Keeley was quickly turning into the most important thing in his life. Even more important than being the alpha of his pack. If it came right down to it, would he choose the pack over Keeley or would he choose Keeley over the pack? As he heard a soft giggle coming from upstairs, Reece felt he knew that answer. His mate would always come first.
“So, why exactly did you call us home?”
Reece turned to look at Donovan “Devlin and I felt that we needed you and Chase here to—where is Chase, anyway?” Reece suddenly asked, looking around the room for him.
“Chase stayed back in
“Mates? Did you say mates? As in two?” Devlin asked, stunned.
Donovan nodded his head. “Yeah, and they’re giving him a run for his money. I have no doubt that they’ll settle down at some point and make Chase a very happy man, but in the meantime, they’re doing everything they can to make his life hell.”
“I have so got to go to
“Well, it might not hurt to make a little trip down there, Dev,” Donovan replied. “Ever since Chase freed all of the Teacher’s pupils there are single men running all over the place.” He leaned over and cupped his hand around his mouth. “I’d say free and sexy, but I still want to get laid tonight.”
“I heard that,” Jim growled, glaring at Donovan, but the smile on his face said he hadn’t taken it seriously.
Donovan just leaned over and kissed Jim on the forehead before turning back to look at Reece. “So, why did you need us here?”
“Someone tried to kill Keeley,” Reece replied.
“
What?
” Joe exclaimed, stepping forward.
“Ssshhh,” Reece admonished, gesturing to Devlin to go check on Douglas before looking back at Joe. “Keep it down. Douglas is in the study.”
“Douglas? Douglas from our pack?” Donovan asked in confusion.
“Yes. He’s mixed up in this somehow. Several members of our pack are. The long and the short of it is that some members of our pack have made a deal with a coven of bloodsuckers to use our pack members as blood donors.”
“Fuck!”
“Yeah, my thoughts exactly.” Reece ran his hand through his hair before continuing. He was feeling very agitated. “Apparently, their plan involves me mating Adrianna, who, it turns out, is half werewolf and half bloodsucker. I mate her, get her pregnant, and they take me out of the picture, taking over as guardian of my child, and thus, running the pack.”
“But, if you’re already mated, how can you—that’s why they tried to kill Keeley, to break your bond with him,” Donovan whispered in shock.
Reece nodded. “Now you see why I needed you to come home? I don’t know who all is involved except Adrianna and Douglas. It could be anyone in our pack.”
“How long have they been planning this?” Joe asked curiously.
Reece shrugged. “I don’t know, but it started before I took over three months ago. I do know that there used to be about three hundred members of this pack and now there are only around thirty. I haven’t learned what happened to the other members, yet.”
“That’s why you need Nate?” Joe asked.
“I had no idea why Keeley wanted Nate here, but he asked for him, and, well…” Reece shrugged.
Joe smiled, nodding his head. “And if you can provide something your mate wants, you do it. I get it, Reece. But be warned now, I won’t allow Nate to be hurt in any way. I’m sure he will be willing to help, but—”
“Joe, I would never do anything that would hurt your mate,” Reece said quickly. He took a step towards Joe, trying to offer his reassurance.
“I don’t doubt that, Reece, but you need to understand—touching people can cause Nate pain. If it hurts too much, I will put a stop to it.”
Reece nodded. “I expect nothing less.”
“Then let’s get this started.”
“I’ll go get Nate and Keeley,” Reece replied, heading for the stairs. “Devlin, why don’t you take Donovan, Jim, and Joe in to meet our guest. I’m sure he has some fascinating history that he can share with them.”
As he started up the stairs, he heard Devlin behind him. “Have you ever met a slimy little weasel?”
Chapter 9
“So, how do you like being mated to a werewolf?” Nate asked as he sat down on the side of the bed and leaned on his elbow to look over at Keeley with curiosity.
Keeley couldn’t help but grin. “I don’t know if it’s the same as being mated to a human, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.”
Nate nodded. “I know what you mean. There’s just something about those strong alpha types that gets your blood pumping, isn’t there?”
