Sheltering His Mate [Cackle Lands 1]

CHAPTER 1 “Miller, when we get there let me do all the talking.” “Cal, why don’t we just forget this? Let’s just go to the human village and——” Cal gasped, “The human village? Have you lost your mind? How many times did our old Alpha say, if we get caught mixing in the human village, we’ll be put to death. You know the Council has forbidden us to do such things, Miller. No, we have to find a new Cackle to join, so we can be safe, and this is our best bet.” Miller sighed, “I don’t like it, Cal. You heard what they said about these guys in the last Cackle territory we were in. Alpha Tyler sounds like a scary guy. What if we go there and they decide to kill us before we can even ask to join?” “Look Miller, we don’t have a lot of choices here. We’ve tried every Cackle for the last two hundred miles and we have been turned down by each and every one of them. If we don’t have a Cackle to call our own in the next week, we’re going to be considered rogue, hunted down by the council guard, and put to death. Now, I don’t know about you, but I am not ready to die. I’m too damn sexy to die, and you are too——well, if you bothered to do something with your hair, and maybe change the way you dress, you would be too cu——” Shaking his head in resignation, Cal said, “how about we just go with, you’re my brother and I don’t want you to die either?” Cal replied. Miller shook his head, then softly said, “Cal, why don’t you just go? If I wasn’t there, you would have been accepted in any of those other Cackles we were at. Heck, if we weren’t for me, we wouldn’t even be in this mess.” “No, Miller. If it weren’t for me and my big mouth, we wouldn’t be in this mess. I’m the one that told our old Cackle leader you were a healer to begin with. If I hadn’t done that, you wouldn’t have been put in the situation you were, and our lives would be safe, and we would have at least been given the opportunity to switch Cackles,” Cal insisted. Miller snorted, “Cal, Alfa Lenox had every intention of killing us on the spot, just for being gay. You only did what you did to keep us both alive. I just wish I would have been able to do it. If I had we would still be with our old Cackle, even though they knew we were gay.” Cal shook his head, “Miller, Alpha Lenox was trying to figure out a way to get you out of our Cackle just because you weren’t born a “real” hyena, ever since he took over our Cackle. Besides, I should never have told him you were a healer. You said you didn’t know what you did that day to heal me after I was attacked by Cass. I was just so scared when the Alpha found us before we could get out of our Cackle territory. The bigoted ass was about to enter our hiding spot and I panicked.” Miller felt a tear run down his cheek as he thought about that day. He had never been so scared in his life. Miller had been cleaning when the scent of blood had him opening the door to find his brother, in his shifted form, laying on the ground whimpering and bleeding profusely from a large wound to his throat. How Cal had not died that day was a miracle, all in itself. Miller had rushed to his brother crying, putting pressure on the wound and praying for Cal to heal. It was at that moment he noticed his skin was warming and the area around him was getting brighter and brighter. By the time things started to normalize, Cal was laying there completely healed and Miller was ready to pass out from exhaustion. Cal asked what Miller had done, but Miller could only shake his head and insist he had no idea. Suddenly, Alpha Lenox and his circle had arrived and was ready to attack when Cal sat up shouting that if they killed him and Miller, they would be killing a true healer. Then the real nightmare started for them both. “Well, well, well——what do we have here? Why are two of the Bay side hyenas in Northern territory?”, a dark menacing voice asked. Cal and Miller both turned, and Miller felt his heart stop when he saw two men standing there with two of the largest wolves Miller had ever seen in his life. Cal did what he always did, stepping in front of Miller and making himself the first target if they were going to attack. Then, one of the hyenas lifted his head, drawing in a deep breath, and turned to look at Cal and Miller with a low growl. Seconds later, one of the men was lifting his head and doing the same as the hyena next