by Lisa Oliver
Chapter Twenty
The alpha’s sick room stunk, despite the open windows, and the pots of flowers and herbs lining the shelves behind the alpha’s bed. Someone had taken the time to prop the man himself up with pillows, a slender woman hovered on the other side of the bed, looking between the Shaman and Rogan nervously.
“Leave us, Marie.” The alpha’s voice was hoarse. “Put the defect on the chair, Rogan.”
While Devyn wasn’t a fan of being carried by anyone but his mate or Gregor, he felt particularly vulnerable when Rogan put him down and stepped away. I have built a solid life for myself. I’m true mated to this asshole’s son. I don’t have to justify my existence to anyone. Rex will come for me. That last thought enabled Devyn to raise his eyes, and while he wasn’t stupid enough to look the alpha right in the face, he did keep his eyes at the alpha’s chin level.
It wasn’t until the door closed behind the silent Marie that the alpha spoke again. “So, you’re the one who cheated death and tempted my son from his true path. I can’t say I’m overly impressed.”
Devyn eyed the sickly alpha and kept his mouth shut. It wasn’t as though he’d been asked a question. He could see shades of his mate in the wreck of the man he was facing. The solid square jaw and the full lips. But where Rex’s eyes were known to look kindly on him, his father looked as though someone had shit on his bedcovers.
“You do speak, I take it?”
“Frequently.” Devyn’s tongue danced with the idea of using an honorific such as sir or alpha, but decided against it.
“How did you survive the culling? You were but three days old when you were left naked in the forest?”
Rogan gasped, and quickly covered his mouth. Devyn allowed his eyes to briefly meet the alpha’s before returning to his chin. “The bear tracks your second mentioned seeing at the time belonged to a shifter who took me in and raised me as his son. He found your process of culling… barbaric and illegal.”
“You left a baby in the forest? All by himself?” Rogan seemed upset. “How could you do that? You were always such a good alpha.”
“It was before you were born Rogan, shut up.” The alpha’s snarl made the big enforcer shrink back, but Devyn could feel the young man’s anguish.
“We don’t kill our defects as such. No one here is that cruel they would ruthlessly murder an innocent child,” the alpha went on and Devyn wondered if the explanation was for him or his enforcer. “Nature has a way of taking care of balancing out the needs of the pack, governing the laws of life and death. Your life, in accordance with our laws, was left in her hands that day.”
“Nature, or perhaps the Fates in this case, clearly saw a value in me, when you did not.”
The eye raking he got from the alpha left Devyn in no doubt the man still found him lacking.
“I suppose we should discuss why you’re here.” The shaman and alpha exchanged glances. “It’s not a secret I need my son home. I’m not long for this world and I will rest easier knowing my pack is safe in his care.”
“Most people would pick up a telephone and ask their son to come home,” Devyn kept his voice as even as he could, but even discussing Rex made the emptiness in his heart seem larger. Please hurry.
“Living in the city has given my son some strange ideas. I don’t blame Rex for giving into the temptations you offered him. I just need for him to do his duty now, and that means eliminating you.”
“After using me as bait.” Devyn was struggling to hold onto his patience. Rex’s father and Sloane would have made good mates. They both saw nothing wrong with manipulating others to their will. “Rex will come for me. I’m his true mate, claimed and marked in accordance with paranormal laws. You might not find it so easy to eliminate me this time, if you want your son to live.”
“True mates. What a load of shit.” The alpha started coughing and while the shaman reached for him, the alpha waved him away, picking up a glass of water from beside the bed instead. “Matings are for procreation purposes only,” he said when he got his voice under control.
Damn, I could do with a spot of that water. Devyn swallowed hard, knowing if he couldn’t convince the crazy alpha he was genuinely mated to Rex, then Rex’s life was in danger too. “I carry your son’s scar on my neck. It hasn’t and will never disappear. If your shaman was any good, he’d tell you that my scent and spirit is entwined with Rex’s and always will be. Our literature tells us a true shaman will always know instinctively when a mating is valid.”
