What you’ve been waiting for usually happens when you stop hoping.
Simon has been watching all his friends find their mates and fall in love, but he’s still waiting for his. He knows he’s young and that he has time, but time doesn’t keep him warm at night and doesn’t make him feel loved. He yearns to have that, especially after growing up with his parents and his brother.
Malik is both the alpha of his school and a council member. When Kameron asks him and his best friend, Quincy, to help deal with Tom, the man who’s dead set on eliminating him, the last thing Malik expects is to meet his mate. He knows they’ll have to talk and to make decisions, but Simon makes what he wants very clear, and Malik doesn’t even think of saying no.
Simon and Malik don’t waste time and mate right away. However, Tom is still threatening, and Malik, along with Kameron and Quincy, need to find a solution, or they could lose everything.
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Simon
Copyright © 2016 Catherine Lievens
ISBN: 978-1-4874-0761-2
Cover art by Latrisha Waters
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
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Simon
Gillham Pack Book Thirteen
By
Catherine Lievens
Dedication
To Iris for her Power Rangers idea, to Laura and Tanya, and to my family.
Chapter One
Simon pointed the remote at the TV. He was bored, but he couldn’t bring himself to go home, not yet.
He loved living with Mal, Elliott, and their mates, really he did, but it became a bit sickening sometimes. He had to watch them being all lovey-dovey while he was still desperately alone. It was depressing, and he knew both Mal and Elliott tried not to be too affectionate with their mates while he was around. That was the last thing he wanted them to do. They deserved their happiness, and he didn’t want to hinder it.
That was the reason he’d been spending so much time at Kam and Zach’s house lately. Not that he didn’t have to see lovey-dovey people there, too, but it was different. Simon and Zach were friends, but they weren’t as close as Mal and Elliott were. Besides, Kam didn’t spend much time in the house lately. He was always out doing council stuff and keeping an eye out for Tom.
Jago and Corbin also lived there, as did Nootaw and Merle, but Corbin was the least affectionate person Simon had ever met, and Nootaw and Merle were too busy with Aranck most of the time. They didn’t have the opportunity to be together as much as the other couples did.
It was relaxing. Simon knew he wouldn’t be blindsided by someone making out on the couch or by sex noises.
He changed the channel on the TV and relaxed back into the couch, but just as he was getting into the movie, a door slammed.
“Come back here!” Merle yelled, and Simon grinned.
He leaned sideways to peek into the hallway, and sure enough, Aranck was in his wendigo form, crawling along the hallway half-naked. He always lost his nappy when he shifted, because his wendigo form was so much thinner than his chubby baby one.
Aranck quickly came into the living room and hid under the coffee table. Merle entered only seconds after him, looking flustered. His T-shirt was dirty and sporting five holes that looked like they’d been made by claws. His face was red, his hair mussed, and his eyes were a bit wild.
“Have you seen him?” he asked.
Simon smiled and pointed at the coffee table. Aranck rumbled in delight. The sound was a bit disconcerting. Simon was used to babies giggling, not rumbling, but he’d become used to Aranck in his wendigo form. The trick was to keep fingers away from Aranck’s mouth and to find one of his parents as soon as possible.
Merle huffed and slumped next to Simon on the couch. Simon patted his knee. “What’s wrong?”
Merle sighed. “Nothing. This is not how I thought my life would be.”
“Tired of playing Dad already?”
“Not tired, just... it’s hard. I never thought I’d have kids, and now I have a wendigo shifter one. I think that side of him makes things even harder than they would be with a human or a shifter baby.”
Simon reached out and poked a finger through one of the holes on Merle’s T-shirt. Merle looked down and smiled deprecatingly. “Yeah. Exactly.”
“Where’s Nootaw?”
“Patrol.”
Simon hesitated, because he knew Merle didn’t have a good relationship with Aranck’s mother, but he asked anyway. “Nepi?”
“Probably spying from the forest. She’s been pouting in there lately.”
“She’s still not used to you and Nootaw being together?”
“I’m not sure she ever will be. I see how she looks at me every time I touch Nootaw, and every time I take Aranck. She wants me dead.”
“That bad?”
Merle sighed again and poked a socked foot under the coffee table. Aranck rumbled, and Merle snatched his foot away before Aranck could bite it. “Not really, but it’s only because she doesn’t want anything to do with me. I know Nootaw and she have been fighting a lot lately, and he’s scared she’s going to try and take Aranck away.”
“Have you told Kam?”
“Yeah. I know he’s keeping an eye on her, and he ordered that she shouldn’t be left alone with Aranck. Let me tell you, that’s not helping her like me. She thinks it’s my fault.”
