Fagin's Folly

by Lisa Oliver

  It was only the weight of Cooper’s body in his arms that stopped Fagin from ending his lifelong friend. He’d heard of wolves who were blessed with scenting their fated mates and who changed their behavior overnight. No matter who they were or how they lived, from that one sniff, their mate became the most important person in their lives. Alpha wolves were notorious for it, and while Fagin had no intention of becoming a puppy to his mate’s demands, he knew for sure if Buster didn’t shut the fuck up, he’d be nothing more than a messy stain on the already dingy carpet.

  “What happens to Cooper if you find your own mate?” He managed to snarl through his teeth. “Do you have any idea how I feel right now? One sniff and I want to cover him in bubble wrap. His presence makes me ashamed of this bar; the bar I’ve worked my ass off for and enjoyed for more than ten years, because Cooper will look out of place here in his suit. I’m worried he’ll meet some of the biker molls I’ve banged because they might upset him or make him feel he’s less in some way. Fuck, I’m so turned around, I can barely think, let alone express myself. This is what happens when you find your Fated One. Don’t you get it? I could no more let him go than sprout wings and fly so shut the fuck up about it.”

  Pulling up a chair, Buster sat down with a thump. “I get it,” he said quietly. “I’ll never mention it again. It’s just, you’ve got to admit he’s damn pretty. My wolf knows he’s not my mate but he still wants to protect him. Maybe it’s because he’s an Omega.”

  “It could be. It’s not as though we’ve come across a male one before.” Fagin relaxed slightly, studying his mate’s features. Buster was a man of his word. Fagin couldn’t blame him for wanting to spirit Cooper away. His instincts were screaming at him to do the same thing. But the last thing he wanted was Cooper waking up and accusing him of kidnapping. It was bad enough the poor man was bruised just being in his presence five freaking minutes. He needed to learn more about the fragile young man first. Looking up, he caught Buster’s eye. “We need a plan.”

  Chapter Five

  Cooper woke up in his own bed. The slight smell of his laundry powder teased his nose and the lumps in his pillow were familiar. But he didn’t open his eyes. Oh no. Because he knew the moment he was aware of his surroundings that he wasn’t alone in his small apartment. The rumble of deep male voices was coming from his kitchenette.

  How did I get here and what’s wrong with my head? The urge to reach up and touch what felt like a large lump on his forehead was huge, but Cooper didn’t want to give himself away. A simple shift would cure whatever ailed him, but Alpha wolves hated his shifted form and seemed to take his white fur and slight frame as an invitation to chase him, bite him and shove something large and unwanted up his ass.

  Trying hard to keep his breathing regular, Cooper struggled to remember why he had company. For one thing, he was sure it was a work day, but he was in bed in nothing but his underpants. A kaleidoscope of memories hit him. Going to work. His eleven o’clock appointment. Getting hit, not once but twice by doors in that seedy bar. Fagin Mars. His wolf whimpered, knowing the strong alpha was close and wanting to be with him.

  Cooper himself wasn’t sure. Oh, the dashing biker was everything Cooper dreamed of when he was alone in his bed at night, but Fagin was a wolf. A wolf who spoke as though them being mates was a foregone conclusion.

  Was it really that simple? When Cooper’s mother was alive she used to hold him close and whisper stories of how wolves blessed by the fates would scent that special someone, fall madly in love, and live happily ever after. After she died, Cooper learned quickly that all his mother’s stories were nothing more than fairy tales. Life was tough, and Cooper never had the luxury of waiting for his Prince Charming to bail him out of trouble. The only person he’d ever relied on was himself.

  “If you wanted me to believe you were still asleep, you shouldn’t be thinking so hard. I swear I can see steam pouring out of your ears.”

  His eyes flying open, Cooper came face to face with Fagin kneeling by his bed. If he thought he was vulnerable in Fagin’s office, this was ten times worse. For one thing, he wasn’t wearing his suit; a constant source of armor and a reminder of how far he’d come in life. He was in his bed. His cock thought Fagin was the most exciting man on the planet and leapt to attention and while Cooper wanted to roll onto his stomach to hide the thing, doing so would expose his ass as if he was waving an invitation.

