Page 22 of Baby and the Beast

Cyrus shook his head in bewilderment. He desperately wanted to escape the hell his life had become as fast as he could, but he wasn’t dishonest. He couldn’t lie to someone who had clearly taken over a new pack. It meant being the alpha-mate, and while it was still a little unheard of down south, he knew further north alpha-mates sometimes were male omegas. It was rare but it happened.

“But I’m not an omega,” he whispered, and the hurt and betrayal he had felt the day he had been told exactly what he was by a pack mother burned in him like the first time.

Mike moved so fast Cyrus wouldn’t have been able to get out of the way if he had even bothered trying. He grabbed Cyrus’s chin—hard—and made him look up. Cyrus froze. He’d learned long ago that even a whisper of complaint made it worse. “Listen to me you waste of fucking space. Kyle Clarey is the new alpha of the Knoxville pack. He owns all the shifter land in Tennessee. Up until four months ago he was some smart ass in the human army or some shit. He had to come back because his two idiot brothers managed to get themselves killed.” Mike scoffed again and Cyrus’s heart ached. Two of them? That was awful and his heart ached for the family. “The uncle’s raving apparently, so Kyle resigned his army gig and returned home.”

“But I’m still not an omega. I won’t be able to give him pups.”

“Yeah?” Mike squeezed his fingers tighter. Cyrus started counting in his head; Mike usually finished by the time he got to twenty. Counting down the seconds made whatever torment Mike decided to inflict easier to bear. “Who’s going to tell him?”

“Who—” Cyrus didn’t understand. “But he’ll know,” Cyrus said desperately wishing with everything in him it wasn’t true. “He’ll find out.”

“By which time you’ll be his problem and I’ll have the cash to buy that land I want.”

Cyrus brought his hand up to his mouth when Mike let go. It was wrong. He hated his life, but that didn’t mean ruining someone else’s would make it better.

“No one knows in the pack except old Maggie, and she knows if I found out she had spilled her entire family would be turned out. You have a choice. You keep quiet until he mates you, or I will personally see to it that your old life here looks like a vacation compared to what it would be if he sends you back. And”—Mike pushed him roughly against the door—“I’ll make you the gammas’ bitch. Whenever and whatever they want. You wouldn’t believe how freeing it can be knowing you won’t knock someone up no matter what you do.”

If Cyrus could have gotten any paler he knew he would have as he felt the threat register.

He didn’t bother nodding or even voicing his capitulation. He knew it was pointless. He should be thanking the fates he was getting away from Mike, but he couldn’t help being convinced that his new alpha would be a hundred times worse when he found out he’d been fooled.

Cyrus tried not to tremble as he followed his new alpha to the large F250. It was going to take at least eight hours to drive to the pack house located just east of Jamestown. He had gotten the distinct impression his new alpha was angry when he found out Cyrus had no ID and no way of getting any so he could fly. At least he hadn’t shouted at him though. He simply went into town, turned in his rental, and went to the nearest dealership. An hour later, Cyrus was packed and waiting when his new alpha drove up.

Mike didn’t even talk to him. He did something online and confirmed he’d received the cash and wished Kyle a pleasant drive and he was gone. His alpha looked surprised he hadn’tspoken to Cyrus, but Cyrus was just relieved he didn’t have to pretend. He started a little when his alpha’s fingers brushed his as he took the suitcase from him and put it on the back seat. He didn’t remark on Cyrus being skittish, but after the BS Mike had told him, he wouldn’t be surprised. “Jump in.”

“Thank you, alpha,” Cyrus murmured and climbed in, appreciating the smell of leather and just thenewness. Mike’s truck just smelled of beer, even after Cyrus had been made to clean it out. Cyrus paused. The engine was running, but his new alpha had made no move to put it in drive. Heart hammering, Cyrus looked up and met his gaze.

“How about you drop the title and call me Kyle?”

Cyrus blinked slowly, caught again in those blue eyes, but then he registered the quirk of Kyle’s equally fine lips and his own tilted a little. Kyle grunted approvingly and pulled the truck out of the driveway. He didn’t comment on the fact there didn’t seem to be any pack members waiting to say goodbye to Cyrus. Cyrus glanced at the clock on the dash. He’d made a quick call to Grace because she had been about his only friend, but she was in town at the evening market selling the crafts she made and wasn’t able to make it back in time.

“If you check out the bag on the back seat, there’s some ointment for your cheek.” Cyrus glanced over in astonishment. “And some water if you’re thirsty. A few snacks as well.”

Cyrus didn’t know what to say. Kyle had seen his cheek and gotten him something for it. He blinked at the brief sting in his eyes and his heart sank. He had to say something.

“How about I tell you a little about the pack?”

Cyrus was briefly distracted andcurious. “That would be good, thank you. Mike mentioned Tennessee?”

Kyle nodded. “Our pack house is just east of Jamestown, so it’s about an eight-hour drive. We own twenty-three thousand acresof woodland not far from Pickett State Park, and other smaller areas right up to the Mississippi river.”

“Wow,” Cyrus murmured, and Kyle seemed pleased with his reaction.

“The pack house is isolated, with no other buildings within a five-mile radius. There’s a small town we arrange deliveries to and a local farmer’s market we buy produce at. Our wolves hunt wild deer, hogs, and elk within reason. Our main business is logging. We produce sustainable hardwood, lots of hard oak, but some softer maple as well. The logging business operates with humans but is a good distance from the pack house so it’s not a problem.”

Cyrus realized his mouth was open and he closed it with a snap.

“My dad used to run a traditional pack, like a big family. He always had a big cookout where all the pack would get together before the run. Back when I was a pup, it was the high point of the month. Enforcers and betas are employed by the pack, but he never objected to our wolves getting outside jobs if they wanted to.”

“I was sorry to hear about your brothers.”

Kyle’s jaw tightened. “My uncle had been the alpha for the last eleven years. Did his best to run the pack into the ground. I shipped out after my dad died, but Darren and Trent stayed. They worked voluntarily with the local fire house. There was a bad brush fire over by one of the campgrounds. It went from zero to critical in minutes and they were trying to get some campers to safety when the fire just overran them. Didn’t have a chance.”

“I’m so sorry,” Cyrus said again, wishing he knew what more to say. That Kyle didn’t get on with his uncle was obvious and it explained why Kyle had gone into the military. It was really unusual for a shifter to enlist. In fact, he had never heard of it.

“You might as well know it all,” Kyle said as he got on the highway. “I came back when I heard about my brothers. I intended to just stick around for the funeral, but ended up challenging my uncle and now I’m alpha.” He winced. “There’s a lot of work to do. We have money, but half the pack is still cowed down because of my uncle and his bully enforcers, and the rest agreed with him because he basically paid them to. My uncle left,” he added. “I didn’t kill him.”

Cyrus absorbed that. He knew challenges were often to the death. “Is that why you wanted to mate someone from outside your pack?”

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