“Salmon mousse,” Lovejoy explained. “Good choice. They’re super popular.”
Tank chuckled at the éclair’s misshapen appearance, bulbous one end, narrow the other. “You couldn’t sell that in Castro? You could have marked it up and called it the aphrodisiac special.”
Lovejoy laughed. “That’s exactly what I said. My boss has no sense of humor.”
Isaac paused before eating, a frown marring his beautiful face. “Is there another one for Marvin? If not, I should leave this for him.”
“Aw, you’re a sweetie.” Lovejoy looked like he wanted to pinch Isaac’s cheek. He gestured to a covered plate. “I already put one aside for him. They’re his favorite.”
“It’s also dick-shaped?” Tank couldn’t wait to see Marvin’s expression.
Lovejoy nodded, eyes twinkling. “I might have made several of them. You know, accidentally.”
Tank shook his head. “You’re gonna be fired for being a prick who makes too many pricks.” He chose one of the cheesy biscuit thingies that looked rather sad by comparison to everything else Lovejoy baked, but tasted just this side of salty heaven.
“But what a way to go.” Lovejoy wiggled his eyebrows.
“I thought you were one of the not gay ones.” Isaac bit into his éclair, squirting pink foam all over his chin. Tank wanted to lick it off him.
Lovejoy looked slightly disappointed at being accused of heterosexuality. “I don’t come off as gay?”
Isaac clearly didn’t know how to respond to that.
Tank understood the problem. How to tell a straight man that his pants were the wrong kind of tight? Lovejoy liked to think he was the most fashion-forward sexy metrosexual ever. Mana hadn’t beaten it out of him. Tank secretly suspected she liked Lovejoy’s weird sleazy Guido style.
“No, you don’t.” Tank came to Isaac’s rescue.
Lovejoy gave a perky smile. “Well, you’re right, I don’t identify as gay. But I’m not opposed to dick on principal. And, come on, a cock-shaped éclair filled with salty salmon mousse? It’s hilarious.”
“Marketing genius if you ask me. And delicious.” Isaac finished said éclair and licked his fingers, carefully.
Tank lost his ability to speak and had to focus on his coffee.
“My point, exactly! My boss never thinks like that. She takes pastry so seriously. Just the other day…” Lovejoy launched into gossip about his job, chattering happily about various people neither Isaac nor Tank had ever met but who apparently led very exciting lives. Hard to keep them all straight, however, as Lovejoy was terrible with his pronouns. Fortunately, it segued into Lovejoy telling Isaac all about how he took up baking, his childhood, and even his first kiss.
Tank could only be awed. Lovejoy was generally pretty forthcoming but this was ridiculous. The Omega strikes again. Isaac didn’t really seem to do anything, yet Lovejoy was visibly nostalgic and utterly relaxed in his presence, pouring his silly shiny heart out.
The man eventually began talking slower and slower, until Isaac suggested perhaps Lovejoy ought to get a nap in. Lovejoy remembered he had a date that evening and agreed.
Once he’d gone, they settled in the den with fresh coffee.
“Date?” Isaac wondered idly.
Tank nodded. “He’s seeing this kind of amazing shifter. Far too good for him. Fortunately, he realizes that. She’s kitsune and very old. Very important ‘round here. Very, well, very.”
Isaac frowned. “Not Gladiola?”
Tank chuckled. “No, not Gladiola. You won’t have met this one.”
“I won’t? So confident.”
Tank thought of Mana’s eyes, full of other times and ancient worlds. “She would have known what you were, I think. And she would have come to us immediately. Besides, she’s not the type to go to a shifter mixer at a midtown bar.”
“She’s not?”
“No, she’s the type to own the bar.”
Isaac nodded. “I know what you mean.”
* * *
They made lunch together. Isaac openly mocked Tank’s utter failure in the kitchen. Tank only said, “Fine. You tell me what to do. I’m good at following instructions.” He played a willing sous chef, brushing against Isaac a little more than necessary.
Isaac enjoyed bossing him around the kitchen rather too much. Tank made the space seem small. He weaved the scent of brandy and spices in with their food. He offered warmth with his eyes and gratitude with his service.
