The drive over to the vet's office was quick, especially with no one else on the road. The Hummer could top a hundred when we needed to get somewhere, and I was incredibly comfortable with those speeds. Sadie was fast asleep against Gabe's chest, understandably exhausted from resisting all those omega urges to roll over and play dead. People underestimated how exhausting intimidation could be, and alphas tended to intimidate omegas without meaning to. It was just a fact of nature.
I pulled into the vet's driveway, slammed the big bitch into park, and got out. Sadie started to get up, to go deal with the kids, but I shooed her away. "If he's healthy enough, they said they'd bring him around to see us. Go inside. Leo and I got'em."
She and Lillian were the first ones in the door, though I raised my brows at Lillian's disappearing ass. After Becca, Hudson's first mate, had died in a stupid move we'd made as a pack, Lillian had done everything she could to ruin our happiness with Sadie. We'd patched that up, but I wasn't aware that she felt so close to Hudson these days.
Well, whatever. I pulled the kids out one by one as Gabe headed in. Leo kept an eye on them, though it was late enough that I assumed there wouldn't be any traffic around. Norrin grabbed my pantleg and shoved his hand in his mouth, staring up at me. He had most of Sadie's facial features, but my skin tone and my build. I picked my boy up and held him to my chest, where he nestled down against me and passed out.
"Uncle Xav?" Tommy asked. "Can I get my picture out of the car?"
I tilted my head at him and looked at Leo, who shrugged and opened the door again. Tommy was just big enough to clamber in, grab a sheet of construction paper, and go running off after the girls and Gabe. Together, Leo and I herded the younger kids inside, with Jenelle running after her half-brother as fast as her little legs would carry her.
The woman who greeted us smelled like a marsh, much like the other gecko shifters did. I gave her a polite nod, but anxiety was rising in my chest. I didn't like hospitals very much and a vet office was as much hospital as we werewolves were likely to see. I didn't know her, but she returned the nod and guided us back through the antiseptic-soaked corridor.
Hudson lay in a kennel all by his lonesome, the walls floor to ceiling. It was a cell of a thing, with a padded blanket for him to sleep on. My pack brother's head was up, but he looked confused and dazed, much worse than the times we'd all come home after a hell of a bender. I put Norrin down and opened the door, not caring if the assistant gave us permission or not.
"Mmmnnrrr," he growled, uncertain.
Sadie ran her hand over his head, her touch as light as it could be. "Shhh, it's us. You're safe. I promise. You're in a good place where they're helping you. We came to see you."
But Hudson certainly wasn't all there. He sniffed Sadie's hand once, twice, then growled at her again and fell heavily to his side. I reached out for her but Gabe pushed my hand away and shook his head. My hackles rose. I had no interest in watching our omega get savaged because Hudson didn't recognize who she was or what was going on. It was possible that he was still in that weird dream space that you enter when you're under anesthesia; and he'd been in bad shape long enough to take a while to come all the way out of it.
The poor guy, he had two tubes sticking out of him and three different lines injecting something into his paw. It still didn't give him license to hurt Sadie, or even growl at her, but I tried to be understanding.
"Daddy?"
Tommy walked forward, peeking around his mom, his drawing held tight between his hands. Leo settled in behind him, ready to yank the kid away if Hudson struck. He patted his back. "It's okay. Just be slow. You know how it is when you wake up after a long nap; you aren't really sure what's going on. That's how he feels. He's been asleep a couple of weeks, right? That's the longest nap ever."
I nudged Leo's knee with mine and gave him an approving nod. Of all of us, he'd been the roughest at being a parent at first. Over the past year, he'd come into his own. The kids loved him and he spent most of his days off in wolf form, wrestling with them as pups. It was good for them to learn to be comfortable in both bodies, especially when it might be the difference between detection and our long-term hiding plans.
The great wolf on the ground looked up at me and began to pant. He pushed his paws under himself and all four other pack adults moved to hold him back down. He whined as something popped, probably a bone, and looked over at his son, then at the rest of us. The pups crowded in around him and I tensed, ready to snatch any of them if he got aggressive.
But he was still Hudson under all of that medication. His eyes slid closed and he inhaled as deeply as he dared, tail twitching on the ground. His coat was dry, his nose cracked, and I looked over at the vet assistant and pulled her out of the room, shutting the door behind us. "He's not getting enough water."
"He's getting as much as we can put into him without crashing his other levels. We're feeding him via a tube, but it's not enough for a metabolism like that," she said. "We're doing everything he can, but if he's not up in another week? I don't know, Xav."
"I do. I saved you and Ioane and all the others. It's the least you can do to repay me," I growled, menacing her.
She stared at me, unblinking. "Killing me doesn't help him. It just lets Queen Socorro win."
"I don't care about the fairies," I said, voice tight. "I left that behind a hell of a long time ago. Who cares who wins? They've been at war for generations. Someone has to beat someone else eventually. You're just gecko shifters. How could you possibly mean a win or a loss?"
The woman, her name was Liska, bowed her head, eyes on the floor. "That wasn't how it was when we were lovers."
