But Fan had his teeth into this conversation, and he wasn’t letting go. “Why were you fighting?”
“Someone wanted to take Jason away from Mac, and I didn’t want that to happen. Mac would be sad.” His tone was friendly and unthreatening, but what struck me most was that he answered Fan’s question with the same serious attention that an adult would expect, but kept it at a level appropriate for a little boy.
I kept waiting for the cruelty to appear, and every moment in Mercy Hills made a fool of me.
Fan nodded, as if that made total sense to him. “I like Mac. I’m glad he’s not sad.” He slid down off his chair. “Come on, Teca. Let’s play with the toys.” He led her and Beatrice over to the corner, and now we could talk in peace.
I blew out a breath. “I never quite know what I’m going to get with him.”
“He seems to be a handful.” Jason chuckled and turned to Duke. “Mac doesn’t know I heard him, but he called Abel this morning begging for rescue.”
Duke laughed quietly. “What’s he going to do once the two of you have a litter?”
Jason went quiet and Duke sobered instantly. “I’m sorry, I should think before I open my mouth. You know Abel’s not going to let anything happen. And even if the worse does, Mac and I have worked out a plan.”
I made a note of that, just in case. If I couldn’t find sanctuary here, maybe I could find escape. “So what happened after you hit your Alpha and ran, Jason?”
Jason looked at Duke. “You might as well tell it. I was wading through the stream at that point.”
Duke shrugged. “I bailed out of the car before I really knew what had happened and found Orvin and two of his alphas there. You’d taken care of Orvin,” he nodded at Jason, “and by then Abel had crawled out and we had a bit of a knock-down with the Montana boys.” He grinned. “Haven’t had a good fight since I was in bachelor’s quarters. But I tripped on a rock near the end and broke my wrist.” He gave his cast a disgusted look. “Still kicked the shit out of blondie, though. But it was Abel who really put a stop to it.” He glanced over at me. “You probably won’t be able to tell when you see him, but he’s one of the smartest fighters we’ve got around here. It’s like he’s got three arms and eyes in the back of his head.”
“I’ve met him.” And contrary to what Duke had said, I had no doubt that Abel could defend himself. He moved like a wolf, even in human form, and though he’d been kind to me, his demeanor was that of a man used to defending his position and his pack. “He gave me a tour of the place this morning.”
Duke looked strange at my words, but he didn’t comment. Instead, he continued the story of the car accident. “Mac whacked his head on the window when we went off the road and he was out for a few minutes. Once he came to, all he wanted to do was go after Jason. Both cars were undrivable, so we ended up calling the cops.” He grimaced. I didn’t need him to explain what the experience with the cops had been—we all heard the stories, even if we hadn’t experienced it ourselves. “Mac didn’t want to wait to go look for Jason—”
“I was in labor in the car,” Jason put in. “Looks like our food is ready.” He stood up and walked around the table. “Here, you can hold Macy,” he said, laying her against Duke’s chest and holding her there until Duke got his unbroken arm up to support her. “Do you want me to order something for you too?”
“No, I’m fine. I was just wandering around, bored. Not much good for security with a busted arm.”
“I’ll be back in a minute, then.” Jason headed up to the counter.
“I’d better get the pups back,” I said, but I didn’t get up. “Duke, can I ask…” How did a person put this? “If Abel can’t raise the money for Jason, what are they doing to do?”
He looked me over, his expression stern, as if he was trying to decide if I could be trusted. Or maybe those were just the lines his face fell into when he was thinking about something.
I leaned forward. “I may need to do the same thing.” I put a hand on his arm and pulled out what I called my ‘omega look’. It generally had alphas falling all over themselves to help me out. I’d learned not to try it with Patrick, except under the right conditions, but this wasn’t Patrick. “My pack found me a new mate, but he doesn’t want my pups.” Tears were maybe too much, but I put as much emotion into my next words as I could. “If I can’t find a way to stay here, can you…help me?” And made sure my posture, and everything else, told him just how desperate I was, and how far I’d go if necessary. I was leaving nothing to chance, because this might be my last chance.
