Pack Secrets

by Shannon Duane

  Her sassy, smart mouth brought him down from the edge of his mate craze. “Hey there Lassie, think you can get me outta this hole? Timmy would be real pleased.”

  Shaking his head as her words sunk in he changed back to his human skin, stretching his back and grabbing the shirt and pants Blake handed to him. They weren’t sure what they’d find so Justin stripped and Blake brought his clothes along as they hunted for Dee. Blake leaned over the pit and yelled, “Hey there Garfield, seems you got caught up in a bit of a sticky situation. Why haven’t you climbed out of that hole? I hear cats are pretty good climbers.”

  Dee simply blinked at him attempting to look annoyed, but she couldn’t hide the relief that was plain on her face.

  “Mama, why you playin’ in a hole with mud? You says mud is dirty and how come I can’t play with it but you can? An you said I can’t go on a moon run but you dids.”

  A look of utter terror crossed over her face causing Justin to reach over and pull Carter close. “You brought my son to look for me? What if I was in danger?”

  Before any words came out of Justin’s mouth Blake piped up. “Well, you’re welcome darlin’ for coming to find you and rescue you from yourself. No, no, don’t thank us quite yet.”

  Standing to her full height in the deep pit she crossed an arm over her chest while placing a hand over her groin and looked up at them in disbelief. “I’d rather stay in this hole knowin’ my son is safe than you bringing him here when someone was trying to bury me.”

  Blake’s ever present grin faded to cold fury as he transformed into full alpha mode. “What do you mean?”

  She stomped her naked foot on the dirt, “I was running back to my house when I fell in this hole. I tried to get out, but the sides of the pit are loose dirt and I just kept falling. I changed into my natural state, but the same thing happened. I couldn’t get out and after a few minutes someone started to fling dirt into the pit with me.” Her voice began to rise in panic, “Now, will you get me out of here so I can get my son somewhere safe.”

  “Cool your jets, Dee, he’s with me. I’ll keep him safe while Justin works on getting you out.” He turned his back on her, collecting Carter in his arms Blake said, “I’ll take him to alpha house. Pick him up when you’re done getting her out. I need to feed little man ‘cuz his little stomach is growlin’ up a storm.”

  Justin thought it was odd until Blake winked at him before, walking away humming. Well, crap. His brother knew Dee was his mate, but also knew she was extremely resistant to…everyone. He knew when he got Dee out of that pit there’d be trouble.

  He leaned over to find her back turned to him giving him his first glance at her beautiful backside. She had a thin frame that appeared to be a bit overly thin. That was probably due to whatever stress she’d been under when Tidus had been her alpha, although he would have thought she’d had enough time to put on weight since his death. Her shoulders were hunched as always, but he noticed a light sprinkle of freckles with a few beauty marks here and there.

  She twisted suddenly, pinning him with a fierce scowl before hissing. “Well, do you plan on setting me free? Or are you going to stare at me all night while I freeze?”

  Her sudden lashing out didn’t prevent him from noting her legs were long and thin. He enjoyed seeing the apex of her thighs touch, knowing just a hop, skip, and a jump away was her sex. As it was, she stood with her arms crossed again, breasts spilling over her arms to show ample cleavage, while her womanhood was on display. A small patch of hair covered her entrance and she appeared to be all natural down there, no shaving or waxing. Why in the world did that make him even hotter?

  His skin was prickling with awareness and his groin was tight. He felt like little Justin was going to pop off at this rate. He knew if he looked down he’d find his member would be bright red with a dash of purple, heavily veined and angry from lack of use. He’d been without her for too long, not being able to pleasure himself without her near, knowing she wanted nothing to do with him while his body was on fire for her.

  “Hello…that wasn’t an invitation for you to gawk at me.”

  Reeling back he felt the telltale burning of his face as he blushed. For goodness sake, he had been gawking at her. Not just gawking, but fantasizing too which made it all the worse. “I’m sorry, I was…thinking.”

