Winterstoke Wolves Collection : An MM Mpreg Shifter Romance Bundle
Page 52
“I have every right. Now, this one is mine,” he says, gripping Cam by the neck. “I paid very good money for him,” then he lowers his voice and says in a confidential tone, “Here’s a good tip. If you want a well-behaved omega, buy one off the Lykos lot. I’ve never had anything but utter obedience.”
He follows that up by sauntering over to Shannon. He bends his head and sniffs at her neck.
Adam would put equal money on her bursting into tears or slapping her face. “Now, not sure who you are, sweetheart, but you look like someone will pay to have you back.” He slaps her hard on the ass. “Isn’t this fabulous? Reconciliations all round.”
“Aidan. I asked you to negotiate. I expected you to do it in good faith,” Adam growls, his eyes still on Thomas.
Ronmin shrugs. “Oh, I am, but I’m not going to ignore a couple of bargaining chips when they run right past my men, am I? Now, I know that this one is yours,” he says, indicating Thomas. “But I don’t know the name of this one, although he’s pretty as a picture. What’s your name, darling?”
“Jacob,” Jacob says. He’s standing up straight, eyes meeting Ronmin’s as if daring him to slap him on the ass too.
“I like him. He’s got spirit. Now, these two were found with my runaways. That makes the legal point a little iffy. I think I’d win a claim for them if it went through the courts.” Ronmin shrugs. “Especially if I got lucky with a judge, and I do get lucky an awful lot.”
“They are not yours,” Adam growls. He can feel the pain in his leg beginning to spike again, but this time he welcomes it. It’s fueling the pure rage that is beginning to rise.
“What are you going to do? Challenge me? You think I don’t know what you think about me? That I back away from fights? You’re not one to speak. Yes, I know. I know,” he says waving his hand. “You put down Mason Reed. Except you didn’t, did you? Someone bigger and stronger had to step in to save you,” Ronmin continues, his voice barbed. His eyes are staring daggers hard enough to pierce.
He steps forward.
“Oh wait. That happened with the wild wolves too, didn’t it? You had to rely on Gray to bail you out. And if Gray wasn’t so taken with that little omega brother of yours? Then what? Who’s going to bail you out this time? Who are you going to persuade to fight your fights? Are you going to ask Lex? He’s looking pretty pissed at you right now. Barbara? You going to ask a sixty-year old woman to fight your corner?”
Adam grits his teeth. He knows what Ronmin’s doing. He’s trying to bait him into saying something he shouldn’t or do something he shouldn’t.
It’s working too. Every muscle he has is straining with the urge to throw himself at the cocky little upstart.
“C’mon,” Ronmin taunts. “Fight me. Everyone will know you’re really the big bad wolf.”
“Fine,” Adam spits. “I will. I challenge you. I am going to rip your goddamned throat out.”
Ronmin’s eyes widen, just as Adam realizes that Ronmin had no expectation that Adam would actually do it.
It doesn’t matter. Neither of them can back out of it now.
THOMAS
blackmail and apple blossoms
This is all his fault. If they’d just stayed up in the valley with the wild wolves, Adam would not now be standing in front of Aidan Ronmin about to fight him under the blossoming apple trees.
It was Cam, the little weasel. He’d just gone and admitted it, right there in front of the campfire when Thomas stalked over and started yelling at him.
Cam wasn’t ashamed either, even as the waves of fear rolled off of him.
No, he’d just stood there, shaking and terrified, and insisted that it was the natural order for omegas to obey their alphas, and they couldn’t blame him for what he was doing.
And then when Thomas said Cam needed to leave, Shannon insisted on going with, and then Jacob refused to be left behind.
What a shitshow. Herding omegas is like herding cats.
He’s only grateful that he left Ivan there, sleeping with the other cubs, once the wild wolves promised to look after him.
He wants to call out to Adam and tell him not to do it, but there’s no backing out once a challenge has been issued.
