Pack Secrets (5 page)

Well…just another thing to chuck into her fuck-it bucket. She wouldn’t be getting the award for mother of the year any time soon.

Watching Carter jump up and down in his seat on the way over to the moon run was awesome, but seeing his apprehension when they arrived was not. “What’s wrong, lil’ buddy?”

Carter peered into his eyes looking miserable. “I think I shoulda listened to Mama. I made her sad and she should be happy. I wanna have fun, but Mama’s at home sad. What if she’s cryin’? I don’t want my Mama to cry.”

The little guy was taking on too much responsibility. Reaching down to rub his hair Justin smiled down at him. “Your mom will be fine. She could have come with us, but for some reason I don’t think she likes the moon runs. It’ll be fine; have a good time and then you can go tell your mom how fun it was and she may come to the next one with us.”

Carter turned his eyes to the ground where he was shuffling his feet. “Mama says she’ll never go to a moon run. ”Cheerless eyes looked at him, “Will you be here, Mister Justin? Next time I mean?”

A wicked smile covered his face as he responded, “I’ll be here, Carter, I’m not going anywhere. You can call me Justin, drop the mister stuff, I’m glad your mama is teaching you good manners.”

“Okay Justin. Everyone is taking their clothes off, is it time?”

All around them were adults, teens and the few kids that the pack had kept, getting undressed. The moon was almost up and in a few short minutes Blake would call for the moon run to start. They would run all night. Some of the adults might stop off deep in the forest and mate, but the kids would be kept to the center of the clearing, chasing small creatures and nipping at each other. “It looks like it. Here, give me your clothes and I’ll put ‘em with mine.”

Fully undressed now, Justin stood tall and proud next to his mate’s son, wishing she was here, but understanding it would take time to get to know her. Collecting their clothes and putting them in a big pile on his truck bed he turned to find Carter looking off into the forest. His little back caught the moonlight and that’s when Justin saw the scars; long strips of raised flesh on Carter’s back. They were obviously old and healed some time ago. With very little thought he yelled, “Blake.”

Immediately at his side, Blake questioned, “What’s going on, bro?”

Following the line of his vision, Blake didn’t seem surprised, which enraged him further. “What happened?”

Heaving a deep sigh Blake responded. “I know you’re upset, and I’m not going to help any. It’s not my story to tell. Let’s carry on with the run and you can talk to Dee later if you need to.” Blake placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, “It was a long time ago. He wouldn’t remember, so don’t ask. Talk to her, but make sure Carter enjoys himself tonight.”

Justin took a few deep breaths, enjoying his brother’s calming powers. “Thanks, he’ll have a blast.”

Trotting over to Carter, Justin put an ear splitting grin on his face. “You ready to start? Blake said this was going to be the best moon run ever.”

Carter’s smile lit up his face as he responded, “Wow, Mister Justin, you have a big snake. One time when I was getting in the bathtub Gunner almost bit my snake and Mama wasn’t happy. Make sure Gunner doesn’t see yer snake or he’ll bite it for sure.”

Face now tinged red, Justin chuckled, “Thanks for the tip. I’ll make sure Gunner doesn’t get a chance to bite my snake.”

Blake’s voice boomed through the clearing. “Alright folks, it’s that time again. Let’s run safe and make sure the young are protected. A few of you may know that there was a poisoned bunny found recently so parents need to scent their children’s prey ahead of time. Have fun y’all. Let the run begin.”

In seconds Blake was a wolf, chasing Delilah through the clearing and into the woods. The pack was in various states of change as Justin waited for Carter to change. Carter was staring at the rest of the pack, fascinated.

“You gonna change, lil’ buddy?”

He nodded his head, still watching the pack. “I just wanna watch ‘em a while, it’s really cool, Mister Justin.” His eyes were bright and wet, “I likes being part of a pack, do you?”

Justin nodded his head. “I do.”

“Okay.”

In the blink of an eye Carter had changed into his wolf. He was fast. Justin and his whole family were alpha’s so he was used to a quick change, but the rest of the pack took a bit of time as the magic reformed and reshaped their bodies. Shocked didn’t come close to describing what this little boy had him feeling over the past few hours. He knelt down on his knee and rubbed his fingers through Carter’s soft grey fur enjoying how the boy’s little body rubbed up against him, scent marking him.