Jason came back with a tray, and I quickly pulled my hand back and covered my ploy by turning toward the pups. “Fan, Teca, your food is here.” I turned around to find Jason watching me, though his expression wasn’t unfriendly. “What?” I asked, a quick burst of fear making me brusquer than usual.
“You don’t have to make deals here to get help. It’s not like that.”
Yeah, right. Maybe you don’t expect anything from me, but Duke here has no reason to do me any good deeds without compensation. And I need this. I stared back at him mutely.
Duke spoke up. “Easy, Jason. I know what he’s getting at. Not like you were any more trusting when you got here.”
To my surprise, Jason blushed, and set out the food without saying another word.
Duke nodded at me. “Don’t worry. Things work out.”
And then my pups were there, and the time for planning was over.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Abel shut down his computer and stretched. He hadn’t gotten all the paperwork done that he’d wanted to, but he had finished off level thirty-four of Alpha Hunt and gotten a start building level thirty-five. Once he had fifty done and debugged, he thought he might release it and see what kind of funding it brought in. There was research to be done on that too, since he didn’t have the first clue about marketing a game. They did very little for the inventory program—that had grown organically out of the pack’s needs and bids on a few contracts outside walls. They still bid on projects, but about half their income came from word-of-mouth.
He wondered if Bax would mind looking into that as well.
Shit, Bax! His eyes flew to the clock on the wall, a turn-of-the-century piece built by a pack member just before the Enclosure. Six-thirty. Damn. He’d meant to be at Mac’s an hour ago. Quickly, he gathered up his phone, and the keys he’d retrieved from Housing, and bolted for the elevator.
Fifteen minutes later, he was jogging up to the front door, uncomfortably aware that he might have been showing off a little just in case Bax was outside playing with the pups. Sadly, he wasn’t, but the joyful sounds of pups creating havoc inside were loud enough that even closed doors and windows weren’t enough to contain them. Moments later, the sound of Bax’s voice raised in frustrated laughter met his ears, and then he was knocking on the door, his heart in his throat.
Apparently, he was fourteen again and going through his first crush.
It was kind of fun.
Abel grinned and waited for someone to get the door.
A rather wild-eyed Mac opened it, and slipped outside with him. “I don’t think you want to go in there. Everyone’s awake, and it’s a madhouse.” He lifted a pantleg to show a small bruise on his ankle. “Fan got me again—I seem to be the target of choice. Bax made him sit in a corner for five minutes for it. I’m thinking about pressing charges.” But he laughed as he said it, and then he was just Mac again. “I take it you found accommodations?”
“I’m just going to put him in guest quarters. We’re too damn crowded.” He sat down on the step and Mac joined him. “If I don’t find us more space soon, we’re either going to lose running space, or—” He paused and stared down the street at the tightly packed rows of townhouses. He didn’t have to explain to Mac that the expansion was on hold now—Mac knew the reason. “It may come down to population control.”
“The lottery again?”
Abel nodded and picked at a nail that wanted to split. �
�I don’t want to go there, but Becca tells me she’s going to need more room next year. I don’t want to lose the park, the pups need the space, and we all know what happened in Ohio.” Rogue’s Hollow had been a disaster of overcrowded conditions and the social problems that went along with them, and the human government had eventually brought in the army and nearly wiped out that pack back in the fifties. “Can’t go north either or we lose all the fruit trees and I’ll be damned if I’m going to be any more beholden to the humans than I have to be. Can’t go west, or we lose the new gardens. There’s east, but that’s not a lot of room.” He grinned. “I imagine Jason would have my hide on your living room wall if I destroyed the pond, anyway.” He winked bawdily at Mac, but Mac only shook his head and grinned.
“What about moving the gardens into the park? They wouldn’t have to be permanent. Or using the commons behind the townhouses for gardens?”
That was a possibility. They’d need to fence the area, though, to keep the pups from running wild through it. And they’d lose their gathering space on full moons. Still… “I hate losing ground, but you might be right.” Abel shook his head. “I don’t know. It’s going to take more thought. Laine plans on coming here tomorrow to discuss suing Montana Border over the car accident.”
“We can do that?”
“He seems to think we can. I’ll talk to him and see.”