Isaac got distracted once or twice. But the stew came out fine. The pack, as some began trickling back in late afternoon, were delighted by the smell and the offering of food from their newest member.
Isaac loved watching them eat what he’d cooked. In fact, he liked taking care of the pack too much. He had to step outside onto the porch and away from wolfish pleasure. The act of feeding them was even better than Omega empathy, and gave him the same jolt of satisfaction. Care and guardianship, nurturing, it shivered his bones as intensely as shifting, but much less painful.
The sun began to set.
Isaac turned his back on it and watched the pack through the big windows. The glass gave him objectivity, and relief from the alluring fragrance and grumbling noises of home. He was fascinated by how they all moved around each other, the innate division of labor.
Not all of them were there. Marvin and Alec were still at work – Alec at his lab, Marvin with the Coast Guard. Apparently, the cheeky little merman worked major crimes and special investigations whenever the authorities needed underwater reconnaissance. Made sense to Isaac. Besides, who wouldn’t want Marvin around?
He noticed the moment Tank realized Isaac wasn’t inside. His big body tensed until he saw Isaac out on the porch. He lifted one massive hand in a shy wave. Isaac blew him a kiss. Tank dipped his head to hide a blush but didn’t follow him out. He hadn’t been invited, and he knew Isaac needed space.
Feeling calmer just because of that, Isaac reentered the fray to find the pack getting ready for their nocturnal activities.
Kevin was out on patrol. Judd was preparing to relieve him. During the day, when it was hardest to shift, the enforcers tended to jog around the property, or just lurk in spots, doing yard work and exterior construction. Enforcers were naturally inclined to be outside, protecting everything.
The rest of the time, Judd and Kev ran the pack’s security firm. Kevin had an assignment that very night to keep an eye on Clara.
“Your boss has Heavy Lifting on retainer right now. It’s a good contract,” Tank explained.
Bryan, it turned out, had a job as well as being a Magistar’s familiar. The big quiet man ate Isaac’s stew in appreciative silence and didn’t bother to explain what his job might be.
“I’m on swing shift.” He looked over at the clock. “Gotta go.”
Lovejoy came downstairs smelling of hair oil and wearing a slick silver shirt with black stripes that was unbuttoned a little too low. He had the body for it, but it was a bit much.
“Hot date?” wondered Colin, who was packing up his backpack and heading out for an evening class.
“Mana’s coming by.” Lovejoy turned to Isaac. “You wanna maybe meet her?”
Isaac marveled at the varied emotions in the man’s voice. He’d thought Lovejoy more simple than that, but a kitsune girlfriend obviously brought out something complex in his character.
Tank looked startled. “Don’t you usually go to her place during the week?”
Lovejoy shrugged.
“This Mana is very important to you. I mean, more so than being just a lover.” Isaac prodded, unable to help himself.
Lovejoy flushed and let out a nervous huff.
It was Tank who explained, saving his pack mate from embarrassment. “She’s important to every local shifter.”
Lovejoy cocked his head. “She won’t need you, Isaac. Not like the rest of us do.”
Isaac didn’t know what to make of that. Every shifter he met
wanted something from him, required his counsel. To take it or steal it or talk it out.
“That’s why she’s coming here? To meet Isaac?” Tank was endearingly confused.
Lovejoy got defensive. “It was Bryan’s idea.”
Isaac frowned. “Why?”
“He thinks you should meet Mana. Or Mana should meet you.”
“Beta instinct?”
Lovejoy shrugged. “It’s Bryan. I was lucky enough to get that many words out of him.”
Isaac was nervous. The rest of the pack was abandoning him, so he’d meet this mythical kitsune alone. Kevin left with Colin. Judd stripped, shifted, and went on patrol. Easier to do it in wolf form since the sun was now down.
Fine, not totally alone. Tank and Lovejoy were puttering about the huge den area.
“Where’s Max? I mean, if Bryan is at work. What does Max do?” Isaac wondered. The Magistar hadn’t come with Bryan to eat Isaac’s stew.
“Snarks about. Goes running. Reads old books about lost spells. Complains a lot.” Lovejoy did not revere their Magistar.
