Pack Dynamics

AN: Additional warning – there’s a little wolf-on-human action in the first part of this chapter. Not full-on Discovery Channel or anything, but still, if you wish to avoid, skip down on the page about a third of the way.


Hostile Takeover

Casey slowly wiped a wet, soapy washcloth over his neck, cleaning off the newest set of teeth marks.

Fuck, if Mason kept biting him, his throat was going to be permanently red. His cat shivered a little at the thought. His cock even gave a hopeful twitch against the front of his boxers because apparently he was just that messed up – that he could get off on the Alpha biting him despite the fact he knew it was wrong.

Casey leaned into the sink, feeling inexplicably weak. His head dropped down and he saw his nails lengthening into black claws. Casey’s startled gaze flashed up to the mirror. His eyes reflected back, pupils blown and elongated into feline slits. Whoa, he must be more tired than he thought if his cat was surfacing like that, without his prompting.

His skin started to itch, bones aching insistently. He almost lost his footing as his body started to transform without warning. He jolted in surprise, stopping the unintentional shift.

Heart beating quickly in his chest, Casey set the washcloth down and turned off the light. He headed out to the bedroom, hoping some sleep would help.

His Alpha was lying on the bed in the dark, arm flung over his eyes.

Casey treaded closer, moving on automatic towards the cushion on the floor. He lay down, kneading the cushion under his human hands before curling up on his side to sleep.

~~~

Mason stirred, burning up. His wolf was near the surface, almost overpowering.

He could smell something delectable.

Casey.

Casey mine. Casey bad. Casey left. Casey back. Casey. Casey. Casey. His wolf woofed and growled loudly inside.

He pulled himself to the edge of the bed, inhaling deeply. There was more than just Casey’s scent. Underlying the well-known, woodsy musk of Casey there was the scent of other. There had been another shifter on Casey. Every time he blinked, the image was etched onto his eyelids. The stout puma body mounting Casey’s beautiful, sleek jaguar, hips moving with the unmistakable rutting rhythm. The jaguar doing nothing to deter the coupling. Mason’s wolf snarled.

The blond feline hissed in surprise as Mason basically landed on him from the bed above.

“You have that puma’s stench all over you. I couldn’t get rid of it completely.”

All his pent up anger was surfacing. He and his wolf were both angry that Casey had been coming onto that grunt, but more infuriating was the fact that Casey was waltzing back into his life as if the last two, torturous years had never happened.

As if Mason hadn’t spent the last two years in hell, never getting a good night’s sleep, always searching the crowds, looking for any sign, any clue... Mostly, he was angry that Casey had left (that Casey had been able to leave) when Mason knew that there was no way he would have ever been able to walk away from Casey. He would have died first. And fuck if just a whiff of Casey didn’t make him sure that was still the case.

Mason’s head spun, wolf taking over his human body.

Casey started pushing up against his chest; he looked up at Mason shocked. For a split second, Mason’s expression appeared just as startled, and then it was gone, disappearing with the whites of his eyes.

Strong arms tightened around Casey, he could feel the pressure right down to the bone. Mason was amazingly strong – no matter what form he was in.

Mason’s voice in his ear was little more than a growl. “Stop struggling.”

“Quit it!” Casey twisted against the floor, trying to get his legs under himself to gain some leverage.

The Alpha’s full weight slammed him into the ground, making just breathing an effort.

“Mason, what’s going on?”

“I don’t know... I feel...” Mason lifted his head just enough to look down at Casey, his command more of a frustrated plea, “Stop struggling, you’re only making it worse.”

Casey stopped, fighting the natural urge to struggle out of this vulnerable position. He craned his head up to look into the familiar, hard black eyes. “Mason – ”

“Don’t look at me!”

“What the hell –”

“Look at the fucking floor.” Mason’s words were slurred by the teeth lengthening in his mouth. He managed to form human words, but each one seemed a struggle, “I don’t want to hurt you, but my fucking Alpha instincts are out of control right now.”

Casey turned his head to the side, averting his eyes.

The only noise in the air was the sound of Mason’s harsh, panting breath. Slowly, over the next few minutes, his steel hold releaxed, though he didn’t lift his body up. With the release of Mason’s bone jarring grip, Casey could process other information from his body, like the way his right hip hurt from pressing against the rock hard floor, how his hand, trapped under his body, was going numb, and how there was a large, jutting erection pressing into his upper thigh.

Casey froze, inhaling sharply and trying to squirm, just to put a little space between himself and the indecently large dick digging into him

“What the hell?” Casey growled. “Mason...”

“I don’t know... my wolf...” Mason groaned a little, shaking his head. Casey could feel tremors run through his body. “I ...can’t....control.”

Casey immediately flashed back to the bathroom before bed, how his cat had been taking over. Was the same thing happening to Mason? It wasn’t normal. Especially for Mason, he never lost control.

“Mason, I think something happened at the Run...”

Mason snapped, eyes reflecting golden in the dim light. “At the Run?! I saw you with him, that low level thug. Your tail going up, like some sort of primed slut.”

Casey made a sound of disagreement in his throat, embarrassed and ashamed, “Mason...”

“You were displaying more obviously than a bitch in heat.” Mason’s eye flashed with fervour, his hips rocked forward, cock pressing more insistently into Casey.

“Mason...”

