When No Doesn't Cut It (8 page)

Chapter Ten

Brunch had been an interesting affair.  Both the mated pairs, Kane and Shawn, Griff and Diablo, were a lot more settled now that Damien had apparently sorted things with Scott.  Dean was as quiet as ever, although cooking up a storm in the kitchen.  But Troy refused to be drawn into any discussions about anything at all, and just sat quietly watching Damien and Scott together.

Scott was well aware of what was bugging his brother - he just wasn’t sure what to do about it.  It was inevitable when two mated wolves
, that came from different packs, decided to claim each other, that one of them was going to have to move.  In this case, because Damien was Alpha of his pack, there was never any question about who was going to be doing the moving. Damien couldn’t leave his pack and that meant Scott was the one who had to do the packing.

In their whole lives together
, Scott and Troy had only been apart once.  When Troy had been told to leave their pack after being caught with a male human from their local town, he had told Scott to stay on.  Being exiled from a pack is hard on any wolf, and Troy didn’t want Scott to be as homeless as he was at that time.  Scott stayed, purely and simply, because he had a job and was able to send Troy money, until Troy had met up with Kane, and been invited to join the Cloverleah pack. 

As soon as Troy had gotten settled he had called his brother and Scott left his home pack willingly.  It had been really hard for both of them to be parted from each other.  Scott didn’t imagine this time would be any different.  But his first focus had to be Damien from now on
, and Troy’s mate Anton, a wolf Troy hadn’t physically met yet, was due back from some special ops job he was working on, within the month.  Troy would have plenty to occupy himself then. But for now Troy was worried about his brother and it showed.

Finally Scott couldn’t take it anymore and he signaled to Troy to come with him.  Kissing Damien briefly as he got up from the table, Scott simply said, “packing,” and shook his head when Damien offered to help.  Encouraging his mate to stay talking to the others, Scott and Troy headed to the front door.

“Where are you going?” Damien called out.

“My house,” Scott yelled back with a grin, not stopping
his progress out of the house.  Seconds later, two big hands grabbed him around the waist and spun him around and Scott was looking up into the face of a very angry Alpha.

“I thought your packing would be done from here,” Damien growled as he nibbled over Scott’s mating mark.  As much as Scott wanted to melt into the embrace, he needed to talk to Troy more.  Damn
, this is where the mind meld thing would come in handy, but as he didn’t want to hold up his packing any longer than necessary, for now he had to resort to words.

“Damien, my house is five minutes down the road.  I only have a few
of my clothes here and I need to get more if I’m coming with you in a matter of hours. I want Troy to give me a hand because he will be dealing with the rest of my stuff when I’m gone.  You stay here and play nice with the Alpha’s okay?” He said hopefully.

“I don’t want you out of my sight,” Damien muttered as he licked a path up Scott’s neck.  Scott gave a groan
, but shoved at Damien’s chest at the same time.  It would be really tempting to give in to his mate, but Damien had to learn that there were some things he could do for himself, and today was as good a time as any to start the lesson.

“I won’t be gone more than an hour.  I promise.  I need this time with Troy, please mate?” Scott whispered.  Damien lifted his head from Scott’s neck and looked deep into his eyes.  Apparently satisfied with what he could see
, he bent down and gave Scott a scorching kiss, pressing Scott’s body along his in a possessive embrace.   When he finally let go, Scott’s knees were wobbly, his cock was throbbing and he wasn’t sure where the door was.

“One hour,” Damien said firmly in his deep Alpha voice
. “Not a minute more or I will come looking for you.”

“That tone really doesn’t work with me,” Scott said with a laugh
. But when he saw Damien’s expression, he reached up and cupped Damien’s face in his hands.  His mate was super possessive and worried about him, so he relented a little. “One hour, I promise.” 

Grabbing Troy’s hand, Scott turned and ran out of the door before Damien could change his mind.   As they got into Troy’s SUV, Troy couldn’t help but comment, “well he’s a wee bit possessive isn’t he?”

