6, Chili

Rayvin was sitting in Mikael’s lap with his arms around her and listening to his heartbeat. It was soothing and relaxing. She still couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that Mikael had asked her to stay. After everything she had told him, he still wanted her to stay.

She wondered if he would feel the same way after he had time to think. But at least she had given herself a couple of days to enjoy this.

“Are you getting hungry?” Mikael asked her.

“A little, but I think I have decided to take up permanent resident here,” she smiled.

“I wouldn’t complain,” he chuckled and kissed her on top of her head.

Rayvin’s phone started ringing. It was the melody to “Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf”. Mikael chuckled even more.

“Sorry, I need to get this,” she told him and fished the phone out of her pocket.

“Sure, you can use my office if you need privacy,” he said, still not letting go of her.

“This will do,” she shrugged and shifted in his lap so she could lean back against his chest.

“Alpha,” she greeted when she answered.

“Auga, why haven’t you checked in? Is something wrong?” alpha Brutus asked.

“Nothing is wrong. There has been an unexpected development, but I have a handle on the situation,” she said and felt Mikael’s chest vibrate with silent laughter.

“Care to fill me in?” her alpha asked. He may have formulated it as a question, but Rayvin knew better.

“I have found my mate,” she told him.

“Ah, yes, that was unexpected. Should I congratulate?” he asked. Straight to the point, as always, Rayvin thought. She had always liked that about her alpha.

“Yes, it’s not a lost cause,” she informed him.

“Then, congratulations. I’m assuming that it’s alpha Mikael that is the lucky one.”

“Thank you, and yes, it is. Did you know?” she asked.

“Of course not. But a simple deduction told me that there are no other non-mated wolves in the top ranks of the pack. And if you already think there is hope, your mate must be someone that can make that decision,” he told her.

“I should have known,” she smiled.

“He is considerate of you? Do I need to talk to him?” alpha Brutus asked.

“That won’t be necessary,” she simply said.

“Good, and the mission?”

“It will continue as planned. I’ll do a first sweep of the area tomorrow,” she told him.

“Good. Keep me posted. Before I forget, I’m presuming I should start looking for someone else to fill the spot as beta?”

Rayvin looked over her shoulder at Mikael.

“Yes, I think that is for the best. Maybe let Remus in on the decision this time,” she answered.

Remus was the oldest son of alpha Brutus. He was a year older than Rayvin, but his father had a hard time letting him take over the pack. Rayvin knew he was afraid that his son didn’t have the strength that was necessary to run a pack like Mistvalley.

The Mistvalley pack had been founded during the last magical war and from a start, it had been a way for werewolves to gather their most skilled spies and assassins in one place. They trained and lived together and that way increased their skills.

Nowadays, the pack still lived on gathering information without being detected. They mostly worked with other werewolves, but they didn’t turn down other magical creatures if the assignment didn’t affect the werewolf species negatively. Their services weren’t cheap, and the pack lived a good life.

The one rule above all others was that all members of legal age needed to contribute to the pack’s living. That meant that you could be an active field agent, you could study to educate yourself in something that was useful for the pack, or you could be part of the support team. If you didn’t contribute, you were asked to transfer to another pack.

It took a special type of person to be alpha in a pack like that. Brutus was a natural. He was brutally honest and strict, but loyal. The pack loved him and trusted him blindly. His son, on the other hand.

Not that Remus was weak or a bad alpha. He was just very different from his father. He had a softer touch, which his father didn’t appreciate.

“We were both in agreement about you,” the alpha grunted.

“I’m sorry. But you will find someone else you both like,” she told him.

“I’m sure we will,” the alpha agreed, but it didn’t sound sincere.

They said goodbye and hung up.

“Alpha Brutus?” Mikael asked.

“Yes, he says congratulations,” Rayvin told him.

“I’m guessing I’m not his favourite person at the moment, as I’m taking you away,” Mikael guessed.

“It’s not that bad. He’s grumpy about having to find a new beta again,” she smiled.

“Well, that is good, in case we need his services in the future,” he told her.

“Why would we pay that ridicules amount of money when I will do it for free?” she asked.

“Ray, I may be okay with you going after this pathetic little human. That doesn’t mean I will be okay with you running around and doing dangerous things,” he said.

“We might want to talk about that in the future, Max. I’m not a person who will sit behind the desk all day long,” she said.

“Let’s put a pin in it for another day. I think I need to feed you before the pack meeting,” he said.

“I like that plan,” she smiled and started scooting to get out of the couch.

“I swear this is a trap. It sucks you in and then it won’t let you go,” she complained.

“But you’ll die in blissful relaxation. I know it’s not the most practical couch. But when I tried it, I had to have it,” Mikael admitted as he scooted his way to the front of the couch.

They took their now warm and flat beers and walked into the kitchen. Mikael took her beer bottle and poured it out. He then opened the refrigerator and Rayvin peeked around him. She could see beer, two onions, and a couple of jars with preserves.

“Onions cooked in beer?” she suggested.

“I have to have some actual food in this place,” he muttered.

As Mikael started rummaging around the kitchen, Rayvin hopped up on a counter and watched him. She wasn’t complaining. The view was spectacular with Mikael bending down to look in cupboards and stretching up to search shelves. In the end, he had found some baked beans, canned corn, canned tomatoes, half a loaf of bread, peanut butter and an array of spices.

