He still likes the quilt on the bed. His mother had made it, but it’s too small for two. He likes the books too. They are everywhere: stacked double in the bookcases that take up all the spare wall space, and piled in stacks beside the bed, but he wonders what Cal will think of it.
Cal’s a reader – another big plus in an already plus-heavy column – but even the most avid reader might look at Luke’s room and think maybe Luke has a problem.
A knock sounds at the door, and Adam pops his head round without waiting for Luke to respond. “Hey man, you got a minute?” The pack leader wrinkles his nose. “You smell like...oh no. You didn’t. What on earth, dude? What were you thinking?”
Luke hangs his head, feeling his face flush with shame. “I wasn’t. I really wasn’t. I won’t do it again.”
“You’ve got that right. God, Luke. I really expected better from you.” Adam’s nostrils flare again, and his forehead wrinkles in disgust. “Go shower, then meet me in the common room. We need to talk about Reed. Hell, and you.”
Adam doesn’t slam the door on the way out, but he doesn’t close it gently. That’s when Luke realizes that he’s in deep trouble.
LUKE
golden eyes and kindergarten
Luke showers and dresses quickly, despite knowing his brothers are waiting for him and that he’s about to get the biggest ear lashing of his life.
And if he’s very, very lucky, it’ll just be an ear lashing.
He trots down the corridor of the packhouse and enters the common area. The fire which was smoldering when he’d arrived is roaring now. Someone has packed it high with pine logs.
Outside, the snow is starting to fall faster. Luke’s truck is already completely covered. He wonders what Cal is doing up in the mountains right now, and whether he has a fire going too.
His brothers are seated at the bar, and as Luke walks in, three serious faces turn towards him.
Jax’s mouth is tight with disappointment. Luke’s stomach gives a habitual lurch. He knows that look. Jax inherited it from their mother. It’s the look that says Luke has done something Jax is going to find very hard to forgive.
Gregor just stands with folded arms, looking like nothing more than an angry Viking chief with his bushy hair, big beard and furious blue eyes.
Adam looks as if he’s struggling not to wolf out and rip Luke’s throat out, and that more than anything tells Luke how bad it was. Adam rarely gets angry. He’s the most even-tempered person Luke has ever met.
“Before we decide anything,” Adam snarls. “You are absolutely forbidden to go back up to that cabin. Under any circumstances. If you decide Cal is at risk, you tell me and I’ll go. Or you tell Gregor. You tell Sheriff Dan. Or Jax. Or Elyse. Or anyone else. Hell, you tell the damn babies down at kindergarten before you do anything yourself. Do you understand?”
The hackles on Luke’s neck begin to rise. No one tells him how to behave with his mate.
Adam gives no warning at all. He shifts right where he stands, shedding his clothes and leaps at Luke, knocking the younger man down. The huge wolf pins Luke’s throat down with his jaws, growling.
“You better swear to it, man,” Jax says evenly. “I’ve never seen him so pissed.”
Luke struggles to get up. Adam’s teeth aren’t breaking skin, but they still hurt like hell. The wolf inside is furious. It wants to break free and finally challenge the bigger wolf, put him in his place. This is Luke’s right to his mate that the big wolf is interfering with.
Fortunately, the man knows better than the wolf. “I swear it. I won’t go anywhere near him.” Adam’s teeth tighten. “I said I swear it,” Luke chokes out.
Luke even means it, and evidently that satisfies Adam because the big wolf lets go of Luke’s throat and steps off his chest. Luke sits up rubbing at his throat, but Adam doesn’t bother shifting back. Evidently, he’s said everything he intends to because he simply sits back on his haunches next to Gregor, glaring daggers at Luke with big golden eyes.
He looks up to Gregor as if prodding him to speak. Gregor rolls his eyes. “Right, so we all know Luke is an idiot. Let’s get to business. Reed is a threat to the pack as long as we shelter Sherwood.” He rolls his eyes again at Luke’s snarl. “Oh, don’t growl at me, you big jerk. I’m on your side here. No one’s going to hand over your boyfriend.”