“Is what the defect’s saying true?” Devyn realized the alpha was addressing the shaman now. “Is that scar on his neck a mating bite? Is he true bonded to my son?”
“Well, er….” The shaman looked nervous. “I’d have to conduct some of our ancient rituals to be sure….”
“Is it true, damn it?”
“I haven’t scented your son in over twenty years…”
“Is it TRUE?” The yelling fit brought on another coughing fit, and by the time it was over, the alpha was slumped back against his pillows, his face almost gray.
“I will have your honesty above all else shaman, or your hours here will be as numbered as my own.” The alpha was trembling in his effort to speak. “The truth.”
“Your son claimed the defect, alpha. I know not the reasonings of the Fates, but it is likely the reason the defect was born into this pack.”
There was a huge bang, and Devyn ducked as the door to the alpha’s room went flying across the room, narrowly missing the alpha’s bed. “My mate’s name is Devyn Vanin, and I will tear the throat out of any man who uses the word defect in association with him again.”
Looking over his shoulder, Devyn saw Rex flanked by Tony and Gregor. His alpha’s chest was heaving, and his wolf flashed in his eyes. But when Rex approached him, his tone was gentle as he knelt by Devyn’s chair. He slipped off his jacket, draping it around Devyn’s shoulders and Devyn relaxed into the warmth and his mate’s scent.
“You’re not dressed for company, mate of mine, and you seem to have misplaced your glasses.”
“If I’d been given a choice, I’d have dressed more appropriately for a meeting with my father in law. I think my glasses are still on the table next to the couch.” Devyn rested his head on Rex’s shoulder. “Did any of you think to bring any water? These guys haven’t been the most hospitable of hosts, and those drugs the shaman gave me have given me one hell of a headache.”
“Always prepared, alpha mate,” Tony said cheerfully, plucking a bottle out of the backpack he wore. “You just rest on that chair a minute and our alpha will take care of this shit so we can go home.”
Alpha mate? What the hell’s been going on in the last twenty four hours.
Chapter Twenty One
“You drugged my mate. You broke into his home, stole him away and now you abuse him when you know nothing about him at all.” Rex ignored his father’s gray pallor and focused on what was really important.
“I got your attention.” Typical flippant response. “I’ve told you for years it was time to come home, and did you listen? No. But now you’re here. Sit. I don’t have much time. I need you to do something for me.”
“Are you out of your fucking mind?” Geez, this curse affected him worse than he looks. “The only reason you’re still breathing is because if I fucking challenge you and win, one, you get a valiant death you don’t deserve, and two, I’d be stuck with your fucking pack.” Rex gave his father the fingers, showing his claws.
“I’m still your father.” His dad hasn’t lost his ability to glare, but then his expression turned sly. “You know, you don’t have to take over the pack if I’m still living.”
“I don’t have to take it over ever.” Just being on pack territory made Rex’s skin crawl.
“No, no, hear me out. You could get the curse broken for me. I’d live and rule the pack and you and your friends could be on their way.” The alpha flicked a quick glance at Devyn, and Rex moved in front of him. “Your deviant tende
ncies could be useful just this once.”
“I ain’t fucking one of the Adam’s boys just so they’ll take the curse off you. Been there, done that, no longer interested. I have a mate.” Rex couldn’t believe the audacity of his old man, but then, his father had always seen things through tunnel vision.
“Deviants like you will stick their dicks into anything with a pulse.” The alpha waved his hand. “Mother Adams has a lot of unattached boys, and I’m sure if you went to her and mentioned things like pack/coven relations and how they could improve if you got closer to one of her boys….”
“I’m not listening to this shit one minute longer,” Rex roared. “You’d pimp me out, for the good of the pack. You left my mate to die, for the good of the pack. You’ve kept your pack members locked in the stone age because you’ve always been fucking scared that if any of them got a hint of the opportunities beyond the forest, they’d all leave you in droves, and all that’s supposedly for the good of the pack. You have no idea what the good of the pack is.”
