by Vivian Arend
“What are you doing?” Keil asked.
“Communing with the spirits. You see as an Omega…” he glanced over his shoulder at Heath to make sure his words impacted, “As Omegas, both Missy and I have the ability to use not only our skills, but the skills of the wolves who have fought here before.”
Bullshit. He had a degree in it, and right now it better work. He moved his arms with great care, praying Robyn was watching his “communing”. Come on, Robyn, pass on the message to your mate.
Keil jerked beside him. Tad was careful not to look at his brother-in-law as he finished up his “magic waving”. Heath had edged away from Tad a step or two. Good. Fear might help keep Tad alive and he really, really wanted to stay alive.
Another figure stalked naked toward them across the snowy February ground. Tad still couldn’t get used to the way wolves let it all hang out, although this guy didn’t seem to have much to hang.
Tad grinned up at the house. “Missy, can I call your brother-in-law a wiener?”
“You want to take this a little more seriously, love?”
“Cocktail size, I’m guessing.”
“Tad, please…”
Keil and Heath stood between the two, forcing Doug and Tad to face each other across a distance of ten feet. Keil nodded to Tad once, then spoke to Heath. “I want to observe from the ground in wolf. You may join me.”
Hell, yes, Keil had gotten the message. Now came the hard part, convincing the Beta to agree. Tad was sure it wasn’t proper etiquette.
“A little encouragement right now, Missy, if you please. Heath needs to say yes.” Tad concentrated on making sure positive, peaceful feelings emanated from himself and Keil. Nothing tricky happening here, la-di-dah.
Heath nodded, and the two of them stepped aside to strip off their clothes. Tad couldn’t help noticing Keil was far more impressive nude than either of the Whistler wolves.
And wasn’t that just not what he wanted to notice right now.
“You got an issue I need to know about?” Missy’s thoughts laughed at him.
“Just tell my sister she’s a brave woman.”
“Bad boy. Please be careful, Tad. I love you so much.”
He took note of where the men left the arena to be sure his backup plan was in place before facing Doug. There was still time for one last chance at solving things in a civilized manner. Tad held out his hand.
“Hi. I’m Tad. I understand we’re kind of related since Missy and I mated—”
Doug growled and bared his teeth. His canines extended past his lips.
“You sure you want to do this? I mean, both Missy and I are Omegas and—”
“You’re a fool. You have no idea how to use your skills, which is why I’m going to kill you now. You’ve spent so much of your life as a human and an unwanted half-blood, you have no idea of the power of a full-blood Alpha. You’re even too sensitive to fuck a woman who is already mated. Oh yes, I know all about you. I looked into what kind—”
Tad socked him. Hard. Twice.
Someday the bad guys would realize monologues were a bad thing.
While Doug staggered back, Tad ripped off his coat and tied it in a quick knot. There were no other weapons at hand, and when Doug shifted he wanted something to beat the shit out of the beast.
Tad wasn’t inexperienced in fisticuffs. He had fought training bouts with his pack mates for the last two years. He was smaller than a lot of other wolves, and knowing how to defend himself in a quick and vicious manner had stopped some of the in-pack ranking fights. He had also trained with some excellent Arctic games competitors. He just needed the opportunity to put that training into effect.
Doug came at him, swinging hard. He appeared soft but the danger in him rolled off in waves, his evil driving him forward. Tad was smaller and quick, and he dodged most of the blows, but enough landed that he knew he would be black and blue when it was all over.
As long as he wasn’t dead.
There was no sense of time as the fight continued. Under the glaring lights there were only swinging shadows and pain. Tad dodged another murderous attack from his opponent, dancing away from all but a few strikes. Inevitably his body protested more and more. Blood clung to his lips and his legs grew weary.
“You’re slowing down. No one is coming to save you,” Doug taunted. He wasn’t without his bruises and cuts, and he seemed surprised by the furiousness of Tad’s counterattack.
Tad waited on the ground where he’d fallen after the last bone-crunching blow. The snow was kind of soft and gentle on his aching limbs, and it was nice to rest for a moment.