“I know you couldn’t...You don’t...” He growled, human vocabulary failing him momentarily, “You don’t want me. But... if you needed it so bad... I would have given it to you...”

Casey couldn’t control the way heat pooled in his belly at the thought, his own shaft growing to half-hardness. Thank God he was angled away slightly so Mason wouldn’t feel it.

Mason was still talking, “Well? If you’re so hard up you’ll take it from anyone...”

“You’re not serious.” Casey hated how thin and uncertain his voice sounded.

“Roll onto your belly, Casey.” Mason ordered, referring to the submissive crawling position. “You’ll find out how serious I am.”

“You have to get a hold of yourself, Mason. There’s something weird going on...”

Mason flipped him over bodily, until he was face down, Mason’s hand stroked his hair with unusual clumsiness. Casey felt claws, not nails, catching in his hair. Mason’s hips were moving in rough, short thrusts, his cock sliding back and forth over the back of Casey’s thigh and ass.

“Tell me I can, Case. Let me. Let me.” Mason hunched over him, panting, nose nuzzling the back of Casey’s neck, inhaling his scent.

A whimper escaped Casey’s lips, “Mason...Yes...”

That’s all it took, Mason stopped making human sounds all together, the short barks and grunts emerging from his human mouth sounded vaguely odd to Casey, through the fog of his growing arousal. The thrusting picked up in pace. Mason’s grinding became more frantic, without rhythm.

Without warning, the body lifted off him. Casey automatically started to lift up, but a heavy hand pressed down on his shoulder blades, pinning him to the floor.

Casey heard the flap of skin against skin, but couldn’t feeling anything. He slowly twisted his head to the side, daring to try to get a peek. What is the world was Mason doin – ? Oh!

The black-haired shifter was arched back, sitting on his heels, his defined pecs and abs glistening with sweat. One hand was pressing down on Casey’s back and the other was wrapped over his shaft despite the dangerous looking claws disfiguring his fingers. He was jerking himself hard and fast, clear fluid dripping from the slit of his reddened head.

Mason howled.

Casey bit his lip, feeling Mason’s semen splashing over his ass and back, some even shooting high enough to splatter the ends of his hair and trickle down his neck. Casey whimpered, flushed and feeling an embarrassing wetness in the front of his own boxers. He had just creamed his own pants, just from being painted with Mason’s come. How humiliating!

He silently prayed Mason wouldn’t notice (as if there was any way he could fail to – the smell of semen was strong in the air, both Mason’s and his).

He felt Mason leaning close again and then, before Casey knew it, a wolf replaced the human body above him.

He shivered, feeling the fur against his skin. “Mason...”

Casey tried to slowly wriggle away, inching along the floor on his stomach.

The wolf grasped Casey’s slender throat between his jaws. Mason wuffed softly, a clear threat that suggested Casey behave himself...or else.

Mason huffed and panted, saliva dripping onto the throat in his jaws. Casey was his goddamn it. The separation hadn’t changed that. His Beta, his mate, his cat. He growled against the bare skin; the low, deep rumbling rustled the fine hairs on the back of Casey’s neck.

Mason stayed like that for several long, slow minutes until he felt Casey’s body under his sagging into the ground, loose limbed and vulnerable – submissive. He wolf responded accordingly, slowly disengaging his bite, teeth bared and at the ready in case further correction proved necessary. A handful of small punctures dotted blood above the leather collar, Casey’s head rolled forward, dutifully exposing more of his throat to the large black wolf.

His throat didn’t even hurt, despite the fact he knew Mason’s teeth had drawn blood again, it tingled with an extremely pleasurable burn that went straight through his heart to his cock, leaving him in a half-aroused fog despite his recent climax. He was relaxing, more than seemed possible considering he was near naked and pressed to the floor by a snarling wolf who easily dwarfed his own frame. A supernaturally strong wolf. A dominant wolf. His Alpha. Casey could smell it with every breath he took, sinking into his submissiveness like wrapping himself in warm, protective blankets.

He hadn’t felt like this since he had left, only Mason could bring him down like this.

The wolf’s gold and black eyes raked over his mate. The animal couldn’t figure out why his mate was still in human form. His vulnerable pink flesh was bruising and dotted with blood, and his pulse was slightly erratic. Casey would be much safer if he shifted to jaguar .

Oh well, it was Mason’s job to protect his mate. The human yawned, clearly tired. Mason figured he ought to get the smaller man into bed.

The older shifter lifted his weight off Casey and nudged him, prodding until the young man pushed up onto watery legs. The wolf nudged him back towards the closet which was the closest thing to a den around.

Casey paused, looking to the wolf. He attempted to reason with the canine. “I’m just going to stop into the bathroom...clean up a little.”

Mason snapped his teeth, nipping lightly at Casey’s legs.

“Ouch. Fucker. I just want to clean up.”

The wolf snapped again, threateningly, ears drawn back.

Irritated, Casey let the wolf herd him, crawling into the tight confines on the closet. Standing up to Mason was dangerous at the best of times, but definitely something Casey wasn’t prepared to do when the wolf was seemingly in control.

Mason pushed Casey with his fur-covered head, forcing him to tuck back into the alcove where it was dark and dry, cushioned by some old coats. The wolf crowed in after Casey, blocking the entrance.

“I guess we’re spending the night here.” Casey spoke, mostly to himself.

Mason’s come was cooling and drying on his skin, and his boxers were starting to stick. Not to mention that every time he moved even a fraction the wolf’s head rose, fixing him with a black stare.

It was going to be a very uncomfortable night.

