Breaking the Bonds

  “Could he have taken off on his own?” Liam asked, and Austin turned rage-filled eyes on the other alpha.

  “We’re mates. I claimed him.”

  That answered that, River thought. No wolf shifter would willingly leave his mate.

  “And you couldn’t sniff him out?” Kane asked.

  Austin shook his head. “I should’ve been able to. I tried. But there was no scent trail.”

  River met David’s eyes.

  “Sounds like the human faction is involved. Dr. Newman feels they’ve discovered a way to hide scent, of humans anyway. I would assume shifters would be the next step,” River said.

  “Damn it! Where have they taken them?” Austin looked like he wanted to rip someone apart, and River could feel for the guy. He didn’t know what he’d do if someone had kidnapped Josiah and the girls.

  “Nick’s an omega,” River said to Mark, and the men exchanged knowing glances. Everyone in the room had to know what they were thinking.

  “What? What is it?” Austin looked from one man to another. “Do you know where they are?”

  “We know where they might be,” Mark said slowly. “Nick, at least.”

  Austin was on the human in a second. “Where? Take me there!”

  “It’s not that easy,” Mark said, backing away from the enraged alpha.

  “What do you fucking mean? Tell me where they are!” Austin was showing signs of an imminent shift, and David and Liam pulled him away from Mark.

  “Calm down,” River ordered, and Austin tilted his head in deference to the pack alpha.

  River took a deep breath. This wasn’t going to be easy. “Nick may have been taken by the human faction. They have an underground operation—one that involves omegas and the sex trade.”

  Austin looked as though he’d been punched in the gut. “No. No-no-no-no. He’s already been through that kind of thing once—it’s not fair!”

  “We don’t know that’s what happened,” River said gently.

  “We have to go get him out! Tell me where this place is.”

  David and Liam tightened their grips on Austin’s arms when the alpha tried to leap forward.

  “We’re in the process of breaking up the operation. It’s only a matter of time now,” Mark said.

  Austin looked horrified. “A matter of time? Time that my mate is being raped!” The last word came out in a hoarse cry that went straight to River’s heart.

  “The FBI is handling it. I’m sorry. This is the way it has to be done,” Mark assured Austin.

  “The FBI! Humans? You’re going to let humans take care of this?” Austin turned to River. “Would you say the same if it were your mate they had their dirty hands on? Would you just stand back and wait then?” Austin’s chest heaved as he again struggled against Kane and Liam’s hold.

  River knew he wouldn’t stand back and wait; he’d be on that place like the wrath of the wolf gods. He’d call any and every pack alpha who owed him a favor and ask for their help. He’d bring the fucking place down.

  Josiah spoke up. “Tell them what you told me this morning, Mark.”

  Mark explained that Jax would be setting up Parker at the end of the week. “With video evidence, the FBI can shut the place down, and Parker won’t have any pull to keep them from doing it or to start it up again. The FBI will have enough on him to put him in prison.”

  David stepped forward. “Are you saying Jax will be doing this all by himself?”

  “Another agent will be in the establishment, but yeah. Parker won’t allow strangers to witness him with an omega.”

  “Do you know if Nick is there, Mark?” Josiah asked.

  Mark looked at his feet. “Jax mentioned he thought Nick had recently been taken in.”

  “Oh, my God,” Josiah sank into a chair as Austin roared with anger. Mike had to surge forward to help Liam and Kane keep the angry alpha in check.

  “Why didn’t you tell me this in my office?” Josiah demanded of Mark over the din.

  “I knew it would upset you, and there’s nothing you can do about it. You already suspected Trevor was there. I know how helpless you feel.”

  Angry and frustrated to find out one of his pack members was being held, River cut in, voice steely. “Trevor is not a member of my pack. Nick is. He is an omega under my protection, and there is something I can do about it. We can get re-enforcements, go in there, and tear the place apart.”

  A ripple of energy passed through the pack, and River knew it came from his own steely determination. They were ready to fight with him. He felt his mate’s hand on his shoulder, and when River turned toward the omega, he saw both pride and worry on Josiah’s face.

