“Oh, not long at all,” Duke promised. He nodded farewell to the group, took Bram’s dirty plate from him, and headed for the table where the dirty dishes were being collected.
By the time he got back, the dancing had started, and Bram pulled him out into ‘Chase the Partridge’, ‘The Mountains of the Moon’, and a crazy one that was popular with the teenagers that was mostly just holding onto each other and spinning in circles until one of the pair either fell or lost their grip and tumbled into another pair of dancers, starting a chain reaction that quite often ended with everyone in a heap on the grass. Duke thought it was called Landslide, which seemed appropriate.
Bram laughed and yelled as he and Duke whirled around each other, clearly having a fantastic time. They made it almost to the end of the song before shifters on two sides of them crashed into Duke and sent him tumbling to the ground, pulling Bram down on top of him. Bram whispered in his ear, “Now you know why we like this one so much.” He licked Duke’s lower lip, then pushed himself up, his groin rubbing against Duke’s as he moved.
Duke caught up and wrapped his arms around Bram’s waist from behind. “I think I like it too. The end, anyway.” He nibbled Bram’s neck, but allowed himself to be pulled into the next dance.
This wasn’t a major celebration, so the dancing only went on for an hour or so. People started to wander off, stripping out of their clothes to change into their wolf form. Out of the corner of his eye, Duke noticed Justin, holding court in the center of a fawning group of gammas and deltas of both sexes and a few of the more reckless omegas. The rush of fury wasn’t a surprise, but its effect on him was. His limbs shook with the desire to run over there and take Justin apart.
He distracted himself by focusing everything he had on his mate, and pretending ferociously that Justin didn’t exist.
Bram obviously wanted to go run. Just as obviously, he wanted to go see how the babies were getting along without them. Duke was pretty proud of how long Bram had gone without hovering over them, all things considered. “You want to go check on them before we run?” he asked.
“Would you mind?” Bram asked, as if he thought Duke might say no.
Duke kissed him and pushed him in the direction of the babies. “I’ll meet you in the woods.” He pointed toward a particular clump of trees. “Twenty feet inside that grove, okay?”
“Love you,” Bram said, and blew him a kiss that garnered Duke a few jealous looks from some of the younger alphas that hadn’t already disappeared for their run.
Justin stripped down at the edge of the clearing, right in front of some of the young delta wolves, male and female. He grinned, and shifted to his wolf form, before flicking his tail over his back and running into the trees, with the others not long after him.
Duke went straight for the trees where Justin had disappeared.
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
As soon as he was out of sight of the rest of the pack members, Duke hung his clothes in a nearby tree and changed to his wolf form. The world changed when he did. Sight was just as important as his human sight, but his ears and his nose—practically useless as a human—rose up to vie for supremacy with his eyesight. The scent of pack—ten, twelve different shifters—filled the air. Duke sniffed, picking out Justin’s scent from the mix, and trotted off after it.
Justin seemed determined not to be left alone, which was where Duke needed him to be. Duke’s ears flicked back and forth, listening for the other pack members, then crossed and recrossed Justin’s path, painting his own scent over Justin’s until he’d gradually separated the man from his entourage. He was anxious; time was passing and Bram would be back looking for him soon. If Justin was going to be up to his old tricks, Duke was going to disabuse him of the idea that there weren’t any consequences.
Natural consequences were his strength.
Justin being Justin, it took him a few minutes to realize he’d lost his followers. He turned this way and that, sniffing about for their scents, until some stray breeze brought Duke’s to his nose. Justin tensed and spun in circles, until Duke stepped out of the cover of the low brush that filled the space between the trees. A thin beam of moonlight caught him in its silver glow, and Justin backed away, his head down and a growl rolling from his curled lips.
Duke barked his hunting bark and began to advance.