~~~

“Boss. Boss? Mason. Mason! ...Casey?”

Casey slowly opened his eyes, feeling unusually groggy. He could hear footfall in the apartment as the pack called for him and Mason.

The wolf in question was looking quite human at the moment, body curled against the closet door, asleep.

Casey reached over and shook Mason’s shoulder, his body stiff from sleeping on the closet floor.

Mason rolled over, stretched and then cursed when his head smacked the wall of the closet. “What the hell...?”

Casey reached over him, pushing the door open, letting light and some fresh air into the confined space.

Mason shook his head with a groan. “Are we in the closet?”

“...Yeah...”

Mason’s brow scrunched. “Why?”

“I think you need to ask your wolf that. It really wasn’t my idea...”

Mason crawled a few feet out of the closet and then stood, weaving on his feet. “I have the hangover from hell.”

Casey stumbled out after him, his hands coming up to massage his temples lightly. “I know what you mean.”

Mason’s nose twitched, the blood seemed to drain from his face. “What the hell happened last night?”

“You don’t remember?” Casey turned his back on Mason to hide his strained boxers.

“Bits and pieces. It’s pretty hazy. I...” Mason shook his head as if to clear it. He looked a little sick. “I have to...” He bolted past Casey and into the bathroom. The water started to run.

At almost the same moment, the bedroom door banged open, making Casey jump. He grabbed the blanket off the bed and held it in front of his near naked body before spinning towards the door.

Nora stood in the doorway, an expression of concern melting into annoyance. “There you are. Why didn’t you answer when we called?”

“Nora. What are you doing here?”

Her lips quirked into a carbon copy of Mason’s trademark smirk as she looked at Casey and then to the bathroom door were the water was still running. “It’s 9:10. My boss told me to show up here 10 minutes ago. Were you two still sleeping?”

“None of your business!” Mason yelled from the bathroom, his enhanced wolf senses allowing him to hear the question, even through the door.

