An Alpha's Charge
Chapter 2

Mourning

A few hours later, somebody sent word that Alpha Borson had passed away and is with his loving mate and cubs in heaven with Selene, the moon goddess. Alex had called Lilly to tell her that her brother-in-law had just passed away and told her of the new Alpha in charge.

He also requested that she be here to take care of his medical records, as their doctor was distraught at his alpha passing. Everest also announced that a pyre would happen, and a celebration of life would take place, and if anyone would like to come and pay their respects to his pack, they were welcome to do so. When Lily received the phone call, she fell to her knees and wept. She could not believe her family was walloped and told Alex she would be there for a few hours.

When Lily arrived just outside the pack, she could smell the most amazing smell of pine and Christmas, and her bear, Tiger, was dancing in her head and wanted to see where that smell was from. Lily could not believe that she would replace her mate; she could not have come at a worse time; Lily was not ready for a mate. At least she did not think she wanted one.

Everest stood on the stoup of the house waiting to greet the guests arriving when he took in a whiff of a peculiar smell of Tigerlily and wintergreen. It was a delicious smell, and he wanted to hunt it down. When Lily and her gamma stepped out of the car they were driving, his bear came forward, watching to see which one was his mate. When Lily and Everest locked eyes, both said ‘mate’ simultaneously.

He walked to her, pulling her into his arms and inhaling her scent as she took in his scent of Pine and Christmas. When he broke away from her, Decker, her gamma, walked up to Everest, offering condolences, then walked around both alphas.′

Everest’s beta showed them to their rooms along with others from different packs who had come to pay their respects to their allied partner.

They were all nervous about the alliance if they were still in good standing, but Everest had taken care of all the paperwork for the partnership and set it out on his brother’s desk. This was something that Everest would talk about after the pyre (this is where the deceased is laid on branches and leaves off the ground and set fire, sending their souls back to the moon goddess for rebirth).

They waited for a few days for others who were coming for the pyre funeral had arrived safely. Lily set the plans for the celebration of life for two days after the last pack arrived. Pack members with the help of visitors the next day the funeral is set for one p.m. in the afternoon. Everyone had come to the funeral and watched as they laid Borson on top, then covered his body with twigs and put leaves and flowers around it.

After Borson’s body was burned, Everest placed the ashes in an open box so his new pack members could take them and spread them around the woods. When the celebration of life was over, they lit a bonfire. And everyone sat around eating and drinking while listening to Everest and his sister tell stories of their childhood and how much they would get into trouble. Their parents would chime in a few times, along with the pack members and visitors telling their stories of Borson and his wife. Everest and his sister realized how much his brother and sister-in-law were loved. They all agreed that having Everest as the Alpha was the best choice and asked if his sister could lead and train the warriors.

Everest had no problems making her a lead trainer and warrior as he knew her skills. She did replace her second chance mate from another pack; he was a gamma but decided to stay in this pack with her. Everest also made him a gamma of his crew, so he now had two gammas,′ and they were all too happy to share the responsibilities. Everest’s sister and her new mate were not hurrying to complete the mating bond as they wanted to get to know each other for now. Once they were comfortable, they would then achieve the bond. He knew it was too soon for her since she had just lost her first mate.

Over the next few days, Lily worked on getting the death certificate typed up and ready to give to the family and sent to the council, as they keep records of every pack member. Everest met with the other packs letting them know that they would remain as allies, but they needed to resign the papers as they had to have his signature on them, and they were all good with that. The packs that were there to pay their respects left the day after they resigned from the treaties. The Alpha that could not attend electronically signed and sent them back. While Alex was still there, he had inducted some new mates into the pack along with Everest.

When everything was done and cleaned up, Everest and Lily could finally sit down and talk to and get to know each other; even though the mate bond was pulling them closer and closer, Alex had a feeling that he should not leave just yet, just in case he needed to induct Lily into the pack and as Luna. Lily explained that she was a doctor, but the Alpha of her pack only consisted of 50 bear shifters, and she only lived about an hour away from Everest. She worked in the human town that sat between both of their packs. She had a doctor in her pack who was an older gentleman shifter. He was an old soul who thought women should be at home and care for the family.

Everest laughed as she told him her story. He told her that is not how it is in this pack, and he was OK with bringing them here and merging groups. She was his equal and would remain as alpha/Luna/pack doctor in this pack. She could have an assistant to help her with her duties at the hospital. She would not have it any other way if she oversaw the hospital and oversaw surgeries and emergencies. He also told her they are trained forest firefighters and would expect her to help with that and train in fighting. She understood as she did this back in her pack.

“Go out on a date with me tonight, darling.” Everest requested Lily.

“I would love that very much, Everest; what should I wear?”

“Something warm as it gets chilly at night. I am going to take you to my favorite spot.”

She hugged him as they departed, heading up to her room. She ran a hot soothing bath putting some essential oils in the tub. She got into the hot water, sinking in the water, letting the heat relax the muscles in her body. She felt relieved and let her mind drift away for a while. She had a long and hard couple of months from all the deaths in her family and the surgeries she had to undergo at the human hospital.

She was so busy with work, running her pack, and being in high demand that she did not have time to think for herself or take time and relax as she should. Being here with Everest was so easy and relaxing. She had plenty of time to prepare for her date and decided to nap for a few hours after soaking in the tub.

When she woke up from her nap, she felt amazingly refreshed, and she had not slept very well for the past few years as there was always something that had to be done, some emergency at the hospital, had to travel around the world at somebody’s disposal for her expertise.

