“Agreed.” Sebastian put his hands on his hips and grinned. “So, human or wolf?”
“Oh, dealer’s choice,” Abel said casually as he removed his ceremonial skin. He gestured to Mac to come get it.
“Wolf, then. I’ve been so much among humans, I’ve missed my other form.” Sebastian began removing his clothes far too happily for Abel’s peace of mind, but they were committed now. And he was so ready to simply strike and have something happen, instead of the constant negotiating that being Alpha forced him into.
Abel stepped away from Sebastian and passed the skin over to Mac. “Get the reporter out of here. Take him to see the site for the fire, take him to see the spot we picked out for the house, whatever. But he can’t see this.”
Mac nodded and glanced back at the crowd.
Toward Jason, Abel realized. “Dammit,” he said. “No, never mind. Get someone else to do it.” Who? Holland and Bram were occupied keeping Bax calm. “Jason’s father, where is he?”
“He’s with Becca and the pups, looking after Macy.”
Perfect. “Get him. Have him keep the pups away too.”
“I’ll send Duke.”
Abel nodded and watched until Mac had removed the humans from the crowd, then turned back toward the center of the clearing. Sebastian was naked, skin gleaming under the moonlight. His eyes were narrow-slitted and hungry, ready for the fight.
Carefully, Abel removed his mating suit and handed the pieces to Louise to keep dry and clean. It was old, centuries old, passed down from generation to generation, and he wouldn’t be the one to destroy it, or set it on the path to moldering ruin. With a nod to Sebastian, he began his shift. Now that this had been set in motion, he was eager for the fight. Too many years of being the mediator, of negotiating the political landscape instead of just rolling over the opposition like his instincts wanted him to. But it was following the old ways that had led to the Gathering, and he had to be careful when and where he bowed down to his more primitive nature. Having Bax around made it easier, except that the possibility of losing Bax right now brought it all to the fore.
They faced each other from across the clearing. Bax’s uncle, and—interestingly—Alpha Orvin of Montana Border stepped into the clearing, carrying a heavy length of rope.
“This is not a challenge of a wolf’s honor, but a battle for the possession of the omega in question,” Bax’s uncle said, his words carrying out into the crowd, quieting them. “The wolves will compete inside a circle of rope, in representation of our mother the moon. Victory belongs to the one who forces his opponent to surrender, or drives him out of the circle.” He and Orvin began laying down the rope, forming a circle the mating circle that encompassed most of the clear area in front of the tent where the ceremony was supposed to take place.
Abel walked up to stand on one side of it, Sebastian exactly opposite. The other wolf was big, though not, Abel thought, as big as he was. That could be an advantage—the extra weight could let him physically shove the other shifter over the rope. Though he’d much rather force him to surrender, it wasn’t politically correct. And he needed to consider the ramifications of damaging Sebastian, when all the packs, including Mercy Hills, had contributed to his education. If Sebastian were unable to practice afterward, the Council of Alphas would likely come after Abel for the cost of it. He’d only just gotten the pack finances back on reasonable footing—there was more to think about than his own desire for revenge. Add into it the disadvantage to shifter society, losing someone with all the knowledge instilled by a human medical degree, coupled with training under pack healers—he couldn’t take his own anger and frustration out on all the shifters. But then he caught a glimpse of Bax’s anxious face, and that tipped the scales in the other direction.
Fuck it. I’m going to teach them all not to mess with me. There were ways to force another wolf to roll over that didn’t involve permanent damage. And there was nothing in pack law that prohibited the use of Alpha power in a fight. He watched Buffalo Gap from the corner of his eye, waiting for the nod to enter the circle. It came, and he launched himself at Sebastian.
He got in the first blow, shoving Sebastian off-balance with a thrust of his shoulder and followed up his advantage by hustling the other shifter toward the rope barrier. He snapped at Sebastian’s muzzle and startled him onto his haunches.
