Pack Mentality

by Idella Breen

  “But, Gwen, your family is different. People of your family have always chosen other werewolves. Not only that. They have always chosen alphas.”

  “What? That’s impossible!”

  “It’s the truth. You have alpha blood in your veins.”

  She shook her head. “It’s impossible for an omega to be born from an alpha bloodline.”

  “Usually, yes, that is how it is. But for some reason, in your family, a wolf is born who manifests as an omega.”

  “Why?” she yelled as her anger burned deep within her belly as something became apparent. “Why Remus?”

  “To renew the bloodline.”

  “What?”

  “A pure alpha bloodline can be dangerous. Even my family is filled with betas between alphas but your family has always produced alphas. So, we hypothesized that in order to renew the blood and keep it strong and pure every generation one will be born as an omega and will be at odds with their wolf. You have to have realized it, Gwen? You're much too opinionated to be a true omega. You have the heart of an alpha, but an omega as a wolf so naturally, you would each have different needs in a soulmate. Thus, there will be two imprints.”

  Gwen stared at him in silence as he drove, trying to process all that he had said. “This is why my family disowned me? Because I wasn’t—because I’m not a true alpha?”

  Remus hesitated but nodded.

  “Why didn’t anyone ever tell me!” She yelled. Had her whole life been a secret? A lie? A misdirection?”

  A muscle in Remus’s jaw twitched. “We had hoped it wouldn’t happen with you.”

  “You would have just let me live my life without ever knowing why I came home one day and my parents were just gone! Just up and left to join another clan and left me behind like dirty laundry!”

  “Gwen—”

  “How could you Remus?”

  “Gwen!”

  She held her tongue at his tone but her cheeks were flushed and her heart hammered in her chest. “What?”

  “I made them leave.”

  Her breath left her. “Why?”

  “You can’t lead a pack with two alphas.”

  “What?”

  “I said that you can’t lead a pack with two alphas. Like I said, your family produces alphas. Your father challenged me for the position when you were still a teenager and he lost. I made him leave but you were allowed to stay because you were the only omega and my clan was in need of you.”

  Gwen stared at his side profile, the cogs in her mind turning slowly as she began to understand what he was saying. The fight abruptly left her and she sank back into her seat, turning to look unseeingly out her window. It was several moments before she spoke again. “So they're both my soulmates?”

  Remus grunted. “Yes and no.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Even though there are two, you must still go through the blood bond with them. Yes, they are both your soulmates, but no they will not necessarily become lovers.”

  “How exactly would this renew my bloodline if we are both women?”

  “You’re special. I’ve been told that the way you pass on your genetics will be different.”

  “What the hell does—”

  “You’re different, aren’t you Gwen.” It wasn’t a question.

  Gwen held her tongue.

  “You don’t really want to, “renew” any bloodlines. You just want to be with someone, right?”

  “How did you know about this?”

  Remus didn’t respond and Gwen knew. “He told you!”

  “I made him.”

  “I told him not to tell you!”

  “Gwen, calm down.”

  “How dare you, the both of you!”

  “Calm down!”

  “Don’t tell me what to do! Stop the car!”

  “No!”

  “I said stop the car! Right now!”

  Remus felt his wolf panicking and he suddenly stopped the car before he knew what he was doing. Gwen opened her door and climbed out. They were in the middle of the forest on his land.

  “Gwen! Get back in the car!”

  “I hate all of you! You can’t keep a goddam secret! You all control my life! Why should I trust any of you?!”

  Remus got out of the car and slammed the door. “Because you’re the omega.”

  His voice held a command that she would never bow to. “What does that have to do with anything?”

  “Everything,” he growled.

  Silence pervaded around them. Both were panting. Gwen stood a few feet away from the truck and Remus stood next to it facing her with his arms folded.

  “Why?” She whispered.

  “Because you’re the omega, Gwen,” he said quietly.

  “What does that mean?”

