Page 2 of Slade's Feisty Mate
Farley was a male of few words. And an asshole. Worry slithered over her as she wondered why her alpha wanted her to contact him. She hadn’t lived on pack lands since she took the job at the hotel. She lived on the twelfth floor with several other staff members, including a she-fairy who had pink and gold wings and a warlock covered in tattoos.
For the remainder of her shift, she thought of nothing but calling her alpha. She was pretty sure she hadn’t done anything wrong, but the request to call him was like getting called to the principal’s office in school—even if you hadn’t done anything wrong, you still felt as though you had.
Chewing her thumbnail as she waited for Craig, her replacement, she paced behind the counter. The lobby of the hotel was beautiful—all gold and white marble with sturdy but elegant furniture. She knew she was lucky to live in a city run by a master vampire who cared about the shifter population. Caleb was unique in the vampire world, she suspected. She’d met other master vampires when they came to visit Caleb and see his city, and most of them had looked down on her as if she weren’t fit to clean their shoes. Just because they were immortal didn’t mean they were better than any other supernatural creatures, in her opinion.
Craig walked through the front door of the hotel. He was human with a flair for telling funny stories. “Hi, Craig.”
“Hey, yourself. Anything exciting happen during your shift?”
“Nope, it’s been quiet.”
“All right, I’ll see you tomorrow night. Have a good one.”
He took his place behind the tall, cherry and marble desk, and she took her phone from the small drawer next to her chair. “Master Caleb would like Aubrey to call him when she gets back from the NWFA fights tonight. I sent her a text, but her phone isn’t turned on.”
“Will do.”
She walked swiftly to the elevator bay and pressed the up button. Her phone felt like lead in her hand. She knew she was being ridiculous and overly panicky, but she couldn’t help it. Her alpha was a fierce male.
When the door opened on her floor, she found herself looking at a frowning, pacing fairy. “Hi, Serena, are you okay?” Gretchen asked as she stepped out of the elevator.
“Yes. No.” Serena shook her head, causing her translucent pink and gold wings to flutter as she moved. “I fell asleep watching TV and had a bad dream.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. Do you want to talk?”
“No, I need to fly and sort out my thoughts. Master Caleb asked me to stop flying off my balcony because it freaks out the humans when they think someone is falling from the twelfth floor.”
“Humans are so silly,” Gretchen said. “You can knock on my door if you want to talk after your flight.”
“Thanks,” Serena said and smiled, her brilliant blue eyes shining brightly. “You’re a sweetheart.”
The door slid shut, and Gretchen turned and walked down the hall. Stopping in front of her door, she used the thumb pad to unlock her room and walked inside. Unlike her best friend’s opulent suite on the fourteenth floor, her own was a modest two-room suite, with a bedroom, full bath, and sitting room. She had a kitchenette with a mini fridge and microwave, but she didn’t really need a full kitchen. She ate most of her meals in the staff dining room on the first floor or brought something up to her room to eat.
Glancing at the clock and seeing it was just after eight, she dialed her alpha’s cell and debated what to eat for dinner.
“Johner,” his gruff voice said as he answered.
“Hello, Alpha, its Gretchen Havers. Farley said you wanted me to call.”
“Yes. I’ve invited a pack to visit on the full moon. I need an entire floor of the hotel blocked for their visit.”
Relief filled her at his request. “I’ll get to work right away, Alpha.”
There was a brief pause before he said, “The alpha is unmated.”
She blinked in surprise. “Oh?”
“They’re from St. Louis. It’s a beautiful city.”
“I’ve never been.”
“The alpha isn’t the only one in the pack who is unmated. You might find a mate for yourself among their ranks.”
She wanted to tell him that she wasn’t looking for a mate right now, but that wouldn’t be true. She did want to find a mate, but she didn’t want to just pick someone she was attracted to, she wanted to find her truemate—the one male on the planet who was perfect for her and her wolf. Sure she could pick a wolf and mate him and pop out some pups, but she wanted more than that. She wanted a connection to her mate that went soul-deep. Maybe her alpha was psychic, and her truemate would be among the unmated males of the visiting pack.
“I’ll make sure everything is taken care of, Alpha.”
He grunted and ended the call, and she tossed her phone onto the coffee table and walked to the mini fridge. Inside she found the uneaten portion of her lunch in a Styrofoam container, and she removed it and a bottle of water and set them on the counter. Dumping the pasta dish on a plate, she put it in the microwave and opened her water, taking a long drink. Once her meal was reheated, she settled on the comfy white-and-green-striped couch and opened her laptop to look at the available rooms in the hotel.