by J. L. Wilder
She moved toward the cave entrance.
“Lily, wait!” Carolyn jumped to her feet. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“I’m going to put a stop to this,” she said.
“You know I can’t let you go.”
“How are you going to stop me?” she asked.
Carolyn hesitated.
“You’re not going to fight me,” Lily said, bringing her hands up just in case Carolyn was willing to make a fight out of the situation after all. “You’re not going to take it that far.”
“Let her go,” Whitney said.
Lily felt a shock go through her. She hadn’t expected any support from that quarter. “Thank you,” she said.
“I’m not doing it for you,” Whitney said. “My alpha’s out there. If there’s even a chance you can put a stop to this, I want you to do it.” She shook her head. “I don’t know how you think you’re going to make a difference. But I’m willing to concede that you’re probably the only one who can.”
Lily didn’t wait for a second vote of confidence. She turned and ran out of the cave mouth, toward the sounds of shouting and snarling in the distance.
THE FIGHT WAS IN FULL swing when she arrived.
For a moment she simply stood on the perimeter, her body trembling with shock. She had seen her brothers scrapping plenty of times, of course, and she had seen that one terrible fight between her three alphas back in Vancouver. But she had never seen anything like this in her life.
Fur flew. Blood splattered the earth. The wolves in front of her were moving far too quickly for Lily to discern who was on what side. She simply didn’t know what to make of what she was seeing.
How am I going to stop this?
Two wolves grappled with one another only a few feet in front of her. One of them had locked his teeth around the other one’s neck. The pinned one was kicking at the aggressor with his hind feet, trying to shove him off, but it didn’t seem to be working.
Lily wanted to push the aggressor off. But who was he?
What if he was one of her alphas, and by pushing him away, she gave the other wolf the chance to get the upper hand?
What if he was one of her brothers and her interference got him killed?
She very nearly turned and ran back to the cave, allowing her fear to get the best of her. It seemed unavoidable that any action she took would make this worse, and the indecision that caused was positively paralyzing.
Then one of the wolves let out a whimper.
She couldn’t tell who. She didn’t even know which brawling pair the sound had come from. She didn’t know if it had been one of her alphas, one of her alphas’ betas, or one of her own family.
But at that moment, hearing that sound, it just didn’t matter.
Someone she loved was in pain, and Lily’s heart couldn’t take it.
We’re caretakers by nature, she thought, remembering the lesson her mother had taught her, the words she had imparted to Victor. It’s our job to be the heart.
I’m the omega
I’m the heart.
She ran out among them, not bothering to shift. If another wolf joined the fray, it was unlikely anyone would take notice. But in her human form, she stood out among the crowd.
She put herself right in the middle of them, deliberately in harm’s way.
“Stop!” she cried.
Nobody listened. The battles raged on around her. Perhaps she hadn’t gotten their attention, or maybe they were more interested in killing one another than they were in her.
She was going to have to do something drastic, she realized, if she wanted their attention.
She reached out and caught a wolf by the tail as he passed.
He turned on her, snarling and slavering, and before she could process what was happening, pain exploded up her arm. She screamed and recoiled, but she couldn’t pull away, and only then did she realize that the wolf had sunk his teeth into her.
She stared at him. “Who are you?” she breathed.
His jaw dropped. She saw her blood on his teeth and felt her legs give out beneath her.
“Lily!”
The shout was full of horror and pain. A moment later, Pax skidded to his knees beside her, pulling her into his arms.
A wolf barreled into the one who had bit her. As they tumbled away, they both transformed, and when they came up, Lily was looking at Victor and one of his betas. The beta looked horrified.
“Victor,” he breathed. “I didn’t know it was her. She wasn’t supposed to be here—”
“Get out of here,” Victor snarled. “Go home. Call the others off and get them out of here.”
The beta glanced at Lily, then turned and ran.
“You have to stop fighting,” Lily said, gritting her teeth. “You have to. I told you someone would get hurt if you—”
“Jesus Christ, Lily!” That was Caleb. “I told you to stay in the cave! What the fuck are you doing here?”
“Watch your mouth,” Donovan growled.
“You’re not my alpha,” Lily said. “I couldn’t let you hurt them. I couldn’t let them hurt you. I couldn’t—” Her vision swam. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to push away the pain.
“I think she’s going into shock,” someone said.
Lily opened her eyes. “No, I’m not,” she said. “I’m all right.”
“Like hell you are.” Victor knelt beside her and gingerly began to examine her arm. “What the hell were you thinking, coming here?”
“You were going to hurt my family, Victor.”
“They kidnapped you,” he said. “What did you expect us to do? Stand down?”
“They didn’t kidnap me,” she said. “I came up here on my own. Why did you assume they kidnapped me?”
“You left us?” Pax asked. “You left us voluntarily?” He sounded wounded.
“I always meant to come back to you,” she said. “But you were going to leave me out of this. You were going to try to face them without me. And look what happened, Pax. It came to bloodshed because I wasn’t here to tell you all that you don’t have to fight anymore.”