The two alphas stand opposite each other, both naked as the day they were born. Adam is the larger by a head, but he’s leaning to one side, favoring the good leg. Ronmin is smaller and leaner, and Thomas suspects, meaner.
Lex stands between them, his face expressionless. “You both know the rules. First to yield, die or lose consciousness is the loser. All right. Get on with it.” Lex turns his back and walks back to the farmhouse as if he can’t even be bothered to watch.
Both men shift in an instant, and the space between them turns to a snapping, growling blur of fur.
Thomas clenches his fists so hard, he can feel his fingernails biting into his palms, drawing blood.
Not now. Not when he’s finally got Adam back.
He shuts his eyes. He can’t watch this.
First to yield, die or lose consciousness.
Closing his eyes is only minimal help. The audio remains: yelps, snarls, and the sound of hard bites. Thomas grits his teeth and waits for the sound of ripping flesh.
It doesn’t come. There’s another sound. A long, hard yelp, followed by only the sound of panting.
Thomas risks opening his eyes.
Adam is kneeling, all four paws on a prone Ronmin, his jaws around Ronmin’s neck.
Ronmin shifts, and suddenly there is a man where once there was a wolf. He’s got a couple of shallow bites, some bleeding.
It’s going to be a lot more than that if Adam bites down, Thomas thinks.
“I yield. I yield.” Ronmin yells.
Adam shifts, and stands panting. Around him, apple blossoms fall like rain. “Then get out,” he growls.
Ronmin puts up a single finger as he scrambles to his feet. “I yield the fight. You won that one fair and square. Well done! The Warwick omegas are all yours. We still need to negotiate about the other two and the Taprooms. You owe me compensation for all my trouble.”
“You’re kidding,” Adam says.
“Nope.”
Mom finally decides to step in. “You lost that one, Ronmin. You need to be on your way.”
“I will. I will. But if I leave, it means this doesn’t end. You want it to end, don’t you?” Ronmin stands hands on hips, staring at her. He hasn’t made the slightest effort to put on his clothes. “Now, I don’t object to omega rights or omegas doing whatever they want, but it needs to be within reason. And sneaking rival pack omegas through my territory is simply not within reason.
It’s bad for my reputation. You do understand that, right? If I’m going to turn a blind eye to it, I need compensation.”
“What do you want?” Adam growls.
“Oh, big guy. You’re big and you’re pretty and you just whipped my butt, but you’re not too bright, are you? I want the Taprooms. I must have said it six times.”
“No,” Mom says.
“Okay, forty percent share. I’ll ignore the omegas.”
“Also no.”
“I don’t think you understand how negotiating works,” Ronmin says in an exasperated tone. He finally makes a move to reach for his clothes, picking up a shirt. “I make an offer. You make a counteroffer. You don’t just stand there and snap no at everything I say. If anything else, it’s just plain rude.”
He pulls the shirt over his head and pulls a face. “Okay, one more offer. How about a more old-fashioned agreement. A meeting of families of sorts.”
The other alphas don’t answer, waiting for him to get to the point.
“I’ll take him,” he says, pointing at Jacob.
“No,” Adam says.
“Not your omega, not your decision, big fella,” Ronmin replies, shrugging into his jeans. “Besides I’m not offering to buy him. Although I would. He’s pretty. No, I’m offering a proper mating and claiming. Let me join your little alliance. Join th
e family.”
“Absolutely not,” Adam replies.
“I’m listening,” Mom says. Thomas stares at her in horror. She resolutely avoids looking at him. Or at Jacob for that matter.
Ronmin’s face lights up. “And finally, we’re getting somewhere. You know what I’m talking about, Barbara. It’ll give me family rights to your farm and business, but only on the very sad day that you do finally pass on to the other side. Everyone wins.”
Except Jacob, Thomas thinks. He glances over at his cousin.
Jacob is staring at Ronmin, his expression unreadable.
Mom nods her head sharply. “How about it, Jacob? I’m not promising you to him without your permission, but this will solve our problems. It’s not perfect, but all of us have to do our share. We’ve all made sacrifices for this family.” She’s looking at Thomas when she says that last, and Thomas feels his bile rise.