  As if the situation wasn’t fraught enough, the gleam in Fagin’s eye let Cooper know the alpha wolf knew exactly what he was thinking and from the growing bulge stressing the man’s jeans, indicated the man was more than willing to give his ass a try.

  “How are you feeling? That’s a nasty bump on your head.” Fagin reached out and Cooper steeled himself not to flinch. But Fagin’s hand was gentle as he stroked Cooper’s hair off his face. For the first time since his mother’s death, Cooper felt a wave of calm flow over him and he longed to lean into the stronger man’s touch. “I’m not going to hurt you,” Fagin continued softly. “Hurting you is the last thing I will ever do. You’re quite safe with me.”

  Unable to think straight, Cooper said the first thing that came into his head. “You speak very nicely for a biker.” Then his face flushed with embarrassment as Fagin laughed.

  “I did go to school,” Fagin agreed, “and while I’m a lot less careful about how I talk when I’m dealing with the ruffians in my bar, your suit reminded me of my manners. You seem to bring out my gentle side.”

  “Yes, well, we all know that won’t last.” Cooper forced himself to pull away from the hypnotic lure of Fagin’s hand and sat up. “I appreciate you and your friend bringing me home. I assume you belong to the local pack. I can assure you I’ve never stepped foot in pack territory, but I should’ve known I was living too close.” He sighed as he looked around his small but tidy room. “It’ll take me a couple of hours to pack, but if you can hold off informing your alpha of my presence until then and give me time to get away, I’d be very grateful.”

  “You can leave? Just like that?” Fagin sat back on his heels, tilting his head slightly. “What about your job? Friends? Family?”

  “Having to run’s not going to do my resume any good,” Cooper said crossly as he flipped the covers on the other side of the bed, sliding over and climbing out. He’d just have to trust his human form was too skinny to arouse any interest in the alpha wolf. It’s not as though he had the right bits to attract the man anyway. Of course, it didn’t help his damn cock was barely restrained in his briefs. Cooper needed his clothes like he needed his next breath.

  “As for friends and family, you can forget hassling them as well.” Cooper refused to look at Fagin, grabbing the first pair of pants he found in his closet. “My mother’s dead, my father would tear your throat out for daring to bring me to his attention and while Beth is going to have a major hissy fit when I text her to let her know I’m out of town and not coming back…well, that’s not your problem is it? She’s human so you can leave her alone and the same applies to the people I work with.”

  “What in heaven’s name do you think I’m going to do to you?” Cooper risked a glance at Fagin who was sitting cross-legged on the floor. The man was paying far too much attention to the way he was pulling up his pants. His face flaming, Cooper ignored him and reached for a shirt as he pondered Fagin’s question. It has to be a trap, but then he’d smell any lie. I don’t understand why he wants me to spell it out for him.

  Ensuring his pants were firmly fastened, Cooper shrugged on his shirt and turned, his fingers fumbling with the buttons as he kept a watchful eye on the intruder in his room. “You claim you went to school, so I am sure I don’t need to tell you how disgraceful it is for the son of an alpha to turn out to be a male omega. Female omegas are revered and protected by everyone in the pack. Male omegas are a curse sent by the Fates to show up an alpha’s weakness or wrong doing. My father never let me forget what an abomination I am, and I resent you making me spell it out now
. But you asked and I’m not stupid enough to lie.”

  “Someone hurt you, in your own family?”

  “What else did you expect?” Cooper huffed. His shirt was done up, but now he was going to have to undo his pants again to tuck the damn thing in. Deciding to ignore his flapping shirt tails, he hunted around for his shoes. “Male omegas are usually culled at birth. It was only my mother’s intervention that kept me as safe for as long as she could. Before I shifted, my mother used to explain I was wiry and it didn’t matter that I wasn’t very tall. She claimed I’d develop my height and muscles after my shift. But yeah, we all know that doesn’t happen to omegas. My dad was furious when I shifted for the first time.”

