“Gallen?”
“He’s the alpha of our neighbouring pack. The one we have an issue with.” She picked up her fork again and poked at the remains of her meal. “I mean I know Cornwall isn’t like London, but for fuck’s sake, they act like it’s the eighteen hundreds or something.”
Cam wanted to ask what had happened, but he held his tongue, letting her set her own pace. He started to eat his dinner again, waiting for her to continue.
A few minutes later, she looked up from her bowl, eyes full of such sadness, Cam stopped with his fork halfway to his mouth. It was the most open she’d been so far. “I met someone.” A tear rolled down her cheek, and she swiped at it with her thumb. “From Gallen’s pack. Their main buildings are about a fifty-minute drive from ours, but their land backs onto ours behind the small wooded area you can see from the farmhouse.
“I remember your father mentioning it.” Cam sat back in his chair, food forgotten for the moment, all his attention focused on Rachel.
“We were out on our full moon run…” She gave Cam a wry smile.
He raised his eyebrows in understanding. “Ahh.”
“Yep. And I like to run alone sometimes, get a little space from my pack, and you can do that easily where we live. Our lands stretch far enough that I can run far apart from the others and not risk scaring any neighbouring humans—most of them prefer to stay in on a full moon anyway, from what I’ve heard.” She took a sip of her water. “So anyway, there I am, running flat out, skirting the edge of our property, when I catch a scent.”
She closed her eyes for a second, a small smile curving her lips. “I knew at the back of my mind I should avoid it. We have—had—good relations with the neighbouring pack, and I didn’t want to jeopardise that by doing something stupid while in wolf form, but….” She opened her eyes and looked at Cam, her expression alive and mischievous.
“But you didn’t?”
“No.” She laughed softly. “I tracked that scent for all I was worth because it called to me and my wolf both, in a way I’d never experienced before. It was… overwhelming. All I could focus on was finding the wolf it came from.”
Cam sat forward, intrigued. He would’ve imagined being neighbouring packs, they would have regular enough contact to be familiar with each other’s scents. “Didn’t you recognise it?”
“Yes, but only barely, and it had been years since I’d last smelt it.” Her smile turned fond. “Alpha Gallen has two sons who live on the farm… but he also has a daughter who doesn’t.”
“Oh?”
“I don’t know the full story—the pack is very tight-lipped about it—but his wife left him to return to her father’s pack and took the daughter with her.”
Cam wasn’t shocked exactly, but he was surprised. Shifters relationships sometimes fell apart if they weren’t bonded, but it certainly wasn’t a common occurrence. “And it was the daughter? Who you were chasing?”
“Yes.” Rachel grinned. “Sara. And I caught her too.”
Her smile was infectious, and Cam felt himself returning it. He remembered that feeling, that rush of excitement as your wolf took over and nothing else mattered. He’d taken Mia on full moon runs. Taken her away from the rest of his pack so that her scent was all he could smell. Her laughter had filled the woods as he chased her, herding her towards the clearing where—his chest constricted, and it took all his control not to show it. He pushed the memories aside and forced a smile. “And then what happened?”
Rachel eyed him curiously for a second, maybe sensing his inner turmoil, but then she sighed and her expression turned wistful. “I’ll spare you the details, but it was the best few hours of my life. I returned to my pack knowing I’d found my soulmate and floating on a haze of happiness. We hadn’t talked about bonding or anything like that, we’d barely spoken at all, but I knew deep inside that she was meant for me.” Her voice took on a tinge of sadness, and Cam’s heart ached for her, because he already knew this didn’t have a happy ending. “When I woke up hours later, bursting with excitement to tell my father and ask his permission to pursue a bond with her, it was already too late. Alpha Gallen had arrived earlier, demanding an audience with my father.”
Her hand shook, making the fork rattle against the edge of the bowl. Cam reached across the table and linked their fingers, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. “You don’t have to say anymore. I think I can hazard a guess at what happened.”
