Juniper
Ispent the next three days basically holed up in my house.
So much had happened that I couldn’t face the world outside while my head was spinning.
First the fight with Anders, then raging at him about putting his hands on me like that.
The time I’d spent with Levi in the forest had been a nice change of pace, until it had turned into a disaster.
I was stuck in this strange unwinnable limbo.
My brain understood my only option was to make things work with Anders, even though I knew he was far from perfect, and I still had no romantic feelings for him.
My heart, on the other hand, still pined for Levi.
Those feelings, masochistic and pointless as they were, wouldn’t go away.
It might have been easier if Levi had never turned up in Idlewild, but he was here now, and there was nothing I could do about it.
The only thing that did get me to venture into town was meeting with Anders.
His rage at finding me and Levi together had faded, but the week leading up to our mating ceremony was more stressful than I liked.
Anders continued verbally chastising me and making snide remarks about Levi, even threatening to toss him out of town.
From what I could tell, Anders was only letting Levi stay because he was too excited to combine the packs and didn’t want to mess up the plan he had.
To cap all that off, Eugenia was still hanging around. Whenever I saw her, she did or said inappropriate things to get a rise out of me. Not that I mentioned that to Anders, since I was still in the doghouse. If I rocked the boat too much, he might call off the mating ceremony and banish me.
That thought wasn’t quite as terrifying as it had been before.
My relationship with Levi had improved exponentially over the last week or two, and he would probably allow me to live in Hidden Grove, but I would have to leave my grandparents, Beatrice, the store, and all my other friends and acquaintances.
I would be removed from the modern world once and for all.
All this stress and tension was coming to a head today because the other packs were arriving for the mating ceremony.
As Anders’s mate, I needed to be with him to receive the other alphas.
The elders had arranged for accommodation for the other visiting pack members at local hotels.
Every room within twenty miles of Idlewild was booked, and still a few people would need to bunk in guesthouses and spare bedrooms around town.
This was going to be the largest gathering of packs in at least fifty years.
Anders hadn’t been lying when he’d said he wanted to make this the biggest event in recent memory.
“Are you ready?” Anders asked.
“Yes,” I said, giving him the best smile I could muster.
We stood on his porch. The first scheduled arrival was Hakeem Jones and his mate Tamara from the Ravenhill pack.
Blaise Boucher and his mate Courtney, from Fallbrook, were scheduled to arrive at the same time as Hakeem.
Levi and I had exchanged a few texts since our encounter in the forest, and we’d decided this was our best chance to get an item that had belonged to his great-grandfather Hugo.
In the distance, I heard the faint rumble of an engine. Hakeem and his mate lived much farther away and had opted to come by car instead of running. I was sure Blaise and Courtney would arrive in their wolf forms.
Anders flicked the top button of my blouse. “Undo that.”
“Excuse me?” I said, frowning at him.
Anders rolled his eyes and undid the button himself. “Show a little skin,” he said. “Flaunt what you got. If we can get the other alphas a little off balance, it might help negotiations for the alliance.”
“I’m not going to whip my tits out to get another alpha horny. Especially not in front of the man’s own mate, for God’s sake.”
The fact that he wanted to use me as eye candy right before our own mating ceremony was really gross. Though, Anders was always capable of figuring out a new way to be inappropriate, so it shouldn’t have surprised me.
He let out an exhausted sigh. “Ugh. Lame.”
Thankfully, any other argument would have to wait. In the distance, sun glinted off the windshield of a car, and behind it two wolves raced along, all of them heading up the hill toward us.
“Damn.” He chuckled. “Good timing. Both groups at once.”
The SUV pulled up in front of us, and Hakeem Jones exited the driver’s side and waved.
“Afternoon,” he said.
The man was built like a linebacker, with a thick chest, broad shoulders, and legs as large as tree trunks. His hair was twisted into dreadlocks and held back from his face with a hair tie. A single scar marred the dark skin on his forehead, but otherwise he had no distinguishing marks.
“Hello there,” Anders said, using his best politician voice. “Welcome to Idlewild.”
Tamara exited the car and joined Hakeem as they walked up to us.
The woman was imposing. As tall as Hakeem himself, she towered several inches above me and looked like she spent a lot of time in the gym.
Her blonde hair glimmered in the sun as she walked.
Her entire face lit up when she smiled, revealing perfect, brilliant white teeth.
“You must be the lucky lady,” she said, shaking my hand.
“That’s me,” I said, trying to sound chipper and excited.
“Hakeem and I are really excited about this ceremony,” Tamara said. “It’s been a long time since anything this big has happened around here.”
“Very excited,” I agreed, though I really wasn’t. With each passing day, I kept thinking I’d made a terrible, irrevocable mistake.
The Bouchers trotted up, then shifted to their human forms. Blaise looked nothing like his great-grandfather.
Hugo had been a hefty, barrel-chested man, while Blaise had the figure of a swimmer or sprinter, with long, lithe muscular legs and arms. His black hair did match his ancestor and hung around his head in a curly mop, framing his face along with the goatee.
