back outside.
I wasn’t sure how far Raziel lived from town, and I didn’t want to make the possibly long walk back if I got a sweet tooth.
I assumed the hunting would be great near him because I didn’t think Star would live where the food wasn’t easy to scoop up.
“One of those dragons are going to scoop us up thinking we’re a deer because they forgot their glasses,” my wolf laughed.
The train I was supposed to be on rolled onto the platform two seconds after Raziel walked into the station.
He stood there with his hands in his pockets and his shoulders squared.
It was such a weird pose. Hands in pockets meant someone was nervous.
Shoulders squared meant the opposite. Maybe he had something important in his pockets.
A gift bag hung from his arm. At least he brought me a welcome present.
“We’re not compatible with him. Remember that,” my wolf reminded me.
“For science,” I told myself and circled around so that I could join in with the crowd coming off the train. I squinted ahead of me, searching Raziel out. Only he wasn’t there. Where had he gone. I looked up, wondering if he flew up to look for me from above the crowd.
“Alby!” a friendly voice called from behind me.
How had he done that? I twisted around to see him, hands out of pockets, waving with the one not holding the blue gift bag.
I smiled, despite the butterflies exploding in my stomach.
There he was – the strange, incompatible alpha I was going to live with for the next three months.
He was tall. Dragon shifters were always taller than I expected them to be.
It didn’t matter if they were alphas, betas, or omegas.
It was all the same. They were tall and broad and took up so much space without thinking about it.
“Raziel?” I asked when we reached each other despite knowing exactly who he was.
“Yep. I almost made a sign with your name on it but figured that would be overkill and I know how the Sanctuary is about privacy.”
“You could have,” I said, shaking his hand. “A lot of those privacy rules are to protect people who moved there because they’re in danger.”
“You weren’t on the train,” he said and I blinked.
Had he been following me around town? I hoped not. A lie was one thing, but if he was good enough to follow me around unnoticed I needed to pay more attention.
“I.. I came on an earlier train so I had the chance to look around,” I admitted.
“Makes sense. Did you get to see everything? We can walk around if you like. I’ll carry your bag,” he said, nodding to it.
“I got it,” I said despite how heavy it was. Sure, I was going to this guy’s house, but I just met him and wasn’t ready to trust him with all my possessions.
“I thought we’d do a late lunch at the Temple of Frost. My friend is volunteering there today and he’s just finishing up. That way we can talk for a bit before we’re stuck alone in a house together. Thought it may make things more comfortable for you.”
“Bennie!” my wolf chimed off into my thoughts.
“I’d like that! I’ve only been to the Temple of Frost on Hemlock Mountain. Does this one have a restaurant?”
“Fully staffed kitchen that’s always ready to feed the hungry. It’s always free and donation based, but my friend’s dad pretty much runs the temple. So, we’ve donated enough hours to eat for free for life,” Raziel smiled.
“Do you do a lot of charity work?” I asked, moving my bag to my other shoulder.
“My offer to carry your bag still stands,” Raziel said. “Or we can drop it off at the truck.”
“Truck please,” I said. “Better than having to haul it around the temple. With my luck I’d knock something over that’s from the time of Juda and Frost.”
“Oh, all those things are held in place securely. Usually behind glass.”
“He didn’t get the joke,” my wolf sounded off into my thoughts, and I made a mental note of it later for my surveys. It was going to be a long few months if all my sarcasm went over his head.
His truck was even bigger in person, but it was a double cab which meant my bag fit in the backseat with plenty of room to spare. After my hands were free Raziel handed off the gift bag and it jingled.
“I almost brought flowers, but figured this would be more useful while you’re here since we’re supposed to be living as mates,” Raziel said.
I blushed and hoped to Frost and Juda there wasn’t a sex toy in the bag.
“Sex toys don’t jingle!” my wolf laughed, but you never really knew with dragons.