The Artist And His Alpha

by Lisa Oliver

  “Perhaps, if we take you out to the area, you can give us directions – maybe you’ll remember some…”

  “Like hell.” Sean wasn’t surprised at Ian’s outburst. He knew there was no way in hell Caden was ever setting foot in Minnesota again – in fact he’d make sure Caden never went within three states of the place. But it was nice his dad had his back.

  “You might have better luck finding Robert Collins in L.A.,” Felix said. Sean looked over and saw that Felix had pulled out his phone. Not exactly proper etiquette in a meeting, but he forgot all about that when Felix held up his screen. There in black and white screamed the words, “Local businessman to marry reclusive artist, Caden Wolfe,” and underneath the title was a very clear picture of Caden outside of the Rising Moon Club.

  “I was going to show you after the meeting,” Felix said. “But I am guessing it might be relevant now. Caden, you always said that the man would come for you if he found out where you were. This story has gone viral – newspapers, magazines and it’s all over the internet, along with other pictures of you all taken the same night. Unless the man lives under a rock, he will know where you are. You have a really pretty, and easily remembered face.”

  Caden stared at the picture, horror etched on his undeniably pretty face. His hands were twisted together, and Sean could feel trembling running through Caden’s whole body. But Felix hadn’t finished.

  “I suggest, if you would all rather he came here to the Kaibab forest, instead of trying to fight the man in L.A., then it might be time for you Caden, to give your first-ever interview. According to Marla who sent me this link, every major news organization in the states is clamoring to speak to you.”

  Fucking Ted Elliott. It was no wonder Caden never felt safe going anywhere. His one night out on the town, and it was splashed all over the media – and it was all Sean’s fault. He was going to have to do some serious damage control – killing Robert Collins was at the top of his list of things to do.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Caden stared at his white face in the mirror. He’d managed not to faint in the office, but it had taken every last bit of his strength and as soon as he could, he had made his escape to the nearest bathroom. In the office everyone was talking about him doing an interview, what he could say to draw his ex-Alpha into a trap they wanted to set. Sean had hated the idea that he be used as bait, but everyone else seemed to think that he’d be perfectly safe in a human television studio. Him. On television. Caden could see his whole life becoming like some daytime soap opera. Then he snorted to himself – no one would believe the script.

  He hurriedly splashed cold water on his face, hoping that would help take out the heat. His heart was pounding like manic native drums in his chest, and his skin felt tight. Another dose of cold water seemed to help. Caden gripped the edge of the sink tightly, dropping his head and taking deep, slow breaths.

  “Caden, are you okay? You look a little pale.” It was Mickey, the Omega representative.

  Well, wasn’t that the million-dollar question. Caden definitely wasn’t okay, but he’d spent a lifetime keeping his feelings hidden. His automatic response was, “I’m fine,” but for some reason the words wouldn’t come out of his mouth. There was something in Mickey’s gentle eyes that suggested that the man really did care, and he found himself shaking his head instead.

  “Come on,” Mickey said. “How about we find a quiet corner somewhere and have a little chat.”

  Given that his only other option was to go back into the office and listen to a bunch of Alphas planning his future, Caden dried his face, and followed Mickey out of the bathroom. Mickey seemed to know his way around and within a few minutes, Caden was ensconced in a comfortable chair, in a small living room. Mickey sat across from him, leaning back in a matching chair, as though giving Caden some space.

  “I have seen some of your art,” Mickey said. “In fact I have one of your paintings on my wall at home. It cost me a month’s salary but it’s worth every cent. You’re very talented.”

  Okay, art. Not something anyone else seemed interested in, but apparently Mickey was.

  “Which one was it?” Caden asked. “I’ve sold well over a hundred paintings in the past three years.”

  “That many?” Mickey seemed shocked, but Caden couldn’t think why he was so astounded. He’d done nothing but paint since he’d met Marla. Once his agent had drummed up interest in his work, his pictures simply flew out of any gallery they were showcased in and he had a waiting list of buyers. Marla said his work defied current trends, and that was why it was so popular. Caden painted the pictures that came into his head – he didn’t even know what any current trend in art might be.