She got ready and put on some warm flannel-lined leggings, a thick sweater that was red and white, and put on her fur-lined boots. She put curls in her hair and let it flow down her back, giving her added warmth; she put a hat on the same color as her sweater and wore a red scarf. When she went downstairs, she met Everest in the living room, and he was wearing a white sweater with a red cap, a red scarf, and black jeans that hugged his legs and butt.

They took each other in and then realized that they were wearing similar kinds of sweaters with the same colors, and they started laughing. Lily knew they were meant to be together at that moment and would be a force to be reckoned with. Both being alphas, they would be stronger together, and he would never let her relinquish her alpha title to be a Luna, nor would he make her quit being a doctor. She was strong-willed, which he loved the most about her.

“Well, it looks like we got each other’s memo on what to wear, huh?” Lily claimed cheekily.

“Yes, darling, I did get that memo; let us go. We will drive for a bit, then walk the rest of the way to where we are going. I have everything packed in the truck.”

They drove for about fifteen minutes to their parking spot. Then he helped her out of the truck, grabbed the picnic basket in one hand, and took hold of her hand, leading her to the spot he had set up. When they arrived, she was in awe of the picnic sight. Everest set up fairy lights through the trees and had a blanket and pillows with plates, napkins, and silverware, along with two bottles of chilled wine to drink.

“Wow, Everest, this is beautiful; when did you do all this?”

“This afternoon, after you went to your room, I did have help with the lights, however. I do not do well with hanging lights.” He chuckled.

“Nonetheless, I am flattered, and thank you for going to all this trouble for our first date.”

He helped her sit down after putting the basket down and then sat beside her. He opened the basket, and the food smelled beautiful; it was hot and fresh. He made steak, shrimp, and salad for their dinner; for dessert, he had brought a cheesecake, a Godiva chocolate cheesecake the cooks had made. Moonflowers were glowing under the moonlight, with a light wintery breeze blowing around and the waves slapping on the banks from the sea they were sitting nearby. It was peaceful, and she was in love with the date.

They made small talk and ate their dinner and dessert. By the time they finished, she was sitting in his lap, cuddled around his chest, listening to the night sounds. He pulled a blanket around them for extra warmth as he could feel her shivering from the cold. He did not want this night to end but knew she had to return to the house.

“What is your full name Lily?”

“Mom named me CeCe Tigerlily Camilo. Mom was pregnant with me, and Dad had CeCe already picked out, but she was planting some more Tigerlilys in her garden when her water broke. She yelled out Tigerlily when she meant to yell for my father, who was around the corner planting some vegetables in the park. So that is how I got my middle name, Tigerlily; they are her favorites.”

“I love it, we have a huge garden that we use for our pack, and what is left over we sell to the humans at the farmer’s market, and of course, we keep replanting the vegetables. We also have a huge flower garden and sell those to humans too. We have other businesses that help our pack thrive when we cannot plant. We do have a butcher in town who supplies us with good meat, and we also hunt on our lands and take them to the butcher to have steaks, burgers, roast, jerky, and sausages made, and we take what we need for the pack house then the rest goes to the homes, so our pack families have plenty of food to eat.”

“We have my income as a physician and invested in the hospital where I work. I have other businesses, but my beta and gamma work with those and keep them running. We all have jobs in our pack and work as a unit like yours. What are we going to do about our packs?”

“I have been thinking about that; we can merge them and make a bigger pack. I have the land to expand on, which will also help if attacked by rogues; we will have the numbers. I have Two-thousand members, and on eight-thousand land, how many members do you have?”

“I have fifty members, and I will have to go back and let them know and take a vote on what they want to do. Everest, I have an exceedingly small pack that we declined over the years due to attacks. I have at least twenty un-mated pack members, and there is a good chance they could replace their mates here if we merge; it would save some rooms.”

“I want to complete our mating before you go, but we can wait if you are not ready for that. I want you so badly, and I can tell you how badly you want me to. We could stay out here all night or return to the pack house, your call.”

“I want to stay here under the stars and moon in your arms.”

“I will pull out more blankets and cover us.”

They relished the night in each other’s arms, enjoying the sounds of the animals and watching the stars go by as the world turned. They fell asleep and did not wake till the sun started rising over the mountains. He built a fire and cooked them breakfast, smiling to himself, thinking he had made a good call, and brought some breakfast food to eat in the morning, just in case they decided to fall asleep under the stars.

“Breakfast? Did you plan this all out to Everest?” Lily asked with a Cheshire grin.

“Yes, I did…well, kinda hoped we would do this, but I did not want to take you back hungry if we stay out all night.” He shrugged.

She hugged him as he tensed up but soon relaxed under her touch. He turned slightly and hugged her sideways, kissing her on top of her head, then her cheek moving to her lips. They groaned until he pulled away, kissing her neck where his mark would go. She kissed and sucked on his neck where her mark would go, but they pulled away with a little whimper as he returned and attended their breakfast. Once they finished, they packed up their items and headed back to where the truck was and back to the house.

As they arrived at the pack house, a couple of kitchen staff came out and unloaded the vehicle for Everest as he started to do it himself. They swished him away and told him to spend time with his mate for the rest of the morning. He led her to their rooms and told her to meet him downstairs to train with him and his pack. She showered, changed her clothes, and met him outside his room. He came out, grabbed her hand, and walked to the training field, where they met up with the others to train.

“Everyone listen up; I want to let you all know that I have found my mate; her name is CeCe Tigerlily Camilo. She goes by Lily, but I will leave it up to her how she wants to be addressed by all of you.”

The pack welcomed her with open arms. She had not had the time to do much training but did keep her body toned by working out in the weight room in her pack and training with her beta and gamma. When she finished, she headed back to the house with Everest and told him that she wanted to complete the mating process but also reminded him that she would have to talk to her pack.