The Alpha's Mutt

The next day, I, Jamari, Farris, Alessa and Deene were meeting in Farris’s office. After spending the previous day catching up with our packs, we were now preparing to inform our Betas as to what we had found out about the virus while visiting with the Bristlecone Pack. We had already provided them with the basic information and were fielding their questions before I explained my theory on the matter.

“So, they could not shift at all? Not even partial shifts? Like extending out their claws?” Deene questioned.

“No. Nothing. They cannot even mindlink any longer. They are, for all intents and purposes, essentially human.” Farris answered.

“That has to be difficult. It is like a whole other side of you is just missing.” Alessa observed, mournfully.

“You should have seen it.” Farris remarked, hanging his head in sorrow. “You would have hardly believed it. I have never been around any wolf that sick before. They could barely talk without going into a coughing fit. Their energy was so depleted that they were prone to just passing out where they were. They were so weak that merely raising their head was a chore. It was like something out of a horror movie.”

He was not wrong. This was all beginning to feel like some apocalyptic film where a virus was hellbent on eliminating the entire wolf race.

“Did you guys find out anything that may be able to help them at all? Pack after pack is reporting this illness. It’s only a matter of time before it reaches our lands.” Deene pressed, his nerves rising, as he reached over and grasped Alessa’s hand, needing the soothing touch of his mate.

“Actually, it seems that Mysti may have discovered something. But I will let her explain that.” Farris announced, passing the attention over to me.

I appreciated that he wanted to ensure that I got credit for my effort. However, now was not the most convenient time for chivalry. It would have been easier if he had just acknowledged my contribution but explained it himself. Though, since he had already offered the floor to me, I would just have Jamari relay my thoughts.

“Jamari, I will need to you translate.” I explained through the mindlink, though I doubted that she needed me to do so.

If I had just begun talking, she likely would have just begun translating. She had been doing this for me for quite some time. She did not usually need the prompting. But I still felt it polite to give her a heads up instead.

“Of course.” Jamari responded, as I had expected that she would.

“So, everyone is aware…I will now begin speaking for my Alpha.” Jamari informed the group.

They all nodded their heads in understanding. I began to explain my findings through the mindlink, and Jamari started translating without hesitation.

“After much discussion with the Alpha of the Bristlecone Pack, they discovered that one pack member had somehow eluded the virus. Though he did not appear to be doing anything differently than the rest of the pack, he had not fallen ill. After spending the day, getting to know this wolf, and checking all the areas that he came into contact with regularly, Alpha Mysti could only come to one conclusion.” Jamari paused here for dramatic effect.

As serious as she usually was, she still managed to have a flair for theatrics.

“The only difference between Zeeb and his pack was that he is a half-breed.”

“Really?” Alessa gasped.

“Are we certain that would even have an effect?” Deene asked.

“We cannot be positive just yet.” Jamari answered, relaying my words. “It is a possibility though. Being half-human, or half anything for that matter, is no small difference when compared to a full-blooded wolf.”

“How do we look into this further?” Alessa questioned.

“Well, it is going to be a bit of a daunting task…” Farris interjected which did not bother me a bit.

It really would be easier for him to just speak directly.

“We do not have much to go off at this point, so Mysti and I decided that the best course of action is to contact every pack that we can that has reported this illness. We will have to question them about any pack members who may have avoided becoming sick. Then we will need to determine if those wolves are half-breeds. After compiling all of the information, hopefully, we will discover a pattern to see if being half-wolf is the answer to immunity against this virus.”

“Sounds like a solid plan.” Jamari remarked in agreement, speaking for herself this time.

“It is going to be a bit time consuming.” Deene included.

“Agreed. It is.” Farris nodded. “That is why we are going to request that the three of you work on this for us.” Farris motioned towards Jamari, Deene, and Alessa. “Since Mysti cannot speak to others and we both have work to catch up on after being gone for a few days. We were hoping that we could count on you three to handle the logistics and report back.”

“Not a problem, Alpha. We will get right on it.” Deene assured.

Deene, Alessa, and Jamari all turned to leave the office. I went to follow them out. I could not be much more help in this situation giving my inability to speak. Not to mention, I had yet to do my daily rounds through my pack. I liked to walk the entirety of the camp, at least once a day. It gave my pack an opportunity to see their Alpha and to be certain of my presence, on top of that, if they needed to discuss an issue or ask a question, I made myself available to them.

