Chapter 2
The day after the January full moon, Mack Callahan sat in his bedroom and looked at a photo album his mate, Elise, had made of their mating ceremony. It hardly seemed possible that twenty-three years had passed since they’d gone for a hunt on the full moon and she’d been killed by a hunter’s stray bullet. He’d thought he’d never be able to pull himself out of the depression that losing his mate had sent him into, but then he’d been delivered by an angel on earth – his adopted daughter, Whisper.
The little girl had been shoved into his house by the human government at the tender age of four. He’d agreed to let her stay, and promised to raise her, because of Elise. She would’ve thrown open the doors eagerly and claimed the little girl as her own without hesitation. Mack had no regrets about the life that he had with Whisper and the other two boys he’d adopted, Kross and Kayne. But he did miss having someone to share it with.
As alpha, he was the most powerful male in the pack, and he knew he wasn’t too bad-looking. Dark hair, gray eyes, and a body honed from years of hard work. He was alpha, not only because it was his heritage as the son of the previous alpha, but also because he was a badass motherfucker.
Pardon his French.
His life wasn’t the way he’d planned it, but he supposed that was how things went. If someone had asked him what his perfect life would entail, he would have first asked to not have Elise killed, and then for them to raise a lot of kids and grow old together. But no one asked him. He’d been robbed of his mate far too soon, and he’d never mated again.
It wasn’t that he hadn’t dated, because he had. He could snap his fingers and have any unmated she-wolf in the pack. But meaningless sex had stopped appealing to him long ago, and none of the she-wolves in the pack made his wolf stand up and take notice. His kids were grown now, and Whisper was mated to a clan of hyena males. His sons were bringing their new mate, a pretty hyena named Heaven, to dinner that night.
After staring at a photo of Elise in her mating-day gown, he said goodbye to his past, closed the album, and put it in a hope chest that had belonged to her. Hefting it, he carried it to the hallway and pulled down the attic stairs. He set the box in a corner, along with her other things, then walked back down the stairs and closed the attic door. He was ready to move on. It was time.
The front door swung open and Luther called out.
Mack walked into the family room and shook his hand. “Thanks for coming.”
“Sure. What’s up?”
Luther occupied the third-ranked position in the pack, and was one of Mack’s oldest friends. He and Mack had grown up together in Beyton, fought their way up through the pack rankings together. And when it had come time for Mack to take over when his dad retired, Luther was right there, pledging his loyalty.
Mack motioned for Luther to follow him into the kitchen. They sat across from each other at the table, and Mack cleared his throat.
“First, I want to let you know how much I value you. You and I have been through a lot during our years in leadership.”
Luther arched a dark brow. “Are you dying?”
“No,” Mack said, and frowned.
“You sound dire. What have you done? Is this like that time you thought it would be a good idea to have weekly barbecues to foster pack togetherness, and all that happened was the females got disgruntled from having to do all the work?”
Snorting, Mack shook his head. “No, I promise. I’ve just decided to go to an all-shifter resort.”
Luther frowned. “Resort? For what?”
Mack’s cheeks burned, and that mortified him on some level. “It’s a shifters’ singles’ resort down in Florida, like the gatherings we used to go to in Pennsylvania where unmated wolves could meet. Someone in the pack – I’m guessing one of the females – put me on some kind of mailing list, and I started to get ads for dating websites and cruises. This one appealed to me. Basically I’ll get a nice vacation out of it, and I might meet my mate.”
Luther paused for so long that Mack wasn’t sure whether he’d stroked out, or was trying to decide if Mack was insane.
“You don’t think you could mate one of the she-wolves? Or a human in town? The female who runs the bakery is pretty.”
Mack was aware of the human, and the unmated she-wolves. But none of them made his wolf so much as twitch an eye, and that told him if he did pick one of them to mate, his wolf wouldn’t be part of the equation. He wanted to find someone who made his wolf go crazy, and also spoke to the human part of him. If she even existed, he was certain she wasn’t in Beyton.
“No. But my decision to go away isn’t what prompted me to ask you to stop by.”
