Winterstoke Wolves Collection : An MM Mpreg Shifter Romance Bundle

by Sasha Silsbury

  It should feel like a failure, but it doesn’t. He’s suddenly as light as a cloud, and not just because he is sitting here with Thomas beside him.

  It’s throwing off the expectations of six generations of Adam Winterstokes, including his own.

  “Yeah, I think so,” he confirms, as much to himself as to Thomas. “As soon as this is all over, I’ll stand down.”

  THOMAS

  sunsets and sharp jawlines

  As soon as this is all over, Adam said. And when will that be? Thomas is starting to envision a life spent running from place to place, never settling anywhere.

  It would be bad enough if it were just him, but it’s not fair on Ivan. He needs a steady school, a steady home.

  Adam is staring at him like he’s just had a revelation, and Thomas supposes he has. The world has unfair expectations of alphas too, even if it’s the omegas who bear the brunt of it.

  The last time we were alone like this, you were shouting and we both were crying, Thomas thinks.

  Adam’s dark blond hair is lit up by the light of the setting sun. It’s as if he has a halo. This close, Thomas can scent his skin: that unique Adam scent that makes him want to lick Adam’s chest and then just keep heading downwards.

  The light catches the sharp lines of his jaw, and there’s an intensity in his deep brown eyes that makes Thomas duck his head, unable to meet his gaze.

  He wants me. He’s always wanted me. He made the first move. He kissed me first. He lost it so bad the first time we fucked that he just claimed me without thinking. He wants me now, even though everything and through every lie and every secret.

  There was a reason that they couldn’t be together. Something to do with being an omega but for the life of him, Thomas can’t remember what it was.

  Adam is still looking at him and Thomas realizes that he is waiting for a response.

  “I think that’s a good idea. It’s making you miserable. It’s always made you miserable,” Thomas says. “Luke would be good at it. Or Gregor. They both like taking charge.”

  Adam smiles, bright enough that it lights up his face under the setting sun. Then he grins. “No more Adam Winterstokes.”

  Whatever that means.

  “No. Just you,” Thomas says, feeling his lips turn up in a smile.

  “Once this is all over,” Adam confirms.

  “And when is that going to be?” Thomas feels like a rowboat tossed about by the storm. He can make a token effort at using the oars but both he and the storm know it won’t make the slightest bit of difference.

  The only change is that he’s beginning to realize that Adam is in the boat with him, and he’s cursing the useless oars too.

  “I don’t know,” Adam confesses. “I’ve been trying to be respectful of your mom. This is her operation, but I’m starting to think she doesn’t have a plan either.”

  She’s not the one hiding in a cave, Thomas thinks. Or a rotten cabin. She’s not the one running. She never has been.

  She’s just one more alpha making decisions on behalf of omegas based on how much or how little they want to fight someone.

  “What happened with Ronmin and Ivan?” Thomas says suddenly. He doesn’t understand why the Fort Gosford leader would suddenly steal a child and then return him, especially when he could have used Ivan as collateral. None of it makes any sense.

  Adam leans back, stretching out his leg. It makes the muscles in his chest ripple. It’s a pretty sight. Thomas decides not to even bother pretending that he’s not looking, or that he doesn’t notice the pleased expression that crosses Adam’s face when he sees Thomas watching him.

  So of course, Adam does it again. A bit more ostentatiously this time.

  You big nerd. It doesn’t stop Thomas from wanting to just shove him down against the sandy floor outside the cave and kiss him silly.

  He doesn’t do that. He has some self control when it comes to Adam.

  Maybe a bit too much, he thinks.

  “Ronmin?” he prompts again.

  “Right,” Adam reaches up and scratches at his ear. He sighs. “I want to say that guy is a complete mystery to me, but I think his motivations are clear enough. He had alphas waiting outside the cabin while we were—”

  While we were fighting, Thomas fills in.

  “While we were talking,” Adam says. “Ivan says he scented strange wolves and had to go around them. Ronmin picked him up somewhere between there and the road. I think he wasn’t sure what to do with him.”

  “And he just gave him back?”

