Chapter Eighteen
R ian and I stood in the yard, examining the space we had to use.
“I think a two to three car garage with doors that way,” he said, gesturing, “with the other end of the building acting as a large storage shed and a chicken coop could be doable. What do you think?” He looked at me expectantly.
I walked the area where the barn had stood and nodded slowly. “I think it would be easier to have the coop attached to the garage like that. Keeping the chickens warm in the winter and all that. Of course if we were to build it in the back somewhere, that’d work too, but this way we wouldn’t need to figure out the electricity for a separate coop for heating.”
“That’s what I was thinking.”
I glanced up toward the roof of the big, imposing house that no longer intimidated me in the least like it had when I first saw it. “Alpha? You there?”
Rian grinned.
“What’s up?” Brodie asked from somewhere out of view.
“Big garage with storage shed and chicken coop, yes or no?”
“Where the barn was?”
“Yeah.”
“Sounds good to me.” Then, a couple of beats later, “Lina says her dad might be able to fit it in his schedule in the spring.”
“Awesome!” I called back and high-fived Rian.
Our first full moon as a whole pack was tomorrow night, and this evening, Brodie and Holden would be going to visit the Ramirez pack forty-five minutes away from our land.
They shouldn’t be gone for long and they wouldn’t stay there for dinner, so we were still going to eat together when they got back. Holden was invited to stay with us tonight, but Brodie wasn’t sure if he would.
Tomorrow, he would ask Holden, Ben, and Max to be his betas in a more official capacity. There wasn’t any ceremony or anything, just a question and an answer, normally during a full moon evening to give it all a bit more weight, Brodie had told me.
The happiness that had been swirling around Brodie ever since the guys came back was palpable still. His happiness made me elated, lighter somehow.
“You know how we went shopping this morning?” Rian asked.
He and Carys had gone on a spree and I wasn’t going to touch the whole thing with a thirty foot pole.
“Uh-huh,” I replied as we started toward the backyard.
“I bought us some more protection. Brodie okayed it.”
I stopped. “What did you buy exactly?”
“Rian!” Brodie called from the roof. “Get the first aid kit!”
We burst into movement, retracing our steps as quickly as we could. Rian practically vanished behind the corner while I ran after him on my human feet. Damn vampire speed.
By the time I made it to the kitchen, Brodie was sitting Lina down on the island where the best light was right above.
Her temple was bleeding, and she looked annoyed as fuck, but also a bit startled at the attention, maybe?
“What is it with this house and head bumps?” I asked casually.
Carys grinned, but she seemed shaken. Lina noticed and reached a hand behind herself, which Carys took.
“It’ll be fine,” Rian said, sounding a bit absent as he fiddled with the first aid kit. “We really need a suture kit here.”
Before I could ask, Brodie explained, “Rian is a doctor.”
“I was a doctor, about seventy years ago,” he corrected.
Lina’s eyes widened. “I keep forgetting you’re that old.”
“It’s my girlish figure, isn’t it?” Rian deadpanned, then straightened to start cleaning her up.
“Is it insensitive to ask if the blood is bothering you at all?” Carys peered over Lina’s shoulder at Rian.
He snorted. “Well I’m a doctor, for one, so I’m pretty used to it. It could be different if I was incredibly hungry, but even then it would be like….” He thought for a moment, then said, “You like chocolate, right? So even if you recognize someone drinking chocolate milk right next to you when you have a craving, it’s not like you’re going to tackle that guy to get his drink, right?” We all cracked up and he laughed. “Now imagine that the chocolate milk is on the inside.”
Lina guffawed hard enough that she moved her head, then winced when that caused Rian’s gentle prodding to become less so.
Brodie was hovering, clearly worried enough that I grabbed his wrist and tugged him away from the kitchen.
“You’re coming with me, Alpha,” I murmured.
The last thing I saw was the corner of Rian’s mouth curling up as he inspected Lina’s temple.
I walked across the downstairs, bringing Brodie with me into the family room. Then I pushed him to sit on the couch.
“But my clothes are dirty—”
“The couch will clean. Stay.” I climbed onto his lap to straddle him.
He looked at me, confused and on the edge.
“Hey, baby.” I cupped his face with my palms and pecked his lips.
Then again. And a third time. By the fourth, he let the tension bleed out of his body and opened his mouth to kiss me back. His arms wrapped around me, and his big hands squeezed my butt and pulled me closer.
“Keep it PG!” Rian called from the kitchen.
Brodie chuckled and I reluctantly pulled my lips from his.
“Hi,” he said, eyes filled with that happiness I loved to see.