A moment later, Justin was in wolf form. He chased Carter, barking and panting dramatically as Carter ran away. Justin would catch up to him and nudge him in the direction he wanted, occasionally pouncing on him playfully. As Carter became more comfortable with his wolf and Justin’s he began to pounce him and other woodland creatures; a squirrel, a few birds. When Carter came across a rabbit he froze. Justin understood the hesitation so he chased the bunny, scenting that it wasn’t infused with poison, and grasping it in his jaw, bringing it closer to Carter. He dropped it in front of the child and watched the desire to chase cross Carter’s features. Justin nudged him and that’s all it took before his wolf’s instincts took over and he gave chase.

A few hours into the run Justin felt a presence following him, he’d known there was something out there, but now it felt as if they were being stalked. He chose to lead Carter back to where they all met and end the run; no way would Dee appreciate it if he got her son hurt.

Carter’s little body perked up as he scented the air briefly before tearing through the woods, the opposite way they’d been going. Following closely on his heels, Justin tried to get him to veer away, but little Carter was clearly on some creature’s trail.

A shadow was hiding in the high brush and instead of Carter going in softly, stalking his prey, he actually leapt surprisingly high into the air and came down on something furry. He let out a playful growl and began to nibble on a large ear. Justin let out a yip to let him know he was there if he needed help.

Yowling sounded under Carter as a fully grown lynx darted into a tree. Justin knew the lynx was a dangerous predator, and jumped in front of Carter letting lose a menacing growl as he positioned himself in between the two. As the powerful cat darted up the tree, he caught the slightest whiff of mangos. Probably it was due to the scent lingering on Carter. Stilling entirely, he watched as the cat reached the branch it had been aiming for.

The small body hit him from behind and he was covered by Carter’s wolf. He stood on his four legs causing Carter to topple off his body. Instead of backing off Carter nipped at his flank and generally began to annoy his wolf. In response to the boy’s new aggression, he clamped his maw over the boy’s neck, stilling him and causing a whimper as the boy was duly chastised.

Hissing sounded to the side of him as an astonishingly large paw came at his face. He pulled Carter with him as he walked away from the unknown cat. Keeping a steady pace, he raced toward the pack to protect Carter.

Not making it very far with the added burden of Carter, Justin was stunned when the lynx dropped from a tree in front of him and hissed its displeasure. Justin placed Carter on a rock grouping behind him and faced the lynx, ready to do battle to protect the boy.

Allowing a wicked growl to escape him, he took up a defensive position in front of Carter. He wouldn’t attack, but he would defend, to the death.

“Mama?”

Her son’s small voice filtered through the clearing and the scary sound of Justin in protective mode stopped. She watched as he sat back on his haunches clearly shaken. She sat as well, acknowledging Carter’s claim, waiting and watching.

Carter lowered himself from the rock Justin had placed him on and he went to the wolf. Hugging Justin, he said, “Please, don’t hurt my Mama. I’m sorry, I thought she came to play with me, but she was probably just watchin’ me.”

The wolf’s yellow eyes hadn’t left hers and she felt exposed, vulnerable. She’d told herself she would never put herself in this position again, at the mercy of a man and his feelings, wants, and needs.

Doing the very last thing she expected, Justin’s wolf rose with Carter on his back and walked over to her. He didn’t appear threatening in the least anymore. He walked over and buried his wet nose in her neck fur. He inhaled several times before pulling back and rubbing his wolf fur all over her coat. She sat still as he licked the fur at her neck before rubbing her whiskers with his face, she began to purr. Nuzzling her one last time he huffed, licked her ear and walked away with her son giggling on his back.

Why wouldn’t he ever do what she expected him to? It was upsetting the way her son clung to him and watched as he marked her cat. Obviously he didn’t have a problem with her being a feline. Hopefully, he was the only one to see her. She needed to keep her cat nature hidden so that her son would be allowed entrance to the pack and not be shunned.

Interested to see what could happen next, she wandered through the forest, thinking of the friendly wolf. She wasn’t paying attention as she stepped on some vegetation and fell into a deep pit. The fall didn’t harm her and she wasn’t immediately worried because she was an awesome climber. Reaching up she tried to pull herself up but the dirt and mud broke off under her huge paws. After several attempts and falls she sat on her haunches to come up with a new plan.

Pulling up to her house, Justin took Carter out of his car seat. His step was lighter now that he knew his mate’s scent and secret. The lights were still out at her house and he wondered if she went to bed early to avoid him. He knocked on her door…no answer. Turning to Carter he asked, “Do you have a key, lil’ buddy?”

“Nope, where’s Mama?”

Getting a sinking feeling he called Blake. It rang four times before his brother answered breathless. “What?”

