by T. S. Ryder
"I'm Lukas Shultz, Alpha of the Cedar Grove pack."
Will took another drag, eyeing Lukas. He was about the same age as Will, although he had been Alpha for a shorter period of time. Cedar Grove was one of the largest packs around, and notoriously also one of the most broke ones. Yet another Alpha wanting money.
"Want a loan, then? Or maybe a mate from one of the members of my pack so you can try to get some free cash from us?"
Lukas narrowed his eyes. "All that money shouldn't go to an arrogant son of a—"
He cut himself off. Will was used enough to such insults that he only laughed at it. What did he care about this tiny little Alpha and his tiny little problems?
Lukas inhaled deeply, clearly fighting to calm himself. "My proposal is far different. Everybody knows that the River Basin pack are few in number, due to the massive land restrictions that you face. You lose members every year because there isn't room for them. My packlands are extensive, and I have a strong place in the council of Alphas, at least as far as numbers go."
"So you want me to buy land from you?"
"No. I suggest that we merge our packs, the way the Rocky Ridge and Lakeland packs did with Xavier and Timothy."
Will dropped his cigarette and crushed it beneath his foot. "Oh, so you're proposing to me?"
Lukas glowered at him, then pulled a photograph from his pocket. He held it out for Will to see. The Alpha's brows rose. The picture was of a beautiful woman. Built thick and strong, the way he liked them, with long, glossy black hair, pale eyes and skin the color of rich prairie earth. She wore a simple flower dress in the photo, but Will grinned as he imagined her in stocking and garters–and nothing else.
"This is Elena Aldana. She and I were arranged to be mates when we were babies. She's human, but as you can see she's very strong."
Will took the picture from him. Human. He had always thought Alphas that took humans as mates were ridiculous, as there was no human, no matter how well-versed in the ways of Wolves, that could really understand what it was like to be a Wolf. But if this Elena had been promised as a mate to Lukas when they were babies, she had to have been raised as part of the pack, right?
"So, what? You want to give me your mate in exchange for our packs being merged? Do you expect me to give you one of my women in exchange?"
"Are you being an idiot on purpose, or is it just your default setting?"
Will flicked the picture back at him. "Well, you're not proposing, so what is it? Come on, boy, speak clearly."
He grinned with amusement when a red flush rose up Lukas' cheeks, his hands clenching at his sides. "How can I be clearer? I said that I was suggesting a relationship like that of Xavier and Timothy. They may technically be mates, but there's nothing really between them. It's more that they're mated to the same woman. If we both mated with Elena, our packs would be merged. It would be beneficial to the both of us."
Will fumbled in his pocket for a second cigarette. "So you want to share a mate? Are you going to be the one to stay home and watch after the babies while I take care of pack business?"
Lukas ground his teeth and glowered at him. "You would not even have to give up your side females. Provided that they were fine with the fact that any children they had by you wouldn't ever be your replacement in the pack."
That wouldn’t work. If he was going to have a mate, he would have to break it off with Catherine and Harriet. He wasn't going to be unfaithful to his mate. Was he willing to give them up, though?
Yes. They were both beautiful girls, but neither of them could give him certain things–such as an heir.
"Well. Maybe I'd be willing to give it a try. On one condition."
"Only one?"
Will shrugged. "It's a pretty big one. If we're going to share Elena as a mate, she has my baby first. And that baby inherits the leadership of both packs. Agreed? Or do you have to discuss it with her first?"
"I don't need to discuss anything with her, I am the Alpha of my pack." Lukas took a deep breath. "If that's what it takes, then yes. We are in agreement."
He stuck out his hand. Will grinned as he shook it. Now all he had to do was meet this delectable Elena Aldana.
