***

Midnight sat, with a novel open in one hand and the sounds of a drama playing in the background, a finger hooked in the loop of her earring and her bottom lip caught between her teeth.

Just as she was about to turn the page, the door to the office was thrown open. It hit the door with a loud, startling bang. Her ears started to ring and the book fell out of her hand, battered spine first on the ground, its pages spread lewdly for all to see. The notes she had scribbled on the margins taunted her but alas she scrambled to pick it up again, clutching it to her chest like it was a dreadful secret.

"Alpha!" The booming voice that followed came to a stuttering halt and in an almost-whisper continued to say, "M-Midnight. What are you doing here?"

The picture of cool, calm and collected, she set the romance novel--with its frayed and taped cover page--on the desk and looked up at her newest visitor. She had thought that she would be able to live through the week in peace, feeding her guilty pleasures in the most isolated place she could think off. Yet who would have known that the moment she started getting to the juicy part she would be so rudely interrupted?

"Finally back from your hunt, Leo?" she asked with a lazy smile, her gaze sweeping past his dark curls to his stormy blue eyes and the tanned skinned that always creased when he frowned at her.

His anxious expression calmed but the urgency remained in his eyes. When he looked around the office, his gaze inevitably fell on the novel. He raised an eyebrow, silently questioning its contents, but she didn't budge.

"Where's the alpha?" He looked away and shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. He still had a duffle bag slung over his shoulder so he had probably just arrived at the pack.

Midnight found it curious that the first thing he did was to burst into the Alpha's long abandoned office.

"He's been gone for three months now," she answered, her gaze drifting to the subtitles on the laptop screen. She watched the two main leads pull each other into a passionate kiss and felt a trace of pleasure knowing that he was watching her watch it. "I think you're the only one who doesn't know. No one could reach you to tell you the news. You were out for half a year, looking for her."

Her. His mate. Or future mate, however it worked.

Midnight got annoyed anytime she saw Leo's face and she was especially annoyed now.

It wasn't because she didn't like him but because he believed in the love-at-first-sight-esque bond that would manifest the instant he set his eyes on the person he was meant to spend the rest of his life with... and she didn't.

Half of the pack believed it and half didn't. It was inevitable occurrence in this ragtag group Slade had rounded up from the depths of helplessness and led to prominence, and it was something she had long made peace with. What she didn't understand was why this particular situation frustrated her to no end.

Maybe it was because her gaze always drifted to him when they were in a room together, and she could never bring herself to speak harshly to him. Maybe that was why he was the only one who could take a six month break from his duties without facing any serious repercussions.

He made her show unnecessary favoritism and everyone in the pack but him was starting to notice it.

"Where did he go to?"

"Somewhere you can't follow," she answered curtly. "What's the matter?"

When his lips remained sealed, she added, "He's really unavailable. No one knows when he's coming back."

"It's not like him to just up and leave."

"Maybe he was feeling lonely." She shrugged. She knew where he was, what he was doing and how to contact him but she also knew better than to interfere in her Alpha's business. It was best if he was the one to contact her. "All I know is that I'm the one in charge now. If you have something to report, there's no one else to report to but me."

The fists he held at his side loosened. He sighed. "On my way back, I saw humans closing in on our territory. They didn't seem to be lost."

"Humans? This far up the mountains?" Midnight got to her feet, glad to finally have something to do. As entertaining as reading was, when it was the same book over and over again things started to get boring. "Shouldn't they be busy preparing for their holidays?"

"I think they're looking for something."

"Or someone." She picked her jacket from where it was hung on the back of her chair. "We should check it out."

"Just us?" He sounded nervous now. Was she that terrifying to be alone with?

"You're a scout, aren't you?"

"Yes, but. . ."

She paused the drama and closed the laptop screen. "We're not going there to fight, and even if we are I'm more than enough, aren't I?"

Leonardo gritted his teeth, his expression full of silent grievances. "I still think it would be better to have a full squad carry out the investigation."

"Ah, yes. You of all people know what's best for the pack." She pulled up the zipper of her jacket and slipped on a pair of gloves, not even trying to ease him into her sarcasm. "Our defenses are being reinforced and dens are being built. Most of our hunters are about to become fathers and this Christmas falls on a full moon. Who would be stupid enough to risk their lives at this point in the year? I fear that we are the only ones willing to go on this little trip."

"Just because you're the Beta--"

"Just because you lost to me doesn't mean that my orders aren't still orders," she flashed him a brilliant smile in return for his grim one, "is that clear?"

"Crystal," he spat out in the most respectful tone he could muster and held up a set of keys. "I'm driving."

She grinned and patted him on his shoulder. "Let's get going then, before it starts to snow again."

Leonardo shook his head. "No one would take you seriously if they knew what you did in your free time."

Our leader? Reading and watching, not for the intrigue but for the romance? The audacity!

Midnight had to stifle laugh. As much as that sounded like a threat, it was really far from being one. "Ah, but you forget," she leaned towards him to whisper, "in this entire pack Leonardo Chris is the only one who finds me lacking."

***