“Well, maybe I should have.” He combed his fingers through his hair. “I loved my brother, you know that. But he spent so much time working his way through every willing body that he couldn’t concentrate on his responsibilities to the pack. Maybe if I’d helped my dad when he tried to talk sense into