Chapter 6
Braun
Red flags were waving all around the pup like we were in the middle of a bull fight. I managed not to react as he nodded, though.
“Yes, Alpha.” He knew to take the topic seriously, sitting up and frowning. “I will request to join the pack and pledge it once you tell me how that works here.”
His frown deepened but it was more cute that worrisome. “We never had people join this pack, so I don’t know how to do it. I looked online but that wasn’t helpful.”
“Online?” Dorian jumped in, unable to stay out of anything like any good Alpha Mate. “Is there a strong online community for your people? Is it safe? What kind of controls are on it?”
The pup was trying not to smile but he was doing a terrible job of it. “Um, I don’t think I should answer any of that because I don’t want to end up grounded.”
Smart-ass.
But he was a smart smart-ass.
Dorian sighed and gave us both a disappointed look. “That’s not a good answer.”
It seemed like internet safety for the pups had just moved up his to-do list, but we had a few other things that needed to come first. “We’ll look into that. I hadn’t thought about how dangerous it could be.”
Mostly because I didn’t use it.
But before he could get us off track, I steered us back in the necessary direction. “I don’t think you found much because each pack does it differently.”
Some were weirdly old-fashioned about it, but luckily for the pup, we were more progressive. “We have a few questions that need to be answered because I need to make sure you’re not a wanted criminal in either pack or human law, and if you are wanted, I need to understand what you did.”
Dorian’s dramatic sigh said he had thoughts on that. “Please don’t tell me how flexible you are on that. I’ll worry.”
Emeric snickered. “I’m not a serial killer or anything like that. So we’re good.”
Rolling his eyes, Dorian huffed. “I should hope not. You’re clearly a very nice boy and a good student. You like math for goodness’ sake.”
He had weird logic and I couldn’t decide if it was because he was human or just strange.
“I’ll be helpful too.” Emeric looked as though he didn’t know how he’d do that right off the bat, but he sat taller again as he decided to fake it. “I’ll learn quickly.”
“You’ll be focused on your studies.” Dorian’s glare had the pup trying not to smile again. “That’s the most important thing.”
He had a lot of opinions for someone who’d never hung out with shifters before.
“I have to earn my keep, though.” Emeric was clearly going to be stubborn about it, but I was glad to see our math teacher considering it thoughtfully. “I’ll be pack.”
“I agree.” To something about it, at the very least, but Dorian kept me waiting while he thought. “We need to be practical, though. Someone as smart as you needs to be focused on college so that you can do your best to help the pack in the long run.”
Oh, interesting tactic.
“What if they need an accountant or something like that but you slacked off your studies and can’t help in the way the fates intended?
” He sounded too natural about that and something he saw on our faces must’ve shown our questions because he shrugged.
“My neighbor with the multi-level marketing scheme keeps using that expression.”
“It works.” His neighbors were idiots. “And you’re right.”
His cocky nod said he liked being right and I had to fight back a smile. The fates had clearly given me a feisty mate and I couldn’t help but wonder how the rest of the pack would appreciate it.
Dorian was going to drive everyone bananas…and the chaos was going to be fun to watch.
“I’ll be much more up to speed with everything once I can put the pieces together.” Shaking his head, he didn’t seem to notice how hard Emeric and I had to work not to smile. “It’s difficult only knowing odd bits and pieces about cultures.”
I could understand that, but I wasn’t sure how to respond to it reasonably.
“Yeah, it’s like me trying to understand human high school stuff.” Emeric mirrored the way Dorian shook his head and even nailed the sigh. “Some of it makes sense out of context but a lot just doesn’t.”
Nodding, Dorian took the comment seriously. “But now you’ll have a chance to go to the regular high school if you want.”
He would?
Had it actually been decided that I was keeping the little troublemaker?
“You think?” Glancing back and forth between us, Emeric gave a beaming smile as I nodded since I seemed to be keeping him. “Regular high school?”
“Yes.” Dorian made it sound like the whole thing was settled. “I have students that are really quite strange and you won’t stand out at all except for how smart you are.”