  “Maybe taking this into our own hands is for the best,” he told his mate. “Austin’s right that other packs will come to our aid. We stopped the attack on Spartan Point—they’re in our debt. Hashi Valley—”

  “No,” Austin interrupted. Now that River had proclaimed they would get Nick out, he’d stopped struggling, and the three alphas holding him let him go. “Max needs to stay out of this. We can’t trust him.”

  River gave a nod. “All right. Angel Hills, then. They’re the next closest. I’ll send word to Grey right away.”

  “This isn’t a good idea,” Agent Kumar said.

  “I’ll discuss this with my second and third-in-command. We won’t do anything without telling you first,” River said, knowing Kumar and Oaks had no choice but to agree. “We’ll be in touch.”

  Chapter 19: Mark

  Mark turned to the window as the pack filed out of the room. He didn’t realize he wasn’t alone until a hand touched his arm. He turned to find Jaime standing at his elbow.

  “You should have told us immediately about Nick,” the omega said, eyes guarded and accusing. Had Mark already fucked up what they had?

  “I didn’t know until last night, and like I said—”

  “Nick is pack. You should have told us.”

  Mark touched Jaime’s face. The last thing he wanted was for this beautiful man—and Mark meant beautiful in all respects—to be unhappy with him.

  “I’m sorry. I guess I don’t understand pack very well.”

  Ever since he’d found out his best friend was half werewolf, Mark had been fighting his emotions. First, he’d been worried for Josiah, but that worry had been distorted by being drugged by the Congress. Once he’d become clear-headed again, he’d simply felt that Josiah had been sucked into something weird, like a cult, maybe. But after the pack had come to Cascade City, and he’d gotten to know the shifters better, and he’d found their world to be full of passion, loyalty, respect, and love. Since he’d fallen for Jaime, and especially since they’d become physical, a yearning had taken up inside him that he didn’t know what to make of, and right then it consumed him with an almost unbearable need.

  “A moment ago,” he began, unsure if he could find the words to explain but wanting so much for Jaime to understand his feelings, “when River announced his pack would get involved to save Nick, I felt so alone.”

  Jaime’s brows dipped over troubled eyes. “What do you mean?”

  “All of you—you’re pack, and that means something I’ve never had. As a child, I was always told by my parents that shifters were bad, dangerous creatures. Those are some of my earliest memories. Then my mom and dad were killed in a fire, and I went to live with my friend Alex, whose father worked for the Congress. He hated the werewolves, and if it weren’t for Josiah’s Uncle Horace, I never would have heard anything good about them at all.”

  “I suspect that’s the way it is with most humans,” Jaime said. “My adoptive parents were an exception to the rule.”

  “What I’m getting at is this: my viewpoint on shifters has taken several turns over the years, but now that I know all of you, I’m beginning to…” he trailed off.

  “To what?” Jaime laid his palm over Mark’s heart, and Mark covered Jaime’s hand with his own.

  Mark shrugged, eyes roaming over J
aime’s face, knowing without a scrap of doubt that he loved the man. Was in love with him.

  “When I said I felt alone, I meant I felt like an outsider. The rest of you are shifters. Pack. And…I guess what I’m trying to say is…” Mark swallowed, eyes never leaving the omega’s face. “…I want that, too.”

  Jaime looked confused. “You want to belong somewhere?”

  “I want to belong here, with you,” Mark clarified, his heart rate picking up.

  “Mark, are you saying you want to be a shifter? To—to take the bite?”

  “I love you, Jaime,” Mark said. “I know it seems fast, but I’ve fought my feelings for you for a long time. I’ve also watched this pack for a long time. I want to be with you in every way. I don’t want to try to please you during heats, I want to undoubtedly please you.”

  “If this is about sex—”

  Mark put a finger over Jaime’s lips. “Shh, let me finish. It’s not just about sex. I don’t have anyone in this world except Josiah, and now you. My parents are dead. My friend Alex is dead. I want to be…pack.”

  “Oh, gods,” Jaime breathed, eyes wide and wondering. “You mean it, don’t you? Are you really sure?” A hesitant smile played about Jaime’s full lips.

