Page 2 of The Stars of the Pack

THE CHILLY EARLY DECEMBERweather didn’t seem to be slowing Ray down at all, but Josh wasn’t willing to run after him. He made sure his voice carried, “Ray.”

His partner stopped only a few feet away from the trees closer to the house—a house they’d built from trees in their new territory, Josh suddenly remembered.Were there rules?Since he’d stopped, Josh kept walking until he was standing by his side, their jackets weren’t touching, but it wouldn’t take much.

Touch wasn’t always easy for Ray when he was upset, but now that they were alone, Josh trusted him to ask when he was ready.

“You were right,” Ray said and he managed not to sound angry about it.

“Fuck that,” Josh replied. “I just wanted to have you to myself.”

It was true, which helped. It hasn’t been any great insight to suggest Ray ought to come to town with him, just common sense.

At that, Ray turned abruptly enough Josh instinctively raised his right hand to stabilise him. It was unnecessary, Ray’s feet were firmly planted. Josh did not lower his hand, inches from Ray’s forearm. “What?”

“I mean, yeah, it’s probably a good idea for you to go somewhere else sometimes.” He shrugged. Ray had already been struggling leaving their land before—a perfectly reasonable reaction to being dragged outside it when he’d been kidnapped four years ago—but he’d put up with it bravely, as long as one of the alphas stayed behind with the pups. Until he and Josh had conceived the twins.

It made perfect sense, to keep them safe, he had to stay in his own territory where he could call any members of his pack to defend them. “But then again, talking to trees seems like a neat superpower. Maybe you should never step outside the territory again.”

Ray shuddered, confirming Josh’s guess. He was afraid of leaving, but he wasn’t happy staying. Who would be? Being too terrified to do something didn’t really make it a choice.

“I can’t talk to the trees,” Ray mumbled, a little mulishly, at the same time he was leaning close, letting his forearm make contact, already seeking his rightful place under Josh’s arm, as close to his heart as he could manage while dressed. “I just don’t want them hurt.”

Josh squeezed him a little tighter. “No one will hurt them, but how come you never cared before? Like, we live in a house made of them.”

Ray was silent for long enough Josh started to wonder if he’d fallen asleep, his breath was warm and moist against Josh’s neck, his sweaty sweet scent settling something in Josh that had been alert and ready since he’d given him the news. “We needed the house, and... I think it’s more protected because we used wood that belongs to the land. I... I gave the land my blood, so the land gave us back trees. And it keeps giving, like, the prey and the food we grow, but it’s not... we can’t just take for fun, it has to have a purpose.”

Josh nodded into his shoulder. It was cold out, a good few feet of snow in the ground, and now that he knew Ray was back in control, he was getting sleepy. “We need to explain that to the Pack.”

He didn’t know anything about it, of course, but it was ‘we’ anyway. Always we, he and Ray.

***

MARISA WASN’T ONE TOhold a grudge, but Ray wanted to be fair to her. She wasn’t just his sister anymore; she was also the mother of his child—the one some days he treasured and some days couldn’t bear to look at. But it didn’t matter because Cali had a mother who loved her every second of every hour, nothing held back. And maybe it was what Marisa herself had wanted, but it didn’t erase the respect she was owed for taking on the task of raising the child he couldn’t.

That was without going into the fact that at twenty-two years old she was running the household. If she wanted to celebrate with a tree like they’d done all their lives... Well, Ray still couldn’t do that, but he could dosomething.

And that meant sorting himself out. Last year his uncle had actually sent a tree from his own land, a strange gift he’d thought at that time. Now he wondered if it meant something.

Only he thought maybe he didn’t need towonder.He hadn’t lied to Josh; he wasn’t talking to the trees... But he was pretty sure they were talking to him. Or trying to.

***

WAKING UP WITH JOSH’Sbig hand cupping his belly had become almost normal. It still sent a frisson of emotion through him that morning. The scars from the past weren’t gone, even if werewolves didn’t do stretch marks.

But getting pregnant with the love of his life, actually climbing on top of him under the full moon and demanding what was rightfully his... Well, it made for a very different experience.

Ray turned his head, rubbing his cheek against whatever part of Josh’s face was poking over his shoulder. This early, there was some stubble involved and it made Ray growl, low and possessive, rolling sideways into Josh, who was dragging him close even as he got himself curled up to make room for Ray’s bulging middle.

The movement was abrupt enough to wake up at least one of the babies, which of course meant the other one soon followed, kicking hard enough to make Ray grunt for the completely wrong reason.

Josh knew at once, whether via supersenses or bond, Ray did not care. His strong hands were back on the mountain that was Ray’s midsection, shushing with caresses just firm enough to be felt, guiding Ray to lay on his back. It was hardly his favourite position, but no sooner had the thought crossed his mind that Josh was reaching out with one hand to grab his own pillow to relieve the pressure in the worst spot of his back. He wasn’t often in pain, healing at an accelerated rate, but there was no way around the physical reality of having two whole if small beings moving inside his body. He couldn’t imagine how humans even survived this.

He groaned in unexpected relief of strong hands on his arches. Maybe it took a bit longer than usual, but he didn’t think he would give up the foot massages as foreplay when he didn’t have to carry two extra bodies around all day long. Josh was laughing at some of his noises, no mockery, just gladness, nuzzling at Ray’s knees as he travelled up to his ankles with his strong, clever fingers.

“Oh fuck,” he sighed, head falling backwards, exposing his throat. It was pure instinct, surrendering like that to his chosen mate, his alpha.

Josh, as subject to the chemistry of their bodies and souls as he was, cursed him colourfully, choking on air. His ‘Ray’was so full of need, Ray’s hips twitched upwards despite the weight of both the twins and his lover’s hands.

“Yes,” he said. He wasn’t quite sure when his feet and his dick had made such a direct connection, but he was spreading his legs as far as they’d go so as to get some pressure on his groin.

---