He could only enjoy it though if he knew where the elf-like shifter went. Conner thought about shifting and allowing his wolf to find Pippen. He was faster in wolf form, but it was harder to explain the presence of a huge wolf to the neighboring residents. A few of them had caught glances already. Couple that with the shooting that had occurred a few months ago, and some of the human neighbors had started moving out.
Inhaling again to double check the path, he set off, not really thinking about the direction, but letting his instincts take over. If it weren't for his own past, Conner would have sworn that Pippen was his mate. He was the first to admit his attraction bordered on obsessive—bordered on a mating. But Conner had lost that gift already.
Even if Pippen wasn't his mate by shifter standards, he was still a very important person and Conner knew he could find him in his sleep.
He worried that Pippen might have gotten on a city bus, which would just make tracking him that much harder, but as he passed the bus stop, Conner grinned. Of course, his stubborn friend wouldn't accept help, even from public transit.
He followed the scent a few miles further. They were definitely not going to the location of his physical therapy office, nor were they going to the hospital where Pippen had his emergency surgery. They'd long passed the closest gym and the downtown pack's headquarters, a bar called Howling, was in a different direction. They weren't even going to the free clinic where Felix, Sorell's mate, worked.
The scent trail veered off the sidewalk and down a nature trail. Judging from the smells, this was a popular trail for dog walkers. The path was eerily silent, covered in a layer of frozen, dirty snow. Conner's crunchy footsteps were all that he could hear until he came around a bend in the path. He heard the change in the air and whirled around quickly, just in time to catch an attacking Pippen by the middle. He clutched the shifter tight against his front with a laugh, careful to pin his arms to his side so that it didn't hurt but also so Pippen couldn't hurt him.
Pippen wiggled once half-heartedly. His dark eyes twinkled with mischief. "How did you know?"
"I heard you," Conner huffed, pretending like keeping Pippen suspended in the air and pinned to his chest was difficult.
"Liar," Pippen said, but with a small smile.
"You move like a hippo with pennies in his pockets," Conner teased. Actually, only Conner's heightened alpha senses had allowed him to sense Pippen before he'd been able to attack.
Being an alpha was Conner's most dangerous secret. In the shifter world there was a small percentage of shifters who were born alphas, born leaders. Not all of them became pack masters. The alphas that didn't find a pack to lead were all but ensured a life of solitude. Most alphas couldn't stand living near other alphas, not without the constant urge to overtake them, to prove their superior strength. Conversely, most pack masters didn't allow alphas to join their packs, because why keep someone around who was constantly fighting the urge to overthrow the established leader?
Their pack master, Luke, was more progressive than most, but even he couldn't be around Derrick, Christian's mate and pack master of the Louisiana Bayou. The moment Felix had begun changing, displaying more alpha characteristics, his and Luke's relationship had suffered.
All of this meant that there were too many alphas in the kitchen and unless Conner wanted to say goodbye to Pippen and his new family, he needed to constantly suppress his alpha abilities. Showing off his heightened sense of smell or hearing, the way he could lengthen his fingernails into claws without shifting entirely, would just make his life more difficult. Unless any of those abilities helped him get the upper hand with Pippen, then he would use them shamelessly.
"I'm as silent as a falling snowflake," Pippen replied, making no effort to make Conner drop him.
Conner squeezed ever so softly, enjoying Pippen's insubstantial, but red-hot weight. It was like holding a sunbeam when he had Pippen in his arms. Just as beautiful, just as dangerous. Pippen licked his lips innocently and Conner found himself leaning forward, his lips like a heat-seeking missile and Pippen was on fire.
He didn't need alpha senses to feel the sharp point of a blade on the skin right above his kidneys. Somehow, Pippen had wiggled his hands free enough to find one of the blades always hidden on his person.