Besides, Doug needed to take one more step. Tad arranged his hands carefully, bending one leg under him and keeping the other loose and ready.
Then, glory be, Doug not only swaggered forward, he leaned over Tad to gloat. “You really are pathetic—”
Tad kicked him. He used the Alaskan High Kick method, pressing down into the ground with his extended arm while he forced his free foot up as hard and as fast as he could. Tad drilled the bastard right smack in the middle of his face. Okay, Tad cheated a little by not hanging on to one foot, but he figured the boys at the gym would forgive him for the slight error in technique.
Doug struck the ground four feet back from where he’d started. Blood poured from his nose and mouth, and he casually wiped his hand through it. Staring down at his bloody fingers, he cackled, a wild and maniacal sound.
“Well. I’ll admit it. You’re a stronger man than I am. I don’t know if I would beat you if we continued for much longer.” He rolled to his hands and knees, and sat back on his haunches for a minute. “It’s been interesting, but I’ve had enough playing. Missy’s mine, and you can die knowing I’m going to make her life hell.”
Doug shifted.
His human body wasn’t very impressive, but his wolf more than made up for it. Here was why the man was Alpha. He was huge. He was also a dirty brown, one of the few brown werewolves Tad had ever seen. Tad leapt to his feet, grabbed his coat and got it swinging, the heavy knot whistling through the air.
Doug lunged and Tad whirled aside, smacking the coat onto Doug’s head. There was no use in bashing him anywhere else on his body with the thick fur protecting him. Besides, if Tad thumped his brains often enough the ass might get knocked unconscious.
Tad danced toward the edge of the arena, wanting something at his back. Doug could strike too far and too fast, and if Tad got stuck in the middle of the space it would be like tossing a marshmallow into a fire.
Doug’s teeth snagged the coat and his claws scrambled over Tad’s leg. He forced himself to remain standing on a limb that burned with pain while with the other he kicked at Doug’s groin, trying to slow the monstrous beast a little. Blood dripped as they backed away from each other, Doug favouring his hind left leg, Tad limping as well.
A silly little thing caused the turning point of the fight. Tad wore the clothes he’d borrowed from Shaun’s room, and they all fit loosely. Doug snapped at him, captured a pant leg in sharp teeth and shook like he had a rabbit in a death grip. The motion pulled Tad’s pants over his hips and trapped his legs so he couldn’t escape. Doug let go and watched with a wolfy grin as Tad scrambled backward crablike toward the very edge of the arena.
This was not the way it was supposed to happen. Dying with your pants around your ankles was a joke, for heaven’s sake. Tad hesitated for a split second and Doug was on top of him, forcing him to the ground. Fiery darts shot through Tad’s body as razor-sharp teeth fastened on his upper arm and snapped it in two. He screamed in pain and anger, watching the wolf retreat to the middle of the arena to gloat.
Sweat ran into Tad’s eyes, stinging, and he gasped in air.
“It’s time, sweetie.”
A wash of cool flowed around him, numbing his arm and clearing his mind. Missy’s touch was assuring and comforting. She was still confident he knew what he was doing.
Holy crap, he hoped he knew what he was doing.
It wouldn’t be pretty but he had to try. He kicked off his shoes and dragged himself to his feet, letting his pants fall to the ground. He paced the perimeter of the arena, his gaze tracking Doug as the wolf snarled and stalked toward him. Tad leaned on the tree nearest where Keil and Heath had left the arena, and prayed the message had gotten through.
The overhead lights blacked to nothing, leaving ghostly auroras on his retinas. Shouts echoed from the house, people running no doubt to get a generator going.
Reaching blindly behind him, Tad slipped his good hand into Keil’s vest where it had hung since the start of the challenge. It had to be there. Keil always wore the damn thing.
Sudden relief struck as his fingers closed around the hard metal of a gun.
He dropped to his knees cradling his broken arm as he held the gun procured from the vest. He heard Doug sniffing, trying to track him. It would be normal for the wolf to gain the advantage under these dark conditions.
