“You don’t need to remind me of that.” River stood up and walked to the sink to rinse out his glass. Behind him, David made an impatient noise.
“I’ve got to get back to Josiah.” River stalked out of the room, pausing in the hallway to seek composure. The last thing he wanted to do was upset his heat-delirious omega.
“Why won’t he let the congress help us?” River heard Brooks ask. “We can’t go for long like we are.”
“He’s blaming himself,” David said quietly before letting out a sigh. “Maybe Josiah can persuade him.”
River pressed his lips together, remembering Griffin’s and some of the other members of the pack’s accusations that River had let Josiah have too much sway over his decisions. River loved his mate and had never regretted a moment with the omega, but after all that happened, he had to wonder if he’d allowed Josiah to steer his views to the detriment of his pack. They were werewolves—their needs were different from the humans’, and although Josiah was half werewolf, he’d lived as a human most of his life.
River couldn’t shake the feeling he’d failed twice as pack alpha: once with the larger pack, and then again with this one when he’d allowed them to be vulnerable enough to be attacked. He needed to remember that in the future and base his decisions accordingly. There had to be a way for him to secure his pack without the help of the humans. It was bad enough they were in the city; he needed to get them a place where they could thrive with a modicum of privacy. He wanted that plantation.
River headed for the bedroom, but the sound of the kitchen window being raised stopped him in his tracks. He walked quickly back to the kitchen where he found David leaning out the open window over the sink.
“Hey, you!” David yelled out into the night before pulling his head back inside. “He ran away.”
“Who?” River asked.
“I barely got a glimpse of him, but I think it was a rogue wolf going through the garbage.”
Foster rushed into the room, almost slamming into River. The pack alpha put his hands out to steady the coyote shifter.
Foster looked up at him, dark blond hair sticking out every which way as though he’d just rolled out of bed, before transferring his gaze to the window. Slipping out of River’s grip, he shot towards the window and had climbed half-way out of it before Brooks could grab hold of his legs and stop him.
“You’re going to fall, idiot!”
“That was him,” Foster ducked back inside and headed for the door. “That was him!”
River grabbed the boy by the back of his shirt. “Wait. Where do you think you’re going?”
“I can smell him. My mate was just outside the building!”
Foster had claimed many times since he’d joined River’s pack he’d heard a coyote calling in the night and that it was his true mate. Werewolves didn’t have such a thing, but River had heard stories. Coyote shifters were lucky to find their true mate, as they were tight-knit and rarely left their own packs.
River found himself only holding a limp shirt and followed Foster into the living room. “You can’t just run out there by yourself,” River said, blocking the front door.
With a frustrated grunt, Foster hurried back to the open window in the kitchen and let out a series of howls that sent a shiver down River’s spine with their plaintive intensity. After a moment, an answering howl sounded from far away, and Foster bumped his head pulling it back inside.
David rubbed the place Foster had clocked himself. “Careful, there. Is it really your mate?”
Foster nodded, eyes bright. He looked like he might burst out crying, and River couldn’t help but feel sorry for him.
“Why won’t he just come to you?” Brooks asked.
“I think he’s afraid to.” Foster glanced again at the window. “Wolves aren’t always friendly to coyotes. I need to go to him.”
“Over my dead body.” Everyone turned to see Leo standing in the doorway, naked and damp with sweat. Strands of his long hair clung to his face, and ringlets of the same color were plastered to his muscular chest.
Undaunted, Foster planted himself in front of the intimidating alpha, mouth firm. “I have to go to him, Leo.”
“You’re not running out into the city by yourself.”
Foster grabbed the alpha’s hand. “Then come with me. Please.”
Leo gazed down at the boy, green eyes hooded and face impassive. River knew the other alpha had always had a soft spot for the coyote shifter and would have mated him if Foster had agreed, and the alpha’s affection showed in his patience with the boy.
“I have to find him.” Foster squeezed Leo’s hand, practically dancing on his feet with restlessness.