"Not a make-out session then," Conner said, hoping he sounded more playful than he felt. At that moment, he wanted to dominate. To show Pippen that he could make him kiss him and that Pippen would like it. But that sort of behavior was for either asshole shifters or mated couples and Conner had lost his mate long ago. He wasn't an asshole, either. Not with Pippen.
"Why were you following me?" Pippen asked, sliding fluidly out of his arms.
"Conceited much? I was just going for a walk."
"A walk? Where are we right now?"
"Outside."
"What's the name of the park?"
"I—what does it matter? I don't need to know where I am, sometimes, I just walk."
Pippen stepped back until Conner couldn't feel his heat anymore. "I told you I was going out alone," he said accusingly. "I don't want you following me. I don't need it."
"How long did you date Sorell's brother?"
"Topic change much?"
"Answer the question, Pippen. How long did you date? Why did he send that cryptic note?"
Pippen paced the path erratically, reminding Conner of a jittery sparrow. "He's a dramatic sort of shifter. You know how Sorell and I left our pack to come here and live with Finn and Luke?"
Conner knew, it was around that time that he'd been wandering America and had caught Pippen's alluring scent. He ended up following that smell to Finn's door and the rest was history. Now he wanted to know Pippen's history. "Yes, I remember."
"Well, I guess we were still sort of dating at that time," Pippen said casually as if he was reciting a grocery list. "Technically, we still kind of are, since it was never officially ended."
"You're what?" Conner couldn't stop the growl that radiated inside and out of him. His inner wolf hated this new information; Conner did as well.
Pippen's face became a cool mask that was cold and unreadable. "It isn't important, Conner."
Conner rubbed his face, the stubble on his jaw scratched at his hand. Pippen said it wasn't important but Conner couldn't help but think that this changed everything.
Chapter Two
Pippen knocked on Sorell's door and then glanced sideways at Conner beside him. According to Frannie, if he wasn't going to go to physical therapy he was supposed to be back in bed. The moment he'd caught Conner's scent and discovered he was being followed, all chances of making it to physical therapy had gone out the window. No way was he doing that with an audience.
He couldn't remember the last time he'd been unknowingly followed for any length. If it hadn't been for the fact that he was moving much more slowly these days, he might not have ever noticed Conner tailing him.
Pippen was still annoyed that Conner insisted on ruining his plans, but if he intended on escorting Pippen everywhere then he'd make himself useful and go with him to Sorell's. Otherwise, Pippen really wouldn't hear the end of it from Frannie.
Sorell answered the door, a baby on one hip, his hair sticking out at all ends, but with a rosy glow that permeated from his cheeks. He looked happy. Satisfied.
"Pippen! You're out and about! Does Frannie know?" he mock whispered.
"Shut up. I want some time with my little nephews." He followed Sorell in and then paused. "Is it okay if my bodyguard comes with me?" He motioned back to Conner.
Sorell beamed. He'd been looking like that a lot lately. "Of course, is he house trained?"
Conner barged past the two of them and went into the living room. He swooped up baby Kofi from his boppy-pillow and held him close to his chest, whispering words too quiet for Pippen to hear.
Pippen wasn't prepared for his body's response to seeing Conner holding the newborn. His heart twisted and he was full of longing and sadness for something he w
ould never let himself have. Even if he was able to bear children, he wouldn't allow himself to become that weak and helpless. He took care of himself and a pregnancy would do nothing but slow him down. Still, seeing Conner's defined biceps, the corded muscles of his forearms, being used to gently tuck the newborn to his front was incredibly sexy.
Pippen turned away before he did something horrible, like get hard.
"Has Silas tried contacting you?" Pippen asked. Judging by the way Sorell's eyes bugged out a little he supposed he should have eased in to the subject of Sorell's brother and Pippen's ex. Pippen believe in getting to the point, right away and with confidence.
"Yes," Conner said from his seat on the couch. "I'd like to hear more about this Silas guy. Let's not skip over the part where Pippen may or may not be still dating him."