"That was a long time ago."
But I remembered her. Faintly. It had been when I'd was on the end of a leash, not a free wolf. I tried to banish the memories, but none of them really wanted to leave me.
Consent was a tricky thing, especially when you had an animal inside of you. No always meant no, of course. That was clear enough. But when you were halfway to begging for dog treats from a fae's hand, you forgot if you really wanted to mate something or not. "I never knotted you."
"You wanted to, now and then. I'm not angry that you found someone else, Xavion. But I'm reminding you that I am who I am. And I would never harm a member of your pack, no matter what."
She looked up at me at the last, her tongue flicking out of her mouth to slurp across her eye. Even in human form, the lizard shifters I'd known usually managed that. They just weren't set up to blink. With no eyelids in their animal bodies, it was something to be... sort of expected.
I put my hand on her shoulder and sighed. "I know. I get it. I'm sorry for being such a bitey asshole, but we can't lose him. He's family."
"We are all family at some level," she told me, then drew away and walked out of the room, leaving me there.
I went back to Hudson's kennel, where the wolf lay with his head on Tommy's lap, shuddering every so often. He drooled on the boy's knee, but he was trying his best to stay awake as Tommy showed him some crayon drawing he'd done for his father.
"Perhaps we can hang the drawing on the wall for him to admire while you have school?" Liska asked the pup, crouching to his height.
Hudson let out a weak, rattly growl but she only stroked his head as if he were a dog. It was what I expected from her; from most who dealt with us. Frustrating, but unsurprising. The growl ended and she took the picture from the kid, pinning it to the front of the kennel so Hudson could see it.
In the end, we left with five kids in tears and the rest of us barely holding it together. My speed on the trip home was far, far slower than it had been to get there. What did it matter when we got in? The dogs had been out before we'd left and wouldn't need to use the facilities until the morning.
"I don't know if he's gonna be okay," Leo whispered to me. "He's got that look in his eyes like a deer that's been run down."
I kept my eyes on the road. "You're just cursing him, running your mouth like that. He
'll be fine because he has to be. We've seen him through worse, you know that. What about that time he got shifter pox? Guy couldn't move for three weeks. It's only been two."
"He's never been plastered by a dragon like that before."
"He's never had the opportunity to kick a dragon's ass before. You didn't see how much Eskal was bleeding. Little wolf teeth doing that to a big lizard with scales like that? Come on. He'll make it," I said.
Leo dug around in the glove compartment, then glanced over his shoulder. He pulled out a bag of gummi bears, half of them melted together. He shoved a hand in the bag, grabbed a glob, and stuffed it into his mouth. "But what if he doesn't? You going to try to be king alpha around the house? Because Gabe's not up for it."
"What about you?"
There was a bitter laugh that couldn't have come from Leo. "I learned my lesson about that a long time ago. I've got no interest in having to be a lead alpha if I can avoid it."
"I suppose we could share it if he's down for longer than the vet seems to think he will be."
Leo crammed another handful of melted gel into his face before he spoke. "We could, but why would we want to? I don't intend to leave the pack or anything like that, but someone has to make the decisions and be the tie-breaking vote if it comes down to it. Someone has to take control if a situation like this goes down."
"Then we already have a leader," I said. "We just didn't realize it."
I glanced back at Sadie, her fast asleep again against Gabe. The last time she'd been so tired, she'd been pregnant. By Her Light, she'd been the most beautiful pregnant woman I'd ever seen. They say pregnant ladies have a special glow, but watching her was like stargazing on a full moon night. No one was better suited to mother my pups than Sadie, and the world knew it.
Because when she'd been pregnant, I hadn't shut up about it.
But there was no way she was pregnant; not unless something had happened that we were unaware of. Over the past several weeks, work had been hammering us all to a pulp. The dragon land had been a curse, especially after the finding of the eggs hidden beneath the soil. There hadn't been any time to take our omega and spoil her rotten.
And it was wearing on me, on all of us. Even her. Packs were meant to mate and play, sometimes like puppies, and enjoy each other. We'd been so distant as of late that I...
Liska and I had been close, though I'd been an animal when it'd happened. Sadie was all I could ever want, but I needed that bond with her more than I wanted to admit. Without reconfirmation of it now and then, I was empty. Alone. And it was somehow worse with the stress of the dig site and our pack mate being stuck in the hospital.
"You tired of this dry spell?" I whispered to Leo.
He frowned at me. "Yeah, but we're always wrecked when we get home."
"Fuck the site. Fuck the dragon drama. Tomorrow, we send Lillian off with the pups. We take our time and we give our omega what she needs."
Leo's eyes widened in the darkness but the scent of his excitement blasted past me in the car. I swiped it away from the seat divider. Even if she was asleep, it might be enough to bring Sadie around. Omegas were sensitive like that. "You sure about that?"
"I'm positive. We'll talk to Lil when we get in, but I'm sure she'll understand. Things have been too shitty lately, too rough, and the whole pack could use some intimate interaction."