“I can’t leave Sam,” Leo said. At Foster’s anguished look, he continued, “I want to help you, but Sam’s in heat. You don’t want me to leave him here where he could be hurt by the others, do you?”
River could see the wheels turning in Foster’s mind. If Leo were to leave Sam, any of them might lose control and mount the omega, even though Leo’s scent was all over Sam. The close quarters and more than one omega in heat blurred the lines even more than usual, and Foster loved Sam too much to allow the omega to be hurt.
“I could lock myself in the bedroom with Sam and protect him,” Brooks offered.
David gave his mate an incredulous look. “You’ve got to be kidding. I don’t want you standing between four lust-driven alphas and an omega in heat.”
“I did it earlier for Josiah.”
“That was necessary; this isn’t.”
“I won’t leave Sam.” Leo’s tone brooked no argument as he looked down at Foster. “I’m sorry, but I can’t. And I can’t let you go alone. Hell, the guy’s probably not even out there anymore.”
Foster’s countenance fell, and he cast a longing look at the window.
Brooks glanced at David. “I’ll go with him.”
David moved forward. “Like hell you will. I’ll do it.”
Brooks opened his mouth to say something else, and River was about to intervene when he caught a whiff of Josiah’s scent, cloyingly sweet from his heat.
River turned to find Josiah standing outside the bedroom door, eyes glazed and cock standing stiffly from his body. Slick leaked down the first omega’s long legs, and the apartment quickly filled with its scent. River let out a low, rumbling growl, cock immediately responding in his briefs. David echoed the growl, followed by Leo even as both alphas clamped a hand over their noses. In two strides, River had Josiah pinned against the wall. Josiah drew up his legs, wrapping them around River’s waist, and River barely got his underwear down his thighs before the need to drive himself home took over. Blinded by lust, he barely registered Leo surging toward them and Foster and Brooks hurrying to block the alpha. Deep inside his mate, River carried Josiah into the bedroom and locked the door, leaving everything behind but the overwhelming need to breed.
Chapter 3: Brooks
Brooks was glad the omegas’ heats were over; no more long days and nights listening to the frantic rutting. Every time one couple stopped fucking and things settled down, another would start up. Brooks was a light sleeper and suffered for it.
Jax was due back any day now, and Brooks had missed his human mate more than he’d thought possible. He hoped the short vacation away from the pack had done Jax good, and the human would return better able to handle his crowded apartment. Something had to give soon; they couldn’t go on like this, with tension so thick it threatened to strangle them all.
One thing was clear: the alphas would have trouble holding down steady employment. Obviously, the omegas would, too, and as Brooks walked down the busiest street in Cascade with Foster at his side, Brooks told himself it was up to him, Foster, and Sid as the only betas left in their small pack to make the money needed to survive. Still stricken with grief, Sid wasn’t yet up to it, but armed with phony credentials and resumes provided by Mark, Brooks and Foster were determined to find something that day.
Following David’s example, Foster used the color of his wolf for a surname: Brown. Brooks took David’s: White. The morning’s job search had been fruitless, and the two betas were thinking about returning home for a quick lunch before heading back out when Foster grabbed Brooks’ arm and pointed to a “help wanted” sign leaning inside a dirty glass window. Brooks pulled open the door and motioned for Foster to walk ahead of him into the dark interior.
“Can I help you?” a gruff voice asked from the shadows.
Brooks’ eyes quickly adjusted to the dimness of the room, and he focused on the woman. She was tall, dark-skinned, and had a scar running down her cheek to the middle of her neck. Her black hair was a wild mass of curls pulled back into a thick ponytail, and her ears were studded with gold. As she stepped out from behind the bar, Brooks saw she wore heavy boots, dark pants, and a camouflage shirt.
“We saw the sign in the window,” Brooks said.
The woman looked them up and down with dark, discerning eyes. “You have any experience in this business?”
The place looked like a bar. Desperate to get the jobs, Brooks replied in the affirmative and handed her the resumes. The papers listed experience waiting tables, something they’d both done in the compound dining room.
