16. Dominic

16

DOMINIC

Birds chirped in the morning rays of sunshine outside and I woke up with a smile on my face. Today was a glorious day, and as I sat up and stretched my arms over my head, I let out a bombastic yawn. The celebration yesterday was phenomenal. An absolute whirlwind of a time. But, then again, they always are. That’s why I always planned them, after all.

Because I knew how to have a great time with all of these stick-in-the-muds.

With my sweatpants hanging down around my hips, I trudged my way down the stairs. Fresh iced coffee waited for me in the fridge before I took the cup onto my porch. I raised my arms toward the rising sun and smiled at the way its heat coated my body. Summer was upon us, and the playful heat was about to turn scorching.

I, personally, hated summer.

But, that meant our next solstice celebration was my favorite.

“See you soon, autumn,” I murmured before I took a long pull of my drink.

“Finally, you’re up,” Ronyn said as he jumped up onto my porch via the railing.

“We need to talk,” Voss said, bounding up the steps like a normal person.

I groaned. “Can’t a man enjoy the first summer sun?”

“No,” Voss said, grabbing my arm.

“I’ll get the door,” Ronyn said before my creaky screen door swung open.

“You still haven’t fixed that?” Voss asked as he dragged me back into my own home.

I shrugged as I took another sip of my iced coffee. I was used to Voss dragging me places, anyway. “What can I say? Fixing things hasn’t always been my specialty.”

“You can say that again,” Ronyn murmured, studying the screen door.

Voss sat me down on the couch before he whistled. “Ronyn? Now’s not the time.”

Ronyn grumbled to himself as he came to take a seat next to me. And me? Well, I just continued to sip my coffee with a smile on my face until someone filled me in on what in the actual fuck was happening first thing in the fucking morning.

“Can you put a fucking shirt on?” Ronyn grumbled as he looked over at me.

My smile only grew as I lobbed my head toward him. “Why? Jealous?”

I made my pecs jump just for his viewing pleasure, but Ronyn simply rolled his eyes.

And still, Voss didn’t speak.

“Long night?” I asked as I peeked over at our Alpha.

Voss shrugged. “Something like that.”

Guess I was the one starting the meeting. “So, what is this thing we have to talk about that’s so urgent it can’t wait until after I’m done with caffeine?”

I took another long pull from my iced coffee as I stared Voss down.

“You got any for us?” Ronyn asked.

I didn’t stop looking at Voss as I nodded. “In the kitchen, iced is in the fridge.”

“That iced shit’s for the ninnies,” Ronyn muttered as he made his way into my kitchen.

“Make it quick,” Voss said, “and get me a mug while you’re in there.”

The seriousness of his tone set me on edge. My brow furrowed as Ronyn retrieved caffeine for the both of them. Did they both get up and come to find me without so much as drinking any sort of coffee themselves?

Whatever it was, it was very serious. And it commanded my full attention as Ronyn came back with mugs of coffee for both him and Dom.

Voss took a pull from his drink before he set it on his jeaned-up knee. “We need to talk about what to do with this makeshift pack.”

“And Bexley,” Ronyn added.

I stayed silent as I continued sipping my coffee through the straw.

“Do we even believe she’s an Alpha?” Ronyn asked. “Because I don’t believe she’s an Alpha.”

“It’s curious,” Voss said, looking down into his mug.

I tilted my head. “Does it matter if she’s an Alpha or not?”

“Want me to be honest?” Ronyn asked.

“That’s what this is for, apparently,” I said.

Ronyn leaned back against the couch. “I’m not so sure she’s even a shifter.”

“Oh, you’re still on that?” I asked as I waved my hand at him.

Ronyn smacked it out of the air. “Shrug it off all you want, but I’d bet my armies on the fact that she’s human.”

“She’s capable of a lot if she’s human,” Voss muttered.

“Humans are capable of many things. It’s why we keep our kind separated from theirs,” Ronyn said.

“Their kind?” I asked. “Since when did we start up with that shit?”

Voss shook his head, though. “I watched her take down four coyotes with her bare hands without so much as shifting.”

Ronyn shrugged. “It could just be that she’s a trained fighter. They have those as humans.”

I furrowed my brow. “Wait a second, four of them?”

Voss nodded. “Four of them.”

“And she took all of them on?”

Voss chuckled. “Without so much as a knife and a fucking stick to do it with.”

I whistled lowly. “Wow.”

“So, if she’s not a shifter,” Ronyn said as he pinned us both with a look, “then where did she pick up all of her skills?”

It was a question that deserved some sort of thought behind it. But, were we really just going to label our mate a fucking liar? I didn’t like that we were so easily swayed against her. I felt like she earned our loyalty, shifter or not.

I did my best to interject some wisdom into the mix. “You know, it’s not unheard of, shifters being fated to humans.”

Ronyn scoffed. “Hasn’t happened in decades.”

I shrugged. “Doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.”

“Does it matter if we aren’t going to let them stay?”

That actually made me laugh out loud. “Have you seen Voss’s face when he’s around her? He’s not letting them go anywhere. So, you can get that idea out of your head right the fuck now.”

“I dare you,” Ronyn growled as he leaned up from the couch.

