Page 48 of Pack to the Wall

“And from what I’ve heard, this dates back as far as people can remember. Our kind was persecuted, chased out of villages, and so on. We formed packs for protection and kept on the move so no one would find out what we were. Also, if we didn’t have a home, no one could take it from us. The world would be our home, something like that, yes?”

I nodded again, curious where he was going with this.

“But, has anyone really checked to see if that’s still the case?” he asked earnestly. “When I found out about your kind, when Dana told me what she was, I was curious and uncertain, but I wasn’t afraid of her, I loved her. Perhaps we could find a home here? If we’re going to change our ways, perhaps this small community might accept us… if we are kind to them and so on. I, for one, would love a bed to sleep in every night.”

Dana gave a hum of approval. “He makes a good point. It would have to be done strategically, mending the fences within this community before we come out, but it might work. Then we could have a home, a real home, finally.”

A part of me really liked the idea too, though with the things we’d done to some of the people around here, that fence-mending wasn’t going to be easy.

“Anything else?” I asked.

“If we are going to stay, we’d need…” Dana proceeded to list off everything that was wrong with this current location. I summed it up in my head as:if we’re going to stay here, we’ll need a bigger place.

After that, I spoke with Cassie, a mild-mannered woman who was relatively new to the pack. Her story was an unpleasant one. Our crew had come across her and her husband and their teenage son a couple years ago. Harley had killed her husband and taken her and her kid into his pack. Harley had claimed heras his mate for a while, before Ginny got jealous and reasserted herself, after that Cassie had been mostly left alone.

It took some coaxing to get Cassie to say anything, she was used to keeping her mouth shut and doing what she was told. When she did, all she really wanted was a safe place for her son — Jake — to grow up.

When I spoke to my sister, Rita, I was a bit surprised to find out that she liked the open road and didn’t really want to settle down. Yet, she agreed that having a sort of base that she could return to, wouldn’t be bad.

Last was Brutus, my brother. He just wanted to be a wolf and do wolf things, hunt, sleep, and mate.

All in all, it was fairly unanimous that people didn’t really want to go back on the road. Which also meant most of the pack would support Jane and not want Brick to win the upcoming challenge. I took that as a favorable outcome and went to see how Jane was doing. After being away from her for a while, I felt a bit more settled. There wasn’t the savage need to rut with her, just a desire to be near her.

She slept, with Bronn diligently watching over her. He said he’d get her some water and a bit of food for when she woke, then left to gather that while I took over his post.

Oddly, seeing her like this didn’t seem to trigger my mating instinct. Perhaps it was our eyes. Whenever our gazes met, we both seemed to go into some sort of heat. I kept wanting to have some time with her, just to talk, to get to know her more, to understand this strange woman who was now my alpha and my fated, but that never happened. One look at those soft brown eyes and my mind shut off and my body took over, surging with need to be buried inside her, pleasing her, claiming her.

But right now, I had a moment to just appreciate her. I stroked her hair. It was so soft and full, wavy and thick. I’d always preferred darker hair, closer to black, like my own, butJane’s was a perfect dark golden brown with highlights that shifted between silvery and sandy-brown. I could get used to hair like this, so soft I just wanted to bury my face in it.

An image flashed in my mind of our naked bodies sliding together, me behind as I pressed her to a wall, all of this wonderful hair in my face as I filled her, eliciting heavy moans and whining cries.

The vision faded and I took a deep breath. Apparently, I didn’t need to see her eyes to slip into that heated state.

She shifted and sighed, her eyes fluttering open. Her skin was warm, but not overly fevered yet.

“Tyson?” she whispered.

“I’m here.” And for what seemed like the first time, I looked her in the eyes and wasn’t overcome with lust. She looked so vulnerable, and my urge to protect and care for her outweighed my need to fuck her. “Bronn is getting you some food and water.” She hadn’t had lunch and would probably be hungry.

She smiled up at me and everything clicked into place inside me when I saw that delighted expression. All I wanted was for her to be happy, content, relaxed, satisfied. This was another side of being fated it seemed, wanting your partner to have everything they needed and desired.

“Thanks,” she said, a bit dopey.

Then she stretched, arms out, body arching, and the way her clothes moved over her, straining over her tits, was too much. I rose and turned away, hiding the painful bulge trapped in my pants. I resisted the powerful urge to rip the clothes off both of us and have her. It didn’t help that she still vaguely smelled like sex from her time with Colt, her scent now rich with the aroma of steaming grasses after a summer’s storm.

I was glad he’d given her what she’d needed, just as I was fairly certain what shedidn’tneed was someone ripping off her clothes and ravishing her.

Bronn returned and the moment passed. My arousal slowly faded as he went to her and helped her sit and eat some food.

I shook my head. Our situation — all three betas being enamored of our new alpha — felt both right and also… bizarre. Most alphas had betas and most alphas took more than one mate. But most alphasweren’twomen whose betasweretheir mates. It wasn’t unheard of, just very rare. My mom knew tales — more like legends passed down from mother to daughter — of alpha females and their harems of men.

Luckily, my fated pull only demanded that I please and serve and care for my mate, not to have her all to myself. I’d be happy as long as she had everythingsheneeded. If she needed Colt and Bronn, then I’d gladly share.

I paced the room, still fidgety, until Bronn had finished helping Jane eat. He winked at me as he left with the dishes, mouthing the wordstalk to her!

Yet, when I returned to the bedside, Jane was sinking down under the covers, her eyes kept closing in extended blinks. She needed more rest, so instead, I sat with her, stroking her hair again.

“That feels nice,” she breathed, her voice distant. Then, whether she was dopey with sleep or perhaps beginning a bit of a fevered delirium, she whispered, “Fated… my fated… fated Tyson, my beloved… dark and handsome and yummy.” She made a humming sound as if she’d eaten something delicious.

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