  “I don’t do anything at all except paint,” Caden offered.

  “I’m sure that will change now you’re mated,” Mickey said. “Which is good news for me, because it means your output will go down, and the value of your work will go up. Looks like I made a good investment.”

  Caden shrugged and managed a tight smile even though Mickey’s words added another layer of worry to his stress. If he wasn’t painting, then he wasn’t earning money. It wasn’t as though he was trained to do anything else.

  “Caden, you have to know, that as an Omega without any pack support, you’ve done amazingly well.”

  “Apparently not well enough to get any Alphas to respect my opinion.”

  “Are you having trouble with Sean?” Mickey asked quickly, and then he looked carefully at Caden’s face. “Oh, no, of course you’re not. He’s your true mate. You mean what’s going on in the office. Those men are working hard to find a way to take out the threat against you.”

  “But they want to use me to do it,” Caden yelled, his nerves getting the better of him. “I don’t do publicity. I get panic attacks at the drop of a hat for fucks sake. I don’t want Alpha Collins to know where I am. Believe me, after the life I’ve led, hiding is the only thing that’s worked for me and now I can’t even do that. My face is all over the internet.”

  “You have as much right as anyone to be recognized for what you do. You have incredible talent, and it’s perfectly natural for people to be interested in the man behind the paintings. Aren’t you proud of what you’ve accomplished?”

  “Of course I am,” Caden snapped. “I fucking love my work, every painting contains a piece of my soul. But being acknowledged for what I do was never going to be an option for me. Not with me being designated Alpha Collins’ slave. I lost my right to a life the day I turned eighteen.”

  “No you didn’t.” Mickey leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, his eyes flashing. “Slavery. Is. Illegal. Here, among shifters, and humans, it is against every law in the states. You were never his slave, because he never had the right, under any law, to make you one. His saying it is so, in a pack meeting, doesn’t mean that it’s right, or that he has the right to do it.”

  “But my parents agreed to it. The Beta told me.” Caden curled his knees up towards his chest, and hugged them tight. Thinking about his parents’ callous treatment of him was not helping. He had purposefully not thought about them since he’d left Cannon Falls.

  “And your parents will rot in jail for what they’ve done,” Mickey said. His voice had developed a hard edge; one Caden didn’t think the man was capable of. “You are an Omega, yes. And decades ago, when slavery was an acceptable part of life in this country, Omegas were used as concubines and pack slaves. It was a horrible part of our history, and one the council has worked for a long time to change. But that’s the point, Caden. Things have changed, and you have rights. Rights that men like Josiah and Matt, and all of the other council enforcers fight for every day. You have to understand. Robert Collins is a criminal – a rogue, the lowest of the low in shifter circles. He doesn’t have the right to breathe, especially if it’s proven he killed his parents. His list of offenses against you is enough to have him put down, even if we can’t prove he was responsible for his parents’ death.”

&nbs
p; “I can’t testify against him if I’m dead,” Caden said into his knees. “I left the pack, that’s against pack laws. That makes me a criminal too.”

  Mickey took a deep breath and leaned back into his chair again, rubbing his hands on his jeans. He huffed out another breath and then said slowly, “Caden. Robert Collins is a rogue. He may not even be Alpha born. But regardless of whether he was born with that power or not, the day he set up a pack and refused to register it with the council, he was breaking our laws. The laws all shifters live by. Council laws always trump pack laws, regardless of the Alpha that sets them. You did nothing wrong, broke no laws, because the man who set the rules you tried so hard to live by, didn’t have the right to do that to you, or any other members of your ex-pack. Now you’re in a position where you could make a difference, bring a criminal to justice and help those in your pack who might not like living under that man’s tyranny.”

