Pack Mates (Were Chronicles) (2 page)

“It’s a good thing,” Brandon responded to her reaction.

She noticed he’d said that with more feeling than normal. Either he was still trying to convince himself or there were already problems. She’d have to talk to Justin about it later.

Justin didn’t usually try to keep her out of what was happening, thinking he was protecting her like Brandon always did. Not all the time anyway.

She knew her brothers couldn’t help it. Brandon had raised his two younger siblings since he’d been barely an adult. Their father had left them as soon as he felt they were old enough to be on their own. The loss of his mate had been just too much for him to live with.

She wanted to remember good times with her parents but as she got older, she found it harder and harder to bring up those memories.

Just as they reached the door to the café, she was greeted with a shriek and an armful of woman. Chuckling and glad she still remembered the scent of her best childhood friend Sabrina, she grinned.

“Nik!” Sabrina held her close.

“Hey there, honey.” She hugged her friend back.

“I can’t believe you’re back. I was just saying the other day that you haven’t come to visit in forever. You haven’t even meet little Julian yet.”

Since she was still being squashed, she gently tried to extract herself from her friend. Sabrina didn’t seem to want to let go.

“Baby, give her room to breathe or you’re gonna make her pass out,” Sabrina’s mate Max said, coming to her rescue and pulling her friend from her.

Sabrina laughed. “All right.”

Nikki smiled and looked over her friend. Sabrina had grown to be such a lovely woman. Short-cropped blonde hair, styled and sassy, fit her petite frame and her quirky personality.

But it was the glow in Sabrina that warmed her heart. She looked so happy.

“We have to catch up. Oh, we have so much to talk about,” Sabrina said as she grabbed Nikki’s hands.

“Oh yes, and I’ll finally get to meet baby Julian and see Jesse and Jeremy,” she agreed. She still talked to her oldest friend as much as she could, but with two busy lives, work, family and everything else, it had been too long. “Why don’t you bring the kids over for breakfast in the morning?”

“A breakfast cooked by someone else?” Sabrina asked with a smile. “We are so there.”

Nikki nodded and pulled her friend in for another hug. “Eight o’clock—don’t be late.”

Sabrina agreed then let her mate lead her across the parking lot.

“She looks so great,” Nikki told her brother.

“She’s happy,” he answered simply. “But I want to know why you’re not making your favourite brother breakfast?”

She slapped his stomach as she pulled the door open. “Justin can eat if he wants to.”

Brandon growled and reached for her. She laughed and jumped out of the way, bumping into someone.

“Oh sorry,” she murmured as she looked up. She actually had to tilt her head back to see the man in front of her.

“Oh, no problem at all,” he responded with a deep rumble that vibrated the air around her.

Her breath caught as she stared up at the man. Dark, almost black hair hung over his dark eyes. His lips tilted up at the edges in a small smile as he moved to the side.

She didn’t even realise she had moved closer until Brandon touched her lower back, breaking her attention on the stranger.

“RJ.” Brandon greeted the stranger. Nikki didn’t miss the tension in her brother’s body or his tone.

“Good evening, Sheriff.” The man nodded. “Ma’am.”

Nikki snorted. “Ma’am?”

Amusement shone in the stranger’s gaze. “Well, if I knew your name…”

“It’s Nikki Stratton,” she replied, holding out her hand.

He took it and winked. “RJ Cross.”

Electricity sizzled from her fingertips up her arm. She was locked into that dark gaze and her body tingled with need. His dark eyes sparkled back at her.

“Now that everyone’s met, can we go eat?” Brandon snapped from beside her.

She sighed and removed her hand from RJ’s hold. “Well, I guess I’ll be seeing you around town,” she told the handsome stranger. She really,
really
wanted to see him again.

“Oh, I can almost guarantee it.”

Nikki didn’t want to leave his presence—there was just something about the man that called to her. But with her brother tugging at her arm, she allowed herself to be manhandled into the café.

Chapter Two

RJ Cross watched the young woman until she disappeared to the back of the café. The smile fell from his face once she was out of sight. Without question, she was one of the most intriguing women he’d ever laid eyes on.

Her long dark hair was streaked with blonde, which added an attractive touch. Her green eyes had sparkled and her slender body was just to his liking. But being a Stratton was an added complication.

He and Brandon Stratton hadn’t started on the best of terms. He shook his head and started back down the street to his shop. Instead of going inside, he walked to the back where he had his Harley parked.

He was glad he had decided to stop at the café before going home. Running into Nikki Stratton was a pleasant twist to the already long day.

He climbed on his bike and started it up. The rumble and vibration under him felt good and he took off towards the main street.

The small community he’d moved to with his Pack was a pretty piece of America. The Pack had come from the mountains of Colorado, and he’d worried that his family and Pack members wouldn’t adjust well. The last eight years spent in the military had kept him from having a place. His older brother had asked for him to come home, and RJ had known it had been time. He’d met some great people along the way, but he wanted to settle down. To be a part of something else. So it was great that, so far, most loved the town they had found, including him.

The quick ride to the house he was staying at with his brothers ended, and he thought about riding around for a little longer. He enjoyed driving the long, empty roads throughout the territory but he had business to take care of.

He parked under the carport between the two trucks that had beaten him home. The lights were on in the front windows as he made his way across the wood porch. He let himself in and was greeted by the coolness of the air and the sound of a ball game on the television in the den.

He followed the noise to the doorway where he found his two brothers. His eldest brother was lounging in one of the leather chairs, legs spread as he slouched, drinking a beer.