“Apparently Sara’s grandmother on her mother’s side is on the alpha council. Her lineage is ‘too important to be wasted on a childless union.’” She scowled. “As if that matters in this day and age. I know she’s an alpha’s daughter—well we both are—but that doesn’t automatically mean we have to reproduce!”
Cam squeezed her hand again. Mia would have totally been on her side. “What did your father think?”
She blinked back tears, a small smile appearing again. “He tried to reason with Gallen at first. Thank fuck my dad isn’t so set in his ways—he just wanted me to be happy with whomever I chose.” She sighed. “But Gallen is an arsehole. He stood there, right in front of me, and suggested that he would be amenable to having Sara marry my brother instead.” She threw her hands in the air. “I was standing right there and he didn’t give me a second glance.”
Cam agreed wholeheartedly: what an arsehole, indeed. Some alphas’ behaviour left a lot to be desired. “I take it your father said no?”
“Oh yes. That was the one thing he did that I can be proud of. He said his children were free to choose their own partners and that he refused to dictate their lives that way.” She smiled through her tears. “You should have seen Gallen’s face. He was not a happy alpha.”
“I can imagine.”
She slumped in her chair, her righteous indignation trickling away as she breathed out. “To cut to the chase. He told my father that I was banned from setting foot on his property. That Sara didn’t want to see me again, and any attempt by me to contact Sara would be taken as a violation of pack etiquette and they would retaliate however they saw fit.”
“They’d attack you?” It seemed a rather extreme reaction to two people discovering a potential bond, and Cam’s lip curled up in a snarl. A bond was something to be celebrated, not cast aside as though meaningless. No wonder Rachel’s emotions were all over the place.
“I don’t know, but my father took it as a threat. And with Sara’s grandmother being on the council, he didn’t want to risk it coming to that and getting them involved.”
“The council are impartial, regardless of familial ties.”
“I know they’re supposed to be, but Gallen hinted heavily otherwise, and my father didn’t want to take that chance. He had the whole pack to think of.” She held her arms out to the side. “So here I am. Out of the way so I’m not tempted to break the rules.” She sounded angry and broken and looked so young sitting there at his table with her life falling apart around her.
Cam wanted to wrap her up in his arms and take the pain away. He stood abruptly, walked around the table, and drew her into a hug. She clung to him, her head buried in the crook of his neck.
“I didn’t even get to say goodbye.” She took a deep shuddery breath in. “I can still feel it… the promise of what we could have had, but if I don’t see her, then it’ll start to fade, and—” Her voice broke off and she sobbed against him. “She’ll forget me too.”
Cam held her tight, saying nothing as she wept, tucked against him. He understood Tregarrak’s predicament, but his heart broke for Rachel and he was even more determined to make her stay with them the best it could possibly be.
She needed to feel useful, needed a distraction to take her mind off the pain of losing her potential mate. And she needed to be with a beta who’d be sensitive to her emotional state.
There was one obvious choice, and before tonight, Cam wouldn’t have hesitated to make it. But even with everything that had happened, instinct told him it was still the right decision.
&nb
sp; He hoped Gareth would see it that way.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Gareth watched the members of his unit head for the door. The meeting had been blessedly brief; he’d given them a quick rundown of events and there hadn’t been many questions.
He’d been right to send for them. Their scents now filled his flat, settling over him and soothing his raw wounds. It wouldn’t erase the hurt squeezing his insides, but it helped keep him from falling apart.
“Gareth?”
Gareth glanced up to see Nathan lingering in the hallway, alone. The front door was shut, and Gareth wondered if that was on purpose. “Everything all right, Nathan?”
Nathan took a step towards him, eyebrows drawn together, as though struggling with what to say. Which was unusual for him. “I just… I… fuck.” He glanced up at the ceiling before meeting Gareth’s gaze with something that looked very much like resolve in his expression. “A shower doesn’t get rid of the scent. Not completely.”
Gareth’s heart sank to his stomach. “Nathan…” he growled it out in warning.
