by Fel Fern
“Because he’s my brother,” Diana said, shaking her head like she was waking up from a bad dream.
“Half-brother,” Dee Dee corrected.
“He’s one of the few people I trust,” Diana muttered, her words warming his heart.
Ron ignored her. He rose from the bed, walked to Diana and took her hands in his. He ignored Dee Dee’s snarl. Ron was used to the treatment. He’d endured the taunts, the bullies, and the abuse all his life.
Ron’s human mother died giving birth to him. For some unexplainable reason, his father, Brendan Silverback, took pity and decided to take Ron in. Father was a loose word. Ron learned from the beginning he amounted to nothing in Brendan’s eyes. The Silverback pack prided themselves on producing pure-blood shifters. Shifters born rather than made, this made them stronger and more powerful than those who were changed through the bite. Being half-blood Ron didn’t come with the same hardware.
In his dysfunctional family, only Diana made the effort of bothering to know him. She welcomed Ron and made his life tolerable. If their hard-eyed bastard of a father planned to give her away to some stranger, Ron wouldn’t keep quiet. Not just to any Alpha either, but to Sergio Esteban, leader to one of the most bloodthirsty packs in the region. Rumor had it the Darkfall Mountain Pack didn’t tolerated outsiders, operated on cruelty, and no one fucked with them unless they had a death wish.
“Look what happened to the members of the Order of the Knife. They entered Darkfall and they never got out,” Ron said. The Order of the Knife wasn’t just an organization made up of stone-cold hunters, they were also fanatics who hated anything supernatural. Most shifter groups feared crossing them, but Sergio Estaban welcomed them into the heart of his territory and ripped them to shreds.
Diana shuddered. She heard what happened. Everyone did.
“You’re scaring her, half-breed,” Dee Dee pointed out. The bitch annoyed Ron, but she had a point.
“I’m going to have to sleep with a monster. Mate with him until I’m pregnant,” Diana whispered, eyes full of fear.
Ron squeezed Diana’s small hands. “I didn’t mean to frighten you, baby sister, just telling you to be on guard all the time. I have your back.”
Dee Dee snorted. “What can a weak half-breed Omega do?”
Ignoring her, Ron continued, “The pack has your back if anything happens or Sergio crosses the line.”
Diana expelled a breath and nodded. “You’re right. Sergio still has to abide by the rules.”
“Right. He won’t do anything that would risk him this alliance.” Ron helped her stand and gave her appearance a sweeping glance. Diana looked a lot older than all her twenty-two years in her sleek black dress. Not a wedding gown yet, but the time would come. To cement the alliance, their father wanted a legal contract as well.
“Let’s go then.” Diana gave him a tight smile. “Meet my new groom downstairs, before he begins to think he’s marrying a timid dove.”
Ron nodded, although Diana didn’t know she hit the mark. His sweet little sister who never harbored any malice for anyone, who didn’t know how to play shifter politics, deserved much better. Diana needed a mate who’d treat her gently, like the princess she was, not some brute who liked killing.
They headed out of Diana’s room and down the stairs to the receiving room. The Silverback Manor stood on land owned by the pack, surrounded by woods and untouched land. This was their home, their fortress. Surely, Sergio and his wolves wouldn’t get out of line?
Members of the pack remained scattered in different rooms. Usually, the manor wasn’t this crowded, but it looked like Brendan wanted to a show of numbers to welcome their visitors. Ron wasn’t surprised. Shifters liked throwing off power, and despised showing weakness to their enemies—which was what the Darkfall wolves were. For as long as Ron remembered, their pack and Sergio’s had been at war. No one exactly knew when the conflict started, only that there was bad blood between them.
Ron felt the tension mount the moment they entered the receiving room. Brendan Silverback remained seated on the couch, surrounded by his most trusted wolves. The party seating opposite them must be Sergio and company. Sergio’s back faced them, so Ron couldn’t see the Alpha’s face.
Even before anything started, some of Ron’s pack members bared their teeth. Others glowered at Sergio and the five shifters with him, clearly stating their intent. If this meeting went downhill, Sergio would meet his end. Sergio’s men didn’t were on their guard as well, their eyes taking stock of their opponents.
“Ah, Diana. Took you long enough,” Brendan said in his cold familiar tone.
