Conner straightened. "Are you asking me to join that pack with you?"
Felix yanked out the first of the items from the shopping bags. It looked like a door alarm. "Yes? No. I don't know, Conner. I'm a doctor, I heal people and know shit-all about leading a pack. But if I don't do everything in my power to keep Sorell and my family safe, I won't be able to sleep at night."
For a brief moment, Conner almost told Felix about his past, where he came from, who he really was, but there was movement from the doorway. Conner sensed Pippen standing there and went toward him immediately. The way he stood, his hip brushing against the doorframe as he favored his right side, Conner knew his wound was hurting him. They'd been up and about long enough for one day. "Let's get you home," he said, grabbing Pippen's hand, fully expecting him to pull it away. He must have really been hurting because he allowed Conner to hold it. "I'll call tonight, Felix," he promised, though he had already decided to help out the doctor.
Across the street, Conner helped Pippen back into bed. Even though it was a short distance across the street from Sorell's house to the pack house, Pippen had grown paler and paler so that when he finally lay back, he rivaled the color of the sheets. His dark eyes seemed darker in contrast.
"You shouldn't have stayed out so long," Conner admonished, pulling the blanket up to Pippen's shoulders.
"What did Felix ask you?" Pippen whispered.
"You weren't listening?" Conner grinned as he responded. He liked it when Pippen was nosy, it implied he cared, at least a little.
Pippen grimaced and turned his head in the other direction. "I would have, but couldn't with Sorell there. He believes in privacy or something."
"I see."
Conner was silent for a minute.
"You really aren't going to tell me?" Pippen asked, nearly whining.
It was fucking adorable. "Why do you want to know?"
"Ugh, whatever, I don't."
"Yes, you do," Conner teased. "I'll tell you, for a kiss." The words had come out of his mouth before he could stop them. The urge to kiss Pippen wasn't new, but he never vocalized it, always too worried it would frighten Pippen away. Conner waited with bated breath for Pippen's answer. Their physical relationship was nonexistent.
If they were counting bases, Conner would call it at halfway to first. They touched more than regular friends, mostly because of Conner's inability to be in a room and not be within touching distance of Pippen, but they didn't kiss more than sarcastic pecks on Pippen's cheeks or forehead and even then, Conner had risked being stabbed.
Surprisingly, it looked like Pippen was entertaining the idea. He sat up, resting his back against the headboard. "A kiss where?" he asked suspiciously.
His little waif was always suspicious.
"On your butt," Conner teased. Pippen pushed at him. "Your lips, close-mouthed, for no longer than ten seconds," he clarified, realizing how pitiful he sounded negotiating the terms of their kiss. At this point he would do whatever it took to get his lips on Pippen, even if he had to add a list of stipulations as long as his leg.
"I want you to tell me first," Pippen amended.
Conner shook his head, he knew this game. "No way. You'll go back on your agreement as fast as a conman can cash a check. Kiss first, then info."
Pippen flopped his body down like a pouting child and then faced Conner. "Fine."
Swinging his legs up, he wiggled down, lining his face up with Pippen's. He felt like a teen-ager again, giddy and unsure. His inner wolf was anything but unsure. It was ecstatic but also wouldn't be happy with just a peck. Conner shoved those feelings down, he'd ignored his wolf's urgings for so long it almost wasn't difficult.
All this time, Pippen watched him with wary eyes. Conner didn't know what the other shifter expected but any of those thoughts were blocked out as he leaned forward, brushing his lips against Pippen's softly.
It was as if his inner wolf had only been pretending to be subdued and as he touched his lips to Pippen's, it lunged forward, nearly overpowering Conner with the need to claim, to conquer. Conner's lips melded against Pippen's but it was Pippen who opened his mouth, inviting Conner to explore the warm depths. Conner accepted the invitation, licking and tasting foreign territory. He growled autonomously—a low, continuous noise that sounded almost like a purr.
His cock hardened. There was no way Pippen couldn't feel it pressing against his stomach, but it obviously wasn't dissuading him. The slender shifter clung to Conner's front like he was a life raft and they were lost in the middle of the ocean.
