These Broken Wings

ready to run

RickyJo had never been on a date before. And certainly had no idea how to dress for one. She poked around in her closet, which mostly consisted of athletic workout clothes and jeans. There was a rack of formal dresses her grandmother picked out and bought for her. She never wore a single one of them. And wasn’t planning to start today. Finally, she just shrugged and pulled on a well worn pair of jeans and a tank top. She didn’t question her fashion choices until she walked into the dining room and saw her mate in a full on suit. He looked so handsome, she felt her heart catch in her chest.

“Oh,” she said, looking down at herself in embarrassment, “...maybe I should go back up and change.” Her mate rose from his seat, smiling over at her. She was relieved that he at least didn’t seem to be offended by her casual attire. Her grandfather was always lecturing her about offending people, which was something she seemed to be capable of doing just by being herself.

“You look perfect,” he told her, trying not to laugh when his mate wrinkled up her nose and looked at him like she thought he was full of s**t. He actually wasn’t. She did look perfect. Her jeans were snug and showed off the curve of her hips. He could see her shoulders and the defined muscles in her arms. And her tank top hung low enough on the sides to reveal a peek of her sheer black lace bra.

Dixon pulled a chair out, standing behind it and waiting for his mate to sit down before he returned to his seat. She lingered for another moment in the doorway and he felt himself wanting to squirm a little under the intensity of her gaze. He saw her eyes flash a brighter green. And then suddenly she was pressed up against him. Her hands fisted into his shirt and she rose up on her tiptoes, burying her face in the crook of his neck. She sucked in a long deep breath. The tip of her nose brushed against the old faded mark his first mate left on his neck. He was doing a good job up until that point of controlling his wolf. But the small bit of intimate contact was more than the animal could take. Shadow forced himself forward, grabbing their mate and burying his face into her neck. Her scent was overwhelming. And mixed with the smell of her growing arousal, it was driving him absolutely wild. His d**k was painfully hard. And he pulled her closer, grinding his hard length into her stomach. Shadow was licking and sucking her neck, grazing his teeth over her marking spot. When he felt his teeth start to elongate, it shook Dixon out of his lust filled haze. He jerked his head back, taking control of his body. His mate was still in his arms. She wasn’t pulling away. But she was shaking with what he assumed was a mixture of adrenaline and desire. He shifted his body away from her, helping her down into the chair he pulled out for her.

“Jade’s kinda wound up,” RickyJo said, grabbing for a glass of water on the table and chugging the contents down in a few hard gulps. “Is your wolf acting crazy too?,” she asked. Dixon nodded, scrubbing his face with his hand and trying to calm the raging beast inside him.

“I don’t know if crazy is what I’d call it, but yeah he’s been at an eleven since yesterday,” he admitted.

“Maybe we could let them out for a run after lunch?,” she suggested. Dixon raised an eyebrow at her, trying to ignore Shadow, who seemed quite eager for what their mate was suggesting.

“You know they might… uh…,” he stammered, reaching for a drink of water.

“...Hump each other like horny wolves?,” she suggested. He coughed, nearly choking on his sip of water. Then he started laughing.

“That won’t bother you?,” he asked.

“Not if it shuts Jade up for a while,” she said with a laugh. “I can’t take much more from her.” Dixon nodded with a small chuckle. He understood exactly what she meant. He called his brother before lunch, to let him know he was going to be staying at Blood Moon longer than he planned. And that he found his mate. Between Shadow’s running s****l commentary and his brother screaming into the phone like a thirteen year old girl instead of a grown man, he felt like he could barely form a coherent thought of his own.

RickyJo’s eyes clouded over. Since a member of the kitchen staff arrived a few moments later with a large carafe of ice water, Dixon assumed that must be who she was linking. Before he could offer to do it for her, she jumped up and poured herself a giant glass of water, chugged it while she was still standing and refilled her glass again before sitting back down. The same omega reappeared again a few minutes later with their lunch.

“I’m sorry I didn’t ask when I linked you for the water,” RickyJo said, “...but would you mind bringing me a really big glass of orange juice?” The omega woman nodded and scurried away. When she returned with the juice, RickyJo thanked her sincerely. The woman smiled at her, and then leaned in to give her a quick hug, shooting a glance at Dixon as she whispered her congratulations to the woman. Dixon watched the interaction between his mate and her inferior with interest. RickyJo spoke to the woman kindly, and treated her with respect and caring even though she was much lower in rank. And he could tell the omega was comfortable in her presence. Dixon was not always a ranked member of his pack. And he personally believed that how the ranked members treated those that were considered less than them said a lot about them as people. He was impressed with his mate. She might think she wasn’t cut out to be a luna, but he didn’t share that opinion.

