Her Gamma Valentine

“Good morning, Bren!” said a familiar voice from behind him.

“Hey Jack, how’s everything so far?” Bren greeted back. He just finished his early morning tea at the poolside bar and was now walking back to the packhouse as per his daily habit.

“You know, same old, same old. How are you doing with the part-time bartender gig? Do you like it? I can still move you to the kitchen since I’m the head chef after all. I’ll take you in, no problem.”

“Nah, thank you. I’m really happy where I am. Besides, I can work on my special mixes while I’m there at the pool’s bar,” the former rouge agent casually admitted. “And the Gamma really needs me to assist him right now.”

“OK, suit yourself,” sighed the kitchen chef and leader cook in defeat. “Just saying, in case you change your mind later.”

“I don’t think I will ever, but thanks anyway, dude.” Bren said with a chuckle, as he walked away and then entered the main entrance of the packhouse.

He went directly to where the mail cubbies were. It’s part of Brenner’s morning ritual to check his friend’s - who’s now his boss - snail mail before going up to the executive office of the pack house.

The part-time bartender smiled as he viewed a large Manila envelope with the name Ma’Heron Denar, inside the cubby, knowing that it was something his new employer would be so pleased to see. As he pulled it out, a smaller package, the size of a legal-sized envelope got dragged out as well.

“Oh, what is this? That’s weird. Why would this legal-sized envelope be here?” he asked himself in a low voice. “It’s addressed to the Alpha, but it’s in the Gamma’s mail slot? Odd, indeed…”

About five minutes later, the tall, slim but athletic man entered the Alpha’s office with the packages in hand. The larger one contained plane tickets, passports, and reservation details, which he gave Ma’Heron - aka M - who was in the middle of an animated discussion with his Alpha, Vincent Riegel, and the pack’s Beta, Aaron Keizer.

The three men inside the room, each of them muscular, wide-shouldered, tall, and good-looking in their own ways, all looked at Bren as he rattled off his report to his immediate superior, “Gamma, finally got everything in order for you and your wife’s special wedding anniversary.”

Ma’Heron’s small smile, one of the very few proofs outside of his marriage that he is still capable of feeling, was evident upon hearing the word “wife”. This was not lost to V and Aaron, who were hiding mischievous smiles of their own at the sight of their Gamma M’s reaction to his upcoming wedding celebration.

Well, technically it’s not really a wedding that they’re celebrating…

“Dude, you marked each other, not married each other,” joked Aaron, who was now sporting a thin beard matching V’s thicker but clean-cut facial hair in an effort to look more mature. “You never even proposed to her, right?”