by Zoe Perdita
Timothy took a deep breath. He had his mates- his pack- almost everything he’d ever desired. Even a blind eye and an ugly scar couldn’t hold off his happiness. There was only one more thing he wanted- one more change to make. He took a deep breath.
Slowly, he walked up to Alex, the beta frowning at him in the bright light of the moon. “I quit,” he said.
Alex’s keen hazel eyes widened and he gritted his teeth. “Don’t tell me. You’re going to work for them,” he growled.
“As a cook, yes. It’s what I really want to do, I just never knew I could have what I wanted,” Timothy said.
To his surprise, the corner of Alex’s pouty lips twitched, like he was trying not to smile. “Fine. You’re a crummy worker anyway.”
The omega smiled. It was a lie, but it was probably the only way the beta wolf could let him go without a fight. From behind him, both Gunner and Christian gripped onto his shoulders, and Timothy glanced at his alphas- would they approve?
Holden nodded, his body more relaxed than it had been in days. “I guess we’re in for a lot of changes, aren’t we?” he asked.
Jake smirked. “You started it, Captain. Things were getting dull around here anyway,” he said and patted Timothy on the head. Then he looked behind the little wolf. “Welcome to our pack, both of you.”
Timothy beamed at the former lone wolf and looked up at the sparkling night sky and the moon bathing them in her kind light. For once, he welcomed change. Look at the happiness it brought him and Holden. And, deep in his heart, he hoped his other pack mates found their own happiness as well.
Part III
Danny
Chapter 8
Danny leaned against the doorframe and watched Timothy pack boxes. "I can't believe Holden's letting you move out," he grumbled for about the fiftieth time.
The omega glanced up and pushed his wavy red hair out of his face. Timothy still wore the eye patch over his scarred blind eye, but he never brushed the hair over it like he had before. It seemed like getting two mates really had improved Timothy’s self-esteem. How would Danny change when he got a mate?
Timothy sighed. "It’s just for a little while- until the new cabin is built. You know Alex doesn't get along with Gunner and Christian."
It was definitely true their pack's beta hadn't warmed up to the omega's new mates. Danny couldn't figure out why- both of the Eurasian wolves were laid back and more or less compliant with the pack’s rules and demands. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that their new European style café was competition for Alex's own coffee shop. Danny shook his head. He was a deputy, not a businessman. Plus, figuring out Alex’s reasons for doing anything always gave him a headache.
"With the snow he's not going to get the cabin built until next spring," Danny said. The first snow fell the night before, and it would surround them for the remainder of winter. Especially at their lodge twenty minutes above the town of Kellogg, Idaho.
The omega nodded. "I know, but even Jake thinks it's a good idea. We live so far out of town we don't really have a good watch over all our territory. This way we'll always have an eye on what's happening."
"Until the cabin's built," Danny put in.
They owned several hundred acres of forest on the mountain, and the area for the cabin had been clear years. While their lodge was big, it wasn't large enough to accommodate all seven pack members comfortably. The cabin would hopefully fix that.
But over the next few months who was supposed to cook and clean? Danny knew Timothy wasn't going to drive all the way out there to do it. Alex, as the beta, ranked higher than Danny in their pack so he wouldn't do it either. Jake might help even though he was an alpha, but that left the remainder of the work to Danny. The deputy pouted.
"Five or six months isn't that long," the omega said and smiled as he taped up a box and put it in a pile with the others.
Danny shrugged again and frowned. Not long for someone living with two new mates, but for him it seemed like an eternity. His pack mates would have to get used to eating bland food or KFC for the next several months. Hopefully Jake, who used to live on his own, knew something about cooking.
Glancing at his watch, Danny frowned. Time for work already. "Well, see you around," he said since Timothy would probably be gone by the time he got home that evening.
"Have a good day," Timothy said and he grinned from ear to ear.
Holden was right. Change was annoying even if it was inevitable. Ever since Jake showed up in their little town change had been a constant. First the lone wolf joined their pack as co-alpha with Holden, and now Timothy had his own two mates.
