Alphas pride, p.3
Alpha's Pride, page 3
The back door opened, and Enar wheeled in Vieno, sitting in a wheelchair, holding his son. Kean’s “Aw…” joined a chorus of similar reactions from the others in the barn. Vieno beamed as he held his son close, who was swaddled in a light blue blanket, only his red little face peeping out.
Lidon stepped forward, bending to kiss Vieno, then gently took the baby from him, holding him with his face turned toward the pack. “Meet our son and alpha heir, Hakon Hayes.”
Kean loved how Lidon said “our,” even though everyone knew damn well it was his biological son and not Palani’s or Enar’s. But these four were a united front as they stood there, beaming with pride.
Then Grayson’s voice rang out. “In the days of old, the pack alpha’s heir was honored by the pack swearing allegiance to protect him. Please join me in renewing this tradition.”
Kean couldn’t get off the bench fast enough, and it was the same for everyone else. Once they stood, Grayson said, “Kneel for your alpha’s heir,” and as one man, they sank down to one knee.
“Hakon Hayes, as our alpha’s son, we swear allegiance to you. We swear to protect you at all costs, and we would lay down our lives to keep you safe. We bless you with a full moon, a loyal pack, and a long life. To Hakon!” Grayson shouted.
Kean’s mouth opened without him realizing, and he joined the rest of the pack as they raised their voices in unison. “Hakon!”
When he rose again, he found his eyes tearing up, and he wiped them, a tad embarrassed until he saw others do the same. He couldn’t explain it, but it was like his soul recognized these traditions, like it knew what to do, even though he’d never done this before.
And what was even more amazing was that he had meant every word of the vow that Grayson had spoken. He was willing to lay down his life for Hakon, and wasn’t that the strangest feeling ever? Sure, that tiny little baby was his nephew, but still. He’d never felt this deeply about anything in his life, and it would scare the hell out of him if it didn’t feel so right.
Bray’s head seemed to spin. Or maybe it was his heart, his soul. What the hell had happened? He’d always prided himself on being a rational person, but that moment had been fully emotional. He hadn’t even thought about it, had sunk to his knee, and made that pledge without a second’s hesitation. What had motivated him to do that? He had no idea, but he stood by it.
He took his seat again, noticing that Kean seemed just as thrown off-kilter as he was. A quick look around confirmed that everyone looked a bit out of it. This whole pack business was some seriously weird shit at times.
“Wow,” Palani said. “That was a moment so special I can’t even put it into words.”
“If you’re speechless, that’s saying a lot,” Kean called out, and a relieved laughter rolled through the room, breaking the tension.
Palani gave him the finger, which caused more laughter. “You’d better be careful with that with a little one around,” Grayson warned him. “Before you know it, your son will copy that gesture…at one of his dads.”
Palani looked a little embarrassed as he laughed. Enar tapped his shoulder, and at that signal, Palani leaned in to kiss Vieno, who was holding Hakon again. Lidon did the same, and then Enar disappeared, taking Vieno with him. No wonder, the omega probably needed lots of rest the day after giving birth.
Once they had left, Palani turned to face the pack again. “Okay, let’s talk about the shifting because you all must be curious and have questions. Alpha, your turn.”
As always, Bray felt compelled by Lidon’s quiet power. It hung in the air, even now, when he hadn’t said a word. Over the next few minutes, Lidon explained how he’d felt changes in his body the last weeks of Vieno’s pregnancy, a premonition of the impending shift. This wasn’t news to Bray as Palani had kept him apprised for obvious security reasons.
Then he talked about the birth of Hakon, discussing how the four of them had shared a power that had given Vieno the strength to get through the dangerous delivery. Bray hadn’t realized how close a call it had been, but Lidon’s quiet words brought that point home with a sobering shock.
“I can’t explain how I shifted,” Lidon said. “I just did. I realize that must sound unsatisfactory to you all, but one second I was a man, and the next I was shifting. It was like my body knew how, or my soul, I don’t know. But it was the baby who brought forth the shift. As soon as I held Hakon, I felt it, that he and I were connected and that we shared power somehow. It was like he transferred power to me and then took it back, or the other way around. I’m not even sure what happened.”
