Heart of the Pack

by Kristen Banet

  The one addition to the group inside was one Abigail hadn’t expected: Riley’s father, Keith Stern, in the flesh. His very human flesh.

  “Abigail!” Riley exclaimed, jumping from her seat. Her outburst had made Keith jump. “You made it!”

  “I promised I would!” she laughed, hugging her friend. “How are things?” Abigail looked pointedly at Keith, who narrowed his eyes.

  Riley’s gaze followed, and she sighed. “Do you two know each other?” the cheetah asked, groaning. “Please say no.”

  “No, we don’t,” Keith mumbled. “But I’ve heard of Miss Harris. You did good work with the SSTF. I was concerned when I heard they let all of your department go.”

  “It wasn’t my department, but yeah…the mental health and trauma care department was disbanded, and I was a part of it,” Abigail sighed. It was that job loss that led her to being open for Brenton to hire her. “It’s…nice to finally meet you.”

  “Likewise,” he grunted, holding out a hand. She shook with him and they just stared at each other. This was her first time being formally introduced to Keith Stern, Riley’s biological human father, but Abigail had heard enough about him to make some guesses about the man. Human, strong sense of justice that nearly overrides everything else. That much she knew. Guilty for abandoning his daughter for that justice he so desired. That much could be inferred.

  “Well,” Abigail ended, pulling her hand away. “I dragged Finn out here,” she directed at Riley.

  “Thank god,” Riley groaned. “He was at the mansion last week, fiddling with one of the ATVs. Wouldn’t talk to anyone except Gabe and only about the ATV.”

  “I was thinking tomorrow I could bring him over?” she asked cautiously. “Use your property for a run?”

  “Of course,” her friend replied with a shrug. “Come over in the afternoon. You think the fresh air might do him some good?”

  “I do.”

  “All right. Well, for today, let’s just enjoy the opening,” Riley chuckled.

  They did. Abigail was caught by James and Antonio to get food, no longer distracted by Riley. Thomas was bothering Zachary, an unusual friendship that astounded her - the overly dominant tiger and her Alpha. Brenton teased Riley mercilessly. Troy and Gabe caused mayhem at the main food table, denying food to people they didn’t like until Andrew shut them down and sent them to help Brenton with Riley. Sheriff was crying over something as Patty teased him about it. That one made Abigail smile. Seeing the big old bear break down to Patty and hug Andrew was precious.

  Nearly an hour in, Abigail caught Finn trying to leave. She needed a plan, and quick, to convince him to stay.

  “Phoebe,” Abigail called out.

  The human girl walked over immediately. “What’s up?” Phoebe crossed her arms and leaned shoulder to shoulder against Abigail.

  “See that redhead over there? His name is Finn,” she whispered, pointing at the skulking fox. “Think you can charm him into having a good time today?”

  “He’s cute,” Phoebe hummed appreciatively.

  “You can’t sleep with him,” Abigail told her firmly. “Just grab him and force him to eat. Tell him you’re a friend of mine and Riley’s and he’ll follow along, promise.”

  “He a patient of yours?” Phoebe asked. Then she saw the light spark in Phoebe’s eyes. “He’s the fox.”

  “He is the fox,” she confirmed, ignoring the first question. “Go bother him, make him smile. Anything. He needs a babysitter it seems.”

  “How old is he?”

  “A couple years younger than you?” Abigail was guessing. “I don’t know exactly. He won’t tell me.”

  “All right. Just gives me an idea on what kind of stuff to talk about,” Phoebe chuckled. “Girl, I have charming boys and men down to an art.”

  “Glad to hear it,” Abigail giggled, nodding. “Good luck.”

  “Won’t need it!” the human called as she walked towards Finn. Abigail nearly lost her composure at the look Finn gave Phoebe as she grabbed his hand and dragged him to the center of the parking lot to dance.

  The liveliest person in the town versus the quietest. Abigail had picked well. She knew why Brenton loved to meddle so much. It felt good, seeing her plans work like that. She felt victorious as the sun began to dip in the late afternoon.

  The beautiful day was only shadowed by the knowledge that it was going to end.

