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Each of us locked inside our own heads, waiting for permission to go to bed. Together but apart. The only way we know how to be.
“Feel this pain. Let the fire of my judgment baptize and cleanse you. Whenever you stray, I will be there. A father lifting you up as God intended me to.” In an instant, the pain was back, everywhere. Fire licked up one side and down another. No part of me was spared.
Holding this scent the longest, I empty my head. No thoughts, just me being wrapped in what’s left of my unknowable mother.
The skin surrounding my collar is one big, pulsing blister. Lightly touching everywhere else, it seems like a swollen — possibly broken — cheekbone is my only other obvious injury.
These men are the first people I’ve ever seen who aren’t family members.
“Bagged yourself a feral omega and never told us.”
“The problem is, urges or not, you know how rare finding a feral omega is, and instead of giving her over to the docs, you’ve been playing house with it for god knows how long. Command won’t be happy with you, even if you’re giving them your boy as a new toy to play with.”
taking apart a pair of feral hybrids regardless of how godly you’ve made them.”
We’ll put your righteous influence up against some alpha pheromones. Let me take her back and throw her in the cage with an alpha we have waiting for transport. She makes it through the night without revealing, and you can sleep easy knowing she’s just a beta. The perfect daughter.”
I wait for my father to say ‘no deal.’ After all, what this man’s proposing sounds a hell of a lot like the sins and monsters that he’s been trying to shield me from all this time. So when his arms loosen from my sides, shock freezes me in place.
I’ve known for years that, to Father, we’re just things to measure his worthiness to God against. But there was still some part of me that thought, or hoped, there was some affection inside of him for us.
Stupid child. Silly, hopeful fool. Shay was right. I can see it now. I would have done anything, including create a little bit of made-up parental love, to get through another day under Father’s rule.
Losing two parents back-to-back — indifferent though they were — in one day is almost too much to bear.
Shay’s snapping bones rings out. His limbs elongate, his skin stretching grotesquely to catch up. The seams of Shay’s skin, pushed to their limit, split open in wet tears as matted fur emerges.
Shay is gone and in his place is a massive panting beast: a wolf, double the size of any other wolf I’ve seen, luminous blue-black pelt shining in the moonlight. “What the hell? He’s an alpha and a shifter! Fuck!”
There’s a Shay-ness to the wolf in front of me, but can that animal have anything human in him?
Father. The shallow rise and fall of his chest flood me with a confusing mix of relief and dread.
My grip on the hammer tightens, but I can’t bring it down on his head.
Before she faded into silence, Mother used to say in her lyrical tones that the stars always lead us to the luck we need.
here and the timing has to be just right as I approach the intoxicating source of the scent laying in my bed and... yes! I pounce on a still-sleeping Gabe, licking him all over. “Get off me, you asshole!”
What’s that? You want more? I go full dead weight and flop down on his head. “This—this is worse! Thank you for finding the absolute worst way to wake me up.”
Love a playful Aiden
Gabe’s kind of whipcord sturdiness makes me want to see how much fun damage I can put him through before feeding him breakfast.
Swallowing a smile at his predictable refusal to just submit, I let my face go mean and watch his breathing speed up.
Running my nose along the side of his neck, I pull back and sink my teeth right above his collarbone as I grab both of our cocks and start to slowly jack us off.
“It’s too early for this, Aiden. Get me off or get off of me.”
“Yes, alpha. Now move already!” Gabe’s breathing turns ragged as he bucks back against me. “Mm, so much sass from such a pretty mouth.”
Gabe may be a beta but, right now, he looks about ready to wreck my shit. With a lazy lift of my brow, I invite him to try.
He must come to the same conclusion because all he does is slide down my body, muttering the entire time about asshole alphas and getting edged at six in the fucking morning.
lips; lips wrapped around my cock taking it so well I don’t care he has the upper hand. The brat knows he’s topping from the bottom and is fucking proud of it.
Is this where we are headed? Gabe in my bed, every morning? And this is why, thinking after coming should be avoided at all costs. I start asking questions that don’t need answers.
“Uh, how about you give me an IOU because as creative as you get in enclosed spaces, I don’t have that kind of time.” Gabe flops onto his back, his erection angrily smacking against his lower belly.
“What will happen is this: we’ll get in there. You’ll mouth off about something. I’ll make that mouth apologize and once you’re a very sorry pup, a well positioned, detachable shower head should be able to take care of the rest.”
But there are other things besides muscle that will protect him. I head back to the bed and lean over. I roll Gabe over and lightly palm his throat, confused jade eyes greet me as I rub my other wrist against his neck. Drawing down closer, the pulse at the base of his neck goes wild right before I run my lips along his stubbled jaw and give him a light bite behind his ear. “Are you scenting me, ensign?” His amusement is clear.
Abandoned after the collapse of the old world, it was only sporadically maintained by transient bands of alphas until shifters officially claimed the Hallows two generations ago.
That was how Mal and I ended up starting our construction company. Because fuck if I was going to let the — shockingly painful — year I spent learning how to wire this place go to waste.
Loosely collaring the back of my neck with his hand, he turns me around to face him. I look into his eyes and grin. “We’ve got five minutes before the hot water disappears. Get to work.”
“YOU’D THINK CHASING game for seven hours straight last night would’ve calmed you down, but the kitchen looks like a stoned eighteen-year-old on a sugar high went wild in here.”
Mal, dark blond hair
map of criss-crossing scars scattered down his torso.
Mal would realize how far our cadre has strayed from behaving like the others if we could ever find time to run our wolves as a cadre.
rather than waste time shooting the shit with me.
Me thinks Aiden might be lonely
“It’s like you both have forgotten the first lesson from all of those stupid alpha teen wilderness pack building trips: ‘the pack that shifts together, stays together.’” I load my plate up and hop on one of the barstools. “Or, more, accurately, the pack that shifts together, doesn’t murder one another because two of the members are ticking time bombs of aggression and bloodlust.”
Aiden really was the one with his shit together
pedantic
Word of the day A pedant is a person who is excessively concerned with formalism, accuracy and precision, or one who makes an ostentatious and arrogant show of learning.
But someday Hayes will realize he’s got to call his folks on their shifter shit. They care about him, but they are shit about accepting he’s not just an alpha.
Gabriel bounds down the stairs, bursting into a boyish grin I want to eat up when he sees Mr. Broody, who is currently snagging the last piece of bacon off my plate, the graceless little shit!
Gabe bites into my ham and goat cheese frittata and moans. My wolf rumbles with pleasure that we made that sound come out of him.
See, this is his problem. If he just shifted regularly, he wouldn’t need to get off on lawyering everyone to death.
Hayes, the pretentious fuck, lives for this shit. He’s thrown himself into all the endless — according to him — interior design projects scattered throughout each wing of our house. I don’t think he’ll stop until each room is the perfect catnip for the mythical omega he thinks will make his parents love him someday.
Mal’s pacing now. Pacing means more lecturing. I dig my butt in deeper.
“Oh, a finder’s fee, is it? That’s helpful because I always wanted to know how to say ‘bribe’ in rich-people language.” Hayes flicks the knife at me, and I catch it with a grin.
