The Alpha Claims A Mate (12 page)

“Well, let’s go then!” Brenda said impatiently, arms folded, tapping one foot in a nervous staccato.

“Let me call the sheriff first and get his okay.”

“No, now!” Brenda tried to push her way into Ginger’s room.

“I said I need to call the sheriff,” Ginger said firmly, shutting the door in their face and locking it. Brenda immediately began knocking on the door loudly, yelling “Hey! Hey!” over and over.

“Shut up! Let her call him!” Tallulah yelled.

Sighing, Ginger dialed Loch’s number. He answered immediately. “Good morning, beautiful. Did you sleep well?”

The warm, rich sound of his voice made her tingle pleasurably.

“Good morning to you too. I slept very well. Listen, there’s something I should have thought of. If I go into the professor’s room, I can try to communicate with him. Maybe I can get an idea of how he died.”

“My God, I should have thought of that.”

“We were both a little distracted.”

“
Wait for me.  I’ll be there in about 20 minutes.”

She shivered in
anticipation, and prayed she wouldn’t act like a complete dork when he pulled up.  She was in the middle of a possible murder investigation, and she still felt hot and tingly all over at the sound of his voice. She must be a complete pervert. 

Quickly, she dressed and left the room.  The students followed her down the stairs, with Brenda haranguing her the whole way.

“You have to go up there right now! It can’t wait! We have a right to know!” Brenda wailed as Ginger sat in the dining room and sipped coffee that Marigold had bought for her. Brenda and Tallulah were standing behind her, breathing down her neck.  Winifred and the other students were at the table, picking at their breakfast, distracted, along with the other boarding house lodgers.

“Actually, no, you don’t,” Ginger said irritably.
“You’re not a family member.”

“We were very close,” Brenda sniffed, blinking back angry tears.

“Sure you were. Your vagina was, anyway,” Tallulah muttered.

“Jealous bitch!” S
uddenly the two of them were jostling, bumping into Ginger, making her slosh coffee on the floor.

“Cut it out!” Ginger snapped.

“All right, settle down, ladies.” Loch was standing in the doorway with Jax. Ginger’s heart did a funny little happy dance in her chest, despite the grimness of the situation, and she flashed him a smile.

As Ginger, Loch, and
Jax started to head up the stairs, the girls tried to follow. They grumbled when Loch shook his head, and clustered together at the bottom of the stairs, muttering.

Loch walked in the room with her while
Jax stood outside.

In the professor’s room, Ginger sat down on his bed and closed her eyes, consciously relaxing, slowing her breathing.

When she opened her eyes, she was startled to realize that she felt…nothing.

She glanced up at Loch, startled. “He’s not dead,” she said.

“Are you sure?”

“I would sense it if he was.  He might not communicate with me, but I’d at least sense
his presence on the other side. He is not there. He’s still alive.”

Loch looked at her in consternation. “Then the panthers must be holding him prisoner somewhere on their property.
That’s the only explanation for his disappearance.  I’ve got to talk to Montgomery today.”

Ginger nodded.  “If he says
you can’t come on their property, then what?”

“I’ve always found Montgomery to be a reasonable man, as long as he’s approached respectfully. I’m pretty sure that if I talk to him later today, he’ll let me on the property.  If they de
liberately harm the professor, or if the professor disappears on their land forever, it’s bad publicity for all of them. People won’t want to visit their stores or their casino.  It will be devastating economically.”

As they
drove to the sheriff’s station, her cell phone rang.  Wedding march ring tone. She grimaced.

“Answer it, Miss Ginger.” When she made a face, he said sternly, “Answer it. I’m the Alpha. Unless you want to be punished later.”

“Of course I want to be punished later,” she grinned, and hit talk.

“How are things progressing with the sheriff?”
her mother said. No hello; she cut straight to the chase.

“Just fine, mother. No war is imminent.”