With Sebastian on the defensive, Abel took a moment to ready himself for a final rush, congratulating himself on ending the fight quickly. Sebastian snarled and gathered himself, springing forward in an open-mouthed leap that forced Abel to skitter to the side. The other wolf’s teeth snapped on air next to Abel’s ear and then he was past and they were both turning, heads low and snarls of frustration and fury filling the air. His opponent was focused but aware; Abel’s feints cause nothing more than a twitch of his head. He reached out with his power to press against Sebastian’s own and leaped forward.
He saw it almost before Sebastian reacted. He was already twisting to the right as Sebastian’s own power blocked his forward rush, and Sebastian’s teeth snapped so close to his own neck he felt it tickle the fur over his jugular. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of a white-faced Bax on his knees, Holland and Bran and Cale huddled close to him as they watched the fight, and the inane thought that Sebastian had been practicing drifted through his mind before his feet hit the ground, and then he was falling and rolling out of the way, buying time to get ready for the next attack.
But soon he realized that Sebastian was telegraphing his every move; that, or Abel had suddenly tapped into some psychic Alpha domain he’d never noticed before. He twisted and spun and pounded the other wolf with physical mass and metaphysical power, anticipating each of the other wolf’s moves with ease.
He’d driven Sebastian back against the rope, the other wolf’s hind legs tucked underneath him, paws only inches from the edge of the battlefield. Abel felt a burst of triumph, until turmoil in the crowd distracted him.
Abel turned his head to find the mass of pack members roiling in place like a kicked anthill. He caught a glimpse of Mac’s hair, and Quin, and then he was flat on the ground with Sebastian’s weight pressing the air out of him, and his enemy’s jaws digging for purchase on his neck. Trust Sebastian to aim for surrender and not just defeat. Abel squirmed underneath him, but Sebastian had nearly the same mass as Abel, and he was lying flat on top of him while he hunted Abel’s windpipe. Lights sparkled at the edges of Abel’s vision, and he knew it would only get worse if Sebastian succeeded in getting his teeth into Abel’s neck.
A small gray form broke out of the crowd, galloping across the circle directly toward them. In the distance, Bax cried out in horror. Abel’s eyes widened, and a painful shot of adrenaline pulsed through him. His legs spasmed, and he felt something tear in one hind leg as he dug for purchase on the grass. He twisted his head, going for whatever part of Sebastian he could get fangs on, but he was too late.
Fan barked his hunting bark and jumped on Sebastian, tiny puppy teeth sinking into Sebastian’s ear. He growled and chewed and Sebastian yelped in startled fury. He jumped off Abel and grabbed the pup by one hind leg, ripping him off his ear and then tossing him to one side. Fan yelped agonizingly as Sebastian flung him away, arcing through the chill air to hit the ground with an ominous thump. Abel watched frantically for any sign of movement in the little form, but Fan was still.
Abel had heard the stories of berserkers, remembered friends boasting about going berserk during fights, but he’d always been cool and calm, using intellect and skill to win.
No more tonight.
The rage that shrieked up through him was so hot it should have, by rights, turned the entire enclave into an inferno. He threw himself on Sebastian, biting and scratching at anything he could reach. Abel felt, more than heard, the pop of Sebastian’s hock as it broke, the bottom half of his leg sticking out at a forty-five degree angle. Sebastian screamed and attempted to hobble away, but Abel wasn’t done with him yet. He
felt the sudden release as his fangs penetrated the skin at the back of Sebastian’s neck and he whipped his head from side to side, shaking the other wolf until Sebastian could hardly stand. Abel dropped him and took a grip on Sebastian’s throat. His fangs rested just over the frantically beating pulse and he pressed down, pressure just this side of piercing the skin and the fragile artery beneath it. He held himself there, breathing heavily and fighting the urge to just finish it and to hell with the rules of the fight and his desire to bring shifter-kind into the twenty-first century.
No, you can’t kill him.
It hurt to let go, to give Sebastian back the life he so thoroughly owed Abel now. Abel kept Sebastian in place with a heavy blanket of power, but the other wolf lay quiet in apparent defeat.