It wasn’t kind, what he did. It wasn’t the behavior of a noble alpha. He chased Justin around the clearing, through the trees, nipping at him, never letting him get far before Duke grabbed him and dragged him back into the gap between the trees where he could worry him around like a pup worried a bone. He never broke Justin’s skin, but he made sure the man was bruised and limping and eventually Justin broke. He gave up and just laid there in front of Duke, and Duke bounced him over the rough ground until he was certain Justin had gotten the message. Then he changed back and laid his human form over Justin’s prone wolf.
“You know, you’re lucky I’m civilized. If this was the old days, I’d be feasting on your heart right now. But I won’t, because it would be inconvenient for me and Bram, and that’s way more important than you. Bram told me what you did. I thought you should know, you were too late. I was there first. Bram’s always been mine. And he thinks you’re a loser.” He stood up and started to leave, but stopped before he was completely hidden by the trees. “If I hear of you doing anything like that to another Mercy Hills shifter—if I even suspect it—you’ll wish it was the old days.” Then he turned his back on his vanquished prey and headed back toward the park, and his mate.
Bram found him near the edge of the park. “There you are.” He paused, taking in Duke’s nudity, and the roaring cyclone of alpha beating off him. “Duke, what did you do?”
Duke held a hand out to him. “Come here.”
Bram came willingly, and put his hand in Duke’s. “Where are we going?” he asked, apprehension and amusement both in his voice.
Once they had enough trees between them and the park to hide them from casual discovery, Duke pushed Bram against a nearby maple. “Why are you dressed?” he asked, his voice gone bass deep with desire.
“Well, we were—”
Duke cut him off with a kiss. He felt the velvet strength of Bram’s omega nature as it reached out to him and then Bram’s arms were around his shoulders. Somehow, they both ended up on the ground, naked and moaning. He wasted a moment wondering where Bram’s clothing had disappeared to and when, but it soon fled, along with the rest of his coherent thoughts. He sat up and Bram straddled his lap, laughing. Duke locked his arms around Bram’s hips and pulled him close. It put Bram’s torso in easy reach of Duke’s mouth, and he put into practice every single thing he’d learned in the past week and a half about what made Bram lose his mind in the bedroom. He dragged the evening scruff of his beard over Bram’s skin, tickling his nipples until they stood high and proud and needy, and Bram’s head fell back, his mouth open in silent ecstasy. Bram tangled his fingers in Duke’s hair, his nails scraping against Duke’s scalp. Duke licked him and nibbled and grabbed mouthfuls of flesh to hold in his teeth while his hands roamed about Bram’s body, claiming him in a way that somehow both inflamed and soothed the alpha part of Duke’s being.
He dipped his fingers into the space between the cheeks of Bram’s ass, lightly scraping over the sensitive skin, teasing Bram with the possibilities.
Bram whined, a true wolfish sound, and squirmed in Duke’s grasp as if he were trying to escape it. It took a moment, then Duke got the message Bram’s overwhelmed body was trying to send him.
With a roar that was almost more lion than wolf, Duke lifted Bram off his lap and set him on the ground on hands and knees. Bram moaned and dropped his head, spreading his knees apart on the rough ground and inching backwards toward Duke.
“Impatient,” Duke scolded him, his tone making it a joke. He was just as impatient. A breeze stirred the branches above them and a momentary flash of moonlight made Bram’s skin glow in the night like a creature of myth. Du
ke ran a hand up Bram’s spine, his breath catching with possessive enjoyment as Bram arched and chased the feeling of Duke’s skin on his. He bent down to breathe the words “I love you” over the dimple at the base of Bram’s spine, and shivered at Bram’s ragged whimper.
“Take me,” Bram whispered. “I can’t wait. Now, Duke.” He pushed his body back towards Duke again in a silent plea for release and relief.
Duke couldn’t wait any longer; the absolute need to take Bram, to make him his mate in the sight of the moon and the trees was overwhelming, and he intended to be overwhelmed. He gripped Bram’s hips to steady him, then pushed inside, his fear of hurting his mate the only rein on his passion.
