Chapter Nine

Dane loped his way to the Strongblood compound at a pace that in human form would be called dragging his feet. His wolf was unhappy in the journey, constantly trying to turn back to the cozy den he’d made with Remy. Keeping the beast on track was an act of monumental effort. Never before in his life had his two halves been at such odds. And it wasn’t merely his two halves but more like one quarter versus the rest because his human side was also in conflict. His time with Remy had given him the greatest happiness he’d ever known—more than he’d ever thought possible. But it was also impossible to ignore the kernel of fear and distrust in himself. He simply couldn’t be sure of his own ability to cast aside the past and embrace a future free of doubt. Letting Remy go was what was best for the omega, his own desires be damned.

I love him. It was okay to admit it here while he was totally alone. Truth was something that shouldn’t be denied, not when the only person who could be hurt by it was himself. He took solace in the knowledge that while he was never going to mate with Remy, he also wasn’t going to leave their den. For the rest of his life, he would be there, watching the omega and their pup from afar. He could permit himself that amount of happiness. And if Remy took a dominant from another pack, like the Rogues or Green Mountain, he would relocate. It didn’t matter where he lived. Remy was his home.

He stopped abruptly when he caught a couple of familiar scents. Not surprisingly, Merida and Conan emerged from the low-lying fog that blanketed the forest floor. Remy’s absence would have been noticed by morning and they would have had to wait until the snowstorm had passed before venturing out. As valuable and vulnerable as omegas were to a pack, no member was worth risking the lives of too many others when the pack wasn’t also in direct danger. He could at least give them comfort that their decision hadn’t been the wrong one. He shifted and stamped his instantly cold feet. The others did the same as they approached.

Merida was the first to speak, a frown on her face. “You’ve left Remy alone?”

Dane held out his hand. “He’s safe in my den.”

The female huffed as she smacked her arms to keep warm. “Well, we know that already because we followed him there.”

“You did?” Dane was surprised to learn that. Remy had arrived before the snow had started falling in earnest. Why hadn’t they made themselves known to bring him back?

Conan grinned, seemingly indifferent to the cold. “Of course. You didn’t think we’d missed the omega leaving the compound, did you?”

Dane frowned as he considered that question. At the time, he hadn’t really questioned Remy’s running away too closely. “I had wondered and was furious with all of you for letting him get away. I suppose I was so concerned about getting him safe and warm that I hadn’t given it much thought as to how he’d accomplished it.”

Conan’s grin widened. “Getting him onto your pallet, you mean.” The gamma shrugged. “We were watching him closely because Wyatt had told Kael he was worried that Remy intended to leave.”

“So you let him go?” Dane practically roared with fury. “Into the dangerous forest alone!” he added as if his concern wasn’t obvious.

Merida scoffed. “He was never alone. We trailed him the whole way and once you had him, we backed off. Naturally.”

That last bit took Dane by surprise. “Why did you do that?”

“Because Remy obviously wants you and no one else as his mate. We can all see that, except you, apparently.”

“I see it well enough.” Dane’s tone lowered with his misery. Why did everyone keep pressing him on that matter? “He’s better off with someone else. We should all want what’s best for him.”

Merida stomped in a circle before speaking. “You think I don’t? My brother has always been a good boy, giving no trouble to anyone ever. That fact that he broke the rules so egregiously for the first time by making the decision to leave on his own is all the proof I need that you are what’s best for him.”

Conan nodded. “We were kind of hoping that we’d have to spend even more days out here because you wouldn’t be able to let him go.”

Distracted by the first part of that statement, Dane asked, “You’ve been out here the whole time?”

“Of course.” Merida sounded insulted. “As if I’d go before knowing Remy was truly settled. I’ve wintered outdoors plenty of times. It’s easy.”

“And more fun when there’s someone with you.” Conan yelped when Merida punched his arm, then simply stood grinning…like a fool in love.

Dane permitted himself only a moment of jealousy at how simple the shifter’s happiness seemed to be. “It’s good that you did. You can come back with me now and escort Remy to the longhouse where he’ll be safe.” And I’ll be free of temptation.

