Winterstoke Wolves Collection : An MM Mpreg Shifter Romance Bundle
Page 37
Moments later, footsteps sound outside coming closer until they end on the other side of the bathroom door.
GRAY
reds, golds and the remains of a suit
It’s only been a couple of months but the town has changed. For one thing, it feels smaller after the city.
It’s different physically too, the leaves on the trees are starting to turn a range of reds and golds, and Gray can’t help thinking that this is going to be the first fall he is going to spend away from the mountains and his family.
He tries the clinic first. The receptionist’s eyes widen when she sees him but she sends him right through to the back to find Jax.
He approaches the office with nerves jangling, but Jax isn’t there. By the scent of it, he’s been gone for at least a couple of hours.
There’s something different to Jax’s scent, but it’s difficult to pick out while he’s in human form and all the myriad of clinic scents are all around.
He takes the road up to the packhouse as the sun dips and dark falls. This is different too. He has more context on how the human world works. He knows why there are white lines in the middle of the road. He knows that the occasional plastic container on the side of the road isn’t meant to be there, and it has been left by the kind of human who is lazy, which itself is another human concept he has learned.
It’s not long before the dark red brick of the packhouse rises up in the middle of the fallen pine needles and gravel of the parking area.
The straight lines that once looked so unnatural now seem a lot more attractive. Gray is starting to understand why the humans like them. They look clean and orderly somehow, fitting how humans think: everything going into neat little boxes.
Before he has a chance to turn into the driveway, a truck roars out and squeals to a stop beside him.
Gregor rolls down the window and stares at him. “What are you doing here?”
The two other Winterstoke alphas are sitting beside him. Their eyes are like arrows.
This was a bad idea. “I wanted to talk to Jax. Just talk to him. I’ll go away straight after. I promise.”
“Get in the back,” Adam orders. “We’ve got trouble.”
The look on Adam’s face makes Gray’s heart stop. Who is we?
“It’s Jax,” Adam continues. “Get in.”
Gray clambers into the open back of the truck, cold terror seeping through his veins.
It sets off the moment his feet leave the ground and he has to hold onto the sides to stop himself falling off.
There are no open windows between himself and the others so he settles himself in and sniffs the air, trying to work out what’s going on. There are traces of a thousand things in the air, all different to the city: the fading scent of the mating run, the dying leaves on the trees, the river going into flood, the exhaust from the truck. And above that, there is the scent of the city wolves. They have been all over these woods, old scents and new.
Ash’s scent comes through the others. It’s crisscrossed through the trees, but it’s less distinct. Wherever he has been, it’s not been close by. He’s been keeping to the edges. Wherever his scent has been, it’s been crossed with the city wolves.
Politics, Gray thinks with disdain. The city wolves are playing at something, and Ash will have no chance against them. He’s not used to human mind games.
Jax is there too among the trees, but far fainter. Gray can’t tell if he was in the woods today or yesterday or if it’s just something in the truck that he has been close to.
The truck hurtles up the mountain road in the dark, until it draws to a sudden halt.
Adam climbs out the side, and limps over.
“You need to get out here.”
Gray looks around in confusion. It’s dark and he can see nothing but trees and the road.
He sniffs the air. Jax is somewhere near here, as is his brother and the other wolves. There is blood in the air. His stomach churns.
“That way,” Adam says pointing. “There’s a cabin. Jax is in it. Or he was when he called. Go around the back. There’s a door leading directly into the kitchen. It’s usually locked but you’ll find a key on top of the lintel in the woodshed. You know what a lintel is?”
Gray shakes his head.
“On top of the doorway inside. Just reach up and feel it,” Adam says. He’s about to say something else, then he hesitates. “You know what a key is? And how to use it?”
“Yes. I have learned a lot of things. I have used keys.”
“Good. No one knows you’re here. That’s our advantage. Look for Jax. Sneak him away if you can. We’ll deal with the others.”
Gray doesn’t wait. There are no questions he needs answered. Nothing he needs to know.
Jax is that way. The suit comes off as he runs. He needs his wolf nose for this. It’s the first time he’s shifted since he came down the mountain. He thought it would feel like a big thing, but it’s nothing.
He’s been thinking about nothing just Jax for days, and it’s only intensified the closer he’s come.
His nose is working again too. It picks up all the currents and drifts of the wind. He slips this way and then that to keep his scent away from that of the city wolves. They are not his goal.
The cabin is clear ahead. He can’t see it but his nose builds a scent-picture: the old wood beams, the food in the cupboards, the scent of furniture and curtains, and of people coming for years and parking their vehicles out front.
He slips through the trees with care. The Winterstokes have arrived. He can see the lights of their truck and the sounds of air shifting as they turn to wolves.
The blood is his brother’s. Ash is hurt. Even after everything, the realization sends a shock wave through his body and his instincts want to turn to him. Ash is pack.
As is Jax.
Jax, whom he can scent up ahead, is so close. Someone growls, low and deep somewhere to his left, and the growl is answered. Gray ignores them both. Neither is Jax. The others will need to take care of themselves.
