Prodigal (Outcast Sons Book 1) Page 8

  The shooter howled in agony and dropped the gun, and his compatriots deserted him, fleeing at top speed. Jon let go, and the guy turned and ran for his life, his arm dripping with blood.

  Jon stood there, watching, his ears pricked and his head on one side. A low, ominous growl pulsed from his throat. At last he seemed convinced that the pack of humans had gone. He turned and padded back to where Caeden sat, slumped against a junked car, and shifted back to his human form. He knelt beside Cae, his forehead furrowed with worry.

  “I think we have a problem,” he said.

  ✽✽✽

  Cae’s t-shirt was black, and in the moon-silvered darkness it was hard to see how badly he was injured, but Jon’s nose told him everything he needed to know. There was fresh blood everywhere, and it wasn’t just from the human he’d injured. Most of it was from Cae.

  His friend badly needed a hospital, but that was the one place Jon couldn’t take him. Wolves might look like humans in one of their forms, but they were physically very different, and even the stupidest doctor couldn’t fail to notice.

  This was why their town had its own doctors, and part of the reason why wolves generally didn’t leave their own communities and live among humans for long periods of time. The United States government frowned upon wolves making their presence known unnecessarily, and if he took Cae to a hospital, the two of them might wind up imprisoned somewhere, or possibly conveniently dead. Wolves didn’t trust the human government, and with damned good reason.

  So his only choice was to get Cae back home. Even though the alpha was a couple inches taller and thirty or forty pounds heavier, Jon had the strength of an adult wolf, and he could probably manage to move the other man some distance in a fireman’s carry.

  But being moved might kill Cae. And even if he could get his friend a ways out of the city, what then? He surely wasn’t going to be able to carry him all the way home, and even if he did somehow manage it, Cae would have bled to death long since.

  “I have to call the Pack,” he said.

  “No.” Cae’s voice was feeble, but insistent. “I don’t want them to see me like this, Jon. Weaker than ever. I can’t—no. Can’t go back.”

  Jon gritted his teeth and consciously submerged his natural submissive tendencies. Yeah, Cae was an alpha, but if the two of them didn’t find some help right away…then he was going to die.

  Jon couldn’t allow that. The thought made something deep inside of him howl in grief and rage, and allowed him to defy an alpha in a way he hadn’t known he could.

  “Yes, you can,” he said coolly. “You’re going to have to.”

  “What about—another Pack…?”

  “There isn’t another Pack within five hundred miles, and you know it.” He came to a decision. He had to get Cae out of here, and he was out of options. He pulled on his jeans and shoes and made a quick phone call. Then he kneeled, hefting Cae up onto his shoulders and praying it wouldn’t hurt the other man too badly, or worsen his injuries. Cae grunted with pain, but didn’t yelp.

  Jon shattered the chain on the gate with one well-aimed blow and trotted rapidly out of the junkyard, leaving the bad part of town behind them as quickly as possible.

  Cae was heavier than he’d expected, but the strange fire their lovemaking had ignited inside Jon burned deep inside him, giving him strength. Not that he needed it, not really. Even if he’d been shot and dripping blood himself, he damn well wouldn’t have left Cae behind. He’d never leave Cae behind.

  He knew that if the two of them returned to the Pack, the Alpha might well kill him for what he’d done with Cae tonight, but he shoved that concern aside for now. His own fate didn’t seem to matter that much. What mattered right now was Cae. His friend, and his lover.

  For Cae, he would gladly lie down his life if he had to.

  This was what he had come to the city for, after all. He’d come to save Cae, to rescue him… and to take him home.

  And that was exactly what he was going to do.

  PART THREE

  PRODIGAL

  Chapter 10

  “Hang in there, Cae.”

  Jon staggered down the curving, narrow road that led out of Crystal City. It was fortunately not heavily traveled this time of night, though he’d had to make quick detours into the trees several times when he’d heard the sound of an oncoming car. He’d started off at a brisk trot, but the weight on his shoulders was starting to tell on his strength. He was much stronger than the average human—but the inert form on his shoulders was heavy as hell.