“Dee’s not home.”

“Okay, you can drop Carter off here, just give me ten minutes.”

Gritting his teeth he prompted, “The lights are out and no one is home. I just saw her in the woods and she’s not returned yet. Understand?”

Blake must have heard the fear in Justin’s voice. “How long ago did you see her?”

“Maybe half an hour. We ran into her in the woods right before we came home.”

There was a question in Blake’s voice as he said, “I see.”

“Just get over here with a key. You do have a key, right?”

“Sort of. We’ll be right there.”

The click of the phone sounded as Carter walked around the house and came back with a key. He handed it over to Justin, all nonchalant like he hadn’t just solved a huge problem.

“Thanks lil’ buddy, you’re handy to have around.”

He giggled. “Mama forgets her keys all the time.”

Justin took Carter back to the truck and locked him in just in case something had happened to Dee. He didn’t want Carter to be hurt. He walked in to find the house empty, except for the puppy scratching to get out of the bathroom. He opened the door and let Gunner outside to do his business before going back to the truck to find Blake with Carter.

“She in there?”

“No, it doesn’t smell like she’s been home since we saw her. Why don’t you take Carter and I’ll go look for her.”

Blake yelled, “Delilah, come take Carter back with you. I’m going to hunt with my brother.”

Poor Delilah’s evening was probably going down the toilet, giving Justin a twinge of guilt. First, he’d called and interrupted their nookie and now she had to babysit. She didn’t let it get her down though, walking out of the woods, she picked a giggling Carter up and shot back at Blake, “No problem, but you owe me.”

“Oh and I plan to pay, Mistress Alpha.”

Justin cringed. “Not in front of the kid, you’ll give him nightmares.”

Carter was throwing a fit in Delilah’s arms. “I wanna go get my mama. I don’t wanna go back to pack house yet. Please, can I go with the boys, Missus Alpha?”

Delilah put him down and looked at her husband, “Keep him safe. I’ll be waiting at home.”

Ten minutes after falling into the dang hole, Dee was still stuck. She’d tried to climb out, jump out, and even call out for help. The moon run had been officially over for a while so there was no one to hear her screams. She tensed on her powerful back legs to jump again when a clump of dirt hit her in the face,
Ick.

She looked up and didn’t see anyone, but when another pile of dirt was tossed down the hole she became concerned;
is someone trying to bury me alive?
She changed into her human form and attempted to climb the wall but the same thing happened, the dirt broke away under her fingers.

“Whoever you are, you’re not going to win. Every time you toss dirt down it just falls at my feet. Maybe if I was unconscious it would work, but I’m not.”

There was a pause as her captor must have been rethinking their plan. She waited patiently knowing she wouldn’t be able to get out. Taking a seat in the earthy smelling corner of the hole she waited patiently, cursing herself for giving her unknown assailant the opportunity to correct their mistake by possibly knocking her out and finishing the job.

She could only thank her lucky stars that Justin was with Carter and they were both safe. Probably out getting a hamburger or having ice cream. Her stomach growled reminding her that she used up extra calories running in her feline form and would need to eat soon to stay strong. It’d been too long since she’d allowed her lynx to come out to play. It was content at the moment, purring in the background of her mind lazily swishing its’ small tail. She cursed herself for not allowing her cat out more often, because if she had her cat would be hissing its displeasure and fighting to be free instead of sitting meekly waiting for something to happen.

Following her scent was easy after getting to the spot where he’d last seen her. Justin kept his nose to the ground and in doing so he almost fell into the same hole he found Dee in. Her small form was huddled in the corner, knees to her chest with her arms wrapped around herself. He had to fight the urge to ogle her, even still he caught himself attempting to get a glimpse of her naughty bits. As it was, he could see the creamy expanse of her naked body and, the curves that she attempted to hide with her overlarge clothes. The edge of her breast peaked from under her arm, causing him mouth to water. His wolf wanting to lick her right there before he sank his fangs into her tender flesh to claim her. He heard a growl and it took him a moment to realize it was his wolf, the very wolf who was currently debating jumping in the hole with her to mate.

Her sassy, smart mouth brought him down from the edge of his mate craze. “Hey there Lassie, think you can get me outta this hole? Timmy would be real pleased.”

Shaking his head as her words sunk in he changed back to his human skin, stretching his back and grabbing the shirt and pants Blake handed to him. They weren’t sure what they’d find so Justin stripped and Blake brought his clothes along as they hunted for Dee. Blake leaned over the pit and yelled, “Hey there Garfield, seems you got caught up in a bit of a sticky situation. Why haven’t you climbed out of that hole? I hear cats are pretty good climbers.”