  The two men sat in silence as Caden absorbed what Mickey had said. He had spent his whole life afraid of Robert Collins. He had been raised to believe that his Alpha’s word was law, and certainly every member of the Cannon Falls pack lived under stringent rules, willingly or not. As Caden thought about it more, he could see that Collins had basically enslaved his whole pack.

  No one left the grounds without Alpha permission. Anyone who did come across the pack, or entered the territory, had to either stay and do as they were told, or were killed for trying to leave. Caden could never understand why that happened, although he had a better idea now. No pack member outside of the inner circle had access to the internet, telephone or any other means of communication with the outside world. Collins had claimed it would bring shifters to the notice of human authorities, which would be a death sentence for all shifters. Of course, his pack listened, and obeyed. The consequences for not doing so were horrific, as Caden had seen, and felt for himself.

  On the one hand, it was fucking terrifying to think that he had the power to see Collins brought to justice. To Caden’s knowledge, he was the only one who’d escaped successfully, and that was through sheer luck rather than good management. No one expected him to ever leave his cell, and he’d probably been gone for hours before anyone noticed. It wasn’t as though he had been anybody important. If there had been a party at the main house, and there usually was after a pack meeting, he might not have been missed until morning.

  On the other hand…

  “Isn’t there anyone in your old pack, who might be worth saving? The children at least? Could you do it for them?”

  Yeah, see? Damn Mickey for knowing where his thoughts were going. That was the other side of the coin. Caden had been treated like scum by everyone in the pack, including the teenagers. But he’d never had any problems with the children. They weren’t old enough to know about concepts of hate, or discrimination. They didn’t care if he was gay, bi, or purple with yellow spots. Caden hadn’t been anywhere near his pack for the best part of six years, but he knew there were children in the pack – the Alpha demanded all females have as many offspring as possible. The Alpha Mate, and how creepy was it that she could be the Alpha’s sister, was the only one exempt from this edict.

  “Maybe it’s time to step up and be the man you were born to be. Do the interview, be acknowledged for the talents you have. Be proud of your relationship with Sean, even if your human viewers won’t know or understand the full extent of it. Show your pride for the man you are and the life you’ve got.”

  “Even though it will bring a killer to my doorstep?” Caden was coming around to Mickey’s way of thinking, but he wasn’t going to look at the situation with rose-colored glasses either.

  “Even though it will bring a killer into the trap we set, so that the threat to you and to the children in your old pack is stopped permanently. Don’t you want to stop hiding?”

  Taking a deep breath, Caden let go of his knees, placed his feet firmly on the floor and stood up. “Okay, I’ll do it. But if Collins kills me, you’d better watch out, because I’ll haunt you and the whole fucking council for the rest of your natural lives.”

  Mickey smiled and got up as well, placing a firm hand on Caden’s shoulder. “I won’t be alive to haunt. If something happens to you, then Sean and Ian will take out the whole council. Sean’s a lot like his father, and you mean everything to him. Speaking of which, we’d better find him before he thinks I’ve run off with you.”

  /~/~/~/~/

  Sean did not like the way his fists clenched and his heart lurched as he saw Caden follow Mickey out of his father’s private sitting room. Caden was smiling at something that Mickey had said, and while Sean knew the older man had a mate, he couldn’t stop his green-eyed monster if he tried. Mickey was as good as dead if he didn’t get that offending hand off of his mate’s shoulder. Caden noticed him, and his smile got wider. Shrugging off Mickey’s hand like it was nothing, Caden sprinted towards him, jumping into his arms. Sean wrapped his arms around Caden’s body, holding him close. Somehow, in his head, that was the safest place for his little mate to be. His hands naturally found Caden’s pert ass, and he felt Caden’s legs wrap around his waist as though they belonged there.

  “Did you miss me?” Caden said into Sean’s neck. “I wasn’t gone that long was I?”

  “Long enough.” Sean glared at Mickey, who grinned and strolled past them, towards his father’s study.

  “I didn’t mean to worry you. I just had to get some things straight in my head.” Caden’s voice was muffled, given that the man’s face was buried in his neck, but Sean caught the nervous thread that clearly indicated his little mate had thought he’d done something wrong.