  5

  James

  James dropped the grocery bags in the middle of Finn’s living room.

  “We have a couple of hours. Abigail just got him to the mansion,” Thomas announced as he walked with Tony. “If we move fast, we can be gone long before that.”

  “We should start laundry then, and have it moving while we’re doing everything else,” James grunted, pulling out the Tide. “Tony?” Antonio knew the most about clothes, so James figured he could be trusted to keep Finn’s stuff looking nice and not screw it up by mixing whites and colors.

  “I got it,” Antonio groaned, taking the laundry detergent from him. “Hopefully this is the only time we do this.”

  “Yeah,” James sighed. He was fine with this, really. He could come help the fox every day if he had to. Coming the day before had been a reality check for James. He’d been the guy who helped everyone in South Dakota, all the poorer Pack members.

  Now he had someone else to help and he selfishly was glad for it.

  “Did either of you talk to Abigail last night?” Thomas asked, grabbing a garbage bag and setting to the job.

  “No,” James replied. “It was a wild day and she just wanted to pass out last night. In her hotel room.” He hadn’t liked that, but he could accept it. The opening had been hours in the sun, too much food, and ended later than they had expected.

  “Yeah,” Thomas mumbled. “I’m not sure what there is to talk about. We knew this wasn’t forever.”

  “I know,” James muttered. “I fucking know. I just wish we didn’t have a fucking countdown on us now.”

  “We’ll enjoy it while it lasts,” Antonio added as he went around the room, picking up every piece of linen he could find. “That’s all we asked for, remember? Do I want her to leave? No. I also don’t want her to feel beholden to us, like she is required to stay if she’s ready to go.”

  “She loves her job. We can’t keep her here and take that away from her,” Thomas whispered, looking down at the trash in the kitchen. James nodded slowly and went about cleaning up trash as well. They could only do what they had always been doing. James was just realizing he wanted more. Right as they were needing to confront the future, he realized he wanted so much more.

  “The ball is in her court,” Antonio added. “It always has been.”

  “Let’s just get this done,” James muttered.

  It took an hour just for Thomas and James to clear the trash and Antonio was running the washing machine and dryer at maximum, hoping to get as much done as possible. Their Alpha dove in on the dishes, while James swept, mopped, and vacuumed all the floors. They cleaned off the furniture and James grabbed the thing that concerned him the most. Half a handle of whiskey.

  “Do we cut him off?” he asked his Alpha, who frowned at it as well.

  “I don’t know…” Thomas groaned. “He’s obviously in the bottle pretty hard but I’m not sure what our place is. We could pour it all out, but he would just buy more. He’s an adult who can do as he pleases.”

  “How did you quit?” he inquired softly. He’d never asked his Alpha before and it was a very personal topic.

  “A guy I was deployed with found me drunk off my ass and late for muster,” Thomas mumbled. “He covered for me, but forced me to sober up and remember that I had other guys who needed me, not just the ones I lost on deployment. And I needed to get my head out of my ass over my ex.”

  “We’ll talk to Abigail about it,” James decided, putting the bottle back on the counter. “We can at least organize it all for him and make it look nice or something.” That gave hi
m an idea. “Hold on.”

  He went back into the garbage bags and pulled out all the empty bottles. They didn’t need to say anything to Finn. They needed to show him, James figured.

  There were nearly thirty bottles, most empty, but some with just a finger left. He put them all on the counter, displaying them for the entire apartment, and put the unfinished ones in front. It was an impressive and scary sight.

  “That’s going to freak him out,” Antonio mumbled, looking over James’ display. “Sure it’s a good idea?”

  “Who knows,” Thomas said with a dark expression. “It’ll sure make a point. Plus, Abigail is the doctor. We’re just the wolves helping and I’m an Alpha. Finn can very quickly find himself hounded hard by me if he doesn’t clean up.”

  “You’re not his Alpha,” James reminded him carefully.

  “I can be,” Thomas bit out. “Watch me.”

