by Kat Keppeler
“That’s a safe bet, I think,” Finn said as her fingers traced over the mark hidden by his shirt. “The packs I’ve belonged to have been wholly dysfunctional. Yours was really a marvel to the world, I do have to say.”
Finn let his hands rest on his stomach while Skye started eating. “I had the pleasure once of meeting Darby, he was the alpha at the time the pack was…. disbanded… He was a lot like you. Big dreams.”
Finn has successfully dodged her question about his status as mate, there was guilt hidden behind that. She was still offering it but he had been weak. It’s not that he didn’t want her, he wanted her still, it was that he had done so without Rory’s blessing or without having a full handle on himself. “Perhaps there’s a reason your pack was the most successful and I’ve a feeling it has a lot to do with that mark and it’s magic.”
Skye swallowed when Finn didn’t disagree about wanting his mate mark removed but said nothing. She was feeling too raw and fragile to open herself up to any more rejection. Not to mention, what if she was fertile enough for this to have taken? The resulting baby could belong to any of her four men. Skye didn’t think it was likely, though, she’d heard how notoriously difficult it was for shifters to have children and she was braced for that to be the case for her as well.
Instead, she decided to focus on what he said about the alpha of her birth pack.
“My biological father?” Skye wanted to know. She turned her wrist up for Finn, showing the lines of the marcas. “Chance said that my father was the pack’s alpha, it’s marked here. It’s supposed to look like a crown, I guess, but it looks more like a looping line to me.”
She set her half eaten bowl of food to the side to scoot closer to Finn, her blue eyes wide with curiosity although much of that longing to know where she’d come from had been satisfied with what answers they’d already found. Her father - the man who raised her - was a retired banker from Manhattan but she couldn’t deny some curiosity about the man who had sired her.
“You see how this works?” Said Finn, he gripped her wrist to run his fingers over the lines. “Yes it means the man claimed you as kin. But Darby allowed his females to mate as they pleased. You have four mates, Skye.”
Finn kissed her wrist and let it drop. She relaxed a bit as he included himself in that number, relieved although it still felt just a little unsettled. Something was bothering him about the mating but she’d begun to realize that Finn wouldn’t be pushed into a discussion before he was ready.
“How many do you think your mother had?” The question was heavy, he knew. “Your mark means that Darby claimed you as kin but I can’t decidedly say you were his biological daughter. There’s good reason to think he may have been your father, you do look like him, but it’s hard to say.”
Finn drummed his fingers against his belly while he thought. “There’s reasons why additional alpha males in the pack are a problem, Skye. Darby and I ended up drifting from pack to pack until we were forced out. He got sick of it, clearly, and eventually found his way to Scotland to take over that pack. I imagine that takes a considerable amount of strength and maybe even some magic… The pack was one of the largest even before he claimed leadership. In his youth he was passionate and spoke of change, that’s all I can tell you. We went our separate ways back not long after the Salem Witch Trials. It’s easier to be accepted as one lone wolf alpha than two. I haven’t talked to him all that much since. The telephone is a relatively recent invention, remember.”
Skye blinked, it always took her a moment to remember that Finn was older than the country they lived in. It was a strange thought; he looked no older than maybe his mid thirties. Taking her blanket with her, she scooted over until she could slip into his lap, for comfort rather than any more salacious activities as Skye ached in places that she hadn’t even known she could ache in.
“So he was from here, from America. I wonder if that’s why they picked New York to leave me in,” Skye mused aloud. She’d often been curious about that since she’d heard that her birth pack’s territory was in the Scottish Highlands. “Rory’s not going to force you out, Finn, it’s just not who he is. I won’t choose. We’re stronger together, even if it’s an atypical arrangement for a pack.”
She paused and then laughed a little at that, “God, I don’t even manage to have a normal wolf shifter relationship structure. Here, I was just worrying about how I’d explain and introduce everyone to my folks when they visit. I have made vague allusions to a boyfriend but explaining the four of you is going to take some doing.”
