It’s hard to finally get over hurt and fear and decide to embrace life again.
Ani’s life hasn’t been easy. He’s been under the thumb of his tribe’s second for all his life, leaving him thinking he’s broken and soiled. So why did Fate decide he would be the best mate for the Whitedell Pride’s Alpha? Ani knows he’s not good enough, and he avoids his mate as best as he can.
Dominic doesn’t care about what happened in Ani’s past, he just knows he wants the man to be his. He knows he’s going to have to fight Ani every step of the way, but he’s as stubborn as they come, so it doesn’t scare him. Dominic has to convince Ani that he wants him, but he also has to work on a council that will rule shifters and fight against the Glass Research Company.
As if Dominic didn’t have enough problems, a man appears and shakes his budding relationship with Ani. Will their mating be able to survive all the obstacles they’ll have to brave?
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Ani
Copyright © 2014 Catherine Lievens
ISBN: 978-1-4874-0276-1
Cover art by Latrisha Waters
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
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Ani
Whitedell Pride Series 6
By
Catherine Lievens
Dedication
To the readers...thank you for loving the Whitedell Pride so much!
Chapter One
Everyone was running around, making sure everything was in place for the wedding. Ani wanted to help, he really did, but he wasn’t sure what to do. He had tried to help clear the living room for the ceremony, but he was scrawny next to nearly everyone in the pride, so it wasn’t like they needed his help. It was more likely that he would end up squashed under a sofa or something like that, and he didn’t want to ruin Jeremy’s big day that way, or any way, for that matter.
Next he had tried to go into the dining room and help decorate it for the reception, but Jamie and Derick had everything under control. They were ordering Darin, Finn and Jayden around, and the room was a flurry of small men running from one table to another and arranging flowers and china plates and silverware.
Then he had sneaked into the kitchen to see if he could help with the cooking. He wasn’t particularly good at it, but even he could peel potatoes or wash veggies. But no, they hadn’t needed him there either. The women of the pride plus Casey and Isaiah had shooed him away, saying they were nearly done, and now he was walking along the hallway, wondering what the hell he could do.
No one needed him. Well, he could understand them. He couldn’t do anything, he couldn’t cook, could barely read or write, not that anyone knew that. He had passed all of his eighteen years cooped up in the tribe. Finn had had the opportunity to move around and see things, but Ani was a full-blooded Nix. He hadn’t been allowed to do that, and Leold, the tribe’s leader, had made sure that Ani never had the opportunity to even try to escape.
He didn’t really have anything to offer to the pride, even though he’d been with them for about two months. Sure, he helped to keep the house clean, but he wanted to do more. He couldn’t just leech from them, but how could he find a job if he didn’t know how to read? No one even knew about it because he was ashamed of it. He was eighteen, damn it! He should be able to read, to find a job. Wait, he couldn’t find a job because his stupid ears were pointed!
He slumped down in the library window seat. He knew he was whining and being childish, but he couldn’t help how he was feeling. He didn’t know how to contribute to the pride’s well-being as the others did. Most of all, he didn’t know how he could ever become the Alpha mate.
It took just a look at him to understand that he just couldn’t do it. That was one of the reasons he was avoiding Dominic like the plague. The fact that he was scared of big men...yeah, that was just one reason. He was still afraid when one of them shouted or made those shifters noises like growling, but he knew no one in the house would ever hurt him, least of all Dominic. The man was really sweet, and he hadn’t expected that.
For Ani, big meant that they could take advantage of him just like Leold had for many years. He had raped Ani for the first time when he was fourteen, and it had gone on for more than four years. He had tried to tell his mother, but her only answer had been that he had to be proud that the leader had chosen him. He didn’t have anyone else to tell except Finn, and his cousin had had so many problems that he hadn’t wanted to make him worry. Ani knew that Finn would have pushed him to shimmer away and to never come back, but Leold had made it clear that he would have hurt Finn if that ever happened.
That was the only reason Ani had stayed silent. But even staying silent like that, Finn had disappeared. Luckily for him, someone had freed him from the lab in which he’d been imprisoned, and he had even found his mate. Now Finn was happy, and Ani wished he could be, too. Well, he could be, but he couldn’t. He knew it didn’t make any sense, but that was how he felt. He felt as if he was taking advantage of everyone, but especially of Dominic.
The man was trying so hard to make Ani get used to him, leaving him sweet messages around the house and small gifts in his room, and everything without expecting anything in return.
Yeah, in the beginning Ani had been afraid of Dominic. They didn’t come taller than him, except for Denver, and on top of that Dominic was the Alpha. He had the power to demand things from Ani, but he had never done anything like that. Ani had slowly realized the man was safe. But once he realized how good and loving Dominic was, he had also realized that he could have so much better than Ani. It felt as if he was taking something away from Dominic if he only thought of mating with him.