Nora arched a dark brow, eyes on the closed door . “Angrier than usual. Interesting. I take it you guys didn’t have a great night.”

Casey fidgeted slightly, adjusting the blanket in his hands.

Nora whistled low and long, “It that a collar? Didn’t see that yesterday.”

Casey touched his fingers to it self-consciously. “It’s new.”

“Is it Mason’s?” Nora answered own question, “What am I asking? Of course it’s his.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Come on. You got back yesterday, I wasn’t born yesterday. There is no way Mason would let you walk around with someone else’s collar on. Now, I’m going out there to find some breakfast for you. You get Mason to hurry up. He left his cell out on the coffee table and it’s been buzzing since we got here. Some guy named Lavoie.”

Casey went over and banged his fist against the door before yelling through it, “Mason! Lavoie’s been callin’ you.”

“Sonofabitch.” Mason growled around what sounded like a mouthful of toothpaste.

Nora gave Casey a pointed look and mouthed, ‘Who’s Lavoie?’

‘Bad news’ Casey mouthed back, out loud he answered, “The Alpha will brief the whole pack as soon as he comes out.”

“The Alpha?” Nora pulled a face at the formality and then she softened a little, “I hardly got to see you yesterday, Case. Why don’t we go out for coffee or something after? Lotsa cream, just how you like it.”

“Yeah, yeah maybe, Nora.”

“Maybe?! What kind of answer is that for the sister you haven’t seen in two years?” Her tone strived for teasing, but a little bit of hurt bleed through. Casey had trouble meeting her gaze and he was grateful when Mason exited the bathroom and fixed his littermate with a stern glare, “Livingroom. Now.”

She left with a slightly troubled look.

Once they were alone again, Mason spoke, his voice low and reluctant, “You okay?”

Casey looked up quickly to see Mason standing up against the far corner of the room, fully dressed now with dark circles under his eyes.

“I’m fine. You?”

“Me? Shit, Casey, why would you even ask about me after what I did to you?”

Casey shifted uncomfortably. “It was nothing, really...”

“I molested you, Casey.” Mason spit out the words like they tasted bad.

“Jesus, Mason! You did not! You just sort of...jerked off...on me.” Casey felt like his face was on fire.

“Dammit, I practically raped you.”

“You didn’t rape me.”

Mason’s mouth opened to argue and Casey cut him off, “It was rough, granted. But nothing I didn’t...” want, enjoy, get off on “...okay.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Casey grudgingly drew the blanket aside, revealing his soiled boxers without a word.

Mason’s eyes flashed with comprehension, “Oh... I still shouldn’t have -”

“Yeah, well, you weren’t exactly you. And I wasn’t exactly me either.”

“You...?”

“My cat was trying to make an impromptu appearance in the bathroom last night. Just before your wolf...did what he did.”

Mason growled and spun around, striding out of the bedroom.

“Mason? Where are you going?” Casey fumbled into some clothes and chased after him. By the time the feline shifter made it out into the main room, Mason was taking a knife out of the kitchenette drawer and then was slicing the blade into his forearm.

The pack was watching him, collectively stunned.

Nora gasped.

Ty looked torn between grabbing the knife away from him and standing back and letting the Alpha do as he wished. “Boss?”

Blood dripped from Mason’s arm. He dropped the knife in the sink and grabbed a small Tupperware container to collect the blood. A thin layer of the red fuild covered the bottom of the container before Mason’s shifter physiology closed the wound up. He snapped the lid on the Tupperware. He turned to Casey then. “Your turn.”

Casey’s eyebrows shot up. “What?”

Mason took a new knife out. “Come here.”

“I repeat, ‘What?’”

“Clearly, we were drugged with something last night.” Mason waved the Tupperware, sloshing the blood. “Evidence.”

“Drugged?” Nora gasped.

Jessica’s eyes near doubled in size. “What?!”

Mason gestured with the knife again, not sparing the rest of the pack a glance. “Come here, Casey.”

Casey approached rather reluctantly. Mason was probably right about the drugging though, so getting some blood when it still might be in their systems was probably a good idea. Casey offered up his arm and Mason grasped it with his left hand while slashing him with the knife with his right hand.

Casey hissed and would have flinched back had Mason not been holding tight. The older shifter carefully squeezed some blood into another container, once the cut sealed up, he passed both containers to Ty.

