by Treva Harte
“So tell us about your family, dear. How do you like them?” Her mother was smiling at her, but Lin could see the tightness at the edge of her smile. She knew her mother too well.
Her family. Her pack. This family circle wasn’t her pack any longer. The closeness she had to them now had to be replaced. She was bound elsewhere, to weres who didn’t know her the way this family did. She was a part of a pack who maybe didn’t even want her around. Some of the bright, perfect bubble inside her deflated just a little bit.
“We’re still getting used to each other.” Lin figured that was safe to say.
“They’re going to love her.” Lowell chimed in. “She’s exactly what we’ve needed.”
“No doubt.”
Lin winced at the brittleness in her mother’s overly bright tone. All right, Mom was unhappy -- maybe angry that her baby was gone forever. But there was something more here.
She discounted Grey’s silence. That was just how he always was. Rossi wasn’t around to sneer or snigger since he’d been banned from the party for losing her yesterday. If it had been up to her, she’d have given him a reward.
Obviously the rest of the party-goers didn’t feel the same way. But what was behind the grimness of Dad’s mouth and her mother’s tapping fingers? Lin turned to Lowell. The same wrongness was there, behind his quick politeness. Yes, he’d been eager to please all night. Just a little too eager. A little too omega. That wasn’t Lowell anymore.
Something was off here.
The three most important people in her world all thought Lowell was wrong for her. Or maybe they thought she was wrong for Lowell. Why?
“So when are you coming back, Linnie?” Rome asked. “We miss you.”
The room got even quieter, if that was possible.
Trust her little brother to ask the worst possible question at the worst possible time. Romulus had a talent for it, even when he wasn’t trying to be a pain.
“I’m not.”
“Not ever?” Rome’s eyes got big. Lin braced herself. Her brother’s innocent look meant trouble.
“Just to visit.”
“I get her room!” her brother yelled to her parents. “Hers is a lot bigger.”
The noise covered the awkwardness. Gave Lin a chance to think. The only problem was, she wasn’t sure she really wanted to.
Small talk. Chatter. That’s what was needed.
“I am home, little brother. My own home. And I think I’m going to like the new boys a lot.” That might be pushing it, since she hardly knew them. And what did it say about her that she still hadn’t asked what the real names of their betas were? They’d done some damn intimate things together and she had no idea what their names were. That was just wrong. She should know. As Mom might say, becoming were was one thing, but being just plain rude was another.
The unhappiness in the room didn’t ease with her words. No one said anything, which was almost unprecedented. Lin studied the other adults while she ducked her head to eat cake. What problems could they have with her mate? All right, maybe Lowell was a little bit older than her. Actually he was closer to Dad and Mom’s age --
A bad thought hit. A thought that almost made her gag up the sweet icing on her birthday cake.
Pack mates did all kinds of things together. Intimate things. And Lowell had been part of this pack. Her mind filled with images she didn’t want.
Somewhere in her head she heard the sound of a loud pop as her happy bubble burst completely.
Maybe she was imagining things. Lowell looked at her, then away. Maybe she wasn’t.
* * * * *
Fuck this. Old habits and emotions be damned. He wasn’t low man in the pack anymore and he wasn’t going to act that way. He didn’t have to be ashamed of anything. Not of being at the bottom of this particular pack once. He wasn’t any longer. He didn’t have to go sniffing after whatever the others in the pack chose to leave him. He was allowed to take a mate for himself now.
And who wouldn’t take Lin as a mate if given the chance? If the alpha was strong and smart enough to hold onto a prize like her, he’d be insane not to. If he wasn’t alpha enough now -- and he’d had a long time to become used to that role -- he’d learn to be better. He’d make himself good enough for her.
He was keeping her, no matter who wanted him warned off.
He could feel the trouble roiling inside her, her emotions reflecting his. He didn’t want their newly forming bond to create unhappiness in her. She wasn’t meant for unhappiness. Lin shone. She had when he met her and she’d been almost dancing when they got here tonight. He wanted her to be happy, to stay just as bright as she deserved to be.
