Instead of keeping his mouth shut, Houston opened it again to say something. Mickey didn’t give him a chance. He jabbed his finger at the alpha’s chest and glared up into his gray eyes. “I don’t need you for anything. Okay? I don’t care if we’re supposed to be mates. I don’t need you.”
Houston’s nostrils flared. “You need me for sex!”
Mickey blushed hard. There was nothing he could do but stop right there and leave to go be anywhere else but here. He really, really didn’t want to admit that Houston was right.
He didn’t want this to be true.
He hadn’t gotten more than thirty feet away when a shout suddenly brought him reeling around again. “Mickey!”
It was Houston, because who else would it be? Fuming and snarling to himself, he went back the way he came at a deliberately slow pace.
That was when he saw the reason Houston was yelling.
Jaguars.
Five of them, their pelts splotched orange and black. If Mickey thought before that Houston looked like some sort of magical creature in the light of the lanterns, these resembled lithe dragons hellbent on destroying a small village.
Shit. The pack!
For a moment, all Mickey could do was spin in a circle while the group of jaguars grew ever closer to the settlement. Cries went up from his pack, panicked and chilling. They were about to die. They knew it. None of them tried to run. They all cowered in place, right where they were.
Did he try to get them to safety? But where would safety be if he didn’t try to attack the jaguars? How had the cats even been able to find this place?
His confused circle completed, he started another one. That was when two hard hands came crashing down on his shoulders, shaking him roughly.
“Mickey!” Houston snarled. He was already shapeshifting, his words garbled and fur covering his body in a wave. His eyes turned from steel to sunlight, blazing mad yellow. “I’ll hold them off. You hide everyone.”
And then the alpha dropped onto four massive paws and threw himself into the fray. The attacking cats didn’t seem prepared to have anyone actually fight them. Their focus cut off, and they went right for Houston.
Mickey wasted no time. As fast as he could, he ran toward those members of his pack who were the most physically and emotionally capable. They roused to his presence.
“Get everyone inside,” he said each time. “Pups especially. Then the weakest.”
They all nodded to him and started to round up the others, ushering them into shelter in the nearest buildings, whatever that might be.
Mickey spun again, shapeshifting and snapping at his own tail in his anxiety. He lurched around, powerful eyesight desperately searching for some sign of Houston in the half-darkness.
There!
Two jaguars lay immobilized on the ground, twitching and struggling as blood pooled beneath their powerful bodies. The other three...
Houston moved like a whirlwind of gray fur and white teeth, whipping this way and that as he fought against all three remaining cats at once. They circled and hissed, battering at him with their paws with lean grace. But he was a wrecking ball of a wolf, crazed and utterly lacking in common sense. His body moved as if pulled in all directions, kicking and clawing and biting in five places all at once. Despite the fact that they were heavier and stronger and faster than he was, he shoved them to the ground with his broad chest again and again and again.
They’re no match for him!
Mickey almost threw back his head to let out a howl of triumph when one of the jaguars finally noticed an opening in Houston’s crazy attacks. It slid around behind the alpha, rising up on its hind legs to come crashing down on top of him.
Mickey bunched his muscles up and then threw himself forward. In only a single bound, he cleared the distance and landed square in the middle of the pouncing jaguar’s back. His weight was nothing, insignificant, but it had the force of his jump and the element of surprise behind it. The jaguar toppled to the side while he sank his fangs into the thick fur at the scruff of its neck, tearing clumps of fur and skin from the base of its spine with his hind paws.
Its powerful head swung around and he stared right into its vengeful eyes. That look held his death in it. He could see his own broken body, torn in half by that gaping maw...
And then the jaguar slumped into unconsciousness as Houston’s body slammed its head into the concrete floor.
The alpha was up in an instant, shapeshifting into a human. Mickey staggered to his paws and looked around. None of the attacking shifters were dead, but there was only one standing. Two were on the ground bleeding, another was unconscious, and the last was slumped and panting.