“Yes,” said Scott. “But it’s kinda hot when he goes all Alpha on me, you know.”  He gave his cock a thump to remind it that they actually had work to do.

“How are you going to be able to hold your own with him, Scott?  Him being all Alpha and everything.  He’ll run all over you
, like your feelings are nothing.  You’ve got too much spirit to let him rule you.  You’ll be miserable.”  Troy sounded really worried, so Scott genuinely considered his answer.

He knew he had a lot of spirit and was probably a lot cheekier than Damien was used to dealing with, both in bed and out.  Scott also knew that in front of the pack at least, he would have to be respectful
, otherwise Damien’s position could be weakened by his attitude.   Mind you, that is where the mind meld would come in handy.  No-one else would know if he was less than respectful to Damien in his head.

To Scott at least, Damien wasn’t his Alpha - Kane was.  Damien was his mate
, and while he supposed that technically Damien would be his Alpha too, once he reached Texas, in his head it would always be Kane that would hold that position.  Damien had told him he would be Alpha Mate and he wasn’t even sure what that meant. He guessed he would find out when it happened.

“I don’t know what to tell you Troy.  I do know he was wrecked when he was apart from me
, and in private he is not as domineering as I thought he would be.  It’s just he’s only been back with me less than 24 hours, and I think that is what prompted today’s little display.  I’m sure when he gets back to leading his pack and running his club, he’ll be too busy to keep tabs on what I do all day.”

“What are you going to do all day?” Troy asked as they got out of the SUV and headed into Scott’s house.

“Fucked if I know,” Scott said honestly.  He wandered into his large master bedroom and looked around the room with regret.  He really loved this room, and had decked it out just the way he liked it.  Huge bed, large flat screen television, heaps of comfortable pillows, all coordinated in muted brown and cream shades.  One wall of his room was completely in glass including French doors that looked out to the forest.  Scott loved lying on his bed at night with the doors open, listening to the sounds of the forest and watching the stars.  Moving to an apartment above a club didn’t sound that appealing, but it was just one of the adjustments Scott was going to have to make. 

Pulling two large suitcases out of
the wardrobe, Scott opened them up and put them on the bed, indicating to Troy that he should start pulling clothes out of his dresser.  It seemed to Scott, that the sight of the suitcases had triggered something in Troy, who was silent as he methodically pulled clothes out of the drawers and transferred them to one of the suitcases.

“I don’t know what
’s going to happen,” Scott said quietly as they worked.  “And to be honest it scares the fuck out of me.  I’m going to be Alpha Mate apparently, and that’s supposed to be a big deal in Damien’s pack.  But how the heck should I know?  I’m not big enough to fight for my place; I’m too big to be a twink.  I’m not a sub or a Dom, and” Scott said hurriedly as he saw his brother’s expression, “I’ve already told Damien I refuse to be a sub for him.  I guess I’m going to have to carve out a space for me, the way I am.”

“You know that I have got your back, no matter where you are, right?” Troy said as he closed one of the cases.  “If it gets too bad, or you can’t cope
, then I am just a phone call away.”

Scott abandoned his packing and hugged his brother tightly, unmanly tears welling up in his eyes. 

“I’m counting on it,” he said roughly. He pulled back a bit and rested his head on Troy’s, the pair of them mirror images of each other.  “But you know I can’t live without him, yeah, and I gotta go and see where this takes us. Who knows, maybe I can loosen him up a bit?”

Troy gave a shaky laugh, “Well if anyone can, it will be you.” 

Then on a more serious note he added, “look, no-one knows more than I, how close you came to dying without him and if I had to chose between you dying, and you living with an egotistical Alpha in Texas, then I’ll take option B every time.  But make sure you stay true to yourself, yeah?  Don’t let him stop you being you.”

