Seeking to Belong: Wolftale Series~Book 1

by M. Ekman

  Finally, after about the one-thousandth question, Ruth was released due to the entrance of Alpha Tyler. “Alright ladies you’ve had your fun. If I have to have one more mate whining about their females ignoring them there will be consequences.”

  Instead of being cowed by his words, the group of women giggled and slowly began to clear tables. There was absolutely no fear of their huge alpha from these women, but there was definitely respect as everyone he passed bowed their head in the alpha’s direction. Tyler, however, was barely paying them any attention as his whole being seem to be honed in on Ruth.

  Tyler eventually reached the foot of the platform Ruth’s table stood on causing her heart to rattle threateningly for some reason. “Enjoy yourself?” He asked smiling up at her with that perfect and disarming face of his.

  “Of course she did,” Violet answered for Ruth, “we are throwing her a birthday party tomorrow night.”

  Tyler raised both eyebrows at Ruth, but she didn’t know what to say so instead she just shrugged which caused him to chortle. It seemed everything Ruth did caused Tyler to emit a deep rumbling laugh which was annoying due to said laugh’s tendency to raise a girls pulse.

  “And with that I will be on my way. I will see you in the morning darling,” Violet said with an air kiss in their direction before she hopped down to thread her way through the mob of women.

  Tyler raised his arms gesturing for Ruth to grab hold of him to get down. “Don’t mind Violet, she has always been this way. Her poor mate has quite a time with it.”

  Ruth was mid scoff over Tyler thinking he was going to lift her from such a ridiculously small three foot height when his words hit her. “She has a mate?”

  Without waiting for her consent Tyler grasped Ruth’s waist, “Of course. I’m sure you will meet him tomorrow. He is usually attached to her hip.” Now that they were on the same ground Ruth was the one who had to look up. “Do not fear my little warrior, I have never felt nor will ever feel anything for Violet but brotherly feelings.”

  Ruth didn’t know what to say. Either for Tyler’s continued pushing of her personal boundaries, or for how he’d known what Ruth had concluded about an omega holding so much sway over a pack. So instead she opted to focus on the nickname Tyler seemed to have graced her with, “‘Little Warrior’, seriously?”

  Tyler did that stupid deep chuckle thing again, “Fine then, come my fearsome warrior. It is late and you should be getting ready for bed.”

  “That’s not any better,” Ruth grumbled as Tyler finally released her waist and grabbed her hand to tow her out of the room.

  He shot her a wink over his shoulder but didn’t say anything until they’d made it out of the mess hall and up the stairs to Alpha’s Quarters. Outside Ruth’s room he abruptly stopped and stared at the closed door as if it offended him before shaking his head.

  Turning and releasing her hand Tyler gave Ruth a slightly strained smile, “This is where I leave you, my little warrior.”

  Ruth folded her arms across her chest and planted her feet readying herself, “First of all, I thought you’d retracted the 'Little' in my ridiculous nickname? Second of all, tell me what is going on with your ability to touch me? Even Violet grabbing me earlier caused some pain and she’s a she-wolf.”

  He leaned against Ruth’s door adopting a much more relaxed version of Ruth’s stance. “Both are completely valid questions. To address your second inquiry: I’m not entirely sure. It could have something to do with me being an alpha.”

  Even though Tyler had spoken the words he didn’t say them with any kind of conviction. Ruth knew he was hiding something and she wasn’t going to drop it until he told her. “That seems unlikely especially considering you are an unmated alpha.”

  “Touché,” Tyler began before his facial expression started to change and his eyes suddenly took on a fiery spark, “I am unmated.” Tyler moved from his casual pose against the door until he was standing so close to Ruth that her arms were pressing into his muscular stomach. “As to your first question, are you not a warrior? If this tough girl stance and your enforcer training are anything to go by, I’d say you are. And you are shorter than me, barely reaching my nose.”

  “Pfft,” Ruth said mostly because it was the most coherent thing she could get past her lips. And speaking of lips, she wondered what would it be like to kiss Tyler’s?