  It worried him that Cae hadn’t moved in the past ten minutes, hadn’t even groaned in pain. The coppery scent of blood hung heavy in Jon’s nostrils. He could feel that Cae was still alive, could feel the warmth of his skin, could hear the faint rasp of his breathing. But he wanted Cae to wake up, to curse at him for daring to carry him toward home, to moan in pain. Anything to let him know that the other man would be okay.

  But Cae was silent.

  At last, near the city line, a sleek silver Lexus glided to a halt in an empty parking lot nearby, and Jon made his stumbling way toward it. Dr. Bronson—better known as Rich to everyone he’d slept with, and that was just about everyone, including Jon—got out of the car and helped Jon get Cae on the grassy border alongside the lot. He examined his shoulder quickly.

  “Gunshot wound,” he commented. “Don’t usually see those at home. You boys run into a pack of humans?”

  “Yeah.” Jon didn’t bother to explain that Cae had spent the past month antagonizing humans, and had probably brought this upon himself. Something was wrong with his friend, and everyone knew it. It was why he’d been sent to the city, to try to bring Cae home.

  And instead he’d almost gotten them both killed.

  Rich sent him a quick, sympathetic glance. “Humans are like that. But don’t worry. It went straight through, and didn’t hit a bone or an organ.” He spoke in reassuring tones as he bandaged it up. Rich was a good-looking guy of about thirty-five, his skin dark brown, his clothes impeccably tailored. Unlike most of the Pack, he’d spent a good deal of time among humans while getting his medical degree, and knew what they were capable of. “I don’t even need to stitch it, not on a wolf. It’ll heal by itself in a day or two.”

  “What about all the blood loss?” Jon asked anxiously.

  “Oh, this is nothing.” Despite the lightness of his tone, Rich’s hands were quick and competent. “I’m just bandaging it up to keep him from bleeding all over my Lexus, that’s all. Trust me, this is barely a scratch.”

  Jon looked at the wound that went straight through from Cae’s chest to his back, and felt ill. But despite his roiling stomach, he was aware that Rich knew what he was talking about. Wolves weren’t humans, and even though they weren’t invincible, it did take a hell of a lot to kill them. If he hadn’t gotten Cae medical help, he might have bled to death, but now he ought to be just fine.

  Intellectually, he knew this, but the smell of Cae’s blood still lingered in his nostrils, making him edgy, anxious.

  They stretched Cae out in the back seat and immobilized him, then Jon climbed into the front seat. Rich started the car and headed down the dark highway, then looked over at Jon and sniffed. Passing headlights illuminated the concern on his face in quick, silver-white flashes.

  “You sure you want to go back to the Pack, kid?”

  “I have to.” Jon heaved a sigh and leaned his aching head back against the leather headrest. “The Alpha sent me to bring Cae back. So I’m bringing him back.”

  “Yeah, but the two of you…” Rich sniffed again, and nodded toward Jon’s bare chest. Jon had done his best to wipe away the drying jizz, but any wolf would be able to smell sex on him. Hell, a human could probably smell it. “The Alpha’s not going to like it, you know.”

  “I know. I’m hoping he’ll let me live.”

  “Oh, he won’t kill you, not as long as you roll over and show him your belly. But he’ll make your life a living hell, probabl
y from now till eternity. Listen, kid… I like you, so I’m gonna be straight with you. I know the two of you have been best friends for years, but you have to realize Caeden isn’t for you.”

  “Yeah.” Jon looked out the window at the passing night, sighing more heavily. “I know. I’m just a omega, and not even a high-ranking one. But I fought for him, Rich. I turned into a wolf and I attacked a human with the gun, and never thought twice about it. I fought for him. Me.”

  “Not surprised.” The corner of Rich’s mouth turned up a bit. “You’ve always loved him, Jonny. That’s been obvious to everyone for a long time. Even when the two of us were sleeping together, I could tell your heart wasn’t really in it. I knew who had your heart, and so does everyone else in town. But the thing is… it doesn’t matter how you feel. Alphas don’t mate with omegas, and alpha males don’t mate with other guys. Not ever. They just don’t.”

  “I know.” Jon felt his heart shrivel inside him. If Rich, who was flamboyantly gay, couldn’t accept their pairing, then God knew the rest of the Pack wouldn’t.