But what do you deserve?
Without warning, Dek stood up. Lowell stilled for a moment, the old wariness and respect stirring in him as Dek lunged toward his ex-omega.
But times had changed. Lowell might not fight, but he refused to flinch at the attack.
“Let’s be done with it.” Dek growled low in his throat. “I just have one thing to say in front of the family.”
“Then say it.” Lowell growled back.
“She’s your mate. When I found Lin, after all those years apart, I vowed she’d always stay with me. I wasn’t thinking about her as an adult. You did. You took her. But she was mine first. One of my pack before yours. Part of me. And I’ll hunt you and yours down if you ever hurt her.”
Lowell relaxed against the grip Dek had on his shoulder. If that was all his former pack leader was concerned about, things were simple.
“You won’t need to hunt anyone down. If any one of my pack hurts her, that one will be dead. I swear it.”
“We’ll see. Now I have something to say to you in private.” Dek’s tone didn’t allow for argument and Lowell deferred to his old leader.
They stood and headed for the door, matching each other stride for stride.
“I suppose they’re going to go chew on rattlesnakes for dessert. Honestly, Mom, how have you put up with that display for years?” Lin’s words rang clearly behind them, just the way they were meant to. Lowell fought a grin.
“She’s an arrogant female.” Dek leaned up against the porch railing. “I love her, but that’s the truth.”
“I don’t mind.” Lowell let the amusement show, just a little. “She has other attributes that make up for it.”
“I won’t ask.” Dek’s mouth twisted. “She’s my baby still.”
“You said that before. Or close enough.”
“I didn’t bring you out here to repeat myself. This is more important than my feelings.”
Nothing more was said for a moment. Lowell stared out at the view he remembered from long ago. Not much had changed. There was peace here at Dek’s ranch. But only because Dek saw to it. He’d crush any threat against his pack. Dek never hesitated, always knew what to do.
But they appeared to be waiting now.
Dek’s words, when they came, made no sense. “Lin never changed around us.”
“She has with me. She’s a were, sure enough.” Lowell shrugged. “By the time she had changed, though, I would have taken her even if she wasn’t.”
“She changed? Then tell me this. Is she like us?”
How had Dek known?
Lowell swallowed. “You mean, does she grow fur and shape shift?”
“What the hell else would I mean?”
“Yes.”
Dek let out a long sigh. “Then maybe it’s all right after all.”
“But --” Now Lowell hesitated. Then he started off with a babble of words. “I never saw a female who is more were. Every instinct she has is right on the money.”
Dek tensed again at the first word. Now he scowled. “But? You said but.”
Lowell’s heart began to race. He wasn’t even sure why. What Lin wasn’t was so trivial compared to what she was. “Well. Don’t take this wrong, but she’s not quite ... right.”
“Shit! What does that mean?”
“She changes but you can s
till see the not-were. I don’t think she knows. I didn’t want to tell her and make her feel wrong. But her transformation still isn’t complete. She crouches and you can still see ... her. The old Lin. Her fur grows, but not as thick as most. She speaks to me, but the sounds are more human than were.”
Dek shook his head and covered his eyes. Lowell gripped his old mentor’s arm. “It doesn’t matter to me, damn it. It doesn’t matter to anyone in the pack who saw her, or they would have said something. The two of us, we still ... err, we’re right together. Perfect. It’s fine. Better than anything I’ve ever had. With time, I’m sure she’ll become even more --”
Dek put his hand down but kept looking away. “Do you think I care about your feelings or your sex life?”
“Then I don’t understand anything about why you’re asking me this.”
Dek’s jaw was tight. “Leila never changed. We’ve been together almost all our lives and she never has.”
