Pack Mates (Were Chronicles) (7 page)

Brandon still fumed. “Fuck you. This is about all of us. If I didn’t want to challenge you before, you crossed a line tonight. She”—he pointed at his sister—“has nothing to do with this.”

“Brandon—” Nikki started.

“No, I don’t want to be the damn Alpha. I never did. But I won’t let this Pack belong to someone with such little consideration and respect. This is just too much. Do you know what is going to happen in three months when we go public? No, none of us do. We have to trust our leader.”

Brandon grabbed Nikki’s arm and pulled her towards the door.

“Wait!” Nikki dug her heels in. “Just listen to me.”

“We’ll talk about this in the car or at home. We’re leaving now.” He tugged her again.

“We’ll talk about this now,” Nikki argued and yanked her arm from his hold. “RJ didn’t seduce me or whatever you think.”

“Nik, this isn’t the time or place.”

She shook her head and sidestepped his reach to stand by RJ. She didn’t look at him as she addressed the room.

“RJ didn’t do anything wrong. Dylan and Ben didn’t even know we were coming up with this. Can we please just sit down and try this again?”

“Brandon…” Justin moved from the doorway to his brother. “We need to hear Nikki out.

Brandon looked torn but eventually he nodded. Ben gripped Dylan’s shoulder and led him back to the chair.

Once Brandon and Dylan were settled back in chairs and Ben and Justin on the couch, Nikki bit at her lip. RJ wanted to reassure her, pull her into his arms, do something to help. But he stood silent while she worked out what she wanted to say.

He was so proud that the woman he would mate had stood up for what she believed in.

“First, let me clear up one thing. I went to RJ,” Nikki told them. “I’m sorry, Brandon, but I couldn’t let the Pack pressure you into doing something you didn’t want. I understand you have to look out for the Pack. But you’re my brother and I have to look out for you.”

Brandon opened his mouth but promptly snapped it shut. Instead of speaking, he just nodded.

“I knew you didn’t actually want to be Alpha. I also know that Dylan doesn’t want to meet you in a challenge. A challenge would leave one of us”—she gestured between her and RJ—“without one of the people we love the most.”

RJ held out his hand. He’d let her talk, but he needed her to know that he was behind her.

She clasped his hand in hers. “Yes, I didn’t expect the complication of my feelings getting involved when I went to talk to him. But they did.” She smiled up at him. “We have to work this out. It’s about more than just the Pack. It’s about our families coming together.”

“Our families, Nik?” Brandon shook his head. “You’ve been here two days. You can’t just come in and fix things.”

“Why not? No one else was doing anything. You talk about what happens when we go public. You’re expecting the worst. You always do,” she accused.

“I’ve kept you safe, haven’t I?” Brandon snapped back.

“Yes.” Her voice softened as she let go of RJ’s hand and knelt in front of him. “You have. But you also taught me to stand up for what I believe in.”

Brandon ran a hand over his face roughly. “Even if I don’t challenge, I know someone will,” he said tiredly.

“Can I ask a question?” Ben asked from the couch where he and Justin had settled. “Who approached you to challenge?”

“I can’t…I can’t tell you. It wouldn’t be fair to him.”

“But it’s fair to let him pressure you to challenge an appointed Alpha?” Nikki questioned.

“Let’s start this way,” Dylan offered from across the room. Everyone looked over at him and he smiled. “Let’s look at the issues. Issue one is I support the shifters going public.”

Brandon shrugged. “I see both sides of the argument. But I guess I have been lax in supporting it, so that is what’s brought up the most. And I don’t honestly think that is what this is about. I think they’re using it as an excuse. They are more worried about losing the ear of the Alpha. Especially when you decide on your own inner circle. That will leave a lot of us out in the cold.”

“Okay.” Dylan leant forward. “Cameron had agreed to go public, and when I accepted the Alpha position I kept the agreement. I have also discussed my inner circle with Cameron and he has agreed. You can’t tell me that Cameron would have been challenged.”

“No, I don’t think so,” Brandon conceded.

“So what else is the problem? Me being a stranger? Cameron spoke to several of you, from what I understand, about bringing in an outsider.”

“He did,” Justin spoke up. “To all of his inner circle plus several of the younger wolves who were dominant.”

“Did he contact the elders of the community?” Dylan asked next.

“Not until he’d decided on you,” Brandon answered.

“Now, I’m not trying to get out of you who approached you, but I would bet it was one of the elders. Maybe an elder who is worried if you don’t challenge me his own son will,” Dylan guessed.

Nikki gasped. RJ raised an eyebrow and she shook her head. “You can’t protect him forever, Brandon. I know he was your best friend, but he’s not the same kid you grew up with.”

“I know.” Brandon sat back. “I know.”

The room fell silent. “Have you tried talking to him?” Nikki finally asked.

“Yeah, couple of weeks ago. He says Dylan will take us in the wrong direction. But the thing is…he never said anything against going public.” He looked over at Dylan. “I wasn’t born to lead, I know that, but I don’t want to see my Pack split in half either.”

“I don’t want to see that, either. It’s not only me, but my family and my friends. I want this Pack to be strong and flourish,” Dylan told him with conviction. RJ was proud of his brother.

“Then let’s figure out what to do,” RJ suggested and received nods of agreement.

Chapter Eight

The plan was simple. So simple it might just actually work.

Get everyone involved who would support them, and spread the word that the Pack needed to stick together and support Cameron’s decision.

Cameron and Dylan went to the diner for breakfast before making the rounds around town together, while Ben and Nikki wrote articles for the paper to publish the next morning, RJ would speak to the new Pack members asking them to mingle with the older members, and Justin talked with the kids at the school and in his shifter classes.

Hoping the support of the Pack and bringing everyone together before the ceremony would calm the waters, they all worked hard to do their best.