Luke begins breathing slower. “So, what’s the plan then?”
Gregor leans back against the bar. “We do nothing.”
“What?” Luke can’t believe it. Gregor has always been the fighter, wanting to squabble and square up against every minor threat near or far.
“Oh, calm yourself, Mister Protective. There’s a good reason. Besides Adam says so,” Gregor says, looking disappointed at his own words. He stands and adds another log to the already roaring fire. “Adam and I have both put feelers out to all the packs we trust. Reed’s not made any secret about looking for an omega who supposedly betrayed the pack but most of the wolves know Reed’s reputation. They know there’s something hinky going on, and no one wants to get involved. The most recent info we have is that Reed is looking for an omega matching Sherwood’s description halfway across the country. He’s not looking anywhere near here. Let’s not alert him by accident.
Your boy is in the middle of nowhere right now. No one is going to pick up his scent by accident, and he’s only been in town for a few days. If anyone asks, we just say he came through town, did some work and moved on. We had no reason to suspect he was any different to any other vagrant beta.”
Luke nods. It made sense if only for a short while. “He can’t stay up there forever though.”
“No, just until the heat dies down,” Gregor says. “And I don’t mean his heat. Reed is all rage and fury right now, but his resources aren’t infinite. Sherwood can run but he’s got no money and nowhere to go. There are far worse things than having to hide out in a well-stocked cabin for a few months. We’ll give Reed time to wind down and then we’ll re-evaluate and make a decision what to do next.”
Luke smiles. That he can live with. Once Cal’s heat fades, he can go up there and they can talk.
Jax pokes him hard in the arm. “And you go nowhere near him. The man has been through hell and a half. He needs time to recover.”
Adam indicates his agreement with a low growl.
Luke raises his hands. “I’m not going back. I swore it. But once his heat’s done, I do need to talk to him.”
“Nuh uh uh. No, you don’t. It’s not fair to him and I don’t want to hear a word out of you about it.” Jax spits out. “What you did was disgusting. He needs space from you as much as anyone.”
Luke shakes his head. Yes, he’d handled it badly, but it had been consensual. “But—”
“No, Luke!” Jax hisses. “How would you like it if some dumb alpha had done that to me after I’d been through what Cal’s been through?”
Luke stops in his tracks. If the situation were reversed, he’d tear that dumb alpha limb from limb is what he’d do.
Jax nods, satisfied at the look on Luke’s face. “Exactly. You stay here.”
Luke glances out of the window at the rapidly falling snow. It doesn’t make much difference anyway, he thinks. No one is going anywhere near that cabin for a while.
CAL
candy and mayonnaise
Cal stretches out lazily on the bed. There are words people sometimes use for being stuck inside and not being able to get out: confined, claustrophobic, cabin fever.
Absolutely none of them apply. This is awesome. It’s been three weeks. Long past the time that someone else would have been driven crazy by the drifts of snow piled up outside and the lack of company.
Cal wouldn’t say no to Luke turning up again so they can have another round, but he’s also enjoying knowing that there is no way anyone can make it up here with the snow so high. It’s the first time in years that he’s felt safe.
He hasn’t had to work or hide or worry about anything other than w
orking his way through the massive bookshelf that he suspects is Luke’s contribution to the cabin. He’s also doing his best to find out how big a dent he can put in the snack cupboard before they kick him out.
The soft sound of the snow melting outside is relaxing too. Perhaps a little too relaxing. He’s spent a lot of time napping. That, and thinking about the way it felt when Luke fucked him.
Along with the napping, he’s been doing a lot of jerking off to those memories, and when the snow melts, he intends to make a lot more of them.
Somehow, being with Luke felt natural as well as being perfect and stupidly hot. Cal had been a little nervous, but it had flowed instinctively.
The only worry is that he hasn’t heard from him. Not once. Perhaps Luke’s busy. He had that summit thing to worry about, although Cal thinks it’s finished.
Jax had called on the phone Luke left him on the day after the snow started but Jax had been remarkably tight-lipped about Luke for once, and Cal picked up a tone of annoyance in his voice.
