Second Chance At Love - Prologue. Prologue

Prologue

I watched the happily mated couples and my heart broke. In the eight years since I turned sixteen, I had not met my mate. I’m ashamed to say I didn’t wait for my mate before I became sexually active. I just hoped he wouldn’t be too mad at me when I found him. I prayed every day my Alphas would send me on a mission like they did Alex three years ago. I wanted the opportunity to find my mate, but I knew that if I stayed on pack grounds I wouldn’t find him

“Louis, Alpha Jackson wants to see you,” said one of the she-wolves who was constantly throwing themselves at the available wolves.

“Thanks.” I saved my spot in my book and got up to leave the room.

“Louis, why don’t you meet me in my room when you’re done?” she asked.

“Ruth, I have no intention of sleeping with you. I may have been a manwhore, but even I’m not that desperate.” I walked past her and headed down the hall to the Alphas’ office.

The office door was open so I knocked on the door frame. Alpha Jackson looked up from the papers on his desk. “Come in Louis.”

“You wanted to see me Alpha.”

“Yes, I got a call from an Alpha in Washington that requires some help and I want you and Jeremy to go, along with some of our enforcers.”

“When do we leave?”

“First thing in the morning. Jamie will take you to the airport and you will fly into Seattle. There will be rental cars waiting for your group. Here is the information you need for this assignment. They have a wolf whose first mate is a bear. The bear was rejected but is now stalking his wolf mate.”

‘I can’t believe someone would reject their mate when I would do anything to find mine.’ “I’ll pack and be ready to go first thing in the morning,” I said.

“The team will meet you in the dining room at seven in the morning, so be ready.” He handed me a folder of papers. “Go over this information so you can brief everyone over breakfast. You leave at eight forty-five to be on time to the airport.”

“Yes, Alpha.” I turned and walked out of the office.

I got to my room and sat at my desk to go over the papers so I would know what was going on and start to come up with a plan on how we could help. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much on the aggressor but the wolf being stalked was originally from the Blue Ridge Pack in Charlottesville, Virginia. I wondered if Jeremy knew him before he moved here with his mate, Alex. I decided to ask Jeremy in the morning before we left; he might be able to give me some insight or know what happened between Tony and the mate he rejected.

***                                                                                                

The next morning I was the last to arrive in the dining room. I saw a group of seven enforcers who would go with us. I saw Jeremy sitting next to Alex talking quietly among themselves. I couldn’t imagine how hard it was for Alex to let his mate fly thousands of miles away and deal with a rejected mate.

“Okay guys, I’ve read over the paperwork Alpha Jackson gave me last night. Jeremy, do you know this Tony we’re going to help?”

“Yeah, we grew up together in Charlottesville. He moved to Washington a few years ago when our friend Tim mated with a bear out there. When they went to Jon’s parents’ house Tony’s mate was there. After Tony found out his mate had tried to break Jon and Tim up, Tony was furious and hurt. His mate was there to get Jon’s mom’s help to come between Jon and Tim; it was then that Tony rejected Steve. He thought if Steve would try to break up a mated pair what was to stop him from straying from his mate.”

“Have you heard from Tony recently?”

“Yeah, I talked to him last night. Steve has been leaving messages on his phone, mailing him notes, and calling him at all hours of the day. A few days ago, there was a sighting of rogues as they met with a stranger. The enforcers took several photos of the meeting and when Tony saw the first photo he pointed out that the stranger was Steve. That afternoon a note was delivered to Alpha Jeff. It said, ‘Give me Tony and your pack will be left alone.’ When they refused to hand Tony over to him some of the pack children started to disappear. To date, there have been five children taken and it is taking a toll on the pack.”

“Is there any family we need to worry about protecting?”

“His family is in Virginia and they could care less about what happens to him. When he told them, he was gay they kicked him out. However, we do still have friends back there that will probably show up when they hear about this.”

I glanced at my watch as I finished eating. I saw we had about forty-five minutes to get to the airport, we would make it if we left promptly. I stood and said, “Let’s get on the road. We can talk more on the plane.”

I took my dishes to the kitchen and grabbed my bags from the front entryway. I waited for the guys and Kelly to gather. Ever since Jeremy and his sister had joined the pack she had become one of our fiercest enforcers and I was happy to have her on my team for this trip. It took us only a few minutes to get loaded into the vans and head off to the airport.

***

Our flight took only a few hours and by four o’clock that afternoon, we were in the Alpha’s office.

“Alpha Jeff, how long has this man been causing problems for your pack?” I asked.

“He’s been hanging around for the last year, but it’s only been in the last couple of months that he has stepped up the stalking. Tony came to me when the letters started to appear in his mailbox with no postage stamp on them.”

“Didn’t your border patrol recognize the unfamiliar scent? For that matter, how did rogues get close enough to steal children? Why did your men settle for taking pictures instead of capturing the men to question them?”