Abel didn’t give a shit anymore. He crossed the distance between himself and Fan, cradled in Bax’s lap, in two bounds.
“His leg,” Bax said, tears running down his face, though his expression was calm and controlled. “Holland is gone for a blanket so we can carry him to the clinic.” Bram and Cale hovered beside him, with Edmund standing guard and keeping the crowd away from the huddled group.
Abel nosed him gently, then turned to sniff Fan. Fan whined groggily and wagged his tail.
Thank the wolf goddess. Abel nosed Bax again and began to change back to his human shape. When he could once more stand on two feet, he turned to the assembled Alphas, gathered in a circle around him and Bax and the still prone form of Sebastian on the grass.
“Are we done? My son needs care.”
Louise hurried over with his mating suit. Abel thrust himself into it, then took the blanket Holland brought back and let Bax carefully lay Fan in the middle of it. Fan cried pitifully as his leg was jostled, but stopped when Bax reached up to stroke his fur and murmur soothing nonsense to him. Abel withdrew some of his power from Sebastian and laid it over Fan, coating him with warmth and lending his own strength to the unhappy pup. Then they carried him across the park to the clinic.
CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE
Oh, my poor, brave pup. I cradled a still-sedated Fan in my arms after Adelaide put his leg back in its joint. It had only been dislocated, thank heavens, and not badly, so while he was taped within an inch of his life and the leg was held up in a sling, he didn’t have to wear a cast. The punctures where Sebastian’s teeth had broken the skin were cleaned and stitched, and Adelaide gave Fan a long-acting antibiotic shot so we didn’t have to worry about trying to force medicine into him. She also showed both Abel and I how to support him, and warned us not to let him walk in wolf form for a couple of weeks, and to bring him in for a checkup before we did.
“What do you want to do?” Abel asked me when we were done and procrastinating in the waiting room with Mac and Holland before heading back out into the crowds.
“Sorry?” I said. I was confused—were there any choices here? In my current mood, all I wanted to do was take him home and put him to bed. Him, and all my pups. And then I wanted to crawl in with him. But I was Alpha’s Mate, or would be if we ever got those damned papers signed, and there was more to think about than just my own worries.
Abel put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed gently. “Do you want to take him home and put him to bed?”
His hand on my shoulder was comforting, and I turned and leaned against him, taking comfort from his solidity and warmth. I wanted to say yes, but even as I opened my mouth, a thought occurred to me. If I did that, it delayed our mating and Sebastian’s unexpected appearance had left me nervous. “What was that fuss in the crowd?”
“I don’t know.”
I looked at Mac.
“It was Montana Border,” he said.
Abel pulled himself even more stiffly upright than he already was. “So they did try something? Was anyone hurt?”
Mac shook his head. “But it was a close call.” He rubbed the back of his neck and down onto his shoulder and winced. “If I hadn’t leaned down to tease Jason a bit, he would have caught me right on the back of the head with a homemade truncheon.” At my confused look, he added, “They put something heavy in a sock and swung it. Makes a pretty good blunt weapon.”
I nodded in understanding. Not that I’d tried one, but I’d heard of the alphas using them, though it was considered the mark of a weakling to have to depend on a weapon to win your fight. “So what are we going to do?”
Abel glanced at the door. His wolf side wasn’t so far under the surface yet, and when he spoke again, a low growl underscored the anger in the words. “We gather up the pups and take them home. Our home. And we call Buffalo Gap and the witnesses in and sign the papers in the living room. Then we kick every damn one of them out so I can deal with Montana Border.” He turned back to me. “I swear,” he said in a low voice. “I didn’t invite Sebastian. And you can be sure I’ll find out who let him in.”
“I don’t care.” Oddly, I didn’t. But now that the emergency was over and I knew that Fan was going to be all right, my worries eased, and I wanted him, and my mating, and to shove it all in their faces that they couldn’t stop us. “What kind of message would that send?”
“What?”
I stepped back and glanced between the two of them. “What message would it send if we ran home with our tails between our legs? And you promised me a traditional mating.”
