Most of the next day I spend in my room, not wanting any unnecessary run-ins with the Alpha. This place is quiet for a Packhouse. Alpha Ezra pops his head in a few times to check on me, but other than that he leaves me alone thankfully.
There's a knock on my door at lunchtime. I open the door and Beta Mateo waltzes in with a pizza box in his hand. “What is it with you and pizza?” I ask, shaking my head.
He gives me a wink. "It means I don't have to cook." He flops down on my bed and reaches over, grabbing the remote. He turns on the tv and idly flips through channels. He glances my way and pats the bed beside him. I roll my eyes at his antics and walk over and sit next to him.
"Eat," he orders. He gets into one of his app accounts and puts on a girlie girl power movie.
I raise a brow at his choice. "You want to watch the Princess Diaries?"
The door creaks open again and the Alpha walks in with cans of coke in his arms. He places them on the bedside table. He glances at the TV and groans. "Damn it, Mateo, not this one again."
“Again?” I ask him wondering how many times they have watched it.
“Mateo is a chicken and only watches PG and below movies,” Alpha Ezra confides, sitting on my other side and making himself comfortable.
“You don’t like horror?” I ask turning my head to look at Mateo.
He takes a slice of pizza before setting the box on my lap between them. “Watched Paranormal Activity once, gave me nightmares for weeks. I was convinced the Packhouse had a ghost.” He takes a bite of his pizza.
“He wouldn’t sleep without every bloody light on in the place,” Alpha Ezra scoffs, shaking his head at his Beta who shrugs.
“How can you be scared of a movie when you're a werewolf?” I laugh, grabbing my own slice. I bite into the ham and pineapple pizza, cheese stretching apart, and the sauce burns my face when it splats on my chin. This is why I hate pizza. They always put too much sauce on it and the topping always falls off.
“I’m not scared,” he says with a huff before reaching over and plucking the cheese off I was trying to remove, he eats it making me chuckle. The Alpha however, gives him a questioning look. “What? I was helping her,” the Beta defends, sending me a wink.
“Great, so that means only kiddy movies,” I sigh, settling back and eating my slice of pizza.
He shakes his head at me. “Nah, we can watch them if you insist, but we have to watch a Disney one after,” Mateo says.
“And to think you're meant to be Beta and protector of the Pack. I guess we'll be fine as long as we don't go to war with ghosts,” I laugh.
“Yep, if there is a ghost, sorry to say you’re on your own,” he chuckles. He leans toward me, voice low in a conspiratorial whisper. “The Alpha used to have a fear of ducks.”
I turn and stare at the Alpha. He was in the middle of taking a drink and his cheeks darken before he huffs at me. “What? You would be scarred for life too if you got chased by a flock of them when you were a kid."
"Chased into the lake," Mateo adds with a snicker.
I can’t help it. I giggle at the mental image of my big strong Alpha being herded by a group of ducks into a lake. "So, our Pack is safe as long as we don't have any duck or ghost attacks?"
The Alpha sets his drink down and crosses his arms over his broad chest. "They won’t stand a chance now. Maddox would swallow them whole." He settles back against the headboard and Mateo presses play.
We sit and watch the movie in relative silence. Beta Mateo leans forward, engrossed in the tale of the princess finding her identity and self-worth. The Alpha however falls asleep before it is even halfway through. I can’t blame him. I am bored myself as the tale progresses. Try as I might to force myself to remain awake, with each second my eyes only get heavier.
The Beta glances over at me and shifts over so I have room if I want to nap. I move and the Alpha takes my spot. He searches with his arm for a second before rolling closer to me and settling his head on my lap like I'm some great pillow. His arm loops around my waist and his body relaxes.
I stare down at him, not sure what to do. I wasn’t expecting a situation like this. Looking to the Beta for help, he just chuckles at the sight of his Alpha snuggling me like I'm a damn teddy bear. His stubble tickles my stomach.
“Yeah the Alpha is a hugger, we shared a room while visiting another Pack, jerks made us share a bed. Alpha likes being the big spoon, which is fine by me, I don’t mind snuggling either,” Beta Mateo laughs, making me chuckle.
I relax, draping my arm over the Alpha's shoulder. It's as comfortable as I can get in this awkward predicament.
