by J. L. Wilder
“No,” Robert said. “Wyatt, this matter was resolved.”
“It wasn’t resolved. He did cheat.”
“Wyatt—”
“Robert, you weren’t there, all right? I’m sorry, but you weren’t. And how can I be expected to accept the results of the Omega Games when I would have won if not for his cheating? I was ready to ride out of that garage, Robert. I was ready. If he hadn’t stolen—”
“I didn’t take your tire cap!” Gunner roared.
A voice spoke up somewhere in the crowd. “Yes, you did.”
Both Gunner and Wyatt whirled around, trying to identify the speaker.
“You did,” the voice spoke again, and this time Wyatt saw where it was coming from. Lionel had stepped forward, his hands buried deep in the pockets of his jacket, his eyes cold. He was staring at Gunner. “I saw you take it,” he said.
Gunner sputtered. Wyatt felt as if he were standing on quicksand.
Robert frowned. “You saw this? Why didn’t you speak up before?”
“I wasn’t sure of what I had seen,” Lionel said. “But I’m sure now.”
“He doesn’t know what he’s talking about!” Gunner protested. “He admits it himself.”
“Lionel, come forward,” Robert said.
Wyatt waited apprehensively as Lionel approached. They had never been close friends, nor was Lionel a particularly outgoing or welcoming member of the pack. Could he trust the man to speak on his behalf now, when things were so dire?
But what other choice did he have?
“Tell us what you saw,” Robert said.
“Wyatt had gone to replace a socket wrench in his tool kit,” Lionel said. “Gunner noticed him leaving and moved over from his own bike to Wyatt’s. I didn’t see what happened next, but I could tell his hands were on the bike. He was gone by the time Wyatt returned.
“Then, Wyatt started looking around. It was obvious something was lost or missing, but I couldn’t focus on that or offer to help because I was too preoccupied with my own bike. I didn’t connect the two things until Wyatt faced Gunner and accused him of taking something. I didn’t know it at the time, but he was talking about the tire cap. Gunner didn’t respond with surprise or anger at being accused. He seemed satisfied, as if he’d done something to be proud of.”
“Bullshit,” Gunner snarled.
“Quiet,” Robert said. “Lionel, continue.”
Lionel nodded. “Those two are always fighting, and I’ve heard Gunner say hard things about Wyatt many times. So, I wasn’t surprised that it had gotten aggressive during the challenge, especially after what had happened when they fought hand to hand. I did my best to ignore them. But when Gunner rode out before me, I knew my chances in the Omega Games were over.
“The weird thing was that as soon as Gunner left, Wyatt threw his rag down and went after him on foot. That wasn’t like Wyatt at all. He’s always so meticulous in the garage, always putting everything back where it goes when he’s finished. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him throw something down like that before.
“In the clearing, Wyatt accused Gunner of cheating, and based on what I’d seen, I thought he must be right. But then Gunner emptied his pockets, and he didn’t have the tire cap. So, I thought Wyatt must be mistaken.”
Robert faced Wyatt. “Is that what happened?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“But he didn’t have the cap,” Robert said. “So, what makes you so sure he cheated, Lionel? I’ll admit it looks suspicious that he reacted the way he did to Wyatt’s initial accusation. But that’s far from proof.”
“I agree,” Lionel said. “Which is why I went back to the garage later that night to look for the missing cap.”
The smile fell off Gunner’s face.
For the first time since walking out into the parking lot this morning, Wyatt felt a fluttering of hope. Someone had heard him when he’d tried to tell the pack what Gunner had done. Someone had believed. Lionel was a truly objective witness. Surely, he would be taken seriously.
But had he found the evidence Wyatt would need?
The same question was clearly on Robert’s mind. “What happened that night?” he asked. “Did you find anything?”
Lionel reached into his pocket and pulled out the cap. “Here it is,” he said. “Gunner had put it in his toolbox.”
Gunner laughed. “So, I had a tire cap in my toolbox! What does that prove? I bet Wyatt had one as well.”