  No! No, wait there was something she needed to know. Why was this man the only person in the universe who could distract Ruth in such a thought-flying-out-the-window sort of manner? She had to get control of the conversation back, but before she could even try, a tingling sensation overrode everything else.

  Tyler had bent his head and ran his nose along the sensitive spot behind Ruth’s ear taking a deep breath. This maneuver caused every nerve in Ruth’s body to stand on end and she feared she might do that knee-buckling thing she’d read in romance novels. She grabbed the front of Tyler’s shirt to prevent such a catastrophe and without missing a beat Tyler wrapped both arms gently but securely around her. “I do love the smell of mint... But I still can’t figure out that subtle undertone underneath it,” said Tyler in a sultry voice barely above a whisper.

  The spot he was scenting was where a wolf’s “birth or natural scent” was the strongest. Usually the only person who could even come near it was a wolf's mate, considering it was a vulnerable area, being so close to the neck. Ruth knew this, along with the fact that Tyler was most definitely not her mate, but the emotions and sensations he was causing had her inner wolf howling for him to continue.

  Before she could do so something she regretted Ruth felt a huge gust of wind nearly smack her in the face and a door slam shut. Somehow, in the last few moments, Ruth had closed her eyes but upon opening them she discovered that she was in her room with her bedroom door shut firmly before her. It took a few more minutes for thoughts to begin filtering back into her brain and, when they did, she was livid.

  Tyler had done it again. He had effectively evaded the question of how he wasn’t causing Ruth any kind of hurt through physical contact. Why did he keep doing this? But more importantly, was the only reason he kept touching her so much to keep Ruth too distracted from the truth? No, of course not. That didn’t make any sense. It would be easier to keep Ruth from questioning him if he didn’t touch her at all, wouldn’t it?

  CHAPTER 7

  Thump, thump, thump, “Ruth I know you’re in there. Ruth!”

  Ruth grumbled at the pounding on her bedroom door and pulled her blanket over her head. She was never a morning person, aside from her 18th birthday and that was a special and disastrous exception.

  “Ruth Isabel Osbolt. You open this door!”

  Ruth sighed throwing off the covers as she padded over to the door, opening it with bleary eyes. “Violet I told all of you yesterday at that dessert/interview thing I don’t have a middle name.”

  The chipper Violet stood in a butter yellow sundress smiling ear-to-ear, “I know but your name is too short for me to sound properly stern when I reprimand you.”

  Ruth rolled her eyes but instead of responding to the ridiculous statement she turned to collapse face first onto her soft bed.

  “Oh, come on lazy bones remember today is your birthday extravaganza,” Violet said in a singsong voice as she bounced onto Ruth’s bed.

  The only response Violet received was a grunt, but instead of being put off Violet suddenly turned serious. “Um, Ruth? I promised Alpha that I wouldn’t say anything, but I noticed yesterday that you went to great pains to avoid others touching you. And I could tell I’d hurt you earlier when I’d grabbed your arm. Is there anything you would like to talk about? I won’t pressure you. I just want you to know that I’m your friend and I have a listening ear if you need it.”

  Unhurriedly Ruth rolled onto her back with her eyes closed. Quietly she spoke, “I may not have had a birthday party but that didn’t stop me from finding my mate. He… He rejected me almost as soon as he laid eyes on me. After that I
just started running and didn’t stop until my body collapsed here in your territory where Beta Jason and Alpha Tyler found me.”

  Ruth hesitantly opened one eye and then another, but unfortunately only the white of her bedroom ceiling filled her vision. Sitting up she turned to look at the abnormally silent Violet whose face was livid. Hurt and confused Ruth hung her head figuring she said the wrong thing. Why had she told Violet? Just because this woman was claiming to be Ruth’s friend didn’t mean she understood anything.

  Before her thoughts could take a darker tone, Ruth suddenly felt herself pulled into a bone-crushing hug that hurt on so many levels. Violet was surprisingly strong despite her omega status.

  “That man is a pig,” Violet spat before she remembered herself and released Ruth.

  The she-wolf jerked in startlement, “You aren’t upset with me?”