Their father didn’t look once on Diana. Brendan never bothered telling her how pretty she looked, or shot her an assuring smile. Typical. In front of Ron, Diana started to tremble. To Ron’s surprise, Sergio Esteban rose and turned to his new bride.
Ron licked his lips. Sergio was one beautiful dark-haired and gray-eyed bastard. Fucking huge and built like a rock with every inch of him made of muscle. One look told Ron this Alpha didn’t need words to tell the world he’d seen his share of battles.
Sergio would have been handsome, an eye-turner if not for the tiny details that would make most hesitate. Sergio’s slightly crooked nose looked like it had been broken a couple of times. Tiny nicks and old scars marred his face, making him hard. An unreadable expression crossed the Alpha’s silver gaze when he caught sight of Diana.
“Brendan,” Sergio said. He exhaled, as if trying to control his breathing or most likely his temper. “How old is Diana?”
“She’s twenty-two this year. That a problem?” Brendan asked.
“She doesn’t look past eighteen.” Sergio neared them. Crossed the distance in a couple of long-legged strides and it didn’t help Diana flinch away. He grabbed her wrist. Diana let out a squeak. “Look me in the eye, girl.”
Diana began shaking so badly. Instead of testing her further, Sergio let go of her in disgust. That pissed Ron off. He swore he wouldn’t intervene. Hell, he’d been warned numerous times by Brendan’s enforcers not to screw this up. Ron even had the bruises on his arms to show for it, but he couldn’t just stand by and let this arrogant Alpha push Diana around.
“Hey, you. Fucker.” The words slipped out of Ron before he could stop them. Diana looked at him in horror. Dee Dee looked smug, as if she expected him to cause trouble.
Sergio turned, eyes narrowed. Ron didn’t see the Alpha move. Sergio’s figure blurred. Air whooshed out of Ron’s lungs. His back hit the wall and he found Sergio’s callused hand, wrapped around his throat. Sergio didn’t apply pressure or break his neck. Not yet, at least. To Ron’s dismay, he saw his pack members tense, but they didn’t move or bother to defend him against Sergio’s attack.
“And who the fuck do you think you are, little wolf?” Sergio’s voice sounded like gravel and dripped with scorn.
They locked eyes. Time halted. The world came to a sudden stop. Ron didn’t hear the rising growls and voices behind Sergio. The sound he heard was their panting breaths. Sergio’s silver eyes looked like frigid chips of ice at first glance, but Ron saw hints of amber bleeding into the Alpha’s pupils, Sergio’s dangerous beast peering at his scrawny wolf.
Ron couldn’t understand the emotions Sergio riled up in him, or why Sergio began sniffing the side of his neck. It didn’t escape Ron this was the kind of gesture horny shifters did when they scented a potential lover or mate.
“You smell so fucking good, little wolf,” Sergio whispered, his breath warm against his neck. The sound of his voice, full of want and dark promises, started Ron’s heart into a fierce gallop.
“Father, do something!” The sound of Diana’s voice startled Ron back to reality. “He’s going to kill Ron.”
You’re dead wrong, little sister, Ron wanted to say, except he couldn’t say the words. He looked at Sergio with desperate eyes. Hoped the Alpha understood the silent message Ron tried to convey. Every shifter knew the first rule of survival. Never show weakness, and
if Sergio showed Brendan he wanted to mate Ron as opposed to killing him—Ron shuddered to think the consequences of that action. Lucky for him, Sergio had sense than most. Sergio shoved him way, the passion in his yellow gaze turning back to indifference.
All an act, Ron knew, but he couldn’t help but shudder at Sergio’s next words.
“Get this idiotic Omega off me before I rip his throat.” Sergio backed away, placing some distance between them.
He said one thing, but Ron read something else in his body language and his powerful wolf—the seductive promise of a next time. Ron was certain his next encounter with Sergio wouldn’t have this many obstacles. An Alpha of Sergio’s repute wouldn’t take “no” for an answer. That wasn’t what scared the shit out of Ron though. It was his compliance. His willingness and inability to refuse Sergio, because although he couldn’t make sense what just happened, Ron knew their first meeting unlocked something in him. Something base and primal he didn’t know he had.
“Father!” Diana shrieked.
“Take the runt away,” Brendan said.