“I’m debating whether you’d look better in white or cream. What do you think? Maybe even pink.  You’ve always looked lovely in pink.  Also, I’d been thinking about a wedding cake made of cupcakes, but that may be passe’.”

“Mother! I just got here! Quit drinking the crazy juice!”

“Also, do you think the wedding would take place in New York or Florida?”

“Love you, mother.
I’m at work, so I can’t talk. Bye.” She hung up quickly. “Crazy. She’s crazy.”

“What, because she thinks you should marry me?” he said with mock hurt.

“Come on! I just got to town, we agreed we’d take it slow…”

“Hmmm,” he grumbled.  But he didn’t say anything else as they headed to the station.

As they pulled into the sheriff’s parking space, Loch groaned aloud. 

Reporters
from all over the state were blocking the entrance to the station.  Ginger dodged past them and dashed inside as the sheriff held an impromptu press conference, reassuring them that everything possible was being done to find the missing professor.

When Loch went inside, Lola greeted him apologetically. “You’ve got a few million messages,” she said, handing him a stack of pink “While you were out…” notes.    The professor’s disappearance, and the Panther Nation’s refusal to cooperate, was getting massive amounts of attention.

Loch had to place a dozen calls to people inside the Panther Nation before he finally heard back from an assistant to Montgomery.  Montgomery agreed to meet with the sheriff that afternoon, at the entrance to the Panther Nation’s property.

Around mid-morning,
Ginger asked Loch if he could have his grandmother make them some sandwiches, with a few extra for Cletus.

“We’ll go over there for lunch.  It’ll win me some major poin
ts with her,” the sheriff said.

His grandmother was waiting on the front porch for them when they pulled up, with a plate piled high with sandwiches.
She set the sandwiches on a table on the porch.

“She just gets prettier every time I see her,” Willie said Loch as they sat down to eat, and then she went inside to get them some lemonade.

“I swear she’s measuring my hips with her eyes,” Ginger whispered to Loch. He grinned.

“Your mother and my grandmother. We should get them together for coffee some time.”

“Good lord, no. My mother would show up with a wedding dress, a priest and a shotgun.  And your grandmother would probably have a giant butterfly net, a bible, and some flower girls.  What is their rush?”

“Well, you’re not getting any younger.” He winked as he said it. She still kicked him in the ankle.

“Careful there, darlin’,” he said. “Respect the Alpha. You haven’t seen how hard I can spank when I’m truly motivated.”

The thought sent delicious shivers rolling through her body.  His hand on her bare naked buttocks…

Willie walked out with a pitcher and two glasses.

“That’s very thoughtful of you to feed that
Arbuckle boy. Poor thing,” Wille said with a sigh, as they drank their lemonade. “I hear his mother ran off a couple weeks ago. Just up and left the whole family.”

“Oh?” the sheriff raised an eyebrow.

“No!” Ginger said quickly. “You can’t have his brothers and sisters taken away from him! He’s got a job now.”

“He’s not 18 for another
six months. Legally, there needs to be an adult in that house.”

“If you take them away, you take away his incentive to work, to straighten out his life. Have a heart,” Ginger pleaded.

“I’ll think about it. But my ultimate duty is to uphold the law.” He didn’t look happy.

Her phone jangled, and she
recognized the number as her Alpha’s. She stood up and walked away from the table, clicking the “talk button”. She was ready to accept the lavish praise he’d heap on her for saving the day and improving relations between the Gray and Red wolf packs.

She’d be humble about it, of course. Nobody likes a gloater.

“Are you completely off your rocker?” Reynaldo hissed into the phone.

“What?” she
gasped, shocked.

“Don’t you ‘what’ me. I j
ust heard from a Florida council member,  Aurora Sinclair. She says you’re just about ready to start a war down there! She says you’re offending absolutely everybody with your boorish behavior, and they want you out of town immediately! I expect you on the next train back to New York, and when you get here, you are in serious trouble. As is your family.”

