Sentinel (The Lost Pack Book 3)

by Claire Cullen

  “You didn’t leave us much choice. But if you want to keep the rest of your pack out of his hands, you’ll do exactly as we say.”

  Thorn kept his gaze impassive, waiting for his words to sink in.

  Finally, the alpha nodded, slamming his head back into his seat with a growl. “Fine. But you’d better talk fast.”

  “We’re not doing the talking,” Thorn told him. “You are.” He handed him a phone. “Call your pack alpha. We’ve got a proposal for him.”

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Daniel sat in the pack kitchen with Josh, trying to pretend he wasn’t nervous about their visitors. They’d brought one alpha back a few hours ago, and only minutes before, another group of them had arrived. They were in the nearby living room. He could make out raised voices breaking through now and then. Thorn and Brax had asked him to join them, but he’d been too scared. Now he wondered if he’d made a mistake. It was him they were arguing over, of that he was certain.

  Slowly, he pushed to his feet and made his way to the living room door. It was open a crack and he peered through, listening to what was being said.

  He recognized the man talking. He was the alpha leader of the pack Harrison hunted with. Jerrick.

  “I sent my alphas here to watch your movements. It seems they got a little carried away. For that, I apologize. But I’m sure you can see the problem.”

  “Why don’t you explain it to us?” Brax said, his arms crossed.

  “Here’s what it comes down to,” Jerrick said. “You stole Harrison’s omega and his son. And when he brought his mate home again, you had his whole pack picked up by the military. That is a betrayal of all packs. It’s not just us who sees it that way. Packs all across the country will be out for blood; your blood. And that little stunt you just pulled with Greggs won’t do you any favors. But all I’m interested in, here and now, is getting what belongs to Harrison returned to him. He’ll get his pack out of Greggs’s tender care, and then he’ll deal with you himself. Until then, we’re here to see to it he gets back what you stole.”

  The alpha sat back in his chair and regarded Brax and Thorn coolly. At that moment, Daniel saw red. He wasn’t Harrison’s property, something to be bought and sold, bartered between packs.

  He shoved the door open and stormed inside. As he came to a stop right in front of the alpha, he aimed his most scornful look his way.

  “You’re an idiot if you believe that sob story Harrison told you. They didn’t steal me. Harrison did. His pack abducted me on my way home from college, brought me to their pack, and then fought over who got to have me. When I tried to run away, to get home to my family, they dragged me back, over and over. Harrison locked me up, beat me, starved me. When that wasn’t enough to get me to follow all his ridiculous rules, he used my son—my baby—to make me.”

  Thorn moved to stand behind him, a steadying presence at his back. He was breathing hard, so angry he could hardly speak, and yet the words kept tumbling out all the same.

  “Brax’s pack didn’t steal me and my son. They took us in when we finally escaped from Harrison with nothing but the clothes on our backs. They’ve kept us safe, cared for us, helped us recover from the terrible things that Harrison did to us. You… you are wrong. This pack…. They’re not the bad guys in all this. You need to stop this, back the hell off, and leave me and my true pack alone. Harrison and his horde aren’t a pack, they’re monsters. They’re locked up where they belong, where they can’t hurt any more omegas.”

  Thorn put a hand on his shoulder, and Daniel fell silent, letting the alpha tuck him close and guide him to sit.

  “Is this true?” Jerrick asked, straightening in his seat. He looked skeptical.

  “Harrison will be up on charges in military court soon. Abduction and unlawful imprisonment of omegas. In the plural. Some they took, had their fun with, and dumped. Others, like Daniel, were held for years and forcibly incorporated into that mockery of a pack. There are quite a few children involved, but no evidence of proper pack bonds,” Brax explained.

  Daniel lifted his head, surprised at that information.

  “What?”

  “They were all single births, Danny,” Thorn explained quietly. “Just incidental pregnancies and not pack matings. The biggest tell was both you and Jaxon having single cubs and not litters. If Harrison himself didn’t have a true bond, none of the other alphas could.”

  Jerrick sat forward. “Are you saying they’re not a pack?”