Once Nikki had turned in her special edition article, about her hope for the future under Dylan and her support of the Cross family, she walked out of the office and headed downtown.

She waved at Sabrina and Max, who were posting flyers of the pre-ceremony barbeque on shop windows. Ben had come up with the idea of getting the Pack together before instead of just after the ceremony, and Nikki thought that was brilliant. The youngest Cross brother was smart as a whip…and, if she wasn’t mistaken, taken with her own sibling, the middle child. Justin had been sending sly looks Ben’s way also. It would be fun to see where that went.

She’d learnt from her time away that you couldn’t judge people by how they looked or any preferences they had. If her brother was interested in Ben, she was a bit surprised but already liked Ben a lot. One thing Cameron had always preached was acceptance. She had a good feeling Dylan would continue with that lesson.

She crossed the street a few stores before RJ’s tattoo shop. He stepped out, holding the door open as another man walked out. The stranger was shorter than RJ but had the same muscular build. His hair was buzzed and the Marine Corps tattoo down his left arm that matched RJ’s had her figuring this was one of RJ’s military buddies.

RJ glanced up when she got to the sidewalk and the smile he sent her was so bright she felt her breath catch. God, he was handsome.

He held out a hand and drew her in up against his body before taking her lips in a sweet, deep kiss. She moaned, pressing closer, feeling him wrap both arms around her waist.

A throat-clearing broke the sexual haze and she pulled back from RJ but didn’t look at the stranger yet.

“I needed that,” she whispered against her lover’s lips.

“Me too,” he agreed and turned her towards the stranger, who was grinning ear to ear.

“This is one of my best buds, Mike Jackson,” he informed her. “Mike, this is Nikki Stratton.”

Mike held out his hand. “RJ’s barely talked about anything else on the phone. It’s funny how your name keeps coming up in every sentence.”

Nikki laughed. “Well, honestly, I’m not gonna complain about that.”

RJ blushed a little and shuffled his feet. “Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

Mike and Nikki shared a laugh at his expense.

“Ben and I finished our articles. They’ll be in the paper tomorrow. I just hope we’re doing enough,” she shared.

“I think it’s a good plan. Uniting both Packs. Even if there is a challenge, maybe the aftermath won’t be so bad,” Mike offered.

“I guess we’ll see soon enough.” She shrugged.

“We’re heading over to the café for lunch, join us?” RJ asked.

Nikki glanced at her watch. She needed to meet Justin in an hour. “Sure, I have time.”

They started down the street. RJ still had his arm around her waist and she enjoyed the casual touch even though she had never been one for public displays of affection. Maybe she just had never been with the right guy.

“So, Mike, where is your Pack?” she questioned RJ’s friend.

“Northern California. I haven’t been back in a couple years. The last mission…made me miss it, though,” Mike admitted.

RJ stiffened against her.

“Mission?”

He shook his head. “That’s something we’ll have to talk about in private.”

“Oh.” Nikki wrapped her arm around his waist. It hit her that she really didn’t know RJ well. Oh, she knew he was loyal to his family, was smart, good looking and hot as hell, but the real part of him, what was deep down? There just hadn’t been time.

He kissed the top of her head. “There’s time,” he whispered.

She hoped there was. But with all of the drama that had happened since she’d come to town, it felt like she’d been there months already instead of just a few days. And she had plans, future assignments that she had moved aside to come home.

She pushed those worries away for now. She had more than enough on her plate. Besides, when this was all over, she wasn’t even sure where she and RJ would stand. She shook the thoughts from her head and concentrated on the story Mike was telling about the mating ceremony he had come from. She listened as she learnt about the town of shifters and the new wolf and bobcat couple.

“A wolf and a bobcat,” she mused. “I bet that was interesting.”

RJ chuckled. “Gray is a good guy. Helped us out with a situation and still managed to get the girl.”

Nikki grinned up at him. She got his point. “Well, talking about getting the girl…” She reached up to grab the back of his neck when she was interrupted by a growl.

“Well, looky here, boys. Nikki Stratton is back and playing in the gutter.”

She twirled around and faced the speaker.

“Samson,” she greeted politely. She nodded at his two friends.

He sneered back. “Didn’t your brother teach you any better than to hang out with trash?”

She gripped the back of RJ’s shirt when he moved forward.

“You got a problem, man?” RJ snarled.

She noticed Mike moved a little to the side and straightened his shoulders, bracing his feet. RJ vibrated in fury next to her. Crap, she didn’t want a brawl in front of the café the day before the party to unite the Pack.

“Yeah, I got a problem. You. You and your brothers.” Samson’s lip curled.

Nikki stepped into Samson and RJ. “That’s enough. Why don’t you just keep going, Samson?”

He snorted. “I see where your loyalties are. Brandon knows about this?”

“Why? You gonna tattle on me?” she challenged. She wasn’t afraid of him. Brandon and Samson had been best buds until they’d reached high school. After that time, Samson had changed, turned into a bully, and Brandon had spent less and less time with him. “Don’t forget, Samson, I grew up with you. I know all your secrets, too.”

Samson shook his head. “Bran was always too easy on you, should have turned you over his knee, maybe I’ll do that myself.”

RJ surged forward. “Touch her. I dare you.”

Samson’s eyes narrowed. “You think I’m scared of you? I’ll touch who I want.”

To prove his point, he grabbed her left wrist. She managed to hold off RJ with her right but barely. It was Mike who moved the quickest. He had Samson’s free arm back and angled. Samson hissed.

“Why don’t you just let her go?” Mike suggested calmly.

Samson released her and turned on Mike. “You’ll regret that.”

Mike shook his head. “Get out of here, man. You’re making a scene. Just go and get control of yourself. Sober up some. I can smell the alcohol on you.”