Chapter 9
DAWN
Iwoke to my fingers curled in the soft fur of a bear. If I were human, that might have freaked me out, but as a shifter, I didn’t automatically think a wild animal in my bedroom was going to gnaw my face off.
I looked down at the sleeping bear where he pressed tightly against the side of my bed.
I tried to guess who it was in bear form, but honestly, I didn’t know their animal forms by sight or scent.
I hadn’t been around them enough to have that lodged into my brain yet.
I didn’t even know their personalities, not really, though Vance was obviously the Alpha.
Franklin and Talbot were strong betas though.
I knew nothing about these men, but somehow, I knew I was safe.
The bear in my room was definitely one of the twins. I thought it might be Franklin, since his energy felt more wild, even when he was asleep.
I rolled from the bed, which was the softest thing I’d ever slept on, and padded quietly out into the hall.
I’d mastered walking silently early in life.
I made it to the bathroom and peed swiftly and silently, washing my face and putting water through my hair to tame the pieces poking up at weird angles because I’d slept on it wet.
When I looked marginally presentable, I slipped out of the bathroom on shaky legs. Apparently, whatever healing I’d done to repair my gut wound had stolen all the strength from my legs.
Pain stabbed through my chest, and I rested my hand over my stomach—my flat, scarred stomach.
My lungs started to burn, and so did my eyes as the tears I held back gathered in their corners.
I tried to push it down and lock it away in that tiny box I used to keep all the things that hurt too much, but that box was so full that it was waiting to explode.
“Are you okay, Dawn?”
I stumbled as I whirled, the gentle voice surprising me. Vance reached out and caught me, carefully straightening me. I looked up at his face, pinched with concern, and burst into tears.
It was bad to show weakness in front of an Alpha—I’d learned that at a very young age—but my Alpha couldn’t give a shit about me, while the raw empathy in Vance’s eyes undid me.
My hands stayed clutched around my stomach, even as Vance wrapped his big arms around me.
He was huge, bigger even than the twins, and I barely came up to his chest, but he curled down so his body encompassed mine.
He didn’t ask what was wrong. He didn’t soothe me with empty words.
He just stood there like a rock, holding me together.
“I don’t know why I’m crying so hard. It—I mean he—wasn’t the first baby I’d lost, even late term.
I hadn’t let myself even think of them as beings anymore, not since that first one, but they took him from me and then stole my chance to have any more.
” I sobbed my pain against his chest, and he held me up now that my legs had gone weak.
“I’m worthless now. I will never have—” I broke off because I couldn’t.
The pain hurt too badly now that I’d let it in.
Vance scooped me up into his arms, moved to the end of the hall, and stepped into a room that smelled like him—his office.
He sat down on a couch and clutched me against his chest. “Your worth isn’t wrapped up in your ability to have cubs, sweetheart, but I’m so fucking sorry for your loss—all of them. You didn’t deserve that.”
What I couldn’t tell him—the secret, shameful thought that made me hate myself—was that sometimes I was glad I’d lost them. They’d never have to live in my pack and suffer what I suffered. Instead, they would be running with the moon goddess.
That made me a fucking monster.
I stiffened, and Vance’s arms loosened, giving me space. My face was wet and a little coated in snot, but I wasn’t even wearing any sleeves. “Do you have a tissue?”
Vance shook his head. “No, sorry. Here.” He lifted the bottom of his shirt and wiped my cheeks and face. He even squished my nose to wipe it like I was a child. I just stared at him as he cleaned me up, and when I looked at the stained shirt, he flushed.
“Ah, you probably don’t want to cuddle back into that. One second.” He wrenched his shirt over his head.
He was shirtless, like, with no shirt, just a bare torso…. naked from the waist up. My brain blinked offline at the sight. He was beautiful, with a broad, chiseled chest with a light dusting of golden brown hair, and his stomach wasn’t cut abs, but solid muscle.