  James noted something dark in Thomas at that. Something he hadn’t seen since Thomas first returned from the Marines. The edge of something dangerous. The man who could handle a rifle, plan the deaths of men he didn’t know. Fight in war. Survive a hunt. Rescue them with only a five-two cheetah as his partner.

  “Thomas?” James put a hand on his shoulder.

  “I’ve seen kids destroy themselves like this,” he whispered. “I almost did the same thing. Abigail wants this kid to get his act together and damn it, I’m going to fucking help. We should have ridden this boy harder to start.”

  “I know,” James sighed. “He lost his twin in that hellhole, though, Thomas. Half of himself. His brother.”

  “So did we,” Thomas growled. James swallowed and nodded. “We can be examples to him. Show him the world isn’t over if he just sees what it still has to offer. Abigail can be his shoulder to lean on and we’ll be the fucking kick in his ass he needs.”

  “All right,” James agreed. Antonio just nodded. They got back to work and left the apartment as spotless as it could be. There was paint on a wall they couldn’t get off and James had heard Thomas chuckle at it, blaming it on Riley.

  James left with the trash first, while Thomas and Antonio went to the bar for work.

  He was lost in his thoughts, tapping a finger on the steering wheel as music played from the radio, when he got home. He narrowed his eyes on the Explorer in their driveway as he pulled up, confused.

  They had a visitor? One they didn’t know, definitely. That made him worried. He reached for his glove box as he slowed down and pulled out the small handgun he kept there. Ever since the hunting compound, the entire Pack - except Abigail - had remained armed. They always kept a weapon close by, just in case that entire thing came back to haunt them. None of them carried physically but they left weapons everywhere: glove boxes, bottom drawers to their bedside tables and dressers, hidden in the kitchen cabinets. Abigail had stumbled on one once, but she had been nice enough not to ask many questions. Just closed the drawer and shrugged it off. She probably wouldn’t like just how half-paranoid the Pack really was.

  When he could see the front of the farmhouse, he snarled. A man stood there, with his back turned to James. He flicked the safety off as the guy turned around to watch James drive up.

  James nearly dropped the gun when he realized who the guy was. He slammed the brakes of his truck, gasping.

  Haggard and slimmer than he used to be, Chris Marek raised a hand in a wave. James flicked the safety on the gun again and dropped it on the seat, just staring wide-eyed at Thomas’ brother and their previous Alpha.

  “Fuck,” he breathed out, cutting the engine of the truck. He wasn’t even down the driveway yet, but he couldn’t bring himself to drive any closer. Chris sat down slowly on one of the chairs they kept out front and waited. Alphas waited. James was expected to go to him.

  “You’re not my Alpha anymore, you piece of shit,” James growled to himself, growing angry at Chris before the other wolf could even say anything.

  James got out of the truck, leaving it where it was, and walked casually to the house. He shoved the gun in the waistband of his jeans and when he got to the porch, he met Chris’ gaze.

  “James,” Chris exclaimed softly. “It’s good to see you, my brother.”

  Brother. James couldn’t stop his lip from curling at the word.

  Chris wasn’t his brother. Not anymore.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked, cursing internally for not texting Thomas the moment he realized it was Chris. He pulled his phone out and sent a quick message as the other wolf stood up.

  “I wanted to…uh…I don’t really know, actually. I need a place to stay for a little while,” Chris chuckled. “Can I come in? Where’s Thomas and Antonio?”

  “At the bar,” he growled softly. Thomas immediately dinged back with a ‘WTF’ and a second that said he was on his way. “Working. Thomas will be here soon though.”

  “I was there earlier but didn’t see y’all,” Chris whispered.

  James rolled his eyes. “We’ve had a busy day. They probably just got there,” he huffed. “Couldn’t let us know you were coming?”

  “Why would I?” he asked, looking at James like he was an idiot. “Come on, James. This is no way to treat an old friend.”

  Friend. James didn’t like that word either. He bit back a snarl and just opened the front door. He held it for Chris to go inside. He was amazed the other wolf hadn’t just made himself at home, since they had left the front door unlocked.

  “I’ll be back. Got shit to deal with,” he mumbled, closing Chris in.

