by Bru Baker
Oscar had driven them over, so Max had a uniform run him to the station closest to his parents’ house. It was a three-minute jog from there, and he used the time to try to prepare himself for what he was about to walk into. Danny had been with his family for almost an hour, so God only knew what state Max would find him in.
Max let himself in the back gate, closing it behind him in case any of the kids tried to escape. His parents had a decent-sized yard, by Queens’ standards at least. Pack lived on either side of them, and the houses here were only a single story, so the backyard was fairly private. They’d put up a tall wooden fence when he’d been a kid. He still remembered helping to dig the post holes. Tori had been a menace as a toddler, and she’d been most comfortable in her shifted form until she’d hit about six or seven. Hence the need for the privacy fence.
Kids tangled around his legs instantly, and he let them climb over him as he made his way around the side of the house. Danny was faring about the same, with two kids hanging off his back and a toddler in half-shifted form chewing on his shoelaces.
“Sorry I’m late,” he said when he reached them. He moved a kid from one hip to the other so he could lean in and give Danny a kiss.
“Ray said you were at another robbery,” Danny said. “Was it part of your big case?”
“Looks like it.” He scented each of the kids who had swarmed him and then set them on the ground. The kids who’d been using Danny as a jungle gym followed suit. “Go get something to eat, cubs.”
The herd of kids ran off toward the deck where his mom and aunties were standing around chatting. His sister made a beeline for them as soon as she saw him.
“Lola’s flight got delayed so she just got here,” Tori said. “She’s inside freshening up. Ray had to go get her because Phil got called in to the hospital.”
That explained why his youngest brother had been nowhere in sight when he’d gotten there. He’d have to have a talk with him. He’d asked him to stay with Danny—there were a dozen other people who could have gone to pick Lola up at the airport.
The back door opened, and Lola appeared. She looked like she’d aged ten years in the last six months. Max wondered if she was tired from the long flight or if this was a result of the ritual they’d had before she left. She hadn’t said anything about it taking a toll on her, but then again, she wouldn’t have.
Half of the crowd gathered around her, and the other half—the ones with young kids, mostly—started lining up to fill plates.
“Is your grandmother the Alpha?” Danny whispered. “The kids were talking about how they couldn’t eat until the Alpha came.”
“About that,” he said, sending Tori a death glare when she snickered.
Lola made her way over to them with her entourage before he could explain. She took his face in her hands and kissed both his cheeks, then did the same to Danny.
“I’ve heard a lot about you, young man. You’ve caused quite the stir. And you,” she said, wagging a finger in Max’s face and clucking her tongue at him. “You’re too important to call your Lola? I had to find out from your cousin?”
She took Danny’s hands in hers and brought them to her mouth to kiss. “It is an honor to meet you, Alpha Mate. My blessings on your bond. May you be a force of peace and wisdom for the Alpha.”
The backyard was silent, and all eyes were on Danny, who had gone bone white at Lola’s words. Max nearly swallowed his tongue when Danny bowed over their clasped hands. “My thanks for your blessing. May my hands and heart be guided by the Pack.”
Max let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding when Danny completed the blessing with the proper response. Not all Packs used the formal blessings, but Lola had always been a traditionalist.
The Pack broke out in whoops of happiness and applause, and Lola kept her grip on Danny’s hands and transferred them to Max.
“You’ve found a good egg, Maximo,” she said. “Now take him into the house and talk to him, because his heart is about to beat out of his chest, so I’m assuming you either didn’t tell him you were the Alpha or you didn’t tell him he was your mate. Either way, it’s best discussed outside the ears of the Pack.”
She turned to Danny and pressed a hand to his cheek. “Torres men are stubborn and hard-headed, but you’ve got some grit yourself. You’ll be a good match.”
Danny was quiet as Max took him inside. He didn’t say a word until Max closed the door of his old bedroom. Ma had left most of his posters on the walls even though they used the room as a guest room when the grandkids slept over.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Danny whispered, his expression fierce. “You’re the fucking Alpha and you didn’t tell me?”