“Take these right to Alliance headquarters, tell them we need them checked for any abnormalities, ASAP. My contact is a demon named Knightley. Wait for the results.”

“On it, Boss.” Ty took the blood, wrapped it in a paper bag and then left the apartment.

“Are you going to tell us what the hell is going on?” Nora demanded as the door shut behind the big shifter.

Mason wet a paper towel and then grabbed Casey’s arm back, cleaning the drying blood off as he answered his littermate. “I don’t know. Yet. Something was off last night.”

“Something?” Eugene pressed suspiciously.

Casey winced a little. No shifter liked to admit their animal side overpowered them. It was considered a weakness. Mason did not like to appear weak.

As expected, Mason’s expression froze over.

“Yeah, what happened?” Jessica echoed Eugene’s question, her dark eyes inquisitive.

Casey cut in, “I drank something that, uh, didn’t agree with me. I felt a little sick when I got home.”

“That’s it?” Eugene sneered.

Casey narrowed his eyes at the disrespectful tone. “One drink shouldn’t have affected me with my metabolism. So clearly there must have been something slipped in it.”

Nora’s expression turned concerned. “You too, Mason?”

“I was feeling a little off.”

She stepped forward, laying a hand to Casey’s brow as if to check for a fever. She didn’t dare do the same to Mason. “Feeling okay now, though?”

“Fine.” Casey ducked away from her hand.

Mason’s phone vibrated against the table insistently.

He grabbed it up and checked the display. He walked back into bedroom, shutting the door behind himself. The pack could hear the start of the conversation, “Rossi, here... Yes...Mr. Lavoie...”

Casey’s own phone buzzed in his pocket, he pulled it out, saw a familiar name and made his excuses to the pack, “I...ah...have to take this. I’ll be right outside.”

Once out of the apartment, Casey read the text message and then practically ran down the stairwell. He burst out the side door, breathing heavily.

A figure stood in the shadows by the exit to the underground parking.

Casey approached him, eyes darting up to make sure no one was watching them from the windows above.

“Vladislav.”

“Casey.”

The vampire looked surprisingly elegant considering he was leaning up against a dumpster.

“What are you doing here?”

The vampire shrugged a perfectly tailored shoulder. “Miranda said you would need me to be here. Now.”

“She didn’t say why?”

“No, her visions can be a little...vague.” Vladislav waved his hand in the air. “You do not need me?”

Casey’s brow furrowed. “I don’t think so... Hey, wait, you’re a vampire!”

“Not so loud, but yes, I am glad we have that established.” Vladislav spoke dryly in his faintly European accent. Casey was never sure if the accent was real or put on.

“Miranda is a fucking genius.”

Vladislav’s eyebrow arched at the cursing but he inclined his head in agreement. “She is. That is why I married her, over forty years ago now.”

Which was saying something because the vampire didn’t look a day over 25.

Casey held out his arm. “Bite me.”

“Pardon me?”

“You’re a vampire, bite me.”

“You are going to have to do better than that.”

Casey groaned in frustration, “It’s a long story.”

“I’m immortal, I have the time.”

“Fine, basically, I was drugged last night. I think. We collected some blood to be tested. But you could – Maybe you could just taste something.”

Vladislav’s expression looked a little pinched. “Ugh, shifters always taste decidedly gamey.”

“Just do it. ...Please?”

Long canines descended in the vampire’s mouth to pinpoint sharpness. Vladislav bed over Casey’s arm and bit. He sucked a small amount to blood and then straightened.

“Well?” Casey demanded.

Vladislav held up one finger for patience. He swished the blood around in his mouth for a few moments and then swallowed with a faint grimace. He took a handkerchief out of his breastpocket and wiped his mouth. “Like biting a farm animal. No offence.”

Casey rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Did you taste anything?”

“Yes. I believe so. Grao d’escuridao.”

“Something about a grey squirrel?”

Vladislav looked mildly disgusted. “A – that was not French. B – your French is appalling.”

“Just tell me already.”

“It’s Portuguese. A rare seed found only in the Brazilian rainforest.”

“That’s rather specific. You just happen to know the name and taste of this rare Brazilian seed in blood?”

“It was used by vampires in the 16th century.”

“Used for what?”

Vladislav looked slightly apologetic. “Shifter-baiting.”