“You also took power from us alphas, alpha,” Grayson said.
Lidon’s eyebrows rose. “I did?”
“Yes. I was in the kitchen with the others, waiting for news, and there was a moment when my alpha powers were sucked right out of me. I almost fainted. You felt that too, right, Bray?”
Bray saw no reason to deny it now that his father had admitted to it. “Yeah, I did. I felt like Jell-O.”
“Huh,” Lidon said. “I didn’t realize that. I’m sorry.”
Bray debated if he should mention the release of power. Maybe that was something better mentioned in private as it could lead to embarrassing discussions about sex. But once again, his father had no such qualms.
“Once you shifted, alpha, there was a release of energy,” he said, his voice more matter-of-fact than Bray could have ever pulled off. “And it had quite the impact on everyone, not only alphas.”
Lidon pulled up one eyebrow. “Impact how?”
Bray’s stomach twisted at the fat grin on his father’s face, like a cat who’d cornered a mouse and was about to eat it. “Let’s just say everyone’s libido got a massive boost.”
Lidon seemed to be embarrassed while Palani held his hand in front of his mouth, doing his best not to laugh at Lidon, but seconds later, he lost that fight and snickered. Even a slightly peeved side-eye from the pack alpha didn’t bring down his mirth, and there were quite a few who laughed along with him.
“Oh my god, imagine that every time you shift, you make them horny as fuck,” Palani said to Lidon, wiping tears of laughter out of his eyes.
“Imagine that,” Lidon responded dryly, but the corners of his mouth twitched enough that Bray knew the man wasn’t upset.
“Well, truth be told, you were horny as fuck as well afterward,” Palani then said, and Bray almost choked on his breath.
Lidon’s hand shot out and grabbed Palani’s wrist, pulling him first toward him, then on his knees. The beta went willingly, Bray saw, his eyes still dancing with laughter.
“Do I need to put your mouth to use to get you to shut up?” Lidon asked, and everyone laughed when Palani shrugged with a smile. The alpha bent toward his mate and kissed him in front of everyone, and not a subtle peck on the lips either.
Bray snuck his hand under the table to adjust himself and promptly bumped into Kean, who was doing the same thing. Kean’s mouth split open in a grin that made him the spitting image of his brother, and suddenly Bray had no trouble imagining how and why the pack alpha wanted to put that mouth to use. Judging by Kean’s wink, the beta knew where Bray’s thoughts had gone.
“Okay,” Palani said when Lidon let him go. “I think you’ve made your point, alpha.” More laughter ensued.
“Now, let’s get more serious,” Lidon said as Palani got back to his feet, then took position next to his alpha. “Grayson, is this a known effect of shifting? Do we know if this has been reported before?”
“Not this specifically,” his father answered. “But many of the legends and stories of old are from times when shifting was normal and when they didn't discuss sex openly, at least not in stories. After this happened yesterday, I did a little digging…” Someone snickered. “Yes, that kind of digging as well as both my boys were more than accommodating,” he continued, and Bray’s mouth pulled tight. Why did his dad always have to rub his relationship in everyone’s face? Why couldn’t he keep shit private?
“I tried to find any similar tales. I didn’t find this specific thing, but I did come across several mentions of new pack recruits experiencing an increased sex drive the first months after joining. They worded it differently, but the picture that emerged was clear. I thought this might be because they weren’t yet used to the pack’s energy or the pack alpha’s energy, so kind of what happened yesterday, alpha.”
“You’re saying this may occur more often in the beginning until we’re all more used to it,” Palani said.
“That’s my assumption based on what I’ve read, but it’s not conclusive.”
“Thanks, Grayson,” Lidon said. “That’s good to know. Apparently, I have to apologize in advance for boosting all your sex drives. Or not, depending on how much of a success yesterday was for all of you.”