“And then some,” Keeley replied. “We’ve only been together for a short while, but I can’t even imagine being with anyone else. Reece is so, well, he’s just so—”
“Hot? Sexy? Totally drool-worthy?”
“Yes!”
Nate rolled onto his back, sighing deeply. “I don’t know if this is our reward for all of those years of hell we went through or what, but we’ve certainly seemed to come out on top.”
“Reece says I’m his reward for going against the wishes of several members of his pack. They didn’t want him to send Chase and Donovan to help out, but he did it anyway. He says I’m his reward for doing something that gained him nothing except knowing he had done the right thing.”
Nate smirked. “He could be right, I guess, but maybe the reward thing goes both ways.”
“What makes you say that?” Keeley asked curiously as he stretched out beside Nate on the bed.
Nate rolled back onto his side, propping himself up on his elbow once again. “Think about it, Keeley. We’re not exactly the fighter type. We’re not strong like they are. We need someone to protect us. But they need someone to love them, just them.”
“You mean someone to make their lives easier?” Keeley asked, starting to get where Nate was going with his words.
“Exactly. We’re strange, unusual, not the—”
“You mean we’re freaks,” Keeley replied sarcastically.
“In a way, yes. We weren’t raised in the normal way. Hell, half of us wear nail polish because we don’t know we’re not supposed to. In a way, that works in our favor where our mates are concerned.”
“How so?”
“Because we don’t know that we’re not supposed to love them the way we do, and that’s the kind of love that they need,” Nate replied. “That’s the kind of love we need to give them.”
“I couldn’t agree more.”
Both Nate and Keeley yelped and turned to see Reece standing in the doorway. Keeley let out a deep breath, glaring at him. “I swear I’m going to tie a bell around your neck.”
“But I learn the most interesting things this way.” Reece grinned as he walked over to Keeley’s side of the bed and sat down next to him. “Now, you were saying something about me being drool-worthy?”
Keeley rolled his eyes as he looked back over at Nate. “Forgive him, please. His foot is bigger than his mouth, but he still tries to eat it.” He cried out and rubbed his butt cheek after Reece pinched him. “Reece!”
“Be nice, Keeley” Reece growled.
“Are you causing problems, Keeley?” Joe said from the doorway, interrupting Keeley’s sarcastic response.
“Me?” Keeley asked, trying to look innocent and failing miserably.
“Yes, you,” Joe sat down next to Nate, pulling him back into his arms. “You always seem to be in the thick of things, much like my own baby here.”
“Hey, I don’t get into that much trouble,” Nate complained.
“You don’t
try
to get into trouble, baby. That’s the difference. Somehow, I think that Keeley gets into trouble just to make Reece’s life more interesting,” Joe stated, his hand running down Nate’s arm to soothe him.
“Do not,” Keeley mumbled.
“No, you just hit people over the head with cookie sheets,” Reece stated. “Including me.”
“You hit Reece with a cookie sheet?” Joe asked in astonishment.
“And Devlin,” Reece added.
“They were fighting in my kitchen,” Keeley said, glaring at Reece again.
Nate snickered, “Oh, well that explains it.”
* * * *
“Are you sure he won’t hurt Nate?” Keeley asked a few minutes later as they walked downstairs. They were getting ready to confront Douglas with what they knew and learn what they didn’t.
“Joe’s going to be with him and he said he’d stop it the minute Nate was in any pain. I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t needed, baby,” Reece replied.
“I know. I just hate the idea of Nate in pain. I remember how much it always hurt him when the Teacher used him. He’d come home after a session and spend days in bed recovering. It was horrible, Reece.”
Reece stopped at the bottom of the steps to look back at Keeley. “Keeley, if you’re really against this, I’ll find another way.”
Keeley stared at Reece for a moment then shook his head. “No, I guess you know what you’re doing. Just don’t let him hurt Nate. I’d hate to be the reason Nate is in any sort of pain.”
“I promise, baby. The moment Joe or I think Nate’s in pain, we’ll stop and go with something else. Maybe I’ll eat him,” he stated vehemently, making Keeley laugh, which was just what he wanted.