Casey just looked at him uncomprehending.

“It was a barbaric practice we have long since abandoned. Grao d’escuridao was injected into shifters. It sedates the human-side and conversely stimulates the animal-side. The shifters were then chained in a ring and made to fight to the death. A bloody, violent sport. I am ashamed to admit that I attended a few of these gathering. It was customary to drink from the winner of the fight – if one could even call them winners. So, you see how I came to recognize the taste.”

“The shifters acted like animals? Even is human form?”

“Completely feral in most cases. It affected canine shifters the strongest. I seem to recall feline and ursine shifters could maintain a level of humanity depending on how strong a dose they received.”

“They would do things they wouldn’t otherwise do, like attack innocent humans or packmates?”

“Yes.”

“Is there an antidote?”

“Only time. The effects wore off in 3 or 4 hours – if the shifters lived that long.” Vladislav squinted into the sky. “I should get going, before the sun gets too high. I am staying at the Fairmont, at least until dusk, should you require my assistance again.”

“Of course, thank you, Vladislav. And thank Miranda for me, too.”

The vampire nodded and slipped a pair of heavy shades on before gliding off towards the parking lot.

Casey watched him leave. Now he just needed to figure out why Lavoie was using that grao-shit. He was a step closer to finding Shelby.

“What are you doing out here?”

Casey shivered a little at the coldness in Mason’s voice. He turned to find the other shifter standing a few feet away.

“I was just getting some fresh air.”

Mason looked like he wanted to snap, but instead he simply commanded, “Next time tell me before you leave the apartment. You don’t leave without my permission.”

“Yes, Alpha.”

“You’re not going to fight me on this?”

“I don’t feel like fighting with you, right now, Mason.” Then, just to ruffle the Alpha, Casey added, “I’m still tried from last night.”

Mason took a step closer, eyes grave. “Are you sure you’re not hurt?”

“I’m fine, just tired.”

Another step closer, slowly, like circling prey. “You still smell like my come.”

Thank God for that, otherwise Mason might be able to pick up the scent of vampire on him. “I need a shower.”

Another step closer, Mason’s body was practically touching his now. “You climaxed, too?”

Casey scoffed, “You’re saying you can’t smell that, too?”

“I just wanted to be sure. It’s still hazy. If you came too, it means you must have liked it. At least a little bit.”

Casey’s cat whimpered inside. Fuck a ‘little bit’, it had been one of the strongest orgasms of his life and no had even touched his cock. Talk about bitch in heat.

Mason saw the blush stain Casey’s cheeks and would have had to be oblivious not to smell the fresh arousal in the air. The wolf pitched his voice low, “I’d be willing to do it again. Properly this time.”

A thousand graphic images of what Mason meant by ‘properly’ flashed through Casey’s mind. A proper jack-off session? A proper fucking? A proper mating? He hadn’t asked for it to happen last night, so he could almost kid himself into thinking it wasn’t really cheating on his missing girlfriend. But he certainly couldn’t do it again.

“You’re joking, right? We only did that last night because we were drugged. Neither one of us actually wants to do it again. That would just be...wrong.”

“I thought...” Mason’s eyes flashed black and then gold, and then he looked away. “Right, of course. You were just such an obliging lay last night, I figured it might be convenient to upgrade you from omega to pack whore.”

Casey drew back a fist to punch him.

“Everything okay here, boys?”

Casey dropped his arm. Saved by the littermate. “Nora.”

Mason glared at her. “Everything is fine.”

“I was just checking. Mason you raced out of the apartment so fast and you didn’t come back with Casey right away – I got worried.”

Jessica and Eugene were hanging back by the door, too. Jessica was watching the action, fascinated as if it were one of those episodes of Jersey Shore she loved so much. Eugene just looked pissed off, as usual.

“And you haven’t told us about the phone call you took with that other Alpha yet.” Nora reminded.

“Lavoie wants to meet with me again. For lunch.”

Nora’s eyes widened a fraction. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? Apparently, he did try and poison you last night.”

“Another meeting is the easiest way to figure out what he is up to.”

“But Mason...”

Mason showed his teeth, “But nothing, Nora, I’m the Alpha this is not a democracy.”

“Don’t worry, Nora,” Casey tried to put her at ease. “We’ll be more careful this time.”

