The Alpha's Lost Mate [Completed]

Chapter Eleven: The Season Opening

The next day I headed down to the gym at my usual time, 6AM before all the other got there, to meet with Xavier.

"I have a different kind of work out in mind today," he explained, meeting me outside the gym. "With yours and Jamie's trip starting tomorrow in the last week before the season opens all the usual roles are being moved about."

"Yeah, he's busy today briefing Evan to takeover while we're gone," I said, confused.

"Yes, well Evan usually oversees the mainland businesses and Finn is in charge of the equipment team. Finn is now taking over from Evan and I have been tasked with leading the team while they finish getting the equipment ready," he said.

"Okay," I replied, still unsure what he was getting at.

"I thought you may be interested in joining us at the boat house today, cleaning and launching some of the boats?" He asked.

I looked to Derek, making sure it was okay to change the plan for the day and he nodded, smiling reassuringly.

"Yeah, that sounds fun!" I said enthusiastically and we followed Xavier to the boathouse on the other side of the island.

I enjoyed working alongside the pack. It was just a small team, mostly middle aged men and women who were retired from being warriors and a handful of teenagers just beginning their pack service. They taught me so much about boats, knot tying and maintenance that my head was spinning by the end of the day! But they were very patient and kind, and all escorted me back to the pack house for the pack dinner that Jamie had arranged last minute before we left. We had lost track of time, so all shuffled into the hall in damp jeans and dirty t-shirts and hoodies, smelling of sweat, cleaning solutions and lake water.

Jamie beamed at me from the head table as he watched me say goodbye to my new friends and make my way over to him, hands shoved into my pockets, suddenly very aware of how underdressed I was compared to everyone else at the table who were in dresses or slacks and shirts.

"You look beautiful," he said reassuringly as he pulled my seat out for me.

"You look like one of us now for sure," Meredith laughed. "We've all turned up filthy from work to one of these things at some point."

"You smell like home," Finn said suddenly, the weirdness of his statement making us all burst out laughing.

"I'm supposed to smell like home!" Ashleigh choked out.

"No! You do! I just mean she smells like the boat house and the cleaning stuff, that's home to me too, I - uh - oh shut up!" He said fiercely when he realised she was just teasing him, pulling her in for a sweet kiss.

Dinner was served and Jamie dished up a huge plate of lemon chicken, potatoes and brocolli for me.

"Eat, you must be starving after today," he encouraged, and we all tucked in.

"So you haven't told me much about this other pack, I don't really know what to expect," I said.

"What do you want to know?" He asked.

"I don't know, what's the Alpha like?" I asked.

"Alpha Osian? You'll like him. The Rhosilli pack is our closest ally; like us they believe in trust and freedom for their pack members so it's fairly similar to the way we do things here," he explained.

"Alpha Iestyn and I are very good friends," James added. "He's a good man who raised an excellent Alpha. They'll do everything in their power to help you."

"Osian was my only friend who understood all the pressure around becoming an Alpha, we're very close," Jamie said, a fond smile tugging at his lips. "We've not seen eachother since our Alpha initiation ceremonies last year, we've been so busy."