  Adam sighs. “He’s not a fighter. Ronmin’s a lot of things but he avoids fights. Every single time I’ve come across him, he’s either made sure he has enough of an advantage that he doesn’t have to fight or has slunk off the moment he’s outnumbered. Holding Ivan would cross too much of a line. He knows it would push us into a fight he doesn’t actually want. He doesn’t want to fight. He wants to negotiate. Here, take a look at this.”

  Adam reaches over and rifles through his backpack until he finds his phone. He scrolls through it, then hands it to Thomas.

  Thomas skims through the messages. There are far too many to actually read in detail.

  The last one is dated an hour ago.

  Hey you, thanks for the pancakes. They were A+++. Almost like you’re a professional or something ;) Just reminding you that the offer still stands. Lets work something out, big guy. xxx

  “Pancakes?” Thomas asks, bewildered. “You made him pancakes?”

  “Long story,” Adam says. “I think he’s genuine about wanting to talk. The only question is how much we’re willing to give him to make him go away.”

  How much. That depends on what he wants. Money. Power. The farm, even. All of those are negotiable. He’s not. Cam, Shannon and Jacob aren’t.

  “What does Mom say?”

  “She won’t talk about it.”

  “And Lex?”

  Adam stays silent.

  “Lex?” Thomas prods.

  “Lex might be the reason you’re here.”

  It’s a punch to the stomach. Lex? No. That is definitely not a possibility. Not even close. But then Thomas remembers how he was at the second cabin and how insistent he was about Thomas and Jacob going with him.

  “I don’t think Lex would do that,” Thomas insists, but he’s not sure of a lot of things anymore. The only thing he knows for sure is how much he wants this to be over.

  He leans over and takes Adam’s hand in his, entwining their fingers together. “I think we need to negotiate with Ronmin.”

  They can’t keep running. Even if they manage to get Shannon and Cam away safely, and somehow to a safe part of the chain, Ronmin won’t stop. He’ll keep coming back, keep needling at all of them until something or someone breaks.

  “I know,” Adam says. There’s a sadness in his eyes that Thomas wants to kiss away, but it’s too deep for that.

  “Call Ronmin. Tell him you’re going to negotiate. I’ll call Mom.”

  Adam laughs suddenly, “And she hated me before this. Wow, imagine what she’s going to think of me now.”

  “It’s not her opinion that counts. It’s mine, and I love you.”

  Adam stills. Thomas risks a glance at him through lowered eyelashes. Adam has his eyes shut tight. His fingers tighten their grip in Thomas’ own.

  “I do. I really do,” Thomas says. “I think we can be a family.”

  “Thomas—”

  “You’ve only ever been the one for me. You’re the only one I see when I shut my eyes at night.”

  Adam finally opens his eyes, and when he turns to look at Thomas, they’re wet with emotion. “I can’t do this again. I need to know you mean it. You can’t change your mind again. You can’t run again. It would break me.”

  “I mean it,” Thomas says softly, brushing his lips up against Adam’s own. He dips down and pushes his nose against the side of Adam’s neck. He can feel the pulse there beating faster than he thought possible. “You claimed m
e as you should have. And I’m yours, as I should be.”

  Adam takes his hand from Thomas’, reaches up and cups Thomas’ face with strong fingers, tilting it so he can look in his eyes. Adam’s brown eyes look deep into Thomas’, a serious expression on his face.

  He bends and brushes a kiss across Thomas’ lips then draws back.

  “Let’s get this over with then,” he murmurs, warm breath against Thomas’s lips. “It’s time to take our lives back.”

  THOMAS

  sandy floors and orange lights

  Thomas feels the lack of Adam’s presence immediately. He’s gone without it for a decade, but it feels as if ten years’ worth of longing have come crashing down on him completely.

  He’d kissed Adam again. Adam took another of the painkillers he kept in his awful backpack, and then Thomas sent the love of his life down the mountain in the dark.

  He’s sitting at the entrance to the overhang, listening to Ivan’s soft snores behind him. Ahead in the dark, Jacob and the others have managed to light a fire. Orange light flickers through the trees.

