Mr. Red Riding Hoode: Poconos Pack, Book 2 (4 page)

To his credit, the man did so, but not before shooting Steve a look that told him clear as day that Graciela was loved and protected. The look he turned on Graciela only hammered the point home. It was full of brotherly affection that had Steve reassessing the relationship between the two. “See you tonight, Chela?”

“Tonight, Ted.”

Ted sauntered off, Steve watching him to see if he’d come back. Steve didn’t want the other man hovering when he asked Graciela on a date.

Steve maneuvered Graciela more firmly into the corner. “I gather dinner isn’t an option then?”

Those huge brown eyes blinked up at him in surprise. They were framed by the thickest black lashes he’d ever seen. “You want to have dinner with me?”

Dinner with her, and then her for dessert. “Yes.”

She bit her lip, her cheeks flushing delightfully. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t you want to eat with me? I’m crushed.” He gave her his best pout, pleased when she laughed. It lit her whole face up, taking her from merely pretty to stunning.

“Tomorrow night works better for me.”

He smiled, thrilled he’d gotten a yes out of her so easily. “Tomorrow it is, then.”

She took a reluctant step back, the look on her face full of regret and pleasure. “I have to go.”

He understood how she felt. He didn’t want her to go either, but she had to work, while he was on vacation. If their roles were reversed he’d hope she wouldn’t resent his business for pulling his attention away from her. “Go. I’ll catch you later.”

“I hope so.” She looked startled for a moment, as if she hadn’t meant to say that out loud. She cleared her throat before straightening her shoulders. “’Bye, Steve. Enjoy the breakfast buffet. The coffee is to die for, and I’m betting you’ll love the apple turnovers.”

God, she was adorable. “Thank you. Have a good day, Graciela.”

He watched her walk away, her stride businesslike rather than seductive, and wondered why he had the urge to follow wherever she led him.

He grinned. He might not have gotten the dinner date he’d hoped for tonight, but if Graciela was going to be dancing naked in the woods, Steven Hoode was going to be there.

Chapter Three

Oh, God. Who in the hell had given Belle and Dave helium? The two of them were sucking on balloons and singing the Chipmunks’ Christmas song at the top of their lungs. The big, bad Alpha was laughing so hard he couldn’t get the Pack meeting started, while the rest of the Pack looked on indulgently.

Of course, to absolutely no one’s surprise, the Luna had taken on the role of Alvin.

Chela could feel the Pack, the affection they held for both their Luna and their Beta as the two sang their hearts out in the squeakiest voices she’d ever heard. She wouldn’t be surprised if some of the bolder members got Belle a crap-ton of Hula-Hoops for Christmas. Dave consistently found ways to make the Alpha pair seem more accessible to the rest of the Pack, even if that meant he stood out in the snow, sucking down helium like it was chocolate-coated Ben.

Speaking of the Marshal, he wasn’t watching his mate and their Luna make idiots out of themselves. Nope. He was staring at Chela with the oddest expression on his face. “What?”

“Steve is your mate?”

She sighed. She should have known. “Belle told Rick, Rick told Dave, Dave told you?”

He blinked. “Uh. Something like that.” He eyed her warily. “So. Is he or isn’t he?”

“He is.”

He sighed happily. “Thank fuck. I’ve been trying to convince Rick to make him Pack, but he keeps turning me down. There’s no way he can deny a mating, though.”

“So you’re okay with me mating your friend?”

Ben grinned. “More than. For one thing, it will get rid of that stupid jealousy Dave still has for the man.”

Chela frowned. “I haven’t felt any jealousy from Dave in months.”

“Really?”

The relief in his voice was unmistakable. “Nope. He’s good. He knows you love him.” She wouldn’t tell Ben how, for the first couple of months after they mated, she and Dave had had long talks about Ben. She’d had to reassure the Beta more than once that Ben adored the ground Dave walked on. There wasn’t anything Ben wouldn’t do to make Dave happy.

“So. About Steve.”

