What kind of wolf am I? - 2. Chapter 2

Tristan

“You are such an idiot,” I rumbled at Asha, the annoyance evident in my voice. “You know I hate it when you call me that in front of others.”

“But is he that? Others?” Asha threw back. I gave him a warning growl.

“What is that supposed to mean, how can he be anything but?” Something pinched in my gut, a protest to my own words. What the hell had that feeling been?

“Oh please… you were staring at him like he was a fucking trophy kill you wanted to take down.” I snorted at his comment and turned to look towards the door again where the pup had fled through. “What was that anyway? I’ve never seen you act like that with anyone.” He eyed me with that odd look of his that said he might know something that I didn’t. I hated it when he did that.

“I don’t know.” I hesitated. Could it really be…

“Mate bond?” Asha offered.

“Could be. But… could it really be?” Natural mate bonds didn’t occur very often. The usual way was to fall in love and creating a bond by biting your partner. The bond was binding and would last a lifetime. But to actually come across your perfect match from nature's side … it was so rare I’d never met anyone with that kind of connection. And now that there was a chance I might have that, I wanted it, badly. There was just one problem.

“But seriously, I didn’t know you were into guys, when did that happen?”

“Today apparently,” I rumbled. And on top of that, the pup was the lowest ranking member of the pack.

“He was pretty cute. Smelled good too.” He wiggled his eyebrows at me.

“You do realize he wasn’t– “

“What, a Timber, the lowest of the pack? Oh, who gives a fuck this day and age. Grey wolf or not, he’s pack, and he’s clearly smitten with you, I could tell that much.” Asha grumbled. I sighed. Yeah, not only had the pup acted completely flustered but I too had smelled it in the air – his arousal. It had taken all of my concentration not to throw myself at him, and thus, I’d let Asha speak on my behalf until I was past my inner turmoil. But damn had he challenged my self-control.

I sighed and let my head fall back. Was it really a mate bond? I’d never heard of a bond form between species. Maybe because they usually didn’t mix. I knew everyone in my pack, well except for the pup, were grey wolves. Perhaps it was possible, there just hadn’t been an opportunity before, that we knew of anyway. At on top of that, an alfa male mating with another male? That I was sure of had not happened before. No offsprings would come of it, an issue that could be a significant loss for the pack. God. Nothing was even certain yet, and I was already stressing about it. Shit. The females were going to be pissed

“Mate bond… how is it even supposed to feel? How do I know for sure?” I thought out loud.

“I cannot tell you. It’s not like little stars start to pop out of the air announcing its presence. And I haven’t felt it myself. But the way you were acting… Never seen you like that with any of the females.” Right. But the pup was coming to the party, I would get to see him again. My wolf rumbled in satisfaction at that fact.

I finished eating my food and leaned back, rubbing my full belly.

“If everything fails, Asha, suddenly being into males and all, I could just mate you, or make you my first female. Then you could cook for me every day.”

“You are such a fucking ass. Like I would ever mate with someone like you” trust best friends to tell you the truth no matter what was at stake.

“Asha!” A high-pitched growl came from the doorway.

“Nadine. How lovely for you to join us. Have some food.” Asha chirped. He was not a big fan of my first chosen female, and the two of them bickered more often than not. But she was strong and did her job well, keeping everyone on line. I hadn’t chosen a lot of males for my leadership, they were a potential threat to my position after all. The females were easier to deal with when things were getting tough.

“You should really start to act like you know your place.” She strode towards me.

“Nadine” I rumbled a light warning in my tone. “Asha’s my friend on top of being my beta. Cut him some slack.” She slid into my lap and leaned against my chest. My wolf wanted to growl at her to get off, but I bit it back. She was my first female, powerful in the council, and she was my friend. There was no need to start a fight over something so petty.

“I’m sorry, alpha.” Gracefully showing me her neck. “I am sorry, Asha. Jealousy is an ugly thing.” She batted her eyelashes at him.