Merida opened her mouth with an expression that told him she had more to say on that topic. If words had come out, he hadn’t heard them. The sudden yowl of Remy’s wolf hit him like a gust of cold wind. He staggered from the force of, then recovered quickly. He was already shifting as he turned and bounded back the way he’d come.

****

Remy kept his gaze cast downward as he worked to keep the trembling from sending him crashing onto the ground. Henry, the alpha son, had finally caught up to them—him. It was a comfort knowing that Merida wasn’t there because the two gammas who’d come with their future leader would have torn her to pieces immediately. He was sure of it. As it was, they remained in wolf form, glaring at him as Henry walked around him.

The alpha son sniffed loudly. “You’re breeding. I had hoped to trigger your heat myself and teach you what it means to be an omega personally. Losing that right makes me very angry. No matter. When I punish you for running away, I’ll beat the pup out of you. Then, I’ll plant my own seed. You’re going to whelp me a pack’s worth of pups before I’m finished.”

Remy’s body tightened with the vile promise, not for his own sake, but for the pup already inside him. His love for it made him bolder than he’d ever been “You won’t hurt my pup!”

The slap made him stagger, but he held his ground and glared at Henry.

“You’ve learned some bad manners, I see.” He glanced around. “Where’s that traitorous sister of yours?”

For the second time in his life, Remy lied, although he felt no guilt about this one. “She’s dead.” He dropped his gaze again, afraid Henry would see the truth in his eyes.

The alpha son grunted. “So, she got no more than she deserved. Dumb sigma that she’s always been. And some feral dominant found you…except he didn’t mate with you, did he?”

Remy didn’t have to feign any emotions as he sadly shook his head.

“Good, that means I don’t have to waste time waiting for him to return so that I can kill him. Maybe he’ll try to follow, and that would make me happy. For now, we leave. Change!”

Remy’s body shimmied with the first moment of shifting in an automatic reflex before stopping abruptly. He pulled his human features back into place with unheard of ease…and surprise. He’d never tried to resist such an order before, let alone succeed in doing so. He took a step back. “No.”

A furious Henry stepped right up to Remy’s face and screamed, “Change!”

Remy shook his head and stepped back again. “I won’t.”

Henry’s face twisted with outrage. “You are an omega. Do as you are told, bitch.”

Remy blinked back tears that threatened to fall, but he felt oddly calm. “Only Dane can tell me what to do.”

“Dane? The feral who plowed your ass, you mean? And where is he now to give you orders?”

There was a crashing sound and a great, dark beast with one eye raced toward them.

Remy couldn’t help smiling and pointing. “There.” Then he stepped all the way back so that he stood in the den’s doorway. He knew a fight was coming and that as an omega, he would only get in the way. He should have been frightened, yet he wasn’t. The outcome was not in doubt.

Dane hurled his massive body at Henry before the alpha son had even shifted. It would have been a quick battle given how easy it was to tear flesh. But Henry had already shifted by the time Dane landed on him. And while the disgusting male was an alpha in waiting, he and Dane looked evenly matched in size. Certainly, the beta launched into the fray with a viciousness that Remy had never seen before. Fights among members of his own pack had been encouraged by the alpha as if it were some kind of game. But nothing compared to what he saw now. Dane chomped and slashed with dizzying speed and without any appearance of worrying about his own safety.

Behind the dominants fighting for him, Remy saw Merida and Conan engaged with Henry’s companions. He knew them both to be as cruel as their leader, yet they also had no stomach for a fight they were at risk of losing. Loyalty had always been in short supply within the pack. Members were motivated by fear and greed. It was no surprise when first one, then the other of the gammas broke off their fights and fled back where they’d come.

Henry paid scant attention to the defections. He charged, bleeding from gashes in his hindquarters and muzzle, at Dane. Crouching low, Dane caught Henry’s belly in mid-flight with his head and tossed him into a tree. A moment later, he had his teeth clenched around the dazed shifter’s throat.

Remy found himself stepping forward and calling out. “Don’t kill him.”

Dane went still, his jaws not quite fully clenched. Then he let go and danced away. Shifting, he kept his one eye on his opponent. “Why not?” His tone was gentle.