Sorell sat down in the living room on the couch opposite Conner. Sorell and Felix had recently bought this house, located right across the street from the pack house. It was a smaller one-story, but the living room area was sunken with a fireplace and large windows that looked out onto the yard. With the snow and roaring fire, it looked cozy.
Felix had obviously been decorating a bit since they moved in. He'd spent a lot of his medical career working for Doctors Beyond Borders and apparently he'd picked up a few items during his tours. Each figurine and painting gave the room a wild and ancient aura lending a museum type feeling to the space.
"Silas hasn't tried contacting me once. I hoped he was done with me, with us. Back when Isaac had mentioned that he had someone go back to our old pack and check up on us I waited for him to bring up my brother. He never did. Isaac wasn't the type to forget something like that. I can only assume that Silas never told them his relation to me. Or to you."
"Awfully chivalrous of him," Conner grumbled.
"No," both Pippen and Sorell said at the same time.
"There is nothing chivalrous about Silas," Sorell said, his eyes haunted by whatever memory flashed behind them.
Pippen wished he could erase all those horrible memories. When it came down to it, Sorell wasn't meant for life in a pack like the two of them had left. The moment they'd gotten to Finn's house and had joined Luke's pack, Sorell had really shone. He fit in there. It was his home.
Pippen never quite felt the same way. His best skills were useless in a pack like Luke's. So, he'd gone to school to become a chef and thankfully, he enjoyed it. But he still didn't quite feel like he fit in. He was reminded of that old saying of being a bull in a china shop. It wasn't quite like that, more like he was a killer at a bake sale.
Silas had enjoyed that part of him, nurtured it. In many ways, Silas was as dangerous and lethal as Pippen had been. In other ways, he was more. Silas enjoyed playing mental games while Pippen preferred to keep it all physical.
Silas had played plenty of mental games with his brother, Sorell.
Kofi started crying and Conner stood, pacing the length of the room while bouncing the baby. "Will someone please tell me about this guy? Nothing cryptic, no half-truths. Who is he? Should we be worried enough about his contact that we tell the pack?"
"That depends," Sorell said, sounding tired. "Silas is different things to different people."
"What does it depend on?" Conner asked.
"What he wants from you," Sorell said. "If you have something he needs, he can be very nice or very mean."
"That is too close to a half-truth."
Pippen remained on the edge of the living room, away from Sorell and Conner. The guilt he felt from not being there to protect Sorell from the beginning was no small amount. He hadn't known him then though, hadn't known the scrawny, curly haired teenager would become his most loyal friend.
"Silas and I grew up in the same household. Our parents were very anti-shifter and abhorred shifter culture. They raised us entirely outside of it and asked us to hide our nature, so much that they demanded us not to ever shift."
Pippen scoffed. That was like asking a fish not to swim.
"Unsurprisingly, Silas and I rebelled. We found the pack that operated in our city and both wanted to be members. That was when we met Pippen."
"Is that before your father was killed by the new alpha?" Conner asked. Pippen had told him that his father had been the former pack master of his old pack until...
"No. My brother killed Pippen's father," Sorell said, sitting down as if the weight of his words were too heavy to stay standing.
"Your brother...?"
For half a second, Pippen let himself think about his late father. He had been a bastard of an alpha and an even worse dad. He'd seen Pippen as a collection of assets, as a combined dollar amount. When Pippen was younger, he remembered being eager to help his father, mostly drug runs back then. No one questioned the fair-headed six-year-old. Then, his father started to sell him to whoever would pay, as often as he could get paid. His mother was too drugged out to even notice she had a son. That was why Pippen had learned how to take care of himself. It was why he hadn't mourned his father's passing and why he'd dated the man who had killed him. At the least, Silas deserved an amazing blowjob for all he'd done for Pippen by killing his dad. Their relationship had simply evolved from there.
"So you guys run away from home and Silas becomes the pack master of an established pack despite the fact that he had never grown up in one?" Conner asked disbelievingly.