Jax could have been annoyed with Luke about something else entirely, but the nagging little voice in Cal’s head keeps poking at it. The little voice sounds remarkably like Dad.
Alphas only want one thing. Once they’ve had it, they lose interest. You’ll get the rare few who’ll treat you right, but you won’t know until it’s too late.
Cal pushes the thoughts away, refusing to let them stick. It doesn’t matter. There’s absolutely nothing he can do about it now. And as long as Luke hasn’t actually told him that he doesn’t want him, Cal can still pretend and daydream as much as he likes.
He stretches again, enjoying the softness of the sheets. That wasn’t something Reed had cared about and Cal hadn’t had much experience of them while he was growing up either. Then it was just scratchy motel beds, damp apartments and whatever was cheapest in a pinch.
The isolation is coming to an end. He knows it by how fast the snow is melting. He has maybe a day or two before it had melts enough for the truck to get up here safely.
Time to finish off as many of those snacks in as he can. Cal rolls off of the bed, and pads into the kitchen in socked feet. He raids the corner cupboard where they keep the chip bags and chocolate bars and grabs a handful of each type.
Then he pads back to the living room where he builds up the fire again and falls onto the sofa. He’s finished almost all the fantasy novels on the shelf and is just starting on the sci-fi. He’s still got all the romances and historical novels to go before he runs out, but he’ll get Luke to bring him up a new box long before that. The man has fantastic taste in books.
He opens the first page of the space opera he picked out and pulls open the packet of chips. A rank smell rises up from it. Cal gags, and immediately folds the packet back but the smell remains.
He coughs and races to the bathroom, only just making it to the toilet before he throws up. Cal kneels on the tiles and waits for the waves of nausea to subside.
Ugh. Cal guesses it’s lucky this is the first time he picked something bad. Any stockpile of long-life food is going to have something go bad if it’s left long enough. He’s not usually the type to get sickly about it though.
Cal washes out his mouth in the sink and brushes his teeth. His stomach still feels wobbly. What was in that stuff?
He walks back to the living room holding his breath, grabs the packet and shoves it out the front door. Only then does he feel safe to start breathing in again. The disgusting smell still lingers so he opens the windows to let it dissipate.
The book has fallen face down on the floor, bending the pages. Whoops. Glad Luke isn’t round to see that one, he thinks. The big alpha has used some choice words about people who don’t treat books right.
Cal looks at the pile of snacks. Chocolate will make a good palate cleanser. And that lasts practically forever, right?
Cal selects one of his favorite brands from the pile and unwraps it. An unpleasant aroma arises. It hasn’t gone bad; it’s just far too sickly sweet. The nausea rises again.
What the hell? Again?
Cal throws the chocolate bar into the snow next to the chips. His stomach hurts. He’s both hungry and nauseated, ravenous and sick, and starving and miserably ill all at the same time. Maybe he’s getting a bug, although he’s not sure who he can have caught it from. He hasn’t seen a soul in weeks.
Something other than junk food to settle his stomach feels like a good idea. Cal makes his way back to the kitchen and opens the cupboards.
Let’s see. Tomato and basil pasta sauce. Oooh, candy. If I add that in, it’ll be sweeter. And maybe a little mayo.
Cal stops dead and stares at the jars and packets on the kitchen counter. No one sane would eat all of these things at once, not unless…
Oh no.
CAL
one white and one yellow
“Take the tablets, Cal and quit arguing,” Dad stands in front of thirteen-year-old Cal, his palm outstretched. There are two tablets in its center, one white and one yellow.
“What are they?” Cal is unexpectedly nervous. Dad has strong feelings about unnecessary medication. If he wants Cal to take something, it has to be for something serious.
“The white one is a blocker. It’ll stop you starting your heat,” Dad explains. The two of them are standing in the kitchen of a rented apartment in some town that Cal doesn’t even remember the name of.
The heating doesn’t work and the two of them are bundled in their coats and scarves. “Heats are a world of trouble. You don’t want ‘em, kid.”
Cal shivers and grins. “They sound like a good idea right now,” he says.