“Go away from here,” Houston snarled. His voice rose up into a powerful, chaotic howl that held all of his rage. “This pack is under my protection! Get out!”
The jaguars who were still conscious all glanced at once another, and then back at Houston. None of them even seemed to notice Mickey, although he wasn’t exactly surprised. His pelt kept him hidden where he was, pressed flat against the ground.
Then, the attackers slowly turned back into humans. They had their faces and features hidden with masks and baggy clothes. Without speaking, they roused the unconscious shifter and then they all slowly walked away and left the cavern.
Mickey sagged with relief, staring up at Houston.
The alpha stood stock-still, almost like a statue he was so locked inside his own aggression. Then, he sighed and his shoulders slumped as he turned to face his Mickey.
“You okay?” he murmured, crouching down to help Mickey stand.
He hadn’t realized that he’d become human again, but he let Houston take his hand and pull him to his feet. “I’m okay,” he murmured. “Are you?”
Houston nodded, smiling breezily. “Perfectly fine.”
He was fully-healed shortly after he came here. I think his wounds didn’t even bother him at all on the second day. I just forgot.
“Right,” Mickey said. He realized he was still clutching Houston’s hand, and he really didn’t want to let go of it just yet. Now that everything was over, he was shaking and realizing just how scared he had been. “What the hell kind of fighting was that?”
Houston laughed; the sound was shaky, making Mickey realize that the alpha had been just as scared of what happened. “I don’t like losing so I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about fighting those cats. It made me realize that, in the animal world, there’s a lot of pure sparring and testing each other’s limits. Especially cats. They like to circle each other and bat out their paws to test the waters. I started thinking, what if I just... got rid of all common sense and freaked out on them?”
Mickey laughed. His heart felt light, and his stomach tingled. He couldn’t help what came next. Standing up on his tiptoes, he wrapped his arms around Houston’s neck and kissed him.
The alpha flinched with surprise, and then wrapped his arms around Mickey’s waist to hold him close.
For only a moment, being in Houston’s arms felt good and right. Mickey relaxed against him, letting their lips move together for a moment before he pulled away again.
And still he didn’t let go of Houston’s hand. Together, they walked back to face the pack.
And there was a whole hell of a lot to face. Bernie charged forward and swatted at Houston’s shoulder with a fist. “There’s nothing wrong with you at all!” he screeched. “You’re a wolf in sheep’s clothing! You’re perfectly fine, so you don’t have any right to be here!”
“That’s right!”
“Make him leave!”
Mickey bristled, but he held his tongue for a moment as he noticed that only a small number of the pack were actually agreeing with the rabbit shifter. The mothers and children, and all those who Houston had lent a helping hand to over the past days, were looking as though they all wanted to say otherwise.
“Bernie,” Mickey said softly, furrowing his eyebrows. “Why are you so insistent on getting ri
d of Houston?”
“He’s terrible for us! Look at what happened! He brought those jaguars right to us. I saw him leave yesterday in the middle of the afternoon. That must have been when he went to tell them where we were so they could attack.”
Bernie folded his arms across his chest, stomping one foot nervously. Mickey narrowed his eyes, and not just because the rabbit smelled of fear. “Really? Because around that time, Houston was with me. We were watching the pups. Weren’t we, Rose?”
One of the mothers, a shy omega who had been forced to kill her abusive mate, nodded while holding her adopted son close to her. “That’s right. I was coming to get Timmy and Houston was playing tag, and I distinctly remember...”
“Shut up,” the rabbit said, his voice cracking. “I’m telling you...”
But, there was one thing about this ramshackle pack that Mickey loved best. It was a place where the cold reality of one’s past situation was left behind. Though Rose might once have been a silenced and reclusive woman, grown used to holding her tongue, now she was in a safe society that accepted her as she was. She interrupted Bernie. “In fact, I’m pretty sure I saw you heading toward the exit at that time! Maybe the rabbit doth protest too much!”