Bray mentally cursed. If this happened more often, he’d need to find a better outlet. He’d jerked off till his dick had become too sensitive to touch—and he’d still been hard. And it wasn’t like he could head out to the club that easily, not with how far the ranch was from the city. Now, he’d have to find someone on the ranch, someone like…
He stole a careful glance to his side. Maybe he should act on the chemistry he and Kean had because there was no denying they sparked. Surely the beta would be up for a little casual fun between the sheets, especially if he shared this problem, right? All they’d do was work off a little steam, get rid of that pent-up sexual energy. They’d both benefit from that, since it wasn’t easy to find another partner.
Bray’s options were limited, since he didn’t want to ask Palani for permission to approach an omega—plus, with omegas there was always the risk of unwanted entanglements caused by pregnancy—and the number of betas was limited.
No, Kean would do. Now all Bray had to do was convince him to bend over for him, but that shouldn’t be too much of a problem, right?
3
Kean let out a happy sigh as he walked into the house, reveling in the way the air-conditioning breathed cold air over his hot body. It was hot as hell outside, and catching an ornery goat that had escaped from his pen—again—hadn’t exactly helped him cool down. By the time he’d finally caught the little shit, he’d been about ready to offer him as a sacrifice to the weather gods in exchange for a good thunderstorm.
Why the hell had he ever proposed they get goats? What the fuck had he been thinking? Sure, they kept the grass nice and short, and with the removable pens, they were easy to move across the ranch, but that one little fucker kept escaping.
Truth be told, he did like them. Not that Houdini-wannabe, but the goats in general. He liked their milk, and if he had a little more time, he’d love to experiment with making goat cheese. He’d never expected to be as busy as he was, but at some point, he’d have to ask his brother to get an assistant for him, especially since he’d been looking into going back to school and getting his degree to become a full-fledged veterinarian.
Right now, he wanted nothing more than to jump into the pool to cool off, but sadly, duty called. In this case, duty was his brother, who had requested him to stop by at his earliest convenience. Nothing urgent, Palani had assured him, just something he needed to discuss. And even though Kean was the oldest, older than Palani by a year, this was not a request he would ignore. He respected his brother’s position as second-in-command of the pack too much.
It made him wonder what was going on. The pack meeting a few days earlier had run long, with Lidon and Palani answering all questions as best they could. The bottom line was that everyone had been wondering the same thing: would they be able to shift as well at some point? No one knew, but they’d sure had fun speculating.
As he rounded the corner to enter the hallway to the kitchen, he narrowly avoided bumping into Bray. The alpha’s face resembled a thunderstorm, and Kean suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. For someone who was supposed to be as cool as a cucumber considering his job, the man was a bit of a drama queen at times.
“Don’t go into the kitchen unless you want a live porn show,” Bray said, the disdain in his voice communicating loud and clear who was getting their dirty on. If it had been the pack alpha’s men, Bray wouldn’t have had such an issue with it.
“I take it your dad is having a little fun with his boys?” Kean said, unable to resist the challenge to poke Bray a little.
Bray’s mouth tightened even further. “I wouldn’t call it fun, but yes.”
Kean’s eyes lit up. “Oh, awesome. I’m going to have a look.”
“You’re gonna have a… Are you crazy? Why would you want to see that?”
“Because it’s hot as fuck? Dude, your dad is sexy as hell and observing him with those two is the best live porn ever.”
Bray shivered. “That statement is so disturbing I don’t even know where to start. How are you okay with seeing that? Don’t you think it’s an invasion of their privacy?”
Kean huffed. “If they wanted privacy, they would’ve done it in their own room. I’m sure you’ve realized by now Sven has a little exhibitionist streak and a weakness for humiliation play, Lars doesn’t give a crap who’s watching, and Grayson loves pushing the boundaries of his boys. Trust me, they want others to see this.”