“I didn’t, actually,” Wyatt said. “I didn’t have a spare. If I had there would have been no problem. I had to borrow one from Robert after the Games ended.”
“If I hadn’t loaned you that, you wouldn’t have been able to run away,” Robert observed.
“To be honest with you, Robert, I probably would have just taken one from someone else’s bike if you hadn’t had a spare for me,” Wyatt said.
“You would have damaged a packmate’s bike?”
“I had to get her away,” Wyatt said. “I wouldn’t have been happy about it, but I had to get her to safety.”
“Good job,” Gunner sneered.
Wyatt ignored him. “You should be able to tell that it’s my tire cap. Mine has a little rough spot on one edge. It used to be attached to the tire by a tab, but I broke that off so it would be easier to reach with the pressure gauge.”
Robert held out his hand to Lionel for the cap. When Lionel had handed it over, he felt around the edge with his thumb. “I feel it,” he said.
“That doesn’t prove anything,” Gunner insisted.
“It proves this isn’t a spare cap you bought at a store,” Robert said. “It was broken off a tire at some point, as Wyatt describes.” He turned to Wyatt. “In your best judgment, is this cap yours? Tell the truth.”
Wyatt took the cap and looked it over, aware as he did that, he wouldn’t be able to lie. It wasn’t a good feeling, being forced into full disclosure. As much as it would have made things easier if Robert had ordered the truth out of Gunner from the beginning, Wyatt couldn’t help respecting him for holding off on using that particular command.
He took the cap and looked it over. “I think it’s mine,” he said. “It looks familiar enough.”
Robert turned to face Gunner. It was clear to everyone what was coming. And now, for the first time, something like fear showed in Gunner’s face. He’s trapped, Wyatt thought. He’s trapped and he knows it. There’s nothing he can do now.
Still, Gunner wriggled, like a fish caught in a net, trying to find his escape. “You know it shouldn’t have mattered anyway,” he said to Robert. “Ninety-nine times out of a hundred I would have beaten him hand to hand. He got lucky in that round.”
“That doesn’t matter,” Heather spoke up. “He played by the rules. If he beat you when the odds were against him, that’s just more credit to him.” The mood of the crowd was shifting now, Wyatt realized. More and more of them were frowning, casting odd looks at Gunner, whispering to each other. He’s losing them. They see what he really is. They’re coming over to my side.
“Heather’s right,” Robert agreed. “It doesn’t matter if you would have beaten him ordinarily. You didn’t beat him on game day, and that’s what counts. You aren’t permitted to take the competition into your own hands because of that. You can’t cheat because you feel a need to set things right.”
For once, Gunner seemed to have no response.
“Tell me the truth,” Robert said in a ringing tone. “Tell us all the truth. Did you sabotage Wyatt in the Omega Games?”
Gunner fidgeted.
Robert waited.
“Yes.” The word was barely audible, a resentful, bitter growl.
Robert turned away from Gunner and held up his hands. “By this admission, Gunner has voided the results of the Omega Games. His claim to Izzy is forfeit. Furthermore, his betrayal of our pack shows that he’s unfit to be one of us. He has consistently put his own self-interest ahead of the good of the pack.” He turned back to Gunner. “You’ll be allo
wed to take your bike with you when you go.”
A rush of relief filled Wyatt. It was more than he’d dared to hope for. Izzy would be safe from Gunner. Gunner wouldn’t even belong to their pack anymore. They were free of him forever.
Gunner let out a roar of rage, but there was nothing he could do. He grabbed his bike, kicked it to life, and rode off, presumably unwilling to suffer any further humiliation at the hands of the pack that was no longer his.
A long silence followed this departure. Then Van spoke. “He really hates you now, Wyatt.”
Wyatt couldn’t help laughing at that. “I guess he does, huh?”
Robert held up a hand for silence again. “Since the results of the Games were nullified, we as a pack have a choice to make,” he said. “I promised the omega to anyone who could win the Games. As it stands, we don’t have a winner. The Games will have to be reorganized and re-run so that we can come up with a new champion.”