“I won’t,” Scott promised
.  “Hey,” he said as he headed to the bathroom to collect his toiletries and other supplies from there, “it’s about all I have got, me being me, and I trust the Fates on this one.  If they had wanted me to be any different than who I truly am, then they would have given me someone different as a mate.” 

He wandered back into the bedroom and grinned at Troy.  “
The guy is as old as the hills.  Maybe I am meant to rock his world a little.”

“Or a lot, knowing you,” Troy laughed with him.   The two men collected the now full suitcases off the bed
, and put them by the front door.  Scott took a moment to look around his lounge. He sagged a bit beside his brother.  He didn’t want to dismantle his home.

“Leave it to me,” Troy said
, understanding how his twin was feeling.  “I’ll sort out your personal stuff and get it boxed up for you.  You can decide what you want to do with it later, yeah?  You’ve got a lot to be dealing with at the moment.”

“Thank you,” Scott said quietly.  He went and sat on his big leather couch and Troy plopped down beside him
, leaning into him the way they always did when they were alone together.  They sat in silence for a bit, like they had a million times before, comfortable with each other in a way they had never been with others.

“So have you heard from Anton lately?” Scott asked.

“We Skyped a couple of days ago, for five minutes.  He apparently has one last job to do before he comes home.  You know the military - all hush, hush, can’t tell me anything.  He reckons he won’t be able to get in touch until he is ready to come home,” Troy said sadly.

“Are you excited about meeting him?”

“I don’t know what to think,” Troy admitted quietly.  “I mean he’s gorgeous and his voice sends shivers straight to my cock every time we speak.  But, you know, he’s a soldier and he’s a Master at Claudes’.  I just don’t know if we have anything in common.  I know there is no way I would be able to cope if we mated and then he left again for months at a time.  Shit, I saw what happened to you in just one week.”

“Yes,” said Scott
. “But what you have to remember is that Damien felt the same way.  He wasn’t eating or sleeping, or screwing around with his twelve subs.  He was dying in his own way. It was just taking him longer.  Anton will feel the same once he’s claimed you.”

“I guess,” Troy said quietly, and then he sat up and looked at Scott
. “What do you mean, Damien’s twelve subs?”

“Yes, isn’t it hilarious?  Apparently
, the great Damien has such a reputation at the club he owns, that he has twelve little twinks, all on a roster, all waiting for their Master’s command.”

“You’re kidding, surely,” Troy couldn’t believe it.

“Nope,” Scott said with a huge grin on his face. “So you can imagine what the situation is going to be like when I get there.  Gonna break a lot of little twinky hearts. Great start to getting involved with the pack, don’t you think?”

“Crap,” said Troy forcefully
. “Between battling twinks and the enforcers, who aren’t going to think much of the fact you killed Levi and Drake, you’re going to have your hands full.”

“Well according to Damien
, the position of Alpha Mate is second only to him in the pack.  Oh, and he has said that with our mating, I now own half the club as well.  So I will outrank the enforcers, and be the boss of the twinks - think it will give me an edge?” Scott grinned at his brother, as the cell phone in his pocket started to ring.  He pulled it out and grimaced, showing the text to his brother.

“
Alpha D getting antsy, get back here
,” Troy read out, raising his eyebrows.  “Who’s that from?”

“Dean,” said Scott getting up and pulling his brother up with him.  “Guess our hour is up.”  As he headed for the door
, Troy pulled him back one more time and Scott hugged his brother tightly. 

Foreheads together,
sharing their breath, they said together, “Always my brother.  Always got your back.  Always, forever and always.”  And if either man was crying as they made their way back to the Cloverleah pack house, then neither one of them said anything about it.

Chapter Eleven

Damien knew there were a lot of things he should do for Scott when they first arrived back at his apartment, above his club in Texas.  The man probably wanted to freshen up, perhaps rest, take a look around the rooms that would be his new home, get unpacked, eat, sit, talk.  Damien didn’t know and quite frankly didn’t care.  His mate was finally here in his apartment, and all Damien wanted to do was find the nearest flat surface, lay his mate on it, and fuck him till they both saw stars.