Except Tad was an Omega.
All the anger built up from feeling Missy’s fear of this man lifted Tad to the place where he would do anything to save her. He closed his eyes so he wouldn’t strain to use his vision, and he opened his mind to the ability that had hovered under the surface for so much of his life. Tad reached out with his new awareness and found the emotions of his enemy.
It was like wearing infrared goggles.
Doug came toward him on silent paws. Tad stroked his mind, calming. Cooling. Doug paused in his pacing, his head swinging from side to side like he was dislodging an annoying fly.
Tad’s heart rate increased. It was working. He pushed harder at his enemy, attempting to make Doug fall asleep. The wolf staggered in a circle, whining and snapping at the air. He clawed at the ground and snarled, obviously aware of what Tad was doing, but unable to overpower the Omega skills Tad appropriated from somewhere deep within.
Tad wanted the man out of Missy’s life forever, yet the thought of killing another in cold blood just wasn’t his way. Maybe there was too much human in him, but since Missy had mentioned the possibility of the wolf council or the human courts, it seemed there might be a better solution.
Doug rolled on the ground, his legs scrambling in the air as Tad continued to mentally overwhelm him. Suddenly Missy was there in Tad’s mind as well, supporting him, aiding him. Doug was no match against their two strengths, untrained and untried as they were.
The sensation of Missy’s presence grew stronger, and across the arena Tad saw a shimmer of silvery fur in the moonlight. He couldn’t believe his eyes as she bounded into the fight area. “What are you doing? Get out of here!”
She slowed to a walk, her wolf form so beautiful he couldn’t take his gaze off her. “I’m the cause of the fight. If he will deny the challenge, you won’t have to kill him.”
She knew. Somehow she knew that he didn’t want to kill, not if it could be avoided. His astonishment at the depth of the connection between them as mates rose again.
Tad turned to face Doug who lay twitching in the midst of the arena. “Do you yield? I’ll let you live if you stand down the challenge for Missy.”
Tad eased his control on Doug, enough to let him move slightly. The Alpha rolled to his belly and dropped his head to the ground.
“He yields!” The Whistler Beta had changed back to human and rushed out to the arena with Keil hard on his heels.
“Will he accept the council’s examination of his leadership as well as give up the challenge?” Tad demanded, keeping his eyes on Doug.
The Alpha’s gaze darted back and forth. Suddenly he gathered his legs under him and leapt at Missy. His body shifted to the left as his claws swung and his teeth reached to rip her throat open.
Tad cried out a warning even as he raised the gun and fired twice in quick succession.
Everything went silent, and the moment of calm, the oversized wolf that was Doug crashed to the ground shy of his target. His body twitched a couple times, then lay still.
Missy turned to him, running forward and leaping skyward. Tad’s one arm dragged against his side, useless, but as she shifted in midair and caught him, he had enough strength to wrap his good arm around her and pull them tightly together.
She clung to him as if she were never going to let go, which was fine by him.
“You were amazing,” she informed him. “And I never, ever want to watch you do that again.”
“That makes two of us,” Tad agreed wholeheartedly. His legs quivered, and she helped him regain his balance as Keil and the others headed their way. “I think I might be in a bunch of trouble, but right now, if you don’t mind…”
He leaned down and brushed his lips over hers—it was all he could take with his entire body a mass of pain and bruises, but he needed that moment of connection.
When he pulled back, she was smiling sweetly. “I love you, Tad.”
“I love you, t—” That’s when he realized she was naked and they were about to be totally surrounded by a whole lot of men. “Shift,” he ordered sternly.
Missy tilted her head in confusion.
“Shift, please?” he asked her privately, as politely as he could right before the world started to blur.
She rolled her eyes, but honoured his request, slipping back into her wolf form as he slowly collapsed to the ground, and the last thing he remembered was her soft fur under his fingers and the sound of her laughter in his head as the most beautiful wolf in the world licked the side of his face.
“We have the rest of our lives to share with each other.”