  “The omega has to sacrifice. I thought you understood this by now. As the alpha, I sacrifice just as much. I do everything for the clan. I can’t even bring my mate here until I’m sure she will be able to handle the clan. But you, Gwen, without you we can’t survive. Once a clan has accepted an omega they can’t keep the balance without them. You are our greatest weakness and our crutch but you give us will. The will to fight, the will to survive, the omega is the heart of the clan. If we lost you, we would lose our way. I would lose control, and we would crumble and right now, the McCloud Clan is looking for our weakness. I can’t afford to be weak. We sacrifice Gwen. It’s what we do.”

  Gwen shook her head. “I never asked for this.”

  “They gave you to me, Gwen. They didn’t even think for a night on it. Your father lost, and I asked for you and he said yes,” Remus snapped his fingers and Gwen flinched. “Just like that.”

  She whispered, “Just like that?”

  “Yes, Gwen. They didn’t want you. I wanted you. The Lander Clan needed you. We are the ones that love you. So, you may not have asked for this, but this is what you were given. We can’t choose our family. You, even less then most, but we get to choose the kind of people we become. You get to choose if you remain our omega. We won’t have anyone else by choice. You’re ours, Gwen. We won’t let you go without a fight.”

  “I’m not your’s! You don’t command me.”

  “I may not command you but you are ours. You’re a Lander! You will always be a Lander.”

  They were silent again. The noise of the forest around them the only witness to this battle of wills. Finally, Gwen spoke.

  “They aren’t like us. What if you don’t accept them. My mates.”

  Remus nodded. “We have to because we won’t give you up.”

  “Do you promise, Remus Lander, alpha of the Sleeping Forest Clan, that you will accept my mates no matter who they are?”

  He paused, then kneeled on one knee and placed his right hand over his chest, bowing his head slightly. “I Remus Lander, alpha of the Sleeping Forest Clan, promise to accept Gwen Lander’s mates no matter who they are or where they come from.”

  “You will sing this pledge when they join our clan.”

  “I pledge my song to you Gwen, once they join.”

  Gwen nodded. “Then I will stay so long as you keep your word, Remus Lander. You will have me as your omega.”

  They both got back into the truck and drove for a while in silence. Gwen broke it once again. “So, what do I do?”

  He glanced over at her as he drove. “Go through the blood bond. What else is there to do? You can’t resist the pull and neither can either of them. As you feel the strong need to get closer to them they will also feel the need to learn more about you, If you try to resist it you will only succeed in hurting all parties involved.”

  Gwen frowned but continue to look out the dashboard window in thought. “What if I’m not ready?”

  He shrugged. “Honestly, Gwen, none of us ever are. You just learn to roll with the punches.”

  He reached out and mused her hair making her cry out in irritation.

  “Remus!”

  He laughed. “Keep your chin up omega. T
his is a good thing. You have two soulmates. Few ever find their one but you have double the trouble. And to top it off they’re both women! I don’t envy you but I know you can handle it. So, come on. I want to order a pizza before we marathon something on Netflix.”

  It was at that moment that she realized they had made it back to his house and a few cars and trucks were already parked around his house. “I’m still mad, Remus. I don’t forgive you for this.”

  He nodded. “I know. But one day you will and you’ll realize that it was all for the best. We may have known you were an omega but we didn’t know you would have two blood bonds. That changed everything.”

  “I guess you’d say you made the hard decisions?”

  Remus opened her door and shook his head. “No, Gwen. That’s what you just did. It’s what you’ve always done. Sometimes I wonder where you get all of your strength. Then I remember you came for a long line of alphas and it makes complete sense that you can make those types of decisions and so quickly. Your mates have their work cut out for them.” He chuckled.

  They both climbed out of the truck but just as they reached his front door Gwen asked the question that had been bothering her. “How did you get Sam to tell you anyway?”

  Remus looked back at her and grinned. “That, my dear omega, is classified information.”

  “Come on Remus!”

  He shook his head and entered his house. “My lips are sealed.”