  Violet stared at Ruth as if she had a third head, “What? Why would I be upset with you? In this pack it is seen as treachery to reject your mate, no matter their status or what have you. A mate is a precious gift. I’m a dominant wolf by birth and at my birthday I found out my mate was an omega, but I never would have rejected him. His status doesn’t make me any weaker, and my higher status didn’t make him any less of a wolf. I’m not treated any different than I was before, though I know my dominant scent is now mostly masked by his omega one. Especially since I’m barely a dominant anyway.”

  That explained why Violet’s personality was at such odds with Ruth thinking she was an omega. “Wait. No one in this pack has ever rejected their mates?”

  The room filled with a tense silence and Violet squirmed uncomfortably, “A long time ago one of our wolves rejected his mate and it nearly tore this pack apart. Since him no one has ever rejected the gift of a mate that the Great Luna deems, in her infinite wisdom, to grant us.”

  “Oh,” was all that Ruth could think to say. Mate rejections were rare no matter what pack you were in, but she’d never heard of wolves that were so vehemently against them.

  “Plus the men in this pack desperately need mates if their constant whining over our lack of females is any indication,” Violet declared in mock exasperation.

  Ruth threw her head back in laughter. She knew how bad unmated males could get, especially enforcer boys, but they were nothing compared to unmated females. Violet had done it again, turned the conversation into something Ruth could handle and even laugh over. In the few short hours Ruth had spent with Violet last night, the lonely she-wolf found she was fast on her way to having her first real friend.

  “Sure Violet, sure. Is there any reason, aside from hearing my mate story, you decided to wake me up this early?”

  “Oh, yes!” She jumped up from the bed and went over to the closet, disappearing for several minutes. Fast becoming used to Violet’s quirky behavior Ruth made herself comfortable by crawling up to the top of the bed and leaned her back against the steel blue headboard.

  When Violet emerged she was shaking her head, “My mother is useless. She only grabbed a few casual outfits from my closet, nothing party worthy. Ugh! Well you’ll just have to come to my house and we will have to find something there. If only Tyler could give you a stipend, but since you’re not a pack member, he can’t. Unless, that is, you wanted to try and seduce him into give you a little money to tide you over.” Violet added the last bit with a wink.

  “Not a chance,” Ruth said with folded arms though her heart fluttered at the idea of going to Tyler with the express purpose of flirting with him.

  “Hm, thought so. Well, go ahead and get dressed. I’ll go pilfer us some breakfast and then we can make the short trip to my house. Hurry up, we are on a tight schedule,” Violet said as she headed out the door.

  Ruth let out a snort, but found herself rolling out of bed anyways. What was with this pack, and its hold over her? She didn’t have to do anything they said, but she found herself unconsciously obeying their orders anyway. As a fairly high ranked dominant the bossiness should at least have made her cranky, but it seemed to do the opposite. It made her chest warm, as if she felt cared for.

  Just as Ruth was brushing her hair she heard a knock at the door. “Come in, Violet,” she called from the bathroom.

  However, it wasn’t Violet who stood in the doorway to her bathroom when Ruth looked up. She whirled around to see Tyler giving her a crooked grin as he reached out to gently grab her arm.

  “Have a good night's sleep?” He asked as he pulled her close enough to him to wrap a length of Ruth’s hair around his finger.

  “Uh…hm,” Ruth responded feeling her cheeks heat up. But before she could get too worked up she looked at Tyler’s face and saw deep circles under his eyes.

  Forgetting his distracting playing-with-her-hair thing, Ruth tentatively raised her hand up to cup his cheek and rub her thumb on the puffy purple skin. A sure indication that her alpha had not slept well at all. Not her alpha of course, the alpha—Ruth had to get her head on straight.

  He closed his eyes and leaned into her hand taking a deep breath along Ruth’s wrist. “Tyler, what is—”

  She was cut off as a loud voice shouted, “Knock, knock!”

  The owner of the voice was none other than Violet holding a heavy looking tray of food. “Now enough of that. We have a schedule to keep.” Violet declared as she set the tray down on the bed and bustled Tyler out of the room. All he could do was send Ruth an eye roll and a wink on his way out.