“The room is soundproof,” Max said in an even voice. His instincts preened at the thought that Danny was protecting the Pack by keeping their fight private. He’d be a good mate. That didn’t stop the very human panic the stony expression on Danny’s face caused. “And I was going to tell you. I haven’t had the chance yet.”
The excuse sounded lame to Max’s ears. He sighed. “I started to tell you when we were waiting to fly home from Montauk, but the pilot interrupted us. And then my brother was being an ass, and I couldn’t do it with him there last night. I planned to talk to you when I picked you up today, but that didn’t pan out. I’m sorry, okay? It was shitty of me not to tell you, and it was even shittier to have Lola put you on the spot like that. I swear I didn’t know she was going to do that.”
“Alpha Mate?” Danny took a deep breath. “I feel a connection to you, Max. I do. It’s different than anything I’ve felt before. And I really like you. But Alpha Mate? That is some serious shit.”
Max rubbed a hand over his face. “I’m sorry. It’s—I’m new to this, okay? Lola picked me as her successor, and she handed down the Alpha spark less than a year ago. I’ve been adjusting, but it’s a lot. I thought I had everything handled, but last night—”
Danny’s eyes widened. “That’s what you meant about losing control. And that’s why Ray shut up when you told him to also. Did you Alpha him? Wait, when you were talking to me in the truck, did you try to Alpha me?”
“Of course not!”
“You did! Your voice did something. It gave me goose bumps. You tried to use your Alpha mojo on me.” Danny backed away from him, furious. “This is why I don’t date guys like you. You always want to be in charge, and you get so territorial.” He barked out a harsh laugh and threw up his hands. “That was what that whole scene was about last night. You being possessive. Listen, Max, I like you. I do, even though you’re not my usual type. But I spent the first twenty years of my life with a bossy, overbearing father who wouldn’t let me make my own decisions. I’m not about to become some Alpha bitch who caters—”
“Hold on just a goddamn minute. I didn’t use my Alpha voice on you last night. Even if I did, it wouldn’t work. You’re not Pack yet, and even if you were, it wouldn’t have any effect on you. The whole purpose of an Alpha Mate is to balance out the Alpha. The Alpha Pair rules the Pack together. An Alpha Mate is an Alpha’s equal.”
That took the wind out of Danny’s sails. He sank down onto the bed and rested his head in his hands.
“You said yet.”
“What?”
Danny looked up. “You said ‘you’re not Pack yet.’”
Max shut his eyes and prayed for patience. “It was just a slip of the tongue.”
“It wasn’t,” Danny said quietly. “Do you want me to be your mate, Max?”
Max sat next to him, relieved when Danny let him hold his hand. “I don’t know. I mean, do I want a mate? Of course. I want to settle down. I want to start a family. And I feel something… extra with you. But is it the start of an Alpha Mate bond? I don’t know. I’ve never done this before.”
“Can I even be your mate? I’m a Were, not a shifter.”
“We’re not as hung up on that as you wolves are. And my instincts wouldn’t have started the bond if we weren’t compat
ible.” Max frowned. “Do you want to stay in your Pack? Would you not want to mate with a shifter?”
“I don’t have any attachment to my Pack,” Danny blurted. His scent went sour with embarrassment. “I mean, I’ve never really fit in. And a lot of that was my parents’ fault. They hate being wolves. My father calls it the family curse. They want to be as human as possible. Hell, they kept me away from the Pack until I Turned. I didn’t know we were werewolves until I was sixteen.”
Max couldn’t imagine that. A lot of the Weres he knew talked about their inner wolf, but for Max, that wasn’t the case. He was a shifter. It was his entire identity. There was no separation of human and shifter instincts—they were one and the same.
“I’m sorry. Do you hate being a werewolf?”
