by Jo Penn
Deakin nodded. “Okay, so why are we here?”
“Compulsory,” Drax stated. “We have a few wolves who can do something similar, and a spirit wolf, but for this we need a bit more delicacy and to get right to the heart of the matter quickly, as we don’t have much time. The wolf way can leave a creature drained for a while. Ran will be seeing Sebastian.” Drax turned in his seat and studied them. “Anything you want to share with me now so I’m aware, pup?”
Ran sat up, moving off Deakin’s chest and looked away. “Not really ready for this.”
“I know, that’s why we came to Seb. He’ll ease the trauma that opening up old pains can cause.”
“Ran?” Deakin drew his boyfriend close and cupped Ran’s gorgeous face. “No matter what, we’re in this together, right. You, me, and McGee.”
Ran smiled slowly and kissed Deak. “You and that McGee. I should be jealous.”
“Yeah, you should, McGee’s all over me.”
Laughing, they got out of the truck and trooped into the modern, white, two-story building. The receptionist glared at them.
“Well, well, if it isn’t the slut.”
“Oh, you love me, we both know it.” Luka blew a kiss and winked.
“Why you!” The creature screeched and leapt across the reception counter, hands turning to claws and going straight for Luka’s throat.
“Dammit.” Drax tossed Ran and Deakin onto a sofa, grabbed Luka, and tossed his brother onto another sofa, and then somehow managed to catch the feline shifter and brought her down to the ground, a booted foot on her throat. “You attacked my brother. He’s protected under law. That’s a death sentence, Marcie.”
“But, Enforcer Drax, we were on a date and he ended up in the bathroom with my twin brother!” the cat screeched.
“I don’t give a shit. You know the deal. And what the hell, Marcie?! Luka’s gay. You know that.”
She shrugged and inspected a long claw. “A girl can try, and there is a rumor going around he did your father’s secretary on her desk.”
Deakin and Ran were watching with avid interest and fixed their gazes on Luka, who didn’t seem disturbed by any of this. He grinned.
“So not true. It was the secretary’s assistant and he did me.”
“Not helping, Luka,” a big creature with reddish hair streaked with black and green eyes, admonished the young wolf and joined Drax. “I know, she shouldn’t have done that, and probably wouldn’t have harmed our Luka, too much anyway, just a little mauling. I’ll have her reprimanded. Baron will want to see to it personally. She’s young and obviously her training needs to be firmer.”
“Oh no.” Marcie sighed. “My bad.”
“Does that happen a lot?” Deakin asked.
“Yeah, you get used to it.” Luka pointed at Ran. “Your mate knows all about it, don’t you, little brother?”
“He’s not your brother,” Deakin murmured. “Too weird.”
“Adopted him now, remember? Part of the pack.”
“Yes, but Ran, not me. Ugh, and not your brother and family. They are like, I don’t know, members of a group. Not a gang, mind you, a group. That is a big difference from family.”
Deakin shuddered at the thought of family. Which reminded him he had to call his own.
“Which one is mine?” The big creature with reddish hair streaked with black was looking between Ran and Deakin.
“I think you need to psychoanalyze both,” Luka mumbled.
“I agree, but for today I guess it will be the wolf… Where’s he going?”
Ran was up and moving fast. “I forgot, I’ve got a…thing.”
Deakin was too surprise to call out, just sat there gaping as his mate dashed through a door and was gone.
“Did he just run?” Drax looked stumped.
The big cat nodded, perplexed. “Yeah, I think he did.”
“Damn. Guess I better go hunt him down. Seb, do me a favor and let Baron know we have a little wolf pup on the loose in the compound and no one but trained soldiers are to approach. And don’t let Luka and Deakin out of your sight.”
Left alone with a wolf and a tiger, Deakin gulped and jumped when a door slammed shut somewhere in the building.
“Don’t worry, Drax with find Ran and bring him back. He sure moved quick for a little wolf.”
Deak sighed and got out his phone to play a game. This could take a while.
* * * *
“I can’t believe you took off like that. Where were you planning to go, anyway?” Deak twirled the noodles around his chopsticks expertly while giving that bemused, exasperated look he often used whenever Ran did something Deak didn’t agree with.