“She’ll be fine,” I told him firmly. “It’s only a cut. Headwounds bleed a lot. We already know this.” I grinned and pointed at my own noggin. “Besides, now we have a doctor in the house.”
Brodie sighed and rolled his neck. “Yeah, I know you’re right, but she was—”
“Doing her job? While being supervised by her boss and mentor?” At his frown, I continued, “Could it have happened to you?”
He sighed. “Yes.”
“Aww, my big, strong Alpha admitting he could’ve gotten hurt in the same way as the fragile human. I’m proud of you, baby,” I cooed, patting his cheek.
Rian cackled in the kitchen, and I could hear the girls asking him what was going on.
Brodie wrapped his fingers around my throat and squeezed gently. “Is someone feeling bratty? Do you want to ask me to beat it out of you?”
His lower register voice and the literal hold he had over my life in that moment might’ve turned me on a bit faster than I wanted to admit.
“Maybe?” I exhaled the word, embracing the beginnings of that swimmy sensation of not getting enough oxygen.
“Well maybe we should—”
His phone rang, so he used his free hand to fish it out of his pocket.
“Alpha Ramirez, what can I do for you?” he asked, his fingers still holding onto me. “Uh-huh. Let’s try again in a couple of days? Yeah. I hope your baby feels better soon. Let Holden or me know. Right. Mhmm. Have a safe full moon tomorrow. Bye.”
“No meeting tonight?” I wheezed.
He loosened his fingers, but didn’t move his hand. “No, the baby has a runny nose and she wants to keep an eye on him in case it gets worse. Did you know newborns can only breathe through their noses?”
“I didn’t know that, so that’s extra scary. Good for her for canceling.”
“I’ll take the kids out tonight. Get dinner somewhere farther away,” Rian called from the kitchen. “Give you two Alpha Daddy and Mate Daddy time.”
“Stop eavesdropping!” Brodie snapped at him, then added, “And thanks!”
He pulled me into a hard kiss, which I returned happily. Then he let go.
Glancing toward the kitchen, he asked, “Have you patched up my apprentice yet?”
“Yup, she’s good as new.”
Lina peered into the family room. “I’ll go wash up a bit and then I’m ready to go back to work.”
“Awesome. Meet you upstairs,” Brodie said, smiling.
“Cool.” She beamed a smile at us and vanished into the little bathroom.
I pecked Brodie’s lips and slid off his lap. “I’m gonna grab Rian and we’ll continue our planning outside.”
“After you make sure the couch is clean again,” he snarked, smacked me on the ass, and walked out of the room.
Damn Alpha Doms.
M ax had been in town with Ben, hanging out at the garage, so when they came back and everyone got cleaned up after the day, Rian “packed the kids in the SUV” and they left the house. Holden, when informed of the decision, had told us he’d come by tomorrow instead.
I’d promised Carys that Brodie and I could fend for ourselves, and she’d pointed at the leftovers from the previous night and told us not to mess up her kitchen.
We decided to skip dinner for now, and went upstairs together. Since we’d already showered, we were ready for whatever Brodie decided.
Except when we got to the bedroom, he closed the door behind us and leaned to it, then tilted his head at me.
It was an expectant expression, and for a moment I wasn’t sure what he was after. Then it clicked.
“Hurt me.”
He moved fast, his hand curling around my neck before I had time to draw another breath.
“Traffic lights for safewords, otherwise you’re done talking until we’re done here.”
I nodded rapidly in the confines of his grip and went pliant.
Brodie smirked in a way that told me to forget about my gentle, kind, Alpha mate. This Brodie was all Dominant male in his prime, and I trembled in his hold. Not in fear, but in barely contained excitement and pure lust.
“Kneel.”
I dropped fast enough that his arm jerked down with the movement.
He let go of me for a second, then gathered my hair into a loose ponytail he wrapped around his fist.
“Undress me.”
I reached to pull his sweats down, the front already tenting a little. The musk of him was heady when I pressed my face against the bulge in his underwear.
Brodie tugged at my hair. “Did you deserve to do that yet, brat?”
I opened my mouth, then closed it with an audible snap and glared up at him. His eyes were filled with mirth. Damn cheat.
Holding eye contact, I pulled his underwear down and tossed it aside when he lifted each foot for me.
He tugged me back to my feet by my hair. I registered the fact that he had enough of my hair in his fist that it didn’t hurt much but gave him all the control anyway.
I grabbed the hem of his top and tugged it up. He let go of me so I could get it over his head.
“Now undress yourself.”
That was easy. I whipped my T-shirt off and had my sweats down and off within a few seconds.
“Eager much, brat?” he purred, making me stick my tongue out at him. “Careful or the wolf might get your tongue.” He leaned closer, pulled me to him, and snapped his teeth that were now sharper than seconds before.