  Spying his shoes placed neatly by his bed, his socks still in them, Cooper sat on the edge of the mattress and pulled one sock on and then the other. “I just wish my mom had warned me, you know?” He said forgetting for a moment it was an alpha in his room. “My father kept breeding her, year after year, determined to get an alpha son. It was a stupid thing to do. Her poor body couldn’t cope, and she died in childbirth when I was twelve. I shifted within a year after that.” Cooper shivered as memories assailed him of that first time. Pushing them aside, Cooper stuffed his feet in his shoes and stood up.

  “So yes, to answer your question, I am well aware of what happens to a male omega who dares to trespass in another pack’s territory. I’ve been beaten, raped in my wolf form, and bitten more often than an ice-cream sundae. It’s why when I was offered this job with Abrahams and Michaels, I made sure that firstly they accepted gay employees and secondly, they had no dealings with the pack in this area. Your pack.” Cooper quirked an eyebrow at Fagin who seemed to be stunned into silence. Or maybe he was dreaming of a thick juicy steak. Cooper didn’t know the man well enough to tell and he wasn’t going to think about the fact he never would. Packing. He needed to focus on packing.

  “I know all about how omegas aren’t fit to sit on furniture; their only place is kneeling at an alpha’s feet. I learned the hard way to keep my mouth shut and my eyes down. Where the hell is my bag? Ah, here it is. What else is there? Ah, yes, male omegas can’t have a job outside of the pack; aren’t fit to attend school in case they distract hard working alphas from their studies. They don’t need feeding when scraps will do and my personal favorite…yes, I am being sarcastic here.” Cooper risked another look over his shoulder and saw that Buster had joined Fagin on the floor. He opened his bag and started stuffing his clothes into it. They’d need pressing when he got to wherever he was going, but that was the least of his problems.

  “A pack omega, male of course, is the perfect animal to hunt during pack runs.” Cooper couldn’t stop the fury caused by his humiliating memories from creeping into his tone. “They are never fast enough to get away, so the big strong alphas can have all the fun they like chasing the terrorized animal down; biting him so he can’t move and then pinning him down while they mount him. Please note, those studly alpha males would never stick their dick in a human male ass, but somehow those inhibitions go to hell in wolf form. Every pack run, without fail.” Cooper leaned against the closet door, clutching his bag to his chest. “And every time I broke one of the hundreds of rules I had to live by. You guys should count yourself lucky. I doubt you’ve ever been hunted. This will be the fifth time I’ve moved in as many years.”

  Shaking off his thoughts, Cooper checked his closet. He was going to have to leave most of the new suits Beth insisted he buy behind. It’s not as though he had enough time to go out and buy new suitcases. Leaving his bag on the floor he reached up to the top shelf in the closet. Damn. I’m going to need a chair. Cooper always hid his papers where they were least likely to be found. But then, he did have a very tall alpha taking up space on his bedroom floor – one who hadn’t tried to beat him or enforce the archaic rules on him yet.

  Turning and pasting a big smile on his face, Cooper asked, “Is it possible one of you can reach my satchel at the top of the closet for me? I just need that, oh, and my laptop so I can email work and let them know I’ve quit, then I can be out of your hair. You’ll never have to deal with the stench of an omega clogging your sensitive noses again.”

  Chapter Six

  Fagin had never been so ashamed of his Alpha Wolf title in all his life. Yes, he’d been raised by his father to be strong, but that was so he could protect his weaker pack members. Yes, he’d been raised to follow certain expectations like having children of his own, but he’d never been beaten for refusing to follow them. How his mate could stand there wearing a sweet smile as though having to pack his belongings and run for his life – AGAIN – was nothing more than a minor glitch in his day… “He’s stronger than I could ever be,” he muttered so only Buster could hear.

  “What are we gonna do?” Buster mumbled in reply. “You can’t make him give up his life. It’s not fair. Look at how far he’s come.”

  “I’ve no intention of running. It was cowardly of me to think I had to simply because I’m gay. It’s time to stand on my own two feet and build a pack of my own. Remember how we used to dream about it as kids? Now, it’s time to put those plans into action. My mate deserves nothing less.” Fagin looked up, meeting his mate’s eyes and smiled as he spoke in a louder tone to his friend. “Buster, can you grab Cooper’s bag and take it back to my house along with any other stuff he wants to take with him? If you’re sticking around, you might as well move into the spare room, or you can head back to the pack.” He flicked a glance at his friend. “I would understand if you preferred the old pack. This is going to get messy.”