Abel’s eyes widened, then a look of pride washed over his face. He pulled me to him, careful of Fan in my arms still, and laid his cheek against the top of my head. “Oh, my brave, brave love. You don’t have to do this.”
“I think I do. This is about more than me.” I looked down at the bundle in my arms. “But if you don’t mind, I want to hold him during it.”
“He’ll get heavy.”
“He’s already heavy. I don’t care.”
Abel regarded me solemnly for a moment.
“I can help carry his weight,” Holland offered quietly. “Only if he gets too heavy,” he was quick to assure me. “But you can’t hold him during the robing.”
I paused while I stroked the heavy fur of Fan’s side. Holland was right. He would get heavy, and there were several parts of the ceremony that I could not perform so burdened. “All right.” I turned to Abel. “Let’s go finish this, before everyone gets bored and into the booze.”
He laughed, as I’d meant him to, and cupped my chin in his palm. “Excellent idea,” he said and bent to kiss me.
Suddenly, I couldn’t wait. I’d been eager to be mated to him before, but now… “Come on.” I nibbled his chin and rubbed my jaw against his.
Having a mate who had brains as well as brawn was a delight. He picked up on the message in my wolf-like behavior immediately. “After you. But let me carry Fan out for you.” He held his arms out and I half-expected him to just take him, but he waited for me to give my boy up to him. You have to stop waiting for him to be like the others. It was just reaction, though, to the stress of the ceremony and its interruption—I hadn’t flinched or frozen around him in months. This would pass. Gratefully, I passed Fan over, my arms now like lead, and then kissed Abel’s cheek, just for being Abel. He seemed pleased and my mood lightened knowing that he appreciated such a small thing from me.
Mac went first, then Holland and Adelaide, then myself and Abel. He walked so close he made a line of heat along my side, giving me strength and courage as the crowd turned eager eyes upon us.
Uncle Mitchel and Roland were waiting for us at the circle. Sebastian, human-shaped again but still naked, knelt beside my uncle and as I got closer, I could feel the thrum of his power as he kept Sebastian in place.
A huff from Abel brought my attention to the edge of the crowd. Duke and Quin held two shifters on their knees in the now damp grass, a man and a woman, neither of whom I recognized. He took half a step in their direction, then shook his head and continued toward the ring. I couldn’t shake off my curiosity, though, and I followed Abel by instinct as I tried to puzzle out Duke’s and Quin’s slightly battered appearance, and the even mor
e battered one of the two people on the ground. Some message must have passed between Abel and the other two, because they hauled their prisoners roughly to their feet and disappeared into the crowd.
We stopped in front of Uncle Mitchel, who nodded to Abel with respect. “I wasn’t sure you’d be back. How’s the little fellow?”
“Only dislocated. He’ll be back to normal in a couple of weeks. Are you ready to finish this?”
“We can just sign the contract—”
Abel shook his head. “Bax wants a traditional mating, I’m going to give it to him.”
Uncle Mitchel stared at him appraisingly, then gave me a stern look. “Do you know how lucky you are?”
I nodded and bowed my head, pressing my cheek against Abel’s arm.
“I believe,” Abel said, in a tone that might have deceived others in its mildness, “That I might consider myself lucky as well. Bax brings as much to the table as I do, strengths to bolster my weaknesses. Mercy Hills is the better for him, as am I.” He nodded to Holland to come forward and gently placed Fan in his arms. “Keep him close. I want to be able to watch out for him.”
Holland stepped back to stand to the side of the table holding the rest of the ritual gear.
Roland stepped forward and bowed his head to Abel. “I apologize, Alpha Mercy Hills, for the difficulties caused by this shifter who, though not of my pack, was intending to join us. It was my carelessness which set this event in motion and I wish to discuss recompense.”
Abel nodded to him. “We’ll talk later. After the mating is complete.” He laid an emphasis on the word complete that sent a shiver of excitement running over my skin, despite everything that had happened.
Abel's Omega(Gay Paranomal MM Mpreg Romance) (Mercy Hills Pack Book 2) Page 29
