by L. C. Davis
Nathan stilled his breath to listen. They were talking about him.
“I know how you feel,” Connor said in a harsh whisper. “I feel the same way. You think I don’t want to find that prick and rip out his throat the same as you do?”
“It’s my responsibility to protect both of you, and I failed,” Duke growled. “For all I know, it’s someone in the pack. It could be one of the soldiers I make eye contact with every day, and I walk past him without even knowing what he did to our son.”
“Except we don’t know what happened, and we never will if Nathan feels like he has to protect that asshole from us,” Connor hissed. “He doesn’t trust us. The fact that he went to Hassan--and thank God he did, or who knows how long he would have gone on keeping this to himself--proves that he doesn’t feel safe coming to us about these things. We need him to feel safe, now more than ever, because he’s going to need us more than ever. I hate this as much as you do, but right now, Nathan and this baby have to be our top priority.”
Duke mumbled something Nathan couldn’t quite make out, but he didn’t need to hear the words to know it was grudging assent to his mate’s logic. “You really think Silver Lake is what’s best for him?”
“I do,” Connor said without hesitation, casting doubt on Nathan’s assumption that sending him away had been Duke’s idea. “What Nathan needs now is rest and unconditional love, and there’s nowhere more equipped for that than Silver Lake. I also know it’s only a matter of time before you snap if you think there’s even a chance he’s still here around the Alpha who did this.”
Nathan winced. So that was the real reason. Duke was a hellhound, after all. Any Alpha would be tempted to commit murder after finding out some random Alpha had impregnated his kid, but if Duke lost his cool, the consequences would be dire.
“What did Nathan say when you brought it up to him?”
“He doesn’t want to do it, of course. But I think with time, he’ll see it’s for the best. I’ve been thinking, and I could take some time off work to get him settled in.”
“Maybe that would work,” Duke agreed thoughtfully. “I trust Barnabas. He’s one of the only Alphas I’d trust to look after Nathan the way we would, and his boys have good heads on their shoulders.”
“It’s settled, then. We’ll both talk to him in the morning.”
Duke fell silent. “Did you hear that?”
Nathan hurried the rest of the way down the stairs, making as much noise as possible in an attempt to convince his parents he’d just come down the stairs on his way into the kitchen. He rubbed his eyes as Connor called, “Nate?”
The younger omega came to a stop. “Oh. Hey, what are you guys doing up?”
“Just talking,” Connor said, looking him over carefully. “How long have you been awake?”
“Not long, I just wanted something to drink.”
“I can make you something,” Duke offered, standing. The tone in his voice was intentionally gentle. Nathan knew the Alpha wasn’t good at apologizing and rarely had the occasion to practice, but he could tell it was his father’s attempt at making peace.
“That’s okay. Thanks, though.” He hesitated. “Since you’re both up anyway, there’s something I wanted to talk to you about.”
“Anything,” said Connor.
“About Silver Lake…” Nathan sighed. “I was thinking and now that the semester’s over, I guess it wouldn’t be the worst idea to go somewhere. People are going to start talking when they find out.”
“Honey, that’s not why we brought this up,” Connor said. “People can talk all they want. This is about what’s best for you.”
“I know, but I’m not like you guys. I care what people think, and when they do start talking, I’d rather not be around to listen.” He shrugged. “It’s not like it’s forever, right?”
Duke and Connor exchanged a look of surprise. “Of course not,” said Duke. “Just until you get your bearings.”
“I could go with you,” said Connor. “It could be fun, like a vacation.”
Nathan gave him a dubious look. “Your idea of a vacation is Tokyo, not Hicksville. And no offense, but the only thing worse than getting sent away to the country because you’re knocked up is getting sent away to the country with your dad.”
Connor sighed. “I suppose I have lost my street cred.”
“I’m still cool though, right?” Duke teased.
Nathan wrinkled his nose. “Hate to break it to you, pop, but you were never cool.”
Duke smirked. “You sure about this, kiddo?”
“I’m not sure of anything anymore,” Nathan admitted. “Might as well not know what I’m doing in Silver Lake.”