“No, of course not. But I’ve always been an outsider in the Pack. Even now that I’m on my own, I’m separate from it. I go to full-moon runs, and I come when Alpha Connoll calls a Pack meeting, but I don’t have any real ties to the Pack. None that would stop me from transferring to a different one.”
To Max’s. Heat swept through him so fast it took his breath away. Danny had called him possessive earlier, and he wasn’t wrong. Max wanted Danny to be his. His Pack. His Alpha Mate. Fuck, this was insane. He’d just met this guy, and now he was popping fang over the thought of bonding with him forever? What the actual fuck was going on?
Max tried to calm his breathing. He looked away, sure his eyes had flared. He didn’t want to chase Danny away with some stupid Alpha-male posturing, but he couldn’t help himself. His fangs ached, like the mating bite equivalent to blue balls. He wanted it. He wanted it more than he’d wanted anything in his life, and that was terrifying.
They hadn’t even known each other a week.
Max pushed his shift back and tried to clear his mind.
“Are you still willing to see how things go with us?” Max asked when he was sure he was in control. “Even knowing that, endgame, I’d want you in my Pack?”
Danny offered him a fragile smile. “Your Pack is great. It’s their Alpha I’m not so sure about.” He took the sting out of the tease by squeezing Max’s hand. “I say we keep on the same course. Try. See where things go.”
“And if things get serious?”
Danny gave him a flat look. “Things are already serious.”
That was true, but he didn’t want Danny to feel trapped. Nothing was set in stone until Danny took the mating bite. Max’s stomach rolled at the thought of Danny rejecting the bond.
“You know what I mean,” Max said, trying to keep the desperation out of his voice.
“And if things get serious I’ll consider joining your Pack.”
“As Alpha Mate?”
Danny hesitated, cycling through several expressions before he spoke. “If that’s where things take us, yes.”
Max wanted to shift and run and roar, but he settled for smiling and pulling himself to his feet.
“We’d better get back out there before all the food is gone.”
“I wouldn’t want to miss my mouth orgasm,” Danny teased.
His smile made Max’s heart soar. He’d fucked up by not being up front with Danny about his Alpha status, but at least he hadn’t completely tanked things.
“Crispy pata is good, but trust me, orgasms are better. At least, the orgasms I give are better.”
Arousal clouded the air, and Danny sighed. “I deserved that.”
“You did. And for the record, whenever you’re ready to try out those orgasms, I stand at your service.”
Chapter Seven
DANNY was going to need a shower before the day was out. Each pawn shop he’d visited was dirtier than the last, and he still had five on his list. No one would admit to buying a couple dozen iPads and laptops recently, and none of the stores had them out on display either.
Where else would a sixteen-year-old take twenty thousand dollars’ worth of electronics to unload them? He certainly wouldn’t need them all for himself. Was he selling them to people on the street? Had someone pressured him to take them?
Joss was a good kid. He’d been Danny’s first case, a scared preteen selkie who’d gotten himself kicked out of every foster home he’d been placed in. When Danny met him, he’d been living in a group home, stealing sea salt from upscale groceries and spending so much time in the shared showers that the caretakers started putting limits on his shower time.
Danny had gotten him a membership to a Y that had a saltwater pool. Joss had stopped skipping classes and started doing well in school. He even volunteered as a swim instructor now, and he mentored younger kids at the foundation’s day center.
Joss had been the only person aside from foundation staff and Sloane who knew about the gifts. And even the staff hadn’t known where he was keeping them. But Joss had helped him carry boxes a few weeks ago. He’d been in Danny’s apartment and knew exactly where they’d been stored.
The day of the burglary, Danny had dismissed Joss’s scent because he’d been there recently, but after thinking about it, he’d realized the scent had been fresh. Joss smelled like salt and sunshine. It always made Danny smile, but when he’d stood in his living room and realized the scent trail was too fresh to have been made weeks ago, it made him gag.
