“You know I can’t do that.”
The other man shrugs. “I know.”
He wipes his mouth with a napkin. “The offer stands,” he continues. “You want to stop all this and just talk about it anytime, just let me know. You have my number.”
He pushes the chair back from the table and gets to his feet. “I am serious. Call me. Bye kid, look after your dads for me.”
“Bye,” Ivan says. “Thank you for bringing me back.”
“No problem, kid.”
Then Ronmin is gone, and Adam is left feeling like the unreasonable one because he doesn’t want to betray Thomas or the other Warwicks.
THOMAS
wet and furious
The three alphas stop in their tracks at the sight of a still-wet and furious Thomas stalking towards them while wearing nothing more than a small hand towel to protect his modesty.
“I just had to persuade everyone in there not to climb out of a window and run away,” Thomas yells. The air is thick with bossy alpha pheromones, but he doesn’t care. “Why aren’t you out there looking for Ivan? What is so damned important that you have to beat your chests and wave your dicks so hard that the cabin stinks of alpha bullshit?”
Lex’s eyes go blank. Thomas recognizes that expression. That’s his ‘Thomas is pissed and I don’t want to argue’ look.
Luke raises his eyebrows. He’s the calmest of the three. Whatever alpha squabble is going on, it’s between Gregor and Lex, who Thomas thinks have always been way too good at testosterone-fueled dick fights.
“Well?”
“We were just discussing the best way to keep you all safe,” Luke says. “Lex wants to take you and Jacob back to the farm because strictly speaking you belong to the Warwick pack, and Ronmin isn’t allowed to touch you. Gregor disagrees.”
“Okay, firstly,” Gregor says. “We don’t know what Ronmin is going to do. The man is short a few pencils from his box. Secondly, we don’t know what you’re going to do. We are responsible for these omegas. All of them. Not you.”
“You’re not responsible for Warwick omegas. I am,” Lex says furiously.
“Um no, Barbara is,” Gregor replies. “And she’s trusted Adam with them. I listen to him, not you.”
Lex opens his mouth to argue but Gregor gets in first. “You’re not the boss of me.”
Thomas rolls his eyes. He can’t believe Gregor actually said that. Apparently, Gregor doesn’t believe it either because he sinks his face into his hands.
How alphas ever came to dominate the world, Thomas doesn’t know.
“I don’t care. Just stop. Both of you,” Thomas orders. “This is ridiculous. Why do you even want us to go back to the farm?” he asks.
Lex folds his arms. “Because you can’t stay here. It’s too close to the town. I scented you out. If I can, anyone can. The farm is safer. Ronmin might find you but he can’t do anything. All he can do is shout insults and threats.”
“And Shannon and Cam?”
Lex has the decency to look ashamed. “We can find somewhere else for them.”
“Like where?”
Aylewood isn’t Fort Gosford. There aren’t a thousand buildings and million scents to get lost in. There are only so many cabins, and most of them are occupied at this time of year.
“The wild wolves,” Gregor says suddenly. “They’ll take you. They’re the only pack who haven’t sworn that they don’t know where you are. Besides Ronmin’s shit-scared of them. Gray is powerful and Ash is unpredictable. He’s not going to risk crossing them again. We’ll send you all up the mountain.”
“The wild wolves need to spend their time looking for Ivan,” Thomas says firmly. “I’m not going anywhere until they find him.”
“They’re not dogs, Thomas.” Gregor counters. “We can’t tell them what to do. We can only ask, and they’ve already been looking for hours. It’s time to try another tack.”
“Like what?” Thomas is realizing with dawning horror that he may have made a mistake. He’s been sat waiting like a good little omega when he should have been out combing the mountainside, Ronmin be damned.
“I don’t know,” Gregor admits. Something buzzes. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone. The expression on his face softens.
He passes the phone over to Thomas.
Adam: I’ve got Ivan. Safe and sound. R is here. Pls confirm situation yr end.. It’s dated an hour ago. A second message, sent five minutes ago, reads: R gone. On my way with I..