  Mark nodded. “I haven’t mentioned it to Josey, because I wanted to tell you first, and I wanted to make sure, well, that you wanted me. Going through with it doesn’t hinge on your feelings for me, but I’d really like you to be the one to bite me, and I’d definitely love to be with you after.”

  Jaime’s eyes lit up. “Of course I want you, you infuriating man. I’ve always wanted you. But there was Beth—”

  Mark closed his eyes and groaned. “I was so stupid. I did everything wrong. I hurt her, and I hurt you.”

  Mark opened his eyes when Jaime kissed him.

  “Stop beating yourself up over it.”

  “Then, will you…bite me?”

  “You mean, now?”

  Mark nodded. He was trembling, both from excitement and fear. Jaime took a step back.

  “We can’t do it that way, Mark. It isn’t that easy. It will be painful and possibly dangerous. And you have to be very sure, or you risk becoming one of The Turned.”

  Mark knew humans who were bitten against their will became feral creatures stuck half-way in a shift, minds taken over by despair and locked into a manic desire to bite other humans in order to increase their numbers. The Turned were not human, nor were they shifters. They were monsters.

  “I’m sure. You don’t have to worry. And I’d rather not make a big deal about it in front of everyone.”

  “But it is a big deal,” Jaime was adamant. “A very big deal. You’ll be changing your life completely. Josiah told me he witnessed the change once, and it wasn’t pretty. We have to do it right—you need to tell River and declare it in front of the pack. I’m not about to do it behind the pack alpha’s back.”

  Mark studied Jaime’s face. The last thing he wanted to be was a spectacle. He felt sure he could do it alone with Jaime there to help him, but he wanted to make Jaime happy.

  “All right. If that’s what you want.” He kissed Jaime softly. “Let’s go find River.”

  * * * *

  “You’ll have to take off your clothes,” Josiah told Mark. “They’ll rip to shreds.”

  They’d argued for over an hour before River called the rest of the pack into the family room. Josiah had been the hardest to convince, but Mark hadn’t swayed in his insistence. Now it was time.

  Mark stripped off his shoes, socks, shirt, pants, and underwear. When he stood naked in front of everyone, he tried not to feel inadequate. He was well-built, and Jaime had certainly been appreciative of Mark’s body, but he was nothing like the shifters. Their bodies were powerfully built and perfectly toned. Even an omega, the weakest of the alpha/beta/omega triad, was much stronger than Mark was as a human.

  In typical Josiah form, the first omega had gotten straight to the point with Mark, accusing his friend of wanting the change because he felt inferior to Jaime, the man he loved. Mark had assured Josiah that wasn’t the case and had reiterated every reason he’d given Jaime. He’d almost cried in relief when Josiah had finally accepted that Mark seriously wanted to become a shifter.

  “He’ll need to drink your blood afterward,” Josiah told Jaime. He looked between the two men. “So, you understand that as soon as Jaime bites you, you’ll undergo extreme physical and psychological change. You’ll become a beta shifter, and you won’t be human at all anymore.”

  Mark nodded.

  Josiah wasn’t finished. “And you realize that once Jaime bites you, you’ll be mated? For all intents and purposes, anyway. I mean, the bite means something, but there’s usually a mating ceremony. If you don’t want to—”

  “We do,” Mark interrupted, watching Jaime. The omega smiled back at him and nodded.

  “Okay, then.”

  Josiah cleared his throat and looked at River.

  The pack alpha stepped forward, long, dark hair rippling over his wide shoulders, face stern and serious. His voice rang out in the room. “Mark Bivens has declared his desire to become a shifter and to join Cascade City Pack, which I, as pack alpha, approve. Does any pack member here have a problem with this change?”

  Mark glanced from shifter to shifter, wondering if any of them might not like the idea of him joining them. Thankfully, the room remained silent.

  “As no one has raised a protest, we will proceed. As Mark and Jaime have expressed the desire to be mates, Jaime will deliver the changing bite. Are you both ready?”

  “Ready,” Mark said.

  “Ready,” Jaime echoed.

  “You’d better sit down for this,” Jaime told Mark.

  “Straddle him,” Josiah said. “And Mark, as soon as you’re able to, bite Jaime on the neck and drink his blood.”

