Page 38 of Alpha Games
“Did you want me to cook you something?” Jenna asked, tucking her graying hair behind her ears. She had a ruddy complexion and always wore a warm smile. Beau complemented her in all the ways a goodmate should, drawing out her laughter and keeping her on her toes. His belly was in direct correlation to Jenna’s cooking.
“If you were in your own kitchen and not in the woods, I’d take you up on that offer in a heartbeat.” I gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze, feeling her wolf preen at the compliment. “But for now, relax. There’ll be plenty of time in the future for my mate to try your cooking.”
*
My next stop was the resort kitchen behind the cafeteria. I stepped past the doors, immediately hit by the steam and sweat of cleaning up the morning meal. Metal racks held cans of food and bins of napkins and paper products. I paused to look at the top shelf, frowning, before heading to the bowels of the kitchen.
The line cooks were busy cleaning the grills with some sort of degreasing agent that smelled of oranges. I listened for a bit, picking out the Sous Chef as he called out orders for the coming lunch rush.
Bingo.
The Chef was a pale white dude with albino coloring to his hair who smelled like a rabbit shifter. I’d place him as a snowshoe hare, but didn’t want to assume based on appearances.
For a prey shifter, he had a deadly glare as I entered his sacred space uninvited. “What are you doing in my kitchen?”
I unfolded a wad of cash from my pocket, brandishing the universal skeleton key. “I’m hoping to make a special order for tonight.”
*
Since I needed the Sous Chef for my dinner date menu with Aspen, I didn’t interrogate him too harshly on who’d placed an order of cupcakes to be sent to the front desk. He said he didn’t know and there was no hint of a lie. We’d assumed the delivery of cupcakes came from offsite like the receptionist said, but what were the odds of the same boxes at the resort?
“Just the shifter I wanted to see,” I spoke to Ivan as he opened the door to my hotel suite. “Do me a favor and swing by the kitchen tonight. Check the brown boxes on the top shelf near the freezers and let me know if they’re the same one the Omega was carrying with the cupcakes the other day.”
“I’ll check the camera feed from outside the kitchens too.” Ivan’s face lit up with excitement of a new clue on the hunt. “Though this doesn’t narrow it down. Anyone could have accessed the kitchen.”
“At least it gets us off the goose chase of looking for a delivery that never arrived.” I pulled up the web search results of local florists within a three-hour drive on my laptop. “And if the boxes are the same, let’s have another chat with that receptionist.”
“Alison was her name and she’s already been let go by the staff.” Ivan scratched his jaw. “This is starting to feel like a cover up.”
Which meant it was someone with money. That could be almost any one of the contestants here. I cracked my neck from side to side, trying to ease the building tension in my muscles.
“Roses or tulips?” I asked.
“Huh?” Ivan blinked.
“What flowers do you like better?”
“Um…” Ivan looked over his shoulder as if this was some sort of joke.
There was a kick at the door, causing both our beasts to tense, followed by Fallon cursing as she hit the keycard against the lock.
Ivan rushed to open it for her. My sister came storming in the room, bypassing us both as she slammed her bedroom door shut.
“Are you okay?” I called out, wondering what had gotten into her now.
She screamed into a pillow before yelling at the closed door, “I will be when we get the fuck out of this place!”
17
Aspen
“Have you seen Ranger today?” I sat in front of the mirror, being as still as possible, while Jesse got me ready for the interviews this afternoon.
“Why would I have seen him?” Jesse wouldn’t meet my eyes in his reflection. He hadn’t lied, but it still stunk of one.
My stomach did a little flip of nervousness as my wolf growled in frustration. All morning, I’d inconspicuously walked around the resort hoping to bump into a certain Alpha. I’d even caught his scent a few times, but it seemed like he was avoiding me.
Now with Jesse’s refusal to answer my question, I pretty much had my answer.