by Treva Harte
It was quiet outside as the sun disappeared slowly from the sky. So quiet. She wondered if it was safe to be outside, but she figured the he-men around her, particularly Mr. Head He-Man, who was hauling her around at the moment, would laugh if she mentioned her concern.
“She’s over there.” Grey was propped against the porch. He pointed to where Lin was dangling from a pecan tree limb. “Lin’s fine. How about her? She doesn’t look so good.”
He never called her by name if he could help it, but if she strained a little, she thought there might be some faint concern in Grey’s voice.
“Better.” Leila cleared her throat, embarrassed at the squeak in it.
“She need the ER? We could get her in without anyone knowing about us. She’s human.” The usual scorn in that word was muted just a little maybe.
“Better to keep away from them if we can,” Dek said. “Besides, she’s coming to.”
“I hate hospitals.” Leila was pleased to realize she sounded much firmer this time.
“I’m keeping an eye on her.” Dek’s finger lightly traced what must have been a bruise on her cheek. Leila winced. She must have fallen. “The minute she looks like there’s a problem that some time won’t take care of, I’ll get her checked.”
“Whatever.” Grey shrugged. “You’re the boss.”
“Damn straight.” Dek kept his hand on her, circling her back in slow, light movements. As if he was checking to see she was all right. As if he wanted to keep being sure of it.
She stared over at Lin, who was running around and around a tree. “You know, why are you growing pecans anyhow? That doesn’t go with your macho image, cowboys.”
“She’s feeling better, boss.”
“Yeah.” Dek squeezed her shoulder a little. “She’s back to being nosy and demanding. Go ahead and answer the lady’s question, Grey.”
“We can’t raise animals. They get too skittish around us. And, well, you never know what might happen—”
“During a full moon. Gotcha.” She pushed away from Dek. “I’m starting to feel fine now. Really.”
“You still look a little ragged.” Lowell’s voice behind her made her jump. “Maybe you should rest some.”
“Maybe you worry about me too much.”
THE DARK JEALOUSY was still there, lurking underneath. The wash of possession, the mix of joy and pure showing-off when he fucked Leila in front of his packmate, was gone. But above all that was something more, something worrisome.
Dek didn’t like it.
That damned mostly human female. If Leila ever knew what a hold she had on his balls, he’d be dead meat. He’d chosen to treat that little escapade of hers with Lowell as an experiment. Fun and games. It was, mostly. Alpha females did things like it all the time in their packs, showing their own dominance. Leila was learning to be an alpha bitch, like it or not.
But what if she didn’t like what she had to become? She wanted him. She still did. He could feel it whenever she got wet, see it on her face when she looked at him. Hell, he could touch and taste and smell her wanting whenever they got in the same room. But he didn’t think she wanted everything that came with him. Was her slap and tickle with Lowell the start of her trying to pull away from the pack?
That would be a damned shame.
SOMETHING WAS OFF tonight. Not just the threats and the fainting, but something else. Grey tilted his head, trying to figure it out.
“Daddy, look!” Lin called from the distance.
“Yeah, sweetie,” Dek called to her, but he looked at Leila instead. Grey scowled. There was something…he caught the whiff of her scent mingled with…
“Maybe you do worry about her too much.” Grey stared, eyes narrowed, at Lowell. The kid shifted his feet.
“I have something to tell all of you.” Lowell spoke abruptly, a little too loudly. He didn’t look at Dek directly, not even for permission to speak.
No one answered for a long moment. Damn it, all of them knew exactly what was up except him. Grey hated that.
“What’s up, pup?” Fine. He was willing to be the one to ask. Obviously he wasn’t going to find out anything if he waited for the rest to speak up.
“I care about all of you. I thought I should say that first. And—and I’ll miss you when I leave.” Lowell’s voice was more confident, more certain than Grey ever remembered it being. “This is good-bye.”
Grey stared at the omega. Lowell looked different, just as he sounded different. His head was up, and his shoulders weren’t hunched over in that deferential slouch. Damn. The pup seemed more determined. More adult.
