In dreams, he got to have his mate. He didn’t have to see the scorn in Ben’s eyes or hear the disgust in his voice when he spoke to Dave. Why fate had seen fit to give him a mate who hated him Dave didn’t know. Life would be so much easier if Ben’s mate had been that fucker Steve, the full-human he was always around.
Then maybe Dave could have found someone of his own and these migraines would never have been.
Dave lifted away the sheet and stepped out of bed. It was time to face the day, damn it. Rick was coming back from his trip to Halle, and Dave had to be there to greet his Alpha. The headache was building again, slowly ramping up. He could feel it beating behind his eyes in time to his heartbeat. Soon the nausea would rise, and Dave would be useless. He just hoped Rick arrived sooner rather than later.
Dave just wanted to go back to painless dreaming.
He showered and dressed in the dim light of his cabin. When he came out, a text message waited for him on his cell. The Alpha would arrive in the next thirty minutes, and he wanted Dave’s ass on the front porch of the Red Wolf Lodge, ready to report on the last week. Dave threw on his light jacket and dark sunglasses and headed for the main lodge. He hid his wince when he saw who waited for him. Ben, the Pack’s Marshall, stood with his arms crossed, glaring at Dave. Chela, the Pack Omega, winced in sympathy.
It was nice to know one of them was on his side. “Morning, Chela. Ben.”
“I don’t believe you.”
Dave wasn’t surprised by the barely veiled contempt on Ben’s face, a sight he had become all too familiar with when they were alone. He sighed, resisting the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. But that would move his sunglasses, and he just couldn’t handle the pain that would hit him if he did. It was a cloudless spring day, the sun bright and shiny and full of stabbing daggers dying to bury themselves in his eyes.
Ben rolled his eyes. “Headache again?”
“Yeah.” Dave hoped, just once, that the man who was meant to be his mate would be sympathetic.
“Hmm.” Ben’s lips pinched together in disapproval. He turned away, staring at the driveway. “Rick and Belle should be arriving any moment now.”
“Any itchiness, Marshall?” Dave folded his arms, ignoring the stabbing pain of the early spring light. If his Alpha didn’t arrive soon Dave was going to be in no shape to brief him. Ben’s attitude wasn’t helping, either. The coolness between them had returned quickly after Belle had arrived and settled in, much to Dave’s dismay. More than once he’d tried to get the other man to open up about why he was always so distant. Not once had Ben deigned to answer him.
He had to face it. His mate hated him, and he had no idea why. Not even Chela, the Omega, could figure out the source of the contempt Ben showered on him. All she could say was it was very personal. Just because you could feel someone’s emotions didn’t mean you understood why they felt them.
“Nope. They’re safe.”
“That’s good.” Dave sniffed. Damn, he couldn’t wait to get out of here. He had two weeks’ vacation coming up, and damn if he wasn’t looking forward to a little down time. He had all his plans in place. Fuck Ben Malone. Dave was going to enjoy himself if it killed him. And he knew just the person to help him too.
But he just had to try one last time to get through to Ben. If he could get the man to talk to him, maybe he could find out why Ben avoided him like the plague. “The fall crowd is pretty tame this year.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Spring looks to be busy, though. The lodge is full through June.”
“Mm-hmm.”
Dave sighed. The man plain refused to talk to him. Enough was enough. Ben had been avoiding him ever since Rick and Belle left for Halle to visit Belle’s doctor. Dave, as acting Alpha, needed to coordinate with the Marshall, Marshall’s Second and Omega. That meant that Ben’s avoidance could be construed as a challenge. Dave chose not to see it that way at first, but now he wasn’t so sure. Rick and Belle had been gone for a week and Ben had been less than cooperative. “Ben.”
“Hmm?”
“Until Ted gets here with Rick and Belle I’m still acting Alpha.” Ted, the Marshall’s Second and Ben’s right hand man, had gone with Rick and Belle in Ben’s stead. For some obscure reason Ben had requested to stay behind with the Pack and Rick had agreed. “You need to respect that.”
Ben frowned. “Why the hell should I? You don’t.”
Dave blinked at the low growl in Ben’s voice. “Excuse me?”
“Why the hell do you think I stayed behind?” Ben sighed. “Look, I don’t know what the fuck Rick was thinking appointing you Beta, but we both know it was a huge mistake.”
Mistake? He could feel his power shifting inside him, his wolf unhappy at his mate’s words, the innate Alpha within him stirring at the blatant challenge. Betas, like Alphas and Marshalls and the rest of the hierarchy of the pack, weren’t picked, they were born that way. Ben of all people had to know that. “Explain yourself.”
Ben winced. “Can we talk about this later? Rick and Belle will be here any minute now.”
Ben had been saying that for years. Some form of Can we talk about it later? had passed his lips ever since Dave had turned seventeen and let it be known he was ready to mate him. Well, Dave was twenty-four now and damn sick and tired of Ben wanting to wait. He let some of the power that was his seep from him, demanding an answer from the Marshall. “No. We’ll discuss this now.”
Ben looked startled before his head bowed down in deference to the display Dave was using. If he knew exactly how strong Dave was he would probably be shocked. Most Betas didn’t have the strength that was an Alpha’s, and there was only one reason Dave wasn’t an Alpha. The fucking headaches made it impossible for him to be effective leading a Pack for more than short stints. Being Beta to Rick was the perfect solution, and one his wolf was more than happy with.
But if Ben didn’t knock off challenging him, he wouldn’t be able to hold back. The wolf would force Benjamin Malone to bow down and offer his neck to Dave whether the human wanted it or not.
“You’re a fucking drunk. How can Rick trust the Pack to you?”
Dave reeled. What the fuck? “I am not.”
Ben sneered at him. “You’re hung over right now.”
What? Where the hell was this coming from? “No, I’m not!”
“Oh hell, Dave, you’ve been drunk off and on since you were fifteen.”
Dave’s eyes widened behind his sunglasses. That’s when the headaches had started, when he’d known he’d never be a real Alpha. He shook his head, trying to dispute the accusation rising in Ben’s eyes.
“You think I don’t know all about it? I’m the goddamn Marshall. I can fucking feel it, pounding in my brain. You think you can hide that from me, of all people? You, asshole, have the mother of all hangovers. I’m surprised you’re not heaving in a toilet right now.”
Dave felt the nausea ratchet up, the bile tickling the back of his throat. Ben really did hate him. He hadn’t even bothered to ask Dave about the headaches before, just assumed he knew why Dave suffered from them.
Dave rarely drank. The last time Dave had gotten hammered had been at the party celebrating the mating of his Alpha and Luna, Rick and Belinda Lowell, and that had been over a year ago. The only reason he’d allowed it that night was because Ben had once again been avoiding him. He’d drunk nothing but soda at the Halloween party, and he was still avoiding red wine like the plague. A mojito or a beer once in a while did not make a man a drunk.
And thanks to their newfound alliance with the Halle Pumas, the source of Dave’s headaches was finally being narrowed down. Their doctor, Jamie Howard, was delighted to be able to work with other shifters. Dave had been seeing him for about six months, at first under Rick’s orders but now on his own.