"Silas was born knowing manipulation," Sorell said.
"None of this is explaining that note. It sounded ominous."
"It was addressed to the pack house?" Sorell asked.
Pippen launched off the wall he'd been leaning against. He shoved his hands deep into his pockets. "Yes. He has the address, we know that much. But I really don't think we need to worry. He's an evil genius, but he isn't sentimental. Contacting me out of the blue like that, he lost the element of surprise. If he had nefarious intentions, I'm fairly certain he would be a little more stealthy."
"Why are you so sure?" Conner asked, setting the now sleeping baby down in his bassinet. "It isn't as if we don't have experience with vindictive alphas. Lucian? Isaac? Pack masters are known for being possessive."
"You know so much about pack masters," Pippen commented, narrowing his gaze on Conner. He was getting worked up and this was when he let bits of his hidden personality show. Pippen was developing questions of his own about Conner and his abilities.
"That is common knowledge, Pippen," Conner snapped, confirming in Pippen's mind that there was something he was hiding.
"I'm just saying that Silas likes fucking with people but that unless he has a reason, he won't be coming around here. We weren't that great of a couple and my leaving was just about the most anti-climactic end to a relationship possible. Unless we hear more, there is nothing to worry about."
"Ugh," Sorell said, sitting down. "Try telling Felix that. He already left to get more locks for the doors. I had to explain to him the nature of my relationship with my brother after you sent Conner over with that note. He will not let it go."
As if summoned by magic, Felix walked in through the front door carrying two black plastic shopping bags. He searched the room first for Sorell. Once their eyes met, he smiled, his posture relaxing. Pippen felt a pang in his heart at their silent exchange. "Hey you two," he said after kissing his mate on the forehead. "I'm glad you're here, actually. Conner, can I talk to you?"
Pippen watched Felix and Conner step into the other room. He observed Sorell's face, trying to see if he knew what it might be about. There wasn't much that Felix didn't tell Sorell and vice versa. This time though, his best friend looked as confused as he was.
***
Conner followed Felix into the kitchen on alert wondering why this conversation was being held away from the other two. They could eavesdrop if they wanted to, Felix didn't close the door behind them. He set the bags he'd been holding down on the counter furthest from the door. Conner spotted plastic packages of locks and braces. It looked like Felix had had a mini shopping spree a
t a hardware store.
"I need your advice," Felix said, wasting no time.
"What about?" Conner asked, though after seeing the contents of the bags he had a pretty good idea. Conner had pegged Felix as a man who liked to help those weaker than him and had known from the beginning that he would eventually accept the role of alpha offered to him from the downtown pack. Stella and Oscar, the downtown pack's current representatives, were also banking on Felix's hero complex. Their old pack master, Isaac, had been so hung up on Sorell that he'd nearly killed him and had shot Pippen. Conner was glad to be rid of him. But that left Stella and Oscar's pack master-less and they had their sights set on Felix, even though he wasn't a shifter.
Felix was strong though. He acted like a shifter and had many of the abilities of a shifter, just without the part where he could turn into a wolf.
"I'm going to accept the position as alpha. I've been running it over in my head and I feel like this is the best opportunity to keep Sorell safe while ensuring that other pack doesn't become a problem in the future for us."
"You mean if someone else comes along to lead them that maybe isn't happy with our tiny pack living on the fringes?"
"Yes," Felix said. "And maybe if someone from the past who should be forgotten comes along looking for trouble."
Like Silas.
"Have you talked to Luke? Gotten advice from him?" Conner asked. After all, Luke was their pack master.
"No. He and I, we don't mesh well, you know how it is. I don't feel like I can be around him long without wanting to rip my hair out. Or his. I think it must have something with him being an alpha."
"And you don't mind me?" Conner barely stopped himself from smiling.
"I trust you, Conner. You watch and listen before you act. You don't fly off the handle. I need someone like that backing me up."
Wolf's Mate Mpreg Romance Box Set Page 50