Chapter Two – Elena
The jolt of the gun vibrated up Elena's arm, making her grin. She always loved this sensation, putting in the last nail of her project. She stepped back to admire her work, powering off the nail gun she had been using. The crown molding was perfect. Now all she had to do was fill in the nail holes and paint the whole thing. Some of the guys on the team didn't want to work with a woman when they first joined up, but she had been working construction since she was twelve years old and she knew her stuff better than most of them.
The foreman stepped into the room. "Aldana, the boss wants to see you."
Elena scowled. Just when she was getting into her groove. She set her equipment to one side. For years she'd had problems with the guys stealing her stuff since she always used the high-end products that they were too cheap to buy, but getting everything in pink had solved that problem. Unconventional, but effective.
Not that Elena didn't like pink. In fact, it was her favorite color. She'd have painted her truck a sparkly pink if her father had let her.
"It's a work truck," he had told her, though she had paid for it with her own money and was reimbursed only half her gas costs. "You're not during around to my sites in a pink truck. I have a reputation."
It made her blood boil, but when you worked for your father, sometimes you just had to play by his rules. The fact was that he wasn't as young as he used to be, and he needed her to help keep the business running.
Her father was talking with an old, grey-haired man when she entered the office. Both men turned to her when she stepped in. Another potential client needing a quote?
"Ah, Elena." Her father came forward and put an arm around her shoulder. "Let me introduce Alan Straight from the Cedar Grove pack."
A werewolf? Elena's brows rose. They usually kept to themselves. She'd never actually met one before. She certainly never expected one here. "How do you do?"
"Quite appalled, my dear. Appalled." The Wolf shook his head. "Am I to understand correctly that you father has never told you about the deal he made with the late Alpha of the Cedar Grove pack?"
Elena glanced at her father, whose face was stony. He released her as if she was diseased, and the sneer on his face bode nothing but ill. She knew her father wasn't always the most upfront person… so what had he gotten himself into this time? And what was she supposed to do to get him out of it? It had better not be like last time–she had to drop twenty pounds by starving herself to be the poster girl for a weight-loss drug that later turned out to actually cause weight gain. She had only just been able to gain back the weight so she felt comfortable in her own skin again.
"I don't know of any arrangement that he made," she said evenly.
"It was such a long time ago, and it can't possibly hold up in court," her father said. "Don't worry about a thing, Elena."
Well, that wasn't completely terrifying. She stepped away from her father. "What did you do?"
"These documents have all the information." Alan handed her a packet of papers. "When you were an infant, your father wanted to purchase a plot of land from the Cedar Grove pack. A plot that I believe you just took out a third mortgage on so you could expand your business?"
"It will never hold up in court," her father insisted again.
"What won't?" Elena frowned. "What does this all have to do with me?"
"Packlands, as a matter of law, are not able to be purchased by humans."
"But you just said my dad bought land."
"No. He wanted to, but your father did not purchase the land. Instead, it was given to him as an honorary member of the pack, because of the agreements he made with the former Alpha that you would be mated to his son."
"What?" Elena whirled on her father, her eyes blazing with anger. She had gotten her mother's temper, according to her father, but if
that was the case she must have gotten her honesty from her, too. "What did you do? How could you trade me away like a truck that you have no more use for? You sold me off as a child bride for a stupid piece of land?"
"I did no such thing! You were not to mate him until after your twentieth birthday. And face it, Elena, that day came and passed long ago." Her father narrowed his eyes at her and folded his arms. "I was put in a terrible position by the Wolves, and I never thought that they'd actually try to make it happen."
Elena turned away, digging one hand into her short hair. What could she do now? Letting out a deep breath, she glanced down at the papers that she still held. Shaking her head, she opened them and started reading through them.
"I would be more than happy to let your human lawyers take a look at it," Alan said. "And of course, you are under no obligation to mate with our new Alpha. However, if you do not mate him then you can no longer be considered part of the pack and the lands will be taken away from you at once."
Her father huffed. "Take those lands away, and I've got three mortgages I have to pay off at once. How am I meant to do that? I'll be ruined!"