Fortunately Scott seemed to have the same idea.  The moment Damien’s lips met Scott
’s, the smaller man wrapped his arms around Damien’s neck and climbed up Damien’s body, anchoring his legs firmly around Damien’s narrow hips.  Scott’s mouth opened under Damien’s attack eagerly and the two men dueled tongues, the heat between them growing by the second.

Damien’s cock threatened to split his
pants and he could feel the same hardness in his mate, as Scott wriggled and writhed against Damien’s hips.  Running his hands down Scott’s back, Damien groaned as he reached his mate’s ass - two perfect globes encased in denim. Flexing his long fingers Damien grasped and kneaded the cloth covered mounds, loving how Scott responded to his touch.

Even as Damien was thinking
too many clothes,
Scott had slipped his hand between their bodies, frantically flicking buttons and lowering zips.  As Scott grabbed both of their freed cocks in his strong capable hand, Damien’s hands had slipped under Scott’s jeans, his fingers now caressing and teasing Scott’s hole. 

Quickly realizing that Scott wasn’t going to let him in without some serious preparation
, because man, that hole was tight, Damien lifted his head from where he was still ravaging his mate’s mouth, looking to see where in the apartment they actually were.  He needed lube and he needed it now.  Unfortunately, as he lifted his head, his eyes locked on one man he really didn’t want to see right at this minute - Madison, his personal assistant. The only man, apart from Malacai, that ever dared to come into his personal living space. Fuck, Damien had been so caught up in the idea of taking his mate for the first time, he hadn’t even heard Madison enter the room.

As soon as
Madison caught Damien’s eye the little man came forward exclaiming, “No, no, no, Alpha, this won’t do at all.  You have twelve men downstairs, none of whom have been serviced in well over a week.  You cannot, I repeat cannot, go sticking your dick in some guy who isn’t on the roster. Who…” Madison came closer and sniffed, “isn’t even a pack member.  No, no, no, Alpha.  You have your roster for a reason, and you promised me you would stick to it.  Now put this boy down and send him back to wherever it is you picked him up.  I’ll go and send in,” he consulted the clipboard he was carrying, “Moses and Sam to take care of your needs.”  He fluttered his hand at Damien’s obvious state of arousal.

Damien growled, low and mean
, as Scott, who had gotten them zipped and buttoned up the moment he heard a strange voice, slipped from his arms and was now looking Madison up and down with a scowl on his handsome face. Damien had to wonder at what Scott was thinking as he viewed the man standing there, complete with clipboard, totally uncaring that he might have interrupted something important. Damn, Scott needed to let down the blocks he still had on his mind.  Damien really wanted to know what his mate was thinking.

Madison was a
consummate twink, and it showed from the top of his carefully gelled blond hair, to his kohl rimmed blue eyes, lip gloss, and trim little body encased in skin hugging leather pants topped with a tight little tank top.  The man used to be on Damien’s roster some years before, and once he had gotten too old for the role, Damien had taken him on as his personal assistant.  The small man was perfect at running Damien’s busy life for him, even if he did have a mouth on him that just wouldn’t stop. But right now he was being a pain in the ass as far as Damien was concerned, and Scott didn’t seem very impressed either.

Meanwhile, Madison seemed totally unaffected by either Scott’s scowl, or Damien’s growl.  “Come on now, Alpha,
” the man continued.  “We had a deal.  If you are bored with your current subs, then by all means, let me know, and I will rotate on some fresh faces.  I do have a waiting list you know. But a man in your position just cannot go screwing anything that moves, especially some stray like this one.” Madison flicked a scornful hand at Scott. “And in your apartment too. You only ever fuck in the office, Alpha, so I don’t know why this man is even here. He isn’t even your type. I know you have been sick Alpha, but really this lapse in judgment is just not like you at all.”

“Who are you to tell your Alpha, who, where and when he should fuck,”
Scott asked quietly, his face giving no hint of what he was thinking.