Isaac tried not to smile. What an odd group these men were.
Then it got odder.
Because there was a knock on the door, and Manifest Destiny strode into the house.
* * *
Tank was mildly terrified of Mana. She was too much all at once, with no predictable pattern and no reliable reactions. She changed from day to day, shifting her attitude, conversation, and appearance. To someone like Tank who craved both dominance and consistency, she was all one without the other, a dangerous force of mercurial avarice.
Tonight she wore a black and white checked suit, but cut like a Vietnamese áo dài. The long tunic was very tight, and worn off the shoulders in a wide fold. The pants were tailored perfectly, and she wore them with high black heels, and carried a small square bag with a discreet logo. Her hair, or probably wig, was a blunt-angled black bob. Her makeup was all red lip and strong cat’s eye. She looked expensive and hard.
The clothing challenged Tank’s calm. Mana looked slightly too powerful, she exuded charisma of the type that had once conquered whole courts with intrigue and manipulation. She dominated everything and everyone, yet she had come into the pack’s lives and chosen Lovejoy instead of him. Lovejoy who, until Mana, had shown no inclination for submissiveness. Perhaps that was what she liked about him. Perhaps Tank would have been too easy. Nevertheless, it was challenging not to feel rejected.
Except there was part of Tank that understood. Mana would have been too much for him. Too shocking. Clearly, he was made for Isaac, anyway.
Didn’t stop Tank from being intimidated by her.
Didn’t stop him from feeling a fearful anticipation as to how Isaac might react to her.
“Hello darlings! My, where is everyone? Working, I suppose. So very droll of you all to have jobs like it matters. So diligent.”
It was easy to forget that Manifest Destiny was diminutive, although not as small as most kitsune. She must have other shifter blood in her, or was born of a more ancient line. Despite her size, she could move oceans with her will.
Nine tails, Alec said once, reverently. As Alpha, Alec could respect Mana without risk to his own power.
“Even werewolves must make money, babe.” Lovejoy explained the way the world worked to his girlfriend.
Mana dismissed such concerns as mere foibles of the modern age. “You need more kimonos, is what you need. Money is merely a shared cultural hallucination. A good kimono will last a lifetime.”
She went to Lovejoy then. He bent so she might take his face in both her hands. “Hello, sweet boy.” She kissed him, soft and lingering, ending with a sharp nip when he tried to deepen the embrace before she was ready.
Lovejoy gave a little whimper in his throat and stilled, quivering beneath her touch.
Tank was sympathetic. He shuffled closer to Isaac, whether in a show of solidarity or as comfort, he wasn’t certain. Isaac angled imperceptibly toward him, aware of Tank’s need and welcoming him either way.
Mana’s black eyes were on them instantly.
“This is the bartender? I’ve heard of you. Caused quite a stir.” Mana had a pleasant voice with only the barest hint of an accent.
Isaac straightened under her regard. Tank glowed with pride, his man wasn’t at all intimidated.
They circled each other, metaphorically speaking, like the two predators they were. Her examination of Isaac was painfully direct. Tank winced and she wasn’t even looking at him.
Isaac didn’t bare his throat or show any kind of deference to her power or her age.
“Omega? I never would have guessed.”
“You wouldn’t?” Tank blurted.
“Oh, I would have figured it out, but not from appearances or attitude. You’re an odd one, aren’t you? But it explains the sudden shifter fascination with that appalling Saucepot place.”
“Saucebox.” Isaac’s voice was cooler than Tank had ever heard it.
“Whatever.” Mana flapped a hand elegantly, as if it held a silk fan.
Isaac was being tested in a camp manner. It felt rude.
Unless. Is she teasing him?
Isaac’s eyes narrowed. Then he did something, relaxed and opened himself somehow. Like he was warding off Mana’s probing and looking beneath it. His examination of the kitsune was no less rude, but it was, somehow, more thorough.
“Oh!” He blinked. “You’re scared too.”
Isaac moved then, confident, and took one of Mana’s small hands in his. He led her toward a couch, pressed her to sit.
Startled, she did so.