“Impressive,” Rayvin smiled. He looked over at her and frowned.

“Do you have anything resembling meat in the freezer?” she asked.

He walked over and looked.

“I have something that I think is rabbit,” he reported.

“You think?” she asked.

“Yeah, it’s kind of a big lump and I haven’t written anything on it,” he confessed.

“I also have ground beef,” he added.

“Well, that we can work with,” she smiled and hopped off the counter.

“But it’s frozen,” he told her and showed her.

“Put it in some warm water and it will thaw right up,” she smiled and started looking for knives and a cutting board.

“Okay, I take it you have a plan?” he asked as he placed the meat in an extra bag and then filled a large bowl with hot water.

“I do. If I could find a knife,” she said, closing the tenth draw, that didn’t contain any knives.

“Top drawer two steps to the right. Care to share your master plan?” he told her.

“Thanks. Fake chilli,” she smiled as she pulled out a knife.

“I think I should do the cutting,” Mikael told her as he eyed the knife with a worried look.

“I know how to handle a knife, Max. Better than most people,” she told him.

“Sure, but just to make me feel better,” he insisted.

She sighed and put the knife down and instead got one of the onions.

“Chop in not too small pieces,” she instructed him.

Half an hour later, they each had a big bowl of chili and a beer. They made their way into the dining room.

“I have never eaten in here,” Mikael told her as they sat down at one end of the large table.

“You never use this amazing table?” she asked.

“No, it just felt depressing sitting and eating here by myself,” he admitted and scooped up some chilli on his spoon and held it out for Rayvin.

Rayvin stared at the spoon and then felt herself blush as she accepted his offer. The simple gesture of the alpha giving the luna a piece of his food before he ate came from a time when providing for your mate didn’t include going to the grocery store. It symbolised that he would go hungry if it meant that she could eat.

Rayvin felt relaxed as she started eating. She had enjoyed cooking with him in the large kitchen.

“This tastes delicious. I would never have guessed this was a stack of canned goods half an hour ago,” Mikael said.

“Thank you, in the field canned food is something you learn to work with,” she said.

“How has the pack been?” she asked after a while.

“Overall good. After I became alpha, we made an effort to be more inclusive in any way we could. It was positive for the pack. The pack bond got stronger when we actively worked on helping each other. That’s all thanks to you,” he smiled and took her hand and placed a kiss on it.

“No, Max. That is your accomplishment. I’m proud of you and what you have done since you became alpha,” she told him.

“Thank you. It means a lot to me. But we have had setbacks as well. The rogue attacks were rough on all packs. We lost a couple of members in the early attacks and a couple more at the battle of the rogues. Then there was the business with Jake,” he sighed.

“The bomb,” she nodded, and placed a hand on his arm.

At the alpha summit, a couple of months earlier, two suicide bombers had triggered bombs. It had quickly been established that the two wolves had been pack wolves that had connections to the rogues. Jake, a warrior from Mikael’s pack, had been one of the two.

“It was a tough time for the pack, and for me. I should have seen it,” he shrugged.

“Max, come on. No one could have known. The rogues had infiltrators in most of the packs and no one noticed,” she told him.

“Yeah, but I’m the alpha. I should have known that he wasn’t his usual self. I wasn’t on top of things. And now Thomas is missing, and it feels like I have missed something again,” he confided in her.

It broke Rayvin’s heart to see him look so beaten. She did the only thing she could think of. She stood up and walked to where he sat. He looked up at her in surprise.

“Well, scoot out a bit,” she smiled. He pushed the chair from the table and she plopped down in his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck as she looked him in the eyes.

“First, you can’t be expected to know exactly how every pack member feels every single day. Jake had a responsibility to tell you he was unhappy. Or to tell his gamma. That was on him,” she said, watching him closely to see that he was listening to her.

“Regarding your lost pack member. Maybe I can be of help. I know you don’t want me to do something dangerous. But I can at least look at the information you have so far and come up with suggestions on where I would go from there?” she offered.

“Really? That would be incredible,” he smiled.

“Sure, anything I can do to help. As long as I’m not stepping on anyone’s toes,” she said.

“Don’t worry. Diana isn’t that territorial unless it comes to Ben,” he told her.

“Oh, yes, Ben’s mate. I’m looking forward to meeting her,” Rayvin smiled.

“We lucked out when he mated her. She is the best gamma I have had,” Mikael told her.

“Sweetie, I would love nothing more than to sit with you like this all evening. But we have a pack meeting in half an hour to attend,” he then said.

“Say no more,” she told him and got up from his lap to clear the table.

As she was putting the things in the dishwasher, Mikael walked up from behind and wrapped his arms around her.

“I don’t like not having you close to me,” he said.

“I don’t like it either,” she confessed.

“Ready to meet the pack?” he asked.

“No, not really. But that has never stopped me,” she sighed and heard him chuckle.

“That’s my girl. I hope you have brought warm clothing. It’s freezing outside,” he told her.

“Don’t worry about me, I can adjust my body heat if I need,” she smiled.

“You can?” he asked.

“It’s a dragon thing,” she said.

“I think we should sit down and you can tell me all of your dragon things,” he smiled.

“It’s a date,” she agreed.