Prodigal Wolf

by L E Franks

  Angelo smiled slightly, “None taken, Giorgio. I have always known my role in the pack was as a caretaker for Carlo’s position as Alpha. I’ve been waiting for this day to see if I should reenlist or not. Now…”

  “Why would you consider leaving, Alpha?” Joshua looked surprised and not a little concerned. He frowned when Daniel reached over to squeeze his hand. He shook it off and reached out to Angelo. “Why leave? If Carlo is the new Alpha he’d need your support more than ever, if he’s not… well… so why even consider leaving?”

  “I… uh…” Angelo didn’t get much further when Francesca attacked.

  “How could you? How could keep us in the dark? Lie to us?”

  “Francesca, the world doesn’t revolve around you! Angelo doesn’t owe you a thing—this information is above your rank!” Sebastian was fed up with the Beta. “I think the problem you’re having is that Angelo isn’t interested in anything from you outside of your position as Pack Beta!”

  Francesca sucked in a sharp breath. “You fucking bastard—you have no idea!”

  “Francesca! Enough! No one will ever be punished for speaking the truth to me, but watch how you say it. You two will have to work with each other tomorrow, and the day after—so choose your ‘truths’ carefully.”

  “And since I was only speaking the ‘truth’…” Sebastian barely ducked away from the fist whipping towards his face.

  “Seb, Francesca— out!” the Alpha roared at them before turning to the rest of the table.

  “I expect all of you to support this pack and to support Carlo. Most of us have been preparing for this moment for the better part of ten years. Carlo had ten seconds. It’s understandable that he is in shock. We will keep this matter private and confidential between all of us here. Charles, will you inform the other two that it will be more than their jobs if this meeting is leaked before Carlo has a chance to consider this in private.” He paused for effect looking directly at Bella.

  “I do not want to hear even the tiniest whisper against the pack, or Carlo. I will do my duty by this pack and I expect... no, I demand your loyalty. You will speak of this to no one. You will accept this as my final word as your Alpha. Now go home. I am done for the night.”

  The drive home took longer than it normally should. Grumpy didn’t even come close to how he felt by the time the car pulled into the garage of the compound. The heaviness of his heart weighed him down, leaving him wondering if he and Carlo could ever have anything. The man was obviously disgusted by him and wanted nothing to do with him. He’d turned Angelo down at every turn.

  Charles, Daniel, and Joshua accompanied him to the library, pouring him three fingers of Patron. He sat silently in front of the fireplace, drinking—his friends kept his glass full. Erasing the last twelve hours from his mind proved almost impossible.

  What a mess. Angelo reached for the tequila and looked at the label. How odd. There’d been an empty bottle of Patron at the restaurant, he remembered thinking it looked out of place among the bottles of red and white wine lined up along the bar. He glanced over to his right; Joshua was sitting next to him on the leather loveseat instead of next to Daniel, his thoughts were jumbled and the look on the Joshua’s face as he slid a bowl of limes over to him, was concerned. So odd. The green slices, stark against the luminous porcelain seemed to call to him, transfixing him. He looked up again and the bottle was empty.

  “He hasn’t said a word in hours....”

  “I don’t know, maybe we should call...”

  “I think we need to...” the words became a mass of buzzing in his head. Angelo closed his eyes, shutting the rest of them away.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Carlo sat brooding. It was still too early for Vibe to be hopping but going home wasn’t an option. He’d been at the bar for two hours—phone off, hiding after fleeing that horrific pack dinner; it might not have been the smartest move, but you couldn’t fault his ‘flight or fight’ instincts. Joey and Ted were waiting for him to return, no doubt already aware of his little rebellion.

  The chances of anyone from the pack turning up at the club were slight. Angelo was still hip deep in the shit—that much was certain, and the rest of the pack would either be rallying around him or staking out the beach house to take a piece of him. The thought was vaguely unsettling. These had been his wolves four years ago. The instantaneous shift in allegiance over to Angelo had stung.