The door opened and Jason joined them. “It’s not as bad as he’s telling you.”
“You’re not the one getting attacked every time you go around a corner!” But Mac grinned and held out a hand to help Jason down onto the step.
“How are they getting along?” Abel asked Jason.
“Fine. The pups are obsessed with both the television and Mac by turns. Bax keeps trying to do things for me, like I’m going to kick him out if he doesn’t carry his own weight.” Jason shook his head and draped one of Mac’s arms over his shoulders. “It feels like being back in Montana, only this time I’m the alpha.” His tone was light, but Mac pulled him close, and Abel guessed there was something going on there that he didn’t know about.
“I brought keys, so we can move them any time. Supplies delivered everything this afternoon, I’m told, so it’s just a matter of them and their personal stuff.”
“Duke said he’d bring the truck over whenever we wanted it. Guy’s going crazy stuck on the monitors all the time.”
“When’s the cast come off?” Jason asked.
“Three more weeks, I think?” Abel stood up. “We should get them out of your hair.” He caught both the look of relief on Mac’s face and the disappointed one on Jason’s. Abel guessed that Jason was enjoying having another omega around despite his previous words, someone he could talk to about things that the alphas wouldn’t understand. That was something else Abel should look into, as soon as Jason’s future here was settled. Mercy Hills had a bunch of alphas and betas that would be looking to mate over the next couple of years. Maybe he could invite a few omegas over for six months, let the young folk mingle with someone they hadn’t grown up with.
Young folk. Damn, but this job was aging him.
Then Bax came out to join them, and he decided he wasn’t as old as that.
“Hi, you got everything done?” Bax asked in that honey-sweet Texas twang.
“As much as I was going to. And I’ve got a list for you as long as your arm to start on Monday.”
“Oh, good.” Bax’s relief at being able to pay his way was palpable. “Should I gather the pups up?”
“I’ll help,” Jason said and jumped up. He patted Mac on the shoulder. “You can go hide if you want.”
Bax turned pink and he opened his mouth to, Abel expected, apologize.
Mac forestalled him though, and got to his feet. “I’ll grab Fan. I need some revenge.” He boomed a loud, movie villain’s laugh, and lumbered into the house like a monster from the Saturday afternoon B-movies he and Abel had passed their early teens watching. Jason went after him, shaking his head.
Abel grinned and grabbed Bax’s hand to keep him from following Mac and Jason. “Let him have his fun. He needs to practice being Pappy Mac. And he doesn’t get much time to relax.”
“I don’t want to be a bother.” Bax gazed after the two shifters, but Abel was pleased to notice that he made no attempt to pull his hand out of Abel’s. It didn’t seem to be the uncertainty of whether Abel would get mad, either—Bax’s hand was completely relaxed and when Abel tugged on his arm, his fingers squeezed back briefly.
Then he turned around and seemed to realize that Abel was holding his hand. He blushed scarlet and pulled his fingers adroitly out of Abel’s grasp. “I should go gather the rest of the pups.”
Abel followed him into the house. “Do you need to pack?”
“I did that this afternoon. I wanted to be ready, whenever you showed up.” His cheeks were still pink, startlingly attractive set against the pale skin and dark hair. “I do truly appreciate what you’re doing for me. I’ll do my best to repay you for everything.”
Abel took Bax’s hands in his, both of them this time, and rejoiced silently when Bax simply watched him with those beautiful green eyes. “We’re pack, if not the same pack. We have to stand together and look out for each other. And you deserve to be treated better than you have. I’m ashamed of my fellow Alphas on your behalf.”
Bax’s eyes widened and he took a deep, strained breath. “Thank you,” he said, in a voice that shook. “I’m never sure if it’s me or them. I can’t trust my own judgment, you know.”
“I think your judgment is fine. Your situation is shitty.”
Bax threw him a glance, a subtle assessment of Abel’s message that belied Bax’s statement that he couldn’t trust his own version of events, then nodded sharply. “It is.” His fingers pressed lightly against Abel’s, making him catch his breath, then they were gone. “I’d better gather my pups.”