“Hold onto that thought, Honey.” Asha threw back with a rueful grin. Those two were never going to get past their childish bantering. Although I could relate to Asha’s line of thought. Nadine was not going to be happy if I chose someone else for a mate. She had wooed me ever since I picked her as my first female, and most people halfway expected we would become a mated pair in the end. But I had never felt that sort of connection with Nadine. Sure she had warmed my bed more than once, but I had never wanted to bite her. I had never given her any indication as to wanting to bond with her. I allowed her a lot of things which the other females were not privileged, like sitting in my lap. Still, I had never given her any indication of wanting to bond with her. Maybe it was time to cut the ties. I gently nudged her off my lap.

“Go get something to eat Nadine. Since Asha’s cooking, we might as well get the most of it.” His cooking was the best after all, and to might delight, he did it fairly often, for me that is.

“But –“ she protested.

“I have a lot on my mind. I’m going to retreat.” I turned and left without another word.

***

The weekend was coming up, and the whole house was on the other end, everyone working on getting everything ready. When Saturday afternoon came along, I went looking for Asha for no other reason than to occupy myself from feeling so restless. I found him dancing around behind the bar on the back deck premixing drink for the upcoming festivities.

“Seriously? What’s up with the pitch?” I called out, loud enough that he could hear me over the music and his own, very offkey, singing.

“What, You don’t like my pitch?” he asked and continued to squeal along. Suddenly he leapt and jumped over the bar. He grabbed on to me and pulled me onto the dancefloor. I had to chuckle by his attempt to make me dance with him. He swung in, grabbed onto my shoulder and dipped himself back, trying to look graceful doing it and ultimately failed. I couldn’t keep the laughter from bubbling to the surface. I caved to his charms and joined in. Capable and loyal as he was, he could be such a child. I wasn’t old, being only 32, but him being only 27 was noticeable at times.

“Asha! What are you doing? You should know better than to treat your betters in such a manner!” Ashas mother entered the room, looking utterly shocked. I didn’t know why all the females in our pack had such an issue with Asha showing friendly affection and treating me as such.

“Don’t worry about it, aunt Tammy. He’s not just my beta after all.” I laughed, beginning to feel the rhythm as I let Asha swing me around. She huffed at us, not appreciating being wiped off. Females. Asha then twirled me around before letting me go, bowing as the song ended. I wondered if I had found someone already to swing around myself, that thought leading me straight back to the reason behind me looking for a distraction in the first place. I groaned and stopped in my tracks, hiding my face in my palm. The pup…

“You still moping about it? Damn, you are in for one hell of a night, Tris.” I was way beyond a point where I’d even notice him calling me my pet name, and Asha actually looked at me a little concerned. “Dude, you okay? Normally you’d have ripped my head off by now…”

“I don’t know why I even bother, you never call me by anything else.” I threw my hands up in defeat.

“Boys,” Nadine called from the entrance to the hallway. “Our guests have arrived.” Finally! I let out a sigh. Now I just had to find him. Which turned out to be harder than I’d anticipated.

If I had been aware of the hell I would go through, I would never have willingly participated. The party wasn’t only for introducing youngsters and leadership, it was also intended for those who didn’t usually mingle, to test the waters for a possible mate. Still, I had never intended myself as one of those potential candidates. However, every female at the party seemed to think otherwise. The youngsters had hesitantly approached me, testing out their chances. Still, they had respectfully retreated once I let them know I was not seeking to find a mate. I was looking for one in particular, yes, but not in general. The females of my council, though, did not take the hint. A few had only tried one time, but most of them kept coming on to me as the night strode forward. Nadine, the one with the highest rank, had been the worst.

I realized she was intentionally ignoring my rejections. She had finally caved when I had turned and roared at her. It seemed only one female had not tried to chat me up, the one who was, at the moment, writhing in the arms of the eldest Jason brother. Something gnawed at my consciousness, what was it about the Jason brother. Then I remembered. The pup had mentioned his friend going to woo the eldest Jason brother. I sniffed the air, trying to catch her sent. Definitely not pack, and another smell hung by her, fading but familiar. If she was here, so was he. I was now a man on a mission.