“I don’t know. Just going for a run.” Ran shrugged and ate a mouthful of noodles, only just managing not to spit them back out.
He wasn’t an egg noodle fan. In fact, he couldn’t stand the shit, but as Deak loved egg noodles, Ran didn’t bother saying anything.
“Going for a run. Right, away from Sebastian Sanchez. So tell me how the counselling session went.”
It sucked. “Okay.”
“You drive me crazy. Just tell me…” Deak’s eyes narrowed behind his adorable black rimmed glasses. “Did you remove the label from the condiments again?”
“Maybe, I got distracted. Maybe they just fall off. I don’t know why you bother really.”
Deak’s left eye twitched, a sure sign he was about to blow, maybe overdose a little on his Ventolin. Ran watched curiously for a moment to see which way his mate would go, but instead Deak seemed to gain control of himself and snapped two fingers on the twitching muscle.
That was probably good. Deak had used his puffer a lot today.
After they finished eating, watched a movie, and showered, Ran waited patiently for Deakin to fall asleep before he got up and pulled on the clothes he had stashed behind the sofa. Deak was a light sleeper. He said it came from sharing a room with four of his brothers, so Ran stashed clothes around the apartment for his late night walks so he wouldn’t disturb his mate.
Tugging on the old, worn black jeans, a long sleeve blue and white shirt, and a hideous jumper only a colorblind person would wear, he tossed a scarf around his neck, then climbed out the window and agilely jumped across to the small balcony on the neighbor’s side. From there it was an easy slide down the drainpipe, around the corner, and he was mingling with the late night partiers.
He was pinched on the ass, winked at a few times, and ran from an overly excited admirer who “just wanted to chat!” He finally made it to his favorite pizza place five blocks over. Deak wasn’t a big pizza fan. He preferred fresh noodles and anything vegetarian. Ran wanted a big, crusty pizza with lots of sauce, meat, and cheese. Maybe a vegetable or two.
Ha! Nah, no vegetables, he was a wolf!
Just about to take a bite, he groaned as two creatures sat down opposite him in the booth. Luka Charmers and Marco Sanchez. A wolf and a tiger.
“Busted.” Luka grinned and leant close, dropping his voice. “You’ve got a lot to learn about sneaking out, little brother. You have to look around, cover your tracks, spread your scent around.”
“And don’t smile at ass pinchers. You have a mate. Your ass is a no go zone for anyone but him.” Marco reached for a slice of pizza and Ran growled. “You get territorial over pizza?!”
“I’m hungry.” Ran whined and shoved some in his mouth, sighing with bliss.
“You had Japanese two and a half hours ago,” Marco commented.
“Don’t like Japanese.” Ran wolfed down the slice and reached for another.
“So why didn’t you order something else?” Luka snatched a piece and ignored Ran’s growl. “Settle down, pup, my fangs are bigger than yours. What’s wrong with Japanese?”
“Don’t like it, Deakin does.” Ran shuddered. “Makes me want to hurl. Huh, probably shouldn’t tell him that.”
“Oh, isn’t that cute, the little wolf eating shit he don’t like for his mate. Who, by the way, has a funky scent. N
ot quite human. Not any shifter I know, nor vamp, fae, wizard, or anything else.”
Wolfing down another two slices and noting a few of the Starters pack soldiers, Ran reached for the last piece only to find an empty plate. He sighed as Marco gobbled it up.
“Sprite, right?”
“Yeah.” Ran smiled at that. His mate was cute in a dorky, preppy, geeky way. Ran really liked it, and as he had a little sprite heritage, his mate could get hyper like that type of creature did. But Deak’s type of hyper was to label the entire apartment, including Ran.
There were occasions when he woke to labels stuck over him and his clothes.
“We’ve got company.” Marco was busy typing on his phone.
Ran glanced around and began to shake. Oh, shit, he needed to get out of here. He knew this would happen, eventually. He’d managed to stay under the Wolf Council radar for ten years by staying away from wolf packs. Any shifter groups, actually, until Deak wanted to come here, and, as usual, Ran couldn’t say no.
