Alphy's Challenge (12 page)

Alphy leaned in and held her in his arms
again. She felt so embarrassed over her breakdown, but in his arms, she began
to relax. She took in a deep breath that filled her lungs with his spicy scent,
then
let it out slowly, relaxing further. She’d never
really understood her stepdad’s influence on her mother, but now she was
getting the idea. There was something to this mating thing, and she liked it.

Alphy was rubbing her back when a throat
cleared. She looked over
Alphy’s
shoulder at her
brother, who had finished all the eggs on his plate, and the entire glass of
juice was finished off. She pulled back and tried to get up, but Alphy wouldn’t
let her. He stood up and scooped her up in his arms. She gave a slight shriek
and wrapped her arms around his neck to try to hold on.

She looked into his face, and he had a pleased
with himself expression. “This is more like it. I think I’ll carry you around
more often. Having you in my arms feels right.”

“Then you can take her into the living room
and I’ll assist her brother.”

Gale was still too alarmed over being carried
to be startled by the sound of Seamus showing up. She felt she was much too
heavy to be picked up, but Alphy carried her like she weighed nothing. She
glanced over to see the doctor move by them to stand next to Paul. He picked up
the food table and placed it on the dresser and started to help her brother up.
She didn’t get to see any more as Alphy did indeed carry her out into the
living room. She gasped and buried her face in his neck.

Alphy sat down in a thick cushioned leather
chair. He rested her on his lap but didn’t let her go. Instead, he wrapped his
arms around her to secure her in place. Around them sat the entire group. Her parents
were sitting the same way in another chair nearby with the tots playing in the
middle of the floor. After several minutes, Paul came walking in slowly with
assistance from Seamus. The doctor set Paul on a cushioned suede love seat,
tucked a blanket and some pillows around him, and then sat down next to him.

Ryker clapped his hands together and rubbed
them with excitement. “The first pack meeting is now in session. This is
sooo
exciting!”

Gale sat quietly as Alphy began to speak.

Chapter Eight

Alphy understood his little mate was
struggling with her emotions. Now that they weren’t on the run anymore, he knew
her brain was trying to process several weeks of hell. He’d been through it,
he’d seen others go through it, and he meant it when he told her it was all
normal.

His bear relaxed contentedly in his mind, completely
happy with holding her. He looked around at his friends as Paul was being
brought in and situated. He chuffed with amusement at Ryker’s excitement. Ryker
and his brother were so different, it was a wonder they were actually twins.

“First, let me say again, thank you for
coming. All of you came, most of you without an explanation, and so quickly. That
means a lot to me.” The men stayed pretty quiet, except for Ryker, who wiggled
and bounced in his seat and gave him two thumbs up and a wide smile. Alphy was
surprised the eager vampire didn’t say anything.

“I’ve been offered, and have accepted, rights
to be
alpha
in this territory. This is now our home.” He
indicated both himself and his mate. “I’ve officially offered pack membership
to Tom and his family, and they have accepted. Now I’m officially offering the
same to all of you. You’re my family, and despite whatever your answers are,
you will still have an open door here. You will always be welcome.”

Ryker quickly raised his hand, and Alphy
raised his brow.
“Yes, Rye?”

“I’m officially accepting.” Ryker bounced a
little bit in his seat.

“I accept, too.”

Alphy nodded his head to Seamus. He had been hoping
he would join, too.

His heart swelled as each of his friends, whom
he considered family, accepted. They had bonded at different times in their
lives, and even though they had, at one time or other, gone different ways,
they were always staying in touch, supporting each other. Whenever they could,
they would group back up for work or personal reasons. He didn’t know for sure
if everyone was in a position in their life to accept just yet, so he hadn’t expected
an immediate answer, so to hear every one of them give their acceptance without
hesitation even, truly touched his heart. He really did feel like fate had
blessed him.

Ryker raised his hand again. Alphy would have
wondered how old Ryker really was, but knew his friend could get a bit dramatic
when he got really excited about something.

“Yes, Ryker?”

“
Oo-oo
, so, who
gets what rank? And how does the housing thing work?”

“Well, good questions, let’s start with rank.
I have offered beta to Enzo.”

Enzo nodded. “And I have accepted.” He gave a
proud smile, and around the room the others gave their approving
congratulations.

Alphy continued, “I would like to offer Slate
and Matteo, both, enforcer positions. We can have a challenge later to decide
who has the higher rank.”

Both men agreed.

Ryker commented cheerfully, “That would be an
epic match to watch! Can we have that right after the meeting?”

Several others agreed.

“Maybe,” Alphy answered,
then
added, “I would like to have
Kace
, Nix, and Ryker as
trackers.”

Everyone was surprised he had offered a
tracker position to Ryker. Even Ryker had a look of shock on his face, and he
had gone still. Some of the others obviously questioned his decision to make Ryker
a tracker. Alphy knew none of them minded that he was a vampire instead of a
shifter. It was because Ryker couldn’t fight a teddy bear to save his life,
even with his vampire strength, that they questioned
Alphy’s
decision. Although he could see where they were concerned, his bear didn’t like
being questioned.

He held up a hand and growled loudly. Everyone
quieted, but his mate’s startled jump and the scent of fear that wafted from
her dampened his irritation. He quickly took a moment to reassure her. “
Shh
.” He rubbed his hand in a circle on her back. “I would
never hurt you, Gale, you are my mate, and I could never hurt you. No matter
how mad I get at anyone, or even you, I would never, ever, hurt you.” He
whispered into her ear, not so the others couldn’t hear him, because they all
could, with the exception of maybe her mother and brother, but as more of a
calming tactic. It worked. Gale calmed considerably, and Alphy was able to
continue with the meeting.