He didn’t want to believe Joss would do that. Joss knew better than anyone how much those gifts would mean to the other kids. But he hadn’t come by the day center since the burglary. Danny called the Y and found out he’d been ditching swim lessons too.
It was so unlike him. Danny was kicking himself for not paying more attention to Joss. He hadn’t been himself lately, but Danny chalked that up to regular teenage angst. He hadn’t checked up on him, and he should have. Now it was too late. Joss was back to skipping school, and his grades were tanking. Most kids his age were hitting the books and looking at colleges, and Joss was out there doing God only knew what.
Danny had to figure this out before Joss got himself arrested or kicked out of school. But to do that he had to find Joss, and he was coming up blank. He’d been missing from the group home for more than a week.
Joss was in trouble, and Danny didn’t know how to help him. But he did know that the first step was tracking down the stolen electronics. They were his only tie to Joss, and he wasn’t going to give up just because the pawn shops made him uncomfortable.
He stopped in front of one that had its metal grate pulled down behind the bars, shuttering the windows. The neon sign flashed open, though, and the door wasn’t locked, so he steeled himself and entered.
The inside was thick with cigarette smoke and dark—way darker than he could have safely navigated without his super senses. He waved his hand in front of his face to try to keep himself from choking on the smoke.
“Go away, we’re closed,” a woman’s voice rasped.
“Your sign says open,” he said.
She stepped out from behind the counter with a shotgun in her hands.
“And I say we’re closed.”
Danny held his hands up. “Look, I don’t want any trouble. I’m just looking for some iPads and laptops.”
She nudged the gun at him, and he took a step backward.
“I got some advice for you, kid,” she said. “If you want to keep breathing, stop asking questions. I heard about you, and trust me, you don’t want involved in this.”
“So you know who has them? I don’t even care about the stolen stuff, I just need to find—”
She jabbed the gun forward, pushing the barrel hard against his chest. “I said stop asking questions. I don’t want you to bring this down on me. Cops are already looking hard at all the dealers in the city because of those warehouse robberies. Now you’re digging around. Nobody’s buying electronics in bulk these days. So you’re not going to find what you’re looking for in a pawn shop. Now get out of here.”
Danny backed out of the store and hit the sidewalk running. He didn’t stop until he’d put at least a mile between him and the crazy lady w
ith the gun.
He thought about calling Max but decided not to. Getting Max involved would put Joss at risk. Danny had to get to the bottom of this by himself so it didn’t jeopardize Joss’s future. Hands shaking, he pulled out his phone and dialed Sloane.
“Hey,” he said when she answered. “You said you used a private investigator to research Max, right? Do you think he could find one of my kids for me?”
“She can find just about anyone. Who’s missing? Can’t the state file a missing persons report?”
“They have, but no one puts too much effort into looking for a runaway foster kid. It’s Joss. He’s sixteen, and his caseworker pretty much said good riddance when I talked to her. No one’s out here looking for him but me.”
Sloane hummed. “Okay, I’ve got her info. I’m texting it to you. She’s not cheap, though. I have her on retainer, so tell her to work this on my account.”
“I can’t keep letting you bail me out, Sloane. I’ve got a little money put away in a CD. I can cash that out.”
“She’s three hundred an hour, and a missing persons case can take weeks. You’ve got that kind of money?”
Danny’s throat went dry. He didn’t. But he had to find Joss before someone else did.
“Fine. But I’ll pay you back.”
“Sure,” Sloane said. “By the way, Althea set up appointments for you and your new beau to have your tuxes fitted.”
Tuxes?
“For the clean water gala on Saturday night? As in, four days from now? Ringing a bell?”
Shit. He’d forgotten. The morning after he’d cashed his father’s check and ordered the replacement gifts for the kids, his father’s assistant, Althea, had sent over a list of events he and Max were expected to attend. This gala was the first of several over the next few weeks. Apparently it was fundraiser season.
“I was supposed to pass the message on to you, so this is me passing it on. You need to be there at four tomorrow afternoon.”