“Rex,” the shaman spoke for the first time since he’d arrived. “We might not have treated your mate the way you’d hoped, but you grew up safe and happy here. Don’t the young pack members we have now deserve the same opportunities?”
“I wasn’t safe, and I definitely wasn’t happy,” Rex laughed although there was no humor in it. “Do you know how I spent last night? Killing Bovis and burying the fucker after he dared to attack me. Something he told me was on your orders.” Rogan gasped and the shaman murmured something.
“The man was a sadist.” Rex stalked over to his father’s bedside. “Did you ever care what that man did to me? Or my brother, for that matter? Someone you’ve not even acknowledged even though he’s standing in the room. What about what Bovis did to the rest of the pack – the girls he ‘broke in’, the boys he beat for ‘not being manly enough’. Did you ever care what he was doing? There was no happiness in this pack while he was around. Not in my memories, or in Tony’s, and I’ll bet Devyn doesn’t think highly of this place or Bovis either.”
“Just rid me of the curse, and you will never hear from me again.”
“I won’t hear from you anyway. You won’t last a day.” Turning away from the alpha, Rex fished in his pocket, and pulled out a scrap of paper, slamming it on the shaman’s chest. “That’s the number for the council. You’re going to need it when this one’s gone. They’ll send an alpha to take care of anyone who sticks around.”
All he wanted was Devyn and within seconds the man was in his arms where he belonged. Rex took the time to savor his mate’s scent, and how right he felt cradled against his chest. Looking around, he took one last look at the man who raised him and shook his head. “What was it you always said to me? You had great potential? Well, guess what, so do you. It’s a shame you never realized it.”
Heading for the door, he was almost out of it, when his father yelled, “Your omega will be dead by nightfall if you don’t stay.”
“I’ll protect him.” Rex refused to turn around.
“You’re a damn strong wolf, but you can’t protect him from magic.”
A shiver ran down Rex’s spine. “What have you done?” But even as he turned back to face his father, the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. Bovis’s lies, the strong smelling herbs and flowers in his father’s sick room. “You’ve been lying to me about this whole fucked up situation from the start, haven’t you? What the hell have you done?”
For the first time in living memory, Rex watched as his father broke. It went far beyond whatever the curse had done to him. The man slumped against the pillows; his eyes bleak. “It was for the good of the pack,” he whispered quietly.
“I swear to the Fates if you mention the good of the pack one more time, I’ll beat you bloody and hasten your death. Tell me.” Devyn whimpered, and Rex hated how his anger impacted his mate, but holding him was the only thing keeping him sane.
“I pledged an alpha son to the Adam’s family.” The alpha turned his head to the wall. “It was decades ago, before you were born. Your conception wasn’t easy for your mother. She lost three children before you, one after the other, sinking into despair deeper and deeper every time.”
“She wasn’t your true mate, that’s why. You claimed you loved her, but you kept forcing her to fill your family agenda anyway.”
“I needed a son.” The flash of anger was over before it began. “I knew it. She knew it, but after she lost the third child, she would barely let me near her. I was desperate.”
“So, what? You went to the Adams’ and said I’ll give you my first born alpha in return for fertility mojo?” Rex couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “This is not a fucking fairy tale we’re living here. Why did they need a wolf shifter in their ranks? What were they going to do with him?”
“Mother Adams wanted a wolf mated to one of her boys. She knew,” The alpha coughed and tried again. “She knew how opposed to same sex matings I was. She was determined the payment for the gift would eat at my soul.”
“But you took the deal anyway. What?” Rex laughed and even he could hear the cruelty in it. “You thought you’d have a dozen alpha sons by now. You could throw one away, for the good of the fucking pack, is that it?”
“Your mother was so happy when you were born.” The alpha was staring off at the ceiling. “I have never seen her so radiant and when Tony was born, just a year and a half later, she was ecstatic. She felt truly blessed having two healthy sons.”