He sniffs out the woodshed instantly, then shifts to reach up and find the key on the inside of the doorway. It’s exactly where Adam said it would be. His fingers come away sticky with dust.
He checks the wind before moving but it’s still on his side, carrying his scent away from the others.
He wants to shift back to wolf so he can scent the world properly and move the way he wants, but he needs to use the key.
It turns easily in the lock. He picks up Jax’s scent the moment he enters.
Jax.
His head fills with the scent of him and the memory of his skin against Gray’s.
Find Jax. His mind turns razor-sharp with purpose.
He’s not in the kitchen, nor in the room with the fire. Gray turns sniffing. He can hear snaps and growls coming from outside. He ignores them, but he does shift back.
He has his strength back. He can feel it in every limb and the powerful muscles in his body as he stalks the hallway.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, the realization registers. He’s not broken anymore. He’s the same powerful wolf he used to be, and he is going to have what he wants. No wolf is going to stop him from protecting his mate.
A loud high scream sounds from outside. Gray freezes. It sounded like Ash. He turns around. He can’t let his brother—
No. Ash made his own choice when he took over the wild wolf pack. Gray is making his now.
He follows Jax’s scent to the bathroom, identified by the twin scents of shampoo and soaps.
The door is shut. Gray can hear Jax breathing on the other side of it. He’s breathing hard and fast.
Jax’s breath suddenly hitches as he picks up Gray’s scent.
“Gray?” It’s a soft whisper but it goes straight to Gray’s heart, there is so much emotion in it.
Gray mewls softly in response. He’s not going to shift. Not now, when he needs his teeth and his strength.
“Oh my god.”
His eyes widen when he takes in Gray in wolf form. “Oh my god,” he says again.
Jax reaches over and grabs Gray by the neck and buries his face in his fur. “I thought I was never going to see you again.”
For what feels like the first time in weeks, Gray feels the tension release from his bones. He lets himself wallow in the scent and sensation of being surrounded by his mate.
Jax smells heavenly, the way he always has, perhaps even more so. He smells like—
Gray’s body stiffens in shock. Jax reacts immediately. He pulls back, the expression on his face pained.
Jax is pregnant. Enormously so. Gray can scent it. There’s more than one cub in there, and they smell like the open mountain and the sky.
And then there’s Jax. He’s just standing there, wearing nothing but a towel around his waist and there’s this look in his eyes like he is terrified and he has no idea what Gray is going to do.
The sounds of yelps and growls drift in from the outside and the world crystalizes into a single sharpened point.
Mine. Jax belongs Gray. The cubs are his. Everything narrows to a single focus point.
There’s not even time to reassure Jax, and Gray has no intention of shifting. Not when he is finally strong enough again to protect his pack with teeth, claws and muscle.
He growls low and long; every protective instinct he has come to the fore. They need to leave. Jax needs to go now.
He nudges Jax with his nose. That way. Go.
Jax drops the towel and shifts. Gray’s heart leaps in his chest.
This is Jax as a wolf. Small and lithe, with dark blond fur. Brown eyes survey Gray’s own.
Mine.
But then it all goes wrong. There’s another scream from outside, another wolf hurt, and Jax goes rigid. Then instead of listening to his alpha and following him to safety, Jax bolts into the night.
JAX
rules and barbarism
His brothers are here and one of them is screaming, but it’s not family that makes him run, it’s the doctor in him.
As an omega, he’s useless but his medical training can mean the difference between life and death if it comes at the right time.
Jax races past Gray’s startled face and straight towards the front door. He shifts in an instant and unbolts the door, running straight out onto the cabin porch.
Ash is lying on the ground, his bright blue eyes glazed. He’s struggling to get to his feet and failing. Finally, he collapses, his chest rising and falling heavily with each breath.
The city wolves are blocking him from the Winterstokes who are standing in a line in front of them.
Adam is leaning heavily to one side, favoring his good legs. Luke has a gash across his nose, deep enough that it’s going to leave a scar.
Only Gregor appears uninjured. He stands, hackles raised, eyes fixed on the three city wolves between him and Ash.
They’re uninjured or appear to be. And Ronmin is human. He’s standing naked, hands on his hips, that endlessly annoying cocky smile on his face.
God, Jax wants to wipe that off him.
“Come now, fellows. It’s three against... well, two and a half. Adam, you’ve got the spunk but you’re not quite full wolf anymore, are you?”
Adam snarls but Jax can hear the exhaustion in it.
“Now, I don’t agree with this kind of thing at all. It’s a shame to damage good strong wolves. I’m not going to do anything I don’t have to. All you need to do is merge into my pack and we’ll all walk away as friendly as can be. Of course, you’ll have to abide by my rules but they’re not that strenuous.”
They’re barbaric, Jax thinks. Ronmin’s rules are pure barbarism with a veneer of respectability stuck on with threats and blackmail.
And Ronmin will think nothing of sending his brothers out to fight other packs who don’t want to fight either.
“Now, Adam, I know you’re still cross with me about Cole. Good old Cole. He’s been doing runs for years for me. He’s really good at being a victim. Doesn’t mind it at all really. That was a bit sneaky on my part. I’ll admit that, but you were dim enough to fall for it, so you’ll have to admit that.”