Bram gasped as Duke entered him, and reached back blindly, as if to hurry him along. Duke worked his way in, pulling out, pushing farther forward, while Bram made the kind of noises that made Duke want to throw caution to the winds, even though he was enjoying Bram’s reaction to this slow claiming of his body. Duke stroked the skin of Bram’s sides, claimed his thighs, pressed kisses along the back of his shoulders, all while they were connected at that deepest level of alpha and omega. He laughed as Bram moaned, but Bram had his revenge. He reared up, so his back pressed against Duke’s front, and twisted his neck until he could take Duke’s mouth in a kiss that scorched both of them with its fire. Duke groaned and his gut clenched. He needed. Needed to make this omega his, to brand him, leave his mark on him so that no one would ever mistake Bram for anyone but Duke’s.
Duke met Bram’s kisses with his own, growling deep in his throat, then pushed Bram back to all fours and took Bram’s hips in his hands. He thrust inside his mate, holding Bram steady and let the passionate dance of their powers guide the speed of his lovemaking. Bram gasped and laughed and commanded Duke, with his voice and his body and the rush of his omega spirit. It coiled around Duke, teasing him in places no physical touch could reach, and he lost what little control he had left, bearing Bram down to the ground and thrusting madly inside his mate, until all his love and desire gathered in heavy knot in his groin that undid itself with a blast of pleasure that left him sobbing and laughing and entirely, utterly, in love with the mate panting beneath him in the afterglow of his own orgasm.
Duke looked up, intending to get his weight off Bram before he crushed him, and discovered a pair of wolf eyes watching them from the shade of the cloud-covered moon. He watched the voyeur until the clouds shifted, and he could identify the interloper.
Justin.
Duke bared his teeth at him in a triumphant grim, then turned back to kiss his mate. The rustle of leaves and the Doppler fade of Justin’s footprints let Duke know that they were alone again.
Bram opened his eyes with obvious difficulty. “I should take you out on full moon more often.”
“Take me out as much as you want, sweetheart.” Duke kissed his nose. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
First semester started in a week, but they were moving early, to give the babies time to settle and for Bram to go to the school and make arrangements there. Unexpectedly, there were supports for young parents wanting to go to college, but you had to let them know and get your name on the list before you could use them. And, in a moment of surprising understanding, Bram had mentioned that he wanted to get to know the layout of the college, in case he had to run for it. Duke hated to think that Bram might end up in a situation like that, but if he was going to go to college, these were things that had to be considered. Duke packed the last box into the van and turned to find Abel standing behind him. For a moment, he wondered if Abel had figured out who the mysterious alpha was that Justin had gotten into trouble with, the alpha that had caused him to leave for Montana Border the very next day, taking the rest of the Montana Border shifters with him.
Apparently not. Duke swallowed a sigh of relief when Abel held out his hand, two small aerosol bottles balanced on his palm. “Pepper spray. For you and Bram, just in case.”
“Thought you figured this was a good idea.” Duke took the pepper spray anyway.
“I do, I’m just starting to have nightmares. I’ve never sent an omega outside walls to school before.”
“You aren’t sending him. Bram applied, Quin okayed it, and Bram wants to go. Besides, thought you didn’t want to be Alpha any more.”
Abel grinned. “I don’t, but it’s a hard habit to break, even with Quin giving me dirty looks.” He stuck his hands in his pockets and watched Duke carefully. “You okay with all this?”
Duke leaned inside the van to tuck the pepper spray into one of the boxes, then stood up and leaned his arm on the back of the van. “You know what? I am. I really am.” He glanced up at Abel, trying to guess how much Abel knew about the way omegas worked. He likely knew a bit—his omega was as smart as Bram. “You know he broke Justin’s influence on him?”
Abel’s eyes widened and a subtle tension that Duke hadn’t realized was there until it wasn’t disappeared. “I’m glad to hear that. I wasn’t happy about you offering for him.”
“I knew that. You did a good job hiding it. Well, after that first conversation.”
“Bax talked to me.”
Duke grinned. “He could talk a fisherman out of his boat.”
“When he wants something badly enough, yes. I’m glad he doesn’t use his power for evil.”