“It never mattered to you. Two kids, decades later, and the two of you are still burning each other up. Anyone can see that. I want that for Lin and me. I have that with Lin and me. Dek, I know my past hasn’t been perfect, not what you’d want for your girl, but it wasn’t that much worse than yours before you met Leila. It just took me longer to find my mate and settle in. You know what weres are like without a mate. That will all change now. Jesus, Dek, don’t try to take this from us.”
“I don’t want to take that from you, boy. And even if I did, I’d never begrudge Lin. If she loves you, she can handle anything you could do. You know that as well as I do. She’s my daughter and we value her for what she is. But I’m afraid. Leila and I are both afraid of what we’ve done.”
No. Dek was never afraid. What the hell did he mean? Lowell shifted his feet, bracing himself. “Spit it out.”
“Weres and non-weres can’t breed. I don’t know what Leila is. I thought she was some kind of latent were when I found out about Lin. Maybe Leila is. But our children aren’t. If they don’t change to were, true were, I don’t think they can mate. Not a one has become were, and they’re long past the age I was when I first had the change.”
“Lin fucking well can mate -- err, sorry.” Lowell blushed at Dek’s glacial stare. “That wasn’t what you meant anyhow. You mean you think we won’t have children?”
“I’m almost positive.”
No children. The reason one struggled to become alpha was to mate and breed. The whole purpose of the pack was to protect each other and the future.
“I see.” Lowell stared down at his hands, avoiding Dek’s gaze as the older man had avoided his earlier.
“You know ... we both know ... what that means. We love her dearly but if you want to void your -- arrangement -- with Lin, we’d understand. I’d understand if you want to walk from all of us. There’d be no bad blood between our packs. I’d explain to her.”
Black loss roiled up in Lowell. He was alpha. He owed the future to his pack.
Fuck owing. Fuck the future. He wasn’t going to face it without Lin.
“No! You could never explain that to Lin because it’s not an arrangement. It was a mating. She’s mine.” And I’m hers. “We can work out something. Packs have lost litters before and managed. Hell, packs have killed pack heirs before and thrived. When other alphas took over, your parents’ pack gave killing you a damn good try. You survived. You created another, stronger, better pack.”
“Rogue weres, blood coups, and badly managed packs exist. But what would your pack want from you? What would Lin want?” Dek tapped his fingers on the porch railing.
His pack had always been ready to eat him for breakfast. He’d never been fully accepted since he first took over. Maybe he’d made a few wrong choices at first, but that had come from inexperience. This -- this -- was different. It was a deliberate choice to flout what the pack needed.
Dek’s pack would have to decide, too. If they put the choice off for the next generation, it would only be more desperate for Dek’s children.
Old habits died hard. Somewhere deep down, Lowell still believed Dek was the smartest were. The worthy alpha. Dek’s ex-omega fought asking the question and lost. If he admitted he needed advice, so be it.
“What do you want to do about your own pack, Dek?”
“After Rome, there will be no one.” Dek swallowed. “We haven’t taken in anyone else since I realized what the future meant.”
Oblivion. That’s what no children meant for a pack.
“The hell with that. We still don’t know if what you think is true. But if it is, my pack will make a different future if we have to.” Lowell gripped his old mentor’s shoulder, wondering if he’d have it bitten off. He’d questioned Dek. Defied him. “Damn it, Dek. I intend to find that new future with Lin next to me.”
When he first saw Lin, he hadn’t chosen her because she’d be a mother to his children. Maybe he’d figured that would all happen later. But it was Lin who had call to him above all.
Something eased in Dek’s stance. “The future will come when it does and how it wants. Not even an alpha can change that.”
“I’ll take care of my pack. And I’ll do whatever I have to for Lin.”
Chapter Four
“Why don’t you lighten up with your pack?” Lin arched herself up to allow him more access between her thighs. “Oh, that’s niiice.”
If she didn’t care that they were up against the doorframe in the hall, not quite behind the concealing bedroom door, he didn’t either. Remembering where he was was getting more and more difficult anyhow.
