by Aiden Bates
He laid a gentle hand on his mate's shoulder. "Safe as houses,” he promised. "I would never do anything to put you or the baby in danger. I promise."
Darren looked up at his face for a long moment, and then he nodded, and stepped into the canoe. It rocked beneath his weight, but settled quickly after Blake had stepped in. Blake took up the paddle and began steering them out toward deeper water.
For a long minute, Darren looked terrified, eyes wide as he took in the expanse of the lake before them, the way the canoe rocked on the little waves, but then he seemed to relax, and he sat in the bow, looking out ahead of them with excitement in the stretch of his spine. Blake watched him with a smile. It was good to see him so happy. He wanted to show Darren everything there was to see in Silver Bay, every stretch of shoreline, all the secret places where he had spent his childhood. This was a good place to raise children. A good place to have a family. It was a place where Darren could grow. And not so far away, there was the national forest. On full moon nights, though they no longer were tied to its cycles, Darren's pack held a revel in the woods, running wild together in their wolf forms until dawn came to send them back to their beds. Blake couldn't wait to take Darren.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Epilogue
Chapter One
Blake was not particularly looking forward to calling his parents. Twenty eight years old, and you'd think he was past the general fear of their disapproval, but he knew they weren't going to be happy about his unannounced mating. His mother, especially, had hoped he would mate with one of the omegas from the recognized packs in the area. Someone with a status equal to his own. But Blake had found Darren instead, and their whirlwind mating during his first heat had made the point moot. So now Blake was sitting on his couch in the early morning light coming in through the windows, looking down at his phone and deciding exactly how to word the call. Darren was sitting out on the back porch, looking toward the lake. Through the sliding glass door, Blake could see in his posture that he was less than happy, knew his omega could feel the unease that was prickling at Blake's own skin, but there wasn't much to be done about it. He dialed his father's number.
His father picked up on the first ring with a "Nice to hear from you, son."
Blake tried to ignore the way the tone made him bristle. He was a full grown man, and an Alpha. He didn't need to be spoken to like that.
"Dad," he said, politely.
"Your mother has been worried about you."
"I know. I'm sorry. I was unavoidably delayed. And I’m home now. But there's something I need to tell you." He knew the phone would be on speaker, could hear his mother's breathing faintly beyond the sound of his father's. "I met an omega."
There was a dangerous silence on the other end of the line. Blake decided it was better just to get it out there and over with.
"We mated."
"You what?”
And there was his mother, her voice a low growl. Blake ran a hand through his hair. For a beta, she still managed to be pretty scary. He took a breath and let it out again slowly.
"It was kind of unplanned. I mean, I didn't go in there with intentions. But he was in heat, and he needed help."
He could almost hear his mother's narrow-eyed glare. "Blake Marrock. You knew better. And so help me-"
"We'll discuss it over dinner," his father said, cutting his mother off. "Tonight."
He had known that was coming.
"Alright. I'll be there. With Darren."
"Six o clock sharp," his mother said. "And not a minute later, Blake. I mean it."
Blake sighed, turning away from the phone so they wouldn't hear it. "Yeah, mom. Six o clock. I'll remember."
"We'll see you then," his father said, and the line went dead.
It wasn't that Blake didn't like his parents. He loved them. But his pack was one of the last old blood packs left in the lower forty eight, and they held that position, and its traditions, proudly. They weren't going to be very happy with him for a while. But once they met Darren, they would have to see how good he was. How sweet and obedient. They would be pleased with his choice for a mate, he knew. They had to be.
Speaking of his mate, Darren was still out on the porch, and Blake stood, moving across the room and silently opening the slider. Darren looked up at him through the fall of brown hair that swept across one eye, hiding the scar there, and then down again. But in that short moment Blake had seen that the big brown eyes were wide, that his mate was on the verge of tears. He sat down on the bench with him, and wrapped an arm around the slim shoulders.