“Mysti, could you hold back for just a second?” Farris suddenly asked, stopping me in my tracks.

I turned around to face Farris. I was curious as to what he planned to say, especially given that I had no means of responding now that Jamari had left the room.

“Look…uh…” He began, as he rubbed his arm up and down, nervously. “I know that you have responsibilities to your own pack as Alpha. But…uh…whenever you have any free time. I would really like if we could spend some of it together. I know that we cannot talk, but I would still like to be…near you.” He cleared his throat and his eyes dropped away from me.

You could feel the anxiety rolling off him.

I wished that I could tell him that I would love to spend my free time with him. That I wanted to be near him as well. But that was impossible. So instead, I walked over to him and licked the back of his hand, causing him to raise his eyes back to mine. Once I had his attention, I nodded my head to let him know that I was in agreement with his wishes. He offered me a wide smile in return.

I offered him one more quick lick with my tongue before I turned and walked away. I could not explain that I needed to do my rounds, but that I would return afterwards. I wished that Jamari had stayed behind to translate for us that way he would fully understand my intentions.

However, in the end, I knew that I would just have to wait. He would be clued in on my decisions soon enough. We would both just need to be patient, but that was something that we would learn with time throughout this difficult month.

After finishing my rounds with the pack, having spent most of the time receiving welcomes from pack members who had not seen me since my return. I checked in with Casey, the head of my warriors, to ensure that there was not anything that I missed. Once I was certain that all of my duties as Alpha were fulfilled, I made my way back to Farris’s office.

He was knee deep in paperwork when I was finally able to make my way inside; thanks to the assistance from a few friendly wolves holding doors open for me. I did not envy the amount of work that he had as the Alpha of a traditional pack. Normal Alphas were always busy with one thing or another. They had mountains of paperwork coming in from their pack’s businesses, properties, and allegiances. They were constantly balancing the pack’s budget, making certain that everyone was receiving what they needed, while ensuring the pack still maintained a savings. With all of that in mind, they were still in charge of pack safety and handling any delicate pack matters. They were responsible for the lives of every single member of the pack.

While I felt responsibility towards each individual member of my pack as much as Farris or any other Alpha did. I did not have to worry about balancing budgets or handling business matters or maintaining the housing or other buildings of my pack. Because of this, I did not spend my days immersed in paperwork as Farris did. I was responsible for distributing anything that the pack did acquire, making sure that everyone had equal amounts of everything. Though, our pack had a lot less property and “wealth” to keep track of. Our assets mostly consisted of tents, canvas, blankets, and cookware, maybe some clothing and shoes, but that was the most of it.

The beauty of not being a traditional Alpha meant that I had a lot more free time available to me throughout my days. As long as I did my rounds through the pack so that anyone could reach out to me if they needed, then my only other daily responsibility was to protect against any threats. Or interview a wolf who had gone rogue and was seeking asylum within our pack. Otherwise, I could behave much as any other wolf might within the pack. Farris did not have such a luxury.

His eyes brightened as soon as he sensed my presence in the room. His smile radiated as it stretched from ear to ear. I felt an overwhelming sense of joy in my heart at the way he was looking at me right now. Even stuck in wolf form, he was still so excited by my presence that it appeared to uplift his entire day.

“Nice to see you again, Mysti.” He sighed in relief as I stepped towards him.

I walked over to where he sat behind his desk and nudged his arm with my head. He ran his fingers through my soft hair, and I nearly purred in contentment. After we spent a few moments reconnecting, I took my spot right next to his desk. I laid down on the floor and just basked in being in the presence of my mate. We merely sat in comfortable silence as he continued to look over the work in front of him.

And that is how our time was spent for the next few days. I would take care of my Alpha responsibilities, then I would go to sit with Farris in his office. He would work on his paperwork and take the occasional meeting, all the while keeping me by his side. After Farris would finish for the day, he would shift into his wolf so that we could go for a run together. We would chase each other through the woods, tackling each other and wrestling as we went. It was the most fun that I had in a long time. We were falling into a pleasant routine, and I found myself enjoying it more than I thought that I would.

One day, I had just finished a small breakfast and was readying myself for my daily rounds through the pack. When I was startled by Jamari announcing herself just outside of my tent.

