Chapter 4-2
2013 Words
“By all means. Rene, Edward?”
“Yes please, Alpha.” Martin poured and handed a snifter of brandy to Rene and Edward.
“When Dimitri came near my mate, Sean was covered in the smell of week-old garbage from the docks.
“If we don’t mate until we are on pack lands, only the Alphas will know he is an Omega or that he has Talent.” Armand took the snifter from Martin.
“Dimitri will try to use the Alpha Mate to buy his way back into the Russian Council. For such a prize they may disregard every treaty their council has ever signed.” Rene swirled the liquor around the glass.
“However, once we are mated, he can’t do a thing.” Armand stood.
“You aren’t going to take him for twelve days? He’s your mate.” Rene was aghast.
Armand ignored Rene’s comment. It was hard enough to do, but to discuss it was untenable. He abruptly changed the subject.
“But what is the problem with La Farge besides the territorial dispute?” Armand took a sip from his glass.
“I have a bad feeling about him, Alpha. I can’t explain it, but you can’t trust him.”
“Investigate this feeling of yours.” Armand snapped.
* * * *
Sean approached the door of the study and heard the last part of the conversation. He entered the room.
“Ah, there you are, baby. Did Mr. Abbott tire you? Have you eaten?”
Sean smiled. “Mr. Abbott is finished, Meg gave me a wonderful soup and a roast beef sandwich, and yes, I slept.” He stepped further into the room and perched himself on the arm of Armand’s chair.
“Sean, these are my Betas, Martin and Rene DuBois, and this is Martin’s mate, Edward Keller.”
Sean stepped up to shake the men’s hands.
“It’s a pleasure to welcome you to the pack, Alpha Mate. It is a fortunate day that an Omega with Talent comes to our pack.”
Sean gave Armand a quizzical look. “Omega? Talent? You’ve got to keep me up to speed, my head is spinning, Armand. What haven’t you told me yet?”
Rene chuckled.
“Yes, Rene, my mate is a bit of a smart-ass.”
The room burst out in laughter.
“He’ll keep you grounded in reality, Alpha. I think I’m going to like you, Alpha Mate,” Rene said.
“I hope so since it seems that you’re in charge of keeping me safe.” Sean turned to Armand, “Talent?”
“I’ll explain this to you in a bit. Rene, Martin, you’ll take care of the extra security? I expect to see all of you at the wedding on the Saturday after next and make sure Jacques takes care of that other matter.”
The gentlemen stepped to the study door as Pierre appeared.
“Pierre, will you see my guests out?”
“Of course, Alpha.”
“Oh,” Armand spoke, everyone stood still. “Edward, see to changing my will, Pierre has Jacques seeing to my accounts.”
“Immediately, Alpha.”
“Pierre, get the invitations engraved and out by tomorrow.”
“Engraved, sir, not printed?”
“Yes, engraved. It wouldn’t suit my position on the council if we laser printed the invitations. Spend whatever you must.”
“Yes, Alpha, immediately.”
Armand closed the study door as Pierre saw the gentlemen out.
“Engraved?” Sean asked. “You’re talking to a Kinko’s guy here.”
“Yes, love. I want nothing but the best for you. I want to show the world how much you mean to me. If we can’t have a large, all out wedding, I wish to make sure that the council and all of the pack know where you stand in my affections.”
“I’m definitely going to have to teach you about saving money.”
Armand laughed in delight, “And I you about spending it.”
He pulled Sean into his arms for a searing kiss. Sean responded in kind. Armand traced Sean’s lips with his tongue and Sean’s mouth opened for him. Sean let his lover explore the inside of his mouth. His shaft hardened against Armand’s leg.
Armand put his arms around Sean waist. “We have to go out.”
“That’s disappointing.” Sean put his arms around his soon-to-be lover and begged another kiss.
Armand pulled away from the kiss and lifted Sean off of his lap as he eased them out of the chair. “I need to give you an explanation.”
“Yes, I think you do, although your kisses are a soul-searing distraction.”
Armand laughed and pulled Sean closer into the curve of his arm.
“Do I call you Alpha?” Sean asked.
“No, my love, you can call me anything you like,” a smiling Armand answered.
“Well, tell me what I need to know so we can get back to the good stuff,” Sean said placing his hand under Armand’s shirt and twirling his fingers through his soft chest hair.
“If you keep that up, I’ll never get to the explanation.” Armand’s eyes were black with passion. “My wolf will come out and mate you here in the study and I’m old fashioned enough to want to be wed before we bed.”
“I’ll just rest my hand there if you don’t mind. I like your skin exposed to my touch.”
“My little Omega is feisty.” Armand laved at a spot on Sean’s neck that drove him crazy with desire.
“There is that word, again. An explanation, please.”
Armand lifted his head reluctantly from his mate’s enticing neck.
“The sofa?” Sean asked.
“Yes, the sofa.” Armand smiled. “Omegas are the smallest wolves in the pack and are naturally submissive. Because of their perceived weakness, the goddess sometimes gives them a Talent. Some have the gift of healing, some are empaths. The gifts run the gamut of human psi. The gift never manifests itself until after the mating. I can feel you have a great Talent, yet I don’t know what it is.