All the fight drains out of him. He sits heavily on the muddy ground, feeling the damp earth squelch onto his skin. It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters.
Ivan is safe.
Above him, Lex and Gregor start arguing again. Their voices sound strangely distant.
Thomas blinks. A part of him was fearing the worst: that Ivan had fallen down the ravine, that Ronmin had killed him as some kind of revenge, worse things that his brain didn’t even want to articulate.
Not one of them is true. Ivan is safe with Adam and he’s on his way. Ivan is getting closer with every second.
“I need another shower,” Thomas pronounces. When Ivan gets here, Thomas needs to be in dad-mode, and that doesn’t include looking like a half-naked omega with his butt in the mud.
He runs inside, shouts “Everything is fine” at the startled omegas inside, then jumps into the shower. He doesn’t wash properly, just rinses the mud off his ass. He’s back outside in under three minutes and most of that was spent cursing himself for not drying himself properly before trying to tug his jeans up.
Lex and Gregor are still arguing, although they’ve at least lowered their voices. Luke is just standing by with his arms folded, and a bored expression on his face while he waits for them to finish.
Thomas wishes they would be quiet. He’s trying to listen for the sound of an engine. When Adam said ‘here’ what did he mean? Was he five minutes away or fifty?
The engine sound doesn’t come. It’s Ivan’s scent that he picks up first, followed by Adam’s.
Moments later, a large wolf with a smaller one by his side appears through the line of the trees.
Ivan barely shifts in the city so the first thing that Thomas thinks is: he’s grown so big.
The second thing is: Oh no. Adam still has that awful backpack.
Ivan races to his father, bounding across the ground on muddy paws. Thomas leans down and envelopes him in a hug, pressing his face into his son’s fur.
Then he holds him at arm’s length, looking him up and down, checking that every toepad is still there and that there are no injuries.
Ivan looks fine. He’s a strong, healthy young wolf.
Adam pads over on heavy paws, then sits on his haunches, watching them. Thomas mouths “Thank you” at him. The wolf nods.
“Are you okay?” Thomas asks. “Have you eaten?”
Ivan shifts. The young wolf disappears, leaving a pale boy with a shock of black hair. Brown eyes like Adam’s look into Thomas’ own. “Pa made me pancakes.”
Pa. Thomas glances over at Adam who cocks his head and shrugs.
“Sounds like you had an adventure, sweetheart. Why don’t you run inside and get dressed? I’ve got to talk to the alphas.”
“Okay.”
Thomas’ watches his son run into the cabin behind him. It’s painful letting him out of his sight.
He turns his attention back to the alphas, just as Adam says to Lex. “You need to leave. Now.”
“Not without my cousins.”
“Now.” Thomas can hear the finality in Adam’s voice.
Lex bristles, and a low growl escapes his mouth. “No. You can keep the others. I want Thomas and I want Jacob and I want Ivan. They’re Warwicks. You can’t keep them from me.
“Take it up with Barbara.” Adam says firmly. “I’m in charge here.”
Lex looks from Adam to Luke to Gregor. It’s three against one. He’s not going to win this one by force.
“Thomas—” he begins.
“I’m staying here.”
“It’s not safe for you,” Lex pleads.
“Lex, go home.”
“Fine.” Lex throws up his hands in surrender. “Let me know if you move them. I have the right to know that.”
Adam doesn’t respond but Thomas can see the answer in his eyes. No, you don’t.
Lex flexes his jaw, eyes narrowing but Thomas knows his cousin. Lex isn’t stupid. He’ll walk away from a fight if he knows he has no chance of winning.
The only thing Thomas doesn’t understand is why Lex is fighting at all.
ADAM
rocky terrain and blister packs
It’s six miles through uneven and rocky terrain to the wild wolves territory as the crow flies.
It’s even longer by the need to dip in and out of the river and the many mountain streams so that following their scent will be more difficult.