He was hard. Hard and wanting. She’d been all over him the second he stopped the truck, like she wanted him standing up against the metal door outside. He’d almost taken her then and there. He forgot now why he’d waited.
Once inside though, he tried for a little finesse. Instead of entering her as soon as he ripped her clothes off, he’s just lifted that cute little skirt and stroked her soft wet pussy as if he had all night. The only objections she made were soft little sounds that weren’t really protests at all.
Hell, if that’s what she wanted him to do, they did have all night.
“All for you, babe. Everything.”
His brain hadn’t quite turned off yet, though. He’s been an observer way too long to stop now. There was something else churning inside her. That’s right. He had enough sense left to remember now. That’s why he hadn’t just gone for the sex she’d offered right from the start.
There was something else locked inside her. Something anxious. Something hidden. She couldn’t tell what had happened between her father and him, could she? He was damned good at not showing his emotions, but she was his bondmate. Already she could tell things about him no one else could. And she’d say things he’d never take from anyone else.
Like, apparently, right now.
She was finally talking instead of whimpering. And he was finally calm enough to listen to her words instead of her body language.
“You were always so giving, Lowell. Back when you were an omega, you thought about what we wanted. And you wanted us happy. You’re sweet, Lowell. I saw how sweet back then and just now at -- with the old pack. But you just snarl at your own family.”
“I’m still giving. I’m gonna give you a mindblower of an orgasm in about ten minutes. Maybe less if you push my control.” He mumbled the words, already sinking back into the scent and the warmth of her.
“Yeah, you give to me. Of course, I deserve all that worship.” Lin giggled and then sinuously moved her clit against his teeth. They both grunted. “But why not shine a little warmth on the others?”
Lowell took the pads of both his thumbs and moved them up, pressed hard against her thighs. She squirmed. He knew she liked that. Besides, if he didn’t use his hands on her, he’d have to start working on that aching cock of his. She’d told him to keep his hands off that.
And he had to obey her.
“I’m not an omega anymore.” Except with her. She had a leas
h on him.
“You think being nice makes you weak? Ahh, Lowell!”
“Don’t want to talk.”
“You want to fight, then?” Lin laughed and suddenly leaned over to dig her nails into his ribs.
He squirmed this time. She threw herself on top of him, like a frisky puppy eager to play. He fell back on the floor with a thud, twisting his body to save hers. Damn. Her skirt slid back into place -- just barely. That little slip of material was just begging to be torn off.
“I remember how ticklish you were when I was a kid. Even I could make you giggle. The adults made you insane before they were done.”
He remembered those long sessions of teasing in the living room. His cock bobbed.
“Jesus, not now, Lin.” If she kept that touch going, he’d come all over her before he’d have the chance to service her. Even as he spoke, her fingers unerringly went to some of his most vulnerable points, stroking over his clothing. The material rubbed his sensitized skin. She knew all his pleasure points already. His piercing. The vein near the head of his cock. The skin between his balls.
“I bet if I tied you down and used some feathers, you’d scream.” She brushed against his thighs, and he drew up in agony/pleasure. God, the ideas she could put into his head!
“What --” A male voice intruded on the growing haze of sex and laughter Lin was covering him with.
Three of them. The two huge male betas and tiny Mia stared at them.
“We heard these weird strangling noises.”
Christ. He tried to pull himself together, but Lin was too good at provoking the helpless laughter, even in front of witnesses.
“You’re tickling him.”
“He’s laughing.” The voice sounded awed.
“Stop! Oh, damn it, Lin. That was evil!” He squirmed under her hands.
“He needs a little more laughing. Pile on!” Lin offered, her voice a devilish invitation.
Noooo. Lowell remembered the heat and the laughter from the old pack, the crazed almost-foreplay they would create together. The tickles that turned to nips and then panting, breathless collapse. But his pack wouldn’t. They’d stand off, they’d watch while their alpha turned into a whimpering, laughing mush under their careful gaze. And he couldn’t stop it. Couldn’t stop Lin.