“I’m just going to hang out in here when the parents come. Parents don’t like me. They find my sarcasm exhausting also they just don’t like my face. I think it’s being tall or something.” He really was an intimidating presence, being nearly seven feet tall and nothing but muscle. “Drusilla’s parents called me a gold digger, I can’t lie at first I might have been. When you live as long as we do you don’t really have to start saving for the future, do you? Well she was loaded, I met her and she provided. Then I realized I loved her… She left me quite a lot. I mean, I guess the parent’s first impressions of me are accurate. Did Lee tell you he’s been working on a brand to use for the ceremony?”
Skye settled into his lap a little more comfortably. She didn’t want to argue about whether or not he was going to meet her family - he was, but that was not a fight she wanted to engage in right now.
“Lee downplays his abilities too much. He’s doing better with that but it’s an ongoing process to encourage him to be proud of what he’s capable of. I’ll have to ask him about it.” She smiled a little and then pressed a gentle kiss to Finn’s cheek, “Do you want to tell me about your wife?”
There was no judgement in her tone, merely curiosity. Finn clearly loved her and mourned her loss deeply but Skye didn’t feel jealousy, not as she might have if it was a current relationship though Skye hoped she’d be more open minded than that. It seemed unfair to have multiple mates and insist that she have all the attention. Rory and Chance both had a relationship with Lee and she wasn’t honestly certain if their relationship with each other had a romantic component or not. It was a little hard to tell and it wasn’t like she minded. Finn remained quiet for a moment, clearly considering his words.
“I know you were upset that Lee told me about her at all, although I’m glad he did. Do you want to talk about it?” Skye added gently, leaving it open for Finn to decline.
“She was a hard ass.” Finn finally said, his arms wrapped around Skye. “Protestor. She walked in all the civil rights marches, she really had a fighting spirit.”
Finn went silent for a good long while, struggling to find the words. “I don’t know what else to really say except she was a force of nature. She knew how to get what she wanted when she wanted it. I think in the end she was the one seducing me.”
His fingers splayed over Skye’s abdomen tracing circles as he did. “When she found out what I was I thought she was going to leave but she didn’t, she made me prove that I wasn’t lying or crazy.”
Finn sighed, shaking his head. “I thought I’d have years but… I lost her too young. I wasn’t ready. I always knew I’d live longer but...”
Finn trailed off, struggling for words. Skye was quiet, her arms loosely encircling his shoulders and her cheek against his shoulder.
“That sounds so hard. I really am sorry for your loss, Finn, she sounds like an amazing person and you didn’t get nearly the time you should have with her.” Skye kissed his jaw then, tipping her head back to look up at him with those wide blue eyes. “Do you have any of her photos? Or your wedding photos? I know that Lucy kidnapped you from your clinic but is there anything you have in storage or negatives? We could get them reprinted or cleaned up.”
It wasn’t just the photos Skye was suggesting, she wanted to make it clear that she wasn’t going to be upset if he had reminders of his wife up and about. She was part of his life, after all, a large part and Skye would no more expect him
to stop loving her than she’d ask Chance to stop playing music.
“Just an idea,” Skye kissed his jaw one more time before she went to move to scoot off of his lap.
“No. I didn’t save anything, Skye. Well, that’s not true I did but a long time ago I let them go because I just couldn’t have them around anymore. I left them behind. They’re with her family. They never cared much for me anyways,” He shrugged, letting her go and watching her scoot off his lap to get dressed. “I didn’t ever think I’d want to be with anyone else but her again.”
Skye didn’t know what to say to that, hesitating in her words. Before she could find the right thing to say, Finn shook his head, and got up onto his feet again as he deliberately changed the subject away from such sad topics. “I have a few appointments lined up, you know anything about medical billing?”
She didn’t, and when she gave him a blank stare he smiled.
