Chapter 23 The Pack Will （Not?） Kill You
THE PACK WILL (NOT?) KILL YOU
Fifteen minutes before they were due to meet Ottis’ pack, Doc landed in a nearby clearing.
He set Ottis gently on his feet, Marcie in his arms. Ottis averted his gaze while Doc shifted back into a man and put on his mask. Then he looked over. “How are you doing?”
Doc huffed, his heart swelling with fondness. “I should be asking you that. You don’t like flying.”
“And my pack is about to eat you,” Ottis grumbled. “They’ll rend you limb from limb and spit out your bones.”
“Let’s try our best to avoid that.” Doc retrieved his clothes from Marcie’s lump of blanket; they had wrapped her up so she wouldn’t see Doc as a dragon. This way, she wouldn’t be tempted to shift into her own dragon shape. That reveal was for another time.
When Doc was dressed, he picked up Ottis and Marcie in a bridal carry, making his way toward the cluster of cabins he’d seen from the air.
“Welcome to pack territory,” Ottis said quietly. “This is close to where you k-worded me.”
Doc laughed. “K-worded?”
“You know. The k-word contract. The trees have ears.”
“Ah.” Doc had fond memories of the kidnap contract.
“That totally doesn’t sound suspicious,” Crush said, stepping out from the shadowy trees.
Doc turned, eyeing Ottis’ brother.
“It’s a kink thing,” Ottis said flippantly. “That’s also a k-word.”
Crush looked like he had sucked on a lemon. “I don’t want to know.”
Ottis snickered. “We would have a totally different kind of relationship if you did.”
“No, thank you,” Crush said.
When Doc set Ottis on his feet, Crush came over, wrapping his arm around Ottis’ shoulders to pull him into a hug. He ruffled Ottis’ hair too, flaring his nostrils. “Oh good. You spared our noses.”
Ottis rolled his eyes. “You say that as though you don’t smell like sex.”
“Definitely a double standard.” Crush grinned, and didn’t dodge far enough when Ottis punched him in the side. He eyed Doc, though. “Really, Doc?”
Doc had the grace to blush. “It was a... lapse in judgment. I’m taking full responsibility for my actions.”
“Whatever it takes to get yourself an omega, huh?”
Ordinarily, Doc would’ve bristled. He wasn’t that kind of person.
But.
But Ottis.
“Not any omega,” Doc admitted. “Ottis is the first who hasn’t minded my...” He gestured vaguely at his face. “But he’s always free to leave, if I’m not to his satisfaction.”
That hurt to say, but Doc wanted Ottis to be aware of his options.
Ottis whirled around with his eyes narrowed. “I’m not gonna mind it.”
Doc smiled helplessly, his mask crinkling against his face. Ottis smiled back.
“Aww,” Crush said.
“Shut up,” Ottis muttered, elbowing his brother. Crush laughed and ruffled his hair, leaning in to make faces at Marcie.
Doc followed them deeper into pack territory.
Ottis behaved differently around his brother, less laid-back and more antagonistic.
Then again, Doc remembered what it was like to tussle with his own siblings.
His brothers had left the ancestral lair centuries ago, just like him, and he wanted to know how they were doing now.
He thumbed a quick text as he trailed after Ottis and Crush, then shoved his phone into his pocket and paid attention to his surroundings.
Ottis’ pack lived in several small cabins scattered around a central clearing, near a large house that was probably where the pack gathered.
When Doc reached out with his hearing, he picked up several heartbeats—the stronger pulses of adults, the fast, fluttery beats of children, and the slower rhythms of older folk.
Would they want him to remove his mask to prove himself? Would they say he was too ugly, too scarred for Ottis? Doc winced. I haven’t thought this through. What am I doing here?
Then they were in the middle of the cabins, in front of the pack house, and Doc tried to keep his pulse steady.
Ottis slipped away from Crush, tucking himself and Marcie under Doc’s arm. “Hey.”
“Hey yourself. How’s Marcie?” Doc asked. Having Ottis against him helped, a lot.
“She recognizes this place.” Marcie was looking around, her nose twitching. “Smells like pack.”
“I’m glad she knows she’s safe.”
Ottis beamed. Then he stiffened, his gaze growing sharp.
Doc had a split second to be wary. Then he heard the footsteps too, so many of them, a second before the pack house’s front door burst open.
People began to pour out. When they saw Doc and Ottis, they began to yell. “Ottis!”
Doc’s fingers tightened on Ottis’ shoulder.
Ottis patted his hand reassuringly. Then there was nothing he could do but wait for the wolf shifters to gather around them—several alphas, but also some alpha-omega pairs, some children and the elderly.
Doc held still under their curious gazes, while Ottis stepped forward into their arms.
The pack pulled Ottis into several hug, brushing their hands over his head and shoulders. Ottis smiled and sank into their welcome.
It was nice, the sort of warmth Ottis had waiting for him here. Doc almost felt bad for keeping Ottis in his lair.
Scarcely had he thought that when the pack’s attention returned to him.