Blessed, my ass. She might have been, but it didn’t last. “That wasn’t enough for you though, was it? Because Tony turned out to be a beta wolf, and a damn fine one at that. Did Mom know about the deal you made with Mother Adams? I bet not. But that’s why you insisted on her having more children, even when your faithful shaman here told you two was enough.”
“I needed another alpha child.” The alpha’s roar set off another coughing fit and Rex noticed he was visibly weaker. “I had one for the pack, I just needed one more….”
“You killed my mother!” Devyn’s hand on his neck barely registered. All Rex could see in his mind’s eye was his mother’s swollen belly, her stricken face, and the blood that pooled beneath her where she’d fallen. “You killed her, all because you wanted to be seen as the strongest alpha. You said yourself she was happy with two sons, but it wasn’t enough for you. Now you’re stuck with a curse you can’t get rid of, all because you thought you had the power of god in your dick.”
“I have to fulfill the agreement made.”
“Why now?” That was something Rex couldn’t understand. “I hit my majority over twenty years ago. Why has it taken this long to bring on the curse?”
The alpha’s shoulders twitched. “After your mother died, I kept trying to have more children. Nothing worked. You were supposed to have been handed over on your twenty first birthday….”
“But I’d already left the pack.” Rex shook his head. “You didn’t even know where I was back then. That doesn’t answer my question.”
“They knew you claimed someone.” The alpha shook his head. “Don’t ask me how. Bovis and I were hunting in the forest. They just appeared in front of us – Mother Adams and four of her boys. She agreed she would let you run the pack, but it had to be with one of her sons by your side.”
“That doesn’t make sense.” Looking down, Rex saw Devyn watching him intently. “Babe, I was talking to Rogan. He said he spent two weeks preparing your quarters fit for you, your new mate, and the pups you’d have. He said all the girls in the pack were wondering who you’d choose to impregnate. Rogan wasn’t lying.”
“I wasn’t,” Rogan said emphatically, shaking his head. “Lying is wrong and the smell makes my nose hurt.”
“It’s good to see someone knows the value of honesty in this pack,” Rex said, with a brief nod at Rogan whose cheeks went bright red. “Something you forgot to mention, alpha?”
“He still wants his alpha kid.” Tony’s eyes were wide as he loo
ked between his father and the shaman. “You know I’m right, Rex. He gets you home, thanks to the curse. You bonk a few of the girls in the pack, probably all of them if he has his way, in the hopes one of your little swimmers will catch. You go with the Adam’s boy because there’d be no need for you to rule here. Father’s curse would be lifted, so he’d rule again, and he gets another alpha for the pack by raising your next generation.”
“The Adams don’t know you’re true mated,” Devyn murmured quietly for Rex’s ear only. “Otherwise they wouldn’t be pushing this because they know it wouldn’t work. Even killing me won’t make a difference. The bond the Fates put together is far stronger than anything a magic user can do. It’s why your father freaked out just before when he found out we were true mated.”
Rex grinned showing all his teeth. “None can break a mating on the penalty of death. A law that applies over all paranormals, for all time, including magic users.”
He eyed his father and the shaman. “I’m going to make some assumptions here. There was never any original curse, just an agreement. At the time the deal was made, Mother Adams assumed you’d fulfill it. She put a curse on you now, because you probably told her that my feelings as a dutiful son would have me come running to your bedside the moment I heard about it. You never intended for this curse to kill you. That’s why you stole Devyn. Because even when Bovis told me you were sick, I wouldn’t come. But you knew a bonded mating can be broken, and that’s what you intended to do when you stole Devyn from his home.”
“The Shaman said he’d make sure I was dead when they left me in the forest this time.” Devyn’s whisper was almost lost in Tony and Gregor’s growls.
“Kill my mate. Deliver me to the Adams. Your curse is broken, and life goes on for your pack as though nothing had happened, am I right?”
“The alpha wouldn’t do that,” Rogan protested. “He’s a good man, not kind exactly, but he gives a home to all who need it. He gets us jobs, and gives us schooling, and we only go hungry a little bit in the winter when the hunting is scarce.”