Isaac sat too. Close, but on a separate love seat, and bent toward her, all concern and care. “I’m not after your position here, matriarch. It’s not my purpose.”
Mana blinked at him. “Oh, you’re—” She swallowed. “That is remarkable.”
“But not the same as you.”
“No, not even slightly. I thought…” She shook her head. “Well, you can feel what I thought.” She let out a little breath. “But you’re so young.”
“All Omegas are.”
“You’re one of the first I’ve ever met. Certainly, the first to enter my territory. You’re brand new.”
Tank thought he could guess at some of the undercurrents flying between them.
Lovejoy’s face was a picture of confusion. “What’s going on?” he whispered to Tank. They still stood near the door.
Tank said, uncaring that everyone could hear him. “Omegas came after Saturation, and Mana is from before. She is the keeper of this place, I think. In her way. Or has made herself so over the decades. Or perhaps the place chose her? I believe she thought Isaac might try to take that role away from her. Or take the responsibility of it, of all us Bay Area shifters.”
Isaac smiled. “When, in fact, I’m merely a gardener, content to tend my small patch.”
Lovejoy looked at Tank, eyes desperate. “Did he just call our pack a vegetable patch?”
Isaac grinned. “Rough metaphor. My bad.”
Tank moved cautiously toward Mana and tried to explain the situation to her. Lovejoy had obviously done a bad job of it. “Isaac, if he stays, will stay for us. He is not a guardian, not really.”
“What is he then?” Mana was looking at Tank with wonder on her face. He preened under it.
“He is solace.”
Isaac rolled his eyes.
Mana gave Tank a small smile. “I made a mistake, didn’t I, when I discounted you.”
Tank felt only a little sad, he was accustomed to it. “It’s normal for people to do that.”
“So long as you don’t discount yourself.”
“I’m trying not to.” The anchor, thought Tank, attempting to convince himself, is important.
Isaac gave him a funny look. And it occurred to Tank to wonder, for the first time, if their relationship made it hard for Isaac to read him.
Mana shook her head slightly and put a hand out for Lovejoy, who went to her instantly, crouching next to her rather than joining her on the couch.
Tank sat next to Isaac.
There was a slightly tense and awkward silence.
Finally the kitsune said, “So, I’m Mana, you may call me Mana. Although my stage name is Manifest Destiny.”
“Isaac. Isaac Mercer.”
“Mercer. Why is that familiar?” Long fake eyelashes fluttered a moment. “Ah, that dreadful cult thing?”
“Yes, my father.”
Mana tapped her lip with one perfectly manicured fingertip. “Pity.” Her eyes suddenly sharpened. “He used you, didn’t he? To hold it together. I always wondered how it lasted so long under an enforcer.”
Isaac shuddered slightly and inclined his head. “Now you know.”
“You could start your own.”
“Cult? Not really my thing.”
Tank thought Isaac was handling Mana rather well.
Isaac assessed the stunningly beautiful drag queen, a fox sitting so calmly surrounded by werewolves. “So could you.”
“Who’s to say I haven’t? Turns out, it’s an awful lot of work to maintain cults. Not worth the bother, really.”
“Tell me about it.”
Mana laughed. “I’ve decided to like you. I think… yes. It would be good if you stayed. Are you staying?”
Isaac’s eyes opened wide and he looked desperately at Tank.
Tank couldn’t help him there, he wanted the same thing.
Then something shivered through the air, over them, around them. Something from outside. A sound.
Howling.
There were werewolves nearby, and they weren’t San Andreas pack. Tank didn’t know any of those voices.
He instantly went on alert and looked at Lovejoy. “Judd’s on patrol. Everyone else is out.”
Lovejoy nodded. “Leaves us.”
Tank tilted his head. Perhaps the time had come to prove his worth to his pack, sooner than he’d thought. Perhaps he had to choose to be special. “You’re more intimidating in wolf form.”
Lovejoy sighed. “It took ages to get my hair to look like this.”
Mana was watching them intently. “What are you boys…?”
Lovejoy gave her a little kiss on the temple. “Be right back, my heart. Just giving you a little visual taste of what’s to come later tonight.” He began stripping.
The Omega Objection Page 23