Almost anything, anyway. Ben’s best friend was off-limits, but at least she’d managed to convince Dave that the candle flame of affection Ben felt for Steve was nothing to the bonfire of his love for Dave. “What about him?”

“We’ll need to let Rick know
officially
that he’s your mate.”

Ugh. Sometimes Chela agreed with the Luna when it came to Wolf traditions. Some of the Pack’s more formal practices drove her nuts. For instance, Dave’s sister Gina would never have been able to abuse Chela if they’d been a Puma Pride rather than a Wolf Pack. Gina would have been given the boot well before the Luna put in an appearance. But because there hadn’t been a Luna, Rick had held off. Tradition stated it was the Luna who dealt punishments to the female members of the Pack. In her absence it was the alpha female who ruled the Pack’s women, who meted out punishment and determined their place in the Pack hierarchy.

Unfortunately, Gina had been alpha female, the strongest female they had. Rick had been forced by Pack laws and traditions not to interfere in how she ran the females. Unless Gina did serious damage to the lesser females, there was nothing he could do until he had a Luna, his fated mate.

Then he’d met Belle, and all bets were off. Gina, infuriated that her place in the Pack would not only be usurped, but by a
cat
, had gone off the deep end. She’d begun seriously abusing the weaker females, tried to take Belle’s place through Pack law and challenge, and finally been forced from the Pack when Belle won the challenge and her right to be Luna. And winning hadn’t been without cost. Chela eyed the cane Belle leaned on, knowing the cold would be seeping into her Luna’s hip and making it ache.

If Ben’s grimace was anything to go by, this Pack meeting would be short and sweet as soon as he alerted Rick to Belle’s pain.

You’d never know that Belle was in pain from the enthusiastic way she belted out, “I still want a Hula-Hoop!”

Dave and Belle had their arms around each other, swaying in time to the music only they could hear. Ben’s reluctant grin was echoed by Rick’s as the Alpha took the helium away from Dave. “Enough, you two. We have a Pack meeting to conduct.”

Belle and Dave looked at each other and made faces, echoing, “Aw, man.”

“You take away all our fun.” Dave pouted.

“Yeah, meanie-head.” Belle sniffed.

It might have had some impact in their normal voices. Instead, it sent some of the Pack further into hysterics.

Rick just shook his head at the two goofballs and turned back to the Pack. Some of the meeting would be conducted through the bond the Alpha had with them as he spoke directly into their minds. In deference to his Puma Luna, however, the truly important declarations would be spoken aloud. While Rick could hear Belle in his mind, Belle could not hear him.

Her reaction when she found out had been priceless. Rick still winced whenever he heard that flea and tick jingle. A simple MP3 player set to max volume and some headphones had made the Luna’s point quite well, and Rick had changed Pack protocol to accommodate the Luna, who couldn’t hear him in her head.

“My Pack.”
Chela felt her Alpha’s regard envelope her, his protection wrapping around her like a father’s arms. It was one of the many ways an Alpha strengthened his connection to his Pack. The ability also gave the Pack an advantage during battle as the Alpha could direct them even from a distance and while in wolf form.
“The lodge is doing well, and our Pack is doing well.”
Rick went over some numbers that had some of the members gasping in happy surprise.
“In light of this, the end-of-year bonuses I had hoped to give you will definitely be coming through.”

Some of the married members of the Pack exchanged happy glances. While the lodge had been struggling, times had been hard, but within two years of Rick taking over it was back in the black. No one could be prouder of their Alpha than she was. She, more than anyone except perhaps Belle, knew how Rick worried and fretted over things. As the Omega, it was Chela’s job to ensure that everyone from the Alpha down to the smallest pup was taken care of on an emotional level.

Rick nodded at the happy expressions on the faces of his Pack. He might look stoic on the outside, but on the inside he was dancing like a happy puppy. “Now it’s time to discuss the important Pack issues.”

“I have one.” Ben stepped forward, his emotions all over the place.

“Speak.”

“Our Omega has found her mate.”