“She’s lying!” Ginger turned pale.

Willie and Loch both rushed to her side. “What is it?” Loch demanded.

“It’s my Alpha,” Ginger managed to sputter, weakly. “Aurora Sinclair told him that I’m offending everyone down here and –“

Loch grabbed the phone from her, his face like thunder.

“This is Loch Armstrong. What did you just say to my fated mate?”

Ginger’s eyes widened with surprise at his public declaration.

“Goodness, what took him so long to realize it?” Willie whispered.

Ginger could hear Reynaldo spluttering on the other end of the phone, stammering out apologies.

“Aurora Sinclair does not speak for my pack. Our pack has been delighted with Ginger’s company, and we are hopeful that she’ll consider our offer to permanently relocate down here. You may consider Ginger to be under my protection.”

More spluttering from Reynaldo.

“I don’t care that
Aurora’s a member of the council.  She is the only one who’s unhappy with Ginger’s presence here, and that’s because she’s trying to arrange a marriage between me and her niece.  If you have any problem with what I’m saying, you may name the Challenge location of your choice.”

Reynaldo’s spluttered quickly changed to apologetic mewling.

Loch hung up, and turned to Ginger. “How did that man ever become Alpha?” he asked, amazed.

“It’s different in New York.”

“Obviously.”

Ginger managed a weak smile. “Thank you for defending me.”

Loch peered at her with concern. “What’s wrong?”

“Council members have a lot of power. She could cause you a lot of harm.
For that matter, she could cause my family a lot of harm. I know she’s a member of the Florida Council, not New York, but still…”

Loch shook his head angrily
. “She won’t ruin what we have. I won’t let her. Nobody is taking you from me.”

“But it doesn’t affect just you. Depending on what action she takes, it could affect the whole pack.
And my parents.  My father has worked for the Alpha for years, and if he were fired from that firm…my parents have a mortgage and three more kids to put through college.”

Willie
laid her hand on Ginger’s arm. “Believe my grandson when he says that he won’t let her take you from us. Everything will work out fine.”

Hot tears of gratitude burned Ginger’s eyes.
Willie had said “us”. As if Ginger belonged there. 

Could it be true? Ginger had never really belonged anywhere before.  Not all wolf, not all witch, with her large size always outing her as a genetic anomaly who straddled two worlds.

But the very fact that these people were so kind to her was the reason that she should leave town, she realized with a sinking heart.  A vengeful council member could cause all kinds of grief for a pack.

“We should go,” Loch said, draping his arm protectively around Ginger’s shoulders. “We have work to do. Let’s concentrate on that.”

She nodded, and tried to force a smile on her face. When Loch had his arm around her, she felt so safe and protected.  She felt as if she were exactly where she’d belonged. The thought of walking away from him made her feel small and cold and alone.

They headed over to the community center.  Cletus wa
s standing there talking to Elmore Bishop, the center director,  while two little girls and a little boy played on the jungle gym.  They were coyote shifters; clearly they were Cletus’ younger brother and sisters.

The sheriff frowned when he saw them
.   Ginger shot the sheriff an indignant look.

“There’s got to be an alternative
to foster care,” she said.   “Besides, you have enough on your plate as it is right now. Can you just give it some time? Their mother could come back.”

Privately she wished she could track down their mother and smack her upside the head for what she was doing to her family, but she put a big smile on her face,
walked over to where Cletus stood, and handed him the plastic box of sandwiches.

“I’m practicing my sandwich making skills
now,” she told him. “You need to test these out for me.  Everything going okay?”

“It’s going great. Mr. Bishop here said I could stay on and help out with the maintenance. He said I did a real good job,” he said, with an undertone of defensiveness, as if he expected her to challenge him.

“Of course you did,” Ginger said soothingly, and he relaxed a little.

“Sheriff Armstrong doesn’t mind me bringing my brother and sisters here, does he?”

“Nope. It’s fine,” she said firmly, praying she was right.