“As soon as an Omega meets his mate, the Alpha of the pack is immediately made aware if there is a gift, because not all Omegas have one. But this gift puts you in great danger, especially from rogues like Dimitri. He wanted to use you to get back into the Russian Pack because the Russian Alpha loves men with your looks and Talent is the icing on a very handsome cake. Every man the Russian Alpha f****d while we trained to be Alphas together looked exactly like you down to the green eyes.”
“I’m in trouble because I’m a blond? There have to be a lot of blond Russians.”
“But not blonds who have no one that could complain if he went missing. Dimitri thought you were a street kid. He probably now knows you are a were. The gossip goes quickly from house to house on the square and the Russian Council has spies in the city. Weres with your color hair and eyes are rare. If Dimitri finds out you are an Omega, you would be irresistible to the Russian Alpha. As I said, though we trained to be Alphas together, he is not my friend.”
“Irresistible?”
“Seriously, they would slay me before your gift manifested. An unmated Omega is fair game. They would force you to mate with one of their own. A second mating would be possible if I were dead. Should he find out that you have a great Talent, he will redouble his efforts to find you and use you to buy his way back into the Russian packs.”
Sean thought for a moment and asked in a quiet voice, “Is that why you want me?”
Armand moved Sean closer so that he sat on the Alpha’s erection. “No, my love. I knew you were my mate before I was aware you were loup-garou. It wasn’t until you got close to me I knew. You were fragrant at the time.”
Sean laughed.
“I would have loved you no matter what you were, wolf or human, Beta, pack member or Omega, it made no difference. You are my fated mate.”
“Is all of your pack gay?” asked Sean trying hard to pay attention despite sitting on his mate’s rock hard erection.
“No, just the Council and all of the Alphas.”
Sean looked at Armand with surprise. “Why? In the human world gays are despised and we have to fight hatred and discrimination.”
“In a wolf pack the Alpha must be neutral in all his dealings. We can’t even sire male pups, bitches, yes, pups, no. If we could have boy pups, we could favor them over other more talented wolves. We have had this system in place since time immortal. All of the pups are the responsibility of the Alpha and we care for all of them in turn once they can leave their mother. The bitches and sires help but the Alpha has the final say over where in the pack hierarchy a pup is eventually placed.”
“I can see where that would be a problem if you have children of your own,” Sean said seriously.
“In the pack, the Alphas and the Betas must fight for their positions with intelligence, cunning, and might. Since few pups are born into a pack, and fewer of those pups prefer their own s*x, the violence is kept to a minimum. I believe you have a great Talent for empathy in addition to any Talent that is gods given. This Talent would temper any decisions I make in anger. It can also help to soothe bitches about to whelp.”
Sean looked directly into Armand’s eyes. “Since you are the head of the North American Council and your own pack, I can be very useful in preventing usurpation of authority.”
“Yes, my love, as you would also be to the Russians. Do you see now why I must keep you safe? Your gift will manifest itself as soon as we make love and you take my mating knot. You are bound to me by pack law only after you take my mating bite and show it to the pack in New Mexico. I must keep you safe until then. Since you accepted my proposal of marriage, will you also accept this aspect of pack life? Will you still agree to be mine?”
Sean sighed putting his arms around his soon-to-be husband. “I would have told you earlier this afternoon but you were busy. I love you and I will take you any way I can get you. I don’t know how this happened so fast. I have no idea where these feelings came from or have any control over them.” Sean shrugged. He thought for a moment, “I guess we can never have children. I always thought that I would adopt or hire a surrogate to have a child.”
“We will be blessed with children. If you are gay and a werewolf you are an Alpha. Alphas have only produced bitches from time immortal. You wouldn’t mind a little girl to spoil?”
The furrow in Sean’s brow disappeared and his naturally sunny disposition returned. “I would love to spoil a little girl. I might even prefer it.”
Sean’s hand began to move again, and Armand lightly slapped it down. “Tomorrow we have to go to City Hall to obtain a marriage license and to the jewelers today. So go upstairs and straighten your clothes and I’ll call Rene to bring around the car.”
“I thought Pierre drove.”
“From now until we get to New Mexico, we will be under constant guard. It will ease once we are with the pack. Trust me on this, it is for the best.”
Sean rose up and started to leave the room when he had a thought, he turned back to Armand. “Will I be able to finish school?”
“Oh, my poor baby, you said yes to me without even knowing…I’m honored to have you as my mate. Yes, of course you will be able to finish school. Once we are mated and the danger from Dimitri has passed, we can come back to New York and you can continue on at NYU Institute of Fine Arts or you can transfer your credits to UNM, the University of New Mexico, or the University of Colorado at Boulder. If you decide on New Mexico, you will have access to the artists who make the fine Native American pottery you wish to study.”
“You have handed me everything I’ve ever wanted without me even having to ask. I only hope that my love suffices as my gift to you.” Tears formed in Sean’s eyes. “I have nothing else.”
“You are my mate. After all this time I never believed I would find you. You have given me everything.”
- Writer