Chela hid her wince as every member of the Pack turned their gazes on her.

Rick knew, of course, but until he gave his official blessing the Pack might not accept her mate, an outsider, the way they’d accepted Ben and Dave’s mating. As both were already members of the Pack they hadn’t needed Rick or the Pack’s approval, although Chela could have told them they had it. Rick
could
override the Pack if he felt Steve would ultimately benefit them, but he might not be willing to risk the Pack’s displeasure. They could make his life a living hell if they decided he’d stepped over the line.

It was a fine dance an Alpha stepped with his Pack, one Chela was glad she didn’t have to deal with.

Rick would go the formal route for Steve, a man he’d once denied Pack status. The Pack had been far too unstable to introduce a new, human member when Ben had asked, but it would work against Steve in this instance. Ben had understood why Steve had been refused, but the rest of the Pack would only know that he’d been denied. It could lead to all sorts of problems if the Pack felt he’d been denied due to, say, an unstable personality like the one Ben’s father had suffered from. They could try and force Chela not to mate him, or worse, not to bite him.

They would lose, but they could
try
.

She was proven right when the Alpha spoke. “State his name and whether he is Pack.”

Chela straightened her shoulders.
Here we go.
Thanks to Ben blurting out about her mating to the Pack, she’d had no time to inform Rick privately. She just prayed Belle had said something to the Alpha. Rick hated surprises. “Steven Hoode. He is human, from New York, and our Marshal’s best friend.”

The Pack grumbled a bit at that. While human mates were not unheard of, she could sense that not all of them were happy at the thought of adding another mouth to feed or another soul to house.

“Why should the Pack accept him?”

“I can answer that.” Ben stepped forward, glancing toward Dave for a moment before smiling at the rest of the Pack.

Chela gulped. If the Pack refused to hear Ben’s reasons she’d be forced to either give up her mate or leave the Pack.

Really, there was no option. Her Pack was no longer her top priority. The blond with the smiling blue eyes was.

Ben stared Rick straight in the eye, a gesture that could be viewed by some as a challenge. “Steve is a good man who shielded me more than once when my father came after me.”

The Pack’s grumbles stilled. Rick had made clear Ben’s past while Ben had chased his mate to Disney World to claim him. They all knew now how Ben had been abused by his father and neglected by the previous Alpha. That Steven had shielded Ben from his father’s rage spoke well of him. A recommendation such as this would go a long way toward getting Steve accepted as an Omega’s mate. His compassion, fearlessness and loyalty would ease many of their fears.

Rick nodded. “Anyone else?”

Surprisingly, Dave stepped forward. “He enabled Ben to come after me when he could have denied Ben the use of his timeshare. He gave selflessly to a friend in need.”

Selflessly
might not have been entirely accurate. He’d bargained for rooms at the lodge in exchange, but he’d given up the warmth of Orlando for the cold of the Poconos. Chela had seen the way he shivered. That was not a man who was fond of snow.

“Anyone else?”

No one else stepped forward, so she did. She gathered her courage, the part of her that Belle had helped strengthen, and squared her shoulders. “He’s mine.”

The entire Pack turned to face her, almost causing her to panic. Too often she’d been under a Pack member’s scrutiny only to have someone strike out at her.

Belle had definitively put a stop to that, standing at her side and showing her exactly who Chela was meant to be.

She tilted her chin, allowing her power to flow through her. She would claim her mate, with the blessing of the Pack, or without it. “Steven Hoode is my mate, and I will fight for him with every breath in me.”

Slowly, one by one, the Pack lifted their faces to the moonless night and howled their approval. Rick was last, giving the Alpha’s blessing.

Only the Luna held back, her gaze amused as the Wolves howled. When they were done, they all turned toward her, waiting.

For Chela, Belle’s approval meant everything.

The Luna gave it in her own unique way, the screaming cry of a Puma rending the silent night as Belle gave her blessing to Chela’s mating.

Rick grinned. “Then I declare this meeting adjourned. Shift, and let’s run.”