Simon knew there wasn’t an easy way to solve Merle’s problem. Nepi was having a very hard time accepting that same-sex relationships and matings were allowed in the pack. Simon understood where she came from—Nootaw had told him and a few others how growing up in his tribe had been, and what he and Nepi had been taught. Simon had been taught similar things since he was a kid, and his parents still firmly believed same-sex relationships were wrong. There was Aranck to think of, though, and he hoped Nepi wouldn’t do something stupid.
“What can I do?” he asked.
Merle shook his head. “Nothing more than what you’re already doing. I’m sorry I’m always whining.”
“You’re not. I like talking with you. It distracts me from my own moping.”
Merle gave Simon a sideways glance as he reached under the table and grabbed Aranck. Aranck grumbled and squirmed as Merle settled him into his lap. “Still no boyfriend?”
Simon shook his head. “Nope.”
“Maybe you could go out with a human who knows about shifters.”
“And then what? With my luck, he’d find his mate in the pack.”
Aranck shifted back into his human form. He reached out and patted Simon’s chest, and Simon smiled at him.
“You can’t stay alone, Simon.”
“I know.”
Merl
e didn’t have to say it. What if Simon never found his mate? What if he found him in ten, twenty, thirty years? Simon really didn’t want to stay alone until then, but he also had a hard time making the decision to find himself a boyfriend. He didn’t want to have to watch him find his mate, or die, if he was human and if their relationship lasted. He also wanted to be free, just in case. That hope never faded, even though he knew his mate probably wouldn’t magically appear in his lap.
Aranck scrunched his face, and Merle’s eyes widened. “We have to go!”
He hurried out of the room, keeping a giggling Aranck at arm’s length. Simon laughed, because everyone who knew Aranck also knew what that face meant, and since Aranck had ditched his nappy, Merle would have to be fast about it.
Simon turned his attention back to the screen, but another door opened in the distance and he rolled his eyes. He waited to see if whoever it was would come to the living room, and sure enough, Will peeked in. He frowned when he saw Simon and entered.
“What are you doing here?”
“Watching TV.”
“Why here?”
Will put his messenger bag by the couch and sat heavily next to Simon.
“I thought you’d be home soon, and I wanted to give you and Mal privacy.”
“You know we don’t want you to stay away from the house.”
“Yeah.”
“Are we being too...”
“Lovey-dovey?” Simon asked with a grin.
“Yeah.”
“No. It’s me, really. I’m happy for you, and for Elliott and Mihaja. I don’t want to pull you down when I’m feeling mopey, that’s all.”
Will nodded. His head was slowly tilting to the side, and Simon knew he was tired. Almost everyone in the pack was these days. They were all hyper vigilant, because as Mal’s ex-boyfriend had shown, pack security wasn’t infallible. It was a scary thought, and Simon knew he wasn’t the only one sleeping badly.
Will’s eyes fluttered close and his head went forward. Simon reached out, stopping Will from toppling over. He gently leaned Will’s head back against the couch, and Will didn’t even wake up.
Simon looked at the time on his cell phone. It was still early, so Mal wouldn’t expect Will to be home for another half hour. Simon could let him sleep for a little while, then he’d wake him up, and they could go back home together. That way Will would be more rested, and Simon could enjoy the solitude a bit longer—if no one else came into the living room, anyway.
* * * *
“I have better things to do than to be here,” Quincy whined.
Malik rolled his eyes. Of course Quincy had better things to do. “You need to groom your wings?”
Quincy gave him a glare that would have scared most people, but Malik wasn’t most people. He knew Quincy well enough to know he might glare a lot, but he really was a softie at heart. You just had to look really deep to find that soft part of him.
“I don’t get why Kameron can’t deal with this on his own.”
“Why should he? This is exactly why the council was created.”
Quincy didn’t look at him as he answered. “I know that, but the rest of us don’t have problems dealing with whatever comes our way.”
“The worst thing that happened to your nest is when those rat shifters decided to dig their home just under your house. You just had to look at them with that glare of yours to make them scurry away.”
Quincy shrugged. “So? I still took care of them on my own.”
“We’re talking an entire other council here, Quincy.”
“Don’t call me Quincy,” Quincy snapped, and Malik smiled. He hid it by turning to look out the car window. Quincy might be a softie at heart, but Malik would gain nothing by antagonizing him too much.
He stayed silent until Quincy finally sighed. “Fine, you’re right.”
“I know I am.”
“And you’re a smug son of a bitch.”
Malik grinned and looked at Quincy. “I can’t deny that.”
Quincy glared again. “Anyway, Dominic is taking care of those hunters on his own.”
Malik rolled his eyes. “The mansion is easier to protect. They all live together. The pack members don’t.”
