by J. L. Wilder
They crossed the state line into Idaho, and Vince stopped so that they could have a restroom break. “I think we lost them,” he said.
“What were they going to do?”
“Can’t say for sure, but probably capture you for breeding,” he said.
“I thought I was claimed. I though nobody else could touch me.”
“I mean, they can,” he said. “It’s not impossible. Most shifters wouldn’t go near a woman who’d been claimed by someone else, because they would understand that she could never belong to them. But there are some who don’t care. There are some who will take women prisoner, cage them up, use them however they want.”
“Shit.” Amy shivered.
“Yeah,” Vince agreed. “So you’re just going to have to come back to Oregon with me for good, okay? You’ll be safe there. You and the baby both.”
“But what about the people you live with?”
“What about them?”
“They’re shifters too, aren’t they?” she asked. “How do you know they’ll respect your claim?”
“It’s different,” Vince said. “They’re like my family. I’ve been with them all my life. They’re not just some random creeps who caught your scent while they were passing through town. They’re like my brothers. I know them. I trust them.”
Amy trusted Vince, but she wasn’t so sure that trust transferred to his so called brothers. She hadn’t had much experience with shifters, but so far she thought she disliked more of them than she liked.
But at the same time...her child was going to be one. And wouldn’t it be best for him—or her—to grow up around other shifters? Amy herself would never be able to explain the intricacies of shifting. She wouldn’t know what to do if her little baby grew fur and fangs one afternoon. She would need other shifters around to help her deal with that kind of situation.
And going to Oregon meant staying with Vince. Raising the baby together. Maybe even getting married. She would have everything she had lost with Chris, but it would be better, because it would be with Vince. Strong, powerful, sexy Vince, who had taken her in hand the other night and given her an orgasm the likes of which she had never imagined.
She felt herself begin to tingle just at the thought of it.
THEY CROSSED INTO OREGON the next morning, and by afternoon they had reached Vince’s house.
“That other pack won’t follow us here,” Vince said as they cruised slowly up the dirt path that led from the highway through the woods. “Their alpha knew who my alpha was. I don’t think he was involved in trying to take you during the night. I’m guessing he’ll give the others a piece of his mind and they won’t be able to pursue us any farther. That’ll be the end of it.
He sounded very confident, but Amy wasn’t sure. “Alpha? What does that mean?”
“It means he’s the leader,” Vince said. “I’m sorry. I forget how much you don’t know.”
“I feel stupid,” she admitted. “It’s like there was this whole other world right in front of me the whole time and I never saw it. How many shifters are there?”
“Oh, not that many,” Vince said. “You probably never met another one before me, I’d bet. My pack was in Wyoming in the first place hunting for omegas, and we never caught the scent of any other shifters in your area.”
“And an omega would be?”
“It’s...” he hesitated. “It’s a powerful kind of woman. The mate every alpha dreams of, according to shifter tradition. She’s supposed to be revered above the others, practically the goddess of the pack, incredibly fertile, able to bear an entire litter of pups instead of a single baby at a time.”
“Wow,” Amy said softly, but her insides felt like they were twisting. Chris had left her because she wasn’t fertile enough. Now she had managed to conceive, but was it possible the same thing might happen again? It sounded like Vince was saying that shifters like him preferred women who were so fertile that they carried a whole bunch of babies at once, and Amy had been lucky to conceive one.
She didn’t think she could bear it if he left her the way Chris had.
Maybe he heard something in her tone, because he spoke quickly, as if to reassure her. “We looked all over for an omega, and we didn’t find one,” he said. “They’re exceptionally rare. My pack mate, Ace, was really into the idea. But I don’t think it’s that important.”
“You don’t?”
“None of us can help what we were born to be,” he said enigmatically, and cut the engine as a sturdy looking cabin came into view.
The door opened and a young man came out. His eyes narrowed slightly. Then he turned and went back inside.
“Uh-oh,” Vince sighed.
“What is it?” Amy asked.
“It looks like Dax isn’t very happy to see us.” Vince parked the bike and helped Amy off of it. “It’s okay. We’ll just have to explain a few things to them. It’ll be fine once they understand what you’re doing here, why I brought you back.”
Amy nodded hesitantly and allowed Vince to lead her up the porch steps and into the house.
They entered into a kitchen that was packed with men. Three stood leaning against the counter, and two—the two oldest—were seated at the table. “You’re back,” one of them said to Vince, not looking up.
“Yes,” Vince said.
“And you didn’t ask permission to leave.”
“I didn’t.”
“Explain yourself.”
Vince took a deep breath. “I don’t have to,” he said quietly.
Amy thought this was unnecessarily rude, but the older man seemed to infer some different meaning. His head snapped up and he met Vince’s gaze for the first time since they had entered the kitchen.
“You don’t?” he asked.
Vince shook his head.
“When did you find out?” the man at the table asked.
That question didn’t seem to fit anything that had happened so far, but Amy sensed that this was a moment she shouldn’t interrupt to ask for an explanation.
The rest of the kitchen was quiet. It seemed as though everyone gathered there, apart from Amy, knew what was going on. Reactions varied. Some of the men were smiling, but one was frowning, and one looked downright furious.