It's not that Danny was jealous- he wasn't Alex, after all. The beta seethed as he watched the pairs of lovers around him, but Danny wasn't sure if Alex was jealous of his pack mates or their newfound love interests. Jake, Gunnar and Christian were all gorgeous men. And ever since the lone wolf dominated them to join the pack as their alpha, Danny wondered what it would be like to have his own mate claim him in such a thrilling fashion. Or maybe he’d claim his mate like that.
The only problem was Danny didn't have a mate. Sure, he was younger than both Holden and Timothy. It's not that he didn't have time to find one, but how was he supposed to do that in their tiny town? The odds that another wolf would wander into town, a wolf without a mate already, was completely improbable. Plus, he didn’t even know if any of the local towns had their own wolf packs. Missoula might, but what about Coeur ‘d’Alene or Spokane?
Thinking back to when he was just a pup, Danny remembered one of his uncles found a mate in another were-creature. Although he hadn't seen the man in years, he remembered the mate being either a lynx or a raccoon. He could just imagine that! Holden got up in arms over the Eurasian wolves. What would he do about another were-creature in the pack?
Danny sighed and ran his fingers through his dirty blond hair.
"Ready," Jake asked and shook the keys in his hand.
Smoothing the front of his deputy uniform, Danny nodded. "As ever."
Holden stood in the kitchen with only a pair of sweatpants on, his tan chest covered in a light layer of brown curls. "Remember. Call me if anything goes wrong."
Jake chuckled. "You always say that on your days off."
The alpha's eyes crinkled although his lips didn't move. "Just want to make sure you remember who’s the captain and who’s the detective."
"Like you'd ever let me forget," Jake said and slipped a black coat over his suit. His dark green shirt matched his startling eyes and his dark hair contrasted perfectly with his pale skin. In short, Jake was gorgeous, something Danny thought since he first laid eyes on the former lone wolf.
Slipping on his own overcoat, he followed Jake outside to the car. The cold winter air chilled his tan skin and his boots crunched over the thin layer of snow on the driveway. This time of year, right before the big holidays, was rather slow crime wise. The tourists hadn't poured into their town for winter yet and the shenanigans of Halloween were already over. They just had to deal with Thanksgiving and Christmas while the long ski season began.
Not that anything truly exciting ever happened in Kellogg. Sure there were normal incidences like shoplifting and traffic accidents but nothing interesting. When Danny joined the force at nineteen he thought he'd be a protector of justice, like superheroes in comic books, but in a little town like Kellogg that wasn't possible. Being deputy turned out to be less thrilling than he imagined- instead it was little more than a desk job.
"Looks pretty quiet," Jake said as they pulled up to the station.
"It’s always quiet on Tuesdays," Danny said.
The alpha chuckled. "What would you rather have? A shoot out at the grocery store?"
The idea sent a surge of excitement through Danny's body. "As long as no civilians or police were hurt."
"You’ve been watching too many action movies," the man said as they walked toward the red brick building.
The deputy scowled and glanced up and do
wn Main Street. Like usual, a few cars were parked and the whole town was draped in a blanket of white. The sky looked like someone had been water painting and mixed all the colors together- typical for winter in the Pacific Northwest.
"At least in action movie something happens," he said.
Jake squeezed Danny's shoulder. "Someday you'll be glad for this quiet town."
Yeah, right, Danny thought, but he just nodded nonetheless.
After they got inside, the deputy settled at his desk and watched Jake walk back to the captain's office. When Holden was off, Jake was in charge since he was the highest ranking officer there. A couple other beat cops and dispatchers already settled at their desks and took random calls from around the area. It was going to be another one of those long, boring days.
Then, three cups of coffee and a pile of paperwork later, one of the dispatchers, Sarah Evans, stood up from her desk.
"Say that again,” she said into the receiver.