  Oh, who the hell was he kidding, anyway? Even Cae wouldn’t. Cae wasn’t interested in him that way, not really. Cae had been screwed up and in emotional distress and homesick—and Jon—

  Well, Jon had taken advantage of him.

  Really, he thought grimly, he deserved to be ripped to pieces.

  He looked out into the night, feeling his chest ache, his eyes burn, his throat close up with tears.

  This, he thought, must be what a broken heart felt like.

  ✽✽✽

  The instant they arrived back in Wolf Green, Cae was lifted out of the Lexus by two burly nurses. He didn’t stir, didn’t even moan, and Jon grabbed at Rich’s arm, so agitated he almost shifted into his wolf form involuntarily. “Hang on, Rich. Where are you taking him?”

  “My clinic. Just to keep an eye on him for a while.” Rich had dropped into his doctor voice, gentle and soothing, and the wolf inside Jon subsided a bit. “Don’t worry, Jonny. He’ll be okay, I promise.”

  Better than you, he didn’t add, but Jon heard the echoes of it anyway, saw the concern in the doctor’s night-dark eyes. Jon raised his shoulders and lifted his head, straightening to his full six-foot height. He knew what his next duty was, and he wasn’t looking forward to it, but it had to be done.

  If he didn’t report to the Alpha… the Alpha would find him.

  He wished he could shower off the scents of blood and jizz that clung to him, and put on a shirt, but it didn’t really matter. The Alpha would know anyway. The Alpha always knew. That was why he was the Alpha.

  “Take good care of him,” he said softly, and turned away.

  He headed down the tree-lined streets, breathing in the familiar small-town scents of fresh air and wood smoke and cut grass. He’d lived here in Wolf Green, a small, old-fashioned town nestled in Virginia’s Shenandoah valley, all his life. He’d always lived surrounded by his own kind, and despite his low ranking in the Pack, he loved it here. It would be nice to be home, if he weren’t so worried about Cae.

  And if he wasn’t unhappily aware that he was in deep, deep shit.

  ✽✽✽

  “Your son is fine, sir.”

  Rich spoke into his cell phone, as reassuringly as possible. The Alpha, of course, would never admit to being worried or concerned about anything, but Rich knew perfectly well he’d been half out of his mind with anxiety over Cae. The young man might have turned out to be a terrible disappointment, to the Alpha and to all of the Pack—but he was still the Alpha’s only child.

  “Fine?” The Alpha’s voice rumbled in Rich’s ear like a bass drum. “Wasn’t he running amok in the human city, attacking people?”

  “Yes, sir, but—”

  “In that case,” the Alpha said, “he is the furthest thing from fine. You’ll need to determine the problem.”

  “Yes, sir. I was speaking more of his physical condition. He and young MacArthur apparently ran into a human pack in the city. There was an altercation, and your son was shot through the shoulder. But he’ll be fine.”

  “Humans.” The Alpha’s voice dripped with disdain. “So unpredictably violent. If only they had ranks to help keep them in line.”

  “Yes, sir.” Rich had heard this particular argument before. Most of wolf society felt that humans were little better than wild animals. Rich had lived among them long enough to know that wasn’t the case, but there was no denying that humans could be dangerous. “However, despite the fact that your son will recover from this injury… we have a problem. A rather large problem.”

  “Well, don’t keep me in suspense, Doctor. What is the issue?”

  Rich sighed. He was more than a little worried that the old human saying about not killing the messenger might apply here, maybe even literally. He liked Jonathan, and didn’t want the young man to wind up on the Alpha’s shit list. But he had a duty to inform the Alpha, and couldn’t avoid it.

  “You’ll know,” he answered, “the moment MacArthur walks in. The fact is, sir, that he’s in the very early stages of going into heat.”

  “In heat? But omegas only go into heat when—”

  Rich blew out another sigh. “When they’re in the process of bonding with their true mate. Yes, sir. That’s precisely the problem.”

  There was a long silence, which Rich assumed was the Alpha coming to grips with the information. “Are you telling me,” he said at last, in a low growl, “that Jon and my son are—that the two of them—”

  “It appears that way, sir.”

