by Elle Boon
The frown that marred his gorgeous features was sexy as all get out, making her reach up and smooth her finger over first the right brow then the left. “My life is sort of like—imagine having a snow globe. Everything is calm, until you shake the globe. Then, the peaceful, picturesque image is replaced by a scenery with snow falling, and if you shake it really hard, you can’t even see anything other than the snow. Right now, that’s how I feel. I feel as if the only thing I can see is snow.”
“You know what happens after the snow clears?” Arynn asked, waiting.
She licked her lips, loving the way he smelled.
“Once the snow is gone and the sun rises, everything new and beautiful has a chance to grow. It’s the beginning of a new start. Look around you, Sheila. See these people? They’re the ones you want with you on your new journey, the ones you can count on to protect you and the girls. I wouldn’t have brought you here if I didn’t trust them with the lives of the most important people in my world.”
His words made her wish he felt that way about her, but at least he was accepting Rebel. If what he said was true, then he’d realize Romie and she were a package deal.
Arynn lifted her chin with his forefinger. “I can see your mind working, and you need to shut that shit down. You think you have no worth, and for that I want to go and kick the shit out of whoever made you feel that way. We’ll discuss what’s going on here, later. For now, let’s get you settled.”
You can’t kick the shit out of the dead, she wanted to tell him. Of course, it wasn’t just Dan, although he’d been a part of treating her less than. No, it was everyone in her messed up family. Sheila was sure if her father had still been alive, he would’ve made sure she’d have been treated fairly. A tear trickled down at the memory of the sweet man who’d been the one bright spot in her otherwise dark childhood. She brushed the wetness away while Arynn helped the girls out of his SUV. The excited barking of Gizmo made her wince. She worried the big man wearing a scowl who Arynn had called alpha, would hate the big dog.
Gizmo broke free from Rebel and Romie, launching himself in a run toward the three men, his tail wagging, yet his bark was ferocious.
“Sit,” Kellen ordered.
Gravel rolled under Gizmo as he tried to stop his fast run, his feet shuffling as he obeyed the order.
Although the alpha wasn’t the largest man of the group, he exuded more power, the dominance radiating off him had her wanting to look down.
“Hey, mister, he’s just a puppy, be nice,” Rebel yelled, running toward her dog.
Sheila groaned.
“It’ll be okay,” Arynn assured her.
Kellen knelt down on one knee, scratching the huge dog between his ears, waiting for the child of Arynn to reach him. The aura of female alpha was strong in the little girl, but he couldn’t allow her to see his appreciation for her spunk.
“Is this your pet?” he asked, keeping his hand on the dogs head, no need to hold onto the leash or collar as the animal wouldn’t move unless Kellen released him.
The young girl and another skidded to a stop. Both nodded. The blonde child bit her lip and held her hands in front of her as if she was praying. Kellen wanted to laugh and pull the pretty little thing in for a fatherly hug and send her on to Lake for some women shit. Instead, he waited, knowing the girls would need to show him their merit. The wait wasn’t long as the dark haired one spoke first.
“His name’s Gizmo, and he’s just excited. He’s been cooped up in the car for hours and we just let him eat a double quarter pounder and drink about a gallon of water. Unless you want him to crap and pee all over your—” she looked at his boots. “Nice looking combat boots, let us take him for a walk. We’ll make sure he’s more well mannered the next time he sees you.” She nodded as if it were decided.
Kellen looked at her then the blonde. “What’s your name kid?” Oh, he knew she was Rebel and the other was Romie, but again, he wanted them to tell him of their own accord.
Romie sighed. “I’m Romie, and this is Rebel. The big boy is Gizzy, and he’s sorry he almost trampled you. How did you get him to listen with one word?”
Ah, that was what he wanted. “I’m the alpha. If you’re going to own an animal like this, you need to teach him who’s the head of your pack. I’m assuming it’s one of you, or maybe the both of you. However, he doesn’t know that. When you take him for a walk, you walk him, don’t let him walk you. These woods are on pack lands, but if he got away from you because you allowed him to lead, then one or all of you could wind up in trouble.”
Rebel crossed her arms across her chest. “Can you teach us?”