Dee simply blinked at him attempting to look annoyed, but she couldn’t hide the relief that was plain on her face.

“Mama, why you playin’ in a hole with mud? You says mud is dirty and how come I can’t play with it but you can? An you said I can’t go on a moon run but you dids.”

A look of utter terror crossed over her face causing Justin to reach over and pull Carter close. “You brought my son to look for me? What if I was in danger?”

Before any words came out of Justin’s mouth Blake piped up. “Well, you’re welcome darlin’ for coming to find you and rescue you from yourself. No, no, don’t thank us quite yet.”

Standing to her full height in the deep pit she crossed an arm over her chest while placing a hand over her groin and looked up at them in disbelief. “I’d rather stay in this hole knowin’ my son is safe than you bringing him here when someone was trying to bury me.”

Blake’s ever present grin faded to cold fury as he transformed into full alpha mode. “What do you mean?”

She stomped her naked foot on the dirt, “I was running back to my house when I fell in this hole. I tried to get out, but the sides of the pit are loose dirt and I just kept falling. I changed into my natural state, but the same thing happened. I couldn’t get out and after a few minutes someone started to fling dirt into the pit with me.” Her voice began to rise in panic, “Now, will you get me out of here so I can get my son somewhere safe.”

“Cool your jets, Dee, he’s with me. I’ll keep him safe while Justin works on getting you out.” He turned his back on her, collecting Carter in his arms Blake said, “I’ll take him to alpha house. Pick him up when you’re done getting her out. I need to feed little man ‘cuz his little stomach is growlin’ up a storm.”

Justin thought it was odd until Blake winked at him before, walking away humming.
Well, crap.
His brother knew Dee was his mate, but also knew she was extremely resistant to…everyone. He knew when he got Dee out of that pit there’d be trouble.

He leaned over to find her back turned to him giving him his first glance at her beautiful backside. She had a thin frame that appeared to be a bit overly thin. That was probably due to whatever stress she’d been under when Tidus had been her alpha, although he would have thought she’d had enough time to put on weight since his death. Her shoulders were hunched as always, but he noticed a light sprinkle of freckles with a few beauty marks here and there.

She twisted suddenly, pinning him with a fierce scowl before hissing. “Well, do you plan on setting me free? Or are you going to stare at me all night while I freeze?”

Her sudden lashing out didn’t prevent him from noting her legs were long and thin. He enjoyed seeing the apex of her thighs touch, knowing just a hop, skip, and a jump away was her sex. As it was, she stood with her arms crossed again, breasts spilling over her arms to show ample cleavage, while her womanhood was on display. A small patch of hair covered her entrance and she appeared to be all natural down there, no shaving or waxing. Why in the world did that make him even hotter?

His skin was prickling with awareness and his groin was tight. He felt like little Justin was going to pop off at this rate. He knew if he looked down he’d find his member would be bright red with a dash of purple, heavily veined and angry from lack of use. He’d been without her for too long, not being able to pleasure himself without her near, knowing she wanted nothing to do with him while his body was on fire for her.

“Hello…that wasn’t an invitation for you to gawk at me.”

Reeling back he felt the telltale burning of his face as he blushed. For goodness sake, he had been gawking at her. Not just gawking, but fantasizing too which made it all the worse. “I’m sorry, I was…thinking.”

Her eyes narrowed, “Yeah, wondering if the carpet matched the drapes. Are you satisfied? I’m no sex goddess, nor do I want to be. Can you get me out now?”

Taking a moment to think about his next step he tore off his shirt and tossed it down to her. “I’m actually not ready. Let’s talk for a while.”

“What are you, a woman? Let’s not talk.”

As she pulled the shirt over her head he caught a glimpse of her nipples. Her pink, pointed, puckered peaks. God they were delicious and he was seconds away from jumping in her pit when her head poked out of the top of his shirt and she scowled at him. He could still see the outline of her nipples and he imagined it would feel great as the fabric abraded them.

Sighing he sat at the rim of the pit and began. “Soo, what’s your real first name? Where are your parents? Do you have brothers and sisters? Were you married? Do you have other kids?”

She put her hands up in front of her in defense. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down, soldier. Now is not the time for twenty questions. You need to get me out of this pit before someone comes back to finish the job.”

He shrugged, letting her know he was confident he could protect her. “I’m not worried. I’ll protect you and normally I wouldn’t have to stoop to this level, but you’ve left me no choice. I simply want to get to know you.”