The little twink drew himself up to his full height of just five foot five inches and said proudly, “I am
Madison Worthington, the most important person in this pack aside from the Alpha.  I am the Alpha’s personal assistant.  I run every aspect of the Alpha’s life, and one of my key jobs is making sure that power hungry lone wolves like you don’t go thinking you can screw your way into this pack or Damien’s good graces.  Fuck,” the little man said imperiously, “you’re not even a sub and you are definitely not the Alpha’s type.  You’re too big, you’re not pretty enough, and you are not pack.  The door is over there,” Madison pointed behind him, “now use it before I call in the enforcers and don’t ever set foot back in our pack lands again.”

Scott looked at Damien, who was stunned into silence at what Madison was saying, then swung down and swiped his jacket up from the floor where it had fallen. 
Flipping it nonchalantly over his shoulder, he gave Damien a withering look and headed for the door.

“Scott,” Damien roared, “where the hell do you think you’re going?”

Scott turned by the door and glared at Damien and Madison who was now standing protectively next to his Alpha.  He quirked an eyebrow and said, “lone wolf, not submissive, not a twink, not your type.  I’m leaving, just like Mr. Second in Command has told me to.  After all, I wouldn’t even rate a spot on your fucking roster, would I?”

“Certainly not,” Madison
answered for Damien, his own glare firmly in place. Scott shrugged, opened the door to the apartment and closed it firmly behind him. 

Madison turned to Damien with a smile.  “Now we have that settled,” he said happily, “I will send Moses and Sam to your office where you can service them before your pack meeting at six o’clock. 
They will be so pleased to see you are back on form.  Your subs have missed you terribly. You didn’t tell me what the pack meeting was for, Alpha, so I haven’t had any time to…” He broke off with a squeak as Damien gripped the tiny man behind his neck and lifted him off of the floor.

“Do you know what you
’ve just done?” Damien growled angrily.

Even with his feet dangling inches from the floor, Madison tried to look composed.  He was used to dealing with Damien in a mood.
Damien was prone to them and Madison knew it was just stress talking.  Once Damien had serviced a couple of his subs, he would be back to normal.  Gosh, the man needed to get laid regularly to keep his tension in check.

“Well, yes, Alpha, I have just gotten rid of some trash.  You know you can’t just go picking up strays and bringing them home
, Alpha.  Once you have fucked them then they think they can have unrestricted access to the club and your pack.  Remember, you pay me to keep riff-raff like that out of your life.  That is why we have a roster system to take care of your needs,” Madison concluded stubbornly even as Damien shook him roughly.

“
You have gone too far, Madison. You,” Damien said menacingly, “have just banished the Alpha Mate from his new pack.  You have just told MY TRUE MATE that he isn’t good enough for me.  That he is not MY FUCKING TYPE! Tell me why I should let you
keep breathing
,” he roared, shaking the man again.

“The Alpha Mate?” Madison whispered.  Damien whipped aside the neck of his muscle shirt to show the
healing scabs on his mating bite.  The scar was clearly visible underneath.

“Oh
dear, I have fucked up,” the little man whimpered and then he fainted dead away.

Damien looked at him in disgust for a moment, and then shaking him again for good measure, he dropped Madison in a heap on the ground.  He headed for the door
, knowing only too well that if Scott rang Shawn, then the man could already be zapped back to Cloverleah by now.  Damien did not want to have to explain to Shawn and Kane that he had fucked up within the first hour of being home.

/~/~/~/~/

As Scott left Damien’s apartment he didn’t know whether to be pissed off or laugh.  He could tell that Damien was totally shocked by what Madison was saying, and guessed that that was why the Alpha had not stuck up for him in the heat of the moment.  The little twink just didn’t know when to shut up and Damien wouldn’t have been able to get a word in edgewise.