Then, Conner felt the proof of Pippen's arousal press against his thigh and he nearly lost all semblance of control. He longed to reach inside the other man's pants, pull him out and stroke him to fulfillment. Rubbing his palm up Pippen's arm, he slid his hand behind Pippen's back in an attempt to pull him closer.
Pippen didn't break the kiss, but his body stiffened reminding Conner that Pippen was still injured and that he'd probably just pushed up against the wound. He pulled back with a gasp.
"I'm so sorry, are you okay?"
Pippen's eyes were closed but he didn't look in pain, more like he was trying to gather his wits. He breathed a little heavier than was normal and Conner felt a ridiculous sense of pride.
He'd gotten under Pippen's skin and not in a violent way, either. He'd kissed him and Pippen had kissed back. When Pippen finally did look at him, Conner realized he was about to pay for that little victory.
"Was that satisfactory?" Pippen asked, sounding bored, as if his face wasn't flush with arousal.
Conner grinned because he knew it would annoy him. "It will do this time." He shimmied up, not off the bed, but so that he was next to Pippen sitting upright against the headboard.
"You broke the terms," Pippen said not sounding at all upset.
"Felix asked me if I would help advise him," Conner said carefully. This would be a tricky thing to navigate.
"Advise him with what? The new pack? Is he going to accept the position of pack master? Of course he is. He probably thinks if he leads a pack it means an endless supply of people to guard Sorell. He has two kids but the guy isn't helpless. He's still a shifter," Pippen grumbled.
"Well, with this new threat, Felix isn't taking any chances."
"What new threat? Silas? I am trying to tell you all, he isn't that big of a deal. Silas probably sent that note hoping to fuck with everyone's heads, to make them wonder what his next step would be when in actuality he has no other step planned. He doesn't need to, he's already won if the amount you all are worrying is any indication of how stressed he's made you."
Later, Conner would blame his reaction on still being distracted from their kiss. He rotated his body and grabbed Pippen's chin, not hard, but enough so that he could control his head, or keep him from looking away. He inhaled, letting Pippen's sweet and spicy scent cool his frazzled nerves. He hated how comfortable Pippen seemed talking about Silas, almost as if they were still together.
"Stop dismissing the threat. If he contacts you again, I want you to tell me. First. Do you understand?" Conner fully expected a knife to his kidney. Instead, Pippen bit his lip before nodding his agreement.
Chapter Three
Pippen rubbed his chin thoughtfully, remembering the kiss from a week before. He couldn't think about it without getting tiny flip flops in his stomach and he couldn't stop thinking about it which meant his stomach was in a constant state of flip flopping. He'd spent the morning reading a recipe book and when his stomach became too annoying to handle, Pippen went into the kitchen figuring that if he stuffed his stomach with enough food there would be no room for irritating flopping.
He took stock of the ingredients available, making note of the items they would need to purchase on the next pack grocery outing. He had bread, cheese, and some vegetables available and decided to make a modified caprese sandwich and a cucumber salad. Once the choice was made Pippen gathered the supplies and centered himself. He loved the peacefulness of a kitchen, t
he calm he felt as he moved methodically from tool to ingredient, pan to bowl as he cut, grilled, and mixed individual items into a collective meal. His wound, now almost completely healed, didn't bother him as he cooked; nothing ever bothered him when he was in the kitchen.
Daryl, fellow pack member and father of Luke, stepped in, stomping the snow off his boots.
Almost nothing bothered him.
It wasn't that it was Daryl exactly, just that it was another person, in his personal space. At times Pippen thought he would transition into being a lone wolf very easily.
Conner sidled in after Daryl, his clothes stained with grease from his day at the shop. He raised his eyebrows at Pippen's cooking area. "Make me one?" he asked on his way down the hallway to wash up.
The apples of his cheeks reddened but Pippen didn't say anything in reply. Maybe he wouldn't like being a lone wolf that much.
Daryl looked at what he was making with a touch less enthusiasm. "Where's the meat?"
"There isn't meat in a caprese sandwich."
Daryl grunted, clearly unimpressed. "I already ate."
"I wasn't offering you any," Pippen replied softly even though he wanted to scream it. A raised voice was a sign of weakness.