“Oh, you wanna go right now?” I asked as I sat my coffee down. “Because don’t think for one second that a measly five hours of sleep will?—”

“Enough,” Voss said curtly. “Both of you, just shut up.”

The tin sound of his voice turned my attention to him, and I watched determination fill his face. He ground his teeth together and stared off at the wall, losing himself in his thoughts. I knew that look. It was a look Voss got a few times before in our history.

And one of those times was when he made the determination to go after the vampire that killed his family.

“All right, Alpha,” I said as I cocked my body toward him on the couch, “what’s our next move?”

“Seriously?” Ronyn asked. “We’re actually considering letting them all stay? We barely have enough resources for all of us as it is! And don’t forget that we’re still hunting. We’re still in the midst of trying to find that vampire.”

Voss turned his attention to me. “She’s got more children than adults in that pack. If nothing else, they need to stay safe here.”

I nodded before I shot Ronyn a look. “Absolutely. All pups must be safe.”

That seemed to shut the massive man up, because he leaned back against the couch and practically dipped his face into his coffee just so he wouldn’t have to look at us. I don’t know why in the hell he was so adamant about kicking Bexley and her pack to the curb, but I was about to put my fist through his fucking face.

Some mate he turned out to be.

She deserved better than that shit.

“Fine, you want to keep them safe here?” Ronyn asked as he stood. “That’s fine with me. But, keeping us safe with constantly dwindling food stores means we still have to know who she is.”

I wiggled my eyebrows. “I could work a bit of my magic on her. See what she has to tell me.”

Ronyn scoffed. “You’ve worked enough of your magic on her.”

I clicked my tongue. “Says the man who abandoned her in the bath house.”

Voss eyed Ronyn curiously. “Is that what you did now?”

I pointed up at Ronyn, who stumbled over his words. “We’ll talk about that later, by the fucking way.”

Ronyn snickered. “And speaking of the bath house, she and I had a conversation.”

“You sure that’s all that happened?” I spat.

“Can it, Dom,” Voss said flatly.

Ronyn grinned as he shot me a look. “We had a conversation, and I learned that she was on the run separately, by herself, before she stumbled across that makeshift pack in the woods.”

Voss blinked. “Were they Alpha-less when she came across them?”

Ronyn shrugged. “Don’t know. But, she was on the run from something separate before she stumbled across them. And if she’s on the run from something…”

“Then her being here makes us a target for whatever she’s running from,” I said.

Ronyn pointed at me. “Exactly.”

I hated that he and I were on the same page. “If that’s the case, Voss, then he’s right. We have to know more about her, in that case, if we’re going to protect the pups of these packs.”

Voss shifted himself in his seat and took another swig of his coffee. “Do we know her full name?”

“Bexley Anna,” Ronyn said.

Voss grinned. “Beautiful name.”

I wiggled my eyebrows. “Doesn’t shock me one bit.”

“Do we know anything else?” Voss asked.

I shrugged. “We know what she looks like.”

The two men shot deadpan looks in my direction that made me smile.

“Hey, it’s technically true,” I said with a shrug.

Then, Voss put on his Alpha voice. “Ronyn.”

“Yes, Alpha,” the man said as his back straightened.

Even I was on high alert with the tone of voice Voss used. “Go do what you do best. We have her full name, a bit of background, and what she looks like. See if you can dig up anything else.”

Ronyn made his way toward the door without a second thought. “Be back by tonight.”

“Dom,” Voss said as he faced me, “while he’s digging around into who she is, I want you to see if you can figure out from Bexley how she came to be with that pack in the first place.”

My smile was positively devious. “Been a while since I’ve been able to bust out the magic.”

He pointed at me. “No magic. This is our mate, Dom. She’s in survival mode. She’s running, and she’s frightened, and she’s got an entire pack on her shoulders.”

I groaned playfully. “I swear, you’re no fun.”

That caused Voss to chuckle a bit. “Just do it, Dom. I want to know exactly how she came to be with them in the first place. See if you can pull something out of her that she didn’t already tell Ronyn.”

I polished off the rest of my iced coffee. “Without my power, what makes you think she’ll even talk to me?”

His gaze hardened, and I knew I overstepped. “You have your order, Dominic. Go do it.”

I nodded as I stood. “Yes, Alpha. And what are you going to do?”

The sound of children giggling and laughing tugged both of our stares out the window. I looked through the living room window out to the side of the house, and off in the distance near the edge of the woods, I saw Bexley. She ran around with the kids and let them tackle her to the ground. She rolled around in the dew-stained grass, tickling them and letting out fake little evil laughs that got the pups stirred up and running around again.

It tugged at my heart, watching her laugh and play.

It made me want to know everything about her. All of it. Every single shred of it. The good, the bad, the ugly, the heart wrenching, the unforeseen, and everything in between. I craved knowledge of her. And as I stood there with a smile on my face, Voss ripped my front door open.

“Alpha? Someone should know where you’re going,” I called out after him.

He scoffed. “Got a vampire to track. Keep groupthink open.”

Then, without another word spoken, he stormed out of my place, hopping off my porch, and left.

I stood there with my empty coffee cup watching Bexley toss kids into the air and catch them.