“Me neither, we’re gonna have to take a crash course. Rory poked his head in after you earlier, might want to see what he wants.”
Skye had dressed quickly although she moved with uncharacteristic stiffness to her gait. Normally, she was a rather graceful person but not so much today. She appreciated Betty’s foresight as she’d brought loose comfortable clothing to slip over her skin.
Finn came up behind her and when she turned, his big hands settled on her hips and he bent to place a sweet kiss on her lips. His lips quirked in a gentle smile as he added, teasingly.. “If you find yourself ravenous again the door is always open.”
Skye was able to laugh, this time, as he teased her about her libido. She smiled up at Finn as he dropped the kiss on her lips, her smile fond, “Thank you. I know you won’t take me up on it, but you’re welcome to come in if you get lonely too.”
She wrapped her arms around his waist gently, her cheek warm against his chest as she squeezed him in a hug that she finally didn’t have to hold back in, before she slipped her shoes on and padded from his office toward the big house, adding a mental note to her unending to-do list to figure out how to do a medical billing course.
Chapter Ten
As Skye slipped into the main house, she caught sight of Chance perched on a stool in the kitchen, eating what looked like a late lunch and reading a magazine. He glanced up at her entrance and gave her a devilish smile that twinkled with amusement.
“Back for round… what is it… fourteen? Fifteen?” He teased as Skye blushed furiously and raised her hand to whack him on the shoulder. Chance’s laughter was delighted and he pulled her in his lap eliciting complaints from his still sore mate. Despite the way he manhandled her, Chance’s hands were gentle as he set her on one knee and pushed the other half of his sandwich over to her.
“Look at that blush. Relax, princess, it’s a normal part of shifter life. Sooner than I personally expected but that’s by no means a bad thing,” Chance tipped her chin up to steal a kiss and then pointed at the sandwich expectantly as he said, not bothering to raise his voice, “She’s up.”
Shifter hearing was almost as big a pain in the butt for Skye as shifter sense of smell.
Rory walked in from the front room, his gaze soft on their mate. Lee was outside on the patio complaining loudly about how the cold was affecting his acrylic pours, and Rory was happy to let him bitch.
“Well, it's good to see you back among the living.” Rory told her with affection in his soft brown eyes. He walked over to kiss Skye with the same gentle demeanor that Chance had. They all knew she was sore and just a little fragile this morning, “Finn kept shooing us out of there, said he’d let us know when you were ambulatory again. He can be a real dickhead when he wants.”
Chance’s brows lifted in sardonic amusement at that understatement. Apparently Skye had missed a near squabble as each alpha male had stood nose to nose growling at each other. It had ended peacefully, eventually, but it had almost been a disaster in the form of which man was stronger. Finn probably would have won, but Rory would never admit it.
“Betty said she wanted to talk to the both of us, Skye, I’ll call her in. You feeling okay? Any different?” Like she could tell if there was a possible pregnancy two days after marathon sex. Skye hadn’t grown up in their world, she could never fully understand the ingrained excitement that a potentially fertile female would bring to the rest of them.
Chance sighed at Rory, his hands coming down to rest lightly on Skye’s hips to brace her. He just shook his head at their alpha. Skye thankfully missed the intention in his question and winced.
“Sore mostly. I’m really sorry that I, uhm, jumped you. Well, I’m not sorry.” Skye amended, “But I’m uncomfortable with how out of control I was. I’m a little sorry, mostly because I hurt everywhere.”
“Less talking, more eating,” Chance instructed as he shook his head at Rory again from behind Skye. There was every chance that Skye would have trouble conceiving and Chance didn’t want to get her hopes up or make her feel like there was some expectation on it. They’d all seen the sort of damage that did to their society.
“Princess,” Chance said, his tone gentle, “You know that it doesn’t mean anything. Females go into cycle and sometimes it takes them years to conceive. Many of them never do and that’s okay.”