We pulled down our driveway path, my mind cooking up idea after idea that I could use to give Sadie that time she so deserved, that connection that we all needed, and the relaxation our beasts desired. I parked near the stairs, letting Gabe and Sadie handle the kids. As Lillian slid out of the car, I followed her and caught her by the elbow. "Got a minute?"
"Pretty sure I don't have a choice," she said, head tilting at me.
I grinned. "You always got a choice. But you might not like the outcome. You mind getting the kids out of the house tomorrow for a few hours? We're calling into work sick. So's Sadie. She just doesn't know it yet."
"You're- ...ah. I can make myself scarce, maybe take the kids to one of those play gym places for little ones. We'll be home for dinner?"
I nodded. "That's perfect. You're the best aunt I've ever known."
With a roll of her eyes, Lillian went inside and I followed, plotting the next day with a smile.
Chapter Five
Sadie
The kids were tucked away in their little beds, all of them fast asleep. I awoke to absolute silence, the world dimming into late morning or perhaps early afternoon. Which meant that I was late for work.
One of the advantages of being an executive was that some days were absolutely silent. Since I was supposed to be at the dig site today with Leo, it didn't much matter if I was a little later than usual. No one was keeping track of me. I rolled out of bed, regretting every inch as the satin sheets caressed my bare skin. Last night had been hard and most of my body was complaining about what I'd put it through.
It was as if the alphas meant to impose their will on me. That was something more primal than I could put into words. Just because they hadn't meant to do it didn't mean that I had avoided the sensation of those strong, calculating eyes on me. From my own alphas? It was hot, sensual, and made me crave every last inch of them.
From others? Not so much. The wolf in me knew who my pack was, who my mates were, and who they weren't. I went through my usual morning shower, combed my hair out, and pulled on one of those flutter-sleeved tops that always seem to make you feel like a princess. My jeans were just as casual, sensible, ready for getting beat up at the dig site. I walked downstairs and into an empty kitchen.
No, that couldn't have been right. I frowned as I looked around. Every dish was washed, every snack put up. Where was Lillian? Where were the kids? I glanced at the clock and saw I'd been right; it was right around lunchtime. If she'd taken them for a run in the woods, she'd have left a note somewhere, but the fridge and the dining table were bare.
Had they been hurt? Kidnapped? My mind raced as I went to the front door. Her minivan was missing, meaning she'd probably gone willingly; I hoped. But why hadn't she left me a note? Or come and woken me up? I checked my phone, but there were no missed messages or calls. The uncertainty grated me until a pair of familiar hands ran over my shoulders. I looked back at Leo and gave him a confused whine.
"Xav asked that they give us a little room for the day," he purred, kissing the top rim of my ear.
Concern was replaced by a trembly, excited burn that slithered up from my stomach. I nestled back against him, my brows raising. "A little room, huh?"
"Mmhm. Some big wolf time. They're at the children's museum having a blast with Aunt Lillian. And their gorgeous, neglected mom is stuck here alone with three handsome alphas."
"Sounds like a heck of a problem to be stuck with," I said, smiling.
Without another word or pretense, he snatched me up and carried me off down the porch stairs. I laughed, throwing my arms around his neck. A small, dark part of me started on a guilt trip. Hudson was still at the vet, he was still hurt and still recovering, but I knew my lead alpha. He wouldn't have wanted us to sit in the dark crying over him until he got better. That wasn't the kind of man he was.
It was harder than I expected, but I gently pushed his condition to the back of my mind for the moment and concentrated on my remaining mates.
Leo took me off to the sort of tent you usually saw at those big weddings where everybody can't possibly fit inside. Or you know, a barn raising that wasn't Amish sponsored. He opened the flap and I knew why the entire kitchen looked like it'd been pressure washed. A feast lay in front of me, straining the legs of a portable dining table that we usually used for business functions. Roast venison, honeyed carrots, and so much else offered to tempt me into wafting around after it like a cartoon character.
He sat me down at the head of that table and ran his fingers through my hair. I leaned toward the attention like I hadn't been touched in years and shook my head as Xav and Gabe settled in next to me. "You
guys spoil me. I don't need this. If you wanted to-"
"We wanted to," Gabe smiled, his voice like sugar. I shivered. "Not just for you, but for all of us. We need it."
Leo's fingers dug into my tight, exhausted shoulders and my head fell forward onto my chest as I sighed. Oh. That's where Leo intended to be. Well, that was acceptable enough.
We worked our way through the meal, me occasionally offering Leo a tidbit off my plate. Once, he snuck his fingers down my chest and walked them to swipe a meaty morsel away from me. I nuzzled his arm away and squirmed my shoulder back under it, demanding to be rubbed down. I worked hard. I hadn't played hard in... gosh, long enough that I knew where the day was headed and I was absolutely game for it.
The museum had stressed the family to the point of snapping at each other more than once. Even hunting in our wolf forms hadn't done much to take the edge off. A trickle of Hudson snuck back into my mind, but I shook it away.
Puppy Problems: A Reverse Harem Werewolf Romance (Her Secret Menagerie Book 3) Page 4