For some reason, that was the part that had Dorian frowning seriously. “You’re not going to be allowed to play dumb just because it’s trendy. There are only so many papers I’m willing to needlessly mark up with red pen just to make someone feel better about themselves.”
He was right…his students were weird.
“I’ll be smart.” Looking a bit like a pup ready to bounce around and bark for attention, he sat straighter again. “Honest. I’ll do my best.”
“That’s wonderful.” Dorian’s frown slipped into something more frustrated. “We should always be proud of what makes us special, like being smart in math or street smart and not ending up getting adopted by a human looking for a dog.”
Grinning, Emeric slipped back into his bouncy personality. “I was kind of worried at first. Sorry for growling at you.”
Before I could say anything, he aimed wide eyes at me. “Sorry, Alpha. I didn’t realize he was… I didn’t really think about it being mean.”
Good save.
The pup seemed to realize how pleased I was at his careful wording because the smile came back in full force, but since I knew he hadn’t seen it on my face, I was guessing I was fucked.
The pack bond was already forming.
Damn it.
“I think we can just put that behind us.” Dorian charged right back in, ignoring anything he didn’t want to hear. “It kept you safe and you did a wonderful job communicating with me so I could get you help.”
Yep, they were both very smart and very insane.
“You just looked at him and knew he wasn’t a real dog?” The magic wasn’t supposed to work like that. “Most people see us and immediately start making excuses for why they didn’t see what they thought they did.”
The magic could work in subtle and more obvious ways, but most people walked away from us in our shifted forms shaking their heads and talking about how big dogs could get.
The woman at the pound had already started explaining away how odd Emeric had looked as we’d left the building.
Within a few days she’d have forgotten any of it had been out of the ordinary.
Dorian shrugged, not looking concerned about it. “I’ve always been able to tell the difference between human and, well, other. He was clearly other.”
Emeric cocked his head, but he was a smart little shit and kept his mouth shut about how strange it was. “You were really smart and found help really fast.”
Taking that as an opening to shift gears, Dorian glanced between us. “I hadn’t met Alpha Braun before, but I had met the man who usually runs the gas station. I probably looked insane when I was trying to ask Braun where the other man was.”
I just nodded since I wasn’t going to lie.
As Emeric snickered, Dorian slouched in his seat and sighed. “It was slightly awkward, but I bet you knew what he was the first time you met him.”
It wasn’t really a question but Emeric nodded. “Yeah, we came up a couple of years ago. We couldn’t stay too long but I remembered the gas station guy. He’s funny.”
That was not how I would’ve classified Dietrick or their trip.
It’d taken me entirely too long to figure out who the pup was, but in my defense, his family had called him Ricky and he’d been half his current size. His family had also fought the whole time and he’d spent at least ninety percent of the trip in his wolf form to hide from their chaos.
He was Macy’s nephew.
The one she’d been going to check on when she went down for her brother’s funeral.
Clearly that hadn’t gone as planned and to say I had questions would’ve been an understatement.
“He’s hard to forget.” Trying not to smile, Dorian cleared his throat. “I’m glad he was able to help us connect you to the pack, though. I had no idea who ran the park, much less that they were like you, so I’d have never thought to list them off.”
“You’d have figured it out.” Emeric seemed to have placed Dorian in hero status. “You did great.”
“Thank you.” Finally looking slightly flustered, Dorian actually changed the subject. “Now, burgers were mentioned for dinner but what else should go with that?”
Emeric blinked a few times but quickly went with the flow. “Should I say salad?”
Dorian’s dramatic sigh had me fighting to keep a straight face. “There aren’t enough vegetables for that, but I appreciate you trying to find something healthy to go with the burgers.”
The pup was either trying to make his favorite person happy or fucking with the funny human. I couldn’t tell which, but it was hilarious either way.
“We don’t really have a lot of options for delivery out here but what about…what about green beans?” I was positive I had those even if I didn’t have anything else.