“Hi,” he said.
Ottis backed up to stand in front of Doc, as though he was shielding him from them. “Hey guys. This is Doc. Don’t be an asshole to him, or I will eat your face.”
Doc couldn’t help smiling.
“You can’t eat our faces. Your mouth’s not big enough,” one of the alphas said.
“I will eat your face if it takes me a thousand years,” Ottis growled.
“He smells like you,” another alpha said.
Ottis rolled his eyes. “Well, yes. Because he’s my alpha.”
He declared it firmly, loudly, so there could be no mistake about it. But more alpha voices joined in.
“You shouldn’t let him be your alpha, just like that. We need to test him first,” a third alpha said. More alphas nodded along with this statement.
“How can we be sure he won’t hurt you? He needs to be under our observation.”
“We should search him.”
“This isn’t some porno, don’t make it sound weird.”
Ottis tipped his head back and groaned. The more his brothers said, the tenser he became. Doc squeezed his shoulder to try and calm him down; Ottis leaned into his touch. Then it became too much.
Ottis raised his voice. “No! Stop!”
He turned and handed Marcie to Doc. Some of his brothers gasped.
His arms free now, Ottis gestured wildly. “No! You will leave Doc alone! He’s good people. I picked him, and you are going to stay out of it!”
Doc cracked a smile. “Aren’t you going to let me prove myself?”
Ottis scowled. “You don’t need to prove yourself to them.”
“I can vouch for Doc,” Crush said, looking amused at all the posturing.
“Same here,” Titan said, with his pregnant omega hanging off his arm.
“Thirded,” Vigil said. Doc was surprised to see him; Vigil was out of town more often than not.
“Fourthed,” Gavric said, looking surprisingly put-together after the latest air freshener prank their friends had pulled on him. “But you are so owing us drinks after this.”
“Thanks,” Doc said wryly.
An older alpha-omega pair stepped forward, in front of the pack. The other alphas fell silent.
Ottis cleared his throat. “Dad, Papa, this is Doc.” Ottis waved awkwardly between them. “Doc, my dads.”
“I’m Ashton,” Ottis’ alpha dad said with a grin. He had greying chestnut hair and smile lines on his face, and his handshake was warm and strong.
Next to him, Ottis’ omega dad was just as small as Ottis was, with black hair and brown eyes. He looked friendly too. “I’m Joe. It’s great to meet you. We haven’t seen Ottis this happy in a while.”
Doc glanced at Ottis, who squirmed. “Ottis is truly a joy to have around. I’m not sure if he’s mentioned it—I’m an emergency room doctor at Cartfalls General.”
“Way to make yourself the favorite,” one of the brothers muttered. Ottis hissed at him.
“Hence the mask?” Joe waved at Doc’s face.
“Ah...” Doc’s ears grew hot. He usually skirted the subject, but these were Ottis’ parents.
To lie or not to lie?
“Doc likes wearing masks,” Ottis said loudly. “Anyway, that’s not why we stopped by today.”
Joe gave Ottis a piercing stare. “So why did you stop by today, hon?”
“Uh.” Ottis laughed awkwardly, turning pink. He took a step closer to Doc, pressing himself into Doc’s side. Doc could feel the waves of discomfort rolling off him.
So he readjusted Marcie in his left arm, and wrapped his right arm around Ottis’ shoulders.
“We might be having a new addition to the pack,” Ottis mumbled quickly.
Suddenly, all the attention on them sharpened.
“I mean, it’s not like you’re going to kick me out or anything, and you can’t kick Doc out because he’s not part of the pack,” Ottis rambled.
“I could be,” Doc said, surprising even himself.
Ottis’ gaze snapped up to his. “Really?”
“Yes.” The possibility made Doc’s heart quicken.
“Wait,” Gavric squawked. “Wait. You’re—You’re pregnant? You literally just ran away!”
“That’s what I said,” Crush muttered.
“That sure was fast,” Titan said.
Titan’s omega, Mathlin, rolled his eyes. “Like you didn’t knock me up within the first week.”
Killian sighed. “It’s our fate,” he whispered. “Something in the water.”
“If it were really something in the water, I’d also be pregnant right now,” Joe said dryly. “But I’m not.”
“Don’t jinx yourself,” Ottis blurted. Then he smacked his face. “Fuck. Maybe we’ll get a whole new litter of baby siblings.”
His brothers exchanged uncomfortable looks with each other.
“Anyway!” Joe cleared his throat loudly. “We’re really pleased to hear about your pregnancy, Ottis. Congrats!”
He pulled Ottis into a hug, rubbing his back. Ottis beamed.
Quietly, Joe whispered to Ottis, “You’re really okay?”
Ottis nodded into his dad’s shoulder. “As long as no one tries to kill Doc.”
“Hey, we should at least get a chance to threaten him,” one of his other alpha brothers said. “Fight to the death!”
“No one is fighting to the death,” Ashton said with a pointed look at his son. “Let’s focus on the good news.”