“No need for that.” No matter what had happened.
“Yeah. Yeah there is.”
“You’ve thought this out, Lowell?” Dek asked. Grey wondered if he’d ever called the kid by his proper name before. If any of them had. But Dek seemed to know now was the right time for it. “Because we want you to stay.”
“I’ve been doing nothing but think about it,” Lowell said. “And about…well, about a mate. I’ve been thinking too much about what that would be like to be satisfied here.”
Dek looked at her. “What about you, Red?”
“What about me?” Leila sounded like the village idiot, but then, Grey wasn’t so sure he wasn’t gaping at them as if he were a second one.
“Are you staying?”
“You don’t want me to? You’d rather I went with Lowell?”
Grey gave her credit. She sounded almost as hurt as he would be if Dek had said that to him. But none of this added up. He could live without Lowell or the woman in the pack. But Dek? When the hell did he let go of family? Of this woman? It was unimaginable. He didn’t understand anything that was going on. Even stranger, somehow Grey found himself being the one who gripped their alpha bitch’s elbow, holding her steady. She looked like she might just pitch over again if he didn’t. Her damned mate was still standing a little away from her, hands shoved in his back pockets. What the hell was with Dek? He never had a problem talking.
Dek spoke to her—to them all—much too calmly. “It’s your choice, Leila. Mostly members of the pack have none. I’m bound—maybe more bound than anyone else—to the pack. But I’ve been thinking. An alpha doesn’t have to be challenged before leaving. She can go before then, when she’s no longer useful to the pack. Or, like Lowell, when he decides to find a new pack or a mate. You can stay, of course. You might be safer with more weres to guard you rather than just one. I’d offer you the choice to do whatever else you want, if it were possible, but it isn’t. You and Lin are in too much danger alone.”
“You’re giving me any choice? Alphas never give choices.” It sounded like she was finally getting the idea, human though she was. Grey almost relaxed. Damn. He hadn’t even realized he was as tense as the couple in front of him.
“I’ll always be alpha. But you’re a human. Well, mostly human. You need different rules. It doesn’t matter what I think about what you should do.”
“I see. You could give me up, but not the pack.”
Idiot woman. She had missed everything important. Why did non-weres misunderstand the most basic ideas? And Dek wasn’t saying a damn thing. He just stood there with his fists balled up, staring at the human. Good God, if everyone stayed silent, she might really leave.
No women around. Everything back to normal. Grey stole a look over at his boss. Everything and everyone would be the same but Dek.
Oh, hell. Someone was going to have to step in, and why the fuck did it have to be him?
“You’re a fool, and you have it all wrong.” Grey told her, almost pleasantly. “Don’t you see the alpha bastard is doing this for you? He and Lowell both are tearing themselves up inside so you can have things any way you want. They both want you that badly. Real weres never get chances like that. He’s letting you leave if you don’t want to be part of the pack. You can have him with us, but you can’t have him without. What he really ought to do is take you by the scruff and shake sense into you unti
l you can’t leave.”
HE’D ASKED HER to leave. Was the giant pain in her chest from her fall, a wound she hadn’t felt before, or was it just from his words? The hurt clawed into her as if it were physical. Leila gasped for air.
Doing this for her? Grey’s vinegary tone had cut the panic and pain long enough for her to think. Dek had said he wanted her to have a choice. That had to be some kind of first in were history, but she needed to know why.
“You can shut up now, Grey. And you, Dek—” He looked over at her, his expression polite and remote and totally unDek-like. She opened her mouth and decided words weren’t enough. If she was going to have to be honest no matter what, she was going to make it count. And he wasn’t allowed to be distant from her.
Leila walked over and grabbed Dek’s shoulders, shaking him with every other word. “I love you. I love all of the pack, but I love you. That’s not a were emotion, I suppose. You don’t love me. I’m your mate or your responsibility or whatever it is females are to you, but it’s different for me. So if you’re doing this to make it easy on me or to punish me or—Don’t.”