“Why?”

Because you’re my fated mate, because I haven’t been able to get you out of my mind, because I want to love you forever and have a lot of babies with you, because I can’t wait to stick my plug into your circuit.
“Humor me, Dee.”

She stood scrutinizing him for a few seconds before responding. “My name is Dee. My parents live in California. No brothers and sisters. Never married and Carter is my only child.”

“Where did you grow up?”

“Alaska.”

“You’ve been a part of this pack for your whole life?”

“No.”

It was his turn to cross his arms and scowl at her. “Can’t you elaborate?”

“No.”

Pulling his legs up to sit Indian style, he responded, “I guess we’ll be here longer than I thought. I’m really hungry so I was hoping you’d hurry up so we could run over to pack house and have some burgers.”

Her tone was snooty as she argued. “I’m really more of a fish person myself.”

He smiled as she gave a little bit of information away. “Oh yeah, what’s your favorite fish?”

He watched as her eye brows furrowed and her scent went from annoyed to angry. “I want out of this hole, now.”

“Fine, let’s agree that we both want you out of that hole. What are you going to give me if I get you out? After all, I’d be your knight in shining armor.”

She whipped some hair out of her face and in turn getting a smudge of dirt on her cheek. “Is that how you plan on playing this, tit for tat?”

Staggering back as if he’d been slapped, he took a few heaving breaths as he tried not to vomit. Is that really how she saw him? No one had ever accused him of such atrocities. Wow, he knew she was his fated, but at this moment he wanted nothing to do with her. Hadn’t he given her enough already and not received anything in return?

He heard her call out to him, “Come back, I’m sorry. Don’t leave me here.”

He walked to the edge of the pit, without saying anything and reached down to pull her out, she took his arm and he pulled her out quickly. When she was out and stable he backed away from her, wiping his hands on his pants. He pointed in the direction of Blake’s house. “Alpha house is that way, I’ll follow you.”

When she took his arm she felt a zing of awareness rush up her arm and to all her key girly parts. Her core clenched as her nipples pebbled anticipating more touching. Not gonna happen stupid body, tone it down. She rubbed the goose bumps on her arms and watched as Justin attempted to rub his palms off from having to touch her. Was she that bad? A moment ago he was trying to get into her pants, right?

She thought about feeling his toned body, running her hand over his sculpted chest. Did he work in the sun? Why did she care anyways? Men were trouble, a trouble she didn’t want or need. Something she hadn’t thought about since Tidus.

His voice had sounded rough and broken as he pointed the way to alpha house. Walking to alpha house with Justin hovering in the background was causing her hormones to take a leap to the front of her mind. Why did he have to be so nice, not to mention handsome? It didn’t matter, she wasn’t interested.

Halfway there she looked back to find him watching his feet while he followed at a safe non-threatening distance. Hit with a sudden bout of shame she couldn’t resist saying, “I’m sorry for being a bitch. I didn’t mean it. I-“

He cut her off. “Don’t worry about it. It’s over and we both know where we stand now.”

Stopping abruptly she hung her head forward and inhaled the scent from his shirt.
Is that frosting?
She was confused, sure she’d smelled him before, but in no way shape or form did she link the scent to him. She just thought he smelled sweet. She inhaled deeply and smiled. Maybe that’s why Carter couldn’t stop talking about him, he smelled like dessert.

She giggled to herself, wanting to see if he tasted as good as he smelled.
Wait, no I don’t, bad kitty.
Well, she did, but she wasn’t about to admit she lusted after him. He probably already knew because her scent didn’t lie. He was keeping a good distance from her, maybe he didn’t notice.

Lost in thought, Justin was hit with the scent of arousal coming off Dee. He looked up expecting to find her with someone else. Looking around he only saw her, wait…is she sniffing my shirt? What did that mean? He waited to see what she’d do.

Her voice was soft, hesitant. “My name is Dee Marie Malone and I’m originally from the wilds of Alaska. We had no pack, but knew all of the surrounding animals and shifters. My parents had me and then tried to have more kids, but my brother and sister died at birth. They were twins and mom never could face having anymore after that. After I got pregnant, I followed his father to this pack, we never formally mated and shortly after we moved here I realized he wasn’t what I wanted. We split and I took Carter.” She turned to him with a shimmer of tears in her eyes, “Is that enough for now? I don’t like to share much about myself, I’ve made some really bad choices in life and I’m trying to be a better person.”