The Hunt

Chapter Three

The smell in the hallway wasn't so bad, or I had just gotten used to it. Mason led me to some stairs and ushered me up. He always kept a hand touching me. It was comforting to me, but to him, it stuck his claim on me. The males would know not to try to woo me because I was Mason's, even if I wasn't marked.

Mason didn't knock when he opened a solid wood door. It looked heavy and it looked old. The shiny knob on the door looked out of place against the wood. The original handle was probably broken when a wolf threw a fit. I know that they kept extra door knobs at our house; everyone knew that with Mason around, little things like that usually had a permanent hand mold.

There were five wolves in the room. It looked like it was the alpha's main office, just very cluttered with paperwork and a mess of dirty dishes. These wolves just didn't want to clean up after themselves. I didn't think werewolves could be so lazy.

There were four men and one woman. Her eyes widened in surprise when I walked through the door first, followed by Mason, with his hand on my lower back. Her eyes turned soft when they rested on Mason, however, the man she was sitting next to glared at Mason.

I inwardly groaned. This was going to be complicated. If this woman was mated to the man glaring at Mason, her mate knew how she felt about him. It didn't take a genius to recognize the look in her eyes. I saw it all the time in the way women looked at him.

With her being a werewolf, I'd have to tell her to back off. I glanced at Mason when he took my hand again. He didn't give any indication that he saw the problem I did. He was more perceptive than me when it came to werewolves. I knew I'd just have to ask him about it later.

Mason didn't look at the two males as we walked past them. They looked like bikers, but they weren't very intimidating. I've met too many wolves who were much scarier to be concerned with these two.

When we got to the front of the desk, it was obvious the alpha was doing some sort of power play by not standing up when we came into the room. He was letting the world know that he wasn't concerned about Mason's tendency of intimidation, which had me a little worried. I had faith that Mason wasn't concerned about being outnumbered here.

Then I saw the alpha's cheek twitch.

He was fighting off a smile. Mason's face still held no emotion. I wanted to believe that he was waiting for the alpha to give to the smile first. If we had a mating bond I would've known, but we didn't.

I kept an eye on the woman and the man to the side of the alpha. Neither of their faces had changed. She looked in love, while her mate looked murderous. The bite mark on their necks and his arm around her waist was a clear indication that these two were mated.

I looked back at the alpha in time to see a smile break out on his face. As soon as he gave, Mason's unreadable face changed to a happy one. These two must had been friends from a long time ago.

Mason let my hand go to meet the alpha halfway around the desk in a hug. Mason didn't hug people that didn't mean a lot to him. The only people he had ever been in contact were his immediate pack members, even then he didn't hug often.

It was nice to see him being friendly with someone other than our pack.

"It has been far too long my friend," the alpha said with a smile. His Scottish accent caught me off guard. I hadn't expected it to come from him. It wasn't as strong as I'm sure it had once been, but it was still recognizable and, amazingly, easily understandable.

Mason nodded once with a teasing smile. "I try to keep myself out of trouble."

The alpha's laughter was loud and sounded a bit rusty, like it had been a long time since he had really laughed. "You," the alpha gasped for air, "stay out of trouble?" He wiped a tear from his eye. "That would be the day."

He sighed and looked my way. "I assume that this pretty lass is joining you on your mission to find the serial killer." The alpha looked me from top to bottom, probably ranking me in his list of women. Only an unmated, uncalled for alpha would let all these random women into his home.

Mason stepped towards me and held out his hand. I immediately took it since I wasn't comfortable with the look the alpha had given me. I wasn't going to be someone he could just hook up with.

"She is actually my mate-to-be," Mason said with a smile as he wrapped his arm around my waist.

The alpha's smile dropped. That meant something. He scanned my neck for a mark. "You brought the one you haven't marked here, of all places?"

Mason shrugged, not a bit of the concern the alpha showed came through him. "I'm not worried about this place or any of its members stealing her away from me." I was sure I wasn't the only one to notice the anger come from the mated pair, but I was the only one who looked over. The man's golden eyes were glaring at Mason. The woman's golden eyes were glaring at me.

The alpha sighed. "I'm glad that you've found someone Mason, but this isn't the place for a romantic getaway."

Annoyance crossed Mason's features before his unreadable face was back on. "I appreciate your concern, Dean, but she'll be fine. I have faith in her."

I kept my surprise contained; I didn't expect a Scotsman to be named Dean.

Alpha Dean's brows rose skeptically. "It's not her I'm worried about." He turned and glared at the other couple in the room. "For Christ's sake," he snarled, "get the fuck out of here before I kick you out my damned self."

The man growled at his alpha in response.

Mason turned his head to acknowledge the man for the first time. "Should I kick them out or are you going to?"

I didn't need to see Mason's face to know the look he was giving the couple. I tended to see that intimidating face a lot when recruits were around.

After the couple left the room, the tension left completely. I needed to find out what happened to make them hate Mason so much. It had to have been a big deal. I had known the pack for a long time and had never heard of this pack we were visiting. You'd think I'd get some kind of warning if I were coming into a situation where there was bad blood.

"We shouldn't be here longer than a week." Mason said casually. I don't know how he could put on a facade like that so quickly, but I wasn't going to forget what just happened.

The alpha nodded and leaned against his desk. "Just don't go stirring up old shit."

Mason shrugged. "I'm not the one with the problem here."

"Yeah, yeah." Alpha Dean walked over to his chair and sat. "There's a room prepared, have one of the boys show you where it is." The alpha smiled at me. "And you let me know if any of the girls give you problems."

Yeah, right. My wolf grumbled.

I nodded. "Will do." Maybe.

These girls were all human, except for the one that had been in this office. I expected that she'd try to have a go at me, just to see if she could.

Mason looked at one of the guys and motioned for him to lead the way. The wolf didn't look happy about it, but he did it.

When we got to the room I had to open a window.

"How do they live in this place?"

Mason looked over me, amused. "They've gotten used to it. The only fresh air they probably get is when they're shifted in the woods."

I huffed. "I'd rather be out there right now."

He shrugged. "We'll be going back home before you know it."

He wasn't exactly reassuring.