A booming, “Gotcha!” echoed out of the kitchen, and then Fan and Teca barreled down the hall and into Bax’s legs.
“Dabi! Dabi! He’s gonna eat me!” Fan cried, obviously delighted with his imminent demise. Teca squealed and tried to climb Bax as Mac strolled up the hallway after them.
“There’s my supper!” he roared. The pups shrieked with jubilant terror and hid behind their bearer, peering around his thighs with eyes bright with excitement.
Abel hid a smile behind his hand while Bax wobbled and tried to contain his offspring. A smile of his own curved Bax’s lips, and he gasped in mock horror as Mac scooped Fan up and threw him over his shoulder. “Oh, no, whatever will you do, Fan?” he cried.
“He’s going to help me carry his things down the stairs,” Mac informed them in his non-monster voice. “Let’s go, Fan.”
Fan giggled and waved as he disappeared up the stairs with Mac.
“Up, up,” Teca begged, jumping and tugging on Bax’s jeans. Bax stooped and picked her up, seemingly unaware of the grace in his movements. Beatrice toddled out of the kitchen, a brownie in one hand.
“Where did you get that?” Bax asked. He looked about to take it away from the young shifter, then shook his head in defeat. “You’re going to end up spoiled here.”
“Oh, she’ll be fine,” Jason said, coming out of the kitchen with the rest of the brownies. “Here, have one.” He pressed one into Bax’s hand, then handed another to Abel. “Duke’s on his way.”
“Okay.” Abel took a bite of his brownie and sighed in contentment. He opened his eyes to find Bax eyeing him. “They’re good. Try it.”
Almost automatically, Bax bit off a corner of his brownie, white teeth flashing in the last of the daylight sneaking in the still open front door. He seemed trapped in Abel’s gaze, and Abel forced himself to break the disconcerting stare, worried he’d accidentally pushed with his own power in his fascination with the new omega.
New omega. Though he hoped he hadn’t ruined any chances they had of keeping Bax.
“It’s good,” Bax said. “I can’t co
ok like this.” Abel looked up to see him regarding the brownie thoughtfully. “I should learn.”
“I’m sure Jason would help.”
Bax smiled up at him, but it looked strained.
“I’m sorry. It wasn’t intentional.” The rich chocolate of the brownie turned to ash in Abel’s mouth. “I swear I’ll do better.”
Bax smiled, but it never reached his eyes.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
I saw the truck from the other night pull up in front of Mac and Jason’s house, and Duke, with his cast and his bulky frame, get out. Abel turned and waved, then slid past me into the hallway. I might have said he slunk past me, except that wasn’t a term I was used to applying to alphas, let alone Alphas. Beatrice came to press herself against my leg and I laid my hand on her dark curly hair for both our comfort.
Mac and Fan appeared at the top of the stairs, Mac with half our bags hanging off him, Fan carrying my baby bag with bits of their toys peeking out through the top.
“Dabi, I’m helping!” Fan grinned widely as he made his slow path down the stairs, one hand in Mac’s, the bag dragging behind him.
“You are! What a good alpha you are.” I’d been doing my best to counteract Patrick’s lessons about what an alpha should be and I threw a grateful look at Mac. Nothing taught better than a good example. The bag clunked with each step they descended and the toys looked in imminent danger of falling out. I took the bag from Fan as he reached the second last stair, or tried to.
Fan held onto it fiercely and yelled, “No! I’m doing it.”
“You have enough to carry,” Mac reminded me, and nodded to Teca on my hip, and Beatrice toddling after me. “He’s okay.” He helped Fan down onto the floor and grinned.
Jason appeared at the top of the stairs, Macy in one arm and Noah in the other. “Abel’s taking the baby’s bed apart. Let’s get the truck loaded.”
I suppressed the urge to argue about the crib again, but Jason had made it plain that he wasn’t taking no for an answer. Honestly, he was the most un-omega-like shifter I’d ever met. If it wasn’t for his scent and the way he deferred to Mac, I’d never have guessed. Well, the baby was kind of a giveaway as well, I supposed. But what it meant for me was that there was no further point in arguing with him about his offer. I was taking that crib until Noah outgrew it, and that was the end of it.
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