Danny glanced at her. The woman was in her late thirties and not prone to fits of excitement. After dealing with calls for so many years a sense of calm detachment settled over people in that line of work. But if she got up like that, maybe something big was going down!
"And you're sure about that?" she said. "Yes, I'll send someone right away."
"Sarah what's going on?" Danny asked as the woman hurried toward Holden's office.
"Ned Crocker said there was a ruckus up at his ranch this morning."
Danny rolled his eyes. "Probably just some kids."
She put her hands on her hips and shook her head sternly. "That don’t account for the dead men in his creek," she said before knocking on the captain's door.
Danny got up so quickly he knocked over his chair. He didn't bother to pick it up before rushing after her. Today wasn't going to be one of those days after all.
Nalin
Shit! They already followed him. Their response was quicker than he imagined, although Nalin admitted it might have been his fault- at least partially. Perhaps when he escaped he shouldn't have burgled the house. But how else was he supposed to survive in America with no clothes or money? Especially since he didn't even know what part of America he was in. Definitely not New York or LA. Somewhere in that middle section were the names ran together and the people all grew corn and raised cows- at least that's what he got from watching US movies as a child.
Running through the woods on a cold winter night, rushing past pine and fir trees as flakes of snow swept into his face, it looked nothing like any of the movies he'd seen. Maybe he was in the part of America nobody thought to make movies about. It looked like the sub alpine forest of his homeland, the area below the tree line where he spent cold winter days hunting as a boy.
A branch cracked behind him, and he ducked into the shadows of an evergreen tree, probably fir, and held his breath. The long limbs trailed across the ground hiding him from view.
Snow and frozen pine needles crunched under his pursuer's feet and a strong odor tickled his nose- a feline odor. Something of a lesser cat, maybe a lynx.
Nalin sniffed the air and frowned. "Peter?" he called.
"Why do you hide in the tree?" the Siberian lynx asked and lifted a branch. In his human form, Peter was short but muscular. His slightly pointed ears made him look elfish, as did his peaked eyebrows and the slant of his Siberian eyes- a mixture between Russian and Asian.
Scowling, Nalin stepped out of his hiding place. "I'm escaping. You will too if you know what's good for you."
"You mean you don't enjoy being kidnapped from your home and kept in a cage?" Peter asked.
Nalin patted the folded bills in his pockets and shook his head. "No, and I don't think you do either. You stole those clothes."
The lynx smirked and showed the hint of his feline fangs. Yellow eyes shone bright and dangerous in the darkness. "I only follow you," he said, his English heavily accented.
It was the only language for the two werecats had in common. While Nalin spent time in Russia along the Mongolian border, he was more familiar with India, his homeland. Good thing his father had been a travel agent in Shimla, the northern Indian city in which he was raised. As a child learning English was a necessity. If only he followed his father's footsteps, took over the family business and kept his nose out of trouble. How did the saying go? Curiosity killed the cat? Well, he wasn't dead yet.
"We’ll only transform if we have to," he whispered to Peter and set off away from the compound where they'd been held.
The whole adventure started just over a month ago. As Nalin trekked through the Himalayas a group of poachers attacked. Of course, he'd been in his animal form at the time, so they didn't know what they caught was actually a werecat. Fortunately, they didn't want him for his pelt. But they did put him on a ship and after weeks at sea he arrived here. Everyone spoke English so Nalin figured well enough that he was in America. Then they put him in a small cage and fed him raw meat every other day.
Nalin only saw two men at the compound, although he smelled others close by. The one that fed him was middle-aged and had a rounded belly and a balding head. The second man, while younger and leaner, had a nasty scar running the length of his cheek. He sneered at every animal on the premises and barred his yellow teeth.
Several large, exotic cats were confined in cages around him. Nalin spotted tigers, lions, cheetah, leopards, and even smaller cats like ocelots and jaguar.
He'd noticed Peter across the yard and knew immediately the Siberian lynx was also a werecat. The keen intelligence in his eyes gave him away. Unfortunately their captors had no idea. It took almost a week for Nalin to plan and implement his escape. While he tossed the key into Peter's cage, he hadn't expected the man to follow him. Oh well. Sometimes two was better than one.