  “Come on now there will be plenty of time for making out later. Don’t give me that look missy. Now eat.” Violet adopted a stern voice as she pointed to the food.

  Ruth copied Tyler’s eye roll and didn’t even bother to correct Violet’s false assumptions about their relationship. Ruth followed Violet’s orders and sat on the bed, but before taking a bite she asked, “Don’t you think that it’s odd that Ty—Alpha Tyler is the only one that can make any kind of agony free contact with me?”

  “Eat,” Violet demanded with both hands on her hips. Ruth and Violet had a stare down, which Ruth lost. With a huff Ruth put a bite of eggs in her mouth, which caused Violet to relax her aggressive stance as she went to sit beside her friend.

  “It is odd, but I honestly don’t know the reason for sure. I doubt Tyler does either, though I’m sure he has a decent guess,” Violet said with sorrow-filled eyes.

  The expression made Ruth pause with the fork halfway to her mouth, “What is his guess?”

  “I’m sorry, I can’t imagine how difficult this is for you, and frustrating, but he has to be the one to tell you. You’ll have to be patient with him. It’s not that he doesn’t want you to know, but rather his fear that it might drive you away.”

  Around a mouthful of food Ruth replied, “But he can’t know that for sure. The best way to keep me here is to tell me the truth.”

  Violet nodded her assent before dropping the serious demeanor she’d adopted and clapping her hands. “Alright well enough of that. It is my time and I say no more talk of Alpha. I need to get you looking gorgeous for your amazing birthday party. We only have two hours until I have to go and help in the kitchen.”

  Ruth was only half finished with her plate but Violet ushered her out of her room anyways. They made it to the top of the staircase before Ruth caught up to Violet’s words. “What? Two hours is like 100 minutes more than I’d ever need!”

  Laughing Violet began a discourse on the importance of style, how sorely lacking Ruth was in it, and that it was now Violet’s duty to educate her “new friend”. This was not the kind of topic Ruth could give any input on, so after awhile she tuned Violet out, preferring to take in the sunshine and the pack members they passed.

  Everyone just seemed so happy and carefree. Children were running around chasing each other and mothers were gossiping in doorways, but everyone who saw the pair stopped to wave or say hello. Ruth had never been so universally liked before, let alone noticed. One could get heady off of the sensation. However, before Ruth could get too caught up in it all,
she found herself whisked into a ranch style house.

  Everything was so open and there were windows everywhere. It was just like Violet to want to see everything and everyone around her, observant as she was. “Alrighty, well my mate is off at work so it’ll just be us girls. Why don’t you sit down in the living room and I’ll be right back with some options.”

  “Sounds fine with me,” said Ruth with a smile. And it really was, because for once she was the one being looked after, even if it was for something as silly as getting ready for a party. Taking a seat on a careworn red sectional, Ruth looked out the window, which gave her a view of the forest she’d crashed into only days ago.

  The next two hours passed in a whirlwind of brightly colored dresses, as Violet seemed to bring out her whole wardrobe. Luckily most outfits she just held up to Ruth’s face to see if it “complimented her complexion”, whatever that meant. Eventually, a deep maroon colored cocktail dress was declared the winner. Mostly because it was the only one that fit her, considering Violet was a good two or three inches shorter than Ruth’s nearly six-foot height.

  For some reason, Ruth was told that she had to change back out of the dress to get her hair and make-up done. If this is what it meant to be a woman of fashion, she wasn’t sure she was destined for that kind of life. It was just too much work for things Ruth had never really cared about before. But there was no saying no to Violet.

  “You are ready,” the peppy girl squealed, “Go ahead and take the dress to your room and I’ll come and get you before the party starts. My mom is going to kill me if I’m late for helping with the food.”

  “I really hope you guys aren’t going to too much trouble. It really isn’t a big deal,” Ruth said somberly.

  “Yes it is a big deal,” Violet deadpanned before smiling again, “and it’s not any trouble. I just might’ve been late a time or two before this week and am not entirely in my mother’s good graces. Hurry we need to go!” the smaller she-wolf all but shoved Ruth out the door as both girls hustled back to the pack house.