The Alpha Pack

by D J Heart

  Jack wondered if he would end up missing it, or if he would be happy with his life as the pack’s omega.

  He really hoped Sam didn’t end up unhappy with how his life turned out.

  “What did he say?” Sam asked, startling Jack out of his dark thoughts.

  “What?”

  Sam smiled. “David, what did he say? Can I come with you to Drew’s house for pizza?”

  Jack grinned. “Sure. He’ll pick you up when he’s done at work.”

  Sam looked happy.

  ***

  Jack had never performed as well at practice as he did with Sam watching him from the stands, and by the time they finished up and he went to find his omega, his cock was hard as a rock.

  He felt primed to fuck, his balls hanging full and heavy in their sac.

  Pulling Sam in for a sweaty hug and knowing that he’d have to wait until Monday to fuck him was torture.

  “That was cool,” Sam said as they walked to Jack’s bike. “Is it always that intense?”

  Jack laughed and shook his head. “Not usually. I was showing off a little. Coach liked it, though. I think he’s going to murder me if I don’t bring you to our next game.”

  “I’d like to see a game,” Sam said. He bit his lip, his face happy and flushed. He looked adorable and eminently fuckable.

  “Everyone usually comes, so I’m sure you’ll have a chance,” Jack replied.

  “What about Elliot?” Sam asked, making Jack frown.

  “Why do you ask that?” He busied himself putting on his gloves and helmet, watching as Sam did the same. Across the lot, Drew, Payton and Maria were getting into Payton’s car. Even though Jack knew they couldn’t hear what he and Sam were talking about, it felt like they were watching him.

  “I’m just curious. If David doesn’t know how mean he is, wouldn’t it make sense of him to come? Just to throw the rest of the pack off?”

  Jack frowned. It wasn’t like Elliot was engaged in some scheme to trick the pack into thinking he was really a good guy. He just… saved his worst behavior for when he and Jack were alone. He opened his visor to reply.

  “No. He doesn’t come to my games.” Jack got on the bike, Sam looking like he wanted to say something else. Jack sighed. “What?”

  “Max doesn’t like your brother,” he said, looking guilty. Jack was confused. He was well aware of the fact that Max and Elliot didn’t get along.

  “I know,” he said.

  Sam squirmed, looking anywhere but at Jack. “I told him about what happened when we were at the tailor.”

  Jack felt his heart start to race, humiliation and anger coursing through his veins.

  “You did what?” the words came out a low growl.

  “He asked me about Elliot, and I told him I’d met him. I’m sorry.”

  “Did you tell him…” Jack couldn’t say it, but Sam nodded.

  “Get on the bike.” Jack closed his visor, looking straight ahead. He didn’t even want to look at Sam.

  He was too embarrassed.

  “I’m sorry,” Sam said again, climbing onto the bike. When he reached around Jack’s waist he was tentative.

  Grabbing his wrists, Jack pulled Sam so that he was flush with his back. He might be angry, but Sam still needed to hold on tight for the ride home.

  No way were they hanging out at Drew’s house now.

  When they got home, Jack kept his helmet on as they rode up the elevator. He ignored Sam until they were in the penthouse, at which point he put away his backpack and headed right back for the door.

  “Are you leaving?” Sam asked, looking sad.

  Jack nodded tightly, closing the door firmly behind him and riding back down the elevator.

  He needed to get away for a while.

  ***

  Sam

  Sam felt awful. He wished he hadn’t confessed to Jack about what he’d told Max.

  He’d just felt bad. He’d had such a good day with Jack, and he knew that Jack would be angry if he knew about the conversation he’d had with Max.

  Keeping it a secret had just seemed wrong.

  Sitting on the couch and feeling sorry for himself, Sam perked up when he heard the front door open. He rushed into the hall, hoping it was Jack.

  It wasn’t. Hunter stood just inside the hall, looking sharp as ever in his suit and tie. Seeing Sam, he offered a careful smile.

  “Hi, is Jack here?” he asked.

  Sam shook his head. “No, he went out. He didn’t say where he was going.” He couldn’t help the morose quality in his voice.

  “Is everything all right?” Hunter asked. He stepped forward, looking like he didn’t know quite of he should reach out or keep his hands to himself.

  Sam nodded.

  “Jack is mad at me for something I told Max. I’m just feeling sorry for myself.”

  “Oh,” Hunter didn’t look like he had a clue what to say. “I’m sure he won’t stay mad for long. Jack is hopeless like that.”

  Sam wasn’t sure if Hunter quite meant it like that, but then again, knowing Hunter he just might find Jack’s sunny nature to be hopeless.

