At that, even the angriest of the pack fell silent. Michella had crossed a line. Travis swallowed, his need to fight thick in his gut. For once, he used the self-control he generally ignored.
“Okay, then.” Drusilla’s voice was steely. “We’ll take this to Lukas. But for now I really have to get her to the house. We need to see how badly she’s hurt, Shel.” Beside him, Drusilla turned and knelt down next to the injured omega. Travis didn’t dare turn his back. He heard the rustle of clothing and the beep of a cell phone being activated.
“Lukas, can you meet me at the house? We’ve got a situation. You’re there already? ’Kay… See you in a few.”
Michella snarled in fury. Dru stood, the omega cradled in her arms. Melody kept her face hidden, afraid to look at the angry shifters. Travis took a step away, then another, watching steadily, never meeting Michella’s gaze but never fully looking away. When he was several yards back, he turned to finally get a good look at his mother.
Blood dripped from her bare legs; gravel studded her arms and legs. She was covered with road rash, bruised, and shocky. He glared back at the gathered wolves and caught a hint of weakness in Michella’s face, a trace of guilt. The expression fled when she saw him looking.
The kitchen in the alpha’s home served as the unofficial meeting spot for pack business, but also for family issues. At the moment the fragrance of holiday cooking wafted through the air. A half dozen pumpkin pies cooled on the broad counter, and hundreds of cookies had been packaged into baskets. The spicy scent of warm cider filled the air, and a mug before him steamed, a stick of cinnamon jutting from its golden depths. Travis sat uneasily, his hands folded in front of him, anger simmering at the back of his skull. The kitchen might be the hub of warm and fuzzy for most of Dane’s kids, but for Travis it wasn’t so pleasant. He’d been lectured to, threatened, and turned over the alpha’s knee in this room. So no warm and fuzzy for him.
Michella was nearly as angry as he was, while Drusilla sat and ignored them both, scanning messages on her phone. A heavy step echoed on the stairs from the basement, and Lukas Blacque stepped into the kitchen.
Without looking at the small group gathered, Lukas crossed to the sink and poured a glass of water. A moment later Oliver Bleu glided into the room. He rested a hand on Lukas’s shoulder and gazed at him, then finally nodded and left the house.
So much said, and all unspoken.
Lukas turned and looked at them, taking occasional sips as he studied one after the other.
“She’s banged up, but she’ll be okay. She’s got a concussion, though. Travis, if you want, you guys can stay over tonight. She’s settled in and dozing. We’ll need to wake her every hour or so.”
“Okay.” Travis was aware of a knot in his chest. He should have been relieved, but instead he felt…smaller. His mother was a skilled healer, yet he had no clue how to help her when she needed it.
“Michella, tell me what happened.”
Travis went tight again, looking at his white knuckles. Lukas was following protocol, but damn it, that was his mother! Unbidden, a growl escaped. Blacque gave him a narrow look, and Travis locked down his anger.
“Melody was running with the others, a group of seven or eight. They crossed the highway, and she fell behind. She darted out into the road without looking and ran in front of a car. She tripped and shifted in full view of the driver.” To her credit, Michella was trying to be neutral. But then, Lukas had not only taken her down in a pack challenge last year; he’d also agreed to father her child. Michella might be pregnant and hormonal, but she wasn’t stupid. And she wasn’t bad or evil either. None of them were; they were wolves.
Lukas sat down, avoiding the chair Dane usually sat in. Absently he rubbed his head where his razor cut was growing out. Side by side, he and Drusilla looked about as different as two people could appear. Dru was elegant and cool. Her black hair cascaded down her back in a glossy tail. Her dark eyes were smoky and sharp, her lips red and lush. Next to her, Lukas was still wearing work clothes. The sleeves of his denim shirt were torn off, revealing massive, muscular arms. Tattoos wound up his dark skin. Though it was short, his hair was thick and black; his face was harsh yet handsome.
Different as they appeared, they were incredibly similar and favored their father, Dane. Though he shared their sire, Travis looked more like his mother. He lacked their height and Dane’s bulk. His hair was black but laced with dark streaks that looked blue in the sun. His eyes were blue with thick fringes of black lashes, and his skin was fair. In the summer, freckles peppered his straight, pert nose. Like Dane, his half siblings were larger than life. As for Travis? He was the son of an omega, and he looked the part. And he hated it. So he folded his hands tightly together and waited until Michella finished her story.