I swallowed hard, then he looked down at his chest again. “This probably isn’t much better. It’s not…” He waved a hand like he didn’t quite know what he wanted to say. “The skin contact will probably calm your Omega more anyway.”
He was right, of course. Skin on skin contact was always better. I knew this from when I tried to calm some of the Alphas in the pack. Normally I’d just place a hand on the forearm or something, but this was definitely a more is more situation.
I hesitated for a moment, but my Omega was whining in my head.
She wanted this, so I slowly laid my head back on his chest, and almost instantly, I sighed with relief.
It felt like a hug when I was lonely, but times a thousand.
My Omega, who’d always been restless and ill at ease, basically whined with happiness.
He didn’t cage me in his arms again, he just let me lie on him like he was a big, warm rock, and I drifted off to sleep.
Someone was whispering over my head, and it pulled me from the best sleep of my life. My previous best sleep had been the night before, in the soft bed of my new room, but even a California king with a pillowtop couldn’t compare to Vance’s chest. I even felt stronger.
“Tell him I’ll call him back. I don’t want to wake her.” Vance was whispering, but it still sent the faintest rumble through his chest.
“I want her to sleep too, Vance, but I don’t want to tell the convocation member to call back. Just give her to me, and I’ll put her to bed,” another voice whispered. Franklin, I thought.
Someone laughed to my left. “He’s enjoying himself too much. It has nothing to do with letting her sleep.”
I went to push myself up, but Vance’s hand wrapped around my back. “I’m sorry we woke you, Omega. Go back to sleep.” His voice was like a soft lullaby, and I resisted the urge to do exactly as he said.
“No, it’s okay. I feel rested anyway.” I pulled myself up, peeling off his chest where sweat and warmth had stuck our bodies together. “You should take your call.”
Vance hesitated but let me go. “If you’re up to it, you should stay. You’re the primary topic of the conversation.”
That chased away the final cobwebs of sleepiness. “I am?”
I was hesitant. Normally, we dealt with our problems with the Shifter Council. Talking to the convocation member was like skipping the manager and going straight for the CEO.
Vance nodded. “Among other things, but only if you feel strong enough.”
I wanted to whimper, hide beneath the bed, and pretend it never happened, like my old pack didn’t even exist, but I owed it to my family to get them justice, or this would all be for nothing.
“Okay.”
No sooner had I spoken than there was a whirring sound across the room. I gaped as the wall on the other side of the office lit up with the face of an attractive man.
Vance rolled his eyes at Talbot. “For fuck’s sake, you could have given her two minutes to freshen up and let me find a shirt.” He looked back toward the wall, and I realized it was like a giant television that I’d never noticed. Vance bowed his head respectfully. “Alpha.”
Talbot and Franklin did the same, and I resisted the urge to throw myself on the ground and expose my belly. Alexander, the King of Shifters, stared out from the screen. I could almost feel his power from here.
I didn’t think I’d ever recover from the shock of the convocation member, the highest position in the shifter world, bowing his head back at me. “Omega. It is an honor to make your acquaintance.”
I blinked at him. He bowed to me?
Talbot rested a huge hand on my shoulder. “Not everyone holds the views of your old Alpha and the Shifter Council. Alexander is of the old school of thought, where you respected Omegas in the same way you respected Alphas.”
Alexander snorted, and I fully expected flames to fly from his nose. “The very oldest school. Pretty sure the Earth’s crust was still cooling when I was born.”
I laughed, because I thought it was a joke, but the ancient being just stared at me, deadpan, through the screen. Holy shit, he was that old?
He burst out laughing. “Goddess, I’m not that ancient.” He shook his head as Talbot and Franklin chuckled behind me. “Now tell me why you dragged me away from my dinner. I was just about to catch him.”
A shudder ran down my spine, but Vance didn’t seem fazed.
“We’d like permission to kill the Alpha of the Truckee-Reno Pack.”