Nathan held his hands up in submission. “I know it’s none of my business. And I’m not asking you to tell me what happened, but I know that scent, and if you aren’t bursting with happiness right now, then you must be in pain… and I—” He faltered, and shame filled Gareth, pushing out his self-pity. “I won’t tell the others, but if there’s anything I can do to help, please let me know.”
Shit. He shouldn’t be making his unit feel as though they had to look out for him. It was his job to look out for them. Get a fucking grip, Gareth. With a smile that wasn’t entirely forced—because he couldn’t help but love that Nathan offered despite feeling awkward—Gareth walked over to him and placed his hand at the base of Nathan’s throat. “Thank you.” He took a steadying breath in, grounding himself. “Don’t worry about me, though. That’s not how this works.”
“But—”
“But nothing.” He slid his hand to Nathan’s shoulder and he gave it a firm squeeze before letting go. “Thank you for your concern, but I’ll be okay. With time,” he added because they both knew it wouldn’t happen overnight. “Now go, before Jared comes looking for you.”
Nathan nodded, not looking entirely convinced. But then he knew exactly what it was like to feel this way.
Gareth waited for the door to close as Nathan left, then went straight back to the living room and collapsed onto the sofa. His thoughts were all over the place, much like his emotions, and he needed to regain control.
Cam knew.
Something Gareth had both longed for and never wanted to happen.
“Fuck.”
His voice sounded loud in the empty room.
Closing his eyes, he took a long deep breath, drawing in the scent of pack, of family, and let it ease some of the pain.
Cam’s scent clung to him too, a bittersweet reminder. Logically he knew this longing should fade when his feelings weren’t reciprocated. Maybe he’d done himself a favour by finally giving in to his instincts and letting the bond process kick in.
It would hurt for a while, but eventually it would fizzle away to nothing and he could get on with finding someone else.
But I don’t want it to fade. I don’t want anyone else. I’m in love with Cam.
Exhaustion saved him from the thoughts going round and round in his head, and finally he fell into a fitful sleep.
THE MEETING rooms were almost full when Gareth arrived. Both rooms opened out to make one big enough to accommodate the new, larger pack. Cam stood at the front with Alec and Jason, talking quietly about something, but Gareth didn’t go over to them. Instead he sought out his unit and joined them at the back of the room. Their preferred position.
Gareth had to smile as he approached them. All but Jared surveyed the room as though looking for potential threats. And everyone thought it was Alec’s unit who were the security ones. In the past few weeks, his had become just as vigilant.
Nathan was nearest to him, and Gareth fell in beside him, leaning against the wall. He raised an eyebrow and Nathan shrugged. “Can’t be too careful.” He didn’t elaborate, but Gareth wondered if they knew about the members of P-pack who’d been visiting the prison. He’d only mentioned Rachel last night, not the rest of it.
Yesterday, Jason had told them the name of who he’d overheard, and Gareth scanned the room to try and locate them. It didn’t take him long. If the situation wasn’t so serious, he might have laughed. Four P-pack—shit, he had to stop thinking of them like that. They were all part of the same pack now, and he needed to remember that. Cam wouldn’t be happy with him if he knew, and Gareth didn’t need to give him any more reasons to be disappointed.
The four of them propped up the wall on the left-hand-side of the room. Arms crossed, and expressions ranging from angry to disinterested. Subtlety wasn’t their strong point. Or maybe they didn’t give a shit? Jason had said two of them used to be in Wes’s unit. They could well resent the joining of the two packs depending on how they’d felt about him and his incarceration. The whole group of them looked young—twenty-five tops.
Nathan nudged him with his elbow. When Gareth glanced at him, he nodded in the direction Gareth had just been looking. “Everyone knows,” he mouthed.
Bollocks.
