I was nervous, and it was showing. An alpha show never shows strong emotions; according to my father, 'we should be the calm in the storm for our pack' and while I agree that in times of a storm, a calm leader is essential, my pack is not in a storm so wouldn't it be okay for them to know that I am a real person with real emotions. I picked a pack restaurant for our date. I may seem paranoid, but knowing that my mate was surrounded by the pack that would soon love and protect her was comforting if anything dangerous happened. She decided to drive herself. She wanted an escape in case the date went wrong, but we were mates. We were made for each other, so tonight would go well. 

My phone rang while I sat in the restaurant waiting. McCoy is texting about reaching out to Andrew's family. It is tradition that when a pack member dies, they are visited by the Beta and given a grievance care package that supplements the income of the fallen member until it is no longer needed. For instance, if it is a parent that dies, we would supplement the income for the family until the young ones are out into the world and no longer dependent on the single caregiver. But this is different. It was the son that passed, and both of his parents outlived him. 

McCoy doesn't think he should be the one that reaches out since he killed Andrew, and he is asking if covering the funeral cost would be a sufficient care package. My text is short and straightforward. That is good, and I'll reach out. I feel guilty for a moment for leaving McCoy in charge of the pack for the night since he became Beta yesterday, but it certainly sends a message of trust. I didn't really leave him with much to do. He is simply the go-to if there isn't a problem, which there shouldn't be. he was planning on packing up Andrews's office and moving his stuff into his room and office tonight. Nothing should go wrong, and he was going to be there anyway. Max and Darrel are also there in an emergency, so everything should be fine. My phone chimes again. 

This time, it is Roe. She sends an emoji of a tongue sticking out and follows it up with a Don't stress, I can feel it from across town. I'm heading over to watch over it and McCoy, so don't worry. I have never had a witch as a friend, but, weirdly, she can read my mind, although this is probably intuition on her side. I smiled to myself before responding. 

'Thank you,' knowing she was not going over there for me, but to see McCoy, he probably won't get much unpacking done now. The door opens while I am hitting send, and the wonderful scent of my mate hits my nose. Her scent is hard to describe. She has the typical human scent of a field of grass, which is at least what I think it smells like, but under that, her personal scent is the smell of river water. A smile breaks out on my face as I look at her. She is slim and tall. Her skin looked so soft I wanted to run my hands all over her, but I restrained myself. Her brown eyes light up when she sees me. 

"I hope that smile is for me," she says. Her voice is like music, light and soft. 

"Always love," she giggled and sat across from me. 

"Who are you texting?" she nodded to the phone I forgot was in my hand 

"Oh, Roe was telling me not to be nervous and that she was going to see McCoy tonight," I informed her while putting my phone in my pocket

"She is really invested in our date. She was talking to me about it earlier." 

"What was she saying." 

"Oh," she blushed, "just saying things." I nodded, knowing that Roe can be pretty crass at times, so it was probably about sex.

"I see" she wouldn't meet my eyes. 

"you and she didn't..." she let that sentence hang. Sweet moon goddess, my mate was jealous of Roe.

"no, we never. We are just friends. Besides, she is with McCoy," I explained quickly. I didn't want my mate to be worried about that. She should never worry about me being faithful to her. 

"right, her old dog." I was sipping water when she said that, and I nearly spit it out. 

"what" I questioned. She called McCoy an old dog. She didn't know what we were, and Roe wouldn't have told her, would she? 

"Oh, it was something Roe said," Esme explained. "She told me you two were also friends and didn't have time for you anyway because she is too busy teaching her old dog new tricks." 

"let's talk about something besides Roe and McCoy," I suggested 

"what do you want to talk about," she asked, and I had one subject in mind 

"you"