by M. A. Church
Their three-story pack house was huge, almost five thousand square feet, and had what his mother fondly called a parlor on the second floor. It was an enormous room with a grand piano, several sitting areas, and french doors that opened up onto a deck that had stairs going down to the in-ground pool.
The french doors were not open since it was winter, although Avery was sure they soon would be. Werewolves ran hot, and it was warm in there with so many bodies—and there were a lot of bodies. All the Betas and their mates had attended, along with most pack members and all the Elders.
There had to be at least twenty-five to thirty pack members milling around in that room alone, and he and Mandy had passed at least another ten to fifteen more on the way there. Who knew how many were in other areas of the house or outside?
He glanced around the parlor. The hardwoods gleamed, the marble around the fireplace shone, and his packmates were dressed in their finery. Their pack was the richest in the area, and it showed.
What didn’t show were hints that things were not as they appeared, which Avery had noticed—like how tense his father had been for the past year, how his mother suddenly had lines around her lips and eyes, and the hushed late-night arguments that revolved around money.
His mother approached, beautiful as always in a sleek black dress that fit her figure perfectly. He caught himself subconsciously straightening. She had that effect on people. Her dark hair was arranged on top of her head, and her jewelry sparkled. She was poetry in motion.
He loved his mother, quirks and all. For some unfathomable reason, she decided her female pups’ names needed to begin with the letter M. No one understood why, but his father shrugged and said there was no understanding a female mind.
“I was beginning to wonder if I was going to have to send reinforcements.” Magdalena grinned as she reached out, pulled Avery closer, and air kissed both cheeks. She stepped back. “You look nice. It’s just… dear, really? That tie with that suit?”
Avery shrugged even as his stomach tightened. His light gray suit was Bespoken and cost a shocking amount. The rebellious side of his nature had insisted he wear an outrageously bright purple silk shirt with an equally outrageous purple polka-dot tie.
“I think it goes good with his blond hair.” Mandy jumped to his defense, as usual.
He didn’t have the coloring the rest of the pack had. Werewolves had either black or brown hair and dark eyes. The exception were Omegas, whose human forms had light brown or dirty-blond hair and a golden hazel eye color.
When an Omega shifted, their eyes were a deep, golden amber, their coat was a silvery white, and their wolf was small. Regular pack members had different shades of brown coats. An Alpha was pure black and much bigger than the rest of the pack. All other werewolves had bright yellow eyes.
“I never said it didn’t, Mandy,” Magdalena gently corrected, then turned to Avery. “Now, since you’re the guest of honor, let’s introduce you around.”
Avery would rather face being neutered, but he plastered a grin on his face and followed his mother.
TWO hours later he was even readier to shift and make a run for it. Gods, he was furious. It hadn’t taken long to figure out this so-called birthday party was also a chance to introduce him to all the suitors they’d invited. His stomach rolled uneasily, and it wasn’t from all the cake he’d eaten either.
Arranged marriages were not unheard of in the werewolf community, but there was a desperation driving his father that Avery hadn’t seen before. His laugh, while sounding jolly, had a creeping edge of anxiety tonight.
Even though Avery was furious with his parents for setting him up in such a way, he couldn’t discount the worry his father tried to hide and the tightness around his mother’s pinched lips as he rebuffed one suitor after another.
Why didn’t they understand he just came of age? The very last thing he wanted was to mate. There was a whole world out there he wanted to explore, and being mated wasn’t conducive to that.
No, his mate would probably want to lock him up in a gilded cage so the sweet, little, helpless Omega would be safe. No wonder he spent most of his time wanting to gnaw the hell out of something.
His mother had finally opened the french doors because of the heat in the parlor, and Avery couldn’t resist. He escaped outside to the deck. It was a large, sprawling thing with plenty of areas that the light did not touch, he took refuge. He needed a minute to catch his breath.