Sighing, Ani watched the snow softly fall outside the window, the same thought twirling again and again in his head. He was sick of thinking about it, really. He knew the only solution would be for him to go away. His cousin would be fine, he had a mate and friends, and Dominic...they hadn’t even really talked yet, so they didn’t know each other so well. Well, Dominic didn’t know Ani, but Ani was pretty sure he knew the lion well enough to have fallen a bit in love with him.
Dominic was honorable and strong, fair and always ready to help. He was the perfect man in Ani’s eyes, and there was no way he deserved him. Maybe going away wasn’t such a bad idea. He could shimmer somewhere in the woods and live there, or maybe find a way to hide his ears. He wasn’t sure he could find a job without the pride’s help, though.
He reached for the book he had been trying to read for the past few weeks. It sat on the table near one of the couches just so that he was always reminded that he was reading it. It would have been so easy to put it back on the shelf and f
orget about it, forget that he was trying to learn how to read decently on his own. As he moved the book, a small piece of paper slipped from it and slowly fell on the floor, and even from where he was he recognized Dominic’s handwriting on it.
It brought tears to his eyes, just as always. The note didn’t say much, just have a nice day, but just the fact that the big man had thought about writing it and putting it there, even on such a busy day...
“Uncle Ani?”
Ani jumped at the sound of Adam’s voice. He hadn’t heard the kid entering the library, but then he’d been so intent on worrying and whining that it didn’t surprise him. “Hey, Adam!” he asked in what he hoped was a happy voice. “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be with your daddy?”
Ani was ready to bet that Adam had run away from Jeremy. The kid was buck naked, a sign that he had shifted at one point, except for the tie around his neck. It made for an interesting image, that was for sure.
“I don’t want to put the funny clothes on,” Adam whined, and Ani winced when the tone of the kid’s voice reminded him of his inner monologue. God, was he really as bad as a three-year-old kid? “Come on, let’s go find daddy. I’m sure he’s looking for you right now, and today is a special day for him. We want him to be happy, right?”
The kid nodded. “Okay. I’ll use the funny clothes, but only if I can have ice cream!”
“Ah, Adam, you’ll have to ask dad or daddy. Besides, there’s going to be cake! You like cake!”
“Yay!”
This was one thing he would surely miss if he went away. The little guy was so easy to please, so easy to relate with, and he didn’t want anything in return.
* * * *
Dominic was hiding.
Okay, it wasn’t manly or anything, but he just couldn’t face what was happening outside his office. He wanted Jeremy and Denver happy, of course, but did they really need all of this? He had seen flowers and cake and a flock of mates running around the mansion, decorating every single piece of furniture and moving around anything that wasn’t anchored to the floor. He might be six foot six, but it still scared the shit out of him.
He couldn’t help but wonder, though. Would Ani want a wedding? Probably not, thank god. Finn hadn’t wanted one, and they had grown up together, more or less. Besides, they weren’t even mated yet. Heck, they barely talked to each other!
Dominic knew it wasn’t Ani’s fault, but he couldn’t help that he was impatient, and his lion was making his life hell. Dominic’s human half understood why Ani was so skittish and wanted to give him all the time the man needed. After what had happened to him, it was normal, and Dominic hoped that seeing that the men in the pride were safe, that they wouldn’t hurt him, would help him open up with him too.
Leold’s death had been too fast for his taste. The man should have died slowly and painfully for what he had done to sweet, innocent Ani, but what was done was done, and now Dominic could only think about their future.
His lion half however...it wasn’t so understanding. Dominic felt like a jerk for that, even knowing that it was only instinct. When Ani had appeared in front of him two months before, Dominic’s lion had wanted to claim the man right away. Dominic was actually glad Ani had shimmered away that day, because he wasn’t sure he would have been able to resist and keep a leash on it.
The cat didn’t understand the whole reason behind the waiting, the reason for which Ani was scared and needed time. It couldn’t. It just wanted to act on instinct and sink its teeth into the sweet Nix, but aside from being something he would never do without asking permission first, Dominic knew it would scare the crap out of Ani. He had been working too hard to woo him in the past months to ruin everything because he was impatient.
It wasn’t working too well, though. Ani still didn’t talk to him, even if the fact that he didn’t shimmer out as soon as he saw Dominic enter a room was an improvement. Sometimes he wished he wasn’t the Alpha. The charge didn’t leave him much time to spend with his mate, between raiding labs, saving shifters, interrogating doctors and setting up the network between the shifter groups. He hadn’t thought he would ever have to do anything like that when he had decided to create the pride a little more than twenty years before.