The woman looked them over, expression blank. “Brown and White, huh?” She shook her head and went back to reading. “Not much experience.” Brooks thought she would dismiss them, but she motioned to a narrow hallway. “Name’s Maura. Follow me to my office.”
Foster looked at Brooks, who mouthed, “How hard can it be?”
The small room was warm and strewn with papers. A laptop sat open on a rickety wooden desk, and the ripped vinyl chair squeaked when the woman sank into it, dislodging several sheets of paper to slide to the floor.
“Okay,” she said, leaning back in her chair and propping her booted feet on the desk. “Let’s see what you got.” She made a grabby gesture with her hands. Her long fingernails were painted the shade of an eggplant, and Brooks noticed several scars on the backs of her hands. One glance at Foster told Brooks the coyote shifter didn’t know what she meant any more than he did.
The woman huffed. “Take off your clothes. Don’t be shy. I don’t swing your way.”
Confused and completely clueless as to what the woman meant, Brooks began to strip. With a shrug, Foster pulled his shirt over his head. Nudity wasn’t a big deal for shifters, but Brooks wasn’t used to females and didn’t like the way the woman eyed him appraisingly when he finally stood before her naked.
She got up from her chair and walked around the desk to circle the two men. She stared at every inch of Brooks before turning to Foster’s compact body. She nodded appreciatively at the coyote shifter’s pert ass before whistling between her teeth. “You two are ripped.”
Brooks cleared his throat. “Do we get the jobs?”
Maura’s eyes returned to their nude bodies.
She gestured to Foster. “You’ve got the young, innocent look. You sure you’re of age?”
Foster picked up his pants from the floor and fished in the pocket for his fake ID. He handed it to Maura, who studied it for a moment before passing it back. “Well Mr. Brown, if you two want the jobs, you’ve got them. Three of my dancers recently quit, two of ‘em so hooked on meth they couldn’t stand up anymore, much less dance. The other one up and moved to Canada. You two ain’t using, are you?”
Brooks shook his head. Whatever “using” was, he felt pretty sure they weren’t doing it.
“You don’t happen to have another hot friend who needs work, do you?” she asked.
There was Sid, but Brooks didn’t want to push him to get employment before he was ready. “No. Sorry.”
Maura sighed. “Too much to hope for, I guess.” She motioned to their clothes. “You can get dressed.” She loped back to the desk where she pulled some papers from a drawer.
“Can you tell me exactly what we’ll be doing?” Brooks asked as he slipped into the stiff jeans. The denim had taken some getting used to, but the pack wanted to blend in, so they’d all bought a pair.
Maura glanced up, eyes narrowing. “Thought you knew the business.”
“Aspects of it,” Brooks said. He wasn’t about to lose the jobs now they had them.
“Dancing,” Maura said. “Some tricks. That going to be a problem?”
Brooks kept his expression blank and shook his head. They needed the jobs. Maura had them fill out some paper work, gave their credentials a cursory look, then told them to be there the following night at eight. “I’ll have Donny go through a few dances with you.”
As they walked back to the apartment building, Brooks went over it all in his head. “Why do you suppose she wanted to see us naked?”
“I don’t know, but we can’t afford to be choosey. We can dance, right? I’m guessing we’re going to do it in front of people. I mean, she said entertainment.” Foster was grinning from ear-to-ear. “We got the jobs! And we might get to work together. That’s pretty great, if you ask me.”
“Do you think we’ll be doing our jobs naked?” Brooks asked.
“Maybe?” Foster shrugged. “I can’t think of another reason she’d want to see us without clothes.”
“Humans are so weird. What do you think she meant about tricks?”
“That’s the part that worries me. I can do a handstand. Maybe a cartwheel. I suck at juggling, though.”
“Why would anyone want to watch someone do a cartwheel naked?”
“Beats me.”
They quickened their steps, uncomfortable being out so close to dark. Gradually, Foster lost his high at finding employment and became distracted. Brooks guessed the coyote was thinking of his true mate who wouldn’t come out of hiding. Brooks hoped the job would keep the boy too busy to fret over it.
