by J. R Fox
Dean stuck close to Gabriel throughout the funeral for Gabriel’s protection as much as his own comfort, in case grief boiled over there and someone decided that now was the time to make a move. The wake was the time to address the growing unease among the clan, when everyone would be present and equal in their mourning.
As people began to walk away from the gravesite, Dean put his arm around Gabriel to pull him close. He could feel eyes on him from all directions, and he was sure Gabriel could feel it as well. Though he seemed calm on the outside, Dean could hear his elevated heartbeat and smell the scent of fear on him, and anyone who passed close enough would be able to as well.
“I’m not going to let anyone hurt you,” he said softly, aware that the wolves surrounding him would hear it as well, but not caring. It was as much a declaration to them as it was to Gabriel.
“If they’re stupid enough to attack someone they believe took out an experienced clan alpha by himself, they’ll deserve it when I gut them,” Gabriel said, clearly not concerned that he might be heard. The other wolves backed off a pace, finally giving them room to breathe.
“I know you didn’t do it. You know that, right?”
“I know.” Gabriel sighed, then shuffled closer to Dean, putting his hand in the coat pocket on the other side of Dean’s body. “If nothing else, it would have been a stupid thing for me to do, to put you in a vulnerable position while I was pregnant. I had no quarrel with your father and I would have liked to cement my place in your clan before having to share leadership of it. This is not the ideal turn of events for me at all.”
Dean swallowed. His first thought had been that someone was trying to make a rise to power, but no one had tried to challenge him, and other than a general lack of trust of Gabriel, no one had voiced dissatisfaction with the way he was doing things. It didn’t make sense. No one had gained from his father’s death, but someone had clearly killed him.
They travelled home in a comfortable silence, Gabriel keeping a hand on Dean’s thigh the whole time. Dean wasn’t sure which of them it was intended to comfort, but he suspected it was doing something for both of them.
Once the wake got underway, some of the tension seemed to ease. That didn’t change Dean’s mind about what he was going to do, but it did mean he could approach the topic more gently. He waited until everyone was a drink or two in before calling the room to silence.
“First off, I wanna say a couple of things about my dad. As a dad he taught me everything I know, as a leader he was tough but fair, and as a man he had no equal. I know we all miss him, and I know we’re all hurting. He left some huge tracks to fill, and I’m sure some of you think I’m not up to it, but here’s a promise I’m gonna make you—we will not suffer for his death, except in losing him as a friend.
“We’ve made some good changes this year, starting with our alliance with the O’Connor clan. Combining our resources has made things move more smoothly for all of us, and none of you have had suspicious neighbors trying to film you on the full moon, or police knocking on your door over every minor offense in the neighborhood. That’s a material difference. We’re safer than we were, and that was thanks to Henri’s wisdom in bringing Gabriel into the family.”
Dean paused a moment to let that last part sink in, and then continued, “while I’m on the subject of Gabriel, he did not murder my father. He is my mate, the father of my children, and he is your clan omega. His entire role in this clan is as a life-giver. He is above suspicion, as is the rest of his clan. I don’t know who killed my father, and you can be certain that I’ll deal with them when I find out, but it wasn’t Gabriel, and I will consider any further rumors, even the slightest whisper, a grave insult. I don’t have to spell out for any of you very clever people what happens if you insult your alpha.”
There was a general murmur among the crowd, but Dean couldn’t determine the tenor of it. If he had to rule through fear and threats, though, so be it. Better to keep the clan together than lose it to suspicion and infighting.
“Furthermore,” he added. “Anyone who feels the need to accuse Gabriel after this point will be considered a challenger to my leadership, and will be dealt with accordingly. In case anyone’s forgotten, that means I tear your throat out.”
The room went quiet. It was too soon to know if that was a good or a bad thing, but Dean smiled anyway. “Now, I hope you’ll all join me in toasting my father’s life and sharing your stories with each other. It is by remembering the dead that we keep them alive forever.” He raised his glass, and almost all of the room raised theirs as well.