“I think someone needs a good spanking,” he mused, then turned us until he could sit on the edge of the bed.
Without letting go of my hair, he tugged me down again. “Come on, I’m sure a brat like you has been spanked before.”
Snorting softly, even knowing it would lead to consequences, I draped myself over his lap. He let me make myself comfortable, making sure that my leaking cock was between his legs and not trapped, and his own was pressed against my side in a line of heat that was somehow mind-blowingly erotic.
“Normally, I would hold onto your body, but I think you haven’t deserved both of my hands on your skin yet.”
With that, he tightened his hold of my hair, this time enough for it to truly sting without pulling any out, and brought his big palm to one of my ass cheeks.
He squeezed, hard, making me moan at the dual sensation of sudden pain.
He alternated between cheeks, squeezing and rubbing until I felt sore. That was when he smacked me for the first time.
The choked sound I made had him chuckling. “Aww, this is where we start , brat. There’s no need to count, just sink into it. I’m not sure brats can count high enough anyway.”
And then he let his hand fly against my skin.
I didn’t count. I couldn’t. Not with how quickly his erratic, yet still oddly steady rhythm lulled my brain into that space I’d only heard of before.
The pain on the top of my thighs and up my butt and on my scalp started to feel like one big connected area. It was as if the rest of me didn’t exist.
The tears started at some point, and I breathed through my mouth, gasping and probably drooling, too.
My cock was rock hard, but I didn’t register it much. It wasn’t as important as the pain.
And the words.
“…you’re so good. You’re home now, Kye. You’re safe, and you’re loved, and you’ll never be alone or lose anyone again as long as I have breath in my lungs. You’re safe, I love you, you’re such a good boy for me….”
When I came to, I was cradled in his arms on the bed. He put a tissue on my nose and told me to blow. I obeyed, because what else was there to do?
Then he took another tissue and cleaned up my face.
I realized my hair was on a loose braid and hanging over my shoulder.
“How long was I out?”
“Ten, fifteen minutes, probably.” He smiled and kissed my forehead. “How are you feeling, baby?”
I took stock of the throbbing of my backside and the way my scalp was tender but not really hurting.
“I’m… perfect.”
Brodie grinned. “That you are.” He kissed me on the mouth.
“I love you, too,” I told him.
For a split second, his emotions were crystal clear to me. Some part of him was still surprised to hear the words and maybe to realize I’d heard them through my haze.
“Good.” He pecked my lips again. “What do you think about riding me?”
I let out a small laugh that was half a giggle. I felt high, still. “That’ll hurt.”
The wickedness in his eyes made my heart skip a beat. “Oh baby, I’m counting on it.”
T he next night, we had a pack dinner. Rian was a bit annoyed, because his donor he’d seen twice already had a family emergency, and he needed a bite soon.
“It’ll be fine. I’ll be good until tomorrow, at least.”
“If you’re sure,” I told him, squeezing his wrist that was even bonier than mine.
“If all else fails, I’ll use the other app.” He gave me a grin.
The guys were in the family room, lounging on the couch while waiting for Holden to get there. He’d had an urgent work thing, having to go in as backup for something or other despite it being his day off because of the full moon.
We joined them, and Carys plopped on top of us, making herself comfortable with her head on Rian’s lap, her upper body on me, and her legs on Brodie.
“Do you think Lina would like to stay next month?” Brodie asked her casually.
By now, she knew full moon nights were for pack, for family, and on occasion, close friends or romantic partners.
“I... uh, I’ll ask?” she said in a squeaky voice she tried to hide by a little cough as she partially covered her face with her arm.
“She’s also always welcome to stay the night if she wants. Doesn’t have to be a full moon.” He squeezed her ankle.
Everyone but Carys and I turned their heads toward the window, which clearly signaled Holden’s arrival. I heard his truck before Carys did, but I wasn’t sure if that was more about her hiding a bit or for any sort of sharpened senses I might’ve gotten courtesy of the scar that now decorated my wrist.
I rubbed my fingertips over it and Brodie kissed the side of my head when he noticed.
The front door opened and Holden walked in. He looked exhausted.
“Hey guys.”
“Long day?” Brodie asked, knowing the answer already. “We’ll go easy on you once we shift, I promise.” He had his fingers crossed where we could all see it, and Holden snorted.
“Great, thanks.”
“Holden, this is my best friend Rian Flynn, Rian, this is Sheriff Holden Drumm.”
For a second, Rian tensed, hard, then seemed to recover as he reached a hand over my sister for a shake.
“Nice to meet you, Holden.”