Her voice grew until it cracked and she ducked away behind the rest of the crowd, apparently having pressed herself beyond her limits. Later on, Mickey would have to talk to her and calm her down again but there was something a little more important happening. Puzzle pieces were clicking together.
He shook his head and gripped Houston’s hand harder. “Are you sure you’re telling the right story, Bernie? Maybe you’ve got the participants mixed up.”
The rabbit held very still, but even his natural instinct to hold still in times like this when being threatened wasn’t enough to disguise the fact that he was shaking hard. His eyes were rimmed with white, and the smell of fear and guilt poured from him in waves. Most of the pack were wolves. They could smell it. They were just waiting for him to say it. And wait they did, the crowd slowly folding in on itself to circle around Bernie so there was no way for him to escape if he bolted.
Mickey was proud of his pack, proud of the broken and unwanted members who were uniting now. Together, they weren’t so broken after all. All their cracks fit together, and they had made something new here.
“Fine!” the rabbit shapeshifter finally burst out. “Ever since you told us of how you failed, Mickey, I just knew that it was going to put all of us in danger! You angered a whole lot of predators. I thought if I went and gave them information, they’d leave us alone.”
“’Us?’” Mickey growled. Houston’s fingers tightened around his. “You mean they would leave you alone, because you threw the rest of us under the bus. Isn’t that right?”
“I...”
Bernie looked around him, finally seeming to realize that he was surrounded by a pack of vengeful wolves. There was nowhere for him to run. He would be torn apart in seconds. Even disabled and world-weary, a wolf was a wolf.
Then, Mickey stepped aside. Houston moved with him, as though they were a single entity. “Get out,” Mickey said, simply. “You’re a coward. You were safe with us but you ruined that, so now you have to leave.”
The rabbit was gone almost before he finished talking, transforming into a small brown hare with a streak of white along its flank. It raced away, through the still-open door, and was gone forever.
Every single wolf watched Bernie leave, and then they turned back to Mickey. The omega took a slight step backward, a little overcome with the combined intensity of their gazes; for the first time, he wondered if he really might be the one that they looked to as their leader. It came to him in a flash, the way they came to him to solve their problems, and the way he even made sure to talk to all of them on a regular basis...
When did this happen? When? I can’t lead them. I’m not made for that. Like Bernie said.
All he wanted was to help, not be in charge!
One of the other wolves, a blind old man who had once been a teacher, stepped forward. “Mickey,” he rasped, “if Bernie was a traitor and told the jaguars that we’re here... if that was your fault... then why was he going after Houston?” The blind wolf dipped his head slightly to the alpha, almost as if he could see perfectly. “No offense to him, of course. But I’m sure we’d all like to know.”
Mickey turned to look at Houston, but the alpha just gazed right back at him. His eyes held warm encouragement and nothing more, which meant that whatever he said now was entirely up to him. Great.
He hadn’t lied to them yet. At least, not directly. Was leaving information out the same as lying? He didn’t know; however, it seemed the time for that was done.
“Okay,” Mickey said. “I do have something to tell all of you but you need to hear me out before you do anything dumb.” Everyone looked wary, but no one interrupted him, so he took a deep breath and hurried on. “Houston isn’t... one of us. He’s a police officer.” He didn’t think it was important how they met but he gave a quick summary of it anyway and made sure to include the events of what happened at the jaguar restaurant. “They’re out for revenge against me, and they’re against the police. I bet Bernie told them all that, and that Houston is here, too. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean for all this to happen. I ruined everything. I...”
Houston shook him slightly and then leaned down to look into his eyes. Mickey was almost hypnotized, unable to look away. Somehow, that calmed his shaking. “Stop being so dumb,” the alpha murmured. “They aren’t going to go anywhere, and neither are you.”