"What is it, sweetheart?"
"You're not happy," he said, hardly more than a whisper. "Your parents aren't happy either. You should have mated someone better than me. Not- Not someone you met in a Walmart in Iowa. Someone good. Who knows how to be wolf. I didn't even know what I was until you found me, and-"
Blake cut him off with a finger laid gently across his lips. Not for the first time, he wanted to find everyone who had told his omega that he was worthless and give them a good kicking. Darren hadn't deserved to be left alone and passed around like he meant nothing, taught that he was different and stupid and that he didn't matter.
"You are someone good, Darren. And when they meet you, they'll love you." He lifted one corner of his mouth in a smile. "They may not be quite as happy with me, but they'll love you, darling. I promise."
Darren didn't look like he believed the words, but that was okay. He would have time to learn to believe. Time to trust. And he would see, tonight, when they got to his parents', that it would all be okay.
"Now, there are some things I'll need to tell you."
Darren looked up at him, teeth caught between his lower lip, waiting for Blake to teach him, and Blake had to resist the very present urge to exchange the lesson for a bout of lovemaking on the couch.
"My pack is a traditional one," he said slowly, keeping his voice gentle, very carefully not thinking about the way his mate looked beneath him, flushed and pleading and- Right. That was exactly what he was trying not to think about. "That means that there are some rules I need you to observe for me."
His mate nodded, carefully. Blake could feel the new tension in his shoulders, and regretted it, but he did have to share these instructions with Darren. It would be worse not to. Cruel to let him go in unprepared.
"A lot of our rules are about respect. Anyone not an omega is Sir or Ma'am to you until they give you leave to address them otherwise. And if one of them asks you do to something for them – get a drink, take their plate to the kitchen, you do it. But that's within reason. Nothing that would hurt you. Nothing that scares you, you understand? Right now, I'm going to keep you very close to me, so you won't ever be somewhere that you can't ask me what to do if you're not sure, but just in case remember that obedience is the best rule, as long as they're not asking for something that's not allowed. You’re mine, and no one else gets to touch you without my permission. Ever.”
The last word came out a growl, and Darren shrank back a little bit, but he nodded. “I understand,” he said softly.
“Good,” Blake said, much more gentle, wrapping his arm a little closer around his omega’s shoulders. “Now, the only person you will address as Alpha, aside from me, is the Alpha of the pack, my uncle. He will most likely be at dinner tonight, to meet you. When you greet him, you’ll shake his hand, like you might expect, but you’ll also bow your head, acknowledging his status.”
Again, Darren nodded.
“Beyond that, it’s mostly about behaving the way you would in any polite social gathering.”
“I didn’t really attend many polite social gatherings,” Darren sai
d.
“But I know you, baby. And I know how good and sweet and gentle you are. You’ll do just fine.”
Darren still didn’t look convinced.
Chapter Two
Darren was, in fact, very far from convinced as Blake's pickup pulled into a driveway that must have belonged to his parents, overlooked by a large house of richly colored logs. Beyond the house, he could see Lake Superior in the near distance, glittering and silver-sheened in the sun. There was a faint chill to the air already, fall promised to come soon.
Blake came around and opened the door for him when the car had come to a stop, and Darren took his mate's hand with a soft "Thank you," stepping down onto solid ground. His stomach was twisting itself into knots. What if Blake's family didn't like him? What if they thought he was trash? His uncle was the Alpha of an old blood pack. Darren didn't even know where he had come from. His family could have been anyone. And after, he had been shuttled from foster home to foster home, not good enough for anyone to keep. He knew his manners were lacking, knew he didn't have the kind of poise that Blake's family would surely be expecting. Blake had bought him a button-up shirt and a pair of nice pants, but he felt like he was playing dress up in them, pretending to be someone that he most definitely wasn't. Blake's arm around his shoulders was the only thing that was keeping him grounded. The only thing that kept him from turning tail and just running.
