Finley's heart thudded against his ribcage as he led Esme away from the bar and along the path, heading towards the west side of the festival. Her hand in his sent a feeling flowing through him he'd never experienced. She was full-figured and lush and beautiful, and she just felt so utterly right. He'd found her. She was The One. He could not wait to see his brother's face when he caught sight of her. Finley was certain that alfie would respond in the same manner he had.
"Where are we going?" Esme asked, gazing around her in perplexity. "I haven't yet visited the women's quarters. Should I go look there?
"You won't have to," he vowed, a low growl forming in his throat as a subtle, almost imperceptible scent of something off—something like faint, buried silver—reached his senses. No other wolf was going to get his paws on her; she was his and alfie's. He'd known her for a whole sixty seconds, and he'd already decided.
He saw all the appreciative glances she was getting from the other men around, and gave a warning scowl to an Alpha who seemed way too interested in Esme, and the Alpha shrugged and backed off.
Then he turned back to Esme.
"Oh, and I'm gonna introduce you to my brother alfie. I think he's gonna like you," he said, grinning.
It took a few minutes to fight through the crowds. He led her to the ozen and gray club; it was his brother's favorite watering hole on the West side of the festival, and he knew alfie would show up there sooner or later.
"What are you having?" he asked as he pulled out a barstool for her to perch on.
"Now, there's a good question," she said. She read over the drinks that were listed on the sign above the wall, frowning at the names of the drinks in evident confusion. Wolf's Folly, Howl At The Moon, Mating Mayhem, Two Moon Hangover…the usual. She seemed totally perplexed, however.
So she wasn't much of a drinker, didn't go out to bars a lot, he surmised. That was okay. Everything about her was okay. He wanted to know all about her. Where she was from, what her family was like, what she did for a living, what she sounded like when she came…
He grinned to himself. He'd know that soon enough.
"I'll have a love bite," she said finally.
"Excellent choice. And I'll have a fangs for the memories," he said. He pulled a twenty and laid it on the bar. "Keep the change." She gave a curious glance at the bill, as if she'd never seen one before.
"So, tell me all about yourself," he said, leaning on the bar and looking into her eyes. They were a deep, chocolate brown with gold specks in them. Her hair was dark and thick and shiny and flowed in waves several inches down her shoulder. He couldn't wait to have his fingers knotted up in it.
The bartender set the drinks in front of them. They were in big plastic "claiming festival" mugs, and the handle was shaped like a wolf's tail. The mug had little ears on it, and a wolf's face on the front. "claiming festival 2014" was stamped into the plastic, along with a picture of a wolf howling.
She grabbed her drink and took a healthy swig. Excellent, a girl who liked her food and drink. He liked that about her.
He smiled at her, and she smiled back at him, and he felt as though he were floating on air.
Some of the drink lingered on her lips, and she licked it off, and he nearly passed out. Let me, he thought avidly.
Her body was driving him crazy. Those broad generous hips, that soft rounded belly, full breasts…He was growing hard as stone, and he forced himself to meet her eye.
"This is my first claiming festival, and I'm so nervous," she shared. "I'd much rather hear about you. Tell me all about yourself. Have you been to festivals before?"
He laughed at that. "Five, of course we have," he said. "Had a great time, but obviously hadn't found the right one yet, or we'd not still be here. My pack is the blood claws pack, incidentally. We live off the twin forks river. We're primarily in dairy cattle for business. Do you enjoy farms?"
Please, please let her say she loved farms. Don't let her be a city girl who hates getting dirty.
"My family has a farm. I love them," she said. "We have a herd of guernseys, and apple orchards."
He felt like the heavens had just opened and a chorus of angels had descended, to sing the hosanna choir. "We do too," he said exultantly. "Sweetest milk ever.".
"We'll have to go out to your farm, then," he said, and her eyes widened in surprise. Was he moving too quickly? Or was she one of those females who came here just to have a good time, not to be staked?
Well, he was pretty sure that even if she was, he could get her to change her mind.
"So you do actually work on your family farm?" he asked her.
"No, as a matter of fact, I do live on the farm, but I'm a professor at the college. I taught at the community college here in town until the big one tore it down and-" she paused, and took another long gulp of her drink, not looking at him.
"Sure can," he said sympathetically. "It devastated our farm, half of our herds stampeded and it took us forever to gather them, our home house was toppled and we've just finished rebuilding. Lost some close friends, including some of them who wandered over to the other side by accident and died when they came back. Is your town back to normal now? Where did you say it was again?"
"I see what you did there," she said with a laugh, and taking another big gulp. "We're talking about you, remember? So tell me about your brother."