“We’ll call Cameron and Barnabas tomorrow, then,” Connor said, smiling. “I know it doesn’t sound like fun now, but I think you might be pleasantly surprised.”
“Yeah. Who knows? Maybe they have sock hops now,” Nathan said dryly.
Chapter Twelve
KENT
“Please tell me you’re not wearing that.”
Kent looked over at Adam from his post leaning against one of the columns that held up the front of the family estate, then back down at his outfit. Sure, the jeans had some sawdust on them from his work on the porch, but his steel-toed boots were a cut above sneakers and he’d changed into a clean T-shirt. “Hey, no one even told me Nathan was coming until an hour ago. Be glad I’m wearing a shirt.”
Adam rolled his eyes, snatching the phones out of the twins’ hands. “You two are the closest to Nathan in age, so I want you to be welcoming.”
Cobel and Bryce both looked at Cameron for backup. The older omega shrugged. “Sorry, kids, but your brother is right. Nathan is going through a hard time, and we all need to do everything we can to make him feel like part of the family while he’s here.”
“A hard time?” Cobel asked dryly. “Is that the euphemism we’re using now for teenage pregnancy?”
“Don’t be a dick,” said Bryce, tugging at his collar. It was the first time in years that Kent had seen his younger brother in a shirt that didn’t have a band name printed on it.
“Language,” Adam warned. “But yeah, what he said.”
“Cobel Christopher Colt, I don’t want to hear another word like that out of your mouth,” Cameron scolded. “This pack is a safe haven for anyone who needs it, but especially for omegas going through something that’s already painful. Nathan’s parents sent him here so he’d have a safe place to figure things out free of judgment, and that is exactly what we’re all going to give him. If you can’t be supportive, you can spend the rest of his visit in your room.”
“Jeez, it was just a joke, calm down,” Cobel muttered.
“Don’t tell your father to calm down,” Barnabas said firmly. “God knows it has the opposite effect when I do it.”
Cameron elbowed his mate halfheartedly.
Kent sighed. “If Nathan’s still half as anxious as I remember, I’m not sure how all of us being here to ambush him the second he pulls up is supposed to help.”
It certainly wasn’t the first time a young omega “in trouble” had been sent to Silver Lake by his worried parents. Sometimes they were pregnant, sometimes it was drugs or alcohol. Over the years, Silver Lake had become a refuge for omegas, and it was a calling Cameron and Barnabas were all too happy to have. It was also part of the reason Kent had never felt comfortable dating an omega from his own pack. Not only had he yet to imprint on one, but he had either grown up with most of them or knew they had come into the pack to escape a troubled past. As Barnabas’ son, Kent had always felt like it would be a conflict of interest to start a relationship with an omega who desperately needed the pack his family ran as a sanctuary.
Adam scowled. “It’s called hospitality. That’s the reason his parents sent him here in the first place, and I want us all to make a good impression.”
“Eighteen seems a bit old to be ‘sent’ anywhere,” Kent muttered. He hadn’t seen Nathan in years, and
in his mind, the omega was still the scrawny, nerdy kid with glasses who hid behind his parents whenever their packs got together. Nathan was about ten years Kent’s junior and he lived in the Southeast Unit, so even when Kent had spent years training in Mountain Ridge, their paths had rarely crossed. Mel and Connor had visited Silver Lake a few times over the years, but Kent had been a teenager with his own preoccupations, which meant chasing after Tyr more often than not.
“There he is,” Adrian said excitedly.
A black sedan pulled up in the driveway and Kent yawned, still tired from staying out late talking to Topher the night before. He still wasn’t sure how he was going to break it to Cameron that his matchmaking had yielded nothing more than a new friendship. The driver stepped out to open the back door and Kent was surprised that Duke and Connor hadn’t insisted on being the ones to drop their son off. Their helicopter parenting was nothing short of legendary.
Then again, they couldn’t be too controlling if Nathan had ended up pregnant.