“So this group went for an unauthorized run, crossed out of pack territory, and left the city limits?” Blacque arched one dark brow, and Travis felt a glimmer of something. Hope? Justice, maybe? Across the table Michella fidgeted. “Shel, I’m confused. With all the shit that went down tonight, you choose to punish Melody? As long as I’ve known her, she’s never been a rule breaker. The rest of that group led, and she followed. You mind telling me how she came to be with them in the first place?”
“They never had time for her before, unless they planned to give her a hard time.”
Lukas glowered at Travis but continued on. “I know Nancy and Deb are your friends, but why would you choose to overlook their disobedience? By leading a run outside city limits without a dominant present, they put a lot of lives at risk, including Melody’s.”
“That isn’t the point right now, Blacque. She shifted in front of humans!”
“So we’ll be glad it happened late at night.” He folded his brawny arms and leaned back in the chair, gazing around the table. “Travis, how’d you get those black eyes and busted mouth?”
Travis bit his sore lip and glanced at Michella. His cheeks went hot in embarrassment, and he looked away, only to meet Drusilla’s gaze.
“Michella hit him.”
“Dammit, Dru!” He dropped his head in his hands, mortified.
Michella glared at them both. “I didn’t… He had those bruises before.”
“She slapped me, okay? But no, the black eyes…nothing to do with pack. So lay the fuck off.”
“Michella, you hit him?” Of course Lukas ignored his words. Energy began to build in the room, compelling Travis to speak, to tell the truth. He squirmed under his brother’s attention. Dane could lay the power on, but he wielded his mojo with a surgical skill Lukas hadn’t yet developed. This felt like heat and pressure all rolled into one big alpha smackdown. And of course, Travis broke.
“Lukas, it was no big deal.” He pushed back the chair, ready to bolt but not knowing where the hell to go. His mother was in one of the basement bedrooms and needed him. With an effort, Travis calmed, slowing his heart and breathing deeply. One by one he loosened his fingers from the fists he’d formed. “The black eyes are from a bar fight. I said something I shouldn’t have.”
“To a human?” That expressive black brow arched again, this time in humor.
“Yeah, well… He was big. And he had friends.”
Lukas snorted but let up on him. For a few long moments all Travis heard was the ticking of the old clock hanging over the doorway.
“Michella?” Another surge of energy and the beta gave in.
She sighed. “I popped my temper and took it out on him. And I’m sorry.”
“You’d have hit my mother if I hadn’t stopped you.” Travis glared up at her, glad to see a dark stain of shame spread over her face. “She’d already been hurt. Nancy and her nasty little bitch crew goaded her into a run she couldn’t keep up with. They led her out of town, and she almost died. Makes me wonder if they ever intended for her to come home!”
Michella gasped, fighting to control her temper.
“I know she’s the omega. She’s the bottom of the heap, but does she deserve
to be hurt and then beaten by the person who’s supposed to protect her?”
Lord. He’d gone too far this time. The beta’s energy filled the room, hot, prickly, and wild. His own rose in challenge. Michella’s chair scraped as she pushed back. Instinctively Travis sat up straight, ready to take the attack head-on. Instead Lukas stood and leaned forward over the table.
“Knock. It. Off. Both of you.” He glared at Travis, who sank back in his chair. “Michella, I know you feel like shit, but you’d damn well better get yourself under control. If you can’t, I’m sending you home to your wife, and you can stay there till Dane gets back.” He didn’t look away from her as he spoke. “Travis, tone down the mojo, and stop goading her.”
He let out his breath in disbelief. Mojo? Not likely. He was a pup compared to the assembled dominants surrounding him. He looked at Drusilla for support, but she only narrowed her eyes and shook her head. She took a deep breath and spoke.
“Shel, studies have shown that violence has a negative effect on the unborn.” The beta froze in her chair, her face draining of color. Drusilla was vice principal at the local high school and beginning a doctorate program in education. Michella might not like her, but she respected her. “I know you’re being driven by hormones, but you have a brain. Use it. That little baby can hear and sense whatever’s happening in your life. Get some control over yourself. If not for the sake of the pack, do it for the sake of your baby.”