His parents always kept a close eye on him, especially since he was an Omega, even though his talent wasn’t anything to jump up and down about. But as an Omega, he did have worth, and apparently his parents were looking to cash in on that. They’d allowed him out on dates in the past, but they’d always been supervised. He’d even dated a few humans, although his mother hadn’t been too pleased about that. Now it was nothing more than a free-for-all, and he was beginning to feel like a prime-cut piece of meat.
Music and soft conversation followed him outside and the cool air washed across his heated skin. If he blushed any harder, he was going to resemble a boiled lobster. Out of his parents’ sight, he’d been patted, pinched, leered at, and felt up. Avery was going to punch the lights out of the next person who laid hands on him.
“How dare you? How dare you show up tonight, of all nights!”
“Alpha?”
Raised voices drifted out onto the deck, and Avery sighed. Now what?
“By all the gods, is that a—?”
Avery frowned. A what? Then someone screamed and he jumped. The increased heartbeats of his fellow pack members inside the parlor hammered relentlessly at him. Okay, that was a little disconcerting. Then the tinny stench of fear drifted out to him. Fear? Forget disconcerting. Now he was flat-out worried. There was very little werewolves feared. Broken pieces of conversations, anger, and waves of distress overwhelmed him. Maybe he should get back in there, although he wasn’t sure what he could do to help—not that he would be allowed to anyway.
“Silence!”
The roar hit him like a sonic boom. His knees went weak, and he grasped the deck railing to keep himself up. Power, unlike any he’d ever felt, rolled over him. Oh gods. He closed his eyes, trying to rein himself in.
As he adjusted, he noticed something else. That roar—so masculine, low, and growly. It sank into his very bones. His cock perked up and his claws came out, digging into the wood of the railing he so desperately held.
He pried his eyes open. Confusion hit him. His breathing spiked. This wasn’t a weaker wolf reacting to one more powerful. No, it was something else. Something he’d never experienced before. Didn’t matter, though. He wrestled his body under control. He refused to be the weak-willed Omega everybody assumed he was.
Once his breathing leveled out, he noticed the silence. The nighttime sounds he was so familiar with were glaringly absent. There was no prey scuttling across the dead grass and decaying leaves. No predator stalked on stealthy feet. There was nothing.
A chill crept up his spine. It seemed as if everything around him had frozen. He glanced back into the parlor. Both the music and conversations had stopped. Tension creeped out through the open doors.
Avery had the perfect view of his father. Several of his Betas stood behind him. Even from where he stood, Avery could see the unease on his father’s face, and he gawked. His father was renowned for being cool under pressure. But not this time.
His mother stood off to the side and behind his father, with several female werewolves clustered around her. Mandy stood next to their mother, but he couldn’t see the rest of his sisters.
What the hell was going on?
“Your time is up.”
Avery shivered again. That voice. What was it about that voice?
“Not until the stroke of midnight, it isn’t,” Alpha Montgomery growled.
For once his father didn’t sound like the authoritative werewolf Avery knew he was. Avery shifted to the side, trying to see through the french doors into the parlor. Wh
o was his father speaking with? He bit his lip. Slowly he inched farther to the right. Just a little more and he could finally see.
“Which is less than three hours away. You’ve made no effort to contact me, nor have you made any type of payment. I have to tell you, Alpha Montgomery, this disturbs me greatly.”
Avery blinked. Who dared to speak to his father with such a disrespectful tone? More importantly, why wasn’t his father wiping the floor with them?
Avery eased a few more inches over. As he moved, he got a better look into the room. His glance roamed over a male of average height with brown hair. His looks weren’t anything spectacular, and the black-rimmed glasses he wore didn’t help. He wasn’t a paranormal, although he wasn’t quite human either.
Then he saw the other one.
Good gods. Avery’s stomach dropped. A man stood several feet from his father. The stranger was sexy beyond belief. Long black hair fell to his slender hips. Avery swallowed. Whoever this man was, he wasn’t as tall as his father, nor was he bulky with muscles. He had what the humans termed a swimmer’s build.