Oh, hell. She was crying and her nose was clogging up and her voice was getting all quivery. This was not the way to make a forceful statement. Leila let go of him to wipe her eyes and tried to come up with the right words. But all she could manage was “Just—just tell me what you want, Dek.”
“Were you really afraid I’d leave you?” Dek’s low rasp in her ear and his tight embrace made her cunt tighten even before the words’ meaning hit her brain. “Are you trying to get yourself fucked silly in front of the entire pack?”
He sounded like they did when they had sex. He was as hard against her as he was when they did, too. God, it was just like when he was so crazy for her he couldn’t stand it anymore. But if she had no intention of making public sex a mainstay of their relationship, she’d better start talking and stop bawling. She could do that. She was strong.
“I wouldn’t mind.” Leila gulped and blinked the last of the tears away. “So long as you were doing it.”
Well, that didn’t come out the way it should have. Dek’s eyes got even hotter and more intense. Whoa, baby, she was going to melt.
“Me, either. Except for Lin.” Dek straightened and spoke louder. “I take it that means you don’t want to go?”
“I don’t want to, really. Not unless you leave. But what it really means is that I’ll go wherever you do, boss.” She almost giggled at the way his eyes narrowed when she called him that last word. He could look as fierce as he wanted, but she knew he liked it. “But there are going to be some changes around here. I’m going back to school, like it or not. And we’re going to see that Lin has plenty of opportunities to do what she wants…and…”
“Mommy? Did you see me?” Lin ran up to pull at her elbow just then.
With an effort, Leila got her mind off being fucked silly. “Yes, honey. I did. You’re getting very big.”
“Pretty soon I’ll be big enough to fight the bad guys, too, and not just hide.” Lin looked at her nails thoughtfully. “I’ll need some claws, though.”
She stretched her hands out to Lowell and smiled.
“You’ll have huge claws when you grow, princess. You can decorate them when you aren’t going into battle.” Lowell squatted down to Lin’s eye level. “I wanted to be sure to tell you what I just told everyone else. I’m leaving today. I’ll miss you.”
Lin stared at him, slack-jawed for a moment. Then she glanced at everyone else to see their reactions. Finally she scowled and crossed her arms. “No! You belong to us. Who will get me at school? Who will clean up after everyone? Who will Grey yell at? You have to stay.”
“Another stray’ll come by to do all that soon enough, princess. I have to go find another place for myself.” Lowell straightened and backed away. “Shit. Somebody take her before she cries.”
“Lowell, she’s right. What she and I both told you. You belong here as much as any of us do.” Dek kept his hand on Leila, but his voice was calm.
“I don’t want to challenge you, Dek, bad as I want your mate. Besides, I couldn’t do it now and win, even if I wanted to. Neither of us wants me to spend years waiting for you to show a weakness, getting ready to fight you. But I can’t stay here as I am.” Lowell shrugged. “So I’ll take my chances on leading some other pack. Finding a mate of my own.”
“Adios, then, Lowell.” Grey cuffed him lightly on the head. “Be careful.”
“No fun in that.” Lowell grinned, a little uncertainly. “Good-bye.”
* * * *
“I was told I had to come and give you this.” The teenaged kid’s lower lip was stuck out in the biggest pout Dek had seen since his five-year-old was told she couldn’t have dessert. But the catch in the kid’s throat sounded like grief, rather than temper.
“Hey. Some present.” Grey looked in the bag. “A tail and ears.”
“That was our pack’s alpha. My dad. The new boss ran me off.” Their messenger swallowed. “I was told to come to you. He said there was an opening for me here.”
“I think Lowell made sure that pack won’t be sniffing after us.” Grey shook his head. “Damn. I didn’t know the little bugger had it in him. His first try, too.”
“His first try that he meant to win,” Dek corrected and sniffed the bag. “All in all, it’s a real nice token of his appreciation. Our little boy has grown up.”
“You, pup. What’s your name?” Grey turned to the gangly adolescent.
“Rossi.”