“I have questions about the state of your pantry and fridge.” Dorian’s tight expression said I might’ve saved Emeric but I’d thrown myself under the bus. “Who is supposed to be doing the shopping for you?”
Well, at least he didn’t think I’d gotten myself into this situation?
“It’s usually a job that gets passed around but there was a wedding yesterday and I’ve been traveling.” I shrugged when I got to the point where I had to admit I didn’t know whose job it was. “I’ll go tomorrow?”
Dorian’s eye roll had Emeric snickering again. “I’ll pick up groceries before I come back out. Before I leave, I’m going to need both of your favorite foods and any allergies.”
Yep, Alpha Mate material.
“No allergies.” I glanced over at Emeric who shook his head. “I’ll give you my card before you go. If you shop at Aldi or Winn-Dixie, they’ll all let you use it if you tell them you’re buying for Braun.”
Sighing, Dorian frowned at me. “Are both of those run by…nonhumans?”
“Yeah.” I shrugged. “It’s a practical job and useful for the community. Walmart’s a pain in the ass and has too many humans, though. So we try to avoid all of them.”
Even on our best behavior, somehow our inner predator made a lot of humans nervous. They could never explain why but we got followed around Walmart by their rent-a-cops on a regular basis.
“That makes sense.” Glancing around the kitchen, I could see him formulating plans in his head. “We’re going to have to work out a better system, though. You don’t have nearly enough food to just feed you, much less anyone else who comes over.”
The dramatic Alpha Mate had Emeric nodding too. “This is a good pack, so he’s probably got people showing up all the time. You’ll need to make sure he’s got social kind of food too.”
The pup wasn’t wrong, but neither of them needed me to point that out.
“The old Alpha Mate in my previous pack used to have little sandwiches and tea, but I think you could do something different.” Emeric shrugged. “They don’t have anything like that anymore, but this pack is nice, so you’ll need to help him have good manners.”
When they both turned to me, I rolled my eyes. “When I have time for a nap and to buy my own groceries, I’ll remember where I left my manners.”
Ignoring me, Dorian turned to Emeric. “Shouldn’t Braun’s mother be helping with some of the social responsibilities? I’m not trying to be a misogynist but it seems logical.”
Emeric nodded, not worried about my opinion at all. “Yeah, but my dad used to say she’s feisty, so she’s probably not doing it just to make Alpha Braun crazy.”
People gossiped too much.
“You both need to stop looking at me like that or I’ll remember that my mother has a guest room and likes to hover.
” I glared at Emeric as Dorian started to cough in a vain attempt to cover a laugh.
“She might let the pups watch R-rated movies, but she’ll follow you around the rest of the day asking about how you’re feeling and if you need to talk. ”
Emeric winced. “I support my Alpha. Don’t worry.”
Oh, I was worried alright…about a lot of things.
Like what actually happened to his father…where the fuck his mother was…where the hell Macy was…what had happened in his old pack to make him run…and what I was going to do with him in the meantime.
“Good.” Nodding and giving him my best Alpha asshole look, I ignored Emeric’s giggle and the way Dorian was rolling his eyes. “Alpha always wins. That’s the only thing you need to remember around here.”
“I have a feeling he hasn’t gotten anyone else to believe that nonsense.” Dorian shook his head as Emeric nodded. “He’d have a better-stocked refrigerator if anyone actually believed that.”
“And someone would’ve made sure to help him at the gas station earlier.” Emeric threw his hands up as Dorian nodded like it was a good point. “He’s too nice. If he fought more pack challenges then it wouldn’t be a problem.”
Oh.
That wasn’t good.
Dorian’s left eye twitched but he was smart enough not to react. “I think I prefer him as he is, though, so we’re just going to have to help him out.”
Emeric didn’t seem to have noticed how much he’d said with one offhand comment. “We’ll both be helpful. He needs us.”
Us?
I knew I was keeping Dorian but had Emeric decided to keep him too?
What the fuck had happened in his old pack?