Remy surprised himself again with his answer. “Because if you do, his alpha sire will be honor-bound to avenge him. Let him go and he’ll make up some tale of how he found my dead remains to save his own honor. It was his pride that kept him searching for me all this time. And you’ve beaten that out of him. His gammas will be so embarrassed by their own cowardliness that they’ll back any story he tells.

“Isn’t that right, Henry?” Remy was bold enough to frown at the shifter.

Instead of answering, the alpha son stayed in his wolf form and with a baleful look, raced away after the others.

Dane snapped his fingers at Merida and Conan, who took off after Henry, before coming over to Remy. He cupped Remy’s face. “Are you all right?”

“Yes.” Now that the danger was over, he started trembling again and sagged into Dane’s waiting embrace. “I was scared but I knew you’d come.”

Dane hugged him tightly. “I shouldn’t have left you alone.”

“I’d thought maybe they’d given up. I don’t know why they bothered to keep after us.”

“I do.” With a kiss to the top of Remy’s head, Dane set him back and peered at him once more. “Are you sure he didn’t hurt you?”

“Yes. He wanted to once he forced me to leave with him, but I refused to shift.”

Dane laughed even as a look of rage flitted across his face. “Did you now? I would have stopped him no matter how far he’d gotten with you. But the idea that you would have been in his clutches even for a short while…” He hugged Remy again, his pounding heartbeat easy to detect through his cold skin and his broad chest rising and falling with rapid breaths. “What a brave little omega you are. And very clever, too. You’re right about letting him go.”

“I was, wasn’t I?” Remy grinned as he rubbed his cheek against the beta’s hard pec. “I guess I’m smarter than I thought.”

Dane shook him gently as he held Remy at arm’s length once more. “Don’t ever doubt your intelligence again. Being sweet is not the same as being dumb. Now, let’s get you back inside. Your skin is like ice.”

Remy gladly let Dane guide him to the pallet and fuss over him. The chill that had seeped into his bones was rubbed away with the fur skin before Dane wrapped him fully in it. With quick, sure movements, the beta went about making more tea. The scene was so beautifully domestic that Remy felt sufficiently bold to dare to make his mind known.

“I’m never going to mate with anyone else.”

Dane looked at him while stirring the herbs in the hot water. “You can’t know that.” The man’s voice was gruff.

Remy resisted the impulse to retreat to his servient posture. “I do, though. If Henry wasn’t strong enough to force me to change, no dominant will be. None except you. I told him as much,” he admitted.

Dane didn’t say anything more until he came over with a mug of tea. He handed it over to Remy. “The bond you’ll form with your mate will be stronger than anything you can imagine.”

Remy took a sip of the hot liquid and closed his eyes briefly at the lovely feeling of it sliding down his still chilled insides. He let his wolf do the talking by yipping out their feelings of happiness. Dane’s wolf responded in kind. “How can it be more than what we share right now?”

Dane grunted before sitting heavily beside him. “I honestly don’t know. I’ve never had this…connection before with another shifter. I don’t think it’s normal outside of a mated couple.”

Sensing a break in the beta’s resolve, Remy went for broke. “I love you, Dane.”

“Damn.” Dane closed his eyes, then heaving a sigh, he opened them again and stared hard at him. “What am I supposed to do with you?”

His encounter with Henry must have affected him even more than he’d thought because he couldn’t help blurting out what he wanted more than anything. “Love me back.”

Dane’s gaze softened in a way that Remy had never seen in a dominant. “That’s the easy part, baby. I already do.”

Remy inhaled sharply with surprise and his eyes popped and froze wide open as he worked to convince himself that he’d really heard what he thought he had. Finally, he blinked and let his breath out in a whoosh. “You do? For real? You aren’t teasing me are you?”

Taking the mug out of Remy’s hands, Dane set it aside so that he could move closer. He cupped the back of Remy’s neck. “I would never do such a thing.” He pursed his lips briefly. “I thought it would be too hard to admit my feelings, but now that I have, I find it was easy. Perhaps the easiest thing I’ve ever done.”