  Her eyes narrowed, “Yeah, wondering if the carpet matched the drapes. Are you satisfied? I’m no sex goddess, nor do I want to be. Can you get me out now?”

  Taking a moment to think about his next step he tore off his shirt and tossed it down to her. “I’m actually not ready. Let’s talk for a while.”

  “What are you, a woman? Let’s not talk.”

  As she pulled the shirt over her head he caught a glimpse of her nipples. Her pink, pointed, puckered peaks. God they were delicious and he was seconds away from jumping in her pit when her head poked out of the top of his shirt and she scowled at him. He could still see the outline of her nipples and he imagined it would feel great as the fabric abraded them.

  Sighing he sat at the rim of the pit and began. “Soo, what’s your real first name? Where are your parents? Do you have brothers and sisters? Were you married? Do you have other kids?”

  She put her hands up in front of her in defense. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down, soldier. Now is not the time for twenty questions. You need to get me out of this pit before someone comes back to finish the job.”

  He shrugged, letting her know he was confident he could protect her. “I’m not worried. I’ll protect you and normally I wouldn’t have to stoop to this level, but you’ve left me no choice. I simply want to get to know you.”

  “Why?”

  Because you’re my fated mate, because I haven’t been able to get you out of my mind, because I want to love you forever and have a lot of babies with you, because I can’t wait to stick my plug into your circuit. “Humor me, Dee.”

  She stood scrutinizing him for a few seconds before responding. “My name is Dee. My parents live in California. No brothers and sisters. Never married and Carter is my only child.”

  “Where did you grow up?”

  “Alaska.”

  “You’ve been a part of this pack for your whole life?”

  “No.”

  It was his turn to cross his arms and scowl at her. “Can’t you elaborate?”

  “No.”

  Pulling his legs up to sit Indian style, he responded, “I guess we’ll be here longer than I thought. I’m really hungry so I was hoping you’d hurry up so we could run over to pack house and have some burgers.”

  Her tone was snooty as she argued. “I’m really more of a fish person myself.”

  He smiled as she gave a little bit of information away. “Oh yeah, what’s your favorite fish?”

  He watched as her eye brows furrowed and her scent went from annoyed to angry. “I want out of this hole, now.”

  “Fine, let’s agree that we both want you out of that hole. What are you going to give me if I get you out? After all, I’d be your knight in shining armor.”

  She whipped some hair out of her face and in turn getting a smudge of dirt on her cheek. “Is that how you plan on playing this, tit for tat?”

  Staggering back as if he’d been slapped, he took a few heaving breaths as he tried not to vomit. Is that really how she saw him? No one had ever accused him of such atrocities. Wow, he knew she was his fated, but at this moment he wanted nothing to do with her. Hadn’t he given her enough already and not received anything in return?

  He heard her call out to him, “Come back, I’m sorry. Don’t leave me here.”

  He walked to the edge of the pit, without saying anything and reached down to pull her out, she took his arm and he pulled her out quickly. When she was out and stable he backed away from her, wiping his hands on his pants. He pointed in the direction of Blake’s house. “Alpha house is that way, I’ll follow you.”

  When she took his arm she felt a zing of awareness rush up her arm and
to all her key girly parts. Her core clenched as her nipples pebbled anticipating more touching. Not gonna happen stupid body, tone it down. She rubbed the goose bumps on her arms and watched as Justin attempted to rub his palms off from having to touch her. Was she that bad? A moment ago he was trying to get into her pants, right?

  She thought about feeling his toned body, running her hand over his sculpted chest. Did he work in the sun? Why did she care anyways? Men were trouble, a trouble she didn’t want or need. Something she hadn’t thought about since Tidus.

  His voice had sounded rough and broken as he pointed the way to alpha house. Walking to alpha house with Justin hovering in the background was causing her hormones to take a leap to the front of her mind. Why did he have to be so nice, not to mention handsome? It didn’t matter, she wasn’t interested.