“They’re too savage to be trusted,” Victor said.
“Your beta is the one who bit me,” Lily pointed out.
“You’re the ones who are the savages,” Caleb pointed out.
Lily shook her head. “No, Caleb. They stopped the fight when they saw that I was hurt.” She struggled to sit up.
“Don’t do that.” Pax kept his hands on her shoulders. “You might pass out if you try to get up.”
She had to admit, she was glad he had stopped her. She did feel dizzy. “You have to stop fighting each other,” she said, looking from Caleb and her assembled family members to her alphas and their packs. “You can’t fight anymore. Not without tearing me apart.”
“Lily,” Caleb said. “They’re our enemies.”
“They’re my alphas,” she said. She hesitated, then added, “They’re the fathers of my children.”
Somebody gasped.
“And the northerners are my family,” she said. “My brothers and sisters. My parents. If any of you love me, if you give a damn about me at all, you have to stop fighting each other. Because I am not going to stop putting myself in the middle of these fights. I love you all.”
“We need to get her back to the cave,” Caleb said. “She needs medical attention for that wound.”
“I’ll be damned if I’m letting you take her anywhere,” Victor said.
“Come with us,” Lily said.
“Lily,” Pax said. “You’re asking a lot.”
“Maybe I am,” Lily said. “But I’m asking it. I love all of you, Pax. If you all love me, then take me back to the cave. Together. And if not, I guess we can all stay here.” She looked at each of her alphas in turn. “What do you want to do?”
LILY’S MOTHER APPLIED bandages carefully over her wound and sat back. “There,” she said, running a gentle hand through Lily’s hair. “You�
�ll be all right now, sweetheart.”
Lily closed her eyes, exhausted and grateful to be surrounded by family. She knew that she ought to be taking this opportunity to introduce her alphas to her parents. That was why she’d come, after all. But she was so tired.
“Thank you, ma’am,” a voice said.
Donovan. She smiled as she felt his hand settle protectively on her shoulder.
“You don’t have to call me ma’am,” her mother said. “My name is Sophie. These are my mates, Ryker, Burton, and Marco.”
“You’re Lily’s parents?” Donovan asked.
“That’s right,” her mother said.
“She was eager for us to meet you,” Donovan said. “I’m sorry that it happened the way it did.”
“There’s been animosity between our packs for a long time.” Lily recognized Ryker’s deep rumble.
“Yes, there has,” Donovan said evenly. “It was your daughter who convinced us that that didn’t need to continue. We came up here in hopes that she was right. And because we would do anything for her happiness.”
“We?” That was Marco.
“These are my fellow alphas, Pax and Victor,” Donovan said.
A moment’s pause. “You’re all Lily’s mates?” her mother asked.
“We are. We’re a pack.”
“Ryker, Marco, Burton...this is the same as the family we made,” Lily’s mother said quietly. “This isn’t something the southern packs did when I lived in the south. They’ve formed a pack based around loyalty to their omega, just as we did.”
“That’s right,” Donovan said. “We never knew it was possible until we met Lily. Maybe our families aren’t as different as we once believed.”
“I can see that you love my daughter.” Lily’s mother was still stroking her hair gently. Surrounded by her parents and her alphas, Lily felt more comforted than she ever had in her life.
“We do,” Donovan said. “All of us. More than anything.”
“Perhaps you’re right, then,” her mother said. “Maybe we are more alike than we thought. Maybe we can find our way to peace after all.”
Chapter Eighteen
PAX
Looking back on it all from a distance of eight and a half months, Pax found it hard to believe that he’d ever considered the northern wolves his enemies.
A shadow was moving outside the tent that he and Lily were currently sharing. Carefully, not wanting to disturb her, he unwrapped his arm from around her and sat up. He crawled to the front of the tent, unzipped the flap, and eased his way outside.
Caleb was standing there with a plate someone had made by weaving river reeds together. The plate was laden with fruit, nuts, and strips of meat. “Is she sleeping?” he asked Pax.
“Yeah,” Pax said. “Though probably not for long.” Lily hadn’t been sleeping more than a few hours at a time during the last month of her pregnancy. She had grown so big that Pax knew she was uncomfortable. They expected her to deliver any day now—but she kept surprising them, and though Pax wouldn’t have put any additional pressure on her by saying so, he was glad. The longer she could wait before giving birth, the stronger the babies would be.
Caleb handed Pax the plate. “Some of us put this together for you,” he said.
“Thanks.” Pax accepted it. “Has anyone heard from Victor or Donovan today?”
“Not yet, but the hunting parties don’t usually get back before sundown,” Caleb reminded him.
Pax knew that, of course. He had taken his turn among the hunters plenty of times. But the closer Lily got to her delivery, the more difficult it was for her three alphas to be apart. Pax couldn’t help fearing that she would go into labor while the others were away. Though they had discussed that possibility and agreed that they all knew what to do if it should happen, he knew he would feel more comfortable with the others by his side.