"Oh, you'll love him. He's a good man," Finley said eagerly. Would she love him more? The thought brought a swift spear of jealousy to stab through him, a feeling he'd never known.
She'd finished her drink, and so had he. He ordered them another couple.
"Where did you go to college?" she asked.
"California college of agriculture. My brother and I always knew we'd be taking over the family business. You?" he asked.
"You're doing it again.".
"I understand. You're an enigmatic woman. Okay, I'm going to lay my cards on the table. What did you expect to happen at your first alpha claiming festival? Were you hoping to meet someone?"
"Uh…wow. Good question. Give me a moment to think."
"Take your time. I've got forever." He grinned down at her, watching her blush.
She looked down into her drink, as if considering what she was going to say. "Well, I…I didn't know what to expect. I thought I'd just stay behind and observe, actually. It's all so confusing, and…I don't know…with all these beautiful girls around, how do you pick the right one?"
"I'm only looking at one girl right now," he said, staring down at her, and her faint blush turned into full on flames.
Oh, God. She was incredibly hot and had no idea how hot she was. He was going to have the best time showing her…
It's a feeling that just hits you," he said. "There are definitely plenty of gorgeous women here, no question about it, but since the festival's concept is for an alpha pair to find their forever mate, you're always looking for the one that provides you with a feeling you've never experienced before.".
"Of course," she whispered. He wished he could say it was her, but she was obviously shy and afraid. He did not want to frighten her off and have her flee.
"So why do you think that some human women do not want to do the forever mate thing?" she asked.
Well, it's a pretty political position, it's very public, it's a lot of work. Not everyone wants that responsibility. Or the woman may not be technically claimed, but she may be interested in someone back home, or she may not even want to be in a pack. Many human women don't. Which is fine, of course. Humans need us, we need humans. It's all good.
"Sure. That all adds up." She was yelling to be heard above the din of conversation and the pounding of music through the speakers. Her eyes were wide and she was scanning the crowd, looking almost fearful. His protective instincts kicked in.
You wanna get outta here?" he said. "I'd like to invite you to come and meet my brother alfie, and return to our cabin for a drink." Yep, he was that sure she was The One. All the stories were right – when you saw the right one you just knew, right there and then.
"Oh! Well, I…" Esme's mind stumbled. I did not come here to fall in love. I came to survive. And he's too good at making me want both. This wild, instant attraction was exhilarating and terrifying. Was it real, or some kind of magic, some trick of the festival?
"There he is! Stay right here. Don't move. Seriously. I'll be right back." Finley dashed through the crowd. Alfie was standing outside the bar, with his arm around the waist of the blonde woman who'd accosted Finley earlier. She was already half drunk.
"There you are! Now we can all have a really good time. I just can't wait to show you two some new tricks." Lianne winked at Finley, then narrowed her eyes as she spotted Esme. "Who's she? Bringing home strays now, finley?" Her voice had a venom to it that caused Esme to recoil.
"Wait a minute. Not both of us." Alfie disentangled himself from Lianne and moved away. "I've already told you, I'm just out to have fun, and I'm going to be seeing a lot of women this week. I couldn't have made it clearer, Lianne. If you're expecting more than that, you'll have to look elsewhere."
Lianne pouted. "But you've already said you wanted me! You can't just go off and leave me!" She flung her arms around alfie's waist and began kissing his neck. He winced, and tried to shrug her off him.
"Finley?" Esme's questioning voice had him turning around, alarm stabbing through him.
She glanced over at alfie, and his eyes widened in astonishment. Finley grinned to himself. He was close enough to his twin that he recognized alfie was going through the exact same thing as him. It had hit him like a bolt of lightning.
Alfie pulled Lianne's arms off him, none too gently, and stepped away from her. "I said no, Lianne. Goodbye," he said roughly, and then quickly turned back to Esme and pasted on his most charming smile.
"Hello," he said, in that rough, sexy voice that always knocked girls over like bowling pins. "I'm alfie. So glad to meet you."
Apparently, Esme was not your ordinary bowling pin. She was not going to get knocked down.
She took a step back. "I really ought to be going, but it was nice meeting both of you," she said, then turned and vanished into the crowd.
Finley turned on alfie. "Well, well. Hell finally froze over, I see. Some hot little number knocked you off a peg or two. Now we have to go get her and talk her into coming back, 'cause she's the one, and I'll be goddamned if another wolf gets his paws on her-
Alfie's eyes widened in alarm at that, he let out a snarl of anger, and he immediately began pushing his way through the crowd in the way she'd gone, with Finley right behind him.