Kellen stood, doing what he’d wanted since he’d seen both girls, looking as if they were lost. He held his hand out to Rebel first. When she took it, he pulled her in for a hug. “Of course, you’re pack,” he told her, then held his hand out for Romie, seeing hesitation in the brown eyes. “Romie, you too are pack, girl.” He held his arms out, waiting. The young girl took a deep breath, releasing it on a shuttering sigh, then walked into his arms and hugged him.
He met Arynn’s gaze over her head. “She’s going to need reassurance as much as Rebel will, if not more. You need to make sure they both know they’re yours, that they’re pack.”
Arynn nodded. “Thank you, Kellen. That’s just another reason you’re the alpha.” He let the block on his abilities lift, taking in the emotions of the gathering people. The most prevalent emotion was relief flowing from not only Rebel and Romie, but Sheila.
“He’s amazing,” Sheila whispered.
He didn’t tell her that everyone except for Rebel and Romie would be able to hear her.
“Hi, Sheila. My name’s Laikyn, but my friends call me Lake. That big guy is my mate, but he calls me boss.” Laikyn winked while putting her arm through Sheila’s. “Come on, let’s get you three settled. The guys will bring your bags.”
The thought he should go with Sheila had him taking a step in the direction the women were going, but a single bark of his name from Kellen had him stopping in his tracks. He shook his head, turning toward the trio of men and his girls. Gizmo was lying on the ground, letting Turo rub his belly.
“He hasn’t gone to the bathroom, man,” he warned.
Turo glared down at the dog, then at him. “I got a new gun.”
Rebel growled, the sound too damn cute. “You threatening my dog, mister?”
Arynn rolled his eyes. “Have you guys not introduced yourselves to my...Rebel and Romie? Sorry, girls, they’ve seemed to have forgotten their manners. This big oaf who has a love for guns, and his mate Jocelyn, is Turo. You met Kellen, the Grand Puba as you aptly named him, and that guy is what we call the second. His name is Xan. If you can’t find me or Kellen, you can always go to him.”
“Hey, what am I, chopped liver?” Turo stood with his hands on his hips.
Rebel snorted. “I really like your name,” she told Turo.
Turo smacked his hands together. “Smart kid. I’ll teach her how to shoot.”
Three male no’s were shouted, while Rebel and Romie jumped up and down, asking when.
“How about you start by going with the girls to take Gizmo for a walk and making sure he doesn’t leave a pile of shit for one of us to—walk in.” Kellen tilted his head toward the woods.
Arynn knew he meant not only the humans, but the shifters who might be running through the woods. Turo growled but took off toward the woods with the dog and girls following. “Stay with Turo and do what he says, girls. Turo, take them to the apartments after your done, please,” Arynn asked the other man.
Turo lifted his hand, letting Arynn know he’d heard and would make sure they got safely to where they needed to be, leaving him with Kellen and Xan.
“So, you go down to see your daughter and come back with an unclaimed female and two daughters. How’d that happen?” Xan asked.
He shook his head, opening the door to the clubhouse. The music pulsed from the speakers, Volbeat Still Counting
playing, making him shake his head. He looked around, counting all the assholes in the room like the song suggested. Nope, he wasn’t alone in that department.
“Let’s go to my office, unless you need to take the edge off before we have a conversation?” Kellen tilted his head toward two women dancing their way toward them.
Arynn shook his head. “Nope, I’m good.” He, Xan, and Kellen all moved away toward the huge door to the alpha’s office. Kellen punched in a sequence of numbers before the door swung open. The once regular steel door had been replaced with an eight inch steel reinforced one that needed a code to get in, now that he was mated with four babies.
The door closed, shutting out the music, except for a small vibration that their sensitive ears would detect no matter what.
“What can I get you to drink?” Xan asked, striding to the bar in the corner.
“I’ll take a beer.” Arynn paced back and forth, trying to work out what was on his mind before talking.
“Pussy,” Xan said on a cough, tossing a bottle toward Arynn before filling two square glasses with amber liquid.
Arynn lifted the corner of his lip. “Nah, I just like the taste of a cold beer, fucker.” He tilted the bottle back and let the cold brew soothe his throat, swallowing the last drop before going to the bar himself to grab another. “Too bad we can’t get shit faced drunk,” he said.