Dad doesn’t laugh. “You need to pay attention to this. It’s important. Take a look at the little stamp on each side. Go on, take it.”
Cal does as he is told. The table is tiny, but it’s just possible to make out a little marker on it. It hardly looks like a wolf at all. Cal thinks it’s got a definite toady feel.
“Run your finger over the stamp,” Dad says. “Can you feel it’s slightly raised?”
Cal nods.
“That’s how you know it’s genuine. A lot of the fakes don’t have that. They just spray the picture on. Always feel for the ridge before you take it. Get into the habit every time you take one, so it comes natural to you. Never ever forget one. If you’re not sure if you took it or not, take it anyway. A second one won’t do you too much harm.
And if we have to run, you grab those first. Forget money or clothes. Hell, forget me if it comes to it. Make sure you’ve always got at least three months’ worth of blockers with you. You don’t want to run out.” Dad gestures to the glass of water on the table between them. Cal picks it up and swallows the pill. It doesn’t taste like anything, but the water is too cold, and it makes him cough.
Dad nods, satisfied. “Good boy. Now, the yellow one.”
Cal takes it from Dad’s outstretched hand and swallows that one too.
Dad ruffles his hair. “Good kid. Listen now, I’m going to start giving you these daily. They need to be the first thing you take every morning. Before you pee. Before you brush your teeth. Before you have breakfast. They need to be your priority.”
“What does the yellow one do?” Maybe Cal should have asked that question before he swallowed it.
“That one stops you getting pregnant before you’re ready. One day you might want a baby, but it needs to be when you want it and when you’re ready. “
“I’m thirteen, Dad. I’m not going to have sex,” Cal rolls his eyes. Admittedly, it’s been something he’s been more curious about recently. Finding out he’s an omega did that, but he certainly isn’t planning on doing anything about it. None of the alpha boys at school have even given him a second look anyway.
Cal will never forget the expression on his father’s face. He looked so sad. “I know, kid. It’s just in case. You can’t trust alphas with these things. And they won’t always stand by you.”
“But once you have a baby, it’s
part of the pack. You’re part of the pack.” Cal says. Maybe Cal didn’t grow up in a pack of his own, but he knows how they work. He watches Real Omegas and Pack-life Family on TV whenever he gets the chance, although most of the time Dad just tells him to ‘turn that crap off’.
Dad kneels so he’s in front of Cal. He puts his hands on his shoulders, and that sad look is back again. “Oh sweetheart, no. That’s not the way it works. Most alphas don’t want kids. Some of the real bad ones kill the cubs once they’re out. They don’t want the competition for their omega’s affection.” Dad rubs at his eyes. “Jeez, you’re too young to have to know about this stuff.”
Cal’s stomach twists. He’s never thought much about carrying a baby, but just the thought of someone threatening his child makes his blood run cold. He didn’t believe it, and then, standing in the kitchen with his father, he didn’t. Not really.
Years later, in the middle of a summer heatwave, Cal listens to Ben panting and crying as his cub comes, while Cal kneels in front of his open legs on the dirty wood floorboards of a locked room at the top of a townhouse in River Beach.
The baby comes out slow at first, her pretty dark hair crowning and then appearing, then very fast and Cal has to reach out to catch her.
She’s beautiful, even all red scrunch-faced and angry at having to be brought into the world.
And then there was Reed and his second, Eric. And all Reed had done was turn to Eric and say, ‘Get rid of it.”
Just like that. No emotion. No nothing. Just two alphas taking care of a problem.
Five years after that, Cal stands in the kitchen of a cabin in the middle of nowhere frozen with terror while the drip drip of melting snow in the background tells him that his time is running out.
He didn’t listen to Dad before and look what happened. It’s one thing to not listen to Dad’s advice again, but this time it isn’t just his own life he’ll be screwing up.
Luke wouldn’t do that. Luke reads romance novels and laughs at Cal’s dumb jokes. Luke is not the kind of man who’ll kill a cub. Of course, he isn’t.
Winterstoke Wolves Collection : An MM Mpreg Shifter Romance Bundle Page 9