  Drink his blood? Will I be able to do that? Mark swallowed and nodded.

  He sat down on the couch, still very aware he was the only naked man in the room. His cock lay soft and uninterested on his thigh. Jaime planted a knee on each side of Mark’s legs and sat in his lap, the coarse fabric of his denim jeans rubbing against Mark’s bare skin. Jaime leaned in and kissed Mark, long and sensually, and Mark didn’t realize Jaime was trying to distract him until the omega abruptly pulled away, and sharp teeth bit into the tender skin of his neck. Surprised, he gasped and then let out a yell and bucked up into Jaime as a burning pain flowed through his body, radiating outward from the bite. Jaime held on until he had a deep, full bite, and then he let go. Mark lay against the back cushion of the couch, breathing hard, struggling against the pain.

  “Relax,” he heard Josiah say through the buzz that had taken up in his head. “It’ll make it easier.”

  Mark tried, but it felt as though a thousand snakes roiled underneath his skin. His vision narrowed and then expanded, tinged bright red. He looked down at his cock, now hard and at least three inches longer than it had previously been when erect, standing ramrod straight between his and Jaime’s bodies. A large knot swelled at its base.

  When Mark opened his mouth to say something, a growl came out instead, quickly followed by a roar when every muscle in his body suddenly seemed to rearrange and grow. He threw his head back and screamed as his body convulsed.

  “Bite me, Mark.” Jaime’s voice filtered into the pain. Mark could smell Jaime’s alluring scent and greedily drew it into his lungs. He could smell everything now: the fabric of the sofa, the various scents of the pack, and most of all, Jaime. Opening his mouth, Mark felt powerful fangs erupting from his gums. Surging forward, he sank them into the tender flesh of the omega’s neck. Jaime stiffened, groin pushing into Mark’s painfully hard cock. Gods, Mark wanted to sink into Jaime right there in front of everyone. Blood seeped into his mouth, and he almost choked.

  “Drink,” Josiah encouraged. Mark began taking big gulps of Jaime’s blood, finding the taste not unpleasant. Jaime moaned as Mark drank from him, fingers t
ightening on Mark’s shoulders and cock hardening between them.

  Mark was still in pain, but drinking the blood helped. Eventually, another, stronger feeling began to take over: power, stark and sure. Mark got to his feet, lifting Jaime along with him.

  “I think it’s done,” Josiah said.

  “Welcome, Mark, to Cascade City Pack,” River said, and everyone around cheered. When Mark set Jaime on the couch and climbed over him, the pack cleared the room with more cheers and hoots of encouragement.

  “I can’t believe it,” Jaime said, forehead pressed to Mark’s. “Are you okay?”

  “I feel awesome,” Mark said before pressing kisses down Jaime’s neck and then licking the place where he’d bitten the omega. His teeth had receded, and he contented himself with sucking at the soft skin. He was a werewolf, and the idea didn’t trouble him in the least. On the contrary, he felt like he could rule the world.

  “You look awesome.” Jaime ran his hands over the bulging muscles of Mark’s arms and chest, eyes finally coming to rest on the pole between Mark’s legs. Mark straightened from where he was bending over Jaime and took a step back. He crossed his arms over his chest.

  “Strip, mate. I want to bite you again while balls deep inside you,” he growled, amazed at how much deeper his voice sounded.

  Jaime scrambled to get his clothes off, eyes on Mark’s cock twitching in anticipation.

  Mark could feel the pack in various places of the property. He was aware of the pack alpha and first omega in a room nearby. He felt the pulse of energy among all of them, himself included. And Jaime—the man he loved—sat bare and spread for his pleasure. Mark felt powerful, strong, and blessed, his cock rigid and balls full and waiting to fill his omega. He would rip anyone’s throat out who tried to take this man away from him.

  A voice inside him whispered, Remember how you thought the shifters ridiculously possessive? Yes, he remembered, but now he understood.

  Mark pushed Jaime’s legs farther apart and sunk inside the tight heat of his omega, howling at how good it felt. He didn’t care if the pack heard him, or even if they came in and watched. What they were doing was natural and perfect—he had no doubt about that.