Dean took note of those who didn’t, and drank. To his surprise, as he was draining his glass, Gabriel took his hand.
***
Gabriel’s whole world felt like it had shifted on his axis, and it took him a few moments to understand what he was feeling. He desperately wanted to sit down, but he didn’t want to cause a scene in the middle of the wake, so he stuck close to Dean and waited it out.
As the last few mourners left and Allora excused herself to go to bed—having been unwilling as yet to go back to her own home—Gabriel tried to figure out what he was going to say.
In the end, the best course of action seemed to just be forward about things. When he and Dean were definitely alone, he turned to him and held both of his hands. “The bond took,” he said softly, looking directly into Dean’s eyes.
Dean was silent for a moment, clearly coming to grips with this new information. After a handful of heartbeats, he smiled shyly. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.” Gabriel wet his lips. “So come upstairs with me? I really need you right now.”
Perhaps Dean wouldn’t be in the mood to lay with the strange, standoffish mate who’d just turned around and confessed, more or less, that he was in love with him, but perhaps it would serve as a welcome distraction.
Either way, Gabriel had felt the bond take. He knew for certain what it was, and he knew it was because Dean had finally done the growing up Gabriel needed him to do. The circumstances were the worst possible ones that could have brought it about, but at least not everything in Dean’s life had to be misery and loss. Before, Gabriel had thought of him as a sweet boy who he wished no harm, but held no special feelings for.
Now, Gabriel could see Dean as his mate.
Dean swallowed visibly, and then nodded. Gabriel grinned at him and let go of one hand, only to drag him up the stairs by the other. Excitement flared low in his belly, the idea of joining with his mate like this already affecting him.
“I’m sorry this took so long,” Gabriel said as he shut the bedroom door behind them. “I’m sorry it’s happening now.”
“I’m glad it’s happening now. I need this today.” Dean hesitated, then continued, “what changed?”
Gabriel stepped closer to Dean, pausing in his haste to get them both undressed and in bed. “You did.” He reached out to stroke the shell of Dean’s ear. “I hate that it was the death of your father that made you like this, but you’ve changed. Grown up. I always liked you, I always thought you were sweet, but I never felt as though I could rely on you. Now I do. And over the last few days, I’ve fallen in love with you.”
“I…” Dean nodded, shuffling close enough to Gabriel that they touched where his belly was rounded out by the pups he was carrying. “I love you, too. You mean the world to me.”
“Then you show me what a good mate you’re going to be from here on out by getting naked and lying down on that bed.” Gabriel tilted his head to indicate the bed in question. Dean took a moment before moving, but then used every bit of supernatural speed he had to fulfill the request.
Gabriel laughed, still only half-undressed himself by the time Dean was lying on the bed, on full display. “See, a good alpha knows how to keep his omega happy.” Gabriel dropped his trousers and underwear in one motion, stepping out of them and then kneeling on the bed to crawl up Dean’s body.
When Gabriel leaned down to kiss Dean, he was stunned to watch him bare hi
s neck, stretching his throat out to give Gabriel full access to it. Gabriel only kissed it lightly, then kissed his way along Dean’s jaw to meet his mouth. “I appreciate the trust. Especially after what people are saying.”
“There’s no doubt in my mind that I can trust you.” Dean reached out and settled his hands on Gabriel’s hips, his thumbs resting at the curve of Gabriel’s belly.
“I trust you,” Gabriel said softly. “I trust you with me and with the babies. That’s… that’s everything I have to give.”
Dean smiled the warmest, sincerest smile Gabriel had ever seen on him. “That's all I could ever ask.”
Gabriel kissed Dean's lips again and then wriggled back, lining himself up with Dean's already hard cock. “I'm not in heat, so I'll have to take it slow.”
Dean licked his lips, his pupils already blown. “Take all the time you need.”
Gabriel sank down as far as the top of Dean’s knot, but stopped short of taking the rest of him inside his body. Without the added lubrication and desperation of heat, a knot like Dean’s would be a stretch.