Ron didn’t like the thoughtful look on his father’s face, or the way he watched Ron being taken away by two werewolf grunts. Normally, Brendan didn’t give a fuck about Ron. Most days, Ron didn’t exist in his eyes. Did Brendan know their secret? Dread filled his insides at that thought. One brush with Sergio had been enough for Ron to know. To understand the black rumors surrounding the Alpha hadn’t been all true. Beneath that armor was a beating heart, capable of speeding up the moment their flesh kissed.
Diana, Sergio and his father faded from his sight. The grunts dragged him up the stairs and locked Ron in his room, just like when he was a bloody teenager.
“Hey!” Ron pounded on his door. “Let me out.”
No response. Ron tried some more, but only came away with raw knuckles. Feeling defeated and frustrated, he elected to sit on the edge of his bed.
“Relax. Breathe,” Ron told himself.
It didn’t help. Ron’s muscles remained tensed up. He lay rigidly on his bed, watching the minute and hour hand of his wall clock. Experience taught him talks between packs, with former enemies no less, could span to hours. Sergio was down there. So was Diana, who had no clue what just happened. Was Sergio thinking about Ron, the way Ron began to wonder about the Alpha?
“Christ. What’s wrong with me?” Ron took out his hand phone.
His fingers faltered on the touch screen keypad. Damn it. If he had friends outside the pack, he’d talk to them, but Brendan made sure Ron remained isolated from the outside world. Dependency on the pack ensured a Silverback wolf remained loyal. A bloody chess piece Brendan Silverback can moved where he willed, discard when he was no longer needed.
Once, Ron was no better than a pawn. Hell, Ron didn’t even have a place on that board. Until Sergio came and their beasts touched, recognizing each other for what they were—the missing halves of a whole. Ron used to scoff at the concept of mates. Figured the whole match-up program imprinted in all shifters was bullshit. Even if it did exist and Ron had seen his share of mates finding each other, he knew it wasn’t for him.
Ron was a nobody. A lowly Omega and Brendan’s bastard the pack barely tolerated. He existed to be picked on and kicked, not noticed. Better to forget about Sergio, but it he couldn’t. The sheer force of Sergio was hard to disregard. Sergio was like a force of nature, sweeping Ron away by the confidence of his domineering want and confidence. His scent. God did Sergio smell good. Right. Perfect.
Gritting his teeth, Ron pulled a pillow over his head. He couldn’t block the thoughts of Sergio out.
“Not for me, but for Diana,” Ron whispered.
Besides, he’d glimpsed a facet of the Alpha. Sergio wouldn’t hurt Diana. He’d be good to her. Make pureblood pups with her. I can give him pups, too, said a tiny voice in Ron’s head. I’m a bloody Omega, too, deemed worthless by the pack for being a bastard.
“Stop it.”
Boy did Ron sound pathetic, talking to himself like this. The enclosed space didn’t help. Ron needed fresh air. To feel his paws touch the ground and the wind against his coat. He tossed the pillow aside and eyed his bedroom window. Same oak tree loomed outside. The tree was his old buddy during his rebellious teenage days. Ron dragged himself out of bed.
Grunting, he jerked up the window. He winced at the sound. Ron glanced back at his bedroom door. He focused on any sound outside. No voices, and his wolf would alert him if the grunts were outside. Apparently, they had better things to do than keep watch over a bastard. Ron stepped out of the window and into the ledge. Been awhile since he did this, but it was like riding a bike. Ron knew which branches to step on and which groove in the old trunk to grab onto. In a matter of minutes, he skimmed his way down.
Ron took a sigh of relief. A quick look around his surroundings told Ron he was alone. He quickly shed his clothes, rolled them into a bundle and hid them underneath a nearby bush. Ron reached for his wolf and shifted. Always a pain in the ass to change, but he’d gotten used to is over the years. Organs shifted and fur appeared with claws and canines. Once he was on all fours, Ron started to feel a little better.
The wolf didn’t care about human politics. It understood freedom. The hunt. Ron’s stomach grumbled. It was about the right time for some lunch. He’d go for a run. Get something in his belly. When he returned to human form, he would hopefully have the sense to forget Sergio Esteban.