  “Not as far as we can tell,” Thorn said carefully.

  “Does Greggs know?”

  “…not yet.”

  A slow grin crossed Jerrick’s face. “Well, that’ll be a nice surprise for him. Pity about Harrison. He was always a little nuts, but he had big aspirations. I thought he might come in useful someday.” His eyes strayed to Daniel. “I did wonder about the omegas. That whole subservience thing… it’s not really fitting for a pack. Too much like a cult.”

  “Harrison is enigmatic enough to carry off a cult,” Brax agreed.

  Jerrick stood. “I’ll think over what you’ve told me and pass the relevant information on to the other packs. You haven’t won any friends among them, but… there wasn’t much love lost where Harrison is concerned, so you won’t have made many enemies either.”

  “Then all that, just now,” Thorn said. “That was what? Grandstanding?”

  Jerrick fixed him with a cold stare. “Packs in this country have it hard enough without turning on each other. But it seems I wasn’t in possession of all the facts. Now I am. I’ll be in touch.”

  He nodded to them, gave Daniel one last searching look, and headed for the door.

  “What just happened?” Daniel asked, a little at a loss to work out the sudden sea change in the other alpha’s attitude.

  “He wasn’t riding to Harrison’s defense because he likes the guy,” Cole summarized. “But because he felt honor-bound to defend him as a fellow pack leader. Now he knows he’s really a criminal and a bastard. Not the kind of person people normally feel bound to by honor.”

  “Does that mean it’s over?”

  “I like to think that’s exactly what it means,” Brax said from the doorway. “But let’s wait to hear what he says once he’s had some time to mull it over.”

  “I think he liked us,” Cole joked. “Underneath it all.”

  “I feel like he hadn’t quite made up his mind,” Oliver replied. “Maybe we could send a fruit basket?”

  “I’ll bake muffins,” Daniel offered. “Chocolate chip.”

  “Make them oat bran,” Thorn said darkly. “Chocolate is too good for them.”

  Daniel leaned against the alpha, relaxing as he breathed in his scent and feeling Thorn relax in turn.

  “But not for you. I’ll bake them for you.”

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  It took a month before they got everything ironed out. After multiple meetings, assessments, and reports, the social workers closed their case and gave them a green light. It took a harshly worded letter from a lawyer friend of Oliver’s to convince Daniel’s family to back off. If Daniel had been open to talking to them, that would have been one thing. But Thorn knew he still felt betrayed knowing that they hadn’t helped protect him from Harrison when they’d had the chance. All the drama wound to a close, and Thorn’s family finally had the chance to relax.

  Daniel had gone from anxious about the pregnancy to accepting of it in his second month, but Thorn wanted him to go that one step further and enjoy it. He did everything he could to boost his mate’s self-esteem, being honest about how much he liked watching the changes in Daniel’s body that came with the fast-approaching end of his pregnancy.

  “Will you be disappointed if they’re girls?” Daniel asked out of the blue as they lay on their bed one afternoon.

  Thorn had found that often the best way to get Daniel to nap was to nap with him when he got the chance.

  “Why would I be?”

  “Harrison was.”
<
br />   Thorn never discouraged Daniel from talking about the alpha, even if it was hard to hear it sometimes.

  “Harrison was an idiot.”

  Daniel giggled. “He was, wasn’t he?”

  Thorn let his hand travel the length of Daniel’s bump. The babies were sleeping; there wasn’t so much as a twitch or a kick.

  “Girls would be fun. It would be nice to have at least one, so Grace doesn’t feel so outnumbered. But boys would be good too. Alpha, beta, omega. I’ll be happy so long as they’re healthy.”

  “They will be,” Daniel said. “Healthy and strong like you.”

  “Speak for yourself,” Thorn teased. “Are you sure you shouldn’t shift back?”

  Daniel yawned and stretched. “I spent all night and all morning as a leopard. I think I’ve earned a few hours as a human. Besides, I miss talking to you.”

  “I miss it too. Though we may not have much time for talking once the babies arrive.”