  Fucking hell. This was not what he’d been expecting to deal with today. Or ever. They had all been convinced that Chris was gone for good, off to reclaim his fucking ‘rightful place’ in the world. He’d always been a hothead and a bad Alpha - a clear example that not all Alphas were born equal.

  James dealt with the trash in the back of the truck and Thomas helped him the moment he arrived. “You left him in the house?” The Alpha asked, pouring old food into their compost out of the garbage bag.

  “I could have left him on the porch,” James snapped, agitated and frustrated. And confused. He was confused as hell by Chris being in their fucking house. “He’s playing for fucking sympathy as if nothing happened, so I couldn’t bring myself to be too much of an ass to him. ‘My brother’ this and ‘old friend’ that.”

  “All right,” Thomas said, holding out a hand. James knew Thomas wanted him to cool off. He’d never really liked Chris. Ever. He had wanted Thomas to be South Dakota’s Alpha, knew the younger brother was better for the job. Thomas had never wanted to fight with Chris. “We’ll handle it. He probably wants something and once we find out what that is-”

  “We’ll send him on his fucking way,” James finished. He didn’t care if it was what Thomas wanted or not. He wasn’t putting up with Chris for longer than necessary.

  “We’ll help him move on back out,” Thomas whispered, nodding. James could smell the worry on Thomas. The pain. The sadness. A bit of hope. He wanted to scoff, but he wouldn’t to Thomas. He knew Thomas loved his brother and this could be a chance for them to repair their shit.

  “How’s the Pride going to feel about this?” James asked, crossing his arms.

  Thomas cursed and shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ll need to talk to Brenton. He and Chris didn’t like each other, and Chris doesn’t like Riley…”

  “He practically called her a whore, Thomas,” James reminded him. “Fuck.” He turned and began to walk back to the house.

  “What?” Thomas frowned at him as he caught up. “James?”

  “Abigail,” James snarled. “She has stuff in the house. I don’t want your fucking brother sniffing around her at all.”

  “Jesus,” Thomas groaned. “You’re right. We can put him up in a hotel.”

  “Just not the same one as her,” James bit out. He didn’t want the asshole within a hundred feet of their doe.

  He stomped into the house with Thomas on his heel. He found Chris sitting on the couc
h and glared down at him. Thomas pushed him gently to keep moving.

  “Go get us a couple beers,” Thomas whispered. Louder, he continued, “Chris. What’s up?”

  “Thomas,” Chris chuckled. “It’s good to see you.” The other Alpha got up and James watched them embrace as he went to the kitchen. He didn’t like this. He didn’t like how ‘hey, old buddy’ Chris was being. He didn’t trust the fucker as far as he could throw him.

  He grabbed the beers and tossed one to Thomas. He tossed the second after Thomas handed the first to Chris.

  “What’s going on, Chris? Let’s catch up,” Thomas sighed. “You’ve shown up out of the blue.”

  “I tried calling,” Chris groaned, swatting Thomas on the chest. “A few times, actually. No one ever picked up. The bar or your cell phone.”

  “Virginia area code?” Thomas asked, sitting down on his recliner.

  James rubbed his face. The weird calls Thomas had been ignoring. They could have known ahead of time if he’d just answered the phone or called the number back.

  “That’s me,” Chris confirmed, taking over the middle of the couch. It left James with nowhere to sit in the living room, so he jumped onto a counter and just watched. “So, you own a bar now.”

  “Yeah, we bought Rocker’s here in town. You know that, it seems,” Thomas said, cracking his beer open.

  “It’s a nice place,” James added, meeting Chris’ gaze. “We were lucky the owner was ready to sell when he was.”

  “A bar seems kind of small time,” Chris replied. “Why not something bigger? Are you thinking about sister locations or anything?”

  “No,” Thomas chuckled. “We’re not, Chris. There’s only three of us here. We have all we need and more. No reason to get bigger than we can manage.”

  “Your choice,” Chris mumbled.

  James narrowed his eyes at the Alpha.

  “What are you doing in town?” Thomas asked him quickly. “You know what’s going on with us. We’re not secretive. What about you?”