“I can’t believe a human was able to slip under pack security.”
“Someone made a mistake. It happens.”
“It shouldn’t. Kameron’s pack members have the right to feel safe in their homes.”
“True, but you know Kameron is doing everything he can.”
“Yeah, yeah. I know.”
“And that’s why we’re here to help.”
“You don’t have to remind me.”
“I thought I might have to, since you’ve been bitching about it ever since we left the nest.”
The glare didn’t completely disappear from Quincy’s face, but it softened. “Marla is supposed to give birth in a few weeks.”
That explained why he didn’t want to be there. “Your sister will be fine. You know these things take time, and you can call a Nix to get you there when she calls to tell you she’s in labor. You won’t miss the birth.”
Quincy turned into the road that led to the heart of the pack—Kameron’s house.
Malik watched him for a few moments. “If you really don’t want to be here, I can call someone else. I’m sure Celina won’t mind coming, or I could ask Neil.”
Quincy snorted. “Like he’s going to leave his mate. She’s pregnant again.”
“I can be here alone. Cole is here, and Dominic isn’t that far.”
Quincy waved Malik’s words away. “I’ll be fine. You’re right, I just need to call a Nix when I need to.”
“I didn’t think you’d be so reasonable. I expected you to bitch for at least a few more days.”
Quincy glared—again. “I will, just not to you. You don’t care when I bitch, so it’s no fun.”
Malik grinned. “I knew you did it because you have fun.”
“Oh, you found out my secret. Whatever will I do now,” Quincy deadpanned.
“You’ll find another way to annoy me.”
“I don’t think anything ever annoys you. You can even resist during an entire conversation with Nysys.”
“I don’t understand what you have against Nysys. Sure, he’s a bit over the top, but—”
“A bit? That guy’s so over the top he might as well live on the roof.”
“Did you just make a joke?”
Quincy swatted Malik’s thigh. “Shut up.”
“It wasn’t really a good joke, but it’s more than I’ve heard you say ever since I met you. Maybe you are a real human after all.”
“I said shut up.”
“Nysys is a nice guy. I get he can’t be loved by everyone, but you know his heart is in the right place.”
Quincy rolled his eyes. “Maybe, but his mouth certainly isn’t. He should learn to shut up and listen instead of trying to make everyone commit suicide just because they’re talking to him.”
“It’s not like you have to spend a lot of time with him anyway.”
“Thank God for small mercies.” Quincy parked in front of Kameron’s house. “How long do you think we’ll need to be here?”
“At least until Tom has been dealt with. It wouldn’t be logical to leave before that. You know we’d only have to come back when Tom rears his head again.”
Quincy groaned. “Oh God, how is this my life?”
“You were the one to accept the council seat,” Malik said, as he opened his door and got out of the car. He stretched, thankful they’d arrived. He loved Quincy, but he didn’t particularly enjoy listening to him bitching about everything, from Nysys to the weather to the car the rental agency had given them.
Quincy got out and opened the trunk. Malik joined him and grabbed his bag, swinging it over his shoulder and listening to Quincy bitch again.
“I didn’t think I’d have to deal with hunters
and all that crap.”
“What did you think you’d have to deal with?” Malik asked, curious.
He himself hadn’t thought they’d have to deal with human hunters killing shifters, but he wasn’t surprised about Tom’s second, darker, council. Malik had known not every shifter would be happy to be ruled by the council. The alpha tradition was still very strong, and most of them didn’t like the idea of giving their power away to a council, no matter how necessary it might be.
“Unhappy alphas, stuff like that.”
“You can still withdraw,” Malik pointed out.
Quincy looked at him like he was crazy. “Why should I?”
“So you don’t have to deal with human hunters.”
Quincy slammed the trunk shut. “As if I’d do that.”
Malik smiled. He’d known that would be Quincy’s answer. The man might like to bitch, but he also liked helping people. He didn’t sound like it, and people were usually torn between being scared of him and wanting to kill him, but no one could deny he was doing his job as a council member, and he was doing it well.
Quincy opened the front door and barged in as if he were at home. He was, kind of, and so was Malik. They’d both spent some time in Kameron’s house around the time the council had been created. It hadn’t been for long, certainly not as long as they’d have to stay this time around, but Kameron had always welcomed them with open arms.
Voices came from the living room, and Malik looked at Quincy in question. Quincy shrugged and headed that way, so Malik followed him.
“Where’s Kameron?” Quincy asked as he stomped into the living room.
Malik rolled his eyes—something he did often when he was in Quincy’s company—and followed him into the room.
“Jeesh, Quincy—do you always have to be an ass?” he asked. There were several people in the room. Two guys were sitting on one of the couches, and three on the other couch.
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