“Alpha Mysti?” She questioned. “May I enter?”

“Of course, Jamari. How can I help you this morning?”

Jamari quickly opened the tent and allowed herself inside.

“Well, I was just on my way to the Elwood pack house when I ran into a familiar face who was looking for you.”

“Someone was looking for me?”

“Yes, Alpha Farris has asked if he could have an audience with you. I did not want to just allow him to enter your tent without speaking with you first.” She explained.

“Thank you, Jamari. But you do not have to worry about Alpha Farris. He has free access to my living space.”

“Good to know. I was not sure if you were there with him yet.”

“I appreciate your checking with me first.” I assured.

“Of course.” She paused leaning towards the opening in the tent. “Alpha Farris, you may enter.” She announced.

Farris entered and offered me a sly smile. I had to admit that I was surprised to see him there. I had expected to see him in his office in a couple of hours, as had been our routine. He had never come to me in the camp before.

“Sorry to drop in on you like this.” Farris apologized. “But it had occurred to me that I had yet to visit you here. You always come to me, but I never come to you. That hardly seems fair.”

“As I’m sure you realize by now, I will now be speaking for Alpha Mysti.” Jamari informed him.

He nodded in understanding. He had gotten used to how we had to operate rather quickly.

“Please tell him that I’m excited to have him here and that he is welcome in our pack any time. But I was about to leave to go out on my rounds. Would he perhaps like to join me?” I asked and Jamari relayed my words.

“I would love to.” Farris agreed with a smile.

After bidding farewell to Jamari so that she could join Deene and Alessa in their search for information, I headed out to begin touring the pack with Farris in tow. I was not sure how much he would get from this outing in my pack, but it was nice to have him there with me.

Admittedly, I was not entirely certain how my pack would feel about having Farris in their midst. It could be a little intimidating for former rogues to be around an Alpha from a traditional pack. But I felt confident that everything would be fine as the Elwood Pack had been fairly welcoming to my pack suddenly living on their lands. I knew that could be difficult thing, some packs would feel threatened having a pack move onto their lands as we had. Yet they had been entirely accommodating.

I hoped that the fact that Farris and I were mending our relationship. Combined with the fact that the Elwood Pack had been nothing but kind since our arrival here. Would mean that my pack would not find Farris’s presence intrusive. I knew they would be polite as he is an Alpha and my guest, but I did not want them to feel too uncomfortable either.

Luckily, my fears were quickly put to rest as my pack proved to be more than friendly to Alpha Farris. They greeted him with a bow of their heads and treated him with a certain level of respect. I had to admit my chest puffed up with pride in the abilities of my pack to be forgiving. Rogues were supposedly wild, cruel, and unpredictable. I wondered how they would be perceived if my pack were observed by those who spread such falsehoods. Yes, there were feral rogues out there who behaved without regard for others. But they were the minority, the rogues in my pack were the norm. I hoped that one day, we could put some of those stereotypes to rest, just as they were beginning to with the mutts.

After fielding questions from some of my pack members and checking in with a few others, we had completed the tour of our camp. I knew that there was not much to it, it was a fairly simple place. Yet, Farris appeared as though he had managed to enjoy himself, regardless. I hoped that was indeed the case. I led him back towards my tent, wondering what he was thinking now that he had been further exposed to our way of life.

“This place is truly amazing. You’ve done a really great job with this pack, Mysti.” Farris marveled; his eyes wide with excitement. “I have never seen anything like it. Life is simple here and everyone seems so happy. So, content. It is a beautiful thing.”

I truly appreciated his words. It meant a lot to me that he could see the value in the way that we lived. I was not sure if he would get it. Our lives almost seem medieval compared to the one that he was used to, but he could still find appreciation for it. My heart warmed at the thought.

We spent the rest of the day amongst my pack. Eating and conversing with them. Farris interacting with the others as if he had always belonged. As if his presence amongst us made all the sense in the world.

And that was how our daily schedule changed, slightly. From that day onward for the next week or so, Farris would meet me in our camp in the morning. We would do my rounds together before heading to his office so that he could take care of his responsibilities. Then we would conclude our days with our evening run. I had not thought that our routine could have gotten any better, but somehow, Farris had managed to find a way.

Only making me fall for the idea of our relationship even more.