to him had just done. His distrust was in his eyes as well as his voice, “One of you is not hyena, yet the rank smell of Lenox is all over your skanky asses.” Cal quickly snapped, “Our asses are not skanky! We are no longer in Lenox’s Cackle. We came here to talk to your Alpha and ask for asylum.” The one that had done all the talking so far softly laughed, “Oh, and you think we’re just going to take you to our Alpha now, do you? Why not just kill you and be done with it?” The large grey and tan hyena that had sniffed earlier started walking towards them. Miller began to shake as the beast got closer. Then the thing did something that surprised everyone; it turned and sat on Cal’s feet, growling. “What the hell are you doing, Jackson? Get back over here,” the other man snapped. There was a slight buzz in the air as the hyena shimmered and shifted into a tall muscular man with dirty blonde hair. Damn, he had a fine ass. “f**k me, you’re gorgeous,” Cal gasped. Miller watched his brother practically drool over the man before them. When the guy turned around and smiled, Cal’s cheeks turned a dark shade of red. He then cleared his throat, fluttered his lashes, flipped his long dark hair back, and said in the most flirtatious tone, “Damn, you’re even better from the front.” “Glad you like it, Red. I’m Jackson Turner. What’s your name?” Cal flipped his hair back once more, saying in a sultry voice, “Calvin Gold. This is my brother, Miller.” “Well, Cal, how about we go and talk to the Alpha,” Jackson said with a sexy smile, meant only for Cal. “I’d love that, thank you.” Cal replied, sounding just as breathy as he had a moment ago. The large lug that had been talking earlier, quickly stepped forward, snapping, “Jackson, we can’t just take two complete strangers, from our enemy’s Cackle to see our Alpha. It just isn’t done.” Jackson turned to the man, harshly saying, “My brother can decide if he wants to see them or not, Parker. Now, let’s go.” “Your brother’s the alpha?” Miller asked. Nodding, Jackson said, “Yes, and I am his enforcer. This butt head is Parker, the beta, the guy next to him is our Cackle’s other beta, Warren, and the hyena that looks like it wants to attack and die, is our Delta, Nathanial.” “Hello,” Miller and Cal said in unison. Jackson looked at Cal, asking, “Why are you asking for asylum, Red?” Cal looked at Miller, hesitating, but Miller was tired of running and tired of being scared. If this Cackle was going to allow them to see their Alpha, they had a right to know that by doing so could bring danger to their people. So, Miller stepped up, saying, “Our Alpha found out we are gay and ordered a hunt, and there is a mage trying to get to me and take me as his own.” Jackson’s brow rose, “And why would this mage be after you?” Miller lowered his eyes, saying, “Because we made a deal with the man. If he helped us, I would be his, but——" “So, you make a deal and then break it? There is no honor in welching on a deal,” Parker stated firmly. Cal turned to the beta, hissing, “He didn’t make the deal, I did. I tried to take my brother’s place, but the man refuses. He says that he will have Miller as his own, or kill us both himself.” “The thing is, the Alpha wants me for himself as well,” Miller muttered. “I did the only thing I could think of, grabbing my brother and making a run for it.” Parker looked at Cal, “I thought you said your Alpha ordered a hunt on you because you were gay?” Nodding, Miller replied, “He did, but I guess he decided there was something I had to offer that was far more important to him.” “Oh? What is that?” Parker asked. “Look, if we can talk to your Alpha, we can tell you the entire story. I promise we will tell you guys everything. However, we’ve been here too long, and we need to get the hell out of this area before the mage shows up,” Miller insisted. “We would know if someone breached our territory, just as we knew when you did,” Warren stated. “Our old Cackle had alarms and guards as well, and the mage still got past them all without them ever knowing it. I have a feeling the same will happen with you,” Cal insisted. Miller looked around nervously, “Can we please just go? If your Alpha doesn’t agree to help us, you can kill us without any argument from me, because we’ll be dead anyway.” Jackson lifted a brow, then said, “No one is dying tonight. Let’s go and talk to my brother.”