“Now wait just one minute. My man took the pictures because he and his partner had split up to patrol. It would’ve been stupid to try to capture them by himself.”

“They never should have split up. I get that you have a large territory, but you need to make sure you have enough wolves to patrol the lands.”

“How dare you come in here and criticize without having all the information!”

“You, yourself said they had split up, that was why the pictures were taken instead of apprehending the rogues and bear. Did you not just say that?”

“I would appreciate it if you would give me time to completely explain what happened.” He took a deep breath and let it out, then continued, “They split up for the simple fact that there was an emergency in another quadrant and they didn’t expect there to be problems in that section. Normally, they stay in pairs, and up until that point, we didn’t know there were rogues in the area because they always stayed just outside our borders. However, we had a situation come up that needed more than two wolves and they were the closest to the ones in trouble. Yes, they showed poor judgment in splitting up, but I would rather they show caution when they know they’re outnumbered. The wolf that took the pictures called for help and waited for them to arrive.”

“I’m sorry Alpha, I meant no disrespect.”

“I understand you may not want to be here, but please try to work with us and not against us.”

“Understood, Alpha. I will not let my irritation show and will try to make the best of a bad situation. I will work to the best of my abilities.”

“Thank you, Theta Louis. Let me show you where you and your team will be staying while you’re here. I will have Tony come to the packhouse for dinner so you can meet him and he can fill you in on exactly what is going on.”

“Sounds good to me Alpha.”

“Please call me Jeff,” he said while he stood to lead me out of the office and to where my team sat waiting for me. My team stood when we walked into the living room where they waited for me. “Thank you for coming to help us. Please follow me and I will show you to your rooms.”

We climbed the stairs to the second floor and he started to point out the rooms. Everyone was split into groups of two to a room except for me. I was given a room by myself as I was the team leader and there was an odd number of men.

***

I freshened up before I went down for dinner. I walked downstairs, and the most delicious aroma tickled my nose, it smelled like pine and cherries. My stomach clenched, and I began to worry that they wouldn’t accept me because of my past promiscuity. It didn’t matter to me that I had already decided to stop my playing around.

I made it to the dining room and saw the most beautiful man in the world. There stood a man with jet black hair that seemed to have a blue tinge to it in certain light and hazel eyes that glinted like jewels as he happily talked to Jeremy and Jon.

Jon and his mate had come to visit Jeremy and Alex several times in the past few years. In that time, I had gotten to know both of them and knew they were great guys. I could only assume that the man talking to them was Tony. He looked like he would come to my chin and I was six foot five.

If the man was Tony, how could he be my mate when his mate was the one causing all the problems? I would need to speak to Alpha Jackson to see if he had heard about this happening before.

“Louis, there you are, come meet Tony,” said Jeremy. I walked over to where they stood and the aroma got stronger the closer I got to them. He turned to the guys he was talking to and said, “Jon, I’m sure you remember Louis from the Lonestar Pack. Tony this is Louis. He was sent by Alpha Jackson to lead the team of enforcers to help with the situation with Steve and the rogues to get the children back and to get Steve to leave you alone.” He turned to me and said, “Louis, this is one of my best friends Tony.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Tony.” He just stood there and stared at me.

“Oh man, of course, this would happen to me,” he mumbled.

“Tony, what’s wrong man?” Jon asked worriedly.

“I gotta get out of here.” He looked around quickly and immediately turned and walked quickly away with Jon calling out to him.

Jon turned to me and said, “I’m sorry Louis. He’s never been like that before; he’s always been a friendly person. There’s not a rude bone in his body.”

My heart felt like it had broken into a million pieces at the implied rejection of my mate. I gave Jon a small smile. “I’m sure he has a million things on his mind with all that is going on.”

“I’m sure that’s what it is.” Dinner started to be brought in and laid out on the buffet table. “Let’s grab a plate and find a seat.”

I tried to put on a happy face but I’m not sure how well that worked because Jon and Tim kept giving me weird looks for the rest of the night. After dinner, Alpha Jeff called everyone together to try and come up with a plan on how to deal with the asshole that was bothering their pack.

“I would like to introduce you to Louis and his team. They have come to us from the Lonestar Pack in Texas. Please make them feel welcome. Now, this bear must be caught, and our children brought back home. I know this has been a trying time, but we must work together for this to work. Jon knows this area and he knows the one responsible for this,” said Alpha Jeff.

“Steven is not in his right mind and I would guarantee that he is not working alone. He wants Tony, but Tony has rejected him as his mate, and before you start to blame Tony you need to know that he had reasons to reject Steven. We need to focus on the main point which is getting the children back safely,” said Jon.

I could tell by the looks on some of their faces that what Jon said passed right over them and that they did hold Tony responsible and that they could cause possible problems. I would need to keep an eye on them because I wasn’t about to let anyone hurt my mate, whether he acknowledged the bond or not. I would do my best to keep him safe even if that meant moving to Washington and giving up my position in my pack.