“Are you excited to find your mate soon?” Beta Mateo asks, eyeing the Alpha rubbing his cheek against my tummy.
“Never gave it much thought,” I tell him, honestly.
“Isn’t that what all she-wolves wish for, to find their mate?” Beta Mateo questions.
I shake my head. I’d always known mine wouldn’t want me, after they found out my secret, so I never allowed myself the false hope. Besides, I will have no way to recognize him without a wolf.
“Not me, have you found your mate yet?” I ask back, he shakes his head, showing me his neck.
“Nope, but I am happy being a player,” he says with a wink and I roll my eyes, typical male response.
“How old are you?” I ask him.
“Same age as the Alpha twenty-five,” he answers, eating another slice of now cold pizza.
“And neither of you have found your mates?” He shrugs but bites down on his lip, I wondered if it made him sad.
The Alpha snuggles closer, his arms tightening around my waist, Beta Mateo chuckles at him. The Alpha’s scent wafting to my nose makes me inhale deeply. When I feel his hand brush underneath my shirt on my lower back. Tingles rush over me, making me shiver.
“He really is a hugger, huh?”
Mateo smiles. “Yeah just watch out for the drool he can be a heavy sleeper," he grins, making me laugh.
“Why are you both here anyway? Don’t you have Pack work to do?”
“Nope, for once we have nothing to do, so thought we would join you. Don’t you like us being around you?”
“No, it's not that, just weird you both wanting to hang out with a teenager.”
“You’re not a teenager for long though, you turn eighteen soon and will be an adult. Besides, I’m not going to go and annoy Marge downstairs, she will put me to work.”
“Marge?”
“She is a cleaner here, she sometimes cooks for us too,” he explains before sitting up.
“Well, I should go find something to do, make myself useful,” he says, hopping up and taking the trash with him and leaving me with the man still treating me like a pillow.
“Wait, take your Alpha with you,” I plead with him, looking down at the man with his head in my lap sleeping.
“Nah, he looks pretty comfortable, you can keep him,” Mateo laughs, and leaves the room. He shuts the door and I try to wriggle out of the Alpha's grasp only for him to tighten it and snuggle closer, pulling me down lower on my pillow. I brush my fingers through his soft thick hair trying to wake him but he doesn’t. Giving up, I rest my eyes only to fall asleep. His warmth and his scent calming as I drift off into oblivion.
I am awoken by the sounds of people rushing into the house and footsteps on the stairs. Opening my eyes, I sit up and realize I am laying on top of the Alpha, his fingers caressing my sides softly. The voices downstairs grew louder and I understood it was students from school filling the place.
“Sorry,” I tell him, looking down at him and how our positions had changed.
“All good, you were keeping me warm,” he says with a chuckle. I untangle myself from him feeling embarrassed that I fell asleep on him, but to be fair he fell asleep on me first so it was kind of his fault.
My head turns toward the door as the door handle rattles, and I’m thankful that Mateo had the sense to lock it.
Mateo's voice has a growl in it from the other side of the door. "Find another room, Angie, and stay away from the stairs near the Alpha's room."
“Great,” I mutter to myself.
“What’s wrong?” The Alpha asks, looking at me.
“Nothing, Angie will give me hell if she sees you leave this room and realizes I’m in here too.”
He chuckles, not understanding girls at all. “No she won’t, she isn't too bad.”
“To you maybe because it’s obvious she has a thing for you,” I retort.
“Well, I don’t belong to her and besides we aren't doing anything wrong, we fell asleep,” he defends with a shrug.
“Yeah, well Angie seems to think I am stealing your attention away from her.”
“You are, but I will never be hers. I belong to someone else,” he says it lightly, but there's a darkness to his eyes that hadn't been there a second ago.
“Your mate when you find her?” I guess, hopping up and straightening my now wrinkled clothes.
“Yes my mate, and only my mate,” he answers, sitting up. "I'll head down first. I need to check on everyone, we usually have a barbeque on Thursday nights, so it is easier. So I will see you when you come downstairs,” I nod before hearing a knock on the door, making me look at it nervously. The last thing I need is for Angie to give me hell over him accidentally falling asleep in here with me.
“Relax Kat, it is only Mateo,” Alpha Ezra says and I let out the breath I didn’t realize I was holding.