“Make sure she eats,” Caleb said. Then he smiled sheepishly. “I know you know that.”
“I do,” Pax said. “But thank you.” He appreciated that his friend cared about his omega’s well-being.
It’s so strange, still, thinking of him as a friend.
And yet they were friends. As Lily had recovered from her injury after the fight, it had become abundantly clear to everyone how similar they really were. Everyone was upset by the fact that she had been hurt. Everyone was devoted to her recovery.
And once the shock of the news had worn off, everyone had been excited by her pregnancy as well. Lily’s sisters had gotten right to work modifying old garments to make baby clothes, and some of her brothers had built roughly hewn cradles out of wood.
At first, the preparations had worried Pax, Donovan, and Victor. “They’re acting like we’re still going to be here when she delivers,” Pax had pointed out to the others after one of Lily’s sisters had made a comment about how nice it would be to have babies around. “Are they just assuming we’re not going south again?”
“They’d better not be assuming that we’re going south without her,” Victor growled.
Donovan had hesitated. “Maybe we shouldn’t go south,” he’d said.
“What are you talking about?” Victor had asked. “That’s where we live.”
“But we don’t live in the same place,” Donovan had pointed out. “Moose Jaw is my home. Vancouver is yours. And Pax is itinerant. We were always going to have to come to a decision about where we wanted to stay for the long term. Somebody was always going to have to leave their home and settle somewhere new. Maybe the fairest thing is for all of us to do that.”
“And what?” Victor asked. “You want us to live in a cave, the way these northerners do? I can respect them, Donovan, but that doesn’t change who I am. I want to live in a house.”
“We can build a house,” Donovan said. “There’s no law that says we can’t build ourselves a little cabin. But I also think we could stand to learn a few things from these northerners.”
“They are much better at hunting and fishing than any of us are,” Pax pointed out.”
The three of them had debated the matter back and forth for several weeks, but finally, the decision had been made. They would stay up north. They would make a home there. The Moose Jaw Pack and the Vancouver Pack would join forces with the Arctic Wolves, and they would become one big family.
Pax had expected it to be hard, but in fact, the moment they’d committed to the decision, everything had seemed to fall into place.
It’s just like what Lily told us, he thought now as he brought the plate of food back into the tent. We’re organizing around the needs of our omega, and we’re stronger because of it.
She was stirring as he crawled back into the tent. “What’s going on?”
“Caleb brought us some dinner.” He showed her.
“Mmm. That was nice.”
“Are you hungry?” he asked. “You should eat something.”
“Not now,” she said. “Come lay down with me.”
“When was the last time you ate?”
“I’ll eat,” she promised. “I have other appetites that need taking care of before I can think about food.”
He chuckled, shucked off his clothes, and crawled in behind her, running his hands over her bare skin. “You’re insatiable,” he said.
“Is that a compliment? That sounds like a compliment.”
“Well, I think it’s hot,” he said.
“Even though I’m all huge and pregnant?”
He huffed out a laugh. “Are you kidding?” he asked. “You’re fucking gorgeous. I don’t even know how to describe how hot you are to me right now.”
He ran his fingers up her thigh, petting slowly between her legs and coaxing a shiver out of her. Then he allowed his hand to travel higher, over the rising swell of her belly. He flexed his fingers and imagined he was holding the weight of it.
“I fucking love how big you are,” he said. “You’re like perfectly ripe fruit. I can’t even look at you without wanting you.”
She
sighed happily.
His fingers traveled to her swollen breasts, which had already begun to leak in preparation for the arrival of the babies. He collected a bead of milk on his fingertip and tasted it, unable to suppress a moan.
“I love this,” he said. “I love that I did this to you.”
“So do I,” she breathed. “But I need you more than ever, Pax. Every moment I’m not with you, I’m craving you. You can’t imagine how it feels. I’ve never been so aroused in all my life, and nothing makes it stop except for the moments I’m with you.”
He pressed his forehead into the back of her shoulder. “I’ve got you,” he murmured.
The moment he was inside her, he felt her start to come. Her body clenched around him, spasming with pleasure, and her head fell back against his shoulder in ecstasy.
He couldn’t get enough of the way pregnancy had changed her orgasm. Before, it had been like the peak of a mountain, much like his own—something the two of them ascended to together.
But now she came like waves to the shore. Like the tide. Rising and receding. He knew that she would be able to keep going like this, experiencing this perpetual orgasm, for as long as he wanted to give it to her.
He would stay with her for as long as he was able.
He held her close and buried himself within her, keeping absolutely still except for the throbbing of his cock in response to her body. He ached to thrust into her, but this would last longer if he didn’t. He wanted to make it last as long as possible for her.
“Oh, God,” she breathed. “Oh, Pax, don’t stop.”
He nodded against her. Not for the first time, he was grateful not to be her only alpha. She deserved so much. She deserved the world, and he was only one man. He wanted her to have more than a single person could give.
She rolled her hips back to create friction between them. He could have ordered her to stop, but he didn’t. He wanted her to take what she needed.