“You as well. Brodie’s talked about you a lot.” Holden smiled in his usual way, but I could tell Rian was having a moment with how he couldn’t seem to relax.
So could Carys. She widened her eyes minutely at me while Rian wasn’t paying attention.
I shrugged a little and hid it by glancing at Holden. “Did you have dinner yet?”
“I didn’t really have much time—”
“I’ll go fix you a plate,” Carys interrupted and scrambled off us.
“Ow, thanks for the elbow, sis,” I grunted at her.
“You’re welcome!” She flounced into the kitchen. “Come on Holden, you get to pick what you want!”
Shaking his head, he smiled and followed her.
As soon as they were gone, I turned to look at Rian. He feigned innocence, but when I raised a brow at him, he shook his head.
Well all right then.
J ust before the guys got ready to shift, Brodie called everyone into the family room. He stood by the fireplace—the fire was roaring behind him, which made it all kind of cinematic, not gonna lie—and turned to Ben, Max, and Holden.
“I think we’ve established what kind of a pack we want to be. There hasn’t been any trouble yet, most of us know how that can change in the blink of an eye with how things on the non-human side are, sometimes.
“With that in mind, I still want to say that my mate and I have welcomed the three of you into the pack in the same way we’d welcome anyone we think fits us and is a good person. That doesn’t mean I’m expecting everyone to officially be my beta.”
He raised a brow at me, so I cleared my throat.
“What Brodie said. In this pack, we don’t expect anyone to put their health on the line in the ways betas are expected to do in case of emergency. We don’t expect anything from you guys, other than to live your best lives.”
Brodie nodded. “You already know you can do whatever you want, work, study, whatever it is. I’m not going to limit your life choices, as long as they’re on the right side of the law and inside the rules we’ve established here as a pack.”
“That said, those rules? They’re real. We all know, and anyone who might be joining us later will learn, that we don’t mess with those things,” I said in a tone that surprised even me with its sternness.
“Yeah, down with Jell-O!” Carys mock-cheered.
Brodie sighed and ignored her. “What I wanted to ask you three is this: do you want to be my betas? If you don’t, I understand. This is still your home or your safe place for full moons, whichever you’d prefer. And Holden, if you choose to be a beta, that doesn’t mean we’d expect you to live here unless you want to.”
Holden glanced at the guys and then back at Brodie. “First of all, I’m honored that you asked. I know not all packs want bitten wolves as betas or hell, at all. But for what it’s worth, I can see what you’re trying to do here, and because of that, I want to officially be your beta, Alpha McRae.”
“Yay,” Carys whispered, making us all grin.
“What comes to us,” Ben said and squeezed his brother’s hand. “We’re going to say yes, too. We know you’re nothing like our dad was and that this pack is worth fighting for now.”
Max nodded. “This is home, like a real one, with a real family. We feel safe here and that hasn’t happened in….” He looked away.
“Ever,” Ben said bluntly. “We love you guys.”
Carys pounced them then, and Rian and I moved closer too, to hug them as much as we could.
None of that mattered though, until Brodie came to us and leaned down to grasp each of the brothers’ neck in turn with a press of his forehead to theirs.
“We love you too,” he said firmly, his voice so unwavering that I could tell it affected the guys a lot.
Then he let go and stepped back, grinning a little. “So, full moon run, anyone?”
Ben dumped Carys onto the cushion next to him, then got off the couch and pulled Max with him while she was still making annoyed noises.
“You coming, too?” Brodie asked Rian.
He widened his eyes theatrically. “Have you seen the woods? It’s cold, dark, and wet over there. What do you think?”
Holden chuckled. “I can see your point.”
“You guys go play,” I told the wolves.
Holden and Brodie went to shift like they had last time. The brothers went upstairs, and soon loped down in their wolf forms.
Once everyone was ready, they stood next to each other in the hall, imposing as hell. So of course the rest of us went to pet them and give them hugs and, and in my and Brodie’s case, snout kisses.
Before it could all devolve into anyone rolling on the floor to get belly scratches, I opened the door and shooed them out.
“We’ll be right there, go frolic.”
Like last month, Carys and I made drinks and all three of us bundled up, then went out and around the house to sit on the back stairs that didn’t creak anymore since Rian had fixed them.
Seeing four massive wolves play together was even more unbelievable than two had been. We chatted as we watched them, commenting and egging them on every now and then.
After half an hour, the wolf I thought was probably Max—and not Ben—came to us and settled by our feet while the others continued to run around the backyard.
“Enough for you, buddy?” I asked, leaning down to scratch the top of his head.
He huffed, then leaned into the touch.
