The Alphas’ P**n Star Mate

Estel POV

Figs and cinnamon. I used to love the smell of figs and cinnamon. That was the smell of my childhood kitchen at the beginning of fall every year. Grandma would be preserving figs, stocking them after harvesting from the trees her mate planted when they migrated here soon after their marriage.

My grandma said before coming to America, they would talk about what their dreams were for their new home. They wanted wide open spaces, where grandma could grow a big garden with every type of fruit and vegetable you could imagine. Grandpa made sure to give her her dream, planting all kinds of trees and crops, then ensuring she had a sizable garden near the house he built for her too.

Unlike my father, who was a warrior in a neighboring pack, my grandpa was happy with the life of a farmer. He contributed to Setting Sun with his crops, delivering fresh produce, eggs, milk and freshly churned butter daily.

My mom came of age, and started to help by doing the deliveries, and that was how she met my dad. Funny enough, she was seeking out her Luna, Mick and Miles's Nonna, passing along a gift of fig preserves my grandma had freshly made when she ran into my father.

The story goes that my father, who was accompanying his Alpha on a visit, sprung for my mother the moment she entered the room. Mom walked in with her hands filled with jars of figs when he picked up her scent. He lunged at her, pinning her against a wall, declaring her his mate before the Luna, both Alphas, and everyone else who stood watching. In his attack, she had dropped the jars and they shattered to the ground, making the entire room smell like figs and cinnamon.

My parents died in a raid when my sister and I were really young, so young that I don't even remember them. My grandparents only had my mother, and quickly took us in when my mother left this world.

Every season was filled with memories of harvests and my grandparents' garden. The season that stuck with me the most was fig harvesting in the fall, because it began the season of stories of the parents I never truly knew. All I knew was they deeply loved one another, and their love started with the scent of figs and cinnamon.

When I scented Boyd, I thought that was the fruition of all my hopes and desires for my own mate. When my sister found her mate in our father's original pack, I followed her, hoping I would find the same. In some romantic notion in the back of my mind, I knew what I wanted. I wanted a mate that held some resemblance to the love I always heard of my parents having.

This was never what I had in mind.

Figs and cinnamon. My senses are overloaded with the scent right now. It's intoxicating to the point of making me sick. It's coating my tongue, making me nauseous. Like when you pick of a bottle of great-smelling perfume, and decide to taste it to see if it tastes as good as it smells. Ada was acting as dejected as I felt, lying with her tail tucked in a ball in the corner of my mind, trying to hide from the scent, but wanting to stay in my consciousness to be near it at the same time. Not having that bond she's craving with our scented mate is making even escaping into her own subconscious painful. It should be a space shared with his wolf now. I keep getting the feeling that his wolf is the one that hates us.

"Oh," Winnie cracked the door to the room, looking down at me where I was sitting against the wall. "Good. You're still here. Can you come in with him for a little bit?"

Sudden dread washed over me. I didn't want to feel that sting of rejection seeing that disdainful look in Boyd's eyes again. "Why?"

"I'm tired," Winnie yawned, stretching his lithe body out with his arms raised high above his head. He looked like a cat stretching after an afternoon nap. "I need to shower too, and Boyd's clothes are icky. All he has are old t-shirts with the sleeves cut off, affliction shirts, and jeans. I should do a shopping trip for him next."

"I could just go and get your clothes for you," I offered. I cringed internally as I added, "Boyd would be more comfortable with you than me."

"He's sleeping, so he wouldn't care," Winnie waved off my concern. "Plus, he has one of those three-in-one body washes." He cringed and made gagging noises. "No thank you. I love myself too much to subject my body to that."

Ada had lifted her head from her paws, whimpering, unsure if she wanted to go see her sleeping mate, or continue to hide in the corner of my mind.

I was less unsure than she was.

"I can just wait out here."

"What?!" Winnie stomped his foot. "No! What if he wakes up!"

"He's going to wake up if you don't stop your yelling," I scoffed as Winnie tried to pull me up from the ground.

"Quit being difficult," he hissed, pushing me into the room filled with the fig and cinnamon smell. "You whine a lot for someone that dresses like a boy."

"I don't dress like a boy." I had on comfortable clothes, but they were women's. I think.

"Bull snot. Give me your credit card. I'll do a shopping spree for you too."

"I'm good."

"You're not," he said firmly, pushing against me until I gave in and sat in a chair not far from Boyd's bed.

The smell was making my mouth water, but at the same time, making me want to cry. I resisted looking at his face, because I knew if I did, it would bring the waterworks.

"Stay. I'll be back soon," Winnie whispered loudly.

I nodded, trying not to breathe. Winnie gave me a curious look, then said, "If you need to take a number two, the bathroom is right there."

My face flamed. Did I look constipated?

"Go take your shower," I growled in a low voice.

"Yeah, yeah," he waved me off. "Light a candle when you're done."

Little punk. He's feisty and abrasive, just like a cat.

Ada was lifting her head, trying to see Boyd through my eyes, but I was still fighting the urge to steal a glance at his sleeping face. The fight was getting harder and harder the more his scent wafted towards me. His soft snores, uninterrupted by Winnie's demanding voice, were filling the room more and more with his scent with every breath he took.

"Stupid. This whole thing is stupid," I muttered under my breath.

If I could, I would mind link Mick to send someone else to watch Boyd. When Dez asked me, I couldn't really say no. No one but Mick knows about Boyd being my mate.

Maybe I should tell Mick's mate too. She's bitchy as hell, but maybe she wouldn't be if she didn't see me as just some random unmated shewolf that was whispering in her mate's ear.

I didn't mean to just whisper in his ear. I was just trying to not announce to the whole damn pack that Boyd was my mate and didn't claim me.

"What's wrong with him?" Ada asked brokenly. "Why won't he claim us?"

"He doesn't recognize our scent," I murmured. "That's the only thing I can think of."

"Is it because of what happened while he was held captive? Did they do something to his wolf?"

He was not hostile towards me until the wolfsbane left contact with his skin. It was strange. Like some switch had flipped. I scented him already in that room, but it wasn't as strong as it is now. The moment his wolf returned to him, it was like my entire body knew. His scent was so much stronger, and the pull towards him was impossible to ignore.

That stupid pull of the bond is another reason why I couldn't refuse Dez. All through breakfast, then while I was showering and getting dressed, the entire time I was away from this man, it was like I still felt him. I felt a tether trying to tighten, forcing me to go one direction. "He's having a nightmare," Ada said.