  “There’ll always be time for talking,” Daniel insisted. “It might be right in the middle of a sleepless night, both of us cranky and tired…”

  “But as long as we can remember to listen to each other, really listen, things will be okay.”

  Benn and Kira had helped drill that into their heads recently. The give and take of a relationship, the balance, and the trust. It wasn’t always easy, but they muddled through. Even if some days Thorn felt like walking the woods alone for hours, or if Daniel just wanted to huddle in a ball and ignore the world. They each knew that the other would be there for them when they came out the other side of it. And they had Sammy and their cubs to think of. The world moved on, even when they felt like they couldn’t face it.

  “I can’t wait,” he told Daniel, getting excited as he thought about the arrival of their babies. “Brax says it won’t be long. You could go into labor any time now.”

  The full moon had been the day before, the signal that Daniel’s pregnancy had reached full term.

  “How are your projects coming along?”

  Thorn had been working hard to get the furniture for the nursery ready.

  “We can go take a peek after your nap, if you feel up to it.”

  Daniel grinned and tugged him in for a kiss. “I wouldn’t miss it.”

  After lots of kissing that they reluctantly didn’t take any further, Thorn helped Daniel to his feet, and they went to visit his workshop. The crib stood in one corner: polished, stained wood with intricate carvings on it. One side had a leopard stalking through some tall grass. On the other was an elk, standing proud with the moon behind him.

  “It’s beautiful,” Daniel murmured.

  The icing on the cake was the mobile Thorn had made. From each string dangled a small carving of a different animal belonging to their pack. A wolf, a fox, a hedgehog, a horse, a bear, and all the others.

  Thorn had made a changing table and a dresser, but the crib had been his focus, wanting it to be something special.

  “I didn’t want Sammy to feel left out,” he told Daniel. “So I made a new headboard for his bed.”

  He led Daniel around to see it. On it, he’d engraved a scene of a little leopard cub watched over by a leopard and an elk. Along the border, he’d repeated all the animals of the pack. It was the best way he could find of saying, without words, that Sammy was his son, just as much as these cubs would be.

  Daniel smiled and a few tears escaped down his cheeks. “Thank you. I love it. I know he will too.”

  They hugged and swayed, dancing in the quiet of the workshop, their two hearts beating in time to silent music.

  Thorn knew the next morning that Daniel wasn’t quite right. The omega looked, if possible, more uncomfortable than he had been the previous few days. Thorn brought him breakfast in bed and suggested that he shift back to leopard form as soon as he’d eaten. Daniel agreed without a word of complaint, settling heavily onto the bed. Thorn resolved not to go far that morning, so as to keep a close eye on him. He got Sammy fed, washed, and dressed, and handed him over to Josh to join the others at the packhouse. They’d only been gone a few minutes when Daniel called his name.

  He rushed back to the bedroom to find the omega doubled over on the edge of the bed.

  “It’s time.”

  “Yes, yes it is. I’ve got the bags ready. I’ll help you out to the car.”

  He put an arm around Daniel and helped him to his feet, supporting him as they made their way outside. He went back in for the bags, calling Brax as he did.

  “Daniel’s in labor. We’re on our way.”

  He got into the car next to Daniel, putting a reassuring hand on the omega’s knee.

  “They’re waiting for us. Everything’s going to be just fine.”

  “I know,” Daniel said, smiling at him. “I’m not afraid, not anymore.”

  It wasn’t long before they had Daniel settled into a room at the packhouse. Though settled was probably the wrong word for it, as the omega paced back and forth across the floors. The others took turns in the room with them, offering drinks, food, ice chips, and words of comfort.

  When Daniel got tired of walking, Thorn rubbed his back, murmuring softly to him.

  “You’re doing great.”

  “Am I?” Daniel asked. “It feels like it’s taking forever.”

  “Not long now,” Alice agreed. “Those contractions are coming fast and hard.”

  She was right, and a few minutes later it was time for Daniel to push. Thorn held his hand, pressed a cool cloth to his forehead, and hid his frustration at not being able to do more. It was hell to watch his mate in pain, struggling and fighting so hard, and to be able to do nothing more than offer platitudes and mop his brow.

