by Tanya Chris
“This is gorgeous.” Daisy raised the silky slip dress dyed in a swirl of ocean hues out of the tissue it’d been packed in. “I don’t know why you’re so nervous about it. I love it. And you.”
As coverings went, the dress didn’t do a whole lot, being more translucent than solid, but seeing Daisy in clothes he’d picked out gave Quoitrel’s alpha the assurance it needed. Not to mention those words. “I love it. And you.” He could barely allow Daisy to walk on his own two feet as they joined the people crowding the throne room to wait for word of Marta’s passing.
It wasn’t long before it came. Angel and Devin assumed their places on either side of the throne, then the four remaining council members filed out to stand behind them. The council member who was now most senior made an official pronouncement and called for a moment of silence to commemorate the head alpha who’d reigned over them so long they’d forgotten other packs changed head alphas as often as humans changed underwear. The Northern Pack had enjoyed a long period of stability under Marta, and no one knew what to expect next.
“The rules of succession are clear,” the new Senior Member said when the moment of silence ended. An anxious whisper rustled through the crowd as everyone realized what she was about to say. “Love live Head Alpha Devin.”
Protocol dictated an enthusiastic answering chorus, but what issued from the crowd was more of a half-hearted mumble. Devin seemed not to notice. He rose from his seat with a grin Quoitrel wanted to smack off his face and moved to stand in front of the throne to survey his subjects with smug satisfaction. But before his ass could sit in the chair he’d waited so long to claim, Angel’s voice rang out through the throne room.
“I challenge.” He rose, one hand already working at the clasp of his robe. It slid down to form a puddle at his feet, leaving him naked and ready to fight.
“How can you challenge me already?” Devin complained. “I haven’t even done anything yet.”
“Haven’t done anything yet? What about Owen and Otto? What about Kady?” Angel hissed that last name with particular venom. “What about the others whose names we never even heard?”
“I haven’t done anything to you,” Devin insisted. He looked over his shoulder at the line of council members standing behind him. “Tell him he has no grounds to challenge me.”
“No grounds are needed,” the Senior Member said. “The head alpha can be challenged at any time.”
“There aren’t enough of you to make an official ruling. Where are the missing members? Fetch them.”
“They’re traitors, Your Excellency. They’ve been removed from the council.”
“Then as head alpha, I’ll appoint new ones.”
“You’ve been challenged,” Angel reminded him. “While you’re under a challenge, you have no authority.”
“Prince Angel is right.”
“But I should’ve had the chance to appoint new council members before he challenged me.”
The Senior Member shrugged in a decidedly un-council-like way.
You snooze, you lose, Quoitrel thought childishly. Angel had known better than to give Devin time to stack the council in his favor.
“I challenge,” Angel repeated. The crowd scattered to make way for him as he strode to the center of the room. He stepped inside the ornate challenge circle etched in gold leaf on the white tile floor and planted his feet wide.
“Fine.” Devin tossed off his own robe, revealing the musculature Quoitrel hadn’t forgotten he carried. “All I ever wanted was to not have to kill my own family members, but he’s forcing me to do it. You see he is,” Devin appealed to the crowd. “So don’t come crying to me about how much you loved him when he’s dead. Now’s the time to talk him out of it.” Devin directed that last statement particularly to Leo.
Leo didn’t respond. Angel was prepared to sacrifice himself, just like Marta had been, and Leo was prepared to let him. They were tough, this royal family, but Quoitrel wished there were another way. He wrapped his arms around Daisy, seeking out his warmth, hoping Daisy would never have to be as strong as Leo, hoping he would never have to be as strong as Angel.
Devin joined his brother in the circle. One moment, two men stood across from each other, the next, two wolves faced off with a snarl. Both wolves were white and strong—so similar in appearance that it was only by comparing them that Quoitrel could be certain which was which.