  “Remus!” Gwen followed him, slamming his front door closed behind them.

  8

  Gwen sat on her bed staring intently at her cell phone, or more accurately, she was staring at the text messages she had been exchanging with Jezebel on and off all day between her regular clan duties. Gwen had come to learn that Jezebel, or Jazz as she preferred, was not only intelligent but also in possession of a strange sense of humor. Luckily, it was the kind of humor Gwen could get behind. They had ended up texting some version of twenty questions all throughout the day and now Gwen’s thumb was hovering over the send button once again, only this time her message wasn’t simple banter. This time, she was about to ask a very important question. The only problem was that she wasn’t sure how this particular question would go over.

  Taking a deep breath she tapped her thumb down on her screen and it vibrated slightly as the message was sent.

  Drinks?

  Biting her lip, she rested her phone against her chin and tried to hold back the sudden terrifying thrill running through her. She tensed when she felt her phone vibrate alerting her that there was a new response. Gwen closed her eyes for a moment.

  “Please, please, please!” the omega’s eyes popped open and she greedily scanned over the response, only to gasp.

  “Yes!” the werewolf jumped up, nearly getting tangled up in her sheets as she threw her arms into the air and bounced on her bed before flopping down, and squealing into her pillow. She quickly stood up and read over the text messages once again to confirm that her eyes weren’t playing tricks on her. She had asked if Jazz wanted to go out for drinks tomorrow and she had responded quickly with,

  Luv to

  Followed by three kissy heart smiley faces. Not just one smiley face, but three! One would have been to humor her, two would have shown excitement, but three? Three was barely contained interest as well as a green light in her book. Jumping up, Gwen ran over to her closet. Now, she just needed to pick out the perfect outfit! It would be an outfit worthy of those three smiley faces and maybe even a tiny heart. Gwen was half sticking out of her closet when there was a knock on her door.

  “What?” her voice was muffled but the person on the other side of her door heard it and entered. She was staying in the guest room she usually claimed as her own when crashing at Remus’s house.

  “Gwen?” a deep baritone called out and she stuck her head out to smirk at her alpha.

  “What’s up, Remus?”

  He smiled and walked over to her bed where he plopped down and crossed his legs like a pretzel. “A lot actually.”

  Gwen went back to sorting through her dresses. Should she wear a dress? The weather had been nice these past few days. A summer dress wouldn’t be trying too hard but was dressy enough to show she put in the effort.

  “Gwen?”

  “Hmm?”

  “Are you going somewhere?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Right now?”

  “No,” she replied absently.

  “Gwen?”

  “Hmm?”

  “Come here for a second.”

  She heard the command in his tone and her wolf reacted to it but she resisted. “I’m kind of busy right now.”

  “It will only take a moment.”

  Sighing, she came out of her closet and placed a few clothes down on her bed next to Remus before resting her hands on her hips. “What?”

  The man had the audacity to chuckle. “I need you for a clan meeting that’s coming up.”

  He now had her attention. “Who with?”

  Remus nodded, happy to have her focus on him. “There’s a new clan in town. Well, actually, they’re not that new as they’ve been here for several years but they’ve now reached the minimum number of clan members to give them privileges to land and claim of a title.”

  “What title did they claim?”

  “McCloud, Heavenly Sky Clan.”

  “Heavenly Sky Clan?”

  “Yes. They’ve taken the old title they once owned before their clan had been broken and dispersed.”

  “Is that an indirect challenge to us then?”

  Remus frowned, “Why would you say that? Because we are the Sleeping Forest Clan?”

  When Gwen nodded he snorted. “That wouldn’t be the reason for their challenge, but I believe they are calling us out in their own way.”

  “I see. Have you spoken with Integra lately?”

  “Why?”

  “We had a run in with a member of their clan recently.”

  Remus growled.

  “Oh, hush. It wasn’t a big deal. I just thought she may have mentioned it to you, but as it seems she didn’t, you should understand that it really wasn’t important. I just wanted to say that I had a bad feeling about them.”