  Halfway there she looked back to find him watching his feet while he followed at a safe non-threatening distance. Hit with a sudden bout of shame she couldn’t resist saying, “I’m sorry for being a bitch. I didn’t mean it. I-“

  He cut her off. “Don’t worry about it. It’s over and we both know where we stand now.”

  Stopping abruptly she hung her head forward and inhaled the scent from his shirt. Is that frosting? She was confused, sure she’d smelled him before, but in no way shape or form did she link the scent to him. She just thought he smelled sweet. She inhaled deeply and smiled. Maybe that’s why Carter couldn’t stop talking about him, he smelled like dessert.

  She giggled to herself, wanting to see if he tasted as good as he smelled. Wait, no I don’t, bad kitty. Well, she did, but she wasn’t about to admit she lusted after him. He probably already knew because her scent didn’t lie. He was keeping a good distance from her, maybe he didn’t notice.

  Lost in thought, Justin was hit with the scent of arousal coming off Dee. He looked up expecting to find her with someone else. Looking around he only saw her, wait…is she sniffing my shirt? What did that mean? He waited to see what she’d do.

  Her voice was soft, hesitant. “My name is Dee Marie Malone and I’m originally from the wilds of Alaska. We had no pack, but knew all of the surrounding animals and shifters. My parents had me and then tried to have more kids, but my brother and sister died at birth. They were twins and mom never could face having anymore after that. After I got pregnant, I followed his father to this pack, we never formally mated and shortly after we moved here I realized he wasn’t what I wanted. We split and I took Carter.” She turned to him with a shimmer of tears in her eyes, “Is that enough for now? I don’t like to share much about myself, I’ve made some really bad choices in life and I’m trying to be a better person.”

  Taken aback at her honesty, he approached slowly, ensuring that she knew he wasn’t pushing. He was a foot away from her holding his arms out in welcome when she came into his arms and buried her face in his chest. He felt her breath against his chest and actually got chills.

  “Why do you smell so good?”

  “You smell good to me too.”

  She pulled her head back and looked into his eyes. “You didn’t answer my question.”

  Looking into her amber eyes that appeared to be more green than brown toned he fell a little bit more in love with her. “Do you want the truth?”

  She gave the slightest nod.

  “You have to promise not to freak out, or run away, or push me away.”

  Another nod.

  She buried her face back in his chest as if she knew what was coming. His head moved as he breathed deeply of her scent, wanting to confirm what he already knew. “I think we’re fated.”

  Her breath hitched against his chest and her breathing increased. He thought she might be crying when he felt something wet on his chest. He pulled her head back, gazing into her eyes, her dry eyes. Her tongue peeked from between her lips as she licked her lips and looked at him with wonder. “Oh.”

  Attempting to hold back the shiver of excitement, he looked down at his chest that had a line of wetness where she’d licked him. His small disk shaped nipples were pebbled and tingling in anticipation of his mate’s attention. He watched her sway on her feet towards him as they both drew closer, closer, closer.

  Dee’s stomach growled and, they froze, their lips only an inch apart.

  Chapter 6

  Why now? She was about to experience the best kiss of her life and then, wham, she was swept up into Justin’s arms as he walked them to alpha house. “I can walk. I’m just hungry, I haven’t shifted in years.”

  He stumbled. “Years? What the heck, Dee, you’re lucky you haven’t gone crazy. I doubt my wolf would have allowed me to wait that long.”

  She wrapped her arms around his neck as he walked them both towards pack house. “Can we stay on topic? A canine and feline can’t be mates. Why do you think we’re mates?”

  “I haven’t been able to get your scent out of my mind. I can’t stop thinking about you. I haven’t been able to orgasm in the last weeks because your scent wasn’t near. I almost died healing your son just to make you and Carter happy. Does that sound like a simple courting? Plus, why can’t a feline and canine mate? My friend, Dante, who’s a wolf shifter, mated a bear. If a canine and ursine can mate why can’t we?”