  He missed his dad. Nothing had gone right since the year he died. Between Angelo joining the Marines and the accident that left his dad gasping for breath and dying from a crushed chest, Carlo had floundered. Nothing Carlo did could save Constantine when a tree branch smashed into their car, pinning his father to his seat —a hazard left over from windstorms that swept across South Carolina in the wake of Tropical Storm Bonnie.

  Carlo, virtually untouched in the next seat over, remembered pleading with his dad, holding onto his hand, begging him to hang on. In the end all he had was his father’s love for him, bubbling and red from between his lips, one last time before he was gone from Carlo’s life, forever.

  Charles had found him an hour later, in shock, still clutching his father’s cold fingers. He wouldn’t leave his dad until they called Angelo to come and get him. Back when he still believed that Angelo was his family, the only one he had left outside of the pack members, the only one he could trust.

  And in the following hours and days and weeks, Carlo had grown to rely on the older wolf, the one that he knew secretly shifted and curled up at the end of his bed night after night when the nightmares threatened. Gradually the crippling guilt that threatened to swamp Carlo in the early morning hours started to ease for a time. Angelo’s belief that he couldn’t save his father that night had finally started to sink in when he abandoned Carlo for the Marines.

  Once more, Carlo wondered what his life would have been like if his father had lived...

  “Can I get you another?” The blond leaned across the bar and almost into his personal space with a grin a little too wide to be strictly professional. In fairness, it was hard to judge limits in a club entirely filled with men looking to hook up. In fact, it wouldn’t be a hardship to press the bartender up against a wall and fuck him.

  The grin transformed into a smirk and Carlo looked away. The bottle of Sapporo in his hand had gone warm; shreds of the label littering the scarred wood top.

  “Mmm, sure.” Pushing the dregs away he watched the bartender as he twisted and bent, digging out a fresh beer from the cooler—threadbare denim stretching across the man’s ass. Nope, not a hardship at all.

  ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈

  It was after ten o’clock when they finally made their way into the club. Kevin adjusted the collar of his shirt for the umpteenth time, an extra bill stashed in his front pocket to tip the bouncer. Not that it mattered. Entrance to Vibe was a sure thing. Of course Grady didn’t need to know that Kevin had called in a favor from one of his dad’s friends, Robert, the owner of the club. He only had to promise that neither he nor Grady would drink and he was on the list. Why he was trying to impress Grady after all this time, he didn’t know, except that it felt important, and after this morning he’d wanted Grady to look at him like he was more than just a kid.

  Kevin passed the bouncer the twenty and slid aside to let Grady precede him into the main room of Club Vibe—its dance floor already packed with the usual assortment of fierce half naked guys, a handful of hetro couples clinched tightly together on the fringes, and the assortment of single girls dancing and sending longing glances over the crowded floor at the hot and unattainable men. For a minute it felt like 80s night; Prince was moaning about a kiss before morphing into the rhythmic crooning of Janet Jackson. Grady was already swaying as he slid directly onto the dance floor, his pelvis undulating to the German techno beat that was overlaid on the song. Kevin watched in amazement. They’d never been to a club together before, and this Grady was an entirely new animal. He found a table to lean against with a great view of both the d
ance floor and the bar, unsure whether to relax and enjoy the show, or storm in and drag Grady off the well-muscled blond he was now grinding against. Little flickers of jealousy began to burn bright.

  Now that they were in college, things were different. Sure, they got together a couple times a quarter to hang out but it wasn’t the same, he missed being with Grady all the time. It was the one reason he was contemplating switching to Columbia. His dad would have his balls if he ditched the alma mater, so he was stuck at Princeton for now, but for grad school, he would make sure they lived in the same town, even if it did piss off his parents.

  A steady stream of men in all shapes and sizes moved through club in an endless circle. They reminded Kevin a little bit of sharks looking for their next meal and he’d had to shrug off more than one invitation, intent on watching his buddy. Grady didn’t even seem to notice his absence and it was pissing Kevin off. Now, a hot little number with blue streaks in his white blond hair had moved in and was stroking Grady’s ass. That torqued him off to no end.

