Page 135 of The Beta's Heart

Then, the week after Christmas, Charlie Nelson and Misha Popov had tied the knot. Misha formally adopted Sawyer, Dawson, and Honor, and they’d all moved into his house since it was more spacious, leaving the O empty.

And I pray it stays that way,I murmured to myself, even though I’d had mixed feelings about seeing the front door close for the final time. I had a lot of good memories from my years in that house…

“Ty?” My mate’s soft voice in my ear brought me out of my thoughts and back to the present, and I glanced down at her with a raised eyebrow and a quiet hum. “We’re getting ready to land.”

“Already?” With a tiny smile, I pecked her forehead. “Thanks, Sunshine.”

Like our own alphas and many others in the kingdom, Alpha Alphonse Riggans had discovered that owning a small propeller plane could make a huge difference to a pack, so he’d bought a field bordering his territory and installed a runway and small operations center with an attached garage and called it Blue Rock’s private airport.

Our plane landed smoothly on the relatively new tarmac, and Jason Guthrie, our pilot, let us know when it was time to disembark.

“Now, Jason, you’re free to do whatever you want. Alpha Riggans has a car for your use, so take it and do whatever you want until it’s time to leave,” Ash told him as they shook hands. “You got the pack credit card, right?”

“Yes, alpha, but I don’t imagine I’ll be spending much.”

“As much or as little as you want, but it’s all on our dime. Hell, make it a little vacation for yourself! But don’t let me find out later that you paid for so much as a stick of gum, you hear me?”

“Yes, alpha.”

“And don’t get eaten by any gators, either.”

“Yes, alpha.”

Giggling at Mr. Guthrie’s wide-eyed nodding and Ash’s unusual seriousness about something so silly, Peri led the way down the steps and I followed, stepping out into the sweltering heat. The air wrapped around us like a suffocating blanket, thick and humid. I was already wiping sweat from my brow, and I wondered why in the world anyone would choose to live where you needed gills to breathe!

“This ain’t right,” Peri muttered. “It’s freaking January, not August!”

Grinning at her, I linked our fingers together and walked her to where two men waited for us near the operations building. When we reached them, I drew her a little behind me. Even knowing one was Ray Hawkins and the other Alpha Alphonse Riggans, I wasn’t going to ever take the slightest risk with my precious mate.

Ash greeted them first, as was proper protocol when one alpha visited another’s territory, and I studied the strangers as he shook their hands and shared our names.

Alpha Riggans, who I knew was in his mid-twenties, wore his dark brown hair in long dreads and had a square diamond earring in either ear. Tattoos covered the caramel skin of his arms, and his smile was easy, his voice calm, and his posture relaxed—a vibe that perfectly matched Ash’s.

As for Mr. Hawkins, he was a broad-shouldered man with a shock of straight brown hair going gray, greenish-brown eyes, and far more facial hair than most shifters could manage to grow. His beard was liberally sprinkled with gray and, combined with his longish hair, gave him a bit of a wild look. I knew he was forty-one, the same age my dad would be if he were alive, and while not as visibly relaxed as his alpha, he definitely didn’t look as tense and anxious as I felt.

As Alpha Riggans volunteered to be Mr. Guthrie’s guide to the area for the rest of the day, Mr. Hawkins studied my face, then a small smile flickered across his lips.

“You look like your dad,” he murmured. “You have your mom’s mouth, but that nose and golden hair and those blue eyes are all Beta Hunter.”

“Do you have any photos of him, Mr. Hawkins?” Peri asked, tugging on my shirt sleeve and reminding me that I was still hiding her behind me. “Ty doesn’t even know what he looks like.”

“I sure do. I went through all my albums and pulled out some and had copies made for you and Alpha Ash to keep.” To Mr. Hawkins’ credit, he didn’t seem bothered by the fact that I wasn’t moving. “And call me Ray.”

“Thank you, Ray.” I took a small step to the side, still mostly in front of her, but he could at least see her face now. “This is my mate, Peri.”

He wisely didn’t try to shake her hand, for which I was thankful. I was too wound up with excitement and nerves to be on my best behavior and, as usual, River was feeding off my emotions. It wouldn’t take much to push him into a tantrum. Fortunately, Dove was singing to him and telling him little stories, which was distracting him for now, and I sent her a wave of love and gratitude through our bond.

“I’m honored to meet you, Peri,” Ray said in a soft voice, as if he could sense that I was on a hair-trigger.

“Same. I’m excited to get to know you!”

As soon as Ash extracted himself from Alpha Riggans, we grabbed our luggage and packed it into the back of Ray’s SUV, then waved as Mr. Guthrie drove off with Alpha Riggans, the two of them getting along like a house on fire.

“I hope your pilot knows what he’s in for,” Ray snickered. “Alpha will make sure his tour ends at his favorite shifter bar, where they’ll smoke cigars and drink Coke until they pass out.”

“So long as he’s sober enough to fly us home when we’re ready, he’s welcome to have the time of his life,” Ash said with a wide grin and shrug.

Ray drove us to a rather fancy white house with black trim that sat on a swath of flat green grass and was flanked by live oak trees dripping with silvery strands of Spanish moss.

---