By Amber Kell (Guest Blogger)
[To celebrate her birthday, Amber has been writing a new werewolf tale and distributing pieces of it all over the 'Net! The final story, when published, will benefit Autism Speaks. For more information, see Amber's blog. ~ Lisabet]
After Fenris’ father picked himself up off the floor the two families sat down for some amazing Italian food. Stanley moaned with each bite. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Fenris wiggling in his seat.
Licking some red sauce off his lips he leaned forward and talked in his mate’s ear. “Are you okay?"
Fenris shuddered. “Could you please hold down the moaning? I’m going to come in my pants.
Stanley gave him a sheepish smile that went straight to his heart. His beautiful Alpha was at heart still a shy accountant beneath all his bluster. “Sorry.”
“I’m not.” Fenris squeezed Stanley’s leg.
“When are you introducing Stanley to the pack?” The Overseer broke into their moment and Fenris wanted to growl. His mate’s eyes lit up with amusement as if he could read Fenris’ mind.
“This full moon,” Fenris answered, not looking away.
“Ooh, how exciting. Can I come?” Fenris’ mom asked. “I love a good party.”
“No.” Fenris said without hesitation. He didn’t need to worry about her on top of everything else. “We think Sebastian is going to challenge Stanley.”
“Then he’s a fool,” Fenris’ father said, rubbing his throat.
“If you hadn’t had him changed he’d never be in danger,” Millie snapped at the Overseer.
The older man ran his fingers through his hair. “I didn’t have a choice.”
“You always have a choice. You could have said, 'Hmmm. I won’t lead the psycho shifter to my son'.”
“I had to!” The Overseer snapped. “I promised his father.”
The silence at the table was deafening.
Stanley cleared his throat. “My father? You always told me you didn’t know my father.”
The Overseer avoided Stanley’s eyes. “And you still think I’m an honest person after all this? I’ve been lying to you your entire life. Your father was my best friend. Your mother died at childbirth and your father soon after from losing his mate. He made me promise to have you changed and find you a proper mate because although her death killed him, his days with her were the happiest time of his life. You were of the proper age to change and the opportunity presented itself. Your mother didn’t know anything about it.”
Fenris couldn’t even hear Stanley breath beside him. “Why not tell me after all this time? Why keep my father’s identity away from me?” The hurt in his mate’s voice stabbed at Fenris.
“He was a Prime Alpha too wasn’t he?” Fenris’ father spoke up.
Shit! A Prime Alpha’s children were often killed when they were young by the parent’s enemies because some pack members worried they’d become to powerful when they grew up. Fenris gripped Stanley’s hand. “He was keeping you safe.”
Fenris saw the look of raw longing on the Overseer’s face. The man might be a ham-handed bastard but he truly loved his son. Anyone looking at him could see it in his eyes.
“Who was his father?” Fenris’ father asked.
“Stevan James.”
A chill went up Fenris’ back. James had been the strongest alpha born in a millennium. His wife’s death and subsequently his had shaken the werekin community because he was practically an idol in their world.
“I thought their baby had died,” Fenris father said.
“I spread the word of his death because Stevan wanted to give him a normal life. When Millie lost our son it was simple enough to put Stanley in his place.”
Fenris cast a look at his mate. Stanley focused on his pasta with a frightening intensity.
“Stanley?” Fenris whispered.
“What?”
Fenris rubbed his mate’s back feeling the tension in his muscles. “Are you all right?”
Shattered eyes looked back at him. “I don’t know.” He could feel the sorrow emanating from his mate. “If you’ll excuse us, Stanley has a lot to think about.” Fenris needed to get his mate out of there before he broke down.
With a nod to the family, Fenris wrapped an arm around Stanley’s waist and dragged him off. They made it all the way to the pack house before Stanley lost it.
Paul, unfortunately, was the first to greet them.
“I wondered where you two lovebirds had gone off to fornicate at. Did you have fun out in the wild?”
Fenris didn’t even say a word when Stanley chucked Paul through the air like a discus, a crumpled discus that ricocheted off the far wall.
“He’ll learn one day,” Sandy said shaking her head at the pile of wolf lying in an unconscious heap. “He just needs a mate to balance him out.”
Stanley gave a bitter laugh. “Maybe I should just give him to my dad. He thinks he’s a matchmaker.”
“He meant the best.” Fenris rubbed Stanley’s back.
“He’s a controlling bastard,” Stanley growled.
“He still loves you,” Fenris argued.
Stanley marched over to Fenris and wrapped him in his arms. “The only person I’m positive has my best interests at heart is you. You’ve helped me through this entire change.” Fenris moaned beneath the lips of his mate as Stanley licked at his lips, coaxing them apart. “You are the best part of this entire debacle.”
A sound of a throat clearing pulled them apart. “As pretty as you two are together. I don’t think I can handle watching you two go at it without having a serious case of envy.”
“No one gets to see my mate naked but me,” Stanley snarled.
Fenris sighed. With all the other things revealed today he hated to mention that everyone got naked at the full moon hunt. Even alpha mates.