Even though Avery could only see his profile, there was no denying the stranger had a strong jaw, insanely chiseled cheekbones, and a perfectly formed nose. His light gray pinstriped suit fit him like a glove and suggested it was custom-made… and expensive, very expensive.
Who was this male? He wasn’t human, Avery knew that. He sniffed, trying to pick up the stranger’s scent. When he finally did, it hit him like a ton of bricks. It was dark, delicious… and completely unfamiliar. But he liked it, and he wanted more.
His cock, which had softened slightly, sprang up. Tingles raced through his body. Oh gods, so good. He yearned. His wolf wanted nothing more than to roll around in that scent. He sniffed again, more deeply this time.
What was that other male?
Alpha Montgomery tensed. “I’ll talk with you tomorrow. Tonight we’re celebrating my youngest’s coming-of-age.”
“No, I don’t believe so. Why don’t we adjourn to your office?”
Avery hiked an eyebrow. Whoever this guy was, he had balls the size of coconuts. The fact that he was still standing on his feet, in one piece, amazed Avery. Why was his father allowing such disrespect?
“I—”
“Now!” the stranger snapped.
“Holy shit,” Avery whispered, expecting to see blood flow at any moment. No one spoke to his father that way.
The stranger whipped his head around and stared straight at Avery. Shock hit him square between the eyes. His feet glued to the floor, all Avery could do was stand there, frozen, with his mouth hanging open. Beautifully colored indigo eyes zeroed in on him. Avery had never seen such an unusual swirling mixture of blues and purples for an eye color. They were striking and quite intimidating.
For the first time ever, Avery understood how prey felt. His heart pounded and his head spun. His mouth was so dry, he couldn’t swallow. An instinct he didn’t know he possessed shouted at him to turn, run… to escape. But another yelled at him to get closer, to go belly-up for his….
Mate.
Shit, it can’t be. Just can’t!
What was staring at him was the top predator in the paranormal community—a dragon. Nobody fucked with dragons. No one. And somehow his father had gotten on the wrong side of one.
Chapter Two
WARWICK grabbed the reins on the runaway dragon inside of him, desperately trying to control the thrashing creature. Ye gods! His dragon wanted the Omega, badly, which was shocking. His kind usually paired up long enough to procreate, and if the female became pregnant, she went off on her own to have the egg. She raised the offspring, and once the fledgling reached adolescence, they were on their own.
Sometimes dragons had sex with each other for fun, but relationships never lasted long. Their kind tended to get on one another’s nerves, which led to fights. It was why they didn’t often mate with dragons or other paranormals, but there were a few who managed to make it work.
Warwick preferred short-term connections where it was understood there were no commitments. He’d never been interested in mating. But now suddenly his dragon was interested in that Omega… and wanted to claim him as his own.
Warwick was stunned. But the hazel-eyed Omega standing outside almost accomplished what rarely happened with dragons. The wolf hadn’t even been trying—and that was the frightening thing.
He jerked his gaze away from the young wolf. The last thing he needed was to betray his sudden interest. Never would he give an opponent that kind of knowledge, even if his dragon was all but wagging its tail in excitement. With a mental thrust, he tried to settle the vexing creature. He certainly didn’t need this right now, and especially not here.
“You do not want to piss me off, Alpha.” Warwick pinned him with a look that promised retribution if he didn’t lead the way to his office immediately. He was done playing nice. “Your office, now.”
Alpha Montgomery flashed his fangs. “This way.”
Warwick let the display go. If he flashed his fangs, the Alpha werewolf would probably piss himself. As amusing as that could be, he really didn’t have time for such frivolous entertainment. Warwick shifted slightly so his ever-faithful assistant, Clarence, could walk in front of him as they followed Alpha Montgomery.