“I have made my choice,” he stated with
authority. “For one thing, Ryker can be taught some self-defense. Hell, most of
us have served in the military and have even been Special Forces, so it isn’t
like no one is qualified to teach him those skills. Secondly, a tracker isn’t
just about scent trails, especially in today’s world of tech. He is an
exceptional tracker with skills in electronics.”

“A cyber tracker, I like the sound of that!”
chirped Ryker. His eyes were sparkling with the watery emotion Alphy heard in
his voice. He watched as Ryker offered some of the others a look that was
almost challenging, but really came across as a little kid who’d just won an
argument.

Alphy continued. “Thirdly, even though Seamus
will hold rank as our pack doctor, I want another vampire in our inner circle.
You may have noticed I have given out a lot of ranks for a pack that doesn’t
have more than a houseful of people, but I have seen a need out there, others
looking for packs that will accept them for their differences. Some are mixed
matings
that aren’t accepted, some are gay, and some have
been abused by an alpha. I want this to be a refuge for them. I want to show
them that I’m not playing favorites to any specific type of paranormal. Ryker
is capable of managing security systems, tracking systems, new identities, and
loads more, so he is more than capable for a rank.”

He looked over at Ryker, who was actually
crying. He saw him sniff and wipe his eyes dry. “Thank you,
Alpha,
I’ve never had anyone think so much of me before.”

Seamus puffed, “I do, all the time, and I’ve
told you over and over again.”

A much more subdued Ryker shrugged. “Yeah,
but you’re my brother. No one else ever seemed to believe I could be anything
more. Not even our parents. They always thought it was some dumb hobby, only
good for booking their vacations.”

Paul raised his hand. Alphy nodded for him to
speak. “Uh, this may not be the best time to ask, but, uh, I’m a little stuck
with something about vampires. There are vampires?”

Gale was nodding and looking at him with the
same look of worry and confusion as Paul had. He heard Connie whisper to Tom,
who tried to answer back. Alphy turned to Tom. “You never told them?”

Tom gave him a sheepish look.
“Uh, no.
There wasn’t a coven close by, and they were
already trying so hard to accept their learning about shifters and all the
rules and customs that go with shifters, I didn’t want to overwhelm them just
yet.”

“So you haven’t told them about any other
paranormals either?” Alphy needed to know just what his mate didn’t know. He
was an alpha of a pack, and she would need to know what to watch for. He could
already tell, though, that they didn’t know anything, because the scent of
anxiety from his mate was clogging his senses.

“None.”

Alphy would have smirked at the look Connie
gave Tom, but he was too busy trying to calm his own mate who was holding onto
him tightly, looking with fear at her brother, who was backing away from
Seamus.

“Paul!” Alphy ordered. Paul jumped and looked
at him. “They are no less the caring people today than they were yesterday. Get
a hold of yourself.” He looked at his mate but spoke to all three humans as he
did. “There are other paranormals, but all of them have many false myths and superstitions
attached to them.” He gave Gale a look that he hoped gave her the message that
what she thought of them mostly wasn’t true. She took some breaths and calmed
herself down, so he turned to check on Paul.

Paul looked at him. “Will he drink my blood?”

Seamus tensed. “I’m sitting right here, you
know.”

Alphy answered. “Most vampires are held to
strict codes, as are shifters, for mostly the same reasons. They do need blood
to sustain them, but they need regular food as well, and they don’t have any
troubles going out in the sun. Some actually love the sun.”

Ryker raised his hand, again. “Except me,
redheads
burn.
That,
and I don’t
get out much because I’m always exploring the ‘net.”

Alphy didn’t think that helped any, but he
smelled amusement coming from his mate. He looked at her and could tell she was
suppressing a giggle. He looked over at Paul, who seemed to have relaxed a
little as well, and actually gave Ryker a small smile.

“But if you need blood, then how do you get
it?” Paul asked nervously.

Alphy knew questions were a good thing. It meant
the fear has been replaced by curiosity. Knowledge was power, and it was the
light that chased away the darkness of ignorance. He listened to Ryker happily
answer.

“Oh, we have a couple of ways. Usually, in a
coven, we have donors. Those are humans that know what we are, and don’t mind
the benefits of donating to us. It’s extremely pleasurable. They aren’t held
there against their will, and they are well cared for. At worst case, we get
blood from a bank.” Ryker shivered. “Blah, but it’s disgusting, only used when
absolutely necessary.”

“But, you said donor, so they don’t die? Do
they turn into vampires?” Paul was showing he was getting more intrigued.

 
“Oh
no, that’s all myth. You have to be born a vampire to be one. We don’t need to
drain a whole body. We just need a little bit, and as I said, it is very
pleasurable.”

 
“But
how will you get your blood while you’re living here? I don’t want to offend
you, but I’m not keen on anyone drinking my blood.”

Ryker was never affected by such statements, but
his brother, however, was visibly uncomfortable. Ryker waved his hand as if he
had just brushed something aside. “You will be fine, as only rogue vampires
would ever take without consent.”

Paul visibly relaxed.

Gale asked, “So you and Seamus are vampires?”

Ryker cheerfully answered, “Yup.” He smiled
broadly and dramatically, bringing up both hands and pointing at his fangs from
each side of his face.

“Is anyone else a vampire?
Or
some other kind of paranormal?
What kinds of paranormal are there?” she
asked.

Alphy thought this might be a good time to
introduce his mate a little more to his friends. “Enzo and
Kace
are wolves, Slate is a lion, and Phoenix is a falcon.”

Paul interrupted, “Cool!”

Alphy continued. “And Matteo is an anaconda.”