They traveled for several hours in silence, moving farther and farther away from the men who held them captive. Hopefully, they would come to a city and get their bearings. Without passports Nalin wasn't sure what they were supposed to do. He doubted an Indian consulate was close by- or that they’d be inclined to help. No human would believe their story, so he needed a suitable lie. At least lying was one of his expertise.
The heavy scent of cattle flooded Nalin's nose, and he stopped and looked at the sky. Overhead, the darkness shifted to a bluish gray. Morning. Good. In daylight other people would be up and about.
Peter stopped and rubbed his stomach. “We could feast,” he said and pointed at a cow in the distance.
Nalin rubbed his bearded cheeks and his stomach grumbled. Keeping with Hindu traditions was difficult as one of the top predators. “I prefer deer.”
Then, out of the frigid night air behind them, a branch cracked loud and clear. For a moment both werecat's eyes met. The familiar smell of the compound drifted toward them through the trees. Whoever followed was only a moderate hunter, but guns were more powerful than claws in every case.
Nalin took a slow step backwards, but Peter didn't seem to have such reservations. Ripping off the shirt, the small man shifted into his animal form- ears pointed upright and his powerful legs poised to attack.
"Fool," Nalin whispered and ducked behind a tree.
Peter crouched behind a large rock next to a stream. The cold water flowed quickly, even surrounded by the snow, and Nalin's parched throat ached for a long sip. After this whole fiasco was over then he'd take a drink.
The movement in the woods stopped, and Nalin held his breath, his heart hammering in his chest. He wouldn't go back there. No. He needed to be free more than anything. If they killed him, so be it. It was better than being trapped in a cage for the rest of his life.
Two men stepped out of the woods and sneaked toward the stream, their feet hardly making a noise on the freshly fallen snow. Nalin knew who the men were- their captors.
As they approached the rock, Peter leapt from behind it and sunk his fangs into the fat man's pudgy throat. The man flailed his arms and ripped clumps of fur from Peter's coat, but it was no use. T
he lynx pulled his teeth free and a fountain of blood poured down the man's chest, soaking them both.
"Fucking cat!" the thin man cried and aimed a hunting rifle at Peter's back.
Nalin bit his tongue to keep from crying out and squeezed his eyes shut. The boom shook both the trees and earth around him, and Peter’s dying screech assaulted Nalin’s ears and heart. With a thud and a splash, the two men landed into the stream and the scent of werecat's blood mingled with the fat man's as it tickled Nalin’s sensitive nose.
Hot tears slid down Nalin's golden brown cheeks and he quickly wiped them away. Crying for Peter was useless at this point. He hadn’t known the lynx long and he had to get away. To survive. If he didn't, Peter's death would be in vain, and he couldn't have that.
"What the hell?" the thin man mumbled, and Nalin peeked out from behind his tree.
Instead of the body of the Siberian lynx, Peter's human form lay sprawled in the stream next to the fat man. Dammit. Were-creatures usually reverted to the form they most often took in life. Of course Peter’s body turned back to its human shape!
At least it gave Nalin the distraction he needed to escape. As the thin man bent over the two bodies, the werecat crept deeper into the trees. His bare feet traversed the earth and snow in a way shoes prevented. Then he stepped on a branch and the loud snap reverberated through the quiet morning air.
Nalin ran. Feet pounding across the snow, pine needles and rocks, he zigzagged through the trees. The thin man was looking for an animal- not a human. But after what happened to Peter, Nalin didn't doubt the man's ability to kill him as well, no matter what form he took.
A crack of lightning broke through the trees and pain erupted in Nalin's calf. He tumbled forward, dirt and frozen dew clinging to his body. No. It couldn't end like this! Not like this! Digging his hands into the ice cold earth, he dragged himself forward as feet pounded on the forest floor behind him.