Damien obviously didn’t think that Scott would leave like he did
either.  Scott knew that Damien planned to tell the whole pack about his mating at the pack meeting, which was due to be held in less than an hour.  So as he wandered down the steps, towards what was presumably Damien’s club, or hopefully an exit to the outside, he tossed up whether or not to just call home and get zapped back to Cloverleah, or find a drink and stick around to see if Damien would find him.

Madison’s words hadn’t done anything to alleviate Scott’s own insecurities, however.  Scott already figured he wasn’t Damien’s typical type.  And Madison was right.  He wasn’t pretty
, and he wasn’t small, and he definitely wasn’t a sub.  But Damien was clearly into him before they had been interrupted.  No-one could fake the hardness Scott had felt when he fisted Damien’s cock alongside his own. He moaned quietly at the memory, his cock hardening again at the thought of Damien in his hand.  He had been so ready for Damien to take him - to actually complete the mating properly.  Scott hadn’t bottomed for a while, but he was really looking forward to doing so with his mate. And that little twink had come along and wrecked the whole thing.

Scott slumped down at the bottom of the stairs and pulled out his phone.  What to do.  What to do.  Thinking back over Madison’s comments
, Scott didn’t even know if he could go into the club and get a drink.  Maybe the club was just for pack members, in which case he would stick out like a sore thumb.  Technically too he had been banished from the pack.  Okay, not by Damien, but the second in command’s word had to mean something didn’t it?  Shit, he really needed to learn more about this pack, and the club, and any rights he might have in either situation.

Google.  He thought decisively.  He could phone Troy and get his brother to Google the club so he could at least find out if it was acceptable for non-members to be in there.  Flicking his phone onto text messaging
, he was just about to draft out a message to Troy, when a large shadow fell over him and Scott looked up to see a huge man, smiling at him.

“You must be Scott,” the big man said.  “What on earth are you doing sitting down here on the stairs?  Where’s Damien?”

“Er, yes my name is Scott, and I am sitting on the stairs because some twink called Madison just banished me from the pack for being with Damien.” 

Scott started getting angry again just at the thought of what Madison had said. “I’m just about to call my brother and find out if non-pack members are allowed to drink at Damien’s club, because I could sure use one about now.  Are you the enforcer sent to make sure I
’m going to leave?”

The big man laughed and Scott noticed idly that he was quite good looking in a
n over-sized muscle-bound sort of way.

“No, and Madison doesn’t boss me around, ever.  I’m Malacai, Damien’s
actual second in command, and in charge of the pack and the club when he’s not here.  I scented someone new so came to investigate, that’s all.  You’ve got Damien’s scent all over you, so that’s how I guessed who you were.” Malacai looked back up the stairs and grinned.

“I
’m going to presume that the Alpha is currently tearing into Madison right now, otherwise I know he would be here.  So let me buy you a drink while we wait for him.” Malacai held out his hand to Scott, who took it and swung himself back up on his feet again. Slipping his phone back into his pocket, Scott let his new friend lead him around the half wall that blocked the stairway from the view of the club and got his first look at Damien’s pride and joy.

The firs thing that struck Scott was that the club appeared a lot bigger than Claudes.  The room had a high ceiling and was decorated predominantly in black
and chrome.  All along one edge of the room were booths where couples and groups of wolves were engaged in all types of mild BDSM activity.  There were tables for dining, what looked like a dance floor, and along the back wall was a huge stage that rose a good six foot off the floor.  Scott could only guess that this stage was used for demonstrations and shows. The room was quite crowded and Scott figured the wolves must be here for the pack meeting. 

Malacai strode confidently through the space, acknowledging other wolves but not stopping to talk to anyone.  He stopped in front of a large bar
complete with mirror tiles on the wall and endless bottles of drinks.  The barman came running over as soon as he spotted Malacai and quickly placed a glass and a bottle of scotch in front of the man.  Malacai looked at Scott and indicated the bottle and Scott nodded. Scotch, Bourbon, Whiskey, Rum - in that moment Scott didn’t really care.