The alphas laughed, and Bram came out of the house, carrying the baby bag. “This is the last of it. Except for the babies.”
“Don’t want to forget them.” Duke stole a kiss from Bram and jumped when Bram grabbed his ass. “You know, that’s not very omega-like.”
“How would you know? I think it’s very omega-like.” Bram patted the ass-cheek he’d just grabbed and turned to go back inside the apartment.
Abel moved up to stand beside Duke. “Okay, I’m way less worried about you now.” He grinned and elbowed Duke. “Or at least, not in the same way.”
Duke threw him an admonishing glance, but Bax and Bram were coming out the door with the pups, and his chance was lost.
In the end, Abel ended up going with them. Quin had planned to drive the truck with the bulk of their belongings down behind them, but ended up delegating to Abel when a surprise visit to the solar panel factory by some human inspectors derailed that plan. Not that Abel seemed to mind, though he and Bax shared a long glance as Abel pulled away in the truck.
The drive was quick, and Duke couldn’t help comparing it to the drive to the hospital, with Bram in the back seat and Duke’s stomach in knots. Now, Duke’s stomach might have still been in knots, but they were ones he knew how to deal with.
Bram was excited, talking a mile a minute, his face pressed to the window as they drove through parts of the city that he’d never seen. “Oh, damn,” Bram said suddenly, sitting bolt upright in the seat. “I just realized that I can get a hamburger and I won’t puke it up now!” He stared out the windshield as if picturing his future dinners, then added, “Probably.” He flashed a grin in Duke’s direction and turned to check on the babies. “Now I know how to get them to sleep. Why have we never tried this before?”
“When do we ever drive inside the enclave?” Duke countered, and made the turn onto the second-last street before the one the pack’s house sat on.
“We’ll have to find an excuse with the next one,” Bram said, turning back to peer at the houses as they rolled past.
Here we go again. “We don’t need to have a pup right away.”
“You should have one of your own,” Bram told him, turning away from the window to glare stubbornly at Duke.
“I have one. Two, actually. You’re going to have enough to do this year.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Bram.” Duke glanced away from the road. “I’m happy with Isolde and Jedrick. You don’t need to get pregnant just to make sure I feel included.” He thought he’d put an end to this argument last week, when they’d had their first real, grown-up fight. He sho
uld have known better—Bram could out-stubborn the enclave walls if he wanted to.
“Who the hell said it was about you?” Bram folded his arms across his chest and scowled out the windshield, wearing a frustrated expression. “I want a baby with you. One that we make. I want to come into heat and jump you and keep you in bed for a week. Because I think it’ll be fun.” A small smile peeked out, then Bram smoothed it away and went back to scowling. “Omega heats are legendary, right? Why shouldn’t you get one for yourself, seeing as how you mated me?”
Duke felt the heat rush up in his cheeks at the mentions of Bram’s heats, and he focused on turning into their street to keep himself from blurting out something. Anything. Because it would probably be stupid.
But damned if he didn’t want spend a week curled up in bed with Bram during his next heat. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, the rush of blood to his cock an entirely unwelcome sensation trapped in a seat belt, in brand new jeans, with his gorgeous omega mate only an arm’s length away.
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
We drove up to the pack house in the city, half-hidden behind its tall brick wall, the sparkle of silver topping it like dangerous Christmas tinsel. The gate stood open and we pulled into the driveway with Abel and the truck behind us. The silence that followed the engines being turned off felt huge, like the Wild Wolf from scary puppy stories.
I checked the pups—still asleep. They’d drifted off within half an hour of putting the car in gear, first Isolde, then Jedrick. I opened the car door slowly, trying not to make a sound. It would be much easier to get stuff into the house if I didn’t have to deal with cranky babies.
Duke must have had the same idea. He crept out of the car like the Wild Wolf was after him, taking the keys so the little binger didn’t bing.
Duke's Baby Deal (MM Mpreg Shifter Romance) (Mercy Hills Pack Book 3) Page 25