“Relax, little wolf, the soldiers have got this. Let’s get you up and moving.” Marco basically plucked Ran from his seat, and with Luka on one side and Marco on the other, moved Ran along the footpath.
After a few minutes and no one screaming or attacking them, Ran relaxed enough to notice Luka was letting off some very heavy pheromones that were making anyone close to them suddenly became flushed and grab another person.
“How are you doing that?”
“It’s a secret.” Luka flashed his cheeky grin. “I’ll tell ya about it later. Down this way.”
They were met by a few soldiers and Alpha Urian and his mate, the gorgeous creature Finn.
“I was having a nice dinner. Why did we have to leave?” Finn snapped, texting on his phone.
“Did you have permission to leave your apartment unescorted, pup?” the Alpha asked, grey eyes hard.
Normally Ran would run a mile away from an Alpha wolf. He certainly didn’t have any good experiences with them in the past, but something about this particular wolf didn’t have him quaking in his boots…well, not in the way of oh, fuck, he’s going to kill me! Rather, he was the huge creature who knew and saw everything and may actually be approachable and fair. Though Ran just knew instinctively that Urian Starters was never to be messed with.
He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I don’t like Japanese.”
When the Alpha just glared at him, Ran shrugged. What else could he say?
Marco chuckled and affectionately mussed up Ran’s hair. “He was a hungry little wolf, ate some Japanese to please his mate, then snuck out to eat real shifter food.”
The gorgeous blonde with the Alpha frowned. “Are you saying Japanese food isn’t real food? Because that’s wrong on so many levels. And I’ve seen you guys scarfing down truckloads of it. So what’s wrong with Japanese food?”
As the question was directed at him, Ran fidgeted and stared at the ground, mumbling a little.
“Egg noodles make me sick.”
“Shit, I thought you just didn’t like it, not that it made you sick. Man, there’s wanting to please your mate, and then there’s doing dumb shit.” Marco the tiger shook his big head, hair flopping around everywhere.
“You really shouldn’t try to guide or help anyone, cub.” The Alpha smirked. “Next time you’re hungry, try cooking, pup.”
“Can’t, not allowed to touch the oven…or the pots and pans. And Deakin’s a light sleeper.”
“Not allowed?” Luka seemed outraged. “Well, that’s just wrong.”
“I don’t know. I’ve seen Keeley cook and he’s not allowed to touch anything in the kitchen without supervision because he forgets what he’s doing and nearly burns the place down.” The tiger chuckled.
“We’ll escort you back to your apartment, and you two have five minutes to get home before curfew.”
“Man, I can’t wait to get my own place. I’ve even picked it out, right in the center of the city, second floor apartment—”
“Yeah, yeah, you’re going to be partying every night. Move it,” the Alpha snarled.
Luka just grinned and moved Ran along. Ran watched out for the three creatures, all wolves he recalled from his old pack that he had spotted when eating pizza. It sure hadn’t taken Mikkos long to send out his Enforcers, and three of the best that Ran knew of.
There wasn’t a lot of warning, just a stirring of air, a zing noise, right before the Alpha roared and creatures scattered, stared in shock, or ran towards them. Ran was grabbed and thrown to the ground, soldiers appearing around them, guns drawn, mouths full of sharp teeth.
“Shit, he’s hit, Uri.” Luka tore the ugly jumper right down the middle, along with Ran’s shirt.
Ran watched in stunned fascination as blood rose from a small hole in the center of his chest, and for some reason, he couldn’t seem to catch his breath.
“We’ve got a sniper. Hunt the creature down,” the Alpha ordered. “You five, get everyone off the street…”
Ran didn’t hear the rest. He was watching Luka extend a long claw and thrust it into the hole.
“Sorry, little brother, we have to get that bullet out so you can heal up. Why don’t you go ahead and pass out, we’ll take good care of you.”
“Okay…” Ran managed to gurgle out, blood dribbling from his mouth. “O-old Alpha…w-wants to k-ill me. P-protect D-eak…”
“Will do. You rest.” Marco patted his head. “Good little wolf.”
With a little growl at that and being patted on the head, Ran blanked out.
* * * *
“What happened? Can I see him? Who shot him? Why? W-where is h-e?” The human was wheezing so much everyone began rushing him at once.