Warwick wasn’t going to allow Clarence’s back to be unprotected, especially around this many aggravated werewolves. Of course, “aggravated” and “werewolves” did seem to go hand in hand.
They followed Alpha Montgomery down a secluded hallway and into a well-appointed office. Warwick was impressed. It was almost as nice as his. In fact, from the brief look he had of the mansion the Montgomerys lived in, everything he saw pointed to a wealthy pack.
But Warwick also knew looks could be deceiving.
He was very much afraid Alpha Montgomery had been supporting his lifestyle by deception. The terms of the loan were quite clear. The Alpha had a hundred years to pay it. It was that simple. There would be no renegotiation, no penalties for a late payment… nothing. Alpha Montgomery would either pay the loan off or Warwick would be taking control of a lot of land and everything on it.
Alpha Montgomery motioned for Warwick and Clarence to take a seat. Clarence sat and placed his briefcase next to him. Warwick moved to stand by a nearby window, his gaze outside on the night. He was much too restless to sit.
“You had no right coming here and—”
“You’re beginning to tire me with your endless whining.” Warwick refused to give the Alpha the courtesy of looking at him. “Do you have the money or not?”
“It’s not midnight yet,” the Alpha reiterated.
A couple of hours were not going to save Alpha Montgomery, but the agreement was binding. “Fine. Are you going to have the money by midnight?”
Alpha Montgomery cleared his throat. “You must understand, in the ’80s when the stock market crashed, I suffered. Plus, in the past several years, the real-estate market has bottomed out, as you must know. Many of us are upside down on our mortgages. The economy isn’t what it used to be either. Between the insurance we must supply for our employees and the cost of living… things have been rough.”
Warwick sighed and turned from the window. All he heard was one excuse after another. “You don’t have the money, do you?”
“No. But if you give me some time—”
“You’ve had a hundred years. What makes you think I’m going to give you a minute more? My dear Alpha, that should’ve been sufficient time if you’d been controlling your money wisely.” Warwick waved his hand at the wealth surrounding him. “From what I can see, you have continued your lifestyle. I see no restraint in your actions either now or in the more recent past.”
“I can explain.”
“I’m not interested in your explanations. The only thing I’m interested in is my money, which you do not have.”
“You can’t take everything and kick my pack out!”
Warwick snorted. “I most c
ertainly can. Alpha, I am a businessman. I loan money to those who need it, with the understanding that the money will be returned to me at the agreed-upon time, plus interest. And the interest is fair too. If a client defaults, I take what they’ve put up as collateral. I am not loaning money out of the goodness of my heart. My kind is cold-blooded, remember.”
“Please!” Alpha Montgomery flinched. “I’ll do anything. Anything.”
Warwick’s dragon sat up. It took every ounce of control he had not to roll his eyes as his dragon started whispering to him. Aw gods, the damn thing had its heart set on something, and there was nothing more hardheaded than a dragon once an object caught their attention or they got an idea in their heads.
“Anything?” Warwick questioned.
Coming between a dragon and whatever they desired to add to their hoard was dangerous. Deadly, even. If Warwick didn’t fall in line, he wouldn’t get any peace for the next century, at a minimum. As much as he liked money, he had a feeling he was about to lose a shit-ton of it in pursuit of this new treasure. Dammit.
“Yes.”
“Fine.” Warwick held up a finger to stop whatever Alpha Montgomery was about to say. “Please excuse my assistant and me. I need to speak with him privately.”
“I—fine.”
When Alpha Montgomery didn’t stand, Warwick shot him an aggravated look. “Alone. I need to speak with him alone.”
Alpha Montgomery tensed. “You’re kicking me out of my office?”
“Be glad you still have an office to call yours. Now, leave!” Warwick snapped.
Alpha Montgomery growled softly and stood, making a point of slamming the door behind him.
Warwick finally gave in to the urge to roll his eyes. He left his spot by the window and sat in the chair next to Clarence. “Werewolves.” So, ideas?