“You will not be coming with me.” Mason snapped. “I’m taking Jessica.”

“What?” Casey cried in disbelieve.

Jessica bubbled excitedly, “Sweet!”

“Mason, I really think...” Casey began, knowing this was his chance to meet up with the guard again.

“Your job isn’t to think, your job is to follow my orders. Besides, Nora mentioned she wanted time to catch up with you. No time like the present.”

“We can catch up after. Mason, please, I really...”

Mason grabbed his collar and jerked on it, making Casey stumble. “You’re over stepping yourself, omega. You’ll stay in today, with Nora. Eugene will keep you two company.” In other words, the little shit was to make sure Casey stayed in line.

“Jessica. Come, let’s not keep our host waiting.” Mason strode off towards the truck, Jessica practically running to keep up.

Nora tugged lightly at Casey sleeve, almost remorseful. “C’mon, little brother. Let’s go inside. I’ll make some coffee while you shower, then we can watch a movie or something.”

Casey flushed at the not so subtle hint that he stunk. God, what did they think of him, being treated like a wayward puppy by Mason, the whole time covered in his scent?

He let Nora pull him gently back towards the apartment. Eugene following closely behind.

Fine, he would play nice for now. But as soon as he could lose Nora and Eugene, he would. He needed to get to Lavoie’s. He needed to find Shelby.

Ugh...he needed a shower first.

~~~

Mason parked in the long driveway and he and Jessica exited the truck.

Jessica looked up at the mansion, with wide eyes. “Holy crap.”

Mason smirked a little and continued up to the front entrance.

The Alpha lifted the heavy brass knocker and let it bang down on the door. In seconds, a guard opened the door and gestured for them to enter.

Mason stepped in, books echoing on the marble floor, Jessica stayed close on his heels.

“One moment. I will inform Alpha Lavoie you have arrived.” The guard rushed off, leaving the two standing just inside the door.

Mason caught sight of several of Lavoie’s pack members as he waited in the foyer to be seen. One shifter that walked past was a burly pig-nosed cretin with a disgusting, but memorable scent.

It was the guard from last night. The puma. He had a sordid little smirk on his face, but Mason was pleased to see he was limping a little, and favouring his left side, where Mason’s claws had sliced him open during the Run.

A growl welled up out of Mason’s throat, and his wolf took some satisfaction in watching the guard cower back a little and then scurry out of the hallway all together. Getting on an Alpha’s bad side was never a smart move.

“Everything okay, Boss?” Jessica asked in a hushed voice.

“Just fine.”

An older shifter approached him. “Alpha Rossi.” The man’s demeanour was subservient, clearly an omega.

“Alpha Lavoie is waiting for you in his office. If you’ll allow me, I’ll show you the way.”

Mason merely nodded and they began to follow the grey-haired man up the stairs. “Ah, Alpha Lavoie, has requested just you, not your... guest.”

Mason turned to Jessica, eyebrow raised slightly in query. She gave him a confident smile. “Go ahead, Boss, I’ll hang out right here.” Despite her bouncy character, there was a core strength in Jessica that frequently surprised those that did not know her well.

Mason nodded and continued to follow the servant alone. The omega stopped in front of two heavy wood doors.

Two massive men that wouldn’t look out of place coming out of a biker bar stood guard. They stepped aside for him, each opening one of the two dark French doors that led to the office. Mason walked in without sparing either of them a glance. The only wolf that was any threat here was the other Alpha.

Lavoie sat behind his large oak desk. He wore a white dress shirt, unbuttoned at the collar and rolled up at the sleeve, black suspenders stretched over his wide shoulders. He stood to his full height as Mason walked in.

With his first inhalation inside the office, Mason smelled blood. Then he carefully picked out the smell of scotch coming off a few of the men, dust from the carpets, and the smell of the wood from the furniture. As he approached the other Alpha’s desk, his nose picked up another scent, faint, but completely recognizable. Casey’s scent.

His nostrils flared a little, black eyes sharpening. For a moment, his attention left the other Alpha, searching out the source of Casey’s scent. He traced the smell to a heap in the far corner. That was where the blood was strongest, too. A limp figure was curled up and unmoving, chained with vicious looking silver cuffs and links.

“Alpha Rossi.” Lavoie’s voice boomed. “Welcome.”

~~~