  “A bad feeling?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Why?”

  Gwen shrugged. “It’s just a gut feeling.”

  Remus studied her for a moment before looking over into her closet. “I’ll reserve my judgments for the meeting if only so that I don’t influence the rest of the wolves, but I trust your instincts. I’ll be cautious while dealing with them, but I will need you beside me in the meeting.”

  Gwen nodded. “I understand. I’ll be there.”

  Remus smiled and stood. “Good.”

  “What is the meeting officially for anyway?”

  He frowned. “Officially? I believe they wish to discuss land borders.”

  “Unofficially?”

  “They probably want to get a feel for us and an estimate of our numbers. We need to put on a show, or else we may have to deal with a land battle and I’d really like to avoid that at all cost.”

  “They can’t just show up here and try to take our home away!”

  Nodding, Remus patted her shoulder. “I won’t let it come to that, Gwen. Just come to the meeting and do your job as our omega and I’ll do mine.”

  “Okay.”

  “Good. I have to go find Keith and Sam.”

  “You’re bringing both of them as well?”

  “I want to show some of our power but I don’t want them to see all of it. Keith is my second in command and Sam has gotten strong enough to make others think twice about messing with him.”

  “What about Cait?”

  “What about her?”

  “Well, aren’t the Fallon’s and McCloud’s rivals or something? Integra had mentioned something like that earlier.”

  Remus shrugged. “It’s possible, but honestly, it’s not my problem.”

  “How ca
n you say that, Remus?”

  “Cait’s clan isn’t big enough to own her own land. And though I have allowed her to share mine as an ally, I have no intention of getting her mixed up in my disputes. Besides, both she and Snow are still away on work. They won’t even know this is happening.”

  Gwen nodded. “Fair enough. I’ll stand by you, Remus. You have my loyalty as always.”

  He nodded and turned to leave. Pausing at the door he called out, “I think the yellow dress would go best by the way. It brings out your highlights,” the door clicked shut behind him

  Looking down at the few options on her bed her eyes landed on the sunburst yellow sundress and she couldn’t help but agree with him.

  Gwen had managed to slip past Sam and “borrow” Remus’s spare car, as it was the one he had basically given to her, in order to make it to her date on time and without having to explain to Sam where she was going and when she would be back or having to convince him that his presence was unnecessary. She loved the guy but sometimes he was way worse then Remus, especially where she was concerned. Gwen smoothed a hand down her dress and taking a deep breath, she entered Kirk's Brewery. Kirks was a humble place but managed to attract a younger crowd due to its selection of happy hour cocktails. Gwen glanced around and immediately caught sight of Jezebel sitting up at the bar. As Gwen drew near her she managed to catch the tail end of the conversation the woman was having with the bartender.

  “Thanks.”

  “No problem.”

  Gwen came up behind her and was about to get her attention when Jezebel spun around on the barstool.

  “Hey, stranger.”

  Gwen was stunned as she took in the woman before her. When they had met at the park she had been distracted and hadn’t been able to really take in the woman completely but now she couldn’t help but appreciate Jezebel and all that she was. She was dressed in a casual but acceptable manner that only someone with her presence and sensuality could pull off without seeming like a lazy person. She wore grey dress pants that flared at the bottom and tapered off into navy blue heels and when she stood to greet Gwen they put her a good inch and a half over her. She wore a cream blouse that dipped appropriately showing off the small gold chain around her neck that had some sort of strange insignia hanging off of it. Her ears were adorned with pearls giving her a sophisticated look and yet Jezebel’s hair was the most interesting feature as it managed to both look wild and contained. Strands stuck out in odd places in a spiky mess but the overall look was contained into silky strands falling down to the middle of her back. Taking her in, Gwen couldn’t help but feel a bit shy and yet the moment Jezebel’s arms wrapped around her in a greeting hug Gwen felt her heart thud in her chest and Jezebel’s seemed to answer it as their chest touched briefly.