Kent’s surprise changed tenor the moment the young omega stepped out of the car, looking up at the crowd gathered to wait for him with wide eyes.
Thump. The alpha’s heart seemed to collide with the wall of his chest the moment he laid eyes on Nathan. He’d seen this kid countless times over the years, but it was the first time he was actually seeing him.
Scratch that. Nathan wasn’t a kid anymore. Even from a distance, Kent could tell Nathan was still a few good inches shorter than him, but the omega had filled out considerably. He wasn’t a musclehead by a longshot, but his arms actually had some definition as they hoisted his duffel bag over his shoulder. He still wore those thick, nerdy glasses, but he had grown into them and they suited the angular planes of his face now rather than covering it like a mask. His hair was short and shaggy, just tousled enough to that Kent’s fingers itched to run through it. And those eyes… Spheres of the deepest ocean blue Kent had ever seen passed over him briefly, taking in the welcome committee like he was walking into an ambush.
So he was still a bit flighty. At least something hadn’t changed. Kent’s heart was doing somersaults in his chest as he struggled to remember how to breathe. He’d been in the presence of countless omegas, and even a few who went into heat out on the field when their suppressants failed. Kent had never had trouble keeping a professional demeanor or keeping his Alpha nature in check, and he had always viewed it as a weakness that most Alphas indulged rather than an inborn trait, but the moment Nathan had stepped out of that car, all bets were off. It was all he could do to keep his feet planted on the stairs, to keep from stalking down them, throwing Nathan over his shoulder and carrying him off into the woods like the animal he was only supposed to turn into on full moons.
All of a sudden, he wasn’t sure if he was a man who shifted into a wolf or the other way around. Kent realized Cameron was watching him out of the corner of his eye, but he was too fixated on Nathan to tell if his father’s attention was born of curiosity or concern. A quick sweep of the porch told him that everyone else was too focused on Nathan’s arrival to notice his own bizarre behavior. They were all surrounding the omega with hugs and words of greeting, and Kent was the only one who hadn’t said anything.
He had to get it together.
Years earlier, on the night of Tyr’s seventeenth birthday, Kent had watched the verum omega from across the room, hoping desperately that he would imprint. He’d convinced himself that the fluttering in his chest and the heady infatuation he had felt then were the first inklings of what might eventually blossom into a destined mate bond, but what he felt in this moment laid any lingering doubts to rest. He hadn’t imprinted on Tyr, and if what he was feeling now was what Jaspar had felt for his omega back then, Kent didn’t have a damn clue how the Verum Alpha had managed to keep himself away for so many years. It was all Kent could do not to make a fool of himself now, and Nate was a practical stranger.
There was still time for humiliation, Kent reminded himself, taking a step off the porch. Surrounded by Kent’s well-intentioned family members, Nathan looked completely overwhelmed, like he was ready to collapse in on himself. The smile on his face was strained but no less becoming as he fielded questions about his trip and his parents. It was a good thing the entire Colt family wasn’t present or the poor kid would probably be in hives.
“Come on, give him some room to breathe,” Kent muttered, finally finding his voice. It came out much too gruff, but it had the effect of silencing the chatter. Nathan’s eyes met his and he was utterly lost.
“Hi, Kent.” The sound of his name on the omega’s lips wasn’t doing the alpha’s attempt at decency any favors. It was downright obscene in the most irresistible way.
“Hi, Nathan.” He sounded so much more collected than he was. Collected was good, it was a step in the right direction, even if he had to fake it. “Did you have a good trip?”
The look on Nathan’s face told Kent it wasn’t the first time he’d been asked that question, but he nodded politely. “Yeah, I did. You just got back from Europe, right?”
“I did.” Kent cleared his throat. His family was watching him now, studying him. If they hadn’t caught him gawking at Nathan earlier, they were certainly wondering about the change in his demeanor now. When he dared to glance in his father’s direction, the older Alpha’s eyes were full of knowing. Shit.
“Let’s go inside, shall we?” Cameron offered, leading the way up the stairs. “I’m sure Nathan is tired.”