Bray’s eyes widened, and his head reeled back as if he’d been slapped. Kean frowned. This couldn’t be news to Bray, could it? He’d performed a little digging after overhearing a remark from Grayson and discovered Bray had experience as a Dom in a club Kean had visited a few times to discover if it was his scene. Spoiler: it wasn’t. The various kinks he’d engaged in had done little for him. Well, he’d liked some of them, but not enough to make going to the club a regular occurrence. But Bray was a member, so the alpha had to be familiar with humiliation play and exhibitionism.
“That’s my father you’re talking about. I have zero desire to see him naked. I’m not a perv like…”
He stopped talking, but Kean had no trouble finishing that sentence. It was crystal clear Bray still hadn’t gotten over his objections to Lars and Sven, which was ridiculous because anyone saw how well they fit together with Grayson. If ever there was a match made in heaven, it was the three of them.
The only objection Kean had was that it raised the bar for the kind of relationship he now aspired to. After seeing how happy his brother was with his three men and how sweet Grayson and his boys were, Kean was determined not to settle for anything less than that. He wanted someone who looked at him the same way Grayson looked at Lars and Sven. He wanted a mate who was as in tune with him as the pack alpha and his men were with each other. There were times when Kean had to look away instead of observing them because their closeness made his insides squeeze painfully in a reminder of what he didn’t yet have.
He’d hoped to find that with Bray, after he’d experienced that attraction the first time, but when even weeks, months later, Bray hadn’t acted on it, he’d concluded it was hopeless. Maybe he’d been wrong, or it worked differently than he had imagined. Hell, even after that massive power boost that had all of them hard, Bray hadn’t approached Kean—and he’d been all but ready to bend over.
“For someone who’s active in that lifestyle, you’re pretty narrow-minded at times,” Kean said. “I can understand you don’t want to watch your dad, but—”
“I’m not narrow-minded.”
Kean lifted an eyebrow, meeting Bray’s eyes dead on. “I wasn’t done talking.”
“I just wanted to stress I’m not narrow-minded.”
Kean was pretty even-tempered, but frustration bubbled up inside him at Bray’s careless arrogance. “You could’ve done that without interrupting me, by waiting until I was finished speaking,” he said, his tone sharpening.
Bray looked startled, frowning. “You don’t have to make such a big deal out of it.”
“I wouldn’t if I had even the slightest impression you regretted it, but I don’t. You seem to think it’s normal behavior to be interrupting other people. Would you do that to your dad?”
Bray’s frown deepened. “Of course not. He wouldn’t let me, and besides, he’s my father.”
The unspoken assumption was crystal clear to Kean. “So it’s not okay to interrupt your father because he outranks you, but it’s okay to do it to me because I’m a beta?”
“No, that’s not what I meant. It’s…” He stopped talking, and Kean saw the moment he realized he’d been painted into a corner. His shoulders dropped, and with a sheepish look on his face, he said, “It’s never okay to interrupt someone.”
Kean nodded, satisfied with that conclusion. “On that, we agree, so do me a favor and let me finish my sentences. It is a big deal, and if you keep doing it, I’ll make an even bigger deal out of it. Now, if you’ll excuse me, there’s a live porn show I need to watch.”
He’d already turned around and taken a few steps toward the kitchen when Bray’s voice rang out. “What did you want to say? When I interrupted you, I mean. You were saying something about my dad and those two. What was it?”
Kean slowly pirouetted. “Those two? You can’t even bring yourself to say their names, can you?”
“They’re younger than me, than my brothers. How could I be okay with that?”
For the first time, Kean sensed the underlying hurt in Bray’s anger. “I can understand that will take getting used to, but try to see how happy your dad is. Watch him with Lars and Sven. Just watch the three of them interact, and you’ll see how good they are for him. He loves them, and they love him. Are you begrudging them that? Besides, they didn’t choose this. They’re fated mates.”
“Fated mates,” Bray harrumphed. “I don’t believe in that.”
Kean couldn’t help himself from reacting with a little shock. “You don’t believe in fated mates? How can you not after watching the pack alpha and his men?”