Well, he hadn’t really created it. It was more that people had started to come to him because he helped them, and they had stayed because he didn’t care who they mated with. Their little group had slowly grown until they had had to have the mansion built to accommodate everyone. Lately their numbers had started growing again, between the new mates and the shifters they rescued, and he actually liked it.
Maybe it was because Dominic had been an only child, but he liked living with so many people, watching the kids run around the house and listening to the bickering between the members. He could understand that not everyone liked that, though, which was why they were adding several cabins in the woods behind the house. That way those who wanted a little more privacy could have it while still staying near the mansion.
Dominic was also thinking of extending the mansion, maybe adding a wing or two to it. He’d had it built so he could do this without too many problems anyway, so it was an option.
They had to hurry up and finish at least one of the cabins, the one in which Denver and Jeremy were going to live with their son. They didn’t know it was finished, and it was going to be their wedding present from the whole pride. Then, once things went a little smoother, he could think about the extensions.
Dominic looked up from the list of Alphas who had agreed to be a part of the network when the door opened and Denver slid inside. He hadn’t been concentrating on the thing anyway, so he watched as the man closed the door and leaned against it, his eyes closed. He couldn’t keep the chuckle that escaped him at the sight of Denver.
The man was big, even bigger than Dominic, and he was muscled, yet the terrified look on his face said it all. “Hiding?” Dominic asked, laughing when Denver jumped a bit and his eyes flew open.
“Yeah. When I asked Jeremy to marry me, I didn’t think it would be like this.”
“Uh huh. Your mate is too nice. He wanted the whole pride to somehow participate, and it got out of hand. He should tell some of the members to go take a hike and start doing things as he wants them to be done.”
Denver raked his hand through his short hair and sighed. “He really is too nice. We wanted something small and intimate, but I swear we must have emptied all the flower shops in a ten miles radius. The house looks and smells like a frigging garden.”
“That would be Marian’s fault. She tends to go overboard when she’s excited. Jeremy just has to learn how to say no.”
“I’m not sure if there is a way we can tone everything down. It’s too late.” Denver sadly shook his head and Dominic tried to think about a solution.
He really wanted to help his friend, but he didn’t know how, even if he was the Alpha. There was something he could do, though. He grabbed the keys to his suite from the desk and threw them to Denver, who promptly caught them. “Here, go hide in my rooms until it’s time for you to get ready. No one will bother you there.”
Denver looked at the keys in his hand. “I should go help.”
“Nonsense. You go relax and I’ll take care of everything. It’s an order from your Alpha.” Denver looked both embarrassed and relieved when he thanked Dominic before slipping outside.
What have I gotten myself into? Dominic barely had the time to start worrying about what he had done and what he had to do when the door opened again and Jeremy entered, closing it behind him. Wasn’t that a déjà vu or something? It was nearly the exact same thing Denver had done only seconds before.
“Oh, sorry! I didn’t think you would be here.”
“I’m hiding.”
Jeremy laughed. “Yeah, me, too. Things got a little...”
“Out of hand?”
“Yeah. I just wanted everyone to be happy.”
“But now
you’re not.”
“Not exactly. I mean, I’m happy to get married even though I’m already mated, but just how many flowers did Marian buy? And the tuxedos Connie ordered? They’re white! Both of them! We’re not blushing virgins, for god’s sake! And then the guy who was going to perform the ceremony calls and tells me he can’t come because he just was in an accident! Did it really have to be today? Who the fuck is going to perform my wedding now?” By the end of his little rant Jeremy’s chest was heaving.
“Are you feeling better?” Dominic asked, barely managing to avoid laughing in the man’s face. It was just too funny to see him all flustered like that.
“Yeah. I just don’t know how to fix this.”
“You don’t. You’ll just go to my suite and sit there with your mate and relax. I’ll go and try to save your wedding.”
Jeremy’s eyes widened. “You’d do that?”
“Of course. They have to listen to me, right?”
“Yeah, I’m not sure about that.”
Dominic scowled at him. “If they know what’s good for them, they will.”
* * * *
Ani stood outside the window of Dominic’s office and smiled. His mate really cared for his friend, even if he didn’t want everyone to know it. What had just happened was enough proof of that.
Ani had been trying to find Jeremy when Adam had decided to run after a bird he had seen through the window and shift, which meant he had to follow the little wolf outside. In the snow. Ani was used to it, but he didn’t want Adam to catch a cold, even if it was improbable. The kid was an arctic wolf, after all, and he really disappeared in the white stuff. It had taken him a while to find Adam huddled near the window of Dominic’s office, and since the kid had been snacking on what looked like a squirrel—ugh!—he had let him be.
Ani [Whitedell Pride: 7] Page 1