“I figured it out right before I left,” Vince said. “The night I left, actually. I was on the porch with Tommy and we were talking, and...well, a lot of things started to fall into place.”
“You knew?” the man at the table asked, looking around.
A younger man—this must be Tommy, Amy surmised—nodded. “I suspected, but then he gave me a command and I knew for sure.”
“The command was for him not to tell any of you what was going on,” Vince said quickly. “So don’t be angry with him about that. That’s on me.”
“Right,” said the man at the table. “Well, I can’t say I’m not surprised, Vince, but you’ll make a good alpha. I’m sure of that.”
“Wait a minute.” Amy’s stomach dropped. “You’re an alpha? You didn’t tell me.” Hadn’t he said that alphas belonged with omegas? He had gone on to say that he didn’t think it was that important—but was that just his way of being kind to her? What if he thought he had no choice but to be with her now that he’d gotten her pregnant with a baby that would cause her to be hunted by other shifters?
She didn’t want a man who would stay with her out of obligation. She had never wanted that.
“Ah,” the man at the table said. “Perhaps introductions are in order.”
“Right,” Vince agreed. “This is Amy. Some of you have already met her—”
“We didn’t meet her,” one of the younger men said. “We just saw her before you dragged her into an alley.”
“I didn’t drag her anywhere,” Vince said.
“If anything, I dragged him,” Amy said, surprising herself with her own willingness to speak up about that night. She had felt so wild, so out of character...
But that feeling had never really gone a
way. She kept expecting her calm, appeasing self to return, and it never had. So maybe this was her now. Maybe she was the girl who dragged random bikers into alleys and got pregnant with their babies.
Their wolf babies.
Yeah, that wasn’t going to stop being weird any time soon.
“Amy, this is Griff,” Vince said, indicating the man he’d been speaking to at the table. “He’s my alpha. Well, he was. I guess now...” He trailed off, looking uncertain.
“Now I get a well deserved retirement,” Griff said, smiling. “Pleased to meet you, Amy. This is my brother, Earl.”
Earl reached out and shook Amy’s hand, his expression solemn.
“And these three,” Vince said, gesturing, “are Tommy, Dax, and Ace.”
Tommy stepped forward and shook Amy’s hand as well. “Are you going to be staying with us?” he asked her.
Unsure of what to say, Amy looked up at Vince.
“Yes,” Vince said firmly. “She’s here for the long run. I’ll be building an extra wing onto the house eventually, but for now we’ll figure something out with the bedrooms we already have.”
“If Dax moves in with me and Ace, you and Amy can have our room to yourselves,” Tommy suggested.
“Hang on a minute,” Ace said. “We’re not even going to talk about this? We’re just bringing a new member into the pack with no conversation?”
Vince wrapped an arm around Amy. It felt as if he was trying to comfort her, but she wondered if there might be more to it than that. Maybe he was also trying to keep her safe. The look on Ace’s face wasn’t menacing, exactly, but it definitely wasn’t welcoming.
And Dax, who hadn’t moved from where he stood by the refrigerator, looked downright furious.
Ace turned to Griff, who was still seated. “He comes back after being MIA for days,” he said, “and he just declares himself the alpha? And we’re all going to go along with it, no questions asked?”
“You know he’s the alpha,” Tommy said. “He wouldn’t be able to declare it if it wasn’t true.”
“I don’t know anything,” Ace countered. “I know he says it’s true. I know Tommy says it’s true.”
“You saw him shrug off my order, Ace,” Griff said. “Have you ever been able to do that?”
Ace didn’t answer.
“I know this changes things for you,” Griff said. “All your life, you’ve thought you were going to be the new alpha. You’ve planned for it. I understand that.”
“I don’t give a damn about being the fucking alpha,” Ace said.
Amy suspected that wasn’t strictly true. Ace looked outraged, as if something valuable had been taken away from him without warning. Based on what Vince had told her about the alpha position, about how it conferred status on the person who held it, she thought she could understand. If he’d been planning on leading this pack, and now that wasn’t going to happen...well, of course he was angry.”
But he didn’t need to take it out on her.
“It doesn’t matter if he’s the alpha or not,” she said.
“Of course it matters,” Ace snapped. “What the hell would you know about it? You’re just a human. You’re nothing.”
The words stung, but Amy steeled herself against them. “I may be a human,” she said, “but I’m the human who’s having his baby. That’s why he brought me back. That’s why he’s keeping me here. So there’s nothing to talk about.”
Vince gave her a little squeeze. “Exactly,” he said. “The alpha thing...we can discuss that, Ace. I’m not expecting you to jump on board. It’s weird for me too. But the Amy thing is not up for debate. She’s one of us now.”
Amy held her breath, waiting.
Ace turned and walked out of the room.
Dax stood like a statue by the refrigerator, mutiny written across his face.
Chapter Eighteen
VINCE
“This is ridiculous,” Vince snapped. “You didn’t even want to search for an omega, Dax. You were tired of the hunt. You were ready to move on. Why are you upset about it now?”
