Page 14 of Pack to the Wall

I pushed on the front door, which didn’t open. There was resistance, probably someone leaning on the door. The muffled voices on the other side stopped their conversation and a moment later Kira opened the door.

“Get in here!” she hissed, glancing outside with an assessing look. She closed the door behind us, then turned to the woman, our new alpha. “I hope you don’t much care for your lawn, I think the boys are gonna tear it up.”

“They are,” I said. “Then they’re going to track all the mud from that mess in here.”

Kira laughed. “Yeah right, they’ll have to go through me first. I’ll see to it this place remains mostly intact. We’re going to be living here, after all.”

Our new alpha shook her head, a hard look on her face. This was the first good look I’d had of the woman and I was just a bit stunned at how lovely she was.

Sure, there wasn’t anything exotic about her, but that fall of wavy brown hair and her mostly smooth, fair skin painted a picture of mature beauty. She had large, dark, caramel-brown eyes and a body of womanly curves, but it was her scent that truly captured me.

Lions identified each other by scent. It was also how we chose our mates, and this woman’s scent called to me. The smell of lavender soap, which wafted around her, wasn’t unpleasant, but her true scent was far more alluring. She smelled of spring, of sweet dewy grasses and sun-warmed skin. I’d never smelled anything more likehomein my life.

I knelt before her. “Alpha, I am yours to command,” I said, hoping with my entire being she’d be different than Harley. She had to be… didn’t she?

“Ah… yeah, me too,” Colt said beside me.

“Get up, you fuckers,” Tyson said playfully. I stood as he introduced us. “Jane, this is Bronn and Colt.” He indicated the two of us. “They’re with me.” Then to us. “Bronn, Colt, this is Jane, our new alpha.” He hiked a thumb over his shoulder. “Over there are her kids, Izzy and Milo.”

I hadn’t even noticed the two cubs in the living room. The boy was the one who’d run out calling to us, saying he knew our secret. That one wasn’t going to last long if he kept up that level of idiocy. And the girl… I didn’t know how old she was, only that we’d have to keep her away from Tank.

Tyson sighed, drawing my attention back to him. “Andhere’ssomething interesting, Jane is my fated mate. So yeah, we have to make sure she stays alive after a week’s up or I’ll probably go mad.”

I blinked. “What? Fuck no!” Suddenly all my fears returned in a tidal wave. “Tyson, if you go…” Then I’d have nothing to protect me from the betas and whoever the new alpha was… probably Brick.

“Shit,” Colt drew out the word. “That’s fucked up.”

The roar of bike engines outside caused all of us to speak louder as we continued.

“Which means I need you three to help me,” Jane said.

I was surprised at the rigid determination in her voice. This couldn’t be easy for her. She wasn’t a shifter. I had no clue how she was holding up so well. It made me respect her all the more.

“I have a plan for how to get through the next week,” she said, “But I’m going to need as much help as I can get convincing the pack my way is better than what they’ve known their entire life, while also learning to protect myself and fight as a wolf.” Shebit her lip for a moment. Even just that little sign of uncertainty was very un-alpha-like. When she spoke again it was asking, not demanding, also very un-alpha-like. “And could you please stop swearing so much in front of my children?”

Colt laughed. “Sorry, alpha, we’re rough-as-they-come bikers. We three might be able to hold our tongues, but the others aren’t going to be so kind. I think your kids are just gonna get an education in cussing.”

She sighed, so… demure. It was baffling and alluring all at the same time. I wanted to hold her, ease her cares away. It was a beta’s duty to look after their alpha, after all. But that hadn’t really been formalized yet, had it?

“Have you chosen your betas?” I asked. I’d assumed we’d be her betas because of our bond to Tyson, but…

Jane blinked. She looked at Tyson. “You’d said these two would be my beta’s too, right?”

He nodded. “An alpha needs to officially claim his… ah… orherbetas.”

“How do I do that?” she asked with a glance at Colt and myself. Something in that look suggested she was truly seeing us for the first time. “Oh… you’re… big men, aren’t you? So young and strapping and… ah…” She blew out a breath, a blush on her cheeks, which only enhanced her beauty.

“There is no formal or right way. Some alphas fight and find the strongest of the pack to be their betas, others simply say the words and make it so. Most of the time an alpha knows who is closest to him in the pack and chooses them as his betas. But for you…” Tyson shrugged. “What feels right to you?”

She took a moment, her pink tongue darting out to wet her lips. I knew it was just lipstick but the cherry-red shade she’d chosen set off her mostly fair, slightly tanned complexion perfectly.

She bit her lip again and it made me want to bite into that soft, red fullness. “I…”

She swallowed heavily, drawing my attention to her long, elegant neck. I wanted to bite there too, not hard, just rake my teeth over her soft skin. I wouldn’t truly bite her. Going for the throat was a sign of dominance to my cat instincts. If anything, as my alpha, she should be biting my neck, and a part of me really wanted her to. But she wasn’t even a shifter and… all of this was just a strange, confusing mess. Yet, a mess I wanted to dive fully into.

“Can I kiss you?” she asked hesitantly.

Tyson cocked his head. “I knew it. You felt it too, when we touched?”

---