If the whole pack knew they’d been visiting Wes and Newell in prison, then what did that mean for the integration of the two? Would it make others think twice about it being a good idea? He took a slow look around the room, attempting to gauge the mood. Apart from the four over by the wall, no one else seemed to be outwardly hostile. Most of the attention was focused on Cam at the front of the room, no one paying the four much notice.
Hopefully they were in the minority with how they felt.
He should talk to Cam and the other betas, ensure they had as much information as possible about who was involved, but the thought of being so close to his alpha made his palms sweat.
What if he lost control again?
Rolling his shoulders to try and loosen some of the tension creeping in, Gareth unsurprisingly found his gaze drawn to Cam. The early morning sun shone bright through the window, silhouetting him and making Gareth squint. Jet-black hair fell messily across Cam’s forehead, and not for the first time, Gareth had the urge to run his fingers through it.
He held tight to those feelings, keeping them locked inside. His wolf whined in protest, the pull in his chest a dull ache behind his ribcage, but he kept himself in check.
No teeth, no claws, and enough scents in the room to mask his.
I can do this.
When the clock ticked round to 10:30 a.m., Cam cleared his throat and the room fell silent. Everyone focused on their alpha—including the four over by the wall. Gareth kept an eye on them while Cam addressed his pack.
“Thank you for joining me this morning. I’m aware you all have places to be, so I’ll keep it brief.” He gestured to Rachel, who stood off to one side. “For the next few weeks, Rachel Tregarrak, a member of the Penwith pack, will be staying with us as a guest and honorary member of this pack. During her time here, Rachel will live in one of the pack apartments and will join one of my betas as part of their unit.”
Gareth frowned at Cam’s word choice. He’d assumed she’d be staying in Cam’s building. And who’s unit would she join? His gaze shifted to Rachel, only to find her looking back at him, lips curved up in the barest of smiles.
His stomach dropped.
No.
“I expect each member of this pack to treat her with the respect that she deserves, as she will do in turn,” Cam carried on, and Gareth glared at him throughout.
Cam knew how Gareth felt about her. Surely he wouldn’t ask him to have her in his unit? Would he?
If Cam felt Gareth’s gaze on him, he didn’t show it. He calmly looked around the room at his pack gathered there. “Are there any questions?”
Gareth wasn’t expecting any—Cam’s explanation was pretty straightforward—so he star
tled when one of the four shouted out, “Why is she here, though? Did her own pack kick her out?” Half the room turned to look at the speaker.
Cam turned to face him. “Mr Davies.” Davies shifted uncomfortably now he was the centre of attention. “Miss Tregarrak is very much still a member of the Penwith pack. And as I said before, she is here as our guest. London pack life is very different to that of a Cornish pack. I’d like her to have the very best experience of what we have to offer.” Not waiting for Davies to respond, Cam turned to the room at large. “Are there any other questions?”
A few murmurs, but no one spoke up, so Cam finished with, “I know this is a difficult time, trying to find where everyone fits in this new pack structure. But we’ll get there. In the meantime, if anyone has any questions, worries, or problems they need help with, please don’t hesitate to contact me or one of my betas. My door is always open.”
Gareth watched Davies as Cam finished speaking, and he didn’t like the way he stood with his arms crossed and his chin jutted out in defiance. On the surface, he might appear like any other moody young shifter—too confident and cocky to be told what to do—and ordinarily Gareth would roll his eyes and ignore it. But these were ex P-pack members who were still in touch with their exiled alpha. There were only four at the minute, but others were starting to look their way.
As the meeting came to an end and people began to disperse, a few of them drifted over to where Davies was. The room had too many shifters in it, all muttering at once, and Gareth had no hope of listening to what Davies said. His skin prickled with unease. And he spared them one last glance before turning back to his unit.
All of them were there. Kara and Clive were due on shift in less than an hour, so Gareth quickly beckoned them close. With his voice little more than a whisper, he said, “Keep an eye on them where possible.” No need to name names. They all seemed to know who he meant, judging by their nods of agreement. “And let me know immediately if you hear anything even slightly suspicious.”
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