She turned with his sandwich in her hands to watch Chance. She’d never seen him so serious. Chance generally went between ‘grumpy’ and ‘devil may care’ but this somber side of her mate was new. Someone had to have this conversation and apparently, Chance had nominated himself for it. He gave a little shake of his head to clear his bangs from his eyes. “And Lee and I will probably never have pups even if you can conceive and that’s okay. Any of the cubs you have will be ours and we’ll love them all the same.”
Now it made a bit more sense, what Finn had mentioned earlier about the alpha of her old pack claiming her but not necessarily being her father. Skye did know that reproductive rates were apparently tied to the dominance of their wolves. Chance and Lee were less dominant than Finn or Rory; their chances of having biological offspring were slim to none. In a ‘normal’ pack, they’d never even be given an opportunity to try.
“Oh, Chance,” Skye said as she went to set the sandwich down and hug him even if he squirmed a little uncomfortably and quickly picked her up to hand to Rory. The casual strength of her shifter mates was something Skye never grew tired of and she gave Chance a tender smile despite his discomfort with being emotional in front of witnesses. Chance shook his head at her as she snuggled into Rory’s arms instead.
“Nothing needs to be said, you just needed to know. Now, take care of pack business,” Chance instructed as he went to grab his magazine and head into the office. Finn was right, Skye wasn’t the only one walking with a bit of a limp. Chance added without turning around, “And eat your sandwich.”
“You heard the man.” Rory said as he sat perched on the kitchen stool with Skye on his lap. Just about that time Finn walked in, bowl in hand, walking past Rory and Skye. The elder wolf gave Rory a cocky smile that couldn’t be described as anything other than smug. A small growl rumbled through Rory’s chest as Finn walked by.
Skye glanced up from her sandwich with wide eyes to take in Rory’s rapid mood shift. His hands on her hips were still gentle and his posture relaxed but his eyes were narrowed on Finn. Rory opened his mouth to say something in the direction of Finn’s back as Betty walked in.
“Oh just whip them out already, I really would like to get on with business you two.”
Finn snickered, rinsing out the bowl into the disposal and then kissing Betty on the cheek. “Don’t tell him to do things that are going to make him sorely disappointed.”
Finn was clearly deliberately baiting Rory and that was concerning, but something that couldn’t be addressed now. Betty’s tension was palpable and the gentle natured female rarely asked for anything. The scent of Betty’s fear and agitation drew both Rory and Skye’s attention fully to the plump woman.
“Okay all done now? I can go?�
�� Betty didn’t wait, clearly it was taking all she had in her to keep it under control. As if she were afraid of losing her nerve, Betty dove in quickly, “I really like Liam, and I know I’m just an omega and it’s against tradition but… But… Can we? Can I? He’s an omega too but can we please…. It won’t get in the way I swear.”
“Ooooh, I knew it!” Skye immediately knew what this was about. She’d known that Liam and Betty were drawn to each other and she’d encouraged it. They just… fit together. She could tell that their wolves felt it - that draw towards each other that couldn’t be denied.
Skye couldn’t help her glee, her eyes sparkling and she held out her arms to Betty for a hug like it was a forgone conclusion, bouncing up from Rory’s lap. For the moment, the tension between Rory and Finn was forgotten as she was so excited not only that their budding romance was unfolding but that Betty had gotten the courage up to address Rory about it. She took a few steps forward to hug Betty and then let her go to spin to face Finn, “Is there a ceremony? There should be a ceremony. Oh, or a party! Or both! Lee!”
Because who else was going to put together a proper party. It was up to Rory to give the official approval traditionally but it was clear that Skye was all for it. Skye abandoned them to turn towards the patio and call for her mate, “Clarence Lee!”
Liam stuck his head out from the laundry room blushing furiously, while Rory laughed at Skye. “Skye. She’s not asking to marry the guy she’s asking to make him a mate. That isn’t always permanent… It’s the equivalent of handfasting? Like, it can be temporary if they both decide it’s not working out anymore.”
