Page 8 of A Kitten for Alpha Kenny

There were plenty of people I trusted babysitting Madeline during the day if I had to go somewhere or if school was out. And I trusted them at night when it came to giving Madeline the safety she needed. But, at night, if she woke up, I wanted someone she considered family there.

And besides, he knew where everything was. He helped build the kitchen table, after all.

I stepped out, not quite ready to go but knowing my ride would be here before long.

“If you need me, call.”

He rolled his eyes. “I know the drill. Quit procrastinating. Go have fun.” He shooed me toward the door with a gesture of his hand.

“You mean go and network and do work things.”

Grandpa Swale shrugged. “I said what I said.”

He turned the volume on the TV up. Not loud enough that it would bother Madeline but enough to let me know that we were done with the conversation. He wasn’t like some betas who were bossy with harsh words and commands. Nope, he was grandpa bossy. Best pack beta ever.

“Fine.” There was no sense in arguing. “I’ll see you later. Did you want me to bring you back anything? I heard the food is great there.”

“Nah, I’m good. If I get hungry, I’ll just dig through your freezer.”

The alpha pulled up just as I stepped outside. I was glad he was driving. I knew where-ish the club was but had never been there before. Besides, walking in with such a powerful man could give me some alpha repellent of sorts. At least, that was my hope. The thought of dealing with alphas who drank too much wanting to get it on was not appealing. Not at all.

My home was about halfway between Wolfe Enterprises and Animals, and I rarely drove in that direction. With the full moon out, it was quite beautiful. Parking, on the other hand, sucked.

The place was packed. Beyond packed. That was great for the fundraising, but less so for me. I was quite grateful the alpha opted to drive, because I very much did not want to be navigating this place. With my luck, I’d end up circling for an hour and missing every opening by a few seconds.

We eventually found a spot—one with a long walk, but that was fine. I could use the air, and the time to brace myself for what was to come. Because it was a charity event, we all needed invitations in order to get in, which was good. It meant there was no line at the door waiting for bouncers to let us in like I’d heard happened often.

I followed Alpha Aspen inside…and the crowd was larger than I anticipated, even with the number of cars.

People were everywhere. And not human people—nope. There were dragons, wolves, bears, a coyote or two, and so many more. If a fight broke out here, my cat didn’t stand a chance. Not that this was a place known for fights, but I’d been in a shifter bar or two in my day, and they hadn’t been great experiences. I kind of carried that with me.

We were barely in the door when the scent hit me. It wasn’t the food or the fancy drinks I smelled now; it was my mate. All pine and cotton candy—two scents that shouldn’t go together and yet somehow did.

My cat was already purring. All I wanted to do was run and find him. Except I was here for work. And before I could process everything that was happening, Alpha Aspen was introducing me to the director of the rescue.

“We’re so glad you’re here and came out to support us this evening.” He held out his hand for me to shake.

If you paid me 50,000 dollars to tell you what our conversation was about for the next few minutes—I couldn’t. I couldn’t tell you a single thing. And then the director excused himself, and I found myself face-to-face with the alpha.

“What exactly is going on with you?”

I wasn’t sure if he was pissed or worried.

“I scented my mate when we walked in.” I wasn’t going to lie to him.

“You what?” Pissed it was. I’d never seen him pissed before and I understood why other packs feared him now. If I hadn’t known he would never hurt me, I might’ve been pissing my pants about then. “You scented your mate here, and you then spent time working and networking?”

I nodded.

“No. Unacceptable. I don’t want to see you again until you have your mate. Go. Get out.”

And no part of me wanted to argue with him. A because he was right. And B because I had already lost enough time.

I wove through people, following the scent, trying to pick it up where it was strongest, most recent. As good as my nose was, it wasn’t easy with so many shifters in the room.

About ten minutes later, I ended up outside, wandering through the lot until I reached a car. That wasn’t surprising. What did confuse me was that there was no alpha in the car. There was nobody at all. And the scent was new enough that the person hadn’t driven away to have a new car take its place. If anything, it smelled like he was still there.

Shit.

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