  “I ain’t going anywhere.” Buster rose gracefully to his feet. “You need me as your second and besides, most of my stuff is at your house anyway. Are you going to notify the council of your new pack? I’ll make sure our new territory doesn’t encroach on the current pack. That shouldn’t be hard to do. Shall I give them the club address?”

  “Might as well. My dad’s going to hear about this soon enough, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.” Fagin got up in one easy move. “In the meantime, my mate and I are going out for dinner. He’s been very gracious, explaining his fears and the way he was brought up. It’s only fair I share my own story and that’s best done over food. Then, if he’ll have me, I intend on spending the evening claiming my mate.”

  Cooper’s smile faltered, but the slight scent of arousal increased, making Fagin’s head swim.

  “I’ll make sure you’re not disturbed until tomorrow,” Buster said with a wink, striding over and grabbing Cooper’s packed bag of clothes. “Was there anything else you needed apart from this satchel?” He reached over Cooper’s head and plucked a dark cloth bag from the closet shelf.

  “That has all my personal papers in it. My recommendations, transcripts and identification.” Cooper’s eyes betrayed his confusion. “I’ll need them to apply for another job.”

  “You won’t be applying for another job, sweetness.” Fagin hurried to his mate’s side. “Unless you don’t like working for the place you’re at now?”

  “No, I mean yes, I do like working there.” Cooper relaxed into Fagin’s side, probably not aware he was even doing it. “But…but…it’s no fun being hunted and now the pack knows I’m here….”

  “I’m not going to tell them,” Fagin said, looking across at Buster. “Are you?”

  Buster looked at his phone, checking the time. “I reckon in another hour we’ll all belong to a totally new pack. We don’t have to share any intel with our ex-pack unless we want to. And I don’t want to.”

  “I don’t either,” Fagin took in a deep breath, his wolf howling as his nose filled with his mate’s scent. “Call the pack anything you like; I’m not worried about details. Just make sure my mate’s identity and his position in our pack as alpha mate is confirmed legally.”

  “Consider it a done deal.” Buster hefted Cooper’s bag onto his shoulder and tucked the satchel containing his mate’s personal papers under his arm. “I’ll
file the paperwork and then be at the bar. If anyone’s sniffing around wondering what we’re up to, that will be the first place they come.”

  Fagin was damn pleased Buster knew what he was doing, but he sighed with relief when he heard his friend leave the apartment. A deep silence surrounded the two men, broken only by the rapid thumping of Cooper’s heartbeat.

  “I’m sure you have questions?” Fagin prompted gently, unable to resist running his finger over Cooper’s smooth cheek bone.

  “What just happened?” Cooper’s body swayed towards his and Fagin wrapped his arms around Cooper’s shoulder. The poor boy was trembling and Fagin’s need to protect him increased. As much as he wanted to strip his mate bare and take full advantage of the bed not three feet away, Fagin resisted. Cooper still had a nasty egg-shaped lump on the corner of his forehead and from the trembles in his body, Fagin imagined his mate was feeling decidedly overwhelmed. But he couldn’t resist running his hand down Cooper’s knobby spine and flicking his hand under Cooper’s shirt. Soft skin teased his fingertips and Fagin groaned as Cooper pressed up against him.

  “Why do I want you so much? Alpha wolves terrify the crap out of me.” Cooper’s voice trembled as much as his body, but Fagin could recognize the sheer lust in his mate’s brilliant blue eyes. Full pink lips tempted Fagin’s control – and won.

  Bending his head, Fagin whispered softly, “because you know I belong to you and only you, for the rest of our very long lives.”

  “You’re the one my mother told me about?”

  Fagin let his kiss answer for him. He had no idea what tales Cooper’s late mother told her son; they could be filled with boogey men and monsters for all he knew. But as he licked Cooper’s bottom lip, moaning as Cooper’s scent intensified and slender hands gripped his biceps, Fagin mentally vowed to be Cooper’s knight in shining armor. He would be the one alpha Cooper could depend on.