T he pack run went smoothly, other than the wet dog smell lingering a bit when they came back. Rian teased them mercilessly, until Brodie took him down and plopped his furry self on top of the poor guy, soaking his T-shirt and sweatpants.
I left them to it and went to make coffees for everyone while Carys, as usual, took care of nighttime snacks.
Holden stayed over and slept on the couch. He was still asleep when I tiptoed downstairs the next morning. The only one awake was Max, who sat at the kitchen table, scrolling something on a very old looking laptop.
“If you let Rian see that thing, he’ll come home with a brand new one the next time he goes shopping,” I said quietly.
The corner of his mouth curled up. “Morning.”
I went to him and wrapped my arms around him from behind. “Morning.” I squeezed him, having caught the way he seemed to be hungry for physical contact. “Coffee?”
“Yeah, thank you. I didn’t want to wake up Holden so I didn’t make any yet.”
“It’s late enough for everyone to start waking up, so I’ll make us some, then start on breakfast.”
“Tell me if you need help.”
I stepped away from him, then asked, “What are you looking at?”
“Oh, it’s some online college courses. I was thinking if I got my GED, I could start figuring out something to study.” He blushed lightly. “Rian said he’ll pay for everything, as long as I find something that interests me for real.”
“That sounds awesome. I really need to get back to school at some point, too, now that I have somewhere to put that sort of degree into use.”
We chatted quietly about my studies and soon, Holden waved at us from the doorway, then vanished into the downstairs bathroom.
Rian was the next to appear. He seemed grumpy as hell.
“What’s up?” I asked, squinting at him, because he really did look different.
“I’m getting hungrier than I thought I would be at this point. Must be all the physical activity in the last handful of days.”
Holden stepped into the room and frowned. “I’ve donated before. I can help you out?”
Something complex flashed through Rian’s features, and he shook his head. “Nah, I’d rather not start that with anyone in the pack. It can be a slippery slope with the endorphins.”
Holden shrugged. “Okay. But if you change your mind, let me know.”
“Yeah, thanks.”
H is mood continued to plummet throughout the morning, until around midday, Brodie gave him a patented Alpha expression.
We’d been watching a movie as a group, and Rian kept huffing and snapped at Ben when he adjusted the blanket that was partially on Rian, too.
“Rian? If there’s nobody available on your better app, then I’m going to have to pull an Alpha move here.”
The glare from his best friend was fierce. “What do you mean?”
“You’re getting a bit too snappy. I know how you get when you’re hungry. So either you check the app or you feed from me. We’ve done it before, and it’ll be fine.”
“I’m not one of your fucking betas!” Rian roared.
Two things happened simultaneously. Max dove under the blanket to hide against his brother. And Brodie got off the couch and pointed a finger toward the hall.
“Rian. Up to your room. Right the fuck now.”
It took me a few seconds to realize this was his Dom voice.
I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that Rian folded immediately. He got up and walked out of the room, with Brodie following him.
“That was more than only being hungry,” Carys murmured.
I moved to Rian’s old spot and put my hand on Max on top of the blankets. “He’s being a brat,” I said gently. “He’s not actually dangerous or mean.”
Ben smiled at me sadly. “We know that. It’s just that yelling is a trigger sometimes, and….”
“He’ll be okay once he’s done with his tantrum,” I promised.
I would also make sure that he would fucking apologize to Max. He was the sweetest guy and scaring him like that was not allowed, whether you were a two hundred year old multi-millionaire or not.
W e finished the movie, and I went to pick up our laundry from upstairs. It had been maybe forty-five minutes since Brodie and Rian went upstairs.
As I was going into our bedroom, Brodie stepped out of Rian’s room.
“Hey, is he doing better?”
Brodie nodded and came to me. “He’ll be fine. All he needed was a bit of pain, to be put into his place, and a bit of blood to tide him over.”
I opened my mouth to respond, then realized that I knew Brodie’s expression. He was turned on.
My brain stalled, and I blurted out, “I was going to get our laundry.” I ducked into our room.
I could feel my mind scrambling around, my heart beating too fast suddenly.
“What’s wrong?” Brodie asked, walking up behind me.
He put his hand on my shoulder, but without making a conscious decision, I twisted away from under his touch.
“Don’t touch me,” I said, my tone as weird as my roiling emotions.
“Baby?” The confusion in his voice told me exactly how off my own reaction was, right then, but I couldn’t help it at all.
I went into the bathroom to grab the laundry basket but ended up turning around and locking the door behind myself.
“Kye?”
I didn’t know how to explain any of what was going on with me, so I sat on the toilet lid and rubbed my hands over my face.
I guess I did have jealousy issues after all.