The Lone Alpha (Book 5 of Forest Wolf Series)

Golden Meadows Part 1

Sean’s POV

   After about a six-hour drive, I finally made it to Golden Meadows. Sure I was speeding the whole way to make better time but I didn’t get pulled over. If anyone knew about it I’m sure I would get a lecture. What no one knows won’t hurt them. 

   The area out here in New Mexico was extremely flat and you could see for miles. As soon as I turned off the highway onto a private road I started seeing an abundance of trees. 

I was stopped at the territory gates by the guards and I rolled my window down. 

   “State your name and business,” the guard told me. 

   “Sean Walker. I’m here to see Alpha Ivan.”

   I watched as his eyes went dull and I sat there waiting to be waved through. Moments later the gates were opening and he motioned for me to go on. I followed the paved road to a very modern-looking packhouse. It was beautiful with the white paint and gold banners blowing in the wind. 

   I parked my car and stepped out. I looked up to the porch and found Ivan standing there with Cali and three pups. Ivan was the shortest Alpha I have ever met. He was about Jamie’s height with copper-colored skin, dark brown eyes and black hair. Cali was tall for a she-wolf but was elegant with her Native American look. 

   I walked up to the porch with a smile on my face and shook Ivan’s hand before turning to shake Cali’s. She wasn’t a hugger or at least that’s the vibe I got off her. 

   “I almost thought it was Duncan that stepped out of the car and not you. You have grown since the last time we saw you,” Ivan said. 

   I laughed and said, “isn’t that to be expected?”

   They both laugh at me. I take time to say hello to their pups and get their names. Miguel was the future Alpha of the pack and he had two younger sisters, Isabella and Lola. All three of them were so well behaved and I figured that had to be thanks to their mom. I noticed right away that Jamie was right when she said this place was calm. It was very peaceful here. 

   As I talked to them another man came out of the packhouse followed by a she-wolf and little boy. The man and she-wolf were both a foot shorter than me. They were Hispanic like Meredith and Ivan. The couple stopped to greet me. 

   “You must be Sean,” the man said. 

   I shook his hand and said, “yes.”

   “I’m Beta Felix and this is my mate Naja and our son Oscar.”

   “It’s great to meet y’all,” I said.   

   I stood there and exchanged light pleasantries with them before Naja took all four of the pups to the playground that was off to the side of the packhouse. The packhouse playground here was a little bigger than the one at Trinity Forest. 

   “Let’s go in and have a seat,” Ivan said. 

   I followed him, Cali and Felix, inside to his office. His office was huge. It was as big as the shared office that BJ and Katie have. Though this place looked like a library with a desk in the middle of the room. Instead of one couch, there were two large couches up against the walls near the bookshelves on either side of the room. The floor-to-ceiling windows at the end of the room let in a ton of sunlight. This was magnificent. 

   Cali and Ivan sat on a large couch and I sat on the other end while Felix sat down in a chair in front of Ivan’s desk. I took my phone out of my pocket and opened a new document and named it ‘Golden Meadows Pack’. I took the notes I had in my head already about his office and the banner colors. When I was done I turned my attention to them to start asking questions to learn more about them. 

   “So how are things going here?” I asked. 

   “Alright. The only issue we have been running into is someone killing our guards at night and trying to get onto the territory,” Ivan says.

   “A rogue?” I asked. 

   “Yeah,” he said with a nod. 

   “I can help while I’m here if you would like.” 

   “That would be appreciated,” he said with a nod.  

   I nodded my head then switched topics, “So Cali, what duties do you do here as Luna, and do you have a job other than that?”

   “Oh, my duties pertain to helping the pack members with their needs such as work, housing and general care. Other than that I spend my time helping the community wherever I’m needed,” she told me. 

   I nodded and turned to Ivan, “What do you do for work other than being Alpha?”

   “I own and run three hotel businesses in the human towns close by. They bring in large revenue that helps run the pack.”

   It was smart to make money off the humans that surrounded us. They outnumbered us anyway. This was something to keep in mind for the future.   

   “How did you two find each other?” I asked, looking at Ivan and Cali. 

   “I was born here in the pack. In fact, I’m six months older than Ivan,” Cali says happily as she thinks about it. 

   They were like Duncan and BJ. I wonder how many other Alphas found their mates in their packs. Were Jamie and Cameron the only ones that were different? I mean even evil ass Calvin found his mate in our pack at Trinity Forest. She was so sweet and never deserved the end she got. 

   “What is y’all’s relationship like as the Alpha couple?”

   “I guess you could say we are a little different than most. We don’t work together during the day but we let each other know what’s going on constantly, keeping each other informed of what we are doing and the issues we see in the pack,” Cali tells me. 

   “How did you find your Beta?” I asked Ivan. 

   “He is actually my younger cousin. We have always been close.” 

   I smacked my face with my hand as I realized they had a family resemblance. I nodded and turned to Felix. It was now time to ask him questions. 

   “What are your duties as the Beta?” I asked Felix. 

   “I handle the warriors and their training,” he answered.  

   “What does your mate do and does she have her own duties as the Beta Female?”