Devin was longer, and his shoulders met in a more prominent ridge. Angel’s legs were thicker, the result of all that work he’d been putting in. He sprang first, going on a quick offensive. Devin evaded, but Angel managed to catch him on the side, getting his fangs deep into Devin’s flesh. Devin whipped his head around, trying to bite Angel in return, and Angel released him. They circled each other a few times before charging again, simultaneously this time so they crashed into each other head-on, as if they were bucks about to lock antlers.
Angel managed to get a piece of Devin’s snout, and for the second time that day, the scent of fresh blood flooded Quoitrel’s nose. Blood wasn’t as nice a scent as slick, but it stirred similar urges—primal ones that prompted him to fight or take. All the alpha pheromones in the air were affecting Daisy too, ratcheting his heat higher. He turned and ducked his face into Quoitrel’s shoulder, hiding from the sight of the battle, though there was no hiding from the sound or the smell. As important as the outcome of this fight was, Quoitrel’s first priority had to be Daisy.
“Let’s get you home, little one.”
Daisy shook his head even as he burrowed deeper, finding his way under Quoitrel’s armpit. “We need to know what happens.”
“Whatever happens, I’ll keep you safe.”
Even Devin wouldn’t mess with a claimed omega. Except Daisy was a sex worker who’d banned Devin from his establishment. Great Moon, he hoped Angel won.
“Alpha,” Daisy whimpered into his chest.
“Sweetheart, let me take you home.”
Daisy shook his head again, but he clung hard enough that his claws pierced Quoitrel’s uniform. The match between Devin and Angel would come out the same whether Quoitrel watched it or not, so he started moving Daisy toward the exit until a rumble from the crowd had him turning around again.
Angel had Devin pinned, his jaws closed firmly in Devin’s throat. Devin couldn’t escape, no matter how much he thrashed. His mouth opened and closed on nothing as Angel sank his fangs deeper until he broke through Devin’s jugular. It burst like a fountain, spurting blood into the air.
Devin shifted into human form. “Mercy,” he begged, his voice wavering with his draining strength. “I won’t be head alpha. I’ll go away. You don’t have to kill me.”
Angel rose on human legs to stand over his brother’s huddled form. “On your feet, you coward. You’ve enjoyed the privileges of being an alpha your entire life. At least die like one.”
Devin staggered to his feet. He lunged forward, but Angel caught him easily and wrestled him into a headlock. He drew his claws across Devin’s neck, severing what was left of the vein. Devin remained upright, his expression suggesting he couldn’t believe privilege had really failed him. Then Angel released him and he dropped like a bag of wet laundry, nothing but a carcass now.
Absolute silence settled over the crowded room until the Senior Member cleared her throat, drawing everyone’s attention to the dais. “We recognize the victor as the new head alpha of the Northern Pack. Long live Head Alpha Angel.”
“Long live Head Alpha Angel,” returned the crowd with more enthusiasm than they’d shown for Devin, but not as much enthusiasm as Angel would’ve gotten if he hadn’t just killed his brother.
“Did he have to?” Daisy had pulled his head out of Quoitrel’s armpit to watch the final resolution, but he ducked back under there now.
“I think he did.” Quoitrel had no idea how the council would’ve handled a surrender, because they didn’t have rules for that. It couldn’t be risked. Still, he understood how Daisy felt, how they were all feeling. A
ngel was their symbol of righteousness, the good prince on whom all their hopes had been pinned. They’d wanted to elect him, not see him ascend the throne like this. This was a moment of triumph but also of horror, and the crowd’s solemn hush recognized that.
Angel climbed the stairs to the dais. He bled from a dozen wounds, but he wore the blood like battle gear. Leo draped a robe over his shoulders then backed away, leaving Angel alone at center stage. He surveyed his subjects with an expression that was the opposite of the giddy glee Devin had shown when the Senior Member named him head alpha.
“Our first order of business is to make the council whole,” he said into the quiet. He quickly named three alphas, summoning them up from the crowd. “And now,” he said, when the new council members had taken their places in the line behind him, “I resign.”
A confused murmur swept through the crowd as Angel pulled off the robe Leo had just draped over him and dropped it on the stage.
Gillis stepped forward. “Your Excellency, please reconsider. You’re the one we want up here.”