  Thomas sits and watches it. He’s not in the mood for company. He only wants Adam and Ivan. No one else in the world can fill the gap.

  You need to get some sleep, his thoughts say but he brushes them away. Mom didn’t answer the phone when he called so he left a voicemail.

  She is going to be furious. It’s been a good few years since he left home and almost ten years since he became a father himself. He wonders if he’ll ever get over the shame of having his mother disappointed in him.

  Everybody has issues with their parents. He doesn’t know anyone who doesn’t. Adam is only now starting to shake off the expectations of his dad, a man who has been dead for years.

  He wonders if Ivan will feel that way about him and Adam. It’s easy to know where Ivan’s issues would lie too.

  Yeah, my parents are fucked up, Ivan will say. My Pa didn’t even know I existed until I was nine.

  Thomas turns to look at his sleeping son. The kid is too young to know the whole story, even if it were appropriate. He’s going to have to tell him something.

  As he watches, Ivan shifts in his sleep, turning from curled up young wolf to child sprawled on the sandy floor of the overhang.

  Thomas walks on soft feet over to the backpack and finds a shirt and tightly rolled space blanket. He kneels beside his son and tucks the shirt under his head for a pillow, then throws the space blanket over his small body.

  Ivan stirs and his eyes blink open. He smiles. “Hi Dad. Where’s Pa gone?”

  Thomas feels a tug to his heartstrings. Adam’s been gone a couple of hours, and Ivan is feeling his loss too. Thomas bends and presses a kiss to his son’s forehead.

  “He’s gone back down the mountain. He’s going to work out a way to get us home.”

  “Oh,” Ivan says sleepily. “Not now though. I want to stay on vacation a bit longer.”

  “A bit,” Thomas confirms. “But not too much longer. I want to go home.”

  “Oh,” Ivan says, then his forehead furrows in a frown. “Where? Back to the apartment or back to the farm?”

  It’s a good question. They might never go back to the apartment above the Taproom, but the farm will probably be there.

  “I don’t know. Maybe the farm. I’ll need to talk to your grandma about that.” Or maybe the Aylewood packhouse. Thomas is still not sure that he wants to move back to Aylewood, but if Adam means what he says about giving up the leadership, Adam will be able to move.

  It’s a problem for later.

  “You should call Grandma and ask her,” Ivan says. “Can I talk to her if you do? I want to tell her about the other wolves. Do you know they hardly ever spend time as humans?”

  “I know, sweetie. I’ll call Grandma when Pa gets back. He took his phone with him.”

  Ivan pulls the space blanket up closer over his shoulders and smiles sleepily. “You should just borrow Cam’s.”

  “What?”

  “Borrow Cam’s phone. He’s got one. I saw him calling someone at the gross cabin. He won’t mind if you ask nicely.”

  Thomas glances out through the trees to where the orange glow of the fire is just visible. It’s too late for anything now. Too late for recriminations.

  “Go to sleep, sweetheart. It’s too late to call now. I’ll call in the morning.”

  “Okay, Dad,” Ivan mumbles. He’s half asleep already.

  Thomas rubs his back until the soft breathing grows deeper and Ivan’s mouth starts drooling against the sand.

  Then he gets to his feet and crosses over to the lip of the overhang. He can just about hear the muffled voices of the other omegas. Someone says something, and laughter follows.

  What do I do about you, he wonders.

  ADAM

  rubber boots and utter obedience

  “You son of a bitch,” Barbara Warwick spits. “Lex was right about you. You’ve sold us all out.”

  She’s standing in her rubber boots by the barn at the farm, rake in one hand, the sun rising behind her. Lex is by her side, his face like stone.

  “I’ve done no such thing,” Adam says calmly, putting his hands up. “All I did was tell Ronmin that we’d listen to his offer.”

  “Oh, I think you’ve already ‘listened’,” Barbara growls. “Lex saw you talking to him at your packhouse. You two looked very friendly.”

  Adam gives her the look that the comment deserves. “Seriously? That’s why you’re accusing me? Because Ronmin was talking to me? You know what he’s like.”