A nurse grabbed an oxygen mask and tried to shove it over Deakin’s face, but Deak slapped the nurse’s hands away and used his Ventolin.
Ran tried to speak but it was useless so he whimpered. Deak spun around, and with that sprite heritage, leapt across to the bed where Ran lay and whimpered himself.
“My gorgeous wolf. Okay, okay, the doctors have patched you up. They said you’ll be fine. The bullet was taken out straight away so no lingering damage, and we’re going to find the creep who did it…or Enforcer Drax and the wolves will, so you’ll be safe—oh fruit loops, why does someone want to hurt you, baby?”
Ran managed to get his fingers to move and brushed them over Deak’s hand that was on his sore chest. His mate was a mess. Deak hated to look a mess. He hated to be surrounded by mess. But right now, he didn’t seem to care that his clothes were mismatched and he was wearing one of Ran’s cardigans with a hole in it, or that his shoes didn’t match and his dirty blonde hair was bizarrely sticking up everywhere. How Deak managed to get his hair to do that, Ran hadn’t a clue, but every morning Deak’s hair looked like someone took a hedge clipper and a leaf blower to it.
Ran thought his mate was beautiful.
Too bad Ran had no sex drive anymore. He used to enjoy sex. Drax had explained yesterday that with his wolf spirit suffering from years of repression, Ran would feel fatigued, unmotivated, and numerous other things, including having no sex drive. That did explain a lot, actually, the last few years.
A doctor walked in who looked very similar to River Aston, their lawyer.
“Hello, Ran, I am Layke Aston, your doctor.”
Deak’s head whipped around and he jabbed a finger under the doctor’s nose. “He can’t move! Why can’t he move? Do you know a lawyer named River Aston?”
The doctor calmly smiled and nodded, not disturbed by Deak’s manic behavior in the least.
“Of course. He is one of my brothers.”
“Oh, lords and fruit loops, do you have twenty siblings too? It’s horrible, all cramped in the same place, all squabbling—the mess!”
When Deak grabbed the front of the doctor’s coat, the man calmly smiled and jabbed Deak with a needle.
Ran growled but Drax patted his shoulder.
“Deakin needs a little re
st. He’s been sucking on his Ventolin too much.”
Surprisingly, Alpha Urian picked Deak up and laid him on the bed beside Ran.
“Mates need to be close,” Uri explained, lifting up the rail on the side of the bed, Drax doing the same on the other side. “Now, Ran, you will explain why your old Alpha is trying to kill you.”
“Unfortunately, your wolf does not have enough energy to speak at present, Urian. He needs to be calm and close to his mate, and to know that the one intending him harm has been apprehended,” Doctor Aston said.
Uri ruffled his hair. “The sniper is being tracked. He’ll be caught soon. Alive, though, could be a problem, so we’ll have to go back to the source. Alpha Mikkos.”
Ran trembled at the name, Deakin stirring in his drug induced rest. Again, Drax placed a hand on his shoulder and warmth seeped into him. Ran’s eyes drifted closed. He may actually be safe for a while.
The next time he woke, Deakin was lying right on top of him, squashing him. Ran didn’t mind though. What he did mind were the ten sets of curious eyes all peering at him from around the room.
A head popped around the doorway. “Ah, good, you’re awake. Did you know that sprites can detect family members’ distress? Yeah, that’s real cool. This is some of Deakin’s family. They felt his upset and came immediately.”
Ran’s eyes widened at Luka’s words and he gulped, then managed a small smile. They all smiled in return.
By the Gods, there was so many of them! And this was just some of Deakin’s family?! Shit, no wonder his mate had a few weird mess issues. It must be like having an entire pack in the one house, and maybe a small house at that.
Luka was finding it highly amusing, especially when all the mostly humans—some actually scented more like sprites, while others were halflings or quarterlings, like the Fates had assigned more creature genetics in some of the family and less in others, weird—all began speaking at once.
“Family reunions are wonderful, aren’t they?” Doctor Aston grinned at all of Deakin’s family, then pointed to the door. “Visiting hours commence again in five hours. In the meantime, Beta Kelly has arranged accommodation close by.”