The crowd agreed, calling Angel’s name with the enthusiasm they’d been lacking earlier. They were all a little stunned by what had just happened, but Angel was still their hero—the best possible outcome from all this.
Angel held up his hands for quiet. “Under other circumstances, I’d be honored to serve. But I won the throne by bloodshed and can’t be allowed to sit on it. This isn’t who we want to be, my friends—a society ruled by the biggest and most violent. Now that we have a full council again, I’m asking them to come up with a better way to decide who’ll govern, and in doing so, I hope they’ll consider the needs and rights of all our citizens, not just the alphas. Let the least be first.”
Chapter 17
“The moon look down with favor on Prince Angel,” Quoitrel said under his breath. Angel was more a hero in this moment than when he’d slit Devin’s throat. “We’re going to be all right.”
Daisy nodded against his chest, crying with relief or maybe just because the hormones made him emotional. Whatever the reason for them, Daisy’s tears made him protective. And horny. His heat was running so high the whole room must smell it, and he wriggled against Quoitrel’s body in a way that was part comfort-seeking, part sex-seeking. A fight to the death shouldn’t be foreplay, but they were both churned up.
“You can take him to my room.”
Quoitrel turned to find Angel at his shoulder. “Angel,” he started, not knowing how to say everything that needed to be said.
“Don’t worry about any of that. Take care of your little one. The council will be awhile.”
Quoitrel agreed with a quick nod. Daisy’s fever was only going to keep climbing, and he’d already attracted attention. The last thing anyone needed was a heat-driven brawl. Angel escorted them to his suite and left them there. The moment the door closed behind him, Daisy was on him, ripping at his uniform with damaging haste.
“Whoa there, little one. I only have two of these.” He set Daisy away from him while he got undressed, giving him a stern settle when he showed signs of jumping him. Then he worked on Daisy’s dress, which was too pretty to wantonly destroy. When they were both naked, he swept Daisy up in his arms and carried him into the bedroom. Quoitrel’s alpha grumbled at the scent of Angel on the sheets as he deposited Daisy in the middle of the bed. He didn’t know why it bothered him when he’d literally watched Daisy go down on someone before, but he got his nose between Daisy’s legs where he couldn’t smell anything except slick.
Daisy’s hole gaped wet and ready, and Daisy confirmed his readiness with a fervent, “Oh Great Moon, fuck me already.”
“We haven’t even gotten started.”
Daisy was a single-minded little thing in heat, which Quoitrel enjoyed teasing him about. Despite his extensive toolkit of skills and techniques, the last couple of days it’d been nothing but knot, knot, knot. Which was amusing but also delicious. Quoitrel had no end of knots to plug him with and no lack of desire to do it.
He turned Daisy onto his stomach so they’d be able to spoon while they were knotted. He missed seeing Daisy’s scrunched up o-face when he took him from behind, but his preferences weren’t important, not while Daisy was in heat. Daisy started coming as soon as Quoitrel got inside him—an indication that they really shouldn’t have been in the throne room. Quoitrel felt bad about not taking better care of his omega, so he made sure to take really good care of him now, fucking him hard into one orgasm after another until Daisy showed signs of delirium. He plugged him then and let his own orgasm rip free.
“There you go, little one. All good now.” He rotated Daisy onto his side and got him snuggled under the blankets.
“The council,” Daisy mumbled.
“Shh. The only thing I care about is you.” He nibbled at Daisy’s throat, calming him when he shivered with aftershocks. In this moment, he really didn’t care about anything except Daisy. The whole Northern Pack could go hang itself. He was the luckiest wolf in the world, and everything he needed was right here in this bed.
“What were those names Prince Angel said?” Daisy asked, drowsy now but no longer heat-crazed. “I mean Kady and the other one. I know who Owen is, obviously.”
Owen had ended up all right. Devin had done him wrong, but Owen probably wouldn’t change any of it, not when he and his mates were so happy with the life they’d built together in the Central Pack. Kady’s story was a whole lot sadder.
“You sure you want to hear this now? It’s not exactly a bedtime story.”