At the door, Blake knocked. Darren reached up to make certain that his hair was arranged right, the sweep of his bangs covering the left side of his face. He curled closer into his Alpha's side, trying to remember how to breathe, telling himself he wasn't going to be sick. He was not going to throw up. Because that would just be the icing on the cake, wouldn't it? He swallowed hard around the tightness in his throat, and dropped his gaze to the floor, not looking up even when he heard the door open and a low, gruff voice said Blake's name and invited them inside. The door shut behind them, and Darren hoped Blake couldn't feel how much that felt like the snapping of a trap in Darren's head.
"Blake," a woman's voice said, not harsh, but sounding to Darren like she was a little angry all the same. "And you must be Darren."
Trying to keep his breathing even, Darren looked up through his lashes. "Yes, ma'am," he whispered. "It's very nice to meet you."
Blake's mother was beautiful, tall, with her son's curling dark hair and eyes the color of the autumn sky beyond the windows. She looked at him like she was trying to decide what to think of him, and he hoped that what she decided was positive. He dropped his gaze again, catching sight out of the corner of his eye of a tall man who must be Blake's father, his hair going grey at the temples.
"And it's very nice to meet you too," Blake's mother said finally, while Darren was trying to figure out how all the air had gone out of the room. He managed to snatch a breath, and felt Blake's arm tighten further around him, his Alpha's hand rubbing gently against his arm.
Darren's eyes burned with tears he blinked back so they wouldn't fall. He was already embarrassing his mate, acting like everyone in here was some kind of monster, jumpy and hardly communicating. They probably thought he was on drugs or something. He caught his lower lip between his teeth, biting down hard.
"Darren," Blake's voice was saying. "This is my uncle, Gerard. He's Alpha of the Silver Bay pack."
"Hello, Sir," Darren said, keeping his head bowed.
He could feel the other male moving closer, could almost feel the power that rolled off him, and he nearly stopped breathing.
"Look up at me, boy," a deep voice said.
Slowly, hoping the others couldn't see the way he trembled though he knew Blake could feel it, Darren looked up. Grey eyes caught on his, and Darren swallowed hard, resisting the urge to lower his gaze and bare his throat. The Alpha had told him to look up, and he forced himself to hold that gaze for an instant longer before it dropped lower, moving over his face. He was so relieved when it slid on to Blake that he almost felt his knees give out.
"He is beautiful, nephew. I will give you that."
"He's more than beautiful," Blake said, and Darren could hear the stubborn Alpha in his voice, wondered if every Alpha in the pack talked to the head of it like that, or if it was only family members.
"I'm sure he is," Blake's uncle said. "Why don't we adjourn to the dining room? We can speak more there."
Darren could understand how he was the leader, when there were other Alphas in the pack. There was rumble to his voice, an edge of authority that made Darren shudder with the weight of it. He was a man who could command anyone. A little unsteady on his feet, Darren moved with his mate into the dining room, and sat down in the seat Blake pulled out for him.
He was sitting two seats down from the head of the table, on Blake's right. Across from him was Blake's mother, he saw, looking up through his eyelashes just enough to see who was sitting where. And on her left Blake's father. Which meant that the Alpha must be sitting at the head of the table. Next to Blake's mother, he saw with some surprise, was another boy, a few years older than he was and obviously pregnant, with the family's dark hair but without the same broad shoulders and air of authority that Blake shared with his uncle and father. Those eyes caught his briefly, and he saw a hint of a smile curve the other boy's mouth before he looked away. Beyond him sat a man with sandy blond hair that Darren only stole a glimpse of, not daring to look at him long.
"Darren," Blake's mother said. "This is Grey, Blake's younger brother, and his mate Nicholas."
“Very nice to meet you both,” Darren forced out.