Adam’s hip is fine. More than fine. He’s swallowed the hardest painkillers he has: the real bad boys that he only keeps for emergencies. The relief has been overwhelming, and Adam is beginning to understand just how easily people become addicted to them.
He has another blister pack in the backpack for emergencies. Only for emergencies. The problem is that everything is an emergency these days.
Ivan hardly seems to notice the distance. He bounds in and out of the trees, sniffing at everything, until Thomas has to yip at him to stay close.
The boy needs more wolf time, Adam thinks. Maybe once all this is over, Thomas will let Adam have him over the weekends. Teaching a boy to be a wolf seems like a good dad thing to do. A good Pa thing to do.
He doesn’t even know where Ivan got that or when he decided that was going to be his name for Adam. They hadn’t talked about it, or at all after that first question back at the packhouse, but Adam likes it.
Pa. He could be a Pa.
The other omegas follow behind at varying degrees of resentment. None of them wanted to go to the wild wolves, although personally Adam thinks some back-to-nature time among the wolves is a lot more civilized than hiding in a rotten cabin.
It’s only going to be temporary after all.
He hopes.
They cross the upper river boundary of the wild wolves’ territory as the sun is beginning to set.
The thick forest has turned to open rock and boulders, and they have to pick their way carefully through the crevices and narrow passageways.
Ten minutes later, the scents change on the wind and an enormous ash-colored wolf appears over the top of a jutting rock.
Adam bows his head and lowers his belly. He’s on their territory now. He and Ash have not always had a smooth relationship, and it’s not going to get better if he doesn’t acknowledge that.
Ash lets out a low bark. Adam scrambles back to his paws, slipping slightly on the smooth stone.
He’s only been up here a couple of times in his life. Keeping out of the wild wolves’ territory is another rule that all the Adam Winterstokes have abided by: a tradition of generations, and just one more that is falling by the wayside with his leadership.
Ash leads them through the rocks and through a bewildering array of twists, turns and jumps along the rocky ridges.
In a couple of places, Thomas and Adam have to shift and manhandle Ivan up some of the higher jumps.
Good luck getting up here without giving us plenty of notice, Aidan, Adam thinks, and he wonders when, in his head, he became on first names basis with the leader of Fort Gosford, or when he came to see Ash as a friend.
He’s become increasingly appreciative of the presence of the wild wolves in the alliance agreement. Until Gray came down the mountain almost a year ago, Adam had simply thought of them as just a pack that was there. To be respected and acknowledged, but not really a part of the human world.
Now, he sees them for what they really are: a strong and powerful pack at their back, that strengthens their alliance and gives their enemies pause for thought. He owes them.
The narrow rocky pathway they are padding along broadens out and turns, revealing a wide-open valley beneath the legendary Charen Peak.
The scents and sounds of the remainder of the wild wolf pack drifts through the fresh air.
Ash shows them to a series of shallow caves set into the cliffs, then leaves them to get settled in.
Adam shifts immediately and gets his phone out of his backpack. Surprisingly, he actually has a signal. One bar but it will do.
There are a couple of messages from Gregor and Luke. Gregor’s been in touch with Barbara Warwick, trying to find out from her what her plan is for Shannon and Cam.
They can’t stay among the wild wolves forever. At some point, they’re going to have to enter the safehouse chain again and go to wherever omegas go once they reach the end.
The clipped message from Gregor makes it clear that he’s getting nowhere with her and Adam feels a flush of irritation.
Cam, Shannon and Jacob set up camp a little distance from them in a sheltered overhang hidden behind the trees. Shannon’s posture makes it clear that she’s not in the mood to be anywhere near Adam.
She’d argued strenuously about not wanting to come up the mountain, supposedly about fear of the wild wolves, but Adam had overruled her.
He still doesn’t know who it was who had the phone in the Van Zyle cabin. Maybe she really is distrustful of the wildlings. It doesn’t matter.
Either way, they are all being removed from anywhere that they could contact Aidan Ronmin or his pack.