"Whose fault is that?" Elena muttered. She turned on him. "Bad enough that you do this in the first place, but why didn't you ever tell me?"
"I was in a terrible spot. I did what I had to in order to ensure your future. You could be a little more grateful."
Elena didn't want to feel guilty over her anger towards her father, but it inevitably started to rise. It was like this all the time. He'd do something that put her in a terrible position, and then when she got angry or fought back against it, it was somehow her fault and he was only looking out for her. She was sick of it but didn't know how to make it stop. This really took the cake, though.
"Perhaps there is an alternative to look at," Alan said soothingly. "Miss Aldana, you could come to the packlands and give it a bit of a try before you say no."
"No. No, I'm not going to be traded back and forth like I'm some medieval girl who has no choice with who she marries. This is absurd beyond belief. I refuse to talk about this any further." Elena glowered at first the Wolf than her father. "We're done here. I am not mating with some guy I've never met before. What does that even mean, mating?"
Alan opened his mouth. "It—"
"You are not going to ruin me with your stubbornness, Elena." Her father narrowed his eyes at her. "If you don't go with this werewolf and mate that Alpha, I'll have nothing and it will be your fault. You do this, or you will no longer be welcome as my daughter."
"You wouldn't dare disown me," Elena shout back. "I'm too vital to running your business for you. You wouldn't even let me look for other jobs, there is no way you would—"
"You're fired."
Elena froze. She stared blankly at her father. Was he serious?
"You're fired, and it's high time you moved out on your own. I'm going to change the locks on the house. You have two hours to move out." Her father smiled cruelly. "Of course, you're welcome back anytime, Elena. Provided we still have a home and the Wolves haven't taken it away."
The Wolf stared between them, shocked, but Elena rose her chin. "Fine. I'll go with the Wolf and try out this whole mating business. I'll grab my stuff and go. Oh, and Dad? I'm painting my truck pink."
***
"Highly unusual," Alan muttered once again, looking disgusted. "Lukas deserves to know you are being blackmailed into being his mate. He'll never stand for it."
Elena pulled up to the run-down house Alan had directed to her and stopped the truck. Ugh. Just looking at this place made Elena want to gut it and completely redo it. Which she luckily had the skills for. Well, maybe she could convince Lukas to pay her for the job, and use him as a reference as she searched for new employment. She wasn't going to crawling back to her father after this.
"You're not telling him anything about what my father did," she said shortly. "This is humiliating enough without him feeling sorry for me. I'll tell him that I didn't know about it and that will be it. Understood?"
The old man sighed and nodded. "Very well."
"Besides, everything will be fine, as long as there aren't any more surprises like he has seven brothers that I have to find mates for."
The door to the house and two men stepped out onto the porch. Elena's stomach went in flip-flops. If she was a cartoon, she would have become a heart-shaped puddle on the floor.
Both were possibly the most gorgeous people she had ever seen. Tall, broad-shouldered, muscles straining against their clothing. One of them was tattooed, with a shock of dark hair and dark eyes perfect for brooding. The other was more clean-shaven, and he held himself like a king. She had a feeling there was nothing he wanted that he didn't get. As she stared at them, her mouth watered and heat flashed through her body.
"Ah," the Wolf in her truck said. "I thought this might happen."
"What might happen?" Elena couldn’t take her eyes from the two.
"Well… it appears that you will have two mates instead of one."
Her head turned so quickly she cricked her neck. "What?"
Chapter Three – Lukas
She looked even more beautiful in real life than in her photos. The picture made her look more slender than she actually was. The real thing was all curves, with thick arms and a stocky waist that indicated true strength. She was wearing some sort of construction outfit, but her overalls had a touch of lace sewn onto the edges, and pink leather gloves peeked from the pockets.
His hands were sweaty. He was more nervous than he thought he would be, meeting her for the first time. Honestly, he hadn't expected it to take this long. But every time he wanted to meet her, her father told her she was out of the country or otherwise couldn’t make it.