Jacob looks from her to Thomas to Ronmin, his eyes wide.
“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to,” Thomas tells him firmly.
Ronmin puts up a single finger. “I hurt him, I lose my claim” he points out. “You can write that in. We’ll make it a proper contract and everything. Nice and airtight. I promise to be good. Outright violence isn’t my thing anyway. You all know that. I prefer negotiations.”
“You mean blackmail,” Thomas says bitterly.
Ronmin shrugs. “Blackmail is a kind of negotiation. Nothing wrong with using the tools at your disposal. So, what do you say, young man?”
Jacob nods. “Deal.”
Ronmin grins, wide as a shark. “Excellent. Well, let’s leave the paperwork to the lawyers. I’ll trust you white hats to stand by your word.”
Five minutes later, he’s gone. Thomas races over to Adam, checking him for injuries, but there’s nothing other than the usual limp.
He reaches up and pulls his alpha in for a kiss.
It is finally all over.
EPILOGUE: ADAM
hospital gowns and a bare ass
“Are you ready?” Thomas asks. He’s gripping Adam’s hand with tight fingers, and the corners of his eyes are taut with worry.
You’d think it was him about to be wheeled into the operating theater and not Adam. Most of it is displaced, Adam thinks.
Jacob has been mated for three weeks now. Thomas has been in contact every day and so far, his little cousin appears to have been treated well, but it’s not stopping Thomas from worrying.
“Ready as I can be,” Adam replies. He’s not particularly prepared to have his body sliced into, or for the weeks and weeks of recovery time, but it has to be done.
Honestly, right now, he’s a bit more embarrassed by the fact that his hospital gown doesn’t have a back, and unless he shuffles about holding it closed with one hand, he’s going to be showing his ass to anyone who looks.
It’s just not dignified for an alpha, even an ex-pack leader with a bad leg.
“I’ll be waiting right outside the whole time,” Thomas goes on. “And I’ll bring Ivan to visit this evening if you’re feeling up to it.”
“I’ll be feeling up to it,” Adam says with a smile.
“Okay, but you’ve got to promise to tell me if he’s wearing you out,” Thomas says. His fingers wander the bed, tucking the blanket in even though it’s going to be removed again in under five minutes.
“I promise. Quit fussing. I’ll be fine. More than fine. Once this is done, life is going to get back on track.”
The orderly appears at the door of the room. “Ready to go?”
“I am,” Adam replies. Thomas bends down and kisses his forehead.
“I’ll be right outside,” he says.
The orderly gives him an amused look as he wheels Adam out of the room and towards the elevator. “That your mate?” he asks.
“Yes, he’s just worried about me,” Adam replies.
“Oh, I see that all the time,” the orderly says, pressing the button for the fourth floor. “It’s always the mates who are the most nervous. He’ll be reassured in no time. The op shouldn’t take too long. You got any children?”
“Just the one.”
“Ah, lovely. Well, here we are. I’ll leave you in the capable hands of the nurse. Wishing you a speedy recovery.”
“Thanks man.”
Adam lies back on the bed and stares at the ceiling above.
Once all this is over, he thinks.
This is the last piece in the puzzle. Ronmin has kept his word so far and stayed away. Gregor has taken over as leader of the Winterstoke pack. All that is left is to sort out his leg.
The nurse appears over him with a smile. “Ready to go in?”
“Oh yes,” Adam says.
EPILOGUE: THOMAS
green tea and four-player games
“Did you hear back from Martin Van Zyle?” Thomas asks, balancing two mugs of green tea and another of hot chocolate. He’s overfilled the tea and it’s risking sloshing over the sides and onto the clean oak floor of the bedroom.
Adam carefully pushes himself up to a sitting position in the bed. The drapes are half-open, letting in a silver of early morning sun that sets off the blond highlights in his hair.
Ivan is sitting in the bed beside him, head bowed over the cards in his lap.