She left out any reference to herself as the child’s aunt. Lukas tightened his jaw but remained quiet. The baby was of his body, but Michella had made it clear: the child belonged to her and her wife. Blacque might have been okay with that at the start, but he was clearly having a hard time with it now. In fact, his quiet temper was rising. Lukas stood, paced the room, and gazed out the window into the darkness. Was Oliver Bleu out there waiting?
Lukas gave the beta a few minutes to regain control before returning to the table. Travis had to wonder—did a mother’s mood really affect her baby? Did she feel the violence of her mother?
Lukas sat down again. “Melody’s taken enough punishment for tonight. Same with Travis. Sounds to me like she was taken advantage of and Travis was defending her. As he should. So—”
Michella started to speak, then stopped herself when Lukas shot her a dark look.
“So that’s enough with them. Tomorrow I want Nancy and anyone else who participated in the run to report here at dawn. We need extra hands in the orchard right now. We’ve got to clean up and prep for winter. After that, they’re on community service for the winter. There are several seniors around town who need help with chores. We’re doing gutters this week and wrapping pipes. Travis is coordinating work crews. They’ll report to him.”
He and Michella faced off, and she dropped her gaze first.
“No unsupervised runs. If they want to run, they go with the pack on Sundays or with an elder. No exceptions.”
“But…” She swallowed down her angry outburst. “Lukas, the driver of that car saw her shift!”
“It was late. The driver was probably heading into Arcada. If that’s the case, he’ll keep his mouth shut. Otherwise, the alpha will be home in a day or two. He can come up with a cover story. Whatever the case, we’ll manage it. Chances are the driver was so shocked at hitting a wolf in the road he didn’t notice the woman. If he did, hitting her probably scared him even more.”
“Until then, I’d say our biggest concern should be Melody.” Drusilla mirrored the look Blacque frequently wore. She cocked a brow, and sarcasm filled her voice. “I’d say her well-being takes priority over the off chance that we were outed to humans.”
Michella nodded curtly. She glanced at the steps leading to the downstairs rooms and then turned her back. She’d listened and heard but still rejected the wounded omega. Maybe she was ashamed. Maybe she felt disgust for someone weaker than she. Whatever it was, she walked out, and Travis sat there feeling the size of an ant.
“It wasn’t Mama’s fault,” he said.
“We know it wasn’t, Travis.” Lukas stared at him steadily, and emotion washed over Travis. Fear for his mother. Frustration with his inability to stand up for her. Shame for not being out there tonight. He’d come to the clearing on a hunch when he’d arrived home and Melody wasn’t waiting.
He pushed back his chair and turned away from his siblings. He headed down the stairs and found his mother’s room by scent. It was dark inside, and she slept fitfully.
God, he had to get away from here—away from his family, from the burden of protecting his sweet, vulnerable mother. In truth most of the grief she’d suffered had been caused by him. Melody Feris hadn’t been equipped to raise the son of an alpha. He’d been a tough kid, always in trouble, constantly searching for more.
He slipped inside the room and sat on the floor, his back to the wall. The dim light of an electric clock glowed in the darkness, ticking off the minutes until an hour had passed. He woke her gently, stroking silky hair from her forehead. Once she was asleep again, he stared at the clock and watched it tick away his life.
Also by Belinda McBride
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About the Author
Belinda is an award-winning, top selling author of romance in several genres, including paranormal, and science fiction/space opera, with the occasional foray into urban fantasy, westerns and whatever else hits her brain.
A graduate of the infamous CSU Chico, she managed to graduate from the notorious party school without once getting drunk, arrested or appearing in a “Girls Gone Wild” video. Her degree was in history and cultural anthropology.
Belinda lives in far Northern California with her family and a scurvy pack of Siberian Huskies and piratical Salukis, with a immortal Chihuahua named Squirt overseeing them all.
Her hobbies include travel, gemology and soap making. Her hobbies do not include cleaning the house, watching TV or following the wise teachings of Marie Kondo.
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Blacque/Bleu
Copyright © October 2019 by Belinda McBride
Second Edition
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Editor: Sandra Rychel
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Printed in the United States of America
Published by
Belinda McBride
Redding, CA
This e-book is a work of fiction. While reference might be made to actual historical events or existing locations, the names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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This e-book contains sexually explicit scenes and adult language and may be considered offensive to some readers. Please store your files wisely, where they cannot be accessed by under-aged readers.
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