They finally reached their building and walked into the apartment to pandemonium. Briar and Sam huddled around Josiah on the couch, and the first omega was in tears. The twins clung to Josiah’s legs, faces worried.
“What happened?” Brooks asked a tense and frowning David as Foster rushed over to the group on the couch and touched Sam’s shoulder.
David’s brown eyes were troubled and a muscle clenched in his jaw. “River and Kane got into it about—” David made a gesture that encompassed the apartment and everyone in it, “Same old thing. River refuses to ask the Congress for more help than they’ve already given. Things escalated, and River left.”
“Where did he go?” Brooks asked.
“We don’t know.” David looked at Josiah. Briar was wiping the other omega’s tears with a tissue. “But I’m sure he’ll be back once he’s cooled off.” He tilted his neck as though to release a crick.
The door of the small bathroom opened, and Leo stepped out. He had a cut above his lip. Sam immediately ran to him.
Leo settled an arm around his mate’s shoulders. “Everything’s fine,” he said. He looked into Foster’s questioning eyes as the coyote shifter approached the pair. “I tried to break them up.”
“Where’s Kane?” Brooks asked.
“Out on the fire escape,” Briar said. “He needed a minute.”
“Did anyone else get hurt?” Brooks asked.
“Not really.” David began pacing the room. Brooks wanted to go to him but sensed it wasn’t a good time. “River hurt his hand when he did that.” He pointed to a dent in the wall. Jax wasn’t going to be happy when he got home.
“Leo, can I have a word with you in private?” Brooks asked, motioning to the bedroom Leo and Sam shared.
After he’d closed the door behind them, Brooks turned to his best friend. “This is getting out of hand. Something has to be done.”
Leo crossed his arms over his broad chest. “Agreed. Any ideas?”
Brooks sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “Foster and I got jobs today, so that should help financially.”
Leo sat down on the rumpled bed. “Where?”
“This place called Grind.
It’s a dump, and we have to dance. Probably naked.”
Leo scrunched up his nose. “Why would you do that?”
“Entertainment for the humans, I guess. We’re also supposed to do tricks.”
Leo’s brows arched. “Tricks? Do you even know any?”
“No. Maybe they’ll teach us some.”
Leo let out a breath. “Finances and tempers will be better once we’re out of here. It could have been worse today. River held himself together pretty well. I’m sure he only left so he wouldn’t do any real damage, but Josiah’s upset.”
Brooks sat down beside Leo. “David says River blames himself for what happened. All of it, even before we left the compound. It’s why he’s being so stubborn about accepting help.”
Leo nodded. “I’d feel the same way.”
“Do you ever regret coming with him?” Brooks asked quietly.
Leo seemed to think about that for a while. “No. Things are probably worse at the compound. I have more faith in River and what we can do on our own, but you’re right—something’s got to give soon.” He put his arm around Brooks, a friendly, comforting weight settling on the beta’s shoulders. “Are you okay? Do you regret mating with David?”
Brooks shook his head. “I love him. And I even might love Jax.” A small smile played on his lips. Admittedly, it had been weird at first. Brooks had been resigned to coming to terms with the fact the alpha he was in love with would never be his when, with the intention of eventually leaving, Jax had suggested David mate with Brooks. Jax hadn’t left, though, and Brooks wasn’t sorry for that.
“Judging by what the three of you get up to in bed, I’d say things are going pretty well.” Leo nudged the beta with an elbow, and Brooks could feel the blush suffusing his face and neck. Although sex was common and sometimes public among wolf shifters, Brooks was accustomed to privacy when he was with David and Jax, which was something the little apartment didn’t afford them.
He stood up. “Let’s go see if we can cheer up the others.” He heard Leo chuckling as he opened the door and headed down the hall.
By bedtime, River still had not returned. Sam had played with the girls all evening and put them to bed while Josiah stared out the window, eyes morose.
A New Beginning Page 4