Adam’s been in bed for three weeks now, and in Thomas’ opinion going stir-crazy, although he swears he isn’t.
He’s been sitting making enough plans for them, their businesses and their lives that they’ll never need to consider their options again. There are flowcharts.
“I did,” Adam answers, “and we’re good to go.”
“Yes!” Thomas would punch the air, but he is holding the tea.
Ivan looks up from the playing cards that he’s sorting into three different piles. “What’s good to go?”
“We’re buying the old cabin,” Thomas explains.
Ivan’s nose wrinkles. “Why?”
“Because it’s a gorgeous setting,” Thomas says, setting the mugs down beside the bed. “If we clear some of the trees and do it up, we’ll have a view of the whole mountain range and the ravine.
“I still think it’s gross,” Ivan says.
“It won’t be once we’re finished with it.” Thomas climbs into the bed and leans over to kiss Adam over the top of Ivan’s head. “It’ll be lovely. Excellent vacation spot and close to your uncles.”
Two pairs of deep brown eyes look back at him, and he wonders how he never noticed how much Ivan takes after Adam.
It’s not just the eyes. It’s the games too. Adam was a fiend for endlessly annoying rounds of Monopoly when they were kids. Thomas has simply produced an updated version.
The two of them have been sitting on this bed for three weeks, playing game after game and seemingly never growing tired.
“Okay, are you ready?” Ivan asks, handing a small hand of cards to Thomas, then another to Adam.
“How about you have your hot chocolate first?” Thomas says.
“After I win.”
“I think you mean after I win,” Adam replies, picking up his card and shaking his head. “I’ve got a pretty good hand here. You’re going to struggle to beat this one.”
Ivan rolls his eyes.
“Dad, you haven’t even looked at your cards yet.”
“Hmm?” Thomas says. The two of them look so natural together. “I was just thinking.”
“About what?” Ivan says. “Come on. I’m going to go first.” He begins rifling through his cards, searching for the perfect one.
Thomas meets Adam’s eyes over their son’s head. “Actually, I was thinking that a lot of games are best with four players. It might be worth getting another player.”
“You mean like Uncle Gregor?” Ivan asks.
“No, not quite like that.”
On the other side of the bed, Adam breaks into a grin. “I think that might be a good idea. We can get started on that in a few weeks when I’m back on my feet.”
; “It’s a deal.” Thomas says, feeling a flush of happiness flood over him. “In a few weeks.”
He smirks and looks over his shoulder at the love of his life, “Maybe there will be another Adam Winterstoke, after all.”
***
The Red Run
Winterstoke Wolves: Book Four
SASHA SILSBURY
CONTENTS
1. an atlas and an old gas receipt
2. yellow dandelions and oiled hedge-clippers
3. long drives and suspicious cops
4. pink dust and plain white underwear
5. car payments and tiny little sandwiches
6. red sand and pale olive brush
7. premium starts and a bright yellow moon
8. a cold crawlspace and the scent of serpents
9. bare skin and hellscapes
10. dark shadows and a flat-topped boulder
11. bindgrass and plastic bottles
12. too many ifs and a rabbit-rock
13. buried treasure and the mountain from hell
14. river gloop and flat red sand
15. orders and white-hot skewers
16. hazel flecks and a clean bite
17. small rocks and pink clouds
18. soft kisses and burning skin
19. condensation and squashed leaves
20. damp noodles and bad smells
21. brothers and ear worms
22. consequences and utter savagery
23. the last run
24. a short shower and a basket of muffins
25. dark kohl eyes and sheer white robes
26. unearned certificates and howling at the moon
27. a motel and a no-assed plan
28. a mug of coffee and a promise kept
29. scar tissue and bulbous leaves
30. Epilogue
AARON
an atlas and an old gas receipt
Are you nervous?
Ben’s message pops up on the screen, getting in the way of the satellite image that Aaron is poring over.
He lets out a huff of irritation and swipes his brother’s message away. Of course, he’s nervous. He’s not an idiot.