“I’ve seen what happened, and Jenna’s shared with us as well. Your girls are safe. What about the female?” Kellen sat with his legs sprawled, the glass half empty as he stared toward Arynn.
Arynn looked toward his alpha, then at the new bottle of beer he held. “What about the female?” he asked. Damn, he was conflicted, yet his wolf wasn’t. How did he trust the animal that was part of him when he’d tried to tell him his mate was Sarah? Of course, if he’d not followed through on the urges that night, he wouldn’t have Rebel. The thought alone had his wolf raking at his skull. “My wolf says she’s ours, but—how do I trust what I’m feeling, when the last time I did as soon as the deed was done, my fucking wolf couldn’t get away quickly enough, and neither could I if I’m being honest. Actually, I had second and third doubts from the get go, but I listened to my animal. I’m not saying I regret that night because look what I got. Yeah, I got twelve years of fucking hell, since I couldn’t be with Rebel, but Sheila let me be a part as much as she could. I now wonder if the mother didn’t have more to do with the entire thing than I realized.” He took another long pull, trying to get his thoughts together.
Kellen nodded. “Jenna said as much. She didn’t think there was any way you’d have left your child, not with your abilities, unless you’d been pushed. Did you ever have a face-to-face with the mother when Rebel was born?”
Chapter Six
Arynn remembered the day Rebel had been born and the trip he and Wyck had made down to see his child. “Yeah, she wouldn’t allow me to see Rebel unless I promised to leave if Rebel was nothing like me. Shit! She knew we were something, just not what. I let down my barriers to calm Wyck, so he wouldn’t rip her throat out. Do you think she somehow was able to manipulate me?” Just the thought of the older woman getting inside his head had him shutting his eyes and searching for any signs. Darkness left a scar on a person, even if it’s a tiny bit. He’d worked hard to keep barriers in place unless he was needed to help someone in the pack who was in physical or mental pain. As the Omega, he was more attuned than the average wolf, able to siphon off their hurt into himself and expel it at a rate that was like blinking to him, unless the injury was massive. Only then could he be knocked down for a time.
In the far recess of his mind, buried behind memories, he found a splinter size scar. Going toward it with his white light, keeping his thoughts blank, he allowed his light to converge on the darkness, amazed as the thing began to attack back, but he had a stronger hold, and pushed it out like one would a breath, keeping the light of the Goddess gift around it.
When he opened his eyes, Jenna and the Cordell twins stood in front of him. “I’ll take that, Arynn.”
He wasn’t sure it was safe for her to take, not when she had two little ones in her womb. He looked at her men, waiting for their approval.
“Are you kidding me? I’m the Fey Queen, dammit. Give me that dark bitch. Once she loses that piece of herself, she’ll be weakened. You’ll all need to be on your guard. We’ll be taking this to the land of the soul seekers. Trust me, she won’t be going there to retrieve it.” A large glowing orb appeared in Jenna’s hand.
Damien nodded, placing one hand on her shoulder while Lucas moved on the other side. “We’ve got her.” Lucas waved his hand toward the smaller orb Arynn held.
Finally, after looking at Kellen, who gave a nod of approval, he allowed Jenna to take the darkness. After several seconds, he fell back, feeling as if he’d been run over and left for dead.
“You’re going to be fine now, Arynn. I’d like to say this is over, but that darkness was only a part of a larger dark presence. If I were you, I’d claim your mate sooner rather than later.” Jenna gave what he considered her customary one handed finger wave, then they disappeared.
“Oh, tell Team Styles auntie Jenna said hi, and I’ll be by for a visit as soon as I get a minute to breathe,” Jenna said as she popped back in next to Kellen, making him spill some of his best liquor down his shirt. “You need a bib, bestie?” She ruffled his hair then popped out again.
Arynn shook his head. “I like her. I really like her,” he said.
Kellen held the square glass up, pointing one wet finger toward Xan. “You say one word, and I kick your ass.”
Xan held his hands up, one holding his own glass of amber liquid. “Wouldn’t dream of it, bestie.”