Remy relaxed with the soothing feel of the beta’s hold. “If you tell me to go back to the longhouse, I will. Of course, I will. Obeying you is not something I have control over. But…”

Dane gave him a nod of encouragement. “What? I want you to always speak your mind with me, Remy.”

“Please let me stay here with you. At least until I’m ready to whelp. I’m so happy here.”

Dane sighed. “I know.”

Whatever more the beta intended to say, he let go of Remy abruptly and stood facing the doorway. Merida and Conan loped in, shifting as they did so. They both wore an expression of grim satisfaction.

Conan sniffed toward the firepit. “Is that tea?”

“Help yourself,” Dane said gesturing toward the pot. “I assume the fuckers are far away at this point?”

Merida nodded as she accepted a mug of tea that Conan handed her. “We followed them to the river. They’d already crossed it and were well away from the bank on the other side.” She took a sip, then handed it back to Conan with a shy smile that surprised Remy.

The gamma returned the look before sipping some tea himself and once more giving it to her. “We figure they’ve learned their lesson but we’ll keep a look out for a while longer just in case. We’ll come back with you, Dane, once we’ve all returned Remy to the longhouse.”

Remy’s heart sank at Conan’s words and his wolf howled in sadness.

“He’s not going back. Not yet anyway.” Dane knelt beside Remy and pulled him into a sideways hug. “He’s going to stay here with me for the winter. I’ll have him back before his time to whelp, of course.” The beta’s wolf chuffed with satisfaction.

Merida and Conan exchanged glances between them much as they were doing with the mug of tea. It was Remy’s sister who spoke. “You’re going to mate with him.” It was a statement, not a question.

Remy tensed, but Dane gave him a reassuring rub on the arm.

“Of course. He deserves no less respect than that. We’re both more comfortable here—for now.”

Merida nodded before draining the mug. “Well then. That’s all right.” She smiled at Remy, looking truly happy and relaxed for the first time.

“I’d like you to stick around tonight for extra precaution. Tomorrow, if you would please let Graydon know my plans and bring back supplies. Remy needs more comfort—clothing, blankets and extra food. Celia will know what to organize.”

Remy’s tongue was stuck to the roof of his mouth. This was what he’d longed for and it was hard to believe it was actually coming true. He forced himself to relax and ask for something more. “And books, please.” He smiled at Dane. “Maybe you could teach me to read?”

The beta nodded. “And books.”

“We’ll leave you to your privacy. If you need anything, just howl.” Conan shifted and waited for Merida to do the same.

She didn’t do so right away. Instead, she came over and knelt before Remy. “I am truly happy for you, brother.”

Remy grabbed her hand. “Thank you for taking care of me. Seeing Henry again, reminded me of what you saved me from.” He lunged at his sister to hug her, squeezing his emotions into the embrace.

It was Merida who let go first, backing away and shifting after one last smile.

When she and Conan were gone, Remy snuggled against Dane. “What do we do now?”

Dane tipped his chin up and kissed him with great tenderness. “We eat, rest and eat some more. You might not realize it but you need all of that more than anything right now. That was a taxing ordeal you just went through.”

Even though he longed to do something else, something more exciting, Remy didn’t argue with the dominant who would rule over his life from this day forward. He trusted that Dane knew best. He also figured it didn’t hurt to ask questions. “Then what?”

Dane’s answer started with a kiss. At first, it was a slow, gentle brushing of their lips. It soon turned into an embrace where his mouth was invaded and their tongues clashed. By the time Dane broke it off, Remy was panting and achingly hard. So was Dane.

“That’s enough of that.” Dane laughed at Remy’s whimper of disappointment. “Patience, baby. Tonight I’m going to shower you with pleasure and show you how much I love you.”

“Waiting his hard.”

Dane laughed again and chucked Remy’s chin. “So it is, but it also makes it even better in the end.” He left to rummage through the stores of food.

Remy tried not to pout as he pulled the fur skin around him. Watching Dane doing anything was fun for him. And he resolved to be patient. Dane had said it would make their mating a more wonderful experience. He was sure the beta was right—in everything.