“I’m not sleepy,” Daisy said with a yawn that indicated the exact opposite. “Tell me.”
“Well, I guess you could say Kady is how this all started. I was really new to North Leland when he died, working as a deputy trying to keep omegas safe even though a lot of the time it was the laws themselves that put them in jeopardy. Kady was a kid.”
“A real kid, or like how people call me a kid?”
“A real kid. Sexually mature but too young to know what to do with it. He let Devin fuck him, believing Devin would claim him.”
“And then Devin didn’t. Just like Owen.”
“Yeah, and Otto too, and who knows how many others. But Kady killed himself over it. In public. You’ve seen the stone Marta had erected for him, I’m sure.”
“The one in the middle of market square? Wow. Gotta admire his sense of spectacle.”
“Made his death hard to ignore, that’s for sure. Got Angel’s attention, and Marta’s too. It took a while before things really changed, but I guess you could say that everything we did, we did for Kady.”
And for Otto and Owen and Carmen and Leo and Daisy. For all of them. Quoitrel had been raised to protect omega rights, but until Daisy came into his life, he’d never realized how fierce his biological need to simply protect could be.
Yes, Daisy was every bit as smart as Quoitrel was. Smarter, probably. He was brave and funny and resourceful and sweet, but he was also small and so very vulnerable, especially when he was in heat. Quoitrel remembered the way his inner alpha had reacted to Angel’s scent on the bedding earlier. He’d thought he would be okay with Daisy’s job, but now he wasn’t so sure. His human had made Daisy a promise his wolf might not be able to keep.
A rap on the outer door woke him from the light doze he’d drifted into. His cock had slipped out from Daisy’s ass, but they were still tangled together under the blankets. He unwound himself and went to the door to find Leo there.
“The council has informed us that they’ve reached a decision. They’ll be out shortly if you want to join us in the throne room.”
“I’ll have to check.” Quoitrel threw a glance at the bedroom, only to see Daisy watching them from the doorway. Since they’d fallen asleep without cleaning him up, he looked and smelled like he’d been recently and thoroughly fucked, but he seemed lucid, so Quoitrel told Leo they’d be out shortly.
“Don’t wait for us,” he warned.
“Right.” Leo closed th
e door with a wink, but Quoitrel hadn’t meant it that way. What he meant was that he needed to get Daisy into a shower and make him drink about a gallon of water. There was a bowl of fruit on the coffee table, so he pressed a banana into Daisy’s hand. Bananas in the winter. Must be nice to be royal.
“Thank you for taking such good care of me during my heat,” Daisy said as he did obscene things to the banana, probably intentionally. “It’s been nice.”
“You’ll never have any shortage of wolves wanting to take care of you.”
“To fuck me. Not take care of me.” He stopped Quoitrel from handing him a peach. “Maybe I won’t sell my heats anymore.”
“You said they’re a big money maker.”
“But I’m going to have Alice working with me now. She’ll pay a facility fee. And you and I can share living costs, right?”
“Definitely.” Quoitrel would willingly cover any and all expenses to avoid having another alpha take his omega’s heat. He’d fallen asleep wondering if he’d be able to stand it and had woken up pretty sure he wouldn’t, but he couldn’t dictate anything to Daisy when he’d promised he wouldn’t. “If this a choice you’re making for yourself…”
“It is. Being fucked and forgotten during your heat is so lonely. I never lacked for knots, but I always felt like shit after, especially if I couldn’t find a single client to cover the whole thing and had to share myself around.” Daisy shuddered, wrapping his arms around his naked torso. It was the memories that had him shivering, not the temperature, but Quoitrel steered him into the bathroom and got the hot water running because he could only fix the present, not the past.
“This heat has been anything but lonely,” Daisy said as Quoitrel soaped him up. “It’s been amazing. I’m not sure I’m done yet,” he warned.
Quoitrel quirked an eyebrow at Daisy’s cock, which was looking kind of perky. “I see.” He continued his soaping, washing Daisy all over with particular attention to the parts of him that needed it most.