Keeley stepped into Reece’s waiting arms and let him lift him down the last couple of steps. “You don’t want to do that because then after you bit me, I’d taste like me, you, and Douglas, and how disgusting would that be?”
Reece crinkled up his nose. “Eewww, yeah, you’re right. That would be nasty. I prefer you with just a taste of me,” he said right before he lowered his head for a kiss.
He probably could have lost himself in Keeley’s lips if Joe hadn’t cleared his throat. “Uh, Reece? It’s going to be really hard to confront this guy and look intimidating with Keeley attached to your face.”
Reece raised his head to scowl over at Joe. “Do I look like I really care?”
“No,” Joe said, “however…”
“Yeah, yeah,” Reece snorted, rolling his eyes.
Keeley grinned, leaning up on his toes to give Reece a quick kiss on his jaw. “Come on, big guy, we can kiss all you want
after
we deal with the bonehead.”
“You know, sometimes being the responsible one really sucks,” Reece complained as he grabbed Keeley’s hand and walked with him to the study door. He stopped, turning back to look down at Keeley.
“You know I love you, right?”
Keeley’s eyebrows came together in confusion. “Yeah, why?”
“I don’t want you to be upset by anything that I might say when we go in there. I’m going to try and string Douglas along and that means I might say things that you find objectionable. I just want you to know that I don’t mean them.”
Keeley thought about it for a moment and nodded his head. “Alright, just don’t step out of line too much or I might have to hit you again.”
Reece grinned. “Perish the thought, baby.”
He looked past Keeley to where Joe was standing, his arm wrapped around Nate’s shoulders. “You two ready?” As soon as they nodded, Reece dropped Keeley’s hand and took a deep breath before opening the door and walking in.
For Keeley, it was like watching a transformation from man to beast. One minute Reece was all loving and tender. The next he changed into someone Keeley didn’t know and didn’t care to know. His features were like stone, his body stiff as he went to sit down in a chair across from Douglas.
Keeley was in shock when Reece pointed to the floor at his feet. “Sit,” Reece said sternly.
The only thing that kept Keeley from handing Reece his head was the satisfied smirk on Douglas’s face at Reece’s command. Keeping his eyes lowered so that Douglas couldn’t see the defiance in them, Keeley walked over and sat down at Reece’s feet, drawing his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them as he leaned back against Reece’s legs.
“Now, Douglas, you were going to tell me why I need to have Adrianna rule by my side?” Reece asked, tapping his fingers together as he stared over at Douglas.
“Well, Alpha, I—huh—shouldn’t we have this conversation in private?” Douglas hedged.
“Why? I trust the men in this room.”
Douglas looked around at the others in the room anxiously before glancing back at Reece. “Alpha, we don’t know these men.”
“I do, and that should be enough for you. They each understand the…delicacy involved with being an alpha or part of an inner circle. They’ll do what they’re told when the time is right.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive. Now tell me what’s going on. Who made these plans and why should I agree to them?”
“Because it’s the best thing for us.”
“Us being?” Reece asked.
“For our pack. Our pack is small. We need the money and the new territory that this deal will bring, if we’re going to grow. We have barely any standing in the pack council as it is. This deal could bring us everything we’ve ever wanted.”
“How? How will my mating Adrianna do that?” Reece asked. “Why can’t we still do that with Keeley by my side?”
Douglas looked agitated for a moment. “Because, that’s part of the deal. Adrianna has to rule by your side. Besides, you can’t rule a pack with a man at your side. It just isn’t done.”
Keeley nearly rolled his eyes.
If Douglas only knew.
He could think of several men that had men at their sides. He’d bet there were more out there that he didn’t know about too.
“Do you think that I am unable to rule this pack because of Keeley?” Reece asked.
“No, of course not, but—well, it’s just not done, Alpha. He’s a man and that type of behavior just isn’t, well—it just isn’t right. You have to mate with Adrianna so that you can provide cubs for the pack. It’s just the way things are done.”