  “You think so?” Sam asked. Hunter smiled, nodding.

  “Yeah. He’ll come around. Don’t worry.”

  Sam was glad Hunter didn’t ask what he’d told Max. The last thing he wanted was to tell more people Jack’s secret, though he wished the pack knew so that they could do something.

  “Will you be okay? If Jack isn’t here I need to go find him…”

  Sam nodded, Hunter’s discomfort with offering comfort making him smile. At least Hunter was trying—sort of. That’s what mattered.

  “I’ll be fine. David should be home any minute.”

  Hunter looked relieved.

  “I’ll talk to you later,” he said, turning around and heading out the door.

  Sam walked back into the living room, turning on the TV and hoping it would distract him from his guilt.

  ***

  Hunter

  Hunter used the find your friend function on his phone and tracked Jack to his school, finding the young alpha sitting on the bleachers overlooking the football field. Jack saw him coming, and he didn’t look happy to see him.

  “Did Sam send you?” he asked, his voice uncommonly snide. Hunter shook his head, sitting down next to his pack mate and folding his hands in his lap.

  “No, Max did. He asked if I could have a talk with you.”

  Jack actually laughed at that, and Hunter felt a stab of hurt. It wasn’t that funny. It wasn’t like he didn’t care.

  The thought must have shown on his face, because Jack suddenly looked sorry.

  “About Elliot?” Jack asked, a note of hesitation in his voice. Hunter nodded.

  “Max is worried he isn’t nice to you.”

  Jack looked away, his silence confirming all of Max—and now Hunter’s—worries.

  “I know it must be pretty embarrassing,” Hunter said, Jack’s head swinging around fast enough to give him whiplash. The expression on his face was indignant. Hunter shrugged, unrepentant. “Oh come on. I was bullied when I was little, and I didn’t tell anyone. Being treated like that… it’s humiliating when people find out.”

  Jack looked down at his lap, his shoulders tight and his expression blank. Hunter worried he was going about this all wrong.

  “I don’t need anyone’s help,” Jack said, his voice low and angry.

  “We’re not anyone,” Hunter said. “We’re your pack. No one gets away with messing with any of us.”

  Jack still didn’t say anything, and Hunter sighed. He really wasn’t the person who should be having this conversation with Jack.

  “Just tell me one thing. On a scale from beat the shit out of him to murder him and bury him in the swamp, how bad is it?”

  Jack snorted out a laugh, taking a deep breath.

  “I don’t know. He beat the crap out of me the other day. That was fun.”

  Hunter took a deep breath, his wolf rising to the
surface and demanding blood.

  “So murder him slowly,” he said, not at all joking. “Got it.”

  Jack finally looked at him, his expression worried.

  “You’re not really going to kill him, are you?”

  Hunter shrugged, not sure why Jack would want them to spare his brother.

  “I’m pretty sure that’s what Max is planning. Would it be so bad?”

  Jack didn’t answer, pulling out his phone and scrolling through his contacts. He hit Max’s number and lifted the phone to his ear.

  Hunter heard it ring, Max answering after just a few seconds.

  “You can’t kill Elliot,” Jack said, in lieu of a greeting.

  “I can’t?” Max asked, not at all thrown by the statement. “Why not?”

  Jack opened his mouth, but no words came out. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

  “He’s my brother. Just because he beat me up doesn’t mean I want him dead. And you don’t get to decide that for me.”

  Max was silent for a long pause, and Hunter could practically feel how displeased he was by Jack’s pronouncement.

  After a while he sighed, and Jack relaxed. Max wouldn’t have sighed if he wasn’t going to give in.

  “Fine. But I’m beating the shit out of him,” Max sounded disappointed. “And David is firing him.”

  Jack smiled. “Okay.”

  “Was that all?” Max asked, making Hunter frown. He would have expected Max to talk more. He usually wasn’t one to shy away from hard conversations.

  Maybe he wanted to do it in person?

  Hunter had no idea.

  “That’s it, yeah. I’ll see you later.” Jack hung up the phone, his shoulders still tense, but less so than before.

  “Do you feel better?” Hunter asked. Jack nodded, looking tired.

  “A little. I’m still embarrassed, though. Who needs another alpha to deal with their bully of a brother?”

  Hunter leaned into him, bumping their shoulders together.

  “You do, obviously.”

  Jack turned around and looked at him, bursting out laughing. When he finally stopped he wiped his eyes.

  “You are really, really terrible at this,” he said.

  Hunter nodded, a small smile on his face.

  He really was, though he was pretty sure that this time it would be okay.