  Sean’s first response was to say he wasn’t worried, that he never worried about anyone else. But that part of his persona had been dead since he’d first laid eyes on the Omega. “I was concerned that maybe things were getting a little overwhelming,” he said instead. “So long as you’re okay, then that’s fine.”

  Caden lifted his head and searched Sean’s eyes as though seeking the truth. He must have been satisfied with what he could see. “So do they still want me to do the interview?” He asked, tilting his head towards the office door.

  “They do,” Sean said, letting Caden know through his emphasis, that he didn’t think it was a good idea. He looked around, and headed down the hallway, and back into the living room Caden had just come out of. He kicked the door shut, strode to one of the easy chairs and sat with Caden still clinging to him like a spider monkey.

  “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do,” Sean said.

  “But if I don’t do the interview, then Collins will come to L.A. I don’t want you hurt.”

  Sean reminded his wolf that Caden was simply being a concerned mate. He wasn’t implying that Sean was weak. “We could live somewhere else,” he said instead, stroking one hand down Caden’s soft cheek. “We can go to Alaska, or if that’s too cold for you, we can go to Europe, Australia, or even New Zealand if you want. Collins wouldn’t have the resources to track us there.”

  “But your business, your brother, this pack and your dad; they all mean a lot to you. You can’t leave all that behind.” Sean saw the pain in Caden’s eyes and knew it was for him. That made his next words a lot easier.

  “I would go anywhere in the world, if it keeps you safe. You deserve to live your life without fear. I’ll make sure that happens no matter what you decide.”

  “I’m going to do the interview,” Caden said firmly, although Sean felt a slight tremble in the body he was holding. “You guys are going to coach me on what to say, so that rat Collins can work out where I am. The council can have their enforcers ready, and this mess can be dealt with once and for all.”

  “You don’t have to do this. We can run and hide. The world is a big place.” Sean’s wolf was going ballistic at the thought of their little Omega in danger. Fighting on Caden’s behalf, so that he didn’t have to be used as bait, was why Sean had taken so long to go looking for his mate after
Caden didn’t come back from the bathroom.

  “There are children in that pack that could be saved.” Oh my goodness. Caden’s beautiful face. So fucking cute when he got determined, with his chin jutting out and his lips pressed firmly together.

  “Fucking Mickey,” Sean growled. Of course it would have been the Omega representative that had to bring up the dangers to the young members of the Cannon Falls pack. As an Omega, Caden was hard-wired to care about them, no matter what his pack mates had done to him in the past.

  “He’s right,” Caden said stubbornly. “And it’s not only that. I’m a respected artist. I should get recognition for my work and the fact that I’ve managed to snag an important business man like you as my life partner, husband or whatever we’re going to call this. I should get my five minutes of fame.”

  “I thought it was fifteen minutes.”

  “Not since the internet, everything is shorter these days.”

  Oh, for fucks sake. With his looks and his talent, when Caden went public with who he was, and what he did, Sean would be fighting men off him with a stick. Women too, probably. Forget the stick, it’d be too small. He’d need a fucking tank. And twenty foot fences – electrified, a mine field in the front yard, maybe he should invest in a bazooka or a flame thrower…Dogs wouldn’t work, but maybe…Sean noticed Caden’s hand waving in front of his face.

  “Are you still with me?”

  “Sure, precious. Sorry, just thinking about some security issues.” Sean was not going to blush. He was an Alpha…with slightly red cheeks. He took a deep breath to calm himself, and then said, “I just don’t want you doing anything that will make you feel uncomfortable. I’m quite happy to move if that’s what it takes to keep you safe.”

  “And that’s why I love you,” Caden said, with a smile. And then his face went bright red, and he slapped his hand over his mouth as those blue eyes that Sean adored turned into circles. There was a long moment of uncomfortable silence, as Sean absorbed what Caden had just said, and Caden clearly wished he could turn back time.