RJ’s younger brother had his head buried in a book as he sat on one side of the large couch. He ruffled his ‘little’ brother’s hair as he stepped beside him and dropped down next to him.

“Hey!” Ben grumbled, not looking up from his book.

RJ grinned as he met Dylan’s gaze.

Dylan smiled and shook his head. “How was work?”

RJ just shrugged. Opening a tattoo shop in a small town might not work out but he enjoyed his art and didn’t really need to work anyway. “Had a couple people drop by, but no new customers. I think they wanted to check out the new Alpha’s brother more than any art.”

Dylan nodded. “Give them time. The town will open up to us.”

RJ hoped he was right but that wasn’t his biggest concern. “I stopped by the café tonight.”

Dylan must have caught something in his tone because he switched the game to mute and sat up straighter.

“I overhead two men talking about the ceremony,” RJ told him.

Beside him, Ben put his book down and shifted towards him. Now he had both their attentions.

“They suggested there might be a challenge after the ceremony.”

Dylan sat back, and RJ let the man think. The rumours about a challenge had started to build in the last few weeks. Now just days before the ceremony, they had picked up even more. It had always been a possibility when Cameron King had asked Dylan to take over as Alpha that a challenge would come from someone who wanted the top position.

There were only two ways to become an Alpha of a Pack—to be appointed or to challenge the standing Alpha. Cameron King was an honest, kind, and well-respected Alpha. Dylan was new to the territory. An unknown.

“Any idea who?” Dylan asked quietly.

RJ ran his hands roughly over his face. This was the tricky part. He didn’t want to add to the gossip but he had to protect his brother. “Talk is Brandon Stratton.”

Dylan didn’t look surprised. “I thought it would be. He is the closest wolf to matching my strength. Cameron did tell me he spoke with Brandon when he started to think about stepping down. Let him know about me.” RJ waited for his brother to continue. “At the time Brandon didn’t want the position. Said he wasn’t born to lead and knew it.”

“Doesn’t mean he didn’t change his mind,” Ben spoke up for the first time.

Smaller than his two brothers, Ben Cross was the quiet and peaceful one. He’d been born with the ability to calm those around him. It was what made him such a good diplomat for the Pack.

“Yeah, it’s one thing to not want to be Alpha and another to have someone else come in and take over,” Dylan agreed.

“The thing is,” RJ interrupted, “Brandon might not like it, but I don’t get the feeling he’s planning on challenging you. He hasn’t exactly welcomed me, but he doesn’t go out of his way to make up conflict. Other than the argument when I first reached town, he has been somewhat civil.”

All three of them sat in silence, thinking their own thoughts for several minutes, before Dylan spoke again.

“Well, there is nothing we can do until the challenge is issued. Just keep an ear out.”

RJ tilted his head in agreement. They had to wait. Nothing more to do. He might not like it, but it was Dylan’s call. “I’m going to head up to shower.”

Ben picked his book back up and sent him a wave of his hand but Dylan still stared at him. “Is that all?” he asked quietly.

RJ didn’t know how he did it. His older brother was always able to tell when something was going on with one of them. He thought about telling him about Nikki but didn’t want to add to his brother’s worries. And maybe he wanted to keep her a secret just a little bit longer.

He could still smell the citrus from her shampoo, feel the softness of her hand in his, and wanted to enjoy the moment before he had to deal with the tension between the two families.

“For now,” he answered his brother vaguely.

“I’m here if you need me,” Dylan told him before reaching for the remote again.

RJ headed up the stairs to the first room down the hall. He liked being closest to the stairs in case of problems during the night. He had served as an Enforcer in his Pack as well as the Pack in the military, which was actually a shifter unit. There had been a mixture of species but they had been run like a Pack. He still thought of them that way.

But after his latest mission to protect the feline Prince and the battle once he’d been rescued, RJ had needed some time off. Dylan’s call that he needed him home had come right when he was looking for an excuse.

Everyone could tell that Dylan had been born a natural leader, and when their Alpha had heard Cameron King wanted to retire, he had suggested a meet between the two men.

Their Alpha Craig was a good man and had several sons who would be able to lead their Pack into the future. Dylan would never have challenged them if they ran the Pack fairly, and Craig knew it. Craig had been offered a position on the Alpha council and as any good leader would, had suggested some changes before he’d left. One of them had been for Dylan and Cameron to meet, Craig believing that Dylan should get the chance to lead his own Pack.

So Craig had urged Dylan to meet with Cameron and had even talked several others into joining the Pack Dylan would lead. More had come than any of them had thought. Craig had understood and encouraged them all. He wanted his Pack members to flourish but with over two hundred shifters under his command, he knew there were some wolves who couldn’t reach their potential in such a large group.

Moving to the new territory was a great opportunity for them all.

His room was dark and cool as he pushed the door open. He’d brought his furniture from the childhood home they’d lived in all their lives. He missed the old house and was glad he had something to remind him of home. He had a small apartment above his shop in town but he had yet to do more than move in a couch, futon, and odds and ends. It was convenient if he worked late or needed to grab a shower, but he liked being home with his brothers. Plus, until he knew all threat to Dylan had passed, he would stick close.

He tried to picture Nikki there with him in his bedroom. Would she find it too masculine, or would she see the beauty of the stained wood the way he did?

The large four-poster bed dominated most of the north wall. He was a tall man at six–foot-five. He liked to have plenty of room to sprawl out.

But thoughts of having Nikki on every inch of the bed had his cock coming to attention and throbbing.

He could just see her spread out in the middle of the bed. Legs open and inviting, arms stretched above her head, her body arching in need.