  “Impossible,” the Alpha said flatly, as if his declaration could alter a basic fact of biology. “An alpha male cannot have sex with another male, and he certainly can’t bond with one. Particularly not an omega.”

  “Perhaps not, sir.” Rich decided not to mention the possible exceptions he’d come across in lupine medical literature. Not right now, not when it seemed that the Alpha might just be angry enough to shift, lope down Main Street, and tear him limb from limb. Rich was very fond of his limbs, and preferred that they remain attached to his body. He spoke as tactfully as possible. “But I think it’s clear that the two of them did engage in some sexual activities in the city. However, your son is not quite an ordinary alpha, and he has been experiencing some sort of physical problem this past month. Perhaps as a result…”

  “So MacArthur took advantage of his vulnerable state, and now he’s in the process of life-bonding with the young man because he’s failed to shift? Is that what you’re saying?”

  “I’m not quite sure what the mechanism is, sir, and I’m not trying to lay blame on MacArthur. I’m simply saying that it’s obvious that your son and Jonathan are in the process of forming a bond.”

  Another long silence, during which Rich glanced nervously at the door to his office, half expecting the enormous grizzled wolf form of the Alpha to come bursting in, fangs bared. But at last the Alpha spoke in his ear.

  “How can we fix this, Doctor?”

  “Fix it?” Rich echoed, puzzled. “I don’t understand, sir. Are you talking about interfering with a life bond?”

  The bonding process was almost sacred among their people, and once it had begun, it generally ran it course in around a month. Rich had never heard of anyone trying to stop the process once it had begun. But the Alpha snorted.

  “Obviously. This—this perversion cannot be allowed.”

  Rich felt his spine stiffen. Despite himself, his tone sharpened.

  “Perversion, sir?”

  The Alpha seemed to grasp the meaning behind Rich’s irritation. Prior to bonding for life, most wolves were pretty casual about sex, and bisexuality among their people was far more the norm than it was among humans. Rich was unusual only in the fact that he was exclusively interested in one gender, but that was not unheard of, and wasn’t considered wrong or sinful. He’d only run into that sort of attitude when he’d lived among humans, and the Alpha’s words startled him into anger.

  “I apolo
gize.” The Alpha spoke stiffly, but for him to apologize at all was shocking, and Rich’s gust of temper quickly evaporated. “I was not referring to homosexual behaviors in general, but rather to the frankly horrific idea that an alpha should mate for life with someone of the same gender. That can’t be allowed, Dr. Bronson. Since two males cannot have cubs together, it would result in the end of the Wolf line, and that is utterly unacceptable. Can it be stopped?”

  Rich thought about Jon, hopelessly in love with the alpha for all these years. It didn’t seem so hopeless now, and he didn’t want to hurt the kid. And yet Jon—a meek, gentle, low-ranked omega—wasn’t fit to be the mate of a man who still might one day lead the Pack. He just wasn’t. Even if he’d really charged the human pack in Caeden’s defense, he just wasn’t tough enough to stand by an Alpha’s side.

  The Alpha was right, even if he was right for the wrong reasons. Rich put his personal concerns aside, and dropped into his professional mode, considering the matter.

  “I’d have to do a review of the literature,” he said, “but it’s my belief that the bonding began tonight. Since it’s quite early in the process, it is very likely that separating the two of them for the next month or so would disrupt the biological mechanism, and put an end to the bond for good.”

  “Are you certain?”

  “No. It’s impossible to be certain. But I definitely think it’s worth a try.”

  “Very well,” the Alpha said. The phone went dead in Rich’s ear, and he dropped it onto his desk, sighing. Damn it. He didn’t like this at all. Caeden had already had some sort of physical issue, and if they abruptly ripped away the wolf he’d been in the process of forming a pair bond with—

  Well, things were going to get worse before they got better.

  ✽✽✽

  Since it was evening, Jon knew he wouldn’t find the Alpha in the town hall. Most likely he was at home, relaxing in the huge old Victorian mansion, dripping with ornate gingerbread, that had been the Wolf home for more than a century. Well… not relaxing, not really. Not even now that his son and heir had been restored to him. Whatever was wrong with Cae needed to be corrected before the Alpha could feel at ease.