Dean
~~~
I sat in the living room with Mom in our nightly routine of a cup of tea. I wasn’t a huge tea fan, but I liked that I had my own thing with her and sometimes, Dad. It gave us a good time to catch up on things. I preferred the simple black while both Mom and Dad went for the fancier stuff. “How are things with Nicole?” Mom asked after Dad finished filling us in about today’s meeting progress. It was interesting only as long as I wasn’t the one involved in all the politics.
“It’s going pretty good,” I admitted.
“She’s not shown any more tendencies of violence has she?” Dad asked, worried.
Again, I found the worry to be a little insulting. T
I couldn’t believe Father attacked Dean and, what’s more, lost. How did Dean beat him? I shook my head, forcing myself to focus. That didn’t matter. What did matter was what we were going to do next. “Okay, so Father is detained and Dean isn’t hurt. Where does this leave us?” I asked, pacing back and forth.“I’m not sure how long the alpha plans to detain your father, but when he releases him we are to leave and never return.”My throat tightened at the words. Emotions I didn’t understand flooded through me. Closing my eyes, I took a moment to shove them down. I didn’t have time to understand what I was feeling. The pack needed me. I lifted my chin and squared my shoulders. I had to be strong right now. Opening my eyes, I blew out a breath before focusing back on Wesley. “Alright, this is w
I walked through the house, unsure where I was going until I stopped, light-headed. I leaned against the hallway, my hands covering my face. This didn’t just happen, did it?. Alpha Brent was holding me hostage through my father? This wasn’t legal, even by werewolf laws. He’d all but announced a war on my pack, but only if I could prove it. Some pacifist he was, I thought with a sad scoff. What was I going to do? How could I free Father?“Nic? Nic, are you alright?” Brook said, laying a hand on my shoulder.Anger trickled through me. Did I look alright? “No.”“What happened?”A laugh that was nothing short of maniacal bubbled out of me. “What hasn’t happened? My father attacked Dean, Alpha Brent banished my
My heart pounded in my ears like some primitive and primal drum as we kissed. I’d like to blame everything on Dean, but I couldn’t. My traitorous body leaned into him as Dean’s hand slid around the back of my neck, sending a shiver down my spine, and the other around my waist to hold me against him. The urge to reach out and hold him was so strong I had to fist my good hand, and my arms were trapped between us.The kiss broke with Dean, pecking at my lips a few times before pulling back. I had to blink a few times to refocus on his face as I swallowed. Dean grinned, sliding his hand that held my neck. He brushed his thumb along my cheek. “Totally worth the wait.”My face burned, and I took a quick step back. “You’re lucky I’m right-handed, or I would’ve knocked you off that stool,” I said, but the thre
Dean~~~“What are you doing, Dad?” I said when I found him with Mom, watching some movie.“Isn’t it obvious?” he replied, tilting his head towards the screen.I crossed my arms over my chest. “No, I’m serious here. Why are you keeping Alpha Joseph in a cell?”Mom and Dad shared a glance before he sighed, paused the movie, and sat up straighter. “I’m giving you time to figure out what you’re going to do.”“Yeah, because making Nic hate our family and causing a war is going to give me so many options.”“Told you it wasn’t a good
Dean’s confession about his father’s games only made my anger with my father’s defeated attitude grow. How could he be so ready to give up when all that happened was he lost to Dean while throwing a fit? At this moment, I was believing Dean would be better for the pack than Father, seeing as he was taking me to let Father out, or so he claimed. Not that I doubted him. Dean so far hadn’t given me any reason to doubt his intentions, but with the games his father was playing, I didn’t want to get my hopes up.My stomach roiled with nerves as the question of ‘what next’ pressed against my mind. If all went according to plan, Father would be free, and we’d leave. But what would happen to Dean? I chewed on my lip as we walked. I had to be honest, Dean made the whole mate thing seem not so bad. We’d have to get to know each other more, but it didn’t seem
I couldn’t believe they were there. Wesley, Sadie, and Jon. “Dean came and told us what happened,” Wesley said. “I couldn’t believe it, so I talked to Joseph myself. You are the only alpha I’d accept after Joseph.” Fury made his green eyes lighten to jade, but a small quirk of a smile appeared. “Well, perhaps him too…” he jutted his chin to Dean. “But only if you’re with him.”“I agree,” Sadie said, her expression pinched. “That your father would do this to you…”“Or to us. None of us will stay with the pack if you’re not there,” Jon agreed.Gratitude filled me as I looked at them and I stood. There was hope yet. They still supported me. They were with me. “We’ll figure somethin
Alpha Brent sat in his chair, leaning forward with his elbows resting on the top and fingers steepled as he listened to me. “I understand, Nicole, but the laws are very clear. Challenges are made from alpha to alpha, meaning alpha males only. It’s an outdated thing going back to the days where our women died so often in childbirth before passive silvering rose the survivability rate.”I wanted to growl and slam my fist against the desk. Dean laid his hand on my knee and gave it a quick squeeze. I let out a breath and forced myself to focus on finding a solution. “There has to be something. We have women leading packs fine or is it until some guy decides he wants to be alpha and since women don’t count for crap, they have to step down?” Hell, his niece by mateship was leading her pack alone for a whole year before she mated Mike Howe.
Dean~~~“I feel like I’m a broken record, but I’ll ask again,” Dad said, leaning back in his chair, watching me with an intense glare. “What is the plan, Dean?”Man, not this again! “What makes you think I have a plan?”“Dean,” Dad said, looking exasperated.“Why should I have a plan for every little thing?”Dad pinched the bridge of his nose and said nothing for a long moment. “Dean, listen to me, you need to be ready for the fallout.”I looked at him, confused. “What fallout?”He