Frannie came in, with Finn, holding Serena Ann, at her side.
"Could you hear my stomach from the other room?" Frannie asked, eyeballing the pan that sizzled with the first of the grilled sandwiches.
"We are linked," Pippen said affectionately.
Luke busted in from the sliding glass door, pulling a flannel shirt over his head. Pippen wondered what he'd been doing in his wolf form in the middle of the day in the back yard.
"Is Pippen cooking?" Luke said, his nose in the air as he slid his arm around his mate, Finn, and then kissed his daughter, Serena Ann, on the cheek.
"Pippen was cooking Pippen's lunch," Pippen said, annoyed at talking about himself in the third person. Luke didn't notice though. He simply grabbed a plate and lined up behind the rest of the pack who had all done the same and were now staring at him with hungry eyes and empty plates.
He put his head down and continued cooking, sliding the sandwiches on the plates as they became ready. He served them each a spoonful of cucumber salad and finished it off with a balsamic vinaigrette drizzle. Soon, the pack sat at the dining room table eating happily while Pippen surveyed the remaining food. There was one sandwich left, but Conner hadn't come back yet. With a sigh, Pippen slid the sandwich onto the plate he'd set aside for Conner.
By the time he'd cleaned up most of his mess, the pack members were nearly done with their meals. He was still hungry, but seeing them content and eating was almost good enough.
He wasn't great at compliments or at being a shoulder to lean on. Pippen despised leaning on people. But he could make his pack food and that food made them happy. Pippen could almost imagine he was the reason they were all happy and content.
"Why don't we share?" a low voice rumbled in his ear. Conner had sneaked up on him while he'd been sentimentalizing. Lifting the sandwich, Conner took a bite. He chewed it slowly before offering the sandwich to Pippen.
Pippen saw the indent of Conner's bite, where is teeth and lips had been. Why did this feel so erotic?
He took a bite, overlapping Conner's and had to look away while he chewed before he did something ridiculous like moan.
"What do you think they ate before you came along?" Conner asked.
"Lean Pockets and coffee!" Frannie offered her answer as she rose from the dining room table.
"You still eat that if I don't get into the kitchen fast enough."
"What can I say, Pips? The kitchen is where my shifters belong," Frannie said with a wink and a friendly smack on his bottom. She was definitely the only person in the world who could get away with something like that. From the moment he'd met Frannie she had been so generous and accepting. In the beginning, he kept waiting for the mask to slide and for her true nature to come out, but it never did. She never asked anything of him that he wasn't already willingly giving. "Was there not enough left over?" she asked with real worry.
"Nah," Conner answered for him. "We're managing. Besides, I'm taking Pippen out later."
That was news to him.
"If he's well enough to cook and gallivant around town, he's well enough for a pint."
"I don't drink," Pippen said.
"You can have a pint of whatever you like, love, just as long as it's with me."
Frannie was looking at the two of them like they were a tennis match, all the while her mouth curling up in a grin.
"What are you looking at?" Pippen snapped without real anger and took her plate from her, placing it in the sink of soapy water. When he turned back he ripped a large bite off the sandwich they shared.
"Nothing, nothing," Frannie said, still smiling.
"I can't go anyway. I have to make up for that physical therapy appointment you made me miss last week."
Conner shrugged. "After, then. I'll meet you when you're done."
"No," Pippen replied a little sharper than he'd meant to. He hated giving away information unintentionally.
Both Frannie and Conner leaned back away from him. The pair of them had eyes that saw too much. Separate they were observant, together they were a psychic force. He turned away from them. If he spoke anymore it would just give them more information.
"What's going on?" Luke asked, obviously picking up on the weird tension in the kitchen. As alpha and pack masters went, he wasn't so bad. Silas had been cruel and his father had been malicious, Luke was neither of those things. But it had been clear from the beginning that Luke's one true commitment in this world was his mate. That made him weak. Pippen couldn't trust that something wouldn't happen to Finn or Serena Ann that would affect Luke's decision-making abilities.
"Nothing," Frannie said quickly. "Just planning our days. What were you doing, coming in from the back yard?"