Chapter Ten
Missy watched happily as her new brother-in-law hung up the phone and turned to give his wife a tender kiss.
Now that was a neat sensation, to be able to think about a brother-in-law without getting nauseous at the same time.
“Whistler pack leadership has been reorganized by the council. It’s taken three weeks because they’re trying to avoid getting the human authorities involved to deal with the illegal items Missy had documented,” Keil said. He wrapped his arm around Robyn, pulling her against his side. “You using a gun during a challenge has been forgiven in light of Doug’s double-cross. Plus the fact you turned down the position of Alpha for Whistler means there’s some archaic law in the code that gives you clemency.”
Missy tucked herself in tighter to Tad where they sat on a loveseat. Tonight was a full moon, and Tad would be experiencing his first shift, but until later, there was time to relax and visit with people who had come to be very important to her.
She exchanged contented smiles with Robyn.
“I wasn’t going to let the bastard kill me because I couldn’t shift yet,” Tad pointed out. “I’m glad you were paying attention, Robyn, or I’d have been down there without a backup weapon. I felt like a fool pretending to wave my arms while signing like crazy. And while the whole Omega thing is really cool, I need more practice before relying on it to save anyone’s life.”
“So, are you two official now?” TJ asked.
“Official what?” Tad asked, brushing a kiss against Missy’s cheek. She breathed in his scent happily, comfort and satisfaction pooling around her.
She felt a little queasy, but that was to be expected.
TJ paced the room, his long legs constantly on the verge of tripping. “Omegas for the Granite Lake pack. I know you’re mates because, duh, I can smell that one a mile away. There’s also this other weird scent that I think means—”
“TJ, I need you to go and get my bag out of the car,” Missy ordered, flicking a glance at Tad to see if he’d caught that slip. How could TJ have known?
The young man sighed as he stepped toward the door. “Fine. I’ll go. But I’ll have you know it’s not my fault I have a superior sense of smell. I think it’s pretty rotten you’re not letting me be around when you make the announcem—”
“Go!” Missy rubbed her forehead.
Okay, one of her new relatives still made her head spin.
“How’s Maggie
doing?” Tad interpreted for Robyn who’d signed at him to ask the question.
Missy twisted in her seat. “Good. She was scared, but I guess Erik’s friends showed up in the nick of time.”
“Erik has orders to do whatever it takes to keep her safe.” Keil reminded her. “If he needs to head down there to help her, he will. He figures if she wants to stay and finish her degree she won’t have any troubles, though. His friends are pretty powerful.”
A sigh of pure relief escaped her. “Erik’s friends must be pretty scary people themselves.”
“Bears, he told me,” Tad offered. “And cougars. Mean ones. She’ll be okay.”
Missy wished her sister would be joining them sooner than a couple years down the road, but hopefully there’d be vacations and such before Maggie was done school.
“You are going to accept the position, aren’t you, Tad?” Keil asked, bringing them back to the topic at hand as he glanced between them. “It’s for both you and Missy. As well as being our Omegas, you can operate your pilot service out of Haines Junction, or we can increase the bookings for Maximum Exposure and keep the family business roaring here in Alaska.”
Missy enjoyed the sensations washing over her as Tad twirled one of her curls in his fingers, tugging her close to kiss her again.
“Well, I suppose it depends on where Missy wants to have the baby,” Tad said as he squeezed his good arm around her tighter, his other one still wrapped in a cast.
She should have known she couldn’t keep it a secret for long. “You knew! I was trying to hide the scent.” She twisted to face him, delight filling her.
Tad laughed. “It seems becoming mates with you has fixed my sense of smell. Plus, I’m an Omega. I know what’s happening, even this quickly, and I want to tell you I’m pleased as punch.”
Across the room Keil snorted. “You’re proud you’ve got super sperm. What did you do, knock her up the first day?”
Missy bit her lip and scrunched up her face to stop her enthusiastic nod. She caught Robyn’s eye and winked. Robyn’s shoulders shook with silent laughter.
