Page 16 of Lost and Pound

I sniffed and glanced up, wrinkling my nose. “Takeout?”

“Nope. You’re gonna eat it.” He smirked, and I stood to follow.

Worth it.

Chapter Ten

Nico

Shilo didn’t have much use for me at his work until I had my paperwork in. My ID was supposedly in the mail, and against my better judgment I’d made his address mine. It did make me feel better that he set me up with a salary, a bit of money and a job to do—managing the community center.

Several females in the pack stayed on rotation to care for kids after school, but they needed someone dedicated. It was only eight or nine kids, but they needed supervision. Getting to spend time with Kenny was nice, though. The other pups took care of him as best they could—omegas were precious. Instinctively wolves knew that.

As I went about gathering up the toys to dunk in a sanitizer bucket for the day, the last two kids straggling with an evening snack, I registered male voices down a hall from the playroom near the communal kitchens. There, a few nights a week, several pack members made dinner for us all to share.I really like these evenings.

With that night being dinner, I could barely make out the scent of strangers above the spices of taco night. And the two pups I watched lay on mats getting their evening nap in, twins under a year old. Both their parents worked late on Tuesdays, so it was no problem. I loved keeping an eye on the little girls and putting bows in their blonde curls.

One woke with a grunt of displeasure and squealed for a breath before settling back on their own, and I put my bucket of sanitizer down right as three males walked in. My father, Alpha Silvermoon, and some older male I didn’t know.

“Nico. There you are.” My father’s curt tones drew my attention first as I stared at them with confusion.

“Father?” We’d never been close. An alpha’s pups were raised and loved more by betas than the alpha himself.

“Horace and I had some time to discuss things and came to an agreement that you can wait for his other alpha son to come of age.” He rocked on his heels and gave me this expectant look, as if I were supposed to nod and do as I was told.

“Oh, sorry. I’m staying here, Father. I’ve already been accepted into Pine Warren.” I gave a polite nod as his expression went hard, as if the news were a new thing, but he didn’t disagree with me.

“We did have an agreement, Godfrey,” Alpha Silvermoon said, giving me a long stare.

“As I reminded the two of you, the agreement you made was not in the best of faith. Need I remind you two that arranged matings are frowned upon.” The male behind them spoke in quiet tones that made my father stiffen but not rebut. The strange alpha raised a hand holding a folder and shook it.

“And as I stated before, he was willing and signed the papers. He had already consented to be made Silvermoon.” Horace cleared his throat and earned a doubtful glare from the third male.

My father’s light features were a mirror of some of my own, save for his golden eyes. I got those from my omega father. Alpha Silvermoon was all mealy brown—spread thin. Nothing about him seemed substantial, all plain features reminiscent of the shallow gene pool I imagined. The third male was clearly arctic. He had strikingly dark hair, jet black, and eyes far icier than my own. I wondered, idly, if we shared blood.

“I didn’t sign anything.” I blinked up and earned a glare from my father before Alpha Silvermoon turned his head to him angrily. “I verbally consented to be mated to his son and join the pack. In that order, I’d imagine. I was never mated to his son, so…”

“It was an expectation of you to join after I released you.” My father said, each word grinding out tersely.

“Apologies, Father, but I’ve met my mate. Also, it would have been hard to sign anything as I was stuck in my wolf fo—” I started, but he tensed and huffed sharply as Alpha Silvermoon cowered. It was too late as the third male growled low.

“Let me call Alp—Warren…Shilo. My—we’ll be mates soon.” I pulled out my phone and strode past the men to the hall, waving down one of the women on her way to the kitchen. “Can you watch the pups? Pack business. They need to wake and eat in about…thirty.”

My father’s presence didn’t do me any favors, but the anger emanating from the new male and the crazy look of Alpha Silvermoon, who had all the markings of a cornered beast, made my insides crawl. It was all I could do not to shift and submit.

She nodded and patted my shoulder as I gestured the men into the hall. I called and Shilo answered on the second ring. “I’m on my way. I know. Do not leave with them—unless you want. I mean—”

“Yeah. Don’t want.” My wolf whimpered in my mind.

“Good. Three minutes.” He hung up, and I stuffed my phone back in my pocket.

“This is a very poor pack, Nico. Are you sure you can be happy here?” My father’s low tones gave me the encouraging sort of warning a parent would use to get their way. But since he wasn’t my alpha, had already excised me—it wasn’t my issue.

“I’m very happy, Father. Alpha Warren—Shilo is very kind to me. He is different from other alphas.” I smiled and earned a scoff of doubt from Alpha Silvermoon.

“I can tell. He lives in a hovel, has no security for his packland and no progeny. A lone alpha might as well come in and—” Alpha Silvermoon started.

“And what?” Shilo rolled in, his face a storm of emotion as his gaze locked on the third male. “Councilman Ares.”

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