"I—uh, something for Finn," Luke said, washing his plate in the sink and setting it in the rack to dry. "Since you're healing and not technically the pack cook, why don't we order pizza tonight? We can get it from that fancy gourmet place if you want."
"That's fine," Pippen said quietly, using the moment to excuse himself from the two too-observant people in the kitchen. He slipped into his room and grabbed his backpack. He was leaving two hours too early, but he'd take the long way if it meant he'd have more of a chance of getting out of the house alone. Pippen eyed his bedroom door, adding up the many hazards he would have to avoid if he wanted to leave through the front door alone. He already had his suit and gym bag. Pippen turned away from his door to his bedroom window.
What the hell am I doing? Was he really crawling through a window to avoid Conner? Why? It seemed too much like cowardice to him. But he wasn't afraid of Conner. He was afraid of how Conner's perspective of him might change though, if he saw where he was going. Then maybe you shouldn't be going.
Pippen swung his feet over the windowsill and hopped down, landing sturdily on the ground outside. He looked up, catching Felix's eye as he happened to be standing inside his house, in his living room, looking out the front of his window.
Pippen grinned and waved nonchalantly before heading down the street, the opposite direction from the gym. In his mind, he planned a route that would take him to the gym from this way.
The long walk wouldn't hurt him. He felt better and better every day. In fact, he didn't think he really needed physical therapy anymore, but he enjoyed the class and wanted to say goodbye to the other attendees. There was a bounce in his step at first as he strolled down the sidewalk but as he continued, he started looking over his shoulder. There was no one back there, but that didn't stop him from gazing side to side, behind every car, bush, or tree like he was a running from a psychotic murderer.
It was the middle of the day, for goodness sake.
Why am I being so twitchy? Soon enough, his bounce was completely gone. A bitterly cold winter breeze blew past h
im and Pippen shivered, pulling the hood of his sweatshirt up and over his head. It took him a few more paces of reflection before he realized, with much annoyance, what it was that bothered him. For the first time in weeks, Pippen, the ultimate loner, the shadow in the night, the demon that slinks in obscurity, was alone outside the pack house without Conner and he wasn't sure he liked it.
***
Conner leapt out of Pippen's open window, furious with himself for letting him get so far ahead. He'd seen it in Pippen's eyes as he'd slunk from the kitchen, that look that said he was going to run. And he could run, just as long as Conner was able to follow. His feet landed solidly against the slush of melting snow and his head snapped up to movement across the street. Felix stood inside his house with an amused expression before indicating the road to the right slightly with his head. Conner saluted and went down the direction Felix had gestured. He would have gone that way anyway. Pippen's scent was extremely faint but it was still there.
He took off down the street, forcing his inner wolf to calm the hell down. Soothing his inner wolf and ignoring his alpha drive was easy when it came to everyone else but Pippen. He could follow Luke's commands as well as any regular pack member, he could be in a room full of alphas without a single hackle rising. But put him in pursuit of his elf-like friend and his wolf became unbearable.
If Conner hadn't been curious before, he would be for sure by then. Where was Pippen going that he didn't want Conner to know about so much he would crawl through a window? Conner instinctively turned down an alley, knowing that Pippen had turned down the same alley. His scent was still too faint to be worried about catching up and getting detected like last time, but Conner forced his body to slow down anyway. He wouldn't be spotted this time. Most times, being an alpha was a pain, but at times like now, it was a blessing.
Most sane people would tell him that if Pippen wanted to keep the location of his physical therapy a secret so much that he would leap from a window to ensure he would be alone, then maybe he should allow him that secret. But, this was Pippen. He kept what he had for breakfast a secret. He was a book closed to the world. A safe that few had seen inside of, but to which no one had the combination. Conner watched him whenever there was more than just him in a room, Pippen always slunk back to the edges of the room, to the shadows. But there was sometimes a tint of longing in his eyes, like he wanted to be part of the party, but didn't know how. Conner wasn't in a position to give him much, but he could give him that, the knowledge that he belonged. First, he needed to break through the crunchy outer Pippen shell.
Wolf's Mate Mpreg Romance Box Set Page 51