  “Yes, I do. That’s why he has never eaten at my table and he never will. He smashed up my home.”

  “Barbara, be sensible. We need to talk to the man. This stalemate can’t keep going. Thomas can’t run forever. Ivan can’t run forever.”

  “I see what you’re doing,” Barbara hisses. “Ronmin has promised you Thomas, hasn’t he?”

  Adam starts to say ‘No, he didn’t’ but that’s not true. Ronmin did promise him Thomas. Adam just didn’t take him up on it. He ignores the question.

  “Thomas called you about this. Have you listened to your voicemail?”

  “So? Thomas never did think straight while you were around. He’d do whatever you told him and not think twice.”

  If you think that, you don’t know Thomas at all, Adam thinks.

  The sound of a couple of engines rumbling over the farm track makes them all pause.

  “Fine. Let’s get this over with,” Barbara says, throwing down the rake she is holding. “We’re not giving him an inch. He’s not getting the omegas. He’s not getting the farm. He’s not getting the Taprooms. You want to negotiate, you do it with the little you have.”

  The car draws to a halt and Ronmin emerges, followed by a couple of his toughs. A dark van pulls to a stop behind it.

  “Morning, my beauties,” he beams. “Glad to hear you’ve all come to your senses. Or at least one of you,” he adds at the look on Barbara’s face. “I’m guessing our friend here hasn’t quite convinced you.”

  He’s nothing but a little bantam cock, Adam thinks, sticking his chest out, strutting around like he owns the place. Well, maybe he almost does, but that doesn’t stop most of it from being pure bravado.

  “Here’s my offer,” Ronmin says with a smirk. “I want a half-share in all the Warwick Taprooms.”

  Barbara Warwick opens her mouth in protest but Ronmin wags his finger at her. “Wait, I’m not done. I want in on your little railroad too.”

  “What?” Adam says. He was not expecting that.

  “Oh no,” Ronmin says, waving a hand. “Not like that. But your friends have a good set up there. Think of what else you could run through that system. Anything. And no one would spill their tongues because everyone wants to be nice to poor abused omegas. I won’t interfere with that side of it. At least, not much.”

  “Absolutely not,” Barbara hisses. “Time for you to leave.”

  Ronmin smirks. “I think the answer
you were supposed to say is ‘what railroad?’ or are we not bothering to play that game anymore?”

  Barbara doesn’t answer. She’s just standing in the mud with her arms folded, waiting for him to go away. Lex is alternating staring daggers at Ronmin and then at Adam, as if he can’t decide which of them he despises more.

  “Look, let’s get this straight,” Ronmin says, taking a step forward.

  Lex and Barbara both growl, low and threatening, and Ronmin stops where he is.

  “This isn’t exactly a secret. Did you really think you could run this whole thing under my nose? I know about it. I probably know more than you do.”

  “Who have you had come through your little railroad in the last few years? Nobody. Lots and lots of little nobodies. You’ve had not one high profile omega in years. I’ve let you have the dregs. No one but sad little omegas who don’t belong to anyone important at all and aren’t worth bothering about.”

  There’s an element of truth to Ronmin’s words. Adam can see it by the way the blood drains out of Barbara’s face, and how Lex grits his teeth.

  “You think I don’t have sympathy. I do. I just live in the real world. Here are your choices: either you shut it down, or I get involved. Oh, and that I take that Taproom share. I’ll offer that in exchange for the omegas, and I am being very generous with that considering. I’m even offering to give you some back.”

  “What are you talking about?” Barbara snaps.

  Ronmin turns and snaps his fingers. His thugs saunter over to the dark van behind the car that brought him and open the doors at the back.

  Seconds later and they’re pulling people out the back of the van.

  Adam’s heart stops. Thomas is uninjured, but he is the last person Adam wanted to see right now.

  “We found these pretty creatures just outside of the wild wolves territory, heading back down to Aylewood,” Ronmin says with a wide grin. “You’d have thought they’d had enough of all that back-and-forthing, but I guess not.”

  Adam’s hands bunch into fists at his side. “You have no right.”