  The fact that Grady had taken Kevin at his word when he’d begged off dancing and waved his friend off to enjoy himself didn’t mean that Grady was supposed to lose himself in the middle of that writhing mess. Checking out all the hot guys,and grinding away on the floor without him… it just hurt. Kevin felt slightly better a moment later when Grady twisted away from bluey and headed off the floor making a bee-line for the bar. Pantomiming a drink, Grady pointed a finger at him and tilted his head in question. It was Grady’s universal sign for “want a drink?” Finally something familiar. A brisk nod back to him had Grady spinning back around, flirting with a few of the guys hanging around at the edge of the dance floor. Apparently Grady was a happy addition to tonight’s Vibe lineup. Flashes of their first kiss together came back to him. They’d been seniors in high school at a dance, but not this type of dance. No, neither of them had really danced much back then.

  Grady’s blue eyes lit with fire as Kevin’s knee knocked against his under the table. Missy and Christy were their dates for the night. Honestly Kevin had no idea why they’d agreed to this farce of an evening. Then he remembered, it was their school’s homecoming weekend and somehow he’d made it onto the court. Everyone expected him to have a date. When he’d found out he was on the Homecoming Court he’d gone to Grady, asking if he would go with him.

  “Who’s your date?” Grady had asked.

  You, bonehead, is what Kevin wanted to say. “Doesn’t matter. Let’s double.”

  That’s why they’d gone with two girls neither one of them really cared for. Their dates were nice enough, but he and Grady had been skirting around the issue for long enough. That was the problem—neither of them wore skirts and everyone, including both sets of their parents, expected Kevin and Grady to date someone who did.

  Kevin had made up some excuse to leave the dance just after the King and Queen were announced, thankfully it hadn’t been him, and they were about five minutes away from dropping off Christy and Missy. When he pulled up at her house, he double parked, meaning there would be no lingering over a kiss. A peck on the cheek and the girls were gone. Grady slipped into the front seat and closed the door. They both sighed and Kevin wondered if it was for the same reason. A quick glance over didn’t reveal anything new, Grady was playing with the car stereo, looking anywhere but at Kevin as he slid the car into gear and took off toward home. The air thickened between them and he noticed Grady subtly grabbing his crotch to adjust his dick. Kevin hoped that wasn’t because of Christy. The rest of the drive was spent in awkward spurts of conversation that lapsed whenever a new song came on. They pulled into the lot where his dad parked his car.

  “Tonight was…fun,” Grady said, his hand on the door handle, looking ready to escape. He still wasn’t meeting Kevin’s eyes.

  “Yeah.” Kevin was crushed. All the looks, the touches and the brushes of shoulders hadn’t meant what he’d thought they had. He couldn’t have misread everything. This was their first sleepover. Kevin’s parents didn’t allow him to have other boys spend the night, not because of any strange discipline issues, but Kevin’s dad needed his sleep, especially after undergoing cancer treatment two years ago. He’d had to promise his mother that he and Grady would be very quiet, not playing loud music or staying up later than necessary. “Come on, let’s see if we can sneak in without waking the ‘rents. Maybe we can smuggle in some junk food and then watch a movie on my laptop.” He smiled, hoping to reassure Grady that they were cool, and slid out of the car.

  Grady followed suit, grabbing his bag from the back while Kevin stood beside the trunk, staring off into the night. He’d hoped that tonight he’d get a chance to kiss Grady, but he guessed they wanted different things.

  Grady slammed the trunk shut and slung his bag over his shoulder. Before Kevin could move, Grady reached out and took his hand, squeezing it twice before heading off across the parking lot, his fingers sliding away and Kevin regretted their loss immediately. Grady was halfway across the lot before Kevin moved. He raced after the teen, catching up and shooting a glance over to him. Grady smiled and winked, restoring some of Kevin’s faith.