“A little, but it’s not really that far,” the omega said, following after Cameron and Barnabas. Kent followed them, feeling as if he had somehow become attached to the omega by an invisible cord that jerked whenever Nathan moved.
A hand caught Kent’s shoulder, pulling him back as the others filed into the house. “What was that?” Adam demanded, looking his brother over.
“What was what?” Kent growled, shirking out of Adam’s grasp.
“You know what. We all saw the way you were looking at Nathan.” Adam craned his neck. “Did you imprint on him?”
“Fuck off, Adam.”
“You did.” The other alpha’s eyes widened. “You freaking imprinted on Nate Miller.”
Panic started to set in. Kent had all but given up on imprinting. Why did it have to happen now, and with Nathan, of all people? Nathan was eighteen. Kent knew he was nearly done with undergraduate, through the family grapevine, but he was still a nervous kid in Kent’s eyes. He was still just Lucy and Jaspar’s younger cousin. He wasn’t supposed to have changed that much, and he sure as hell wasn’t supposed to be Kent’s mate.
Ten years didn’t have anything on the age difference between Kent’s parents, and he knew they had gotten together when Cameron was Nathan’s age, but those were different times and this was Nathan.
“If you breathe a word to anyone,” Kent snarled. He needed to think. He needed to breathe, for that matter.
“I won’t, but if you want it to stay a secret, you should probably stop looking at Nathan Miller like you want to eat him.”
Kent winced. “Would you stop fucking saying his name like that?”
“What? It’s not like it’s weird that you imprinted on Jaspar’s little cousin or anything.”
Kent “accidentally” shoved into Adam on his way through the door. He was unsettled by the fact that he knew Nathan was in the kitchen even before he heard the voices coming from there. The twins had gone from acting like entertaining their houseguest was a chore to flanking him on either side of the table, intently listening to every word coming out of the omega’s mouth as Nathan bashfully explained what he was studying in college.
“So you’re, like, a scientist?” Bryce asked with a dreamy smile as he twirled a lock of golden hair around his finger.
“Not yet,” Nathan said with a nervous laugh. “I’m still just an undergraduate researcher. I have to get accepted into a PhD program.”
“I bet you look cute in a lab coat,” Cobel said, grinning.
The jealousy those words ignited in Kent’s gut was anything but rational, but nothing about imprinting on Nathan fucking Miller was rational at all. At least Cobel and Bryce were closer to Nathan’s age. A younger Alpha with an older omega was so much less scandalous than the other way around.
Nathan’s face turned a shade of red that had no business looking that good on anyone. “It’s, uh, not really a flashy coat. They’re one-size-fits-all.”
Bryce laughed. “It’s been awhile since you’ve been here. Why don’t you let us give you the tour?”
“Yeah,” Cobel said, offering his hand even though he ended up just pulling Nathan to his feet without waiting for him to take it. “A lot’s changed in town, we’ll show you around.”
“I’m sure Nathan is tired from the trip,” Kent said through gritted teeth.
The twins looked at him like they were only just remembering he was there. “He said it wasn’t that bad,” said Bryce. He grabbed one of Nathan’s arms and Cobel latched onto the other. “Right, Nate?”
“Uh, sure…”
Before Kent could formulate a halfway decent protest, the twins had whisked Nathan out of the kitchen.
“Not so cute anymore, are they?” Adam asked knowingly, pulling a bottle of orange juice out of the refrigerator.
“When did they get so…?”
“Predatory?” Adam offered. “You know how it is when the ‘alphaness’ sets in. You were pretty bad yourself, but at least you had a one-track mind.”
Kent grunted in acknowledgement, taking the beer Adam offered to him. “You must be loving this.”
“Kind of,” Adam admitted. “You’ve always been arrogant about how ‘easy’ it should be to not make a fool of yourself around omegas. It’s just a relief to see you acting human for a change.”
“Human?” Kent scoffed.
“You know what I mean.” Adam paused. “All teasing aside, this isn’t a bad thing.”
“He’s pregnant with another alpha’s kid. For all I know, he has a boyfriend.”