“Well, Rossi, there’s no time to clean you up, but mind your manners. You’re going to be the ring-bearer.”
“What?” The kid looked startled out of his misery, and Grey roared with laughter. “Welcome to your new pack, kid. We can do that ceremony after we get done with this silly-ass one.”
“MY GOD. YOU live in this huge place with no one but Lin and those two yummy men?” Sasha gave her the thumbs-up sign. “Some women have all the luck. Why didn’t that big brute take one look at me and chase me down that night at the bar?”
“Hey, I invited you to the wedding. If you’re nice to me, I’ll throw the bouquet in your direction.” Leila twitched the spaghetti strap of her gown into place and stared at the corsage pinned at her shoulder. “Is everything straight?”
“You’re gorgeous.” Thea hugged her.
“The other big one. Is he attached?” Sasha peeked out to where Dek and Grey stood, looking as GQ as Leila had ever seen them.
“No. Not exactly.” Leila paused and grinned. “But don’t get any ideas. You were right about Grey.”
“I was right?”
“Yeah. He’s gay. Just as gay as you said back in the bar. In fact, he’d probably love to jump Dek right now. He might even be willing to make it a threesome as long as he could get his hands on my husband-to-be.”
“Leila, are you kidding us?” For the first time ever, Thea and Sasha both looked stunned almost speechless.
“Nope. But that’s OK. We’re all really, really close.” Leila winked. “I might be willing to consider the idea someday. After the honeymoon glow fades.”
Damn, she just might. Give her a little inspiration, a full moon, and Dek to make her feel wicked, and it could happen.
Her two buddies blinked at her, mouths open. Then they laughed.
“Damn it, girl, you got us.” Thea shook her head. “You always used to be so nice, too.”
Snickering, they all headed for the room that held the minister and Dek.
For a moment Leila thought she heard a wolf howl in the distance.
Vaya con Dios, Lowell.
“Go on, girl. Stop hovering at the door. I might make that man of yours change his mind if you wait too long.” Thea poked her in the back.
Leila started and took a hesitant step into the living room.
No. There shouldn’t be hesitation today. A bride should glide down the aisle, the center of attention. Like royalty. Like a princess.
�
�Mommy, you’re beautiful!” Lin trilled out across the room, jumping up and down in her new sequined shoes. “You look just like a fairytale.”
Dek smiled at her from across the room. Damn decorum. Leila picked up her skirt and ran to him. Straight to him. He caught her before she tripped over her ridiculously long skirt. Lifted her right off the ground to twirl her around. Her hair tumbled and her face flushed. And she didn’t care.
Dek. Ah, Dek.
“Leila, I just want you to know something right now.” Her groom cleared his throat and braced himself the way he hadn’t needed to when he kept her from falling. “When we make the promises to love each other? I mean them.”
“Ahhh.” Thea audibly sighed behind her.
She wanted to sigh, too. Or weep. But Leila smiled instead. “If you make me cry and ruin my make-up, I’ll—I’ll bite you after the ceremony, Deklin.”
“More promises, baby? Then let’s start this wedding thing now.”
“I’m very glad I decided to run away with you all those years ago, Big Bad Wolf, seeing as it led us here.”
Dek grinned, just the way he had back then, and whispered in her ear. “Just wait ‘til tonight, Red. You know what big bad wolves do to little girls like you once we catch you in bed.”
~ * ~
Chapter One
“Ahhhhhh. Ahhh, fuck, that’s good!” The stranger gasped above him. The man’s weight suddenly collapsed against his back as his temporary partner shuddered out the last of his climax.
Lowell shuddered, trying to catch his own breath, still gripping the wall for balance. He drawled out the words, forcing himself not to suck for air with each sentence. “Yeah. Yeah, not bad at all.”
The world stopped spinning a split second afterward. The man pulled out and then off. Everything was back to normal. Lowell took another deep breath and stepped away from the wall.
“Ah…thanks, man.” Lowell buttoned his fly and strolled away from the alley without another look. He’d learned no one appreciated good-byes, least of all himself, after a quickie.