  He sounded so sure. She wished she trusted herself and had half the confidence he did. “How will we know?”

  She watched as he licked his lips and smiled down at her. “I’m pretty sure by your scent alone. Although I can’t be sure until I taste you. You’ve already tasted me. Do you think you could live without me?”

  Searching deep within herself she wondered. “I honestly don’t know.”

  He wobbled on his feet and set her down on a patch of cold green foliage. “Before we go back to alpha house and pick Carter up, I’d like to find out. Would you let me kiss you? I’ve been thinking about it for a while now, but you didn’t seem ready.”

  Shaking, she nodded her head, still not sure if she was making the right decision. “Okay.”

  Well…should he kiss her or wait for her to lean into him. He hated that he was so unsure. Hell, he was an alpha male. He’d never asserted his alpha tendencies before because there’d never been a reason. He couldn’t rely on her scent because she fought whatever feelings she had, rationalizing them away and denying them in her mind. He waited while watching her inspect him. He felt like a bug under a microscope.

  Leaning forward, he watched her eyes close as she held her breath. He took a moment to memorize her face: waiting just a few seconds to take in the enormity of what was about to happen. He’d finally taste his mate’s lips. He couldn’t allow this to be like every other kiss, so he grasped her hips in his hands and lifted her to wrap her legs around his waist. When she gasped and he felt her heat against his belly he went in, lips blazing.

  No joke, this was the best kiss of his entire life. He started by simply rubbing his closed lips along hers. Their breath mingling, her scent consumed him as he opened his lips and licked the seam of her softness. His hands held her firm to him as they devoured each other, each giving, and taking while reveling in the shared passion and off the chart arousal. There was no way he could let her go after that.

  He pulled back, looking into her ever changing eyes and smiled. Not too bad for a first kiss. It had indeed confirmed she was his fated mate, his other half, the yin to his yang, the cream in his coffee. He was so involved in his thoughts he missed something she’d said. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

  Heavy lidded eyes gazed up at him. “Yeah…I’ve had better.”

  It took him a second to register what she’d said and just as it was sinking in he felt a gentle hand on his cheek. “I was kidding. I don’t know how it’s possible, but you are mine.”

  He felt his face lift into another smile, and with pure joy in his heart he announced, “I am yours and you are mine. I hate to sound so eager, but when can we mate. I mean…will you agree to mate with me?”

  And that’s all it took for her to scent to
change from joy to fear. “I, uh…maybe we should-“

  He placed a finger over her mouth. “It’s okay, I’ve waited this long.”

  Shitfuck. Of course he would want to mate, they were fated mates. Not knowing she absolutely hated the word ‘mate’. She’d been duped before into thinking she was a mate and she’d never been more wrong. Once again she didn’t trust her judgment and she didn’t think she ever would. It was a big point in his favor that he was a brother to their new and highly revered alpha.

  “We should get back, there’s no telling what Carter’s been up to. I swear every time I leave him with the alpha’s he gets into something.”

  Winking down at her he shot her a wicked grin and she ate up the attention like candy. “That sounds like my brother. He really enjoys kids. I’m surprised Delilah isn’t pregnant by now.”

  “She told me Blake wanted to make sure it was safe, so they’re taking a few months to ‘practice’ making babies. She loves kids and she’ll be a great mom.”

  She watched as his head fell forward as if in defeat. “Let’s go get Carter.”

  Gripping his arm she turned him back towards her. “Where are we?”

  His confusion showed before he answered, “What do you mean? We’re in the forest by alpha house.”

  Taking in a fortifying breath she said, “I don’t mean where are we located. I mean…I don’t want to upset Carter. He just came back and I think he should be comfortable.”

  His forehead got all wrinkled, so she continued. “I don’t think he should know we’re mates.”

  Justin’s head fell back as he laughed loudly, and she couldn’t help but admire the long line of his throat and the bobbing of his Adam’s apple. She was feeling a bit insecure, like he was laughing at her, so she asked, “What the heck, Justin?”