"Elena," he greeted, stepping forward.
"I feel like we're old friends," Will interrupted. He grasped her hands and kissed her cheek.
Elena swallowed and pulled away from him. Lukas was glad that she did. He realized his hands had clenched into fists and forced himself to relax. She was his mate first. Will couldn't change that, even if he claimed everything else.
"Shall we go inside?" Will said with a grin. How could he have teeth that white when he smoked the way he did? Lukas internally sighed–if only cigarettes affected Shifters the way they did humans.
"Uh, no."
The moment he heard her voice, Lukas immediately regretted the deal he had made with Will. There was no reason for the other male to so much as look at his mate. He had his two women that he refused to mate. There was no indication he'd treat Elena like anything but a brood mare. Well. Will might give her the first child, but every other child after that would be Lukas'. He'd make sure of that. The only reason he wasn't calling this off was because he needed the money.
Elena stepped back and shook her head. "I only found out today that I've got a werewolf Alpha, and I'm here to give it a try, but I didn't sign up for two men."
"Wait." Lukas' heart plummeted. "You just found out today? I've known about you my whole life, why were you just told today?"
Alan cleared his throat. "I think I had best let you three discuss this yourself. If you need me, I will be at home."
Lukas grunted at him.
Elena turned. "Thank you."
Alan looked a little startled but nodded at her before heading off. The human turned back to the two Alphas and visibly gulped. But she still tossed her head, her short hair flipping into her eyes, and put her hands on her hips. Her eyes narrowed.
"Now. Will you two kindly tell me what all this nonsense about both of you maybe being my mates is all about?"
Will snorted and turned to Lukas. "When you proposed this idea you didn't tell me that you'd never met her before. I thought it was something that you had discussed with her. And now I find out that she didn't even know she was mated to you. For all you know, she's got a dozen children by a dozen different men."
"Excuse me? 'She' is standing right here, and I don't appreciate you talkin
g as though I'm not. And for your information, Mr. I'm All That, I just happen to not have a boyfriend and I'm a virgin—" Her eyes widened and she slapped a hand to her mouth. She looked horrified like she had just revealed a dirty secret.
Lukas hadn't even considered that she might not be. He had always assumed that she was saving herself for him like he had saved himself for her. But it was still a relief to hear that she hadn't had other men.
"My pack is financially unstable, but we have a lot of land," he explained. "Will's pack is wealthy but has only a little land. It's beneficial for both of us to combine our packs. The best way to do that is for us both to mate you, and have you as Alpha Female of both packs. Your first child would then be Alpha of both packs."
"And you agreed because of land," she said dully, looking at Will. "Is it something you want to… mate me?"
"I must do what is best for my pack," the male said smoothly. He took one of Elena's hands in his. "I will admit that was never a situation that I expected or would have wanted, but when so many of my pack members are giving up their rights to stay on packlands and going to cities, despite the fact that Wolves need space… Well, I have to put them over my own needs. Not that it won't be a delight to be your mate."
Was this the kind of drabble that he used on the two women from his pack that he was sleeping with? Lukas repressed a growl. This was for the best of his pack. His father had left him with massive debts. As much as it grated to have to share a mate, let alone with an arrogant asshole like Will, he had to actually do it.
Not that he was going to let Will have the satisfaction of knowing that he was in such a terrible situation. And as for Elena, if she was going to fall for Will's lines, then maybe she deserved what she got from him. No–he'd fight for her. He wasn't going to just abandon her to Will's debauchery.
"And you?" Elena turned to Lukas. "You said that your pack is financially unstable?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
Lukas shrugged. The truth was too painful to talk about. She'd find out plenty from talking to other Wolves, anyway. Rumors were plentiful, and the worse part was that most of them weren't as half as bad at the truth. His father might not have left him with much, but he still had his pride. He wouldn't have a mate who pitied him.