“Tell me about your family…,” RickyJo asked. She was too nervous to really eat. After a few bites she pushed her plate away and rested her chin on her palm. Dixon sighed. He knew questions about his past would come eventually. He was just hoping to put them off as long as possible.

“I have a younger brother, Dominic. He’s my beta,” Dixon said. “...And a younger half sister named Carissa. Her mate is Geoffrey. They have two kids, Justin’s twelve and Lilliana is nine.”

“Your brother hasn’t found his mate yet?,” she asked. Dixon shook his head. His brother was old to not be mated. Most wolves took a chosen mate if they didn’t find their destined mate by the time they hit thirty. But Dominic had shown no interest in settling down. If he ever did find his destined mate, Dixon hoped the woman would be very understanding. She would have to be to accept his past.

‘He’s a bit of a ladies man,” Dixon admitted with a laugh.

“Your parents?,” RickyJo asked.

Dixon prepared himself that RickyJo might ask about his past. He supposed he could try to gloss over it. But given what his mate had been through in her life, he quickly decided that it would be better to just get everything out in the open. His father was a pack warrior. He died during the last battle of the northern pack wars. The alpha that killed his father, imprinted on his mother the moment his father’s heart stopped beating. He wasn’t happy about being her second chance mate. And he was angry that his mate came with baggage in the form of two young boys. His frustration with her only grew over the years, when she failed to produce a male heir for him.

“That’s where you got the scars on your back?,” RickyJo asked. Dixon looked down, noticing that at some point during his story, she had taken his hand in hers. The sparks tingled up and down his arm, spreading warmth through his body. He nodded. His stepfather beat them regularly. And Dixon often provoked the man on purpose. To keep him from beating Dominic or his mother.

“When I turned eighteen, I challenged him and took his pack.” Dixon’s mother lived on for a few years after that. But she was never really the same. Losing her first mate, and then losing another, even though he was abusive, proved too much for her to bear. Her death was hard on him. But he met his mate Audrey shortly after. The moment they met, he was sure the misery and pain in his life was finally over. Boy was he wrong.

“Enough about me,” Dixon said, trying unsuccessfully to lighten the mood. “Tell me about you.”

“You already met my family. My Poppa and my Nana raised me since I was five. My cousin Jess is three years younger.”

“She’s Andrew’s daughter?,” Dixon asked. RickyJo nodded, asking him if he knew her uncle. “I did,” he said. “He died in the same attack that killed my first mate.” From her look of surprise, he could tell she was never told the details of her uncle's death.

“My Poppa said he died in a car accident,” she admitted. “...Don’t say anything to Jess, okay?”

“What’s the story with her daughter?,” Dixon asked. He didn’t mean to be overly nosy. But since he just dumped all his entire horrid life out, he figured he was allowed to ask a few personal questions.

“Jess went through this whole wild teenage phase. I thought my Poppa was gonna tear his hair out. She was running around with human boys. Cassie’s only half wolf. My Poppa’s still pretty mad about it. He’s worried she might never be able to shift or find her mate.”

“And he’s worried Jessica’s mate might reject her when he finds out she has a half human daughter?” RickyJo nodded. She wasn’t going to say that part. But it was true.

“Your parents?,” Dixon asked. He knew now that she wasn’t Andrew’s daughter. So she must be his niece. Her mother was quite the scandal, if he remembered right. Augustus tried to keep it all hushed up. But people still found out. And spread rumors.

“I never met my father,” RickyJo said. “My mom told me a little about him. But she was high on heroin at the time so I’m not sure how much of it to believe. She killed herself when I was five.”

Nice table conversation… Could the two of you think about anything more miserable to talk about?

“What do you want me to talk about?,” RickyJo asked her nosy wolf. “You wanted me to get to know my mate. That’s what I’m doing.”

Ugh! Fine. Just hurry it up, I’m ready for my run.

RickyJo pushed Jade to the back of her mind, turning her focus back to her mate.

“Anything else horrible that we need to talk about?,” she asked, relieved when he cracked a smile.

“No,” he said, “...but I’m curious what your mother told you about your father.” After seeing Jade, he was curious about his mate’s lineage. She was ripe with Alpha blood on her mother’s side. But to have a wolf that large and powerful, he was willing to bet that she had strong bloodlines on her father’s side as well. And the green eyes could have only come from him. The rest of the King family wolves all had gold eyes.

“She said her mate was a lycan prince that rejected her after he mated with her,” RickyJo said with a shrug. “He was probably just some guy she shagged for a handful of pills.” Dixon didn’t argue, but after seeing RickyJo’s wolf he was willing to believe his mate might have lycan lineage. It would explain Jade’s size and the color of her eyes. If she really wanted to know, his pack doctor could run a dna test on her and find out. But that was a conversation for another day.

“Are you ready to run?,” he asked. RickyJo squeezed his hand tighter, her face lighting up in excitement.

“I’m always ready to run.”