  “Remember, silence,” Kevin said as he unlocked the door to his house and slipped in. He went to the kitchen and grabbed a package of Oreos, a jar of peanut butter, and two cokes from the fridge.

  Kevin looked up to notice guys swarming around Grady. Again. “Fuck!” Kevin hissed under his breath. This was not going as planned. He watched Grady wiggle into a spot at the bar.

  “He’s hot as fuck, for sure” a voice drawled next to his ear, “but then, so are you.” Kevin glanced over to see what could only be described as a leather daddy, complete with chest strap and black leather pants—emphasis on the daddy. Man, the guy was ancient; he had to be forty at least. Damn, though, he was kinda hot in that ‘take no prisoners’ kinda way. The military cut had him either retired Marine Corps or a wannabe with a soldier fetish. Either way he was not sharing Grady or anything else with this guy.

  “He’s mine,” Kevin snapped out.

  “In your dreams, boy. If he was yours you wouldn’t be here crying like a bitch, you’d be over there with him breaking hearts and ruining dreams. That sweet young thing is about to be gobbled up by the big bad wolf.” Leather Daddy leaned into Kevin, jerking his thumb in the direction of the bar that Grady was now draped across, chatting up the bartender, a twenty clutched in his hand. Every few seconds Kevin could see Grady roll his head to the left where a dark-eyed, dark-haired god of a man slouched. The blush that lit Grady’s cheeks was apparent all the way across the room. The only saving grace was that the sex god hadn’t seen Grady yet, but given the buzz it was only a matter of time.

  “He’s just friendly like that,” Kevin muttered.

  “Indeed. Friendly? I might just have to see for myself what friendly looks like... up close.” The man’s grin was downright mean. Kevin just wanted to punch the smirk off his face. Too bad the man had a full head and a half of height over him and a body width on him. Prick.

  “Name’s Conrad.” A meaty hand was thrust into his face. And just like that, Grady appeared next to them handing over what seemed like coke in a Long Island Iced Tea Hurricane glass.

  “Thanks, Babe!” Kevin purred for effect, as Grady grabbed the hand still floating between them.

  “Hi, I’m Grady, Mister Manners here is Kevin.” Grady was practically gushing as he gripped Conrad’s hand making Kevin roll his eyes.

  “Come on babydoll. Dance with me? We can leave ol’ Kev here to stand guard and you can show me all the gears your hot little engine has!” Conrad had leaned close and ran a finger down Grady’s chest for effect.

  “Ooh, I love a man in charge! I hope you can dance as well as you talk!” Grady flirted back.

  “Since when Grady? Jeez, are you telling me you’re falling for that crappy line?” Kevin huffed.

  “As I recall, you don’t like to dance, Kev.” Grady wiggled his fingers at him as he let Conrad dr
ag him into the middle of the floor. They’d only been dancing a few minutes when Conrad had Grady’s shirt unbuttoned and stuffed into a back pocket. The strobe lights making the pale gold of Grady’s skin glow.

  Grady spun around to Kevin and laughed as he threw his hands up over his head. He rocked his hips against Conrad’s and Kevin moaned. Fuck. Conrad gripped Grady’s hips. Kevin closed his eyes, blocking the train wreck before him. The kiss came back, taunting him now more than ever.

  Grady followed Kevin upstairs to his room on the second floor of the brownstone. Kevin’s parents were in the bedroom on the fourth floor, far enough away for he and Grady to talk a little bit, but only quietly.

  Kevin placed the food on his desk. Grady opened the peanut butter and swiped some out with his finger. He sucked the digit into his mouth and moaned. “It’s good.”

  Kevin smiled and handed Grady a coke. Grady began working the buttons on his shirt, trying like hell to open them with one hand. He was having trouble and Kevin reached out, popping one of the buttons. Grady sucked in a breath, his gaze shooting to Kevin’s.