  “You’re doing great, Thorn,” Daniel said suddenly, during a break between contractions. “Thank you.”

  Thorn laughed. “You’re the one who’s owed all the thanks. I was all cavalier about ‘let’s have sex, and mate, and have babies.’ And you’re the one left doing all the hard work.”

  Oliver laughed and patted Daniel’s knee. “That’s how it always is, right, Daniel?”

  But the omega never got the chance to reply as the next contraction hit hard.

  “I can see the head,” Alice exclaimed excitedly. “Ready to meet your baby?”

  Thorn cupped Daniel’s cheek and held his gaze. They were ready.

  “I can’t wait,” Daniel whispered to him.

  Twenty minutes later, it was all done and dusted.

  “She’s so cute,” Daniel murmured. “Look at her little nose. It’s so tiny.”

  “She is precious,” Thorn agreed, peering down at his daughter. “And so is he.”

  Their alpha son was bigger than his sister, but not by much. The little cub yawned widely and cracked open his eyes, staring up at them.

  “Hi, baby,” Daniel whispered. “Welcome to your family. Welcome home.”

  Epilogue

  Thorn balanced Riley against his shoulder as he walked through the house in search of Sammy.

  “Time to go visit the packhouse, Sammy. Have you got your shoes on?”

  Riley groused a little, and Thorn rubbed his back. “I know, kiddo.”

  He glanced into the workshop and almost missed Sammy.

  “There you are.”

  Sammy was in his leopard form and curled up asleep in the little nest box that Thorn had made for him all the way back when he’d first arrived at the pack. He’d be too big for it soon.

  With a sigh, Thorn sat down on the couch next to him, reached out a hand, and stroked his fingers through Sammy’s fur. The cub’s nose twitched and his eyes peeked open.

  “Time to go, kiddo. We’ve got places to be.”

  In response, Sammy tucked his chin into Thorn’s hand and went back to sleep.

  Thorn shook his head, wondering what to do about his predicament.

  “Are you guys ready to… go?” Daniel paused in the doorway, Isabel in his arms. “I’m guessing that’s a no.”

 
“Everyone’s sleepy today.”

  “Not Isabel,” Daniel said, rocking the baby when she started to cry.

  Thorn knew there was only one thing to do. He tickled Sammy’s chin, and the cub squirmed and rolled over, opening his eyes and yawning as he stretched.

  “I’ll pack him some clothes,” Daniel suggested. “In case he wants to shift back while we’re over there.”

  A few minutes later, they were walking through the woods. Daniel carried Isabel and the baby bag while Thorn juggled Riley and Sammy. The cub insisted on getting down as soon as the packhouse was in sight, racing ahead of them before stopping and turning, waiting impatiently for them to catch up.

  Thorn was suddenly struck by a memory from months earlier. Before the twins, before Daniel, before finding a leopard cub hiding up a tree. He had stood where he was standing now and wondered when the sight of the packhouse had started filling him with dread. It had stopped being his home, the center of his pack, and had become the place that showed him what was missing in his life. Sammy and Daniel had changed all that.

  When he was home, at the house, he had his family around him and their own little life. But, like Cole and Josh, it wasn’t just them alone. The pack was only a stone’s throw away, and they were enmeshed in pack life just as much as anyone else who lived there. Daniel and Sammy went to the packhouse almost every day, they were his connection to the pack itself. They helped him feel part of everything while still having the space he needed to be their Sentinel.

  “Thorn?” Daniel’s hand touched his arm. “Everything okay?”

  “Yeah.” He smiled at his mate. “Sorry, I was miles away. Let’s get inside.”

  Today wasn’t just any day. The pack was getting together to celebrate a new holiday—International Pack Day. All around the world, packs like theirs were flying their flags. Telling the world that their supposedly outdated mode of living wasn’t going anywhere.

  The first half of the party was just for them, but later that evening they were having visitors. A few politicians, some people from the media, a few community leaders. A necessary evil, both Josh and Oliver insisted. Good PR for packs was badly needed these days, and they were lucky their pack had it in spades.