  ***

  Max

  Max hung up the phone and looked down at the alpha lying in a heap on the ground.

  “It’s your lucky day, Elliot,” he said, threading his nightstick back into the loop in his belt. “That was your little brother asking me not to kill you. Who would have thought?”

  Elliot didn’t say anything, his broken jaw making it difficult to speak.

  Max bent down, grabbing him by the hair and growling into his ear. “So… change of plans. I’m still framing douchebag over there, but now I’m going to need you to be a witness instead of a piece of the evidence.”

  Max nodded at the passed out alpha lying a few feet away from them, deeper inside the alley. Lucas Evan’s had seen better days, though he deserved worse—especially now that the charge against him would be limited to assault instead of murder.

  “Do you understand?” Max asked. Elliot blinked up at him, his expression furious.

  Max punched him again, baring his teeth.

  “If you fuck this up I will castrate you and make you eat your balls, do you understand? I am not fucking around. When my friend questions you, you’re going to tell him that Lucas over there was following you and hassling you for being a werewolf. You thought he was too drunk to do anything, so you turned your back on him and he hit you over the head and beat you up. Is that clear?”

  Elliot nodded, and Hunter dropped his head back down to the ground. He pulled out his phone and called Johnson to notify him of the change of plans. He then walked over to where Lucas was lying—still dead to the world from the roofie Max had slipped him—and checked to see that he was still out.

  Satisfied that neither Lucas nor Elliot were going anywhere, Max left the alley and called his partner to come secure the scene of the crime.

  Lucas Evan’s may have a daddy with money, but that wouldn’t be enough to save him now.

  He was going down.

  ***

  David

  Having to go to work and prepare for the rapid departure of one of his top executives was not how David wanted to spend his first day with Sam.

  But Elliot needed to go.

  It had been a scant hour since he’d sent the foolish alpha to his fake meeting, and David couldn’t bring himself to feel anything but guilt that someone had been hurting a member of his pack right under his nose.

  Elliot had been his friend. He didn’t understand what could have possibly gone through his mind. It wasn’t just that Elliot had disrespected him by hurting Jack that had him so upset; it was the knowledge that he hadn’t seen through the mask Elliot showed him.

  He’d been clueless.

  The ringing of his phone distracted David from his self-recrimination, Max’s face showing up on his screen.

  “Everything go okay?” David answered the call.

  “Sort of,” Max answered, sounding chagrined. “Jack called me and asked me not to kill him. Elliot’s on his way to the hospital now.”

  David processed that.

  “How did Jack find out…?”

  “That I was in the process of killing his brother? Apparently he and Hunter had a heart to heart. Hunter guessed what I was doing and Jack called me and asked me to stop.”

  David didn’t know what he felt about that. He wanted Elliot dead. Not injured. But he wasn’t going to overrule Jack.

  “What about the rest of it?”

  “That went fine. Lucas Evans has been arrested, and considering the fact that we caught him in the act his chances of getting away with it are slim to none.”

  At least that was something.

  “Thanks Max. I’ll talk to you more tomorrow.”

  “Sure thing,” Max answered. David hung up the phone and debated with himself what he should do next.

  He called Jack. He needed to make sure the young alpha was okay.

  “Hello?” Jack answered on the second ring. His voice was wary.

  “Jack, how are you?” David winced at how businesslike his voice sounded. Jack was pack, not an associate.

  “I’m okay,” Jack said. “I’m with Hunter.”

  “That’s good. I’m glad you feel you can talk to him.”

  Jack didn’t say anything, and David winced. He was supposed to be good at this.

  He usually was good at this.

  “Sam is at home, by the way,” Jack said when the silence dragged on a few seconds too long. “So you don’t have to come pick him up.”

  “Thanks for letting me know.” David shifted the phone to his other ear. “Will you be home for dinner tonight?”

  David had intended to take Sam out—show him off—but dinner with Jack would be better.

  “I think Hunter and I are going out.”

  “That’s fine.” David sighed. “I’ll talk to you later. Take care.”

  “You too,” Jack said.

  David lowered the phone and ended the call, slipping the device into his pocket. He then shut down his computer and packed up his papers. He had succeeded in figuring out who he was going to delegate to take over for Elliot until they found a replacement, and come Monday there shouldn’t be too big of a disruption in the operation of the company.

  It was time to go home and start his day with Sam

  ***

  Walking through the front door of his apartment, David put down his briefcase and let the scent of omega fill his nose.

  David’s inner alpha rumbled, his balls feeling heavy and full in his underwear.

  He stalked forward, subtly sniffing the air and following the delicious scent down the hall.