There were plates already on the table, and covered dishes, from which steam escaped, smelling of meat and vegetables and making Darren’s mouth water. He still wasn’t used to having access to good food. Blake had been feeding him up in the few days it had taken to make their leisurely drive from Iowa to Silver Bay, but it hadn’t been long enough yet to erase the memories of ramen for almost every meal, of canned soup and peanut butter sandwiches and never really feeling full.
For a while there was little talking as plates were handed around and filled, the occasional preference for some specific food the only sound aside from the clinking of silverware against dishes. Darren didn’t speak. He stared down at the place where his plate had been until Blake set it down again, full. He didn’t really care what he was given, knew Blake would choose foods that he should be eating with the baby on the way. His plate came back piled high with roast and green beans and mashed potatoes dripping in butter and gravy, but Darren sneaked a glance up and saw that no one had eaten yet, so he didn’t touch his either, waiting until the plates had all been filled and Blake had taken the first bite from his own.
It was all he could do not to moan aloud when he tasted the food, but he was pretty sure he made a noise, because he saw the corner of Blake’s mouth lift. He felt his cheeks flush, hoped that Blake’s parents hadn’t heard.
“It’s good, isn’t it?” a voice that must have been Grey’s asked.
Darren’s face burned hotter. He swallowed what was in his mouth a little too fast, had to force it down. “It’s amazing,” he said fervently, hoping that would make up for his terrible manners. He looked across at Blake’s mother from under his eyelashes. “Thank you for dinner, ma’am. I’ve never eaten anything so good in my life.”
He saw something shift in her expression before he looked down again, hoped it was good instead of bad.
“What pack do you come from?” the Alpha’s voice asked from the head of the table. “I didn’t know there were any in Iowa. Or are you from one of the southern Minnesota packs?”
Suddenly Darren didn’t know if he wanted any more food. He curled his fingers into his palm under the table, feeling his nails dig marks into the soft skin until Blake reached down and unfolded them, wrapping Darren’s hand in his own. Darren held so tight he thought he felt his mate’s bones creak, wanted to apologize but didn’t dare with everyone looking at him. He could feel their eyes, and he tried to remind himself to b
reathe slowly, evenly, hoped they couldn’t hear the way his heart was racing.
“I’m not sure,” he said, fighting the tightness of his throat to force the words out at an audible volume. “My parents were killed in a car wreck when I was six, and the only thing I remember is that we lived by a river. I, um, had a head injury. It’s the reason I don’t know anything. Sir,” he added at the end, a little too quickly, remembering that he was supposed to call them by titles.
His throat was dry and he reached for the glass of water in front of him, nearly dropped it. Blake’s hand reached out and steadied his own, and Darren dipped his head in the hopes that it would keep the rest of the table from noticing that he was approximately the color of a tomato. He could feel the others exchanging glances, sharing opinions about him without saying a word.
They knew now. They knew that he was trash. That he wasn’t good enough for Blake. Darren closed his eyes against the tears that wanted to well up and spill over. God, he was so pathetic. He’d thought he was doing better with Blake. He’d been happy on their trip up, learning how to shift, learning about the way shifters lived. And it had been good. He had been better. No one wanted to live with a boy who cried all the time, who couldn’t even make eye contact with his mate’s family. He wasn’t going to cry in front of them. He wasn’t.
“How did you meet Blake?” Grey asked. His voice was gentle, but Darren really hadn’t wanted to tell that story. It was only further proof of what he was.
“I was at work,” he managed to make himself say. “At Walmart.” They might as well know everything, if they were going to know it. “And he came through my checkout line. I…” Darren swallowed, not sure if he was supposed to say that he’d thought Blake smelled good.
“I triggered his heat,” Blake said, taking up the thread of the story, his hand squeezing Darren’s in gentle reassurance. “Luckily, I’d decided I wanted to know what he was doing all alone in Iowa, and was waiting for him when he stumbled out of the store a half hour later, about to fall off his feet. I took him home and offered to help him through and, well” Darren could hear the sudden grin in his voice. “You know the rest.”