   “She takes care of our pup and the Alpha’s pups. When they are in school she helps Cali with the community's needs.”  

   I nodded again with the information. It was clear what the duties were for every Beta, Alpha and Luna. I just liked seeing what they all did and how different everyone was. 

   We sat there and talked for a few minutes before we all stood up to go eat lunch in the dining hall in the packhouse. Felix’s mate, Naja, met us there with all the pups. We took our seats at long tables with wood chairs and waited for our food. When it came out, I smiled down at the plate of chicken enchiladas. I happily dig in and enjoy the spice that I know so well. New Mexico and Texas food aren’t that different. 

   After lunch, Ivan and Cali took me to look around the town here on Golden Meadows. The town is small but it has everything the members need. All of the shops, stores and some of the houses here look like pueblo buildings. They like to stick with their heritage like Dark Hollers and it got me wondering about the other packs including Hunter’s Moon. 

   I met so many beautiful young she-wolves here. They looked so different from the ones back home. The heritage here was Mexican and Native American and they were just gorgeous. They reminded me of how Meredith looks. The whole time I was here I couldn’t stop staring at all the she-wolves. They were just too pretty. 

   That night in the packhouse, I was shown to my room and settled in. After a shower, I sat down on the bed to look over the notes I had taken from the three packs I had been to so far. I opened up a new document and named it ‘My Pack’. I sat there and started making bullets of notes of the things I would want. 

   Suddenly, I heard loud movements in the hallway and people running towards the stairs. I dropped my phone on the bed and got up. I opened the door to the room I was staying in and looked out into the hallway. 

   I stopped a young warrior that was running from the other end of the hall and asked, “What’s going on?” 

   “Another guard was killed on duty,” he said as he kept moving past me. 

   I left my room and closed the door behind me as I followed everyone down the stairs and out of the packhouse. All of them were gathering out in front of the packhouse in the grass. On the porch, I saw Felix and Ivan already standing there in just their shorts indicating that they might need to shift. I walked up to them to see what they would tell me about what was going on. 

   “Ah, Sean, I'm glad you joined us. Another one of our guards at the border was killed and I would like your input on it. Plus it might be a way to get some more experience for you,” Ivan said. 

   I nodded my head and waited on him and Felix to lead the way. Once all the warriors had gathered, Ivan turned his attention to them and all talking stopped. You could see the Alpha in him take over in a calm yet still commanding manner. 

   “I want section two of the guards to aid in covering security. Go,” he ordered. 

   I watched as a large section of the warriors ran off. Some shifted into their wolves while some stayed in human form. 

   “I need the trackers to come with me. The rest of you patrol the inside of our territory to make sure our pack is safe,” he ordered. 

   Three warriors stepped forward while the rest of them dispersed to patrol the town, around the packhouse and the houses on the territory. I followed Ivan, Felix and the three trackers towards the woods filled with cedar trees. After about ten minutes of walking in silence, we approached two guards that were standing near a dead wolf. It was the warrior that had been killed tonight. Ivan inspected him and the ground around him. I did the same to see what I could find. 

   The wolf had his throat ripped open by teeth indicating that the rogue was in wolf form. I looked around the space and saw tracks everywhere. They had fought before he was killed. I tilted my head up and sniffed the air to see if the rogue had a scent. I smelled pine mixed with death and it wasn’t from the dead wolf. I brought my attention back down to the ground and saw long stride wolf paw prints leading away from the scene of the crime. I looked over at Ivan and he was watching me intently. The trackers were standing by ready to help when told to. 

   “What do you have so far Sean?” Ivan asked me. 

   “There was a struggle before the guard was killed. The teeth marks indicate that the rogue was in wolf form the whole time he was here. There’s a scent in the air of pine and death. I also see paw prints leading away from here going towards the North. The stride indicates that it's a Beta wolf,” I told him. 

   “Nicely done,” he told me with a small smile and a nod of his head. He turned to his guards, “take his body to be ready for his death ceremony. I will inform his family personally. Felix will head the investigation from here along with Alpha Sean.” 

   That was the first time anyone had called me Alpha Sean and it was a little different. I always felt I needed to have a pack to be called that and that I needed to earn that title. I wasn’t about to correct him though. I would live up to what he called me and be the Alpha I knew I already was.    

   The guards started to pick up the dead wolf and Ivan left us, walking back towards the town. I’m sure that conversation was about to be a hard one. I had never watched anyone deliver that type of news and I have no clue how I would handle doing that in the future. As a wolf, we live a life of violence and death could be waiting around any corner for any of us. I knew I would have to have those conversations in the future. There was no getting away from it.  

   I turned my attention to Felix and the trackers. Felix looked at me expectantly and I felt a little odd about giving orders to warriors that weren’t mine. I needed to shrug it off and take charge here. Ivan had given it to me for a reason so I needed to be responsible. 

   “Let’s get to work,” I told the trackers and they came to the spot to get the scent I had found. 

   I started ahead and followed the tracks that were left behind by the rogue. It was going to be a long night and personally, the woods here were creepy as hell.