Silence greeted this. Wyatt felt his stomach drop. He had been lucky in a lot of the events during the Games. He knew that. Yes, skill had been involved, and he had made intelligent moves. But there was no guarantee he could finish well again. He was willing to fight as many times as it took in order to claim Izzy as his own. But what if he lost again?
“So here is the choice I give you,” Robert said. “If we have contenders who wish to sign up and compete in a new round of Omega Games, I will be bound by my promise to respect that. New events will be planned, and the competition will take place next week. However, if no contenders come forward, if there is only a single member of our pack who wishes to claim the omega—” and here his eyes flashed to Wyatt briefly— “then the Games will be deemed irrelevant.
“So, I ask you now: who wants to put their name forth to compete for this omega? Step forward.”
Immediately, unthinkingly, Wyatt took a pace forward.
Van sat down on the ground and grinned up at him. Beside Van, James took a seat too.
Wyatt turned to face the rest of the pack. Some were already seated. Others seemed to be hesitating, weighing their options. Slowly, though, one by one, everyone sank to the ground. Lionel was the last on his feet, and for a horrible moment Wyatt thought he was going to insist that the competitions be redone. But then he, too, sat down on the earth, leaving only Wyatt, Robert, and the women of the pack on their feet.
Robert nodded. “Okay. The pack has spoken. With only one applicant, there’s no need for a competition. I hereby declare Wyatt to be the champion of the Omega Games, with all the rights that entails.
Wyatt couldn’t resist a moment longer. He ran across the field and swept Izzy up in his arms, spinning her around and kissing her. She was laughing, and she clung to him happily.
He set her back down on the ground and looked into her eyes. “You don’t have to stay with me,” he said. “I just want you to know that. If you’d rather not be with me, I understand.”
“Of course, I want to be with you, you idiot.” She kissed him again. “What do you think we went through all this for? Good grief!”
“Good.” He pulled her close, filled with relief at the mere sensation of her body next to his. “As long as it’s your decision. That’s all I want.”
“This is touching,” Heather spoke up, “but do you think we could get on the road? We have a long ride to get back home. If we hurry, we can make it before dark.”
“Not much of a romantic, are you?” Van asked with a grin, wrapping an arm around her waist. She gave him a playful shove in response.
Wyatt helped Izzy onto his bike and then climbed on in front of her. Her arms wrapped tightly around his waist. He started the engine and pulled the bike around to ride beside Robert, in the beta’s rightful position. For the first time since joining the Hell’s Wolves, he truly felt as if he belonged.
Chapter Twenty
IZZY
They broke the news of their pregnancy to the rest of the pack three months later over dinner.
“I’m not surprised,” Van said with a wicked grin and a saucy wink. “You haven’t exactly let the grass grow, have you, Wyatt?”
“Shut up,” Wyatt said mildly.
Izzy rested her head on her husband’s shoulder. She and Wyatt had been married according to the rites of the pack in a simple ceremony. There had been no reception and no party, by Izzy’s request. She had already been through one wedding reception and had no desire for a reminder of that unpleasant experience. As soon as the vows had been spoken, Wyatt had carried her off to the third-floor bedroom, and they’d made love for hours.
It had quickly become something of a joke around the pack. “Izzy and Wyatt spend more time in their room than out of it,” Lena liked to say as she tousled their hair at dinner. Izzy didn’t mind. It felt good, for once, to be the subject of attention for something that was making her happier than she could ever remember being in her life.
“Congratulations,” Robert said now, raising a glass to them. “This is wonderful news. Our pack hasn’t had any new offspring in almost twenty years. This is a good thing for all of us.”
“I thought you were looking bigger,” Heather said, nudging Izzy with her shoulder.
“Wow,” Val said. “You must have gotten pregnant right away, huh? I guess omegas really are super fertile.”
“I guess so,” Izzy agreed. She couldn’t believe they’d gotten away with their deception.