“It was a joke before,” Dax said. His eyes were narrowed. It was frightening. Vince had never seen him look like this before, as if he was on the verge of snapping. Dax had always been the carefree one, the joker of their little pack within the pack. Dax had been the one who could make anyone laugh.
Now he looked as though he might never laugh again in his life.
Tommy reentered the kitchen. “I took the tray up to Amy, but she’s already asleep,” he reported. “You guys must have had a long ride—whoa. What’s going on here?”
“I think we should take this outside,” Vince said. He didn’t want it to come to a fight, but right now, it looked as though that might happen.
Ace rolled his eyes. “You speak in suggestions, and you think you’re fit to be our alpha? I was better suited to the role than you were. At least I knew how to be authoritative.”
“Give him a break,” Tommy said. “It’s new to him. Not like you. You grew up thinking you were in charge of us.”
“And what do you mean, it was a joke before?” Vince asked. “What part of it was a joke?”
“We were just ragging on Ace,” Dax said. “It wasn’t important to find him an omega. He wasn’t even really an alpha. The whole thing was just a waste of time.”
“Excuse me?” Ace’s eyes narrowed.
“Oh, give it a rest, Ace,” Dax scoffed. “You’re not the alpha. It doesn’t matter what I say to you now, and we both know it. So we can finally stop pretending I’m afraid of you. I never was, and now I don’t have to act like it. It’ll save us some time.”
Tommy grabbed Ace’s arm and pulled him back into his chair as he tried to stand up. “No fighting in here,” he said. “Earl will kill us if we mess up the kitchen.”
“Outside,” Vince said. “Now.”
He did his best to make it a command, but he wasn’t sure he’d done it right. How did you give an order? Was it just about the way you phrased things, or was there more to it than that?
Whatever the case, the three of them got to their feet and followed him out the front door and into the yard. Vince didn’t know if they’d done that because they’d been ordered to or because they had wanted to, but it didn’t matter. It had gotten them outside, and for now that would be enough.
“All right,” he said, once he had all of them out in the yard. “What’s this all about, Dax? You weren’t serious about the search before?”
“I didn’t think Ace was the alpha,” Dax said. “And neither did Tommy.”
“That didn’t mean I wasn’t looking for an omega, though,” Tommy protested.
“Then you were wasting your time,” Dax said. “What did you think was going to happen if we found one? Did you think she would just fall into Ace’s arms? Don’t be ridiculous. He didn’t have the authority to claim an omega. He wouldn’t have been able to do it.”
“So then we would have gotten an answer on the whole alpha thing a little bit sooner,” Vince said. “What would have been the harm?”
“I’ll tell you what it would have been,” Dax said.
“Don’t you fucking dare,” Ace snapped suddenly.
Vince turned to look at him. Ace was shaking with anger, his features set.
“What’s going on?” Tommy asked.”
“He thinks I would have taken an omega by force,” Ace said, his words ground out through gritted teeth. “That’s what he isn’t saying.”
“I don’t have a problem saying it,” Dax said. “I told you, man, I’m not afraid of you. We’re past that point.”
Ace ignored this. “He thinks that when she didn’t submit to me, I would have claimed her by force and dragged her back here and made her mate with me and carry my litter. That’s what he’s saying. He thinks I was so fucking determined to hang on to my rank as alpha that I would have done that.”
“Well, would you?” Dax asked him coolly.
Ace let out a roar of outrage
and launched himself across the yard at Dax. Tommy tried to catch him by the arm and pull him back, but Ace’s fury was too great to be contained and Tommy was tossed aside.
Dax responded with astonishing speed, shifting and meeting Ace’s attack in wolf form. The two collided and fell to the ground, one biting and slashing, the other pummeling with fists.
“Stop them!” Tommy yelled.
I don’t know how!
But Vince was the alpha. He was the only one who had a chance.
He shifted, pulling the wolf up from the core of himself. The shift came more easily than it ever had before, as if the alpha within him knew the role it had to play and embraced it. Diving at his pack mates, he locked his teeth around Dax’s neck and threw him to the ground, giving Ace a moment to back away.
He thought Ace would seize the opportunity to retreat to the house. But immediately he realized that he should have known better.
Retreating wasn’t Ace’s style. It never had been.
This was the man who had clung to the idea of being alpha even after it had become abundantly clear that the role wasn’t in his future. This was the man who had insisted on scouring the entire western part of the country looking for omegas that could not be found. This was the man who had refused to stand down in the kitchen, even when it had become apparent that Vince had the rightful claim to the alpha role.
He would never give in. Not while there was fight left in him. Not even if he was clearly in the wrong.
A split second later, there were three wolves in the yard. They were tangled together, fur flying, jaws snapping, claws raking at each other.
Vince had been in plenty of brawls with his pack mates, but it had never been like this before. There was too much rage here. They were out of control. He knew them well enough to know that they didn’t truly want to harm each other—but the wolves would defend themselves, and they would use violence. They had no sense of restraint.
Someone could easily get killed here today.
Someone’s claws sank into his thigh. He howled with pain and rage and shook himself free of the scrum, but was immediately pulled back in by teeth around his throat. He managed to cuff the aggressor hard enough to free himself again, but things were escalating fast now. He was losing his handle on the situation.