Cam, on the other hand, has retreated into himself further, but whether that was the long trek up the mountains or the new alpha scents from the wild pack is anyone’s guess.
He’s not sure why Jacob hasn’t joined him and Thomas in the overhang instead of hanging out with the other omegas. He’s hoping it’s because Thomas might have hinted that he wants them to have some alone time.
Wishful thinking, Winterstoke, Adam tells himself. Still, there has to be some reason and that’s as good as any.
The pack themselves are keeping a respectful distance from the newcomers, although Ivan has been gaining confidence and darting closer.
There are other young wolves within the wild pack: a pair of cubs a few years younger than Ivan, and the pups are doing that thing where they size each other up before gaining the confidence to approach.
Adam is willing to put money on them being best of friends by the time the sun sets tomorrow.
I should have sent them all straight up here in the first place, he thinks.
Beside him, Thomas shifts and starts digging through the backpack for some clothes.
Thomas pulls out a shirt, looks and it, then stops and straightens, seemingly thinking better of it.
He gives Adam a shrug and stuffs the shirt back in the bag. Adam gets it immediately. The weather is warm for spring, and clothing seems unnecessarily civilized in such a warm place.
He also has absolutely no objection to Thomas walking around in the nude.
He snatches glances at him while he sets up camp, trying not to feel like a creeper. Thomas’ body has changed since the days they were last so casually naked with each other.
He’s slightly softer, the sharp lines of youth softened with age and parenthood. The curve of his stomach bears pale thin stretch marks from Ivan.
A pang of sadness washes over Adam and he has to look away. He wishes he could have been there. He missed Thomas growing big with his child. He missed Ivan being born, and sleepy baby scents. He missed the screaming teething years and the furious toddler ones.
He understands why Thomas didn’t tell him, but that doesn’t make the loss of it any easier.
They’ve barely spoken two words to each other since he got back with Ivan. Adam doesn’t know what to say.
I’m sorry I lost my temper.
I’m sorry I said it wasn’t your decision.
I’m still sorry I bit you.
I’m sick of saying sorry and I’m sorry abo
ut that.
Ivan has tuckered himself out by the time the sun finally sets. He’s spent the entire time as a wolf, and when he does finally go to sleep, it’s with his nose on his paws and his tail curled around his body.
It’s one thing to camp together, another to share a sleeping space uninvited.
Adam walks out of the overhang, wanting to give them a little space. The painkillers started wearing off an hour ago and the unevenness of the sandy floor is starting to play havoc with his hip.
Hard use and a long trek without sparing his injured leg has meant that the pain has returned with a vengeance.
He finds a quiet place a few yards from the shelter entrance, gets to his knees and stretches out the leg behind him. The pain diminishes, but only from unbearable to horrific.
He glances behind him at the backpack where it has been left, propped up against a rock.
Only for emergencies.
He wonders if any of the other Adam Winterstokes have ever hated leadership the way this Adam does. His father was a hard drinker and a hard fighter, and from what he remembers of his grandfather, he was the same.
If you want something, you need to take it, my boy.
Leadership is not what Adam expected. He thought it would be natural, but it’s been nothing of the sort
At first, he thought he just wasn’t dominant enough. That he just needed to drink harder, take harder. Then he realized that that wasn’t healthy, alpha or no. Leader or not.
Then he thought he just needed to delegate. That’s what leaders do. Instead, all he’s done is let Luke do most of the work.
With one exception, he’s not even fought his own fights, and that exception destroyed his mobility. Even then someone else stepped in to deliver the killing blow.
He scents Thomas approaching, and makes an effort to sit properly. Thomas’ skin smells sun-warmed and soft.
Even through the pain in his leg, Adam has to push down the urge to take him in his arms and nuzzle at his neck.
Thomas sinks to the floor beside him. “You look like you were far away. What are you thinking?”
“That I’m going to give up the leadership. Give it to Luke. Maybe Gregor.” The words crystalize in Adam’s head as he says it out loud.
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