Chapter Three
Sergio loosened his tie, remembering why he hated meetings like this. Talk was cheap. He started to think he preferred meeting Brendan and his wolves on the opposite end of a battleground, rather than endure this. Listening to the other Alpha drone on about the purity of his bloodline, how this alliance would be for the good of preserving their kind, Sergio did his best not to snore. The bigoted bastard seemed stuck in the Middle Ages. It was getting damn hard for Sergio to pretend to look remotely interested.
His bride-to-be, Diana, didn’t help his nerves. She looked like a frightened mouse, sitting next to her father. When she poured Sergio tea, her hands shook so badly Sergio had to take the pot off her hands. That made her reel back and let out a little squeak.
Christ. Sergio didn’t want a mate who couldn’t hold her own. He needed someone with a spine to stand by his side, able to weather storms together and not flinch at the slightest thing. Diana was fragile. Easily breakable, unlike that male Omega Sergio brushed against earlier. Golden-haired and blue-eyed, same as Diana, but his backbone had been made of steel. One look told Sergio the feisty Omega would be able to take his rough brand of sex—lust after it even.
Ron. He heard Diana scream. Judging by the way Brendan brushed Ron off and the looks Brendan’s trusted gave the young man it wasn’t hard for Sergio to guess why Brendan hadn’t offered Ron to him. One sniff told Sergio Ron existed on the lower hierarchy of the pack. Knowing Silverback and their outdated notions, they wouldn’t want a half-breed carrying on their lineage. Sergio closed his eyes for a fraction of a second. Even now, he could remember the way Ron’s alluring scent hit him like a sledgehammer.
The moment Sergio closed his hand around Ron’s throat, he knew. Knew only inches separated him from the mate he’d been searching for all his life. For an Omega, Ron had a lot of fight in him. Enough defiance to stir the fires in Sergio and it took all of his willpower to suppress his dominant beast from taking what they knew rightfully belonged to them. Those wide eyes told Sergio Ron was aware of the unexplainable magnetism between them.
“Is this conversation boring you, Sergio?” Brendan’s cold voice woke Sergio from his thoughts.
Sergio opened his eyes and bared his teeth. Never show weakness in front of another predator. “I’m just resting my eyes for a bit, old man. It’s been a long journey here. That’s what, a five-hour drive. Right, Alessio?”
His brother threw him a warning look, silently reminding him to trend carefully.
“Six-hours, Alpha.” To Sergio’s surprise, one of his
enforcers, Jared answered for him. Jared’s younger sister, Jane, nudged him sharply in the ribs.
“There you have it.” He turned his attention back to Brendan. “Look. The deal’s sealed and done. We’ve discussed the terms beforehand, too. Let’s continue this tomorrow.”
Brendan looked contemplative. Sergio was surprised the old man didn’t assert his authority, didn’t force Sergio to sit through another hour’s worth of useless drivel. “Very well.”
“Excuse me?”
“You make a valid point, Sergio. We will retire for the day. Have a fresh start tomorrow morning. My wolves will show you and your group to the guest room. We have sufficient rooms for all.”
They stood. Shook hands. Sergio glanced at Diana, who dropped her gaze. He walked to her. Took her hands in his and squeezed gently. An act. He didn’t know what he would do about Ron yet. Hell, thinking about the consequences of taking Ron and refusing the bride Brendan picked gave him a headache. Diana, well. The young woman certainly needed some reassurance. Someone to tell her everything would be alright.
“I look forward to knowing you better, Diana. Once you get to know me, you’ll realize I’m not as bad as the rumors claimed.” Sergio kept his voice gentle. He ignored Brendan’s derisive snort.
Diana gave him a tiny smile and nodded. Sergio let her go. He followed one of Brendan’s lackeys out the main house. The guesthouse was positioned near the Olympic-sized swimming pool. Like Brendan promised, they were well provided for.
“If you need something, Alpha, housekeeping is at your service. Also, if you have a need to run in the woods nearby the house, no one would bother you,” said the lackey, before closing the door behind him. Jane and Alaric, another enforcer, began checking the space for bugs or spying devices of the mystical and electronic nature.
“Clear,” Jane announced a couple of minutes later.
“Brendan’s sure treating us like guests. Seems suspicious,” Jared said once the footsteps of Brendan’s minion faded.
Alessio didn’t bother with diplomacy. He glared at Sergio. “What the fuck was that just now?”