Jax’s stomach sinks as he realizes what Ronmin is talking about. Ash didn’t touch Cole Bennett. That was Ronmin or one of his thugs. Ash is guilty of being a stalker, but he never actually did anything.
Jax should have seen it. He’d seen how Bennett reacted to Ronmin, the hate there and the obedience. It should have been obvious.
Ronmin looks up, meeting Jax’s eyes with his bright green ones.
“Oh no, wait. Here’s your other half. Now you’ve got about three full wolves to try take me down. Come to scrap, little omega?”
Ronmin’s grin widens, then just as suddenly it’s wiped off his face. Gray steps out from the cabin door.
He sees Ash on the ground and lets out a howl that sounds like it can shake the trees.
Ronmin shudders, then recovers quickly. His eyes dart from Gray to Ash, and Gray can see what he’s thinking so clearly, he might as well say it out loud.
It’s no longer two and a half against three, or even three against three.
Ronmin is now outnumbered, and if he’s going to assign values to wolves, then the giant wolf that is Gray has to count for at least another two.
The tables have turned in an instant.
Ronmin grins again, another slow, relaxed smile, and if Jax weren’t looking for the unease in his eyes, he’d be taken in completely.
“Nice to see you back. How did you enjoy life in the city?”
Gray doesn’t shift. He doesn’t answer. He takes two steps forward.
Ronmin keeps talking. “Now, I do apologize about your brother. It’s hard when family falls out, but the wild pack’s yours now if you want it. You can go back, take the leadership like you wanted to.”
Gray stops suddenly as if the thought hadn’t occurred to him. He looks from Jax to Ash, back at Jax.
“Come now. You know your family will be vulnerable without you and your brother. Oh no, not me. I’m not threatening them. Don’t growl at me like that. Come now, you know I’m right.”
“No.” It’s Adam this time. “This doesn’t end that easily. The wild wolves are our allies. You’ve attacked their leader completely unprovoked. We’d be well within our rights to take you down right now.”
Ronmin puts up his hands. “Now, that’s not quite right, is it? Isaiah was your ally. I’m pretty sure you didn’t get this fellow to sign a thing. That means, legally at least, it’s just between me and him. Sorry, but if you try take me down, it counts as murder. I don’t make the rules.”
You just manipulate them, Jax thinks.
“Now, I’d be within my rights to finish him off right now. Oh stop, big guy. I didn’t say I would. I said I’d be within my rights. How about you and me come to an agreement instead? Forget the dogs and their little town, and I’ll make sure you’re both left out of this. No one is interested in wild wolves anyway. You and your brother can both live out your lives out there in the wilds with no one to bother either of you. I’ll even throw in the omega. You take him with you. I’ll make sure no one will complain.”
Behind him, Ash struggles to get to his feet again, panic showing in his blue eyes.
“Or I can just get rid of your brother if that’s easier. Whichever way you choose, it works out well for you. You get your pack. You get your omega. Everyone’s happy.”
Gray is watching him with a serious expression. Jax grabs a handful of gray fur. Gray hasn’t been among humans for long. He’s not used to dealing with people like Ronmin.
Gray shifts finally. The scars on his body have healed but they still display the history of the violence of his entry into Jax’s life.
“I want my pack,” he says.
Ronmin’s face lights up. “Good boy.”
“A
ll my pack.”
“You got it.”
“Go away,” Gray growls.
“Absolutely. Take your omega. Take your brother. I have no fight with you.”
“I have a fight with you. I will have all my pack, the old and the new. Go away. You are not a good man. Or a good wolf.”
Gray is evidently tired of the conversation because the next moment, he is a wolf again, snarling and angry. He leaps off of the porch and sets himself right in the middle of the Winterstoke alphas and Ash.
His meaning is clear. Attack one way or the other, and Ronmin will have Gray to deal with.
Ronmin stares at him for a minute, then he throws up his hands.
“Fair enough. Well played,” then he cocks his head at his two wolves and they slink off back into the forest.
Jax swallows hard. He looks from his brothers to Ash to Gray.
His brothers are fine, or they will be. Ash might be another story. He trots down the stairs and heads to the wild wolf.
Nervous eyes look back at him.
“Don’t you worry,” Jax says. “We fixed your brother. We can fix you. Now, I just need to check you over.”
The wild wolf nods slowly.
Jax lets out a sigh of relief. “Good.”
Half an hour later, and he’s in the back of the truck with Ash and Gray hurtling down towards the clinic.
TWO MONTHS LATER
JAX
bellies and blobs
If Jax had ever imagined the scene of his first baby scan, and he’s not admitting that he has, then it would have looked like this: he’d have planned the baby for one thing. His alpha would be by his side and actually know what a scan is.
He’d also be someone Jax had met in an education or work setting: a fellow doctor or an academic. He’d be someone modern well-versed in omega rights. Maybe he’d even be a lawyer working for an omega sanctuary.
He’d be educated and have his own professional life. They’d discuss academic papers and argue about politics. He’d be a modern alpha who’d be proud of Jax’s achievements and would intend to do his share in raising their pups.