On the plus side, though, it meant Gabriel could draw this out, and he needed the extended contact more than anything. Now that he could feel what Dean had undoubtedly been feeling for months, he could barely fathom how restrained he’d been. He was obviously a stronger man than Gabriel had given him credit for.
After a few moments of rocking back and forth to get himself ready, Gabriel closed his eyes tightly and sank down, cradling his hips in Dean’s and taking the full length of him, knot included. He took a few deep breaths to get used to the burn, and then opened his eyes to look down at Dean, whose chest was heaving with every breath.
“This is better than I remember,” Dean panted, squeezing Gabriel’s hips rhythmically, in time with his breathing.
“You weren’t entirely lucid last time,” Gabriel sat back slowly, letting Dean stretch him as he teetered on the knife edge of pleasure and pain. He stopped for a moment once he was sitting up straight, then lifted himself up and let gravity do the work of lowering him back down.
A low growl sounded from deep in Dean’s throat, and his eyes flashed in the dark. Gabriel reveled in the thought that this was enough to make his mate lose control of his form, even as Dean’s claws dug into his hips. Gabriel sped up, rocking back against Dean harder and faster. He was more interested in his mate’s orgasm than his own at the moment, the urge to please him so strong that he began to felt he wouldn’t be able to breathe properly until Dean was spent.
“Please come for me,” Gabriel panted. “I need this.”
Dean growled again, and then raised his knees to give himself more leverage, meeting each of Gabriel’s thrusts in the middle. His knot began to swell larger, until Gabriel could only move a little way up or down before it was too big for him. He could feel that Dean was close, but he wasn’t sure how to get him to finish.
As he was thinking this, Dean surged up and rolled them both over, taking charge of the pace from on top of Gabriel. Surprised but thrilled by the change of position, Gabriel groaned lowly as he came almost immediately, Dean hitting every sensitive spot inside him in one long thrust that pulled all the way out and then seated him back in.
While he was coming, he felt Dean do so as well, his knot swelling to seemingly impossible proportions for a moment before settling to a width that was too big to pull out without injury to one or both of them, and left Gabriel feeling slightly over-full. He squeezed around it hard to get his muscles used to the sensation, since they were stuck like this for perhaps upwards of an hour, and found himself having a second, milder, but no less enjoyable orgasm as Dean rolled them back over.
Gabriel lay on top of Dean fully, not bothering to hold any of his own weight, and panted.
“I’m gonna want to do that a lot,” Gabriel said once he caught his breath.
“Yeah, me too.” Dean sighed a deep, satisfied sigh. “I meant what I said, you know. I’d fight every single one of them for you.”
The gnawing worry that had taken root in Gabriel’s gut that the current tensions among the clan might come to that returned instantly. Dean may have thought his influence and orders would be enough to put an end to the suspicion surrounding Gabriel and Henri’s murder, but he didn’t seem to realize that no one had liked Gabriel much from the get-go. Only Dean and Allora had really taken to him.
He decided to say nothing, and snuggled down into Dean’s warmth as he pulled a blanket over both of them. They’d have plenty of time to worry in the coming days. Hopefully, worry was all they’d have to do.
Chapter Four
“I can feel them watching us.”
Dean started when Gabriel spoke, having thought he was still asleep. Though they’d finally bonded properly, he’d barely had time to enjoy it—as Gabriel said, they were being watched.
Uneasiness sat heavily in Dean’s gut. He’d imagined that the majority of the clan would have better sense than to challenge their alpha, no matter how new he was at the job. He had everything in the world to fight for, everything to lose. He wouldn’t go down easy.
With the numbers he could feel lurking nearby, though, Dean was afraid that he might just go down. If he did, they’d kill Gabriel and their unborn pups, as well.
Suddenly anxious, Dean turned to Gabriel, who’d come to join him at the window, and laid both hands over his belly. “If they come for me, I want you to run, okay? Run back to your people and let them protect you.”
“I’m not going to leave you,” Gabriel said, clearly insulted by the idea.