But had they gotten away with it? Lena was looking at Izzy with her head cocked and her eyes narrowed. It was a shrewd look, and Izzy suddenly remembered her suspicion that Lena had known what was going on between her and Wyatt. Was it possible that she knew Izzy had been pregnant before the Omega Games?
Izzy waited with bated breath. If Lena decided to say something—
But Lena’s mouth curved into a small smile. “You need to get plenty of nutrients,” she said, setting the bowl of brussels sprouts down on the table. “Make sure you eat your vegetables. Those babies need it.”
Izzy piled plenty of brussels sprouts on her plate.
“We’ll need to add a wing to the house,” Robert said. “We’re going to need a nursery for the babies. And it should have an adjoining room for Izzy and Wyatt as well. You two can’t keep sleeping up on the third floor, especially if your babies are in a whole other part of the house.”
Izzy couldn’t deny the wave of relief that washed over her at that. She hadn’t loved living in the room on the third floor. Although the furnishings made it look different than it had when she’d been locked up there, she couldn’t help but be reminded sometimes of those awful, frightening days.
It was amazing just how much her opinion on the pack had changed since Gunner had left. Maybe it was because of Wyatt. She had teased him when he’d offered her her freedom back at the motel—of course she didn’t want to leave him—but there was something powerful about knowing she could. And because the offer had been made in front of the pack, they all knew it too. Their power over her had been broken.
She asked herself, more than once, why she didn’t want to leave and take Wyatt with her. But the answer was always the same. She wanted to stay. Belonging to a pack felt good and natural. She would have joined them willingly from the start if she had known it was going to be like this.
Now that she was claimed and mated, she had friends here as well. Val and Heather included her in everything they did, and Van and James treated her like a sister. She no longer had to walk around the yard feeling fearful, watching her back. It was amazing to realize just how much of that atmosphere had been created by Gunner’s presence.
Nor was she the only one who was pleased to have him gone. “He was creepy with all the women,” Heather had told her one day as the two of them waded in the stream with nets, looking for crawdads for dinner. “More with you than with the rest of us, obviously. But no one ever wanted to be in a room alone with him. He was handsy, and he had this way of looking at you like you were a snack.”
Izzy knew that look all too w
ell. It perfectly described the way she had felt every time Gunner had looked at her. And now that he was gone, that feeling was gone too.
That night after dinner, Robert sent Van to town to buy two bottles of champagne, and one of sparkling grape juice. The pack toasted to Izzy and Wyatt, to the unborn litter of babies, and to everything the future held for them.
Izzy shared their excitement. She couldn’t wait to see what was in store.
CARRYING A LITTER WASN’T easy, and by her fifth month Wyatt had confined her to bed.
Izzy did not like it. “This is ridiculous,” she said. “My body was made to do this, you know.”
“And I don’t doubt you a bit,” he said. “Let me take care of you in the meantime.”
“I don’t need to be taken care of,” she protested as he fluffed her pillows and helped her lie back on them. The truth was, she was sort of enjoying all the attention. But it was hard to admit. She had always been on her own before. She had always been so self-reliant.
But it doesn’t have to be like that anymore, she reminded herself. Letting other people take care of me doesn’t mean that I’m weak. It just means I’m not alone. I’ll never have to be alone again.
Wyatt perched beside her on the bed and rested a hand on the swell of her stomach. Over the past two months it had ballooned up massively, and as she lay on her back, she could no longer see the tips of her toes poking up. “I think if you tried to walk, you’d probably tip over,” he said with a chuckle.
“Jerk.” She swatted at his wrist. “I’m perfectly fine.”
“What can I do for you? How can I make it more comfortable?”
“I’m fine, I said.”
“I know but being stuck in bed is driving you up the wall. I know you. I can tell. Do you want me to move the TV in here?”
“No, thanks.” If the TV was in this room, it would be only a matter of time before other members of the pack started making their way up here, ostensibly to keep her company, but really to watch their favorite shows. Izzy would never have a moment of peace again. “Can you just stay with me for a while?” she asked.