His mate Courtney was less stunning than Tamara but still beautiful, with brown hair that hung to her lower back, and a round face that was accentuated by voluptuous lips and striking blue eyes.
Blaise lifted his chin in greeting to our small group. “Howdy, Burnell, how’s it going?”
“Doing good, Blaise,” Anders said, and extended a hand. “Glad you could make it.”
“How did all your people do getting in?” I asked, playing the good hostess.
Hakeem shrugged. “Pretty good. We only brought twelve people with us. My beta and his mate, then the elders and their mates. Some drove, but some are running in, so they’ll be a while yet.”
“My pack’s already set up at the hotel,” Blaise explained. “Seems like a nice place. Haven’t been to Idlewild since I was a kid.” He grimaced. “My family doesn’t really have the best history with you folks. Been trying to change that, though.”
Courtney snorted a laugh. “That’s putting it mildly. Your great-grandfather and grandfather had some sort of blood feud with Leviathan Cross back in the day.” Her smile faltered. “Oh, shit, sorry. I forgot he’s an invited guest.”
Blaise looked uncomfortable, and his eyes bounced from me, to Anders, and back to Courtney.
“Uh, yeah,” he said. “So, the Demon Wolf really is gonna be here with his, uh, pack?”
“Yes,” I said. “He’s not a demon, though. That’s just a story.”
The look on Anders’s face said he wanted to disagree, but he held his tongue.
“Did that guy really form his own pack out there in the wilderness?” Hakeem said, looking thoroughly impressed. “Like, living in caves or something?”
It was my turn to snort. “No. Not like that. It’s a small village. Mostly rough cabins, but they have electricity and indoor plumbing. More like a homestead community than anything.”
Anders shot me a glare. He must have been growing irritated that the attention had been pulled away from him. I didn’t know how he could blame them. We’d all heard the stories of the shadowy and mysterious wolf in the woods. Anyone would be curious.
“That’s interesting,” Blaise said. “Impressive too.”
“Isn’t that part of what you guys are going to talk about this week?” Courtney said, finally turning her attention back to Anders, who quickly plastered a smile back on his face. “Didn’t Leviathan give us a warning about a dangerous pack in the forest?”
“Correct,” Anders said. “The Red Maw pack. It’s an all-male pack, some alphas, who are looking to increase their territory and possibly attack our communities.
We’ll discuss all that when I meet with the other alphas.
For now, why don’t you all come inside. I’ll get us some drinks, and my lovely mate has made some snacks for us to enjoy while we wait for the other alphas to arrive. ”
“Oh my gosh,” Tamara said, putting a hand to her stomach. “That’s great. I’m starving.”
As everyone headed inside, I decided to take my chance. Soon, the other alphas would arrive, and I doubted I’d have a chance to speak to Blaise alone.
“Blaise, can I ask you a question real quick?”
He turned, a look of confusion on his face, then he shrugged and sent Courtney in with the others. Anders shot me a look as he ushered the others inside.
“What’s up? Something wrong?” Blaise asked, crossing his arms, and looking concerned.
Thankfully, I’d come up with a story that I thought might sound believable.
Doing my best to put on an embarrassed smile, I tried to act shy about what I was asking. “I’ve been trying to put together a mating ceremony gift for Anders. It’s a surprise, and I thought you could help.”
Blaise’s eyebrows shot up. “Okay. I’m not sure how I can help, but I’ll do what I can.”
“I’m making a scrapbook of sorts. Kind of a history of Idlewild,” I explained. “I want a lot of stuff in there, including the good and bad.”
Blaise ran a hand through his curly black hair. “Still not sure I’m following.”
“Well, you all mentioned how your great-grandfather Hugo Boucher was kind of an enemy of Idlewild, remember?”
“Unfortunately, I do,” Blaise said. “My grandpa had the same sentiment. It wasn’t until my dad took over that we tried to mend the fences.”
“I wanted to put something in the scrapbook that alludes to the history of that conflict. Do you happen to have anything that belonged to Hugo? A personal item? Maybe something back home I could borrow for a day or two?”
“Borrow?” he frowned.
I chuckled. “Sorry, I should have said that. I won’t keep anything. I know a really great artist who is sketching pictures for the scrapbook,” I explained, thinking of Levi and his skill with artistry. “I’d have him draw the item, then I’ll return it to you.”
Blaise still looked confused; he at least didn’t look put out or upset.
“How long?” he asked at last.
“Oh, he’s really fast. A day or two at the most depending on how intricate the item is.”
Blaise tilted his head back, his lips turned down. When he looked at me again, he looked like he’d come to a decision.
“Give me a few days. I’ll see what I can figure out. I bet I can find something you can use.”
“That would be amazing. I don’t want to put you out, and it doesn’t need to be before the ceremony. I’ll even come to you to pick it up and return it.”
“Sure thing. I’ll let you know. Wanna head in and eat?” he asked, nodding to the house.
“I’m starving too. Let’s go,” I said as I led him inside.
If Blaise provided the item we needed, then all we would need was something from Rafe Thronton. Then, maybe, we’d be able to unravel this mystery once and for all.