“I’m going to go find my females.” Yep, he used the plural sense, because he was claiming all three. Rebel and Romie were his daughters. One by blood, one by choice, and Sheila was most assuredly his mate. He would just need to figure out how to convince them they needed to stay with him, forever.
“Good luck, man. Try not to be a dick like Xan Mother-Fucking Carmichael,” Kellen instructed.
Xan placed his hand between his thighs. “Suck my—Hey, Breezy, how’s my best girl?”
They all turned as Breezy and Laikyn walked in carrying a baby in each arm, without Sheila and the girls.
“Before you ask, and before I ask why my mate was grabbing his junk, your girls are getting settled. Now, why was he grabbing my candy stick?”
Lake groaned. “Lord, you call that your candy stick, really?”
Arynn bent and kissed each baby on the cheek, allowing his Omega powers to wash over them, checking them for any pain. “They’re perfect, Lake,” he told the female alpha of the pack.
A smile lit her face. “Thank you for checking, Arynn. Go see your girls.”
He left, closing the door as Xan asked Breezy if she wanted to taste his candy stick. He chuckled at Breezy’s offer to do just that. Damn, he loved his crazy pack.
Like a homing device, he followed his nose to where Sheila and the girls were getting settled, wondering how they would handle living underground for the foreseeable future. He pictured their sprawling ranch house compared to the much smaller apartments they’d been given. Although they were large by most standards and kitted out with high-end everything, they weren’t on the same level as the half million dollar price tag he was sure they were used to. Of course, they were safe, and that was all that really mattered.
He stopped at the door, taking a deep breath before knocking. Not sure what he’d expected, but a smiling Romie had him relaxing. “Hey, kid, how’s it going?”
Romie lifted one shoulder. “It’s cool here. Did you know, there’s like super-secret security, like everywhere? I mean, it’s like we’re in the witness protection or something.”
Or something, he thought, but kept a grin in place, happy at least one of his girls was happy. “How’s everyone else settling in?”
The young girl rolled her eyes. “W
ell, let’s see.” She held up one finger. “Rebel is being her usual self, which means, she’s acting as if nothing bothers her. Mom is reorganizing the kitchen, because ya know, ain’t nobody puts things in the right place.” She had two fingers up, closing her eyes as if in thought. “Oh, and Gizmo is sulking.”
“And how about you? What are you doing?” He leaned one shoulder on the door frame. Until she or one of the others invited him in, he’d stay out, no matter if it killed him.
Again, Romie lifted her right shoulder. “I’m being the happy go lucky one, trying to keep everyone in a good mood, which is ticking Rebel off. Hashtag winning,” she grinned, showing the mischievous preteen she was.
“Romie Brielle, are you through with whatever your doing—oh, hey,” Sheila said.
“Hey yourself. You three getting settled in alright?” He was damn proud he could form words, let alone full sentences as he looked at Sheila in a pair of cut off jean shorts and a tank top. Fuck, she was gorgeous.
“Yeah, it’s really nice, thank you.” She bit her lip, shuffling from one foot to the other.
He quirked a brow. “You don’t need to thank me, Sheila. Is there anything you need?”
“Right now, we’re good. They even had the fridge stocked, setting the girls up with snacks and frozen pizza, which is a real treat for them.”
It took all he had not to pull her into his arms and see if she tasted as good as she smelled and looked. Never had his wolf snarled so loudly that Arynn feared an accidental shift. Hell, even when they’d thought Sarah was their mate, neither he nor his beast was so out of control. What was it about Sheila that had him completely off his game? “How about you? What do you need or want?”
The scent of her arousal spiked, giving him hope his attraction wasn’t one sided.
“There’s fresh fruit as well as some yogurt and things for us to grill. I didn’t see a grill or place for us to, you know, cook outside.” She shifted from foot to foot, drawing his gaze down her tanned shapely legs.
“This side doesn’t have an opening directly to the outside, but there’s a courtyard above where we get together and grill for parties. I’m sure some of the ladies will be by to see if you were up to that kind of get together before they plan it. If not, I can show you where everything is. Although we’re safe here, I don’t want you or the girls leaving the property until the danger has been eliminated.” He didn’t tell her the danger wouldn’t be over until her mother is taken care of.