“I don’t want to die knowing you might as well be dead, too,” Dean snapped. He felt guilty immediately—he’d promised himself that he’d never lose his temper with Gabriel, but for perhaps the first time in his life, he was truly afraid. He’d never had anyone else but himself to worry about before.
Gabriel swallowed, but didn’t back down. “Then we should go now. I know you don’t want to give up your alpha status, but my people will protect us. My sister is a good alpha; she’s kept all of us safe this long. Or we can go further away, start over. I don’t want to lose this a handful of hours after I finally got it.”
“I can’t run. Guilty people run.”
“We’ve already been tried and convicted. They don’t care about reality. I can’t even shift while I’m pregnant, there’s no way it could have been me. That doesn’t matter to them, though.”
Dean stared at Gabriel for a moment. “You can’t shift?”
“Not past cosmetic stuff. I mean, I don’t know if I can; I haven’t tried because I’m afraid of what it might do to the babies. In my clan, pregnant omegas don’t shift, ever.”
“Then you have to go. Please. You’ve got no defense if they turn on you.” Dean reached out and tucked a lock of hair behind Gabriel’s ear. “I can’t force you, and I wouldn’t even if I could, but this is the one thing I’ll ever ask of you, as your mate.”
“I’m not leaving you here to die,” Gabriel said with tears in his eyes. “At least take the fight to my clan, where you’ll have backup. It doesn’t have to be running away. This is what alliances are for. The wolves plotting against you are traitors.”
Dean hesitated. Gabriel wasn’t wrong; if anyone wished him dead, they were traitors to the whole clan. He could take advantage of Gabriel’s family, and the fact that they’d sworn their loyalty to him by offering him their most beloved son.
Then Gabriel and the babies would be safe. It would be the smart decision. The decision of an alpha who understood the value of living to fight another day.
An alpha who was incredibly lucky to have a mate with a good head on his shoulders. Gabriel was the best possible mate he could have ended up with, though he could never have known that at the time.
“Okay.”
Gabriel frowned at him. “Okay what?”
“Okay, we go to your people. You’re right. They’ll keep us safe, and we can figure the rest out from there.”
The relie
f on Gabriel’s face told Dean he’d made the right decision. “Thank you.” Gabriel darted in and kissed him. “Thank you. I’ll call Michaela and let her know we’re coming. You pack.”
“I gotta let mom know we’re going.”
“I think she should come as well,” Gabriel said. “To be on the safe side. She’s still grieving her mate, she’s very vulnerable.”
“Okay, yeah. Yeah, you’re right. I’ll tell her to pack,” Dean agreed. “I love you.”
“I love you too. Now go.” Gabriel kissed him again, and then went to grab his cell phone from the bedside table, presumably to call Michaela. They talked often, so at least she wouldn’t be surprised to hear from him.
Dean left Gabriel to it and headed out of the bedroom and downstairs, to tell his mother their plan. She’d go along with it, he was sure; she was nothing if not just as smart as Gabriel, with years of wisdom to back that intelligence up. If he’d come to her with the same problem, she probably would have suggested this herself.
He got to the bottom step just in time to see the front door explode into a shower of splinters, and a half-dozen of his clan pour through it.
A growl rose in his throat, and he could feel himself shifting already. He’d expected to have more time, but if he had no choice but to stand and fight, then stand and fight he would.
Sammie headed up the group, looking at him with an awful sneer. At one time, Dean would have counted him as his closest friend. Since Gabriel arrived, they’d been at odds with each other, and now Sammie was standing against him.
Dean hated the thought of hurting him, but Gabriel and his children were more important than anything else. He’d die for them if he had to, and he had no problem with killing for them. As far as he was concerned, the wolves who’d just broken into his house were as good as dead.
“What, no omega to protect you?” Sammie stepped forward and began to shift as well, while the rest of his companions remained in human form. Dean knew them by name, but he’d never known them well. Sammie’s was the only betrayal that truly hurt.