Luther folded his hands on the table. “Okay. So I’ll say what I said when I first walked in: what’s up?”
Mack had always appreciated how no-nonsense Luther was.
“I’m going to promote Kross and Kayne to temporary alphas before I go, with a blood ceremony. All the positions will move up during the temporary change as well, so you’ll be beta again.”
Luther had been beta until Kross and Kayne were mature enough to fight for the position. In their pack, the alpha was a hereditary position, but the other ranks were attained by fighting. The alpha position could be challenged by others outside of the family line, but no one outside of Mack’s family had ever challenged and successfully beaten a standing alpha.
“How long will you be gone? If it’s just a week, you don’t need to assign them as temporary alphas. They can do your duties from the beta position.”
“A month.”
His brows rose. “Oh. Lucky bastard, going away for a month to tropical Florida while the rest of us are up to our knees in snow.”
“I’d say I’m sorry, but I’m not. You have Hannah to keep you warm at night. It’s time for me to have that again, too,” Mack said.
“Well past time,” Luther said.
“I didn’t want to spring anything on you which is why I called you over. To bring you up to speed.”
“I’ve always had your back, and now I’ll have Kross and Kayne’s. They’ll be excellent alphas.”
“Thanks. The ceremony will be Wednesday night, and I’ll be leaving Thursday.”
“The pack will be in good hands.”
The two shook hands, and Luther left. Mack moved to the stove and lifted the lid from the stock pot, stirring his homemade spaghetti sauce. He tasted it, adjusted the seasonings, and put the lid back on it. Then he set a pot of water to boil for the pasta. Kross and Kayne were bringing Heaven to the house for dinner, and it would be the first time he was able to share the news of his sons being named alphas. He knew it would be a big surprise, but it was the right choice.
It wasn’t that he thought it would be as easy to find a mate as showing up at a singles’ resort, but he was intrigued by the concept. And truth be told, he was ready to step down from being alpha and let the next generation take over. Kross and Kayne would make great alphas, and so would Heaven, once she learned about wolf hierarchy. Mack didn’t plan to leave the pack, but he would relish not having to be the alpha; he could be just a regular pack member, running the bar full time and being a wonderful grandpa when his kids had pups.
Glancing at the clock, he saw he had some time before Kross, Kayne, and Heaven arrived, so he took the opportunity to call his daughter and share the news with her and her mates.
“Hey Dad,” Whisper said when she answered.
“Hi sweetling. How are you?”
“Good. I’ve been working on some new songs, and Azrael signed us up for an online baking class, so we’ve been learning how to make crepes.”
“Sounds like fun.”
“It is, unless they burn or tear.”
Mack cleared his throat, and then told her of his plans to leave for Florida.
“I’ll need a ride to the airport, sweetling, if you don’t mind getting up early Thursday morning.”
“Of course. I hate driving to Philly, but for you…anything. It sounds kind of like the gathering where I met my guys.”
“Yes, but it’s in Florida where it’s sunny and warm. Maybe nothing will come from this, but I feel like I need to do it.”
“It’s been long enough, Dad. You have my full support, and I know that Kross and Kayne will be behind you too. When you come home, hopefully you’ll have a sweet female as your mate, and I’ll have another mom.”
“Thank you, sweetling.”
“Sure thing. Text me your flight details.”
“You got it. I’m making gravy, would you like some?”
“Yes! Freeze some for me, okay? You know how much I love it.”
Kross called out from the front door to let him know they’d arrived, and he shouted back that he was in the kitchen.
“Okay, sweetling, your brothers are back with Heaven, so I need to go. I’ll make sure to save you some gravy. Do you have macaronis?”
“Yes, Dad.”
“Okay, Love you.”
After saying goodbye to his daughter, he turned to greet the boys and their mate.
Mack had them sit in the family room so he could tell them about his trip, and then they moved to the kitchen so he could serve them one last meal before he left. He was feeling hopeful. Hopeful that he might find someone to love down in Florida, that he might not be lonely anymore, and that his kids could handle everything while he was gone.