“That’s right!” someone said. “We all screw up. That’s why we’re here. I don’t care who Houston is. He’s done nothing but help us.”
“Right,” another wolf barked over the growing din. “If he was going to do something against us, it would have been done by now. We’re safe with him!”
Beth stepped forward, and her voice was so strong that it hardly mattered at all that she lisped through what she said. “We aren’t going anywhere. This is our place! With Mickey and Houston here with us, we can’t possibly lose. This will be over before we know it!”
The pack spoke excitedly amongst themselves, voices calling out encouragement. Some shifted and lifted their muzzles to the ceiling, letting out jubilant howls. Others simply whooped in their human forms.
Watching it all, Mickey pressed closer to Houston and shuddered. His stomach churned with uneasiness. His heart felt light and bursting at the sight before him, of his united pack and their love for one another. At the same time, he was terrified. Did they understand that they were howling for war?
Chapter Eleven
A few days later, Houston went back to work. That meant he also had to return to his own apartment. His lips curled with bitterness, torn between being glad of once again having the comforts of running water, electricity, and control over the temperature, and hating that the return of these things meant leaving Mickey behind. His life was a snare, and he was the rabbit dangling by one foot. Would he manage to fight his way free again, or would the rhythms of life reassert themselves and continue on as they always had? He could feel the fangs of depression biting at his back as he sat down at a desk in the police station and addressed the huge pile of paperwork and reports in front of him.
All that gave him hope was the way Mickey came to him in the middle of the night. Houston was asleep; at least, he was trying to be asleep. Lying on his back, he had been looking up at the ceiling with his arms folded up beneath his head as a makeshift pillow. Rest evaded him. Images kept playing behind his eyelids like a movie, displaying faces and the experiences of the past week-and-a-half here underground. He didn’t want to ever let go of those experiences. Hell, he didn’t ever want them to end.
Then, a soft voice came through the door. “Houston?”
Breath caught in his throat, making his chest feel light and fluttery as if it was full of butterflies. He squeezed his eyes shut tighter. Everything was culminating. Eve
rything he had hoped for all this time was about to happen, just as he knew it would. Mickey had come to him.
“I’m here,” he called back in as quiet of a whisper as he could manage. “You can come in. Door isn’t locked.”
A few hesitant moments of silence passed. Their future together hung in the balance, poised to head in either direction. Then, with a faint squeak and a soft scraping, the door slid open. Quiet footsteps padded through the open doorway, and the door was shut again with a muted thump. More footsteps, and Houston opened his eyes. It was too dark even for superior wolf vision to pick up much detail, but he knew from the slender shadow that Mickey was standing over him.
His heart gave a tender tremble. “Hey,” he said.
“Hey,” Mickey whispered. “Uh... I couldn’t sleep.”
Houston chuckled. “Neither could I.” Despite his lightness, he could tell Mickey was struggling with something. “Anything you want to talk about? I mean, now is the time to do it.”
“Could I...” the omega hesitated. “Could I lie down?”
Houston’s heart gave another tremble. He shifted his body closer to the wall and then patted the spot where he had just been. “Warmed it up for you.”
Mickey didn’t laugh. Instead, he just lay down next to Houston and stared up at the ceiling with him. Their shoulders and hips pressed together. Despite the fact that both of them were wearing several layers of clothing between them, Houston couldn’t help but to feel that somehow this was the closest they had ever been. The sense of touch wasn’t so much physical as it was emotional, almost spiritual. For the first time, he thought he could actually sense the wolf spirit inside Mickey calling out to him.
His eyes slipped shut again, reveling in it. “Is there something you wanted to talk about?” he repeated, his voice a husky growl. “If not, I just might have to screw you.”
Mickey did let out a little laugh at that, surprising Houston even more. Everything about this went completely contrary to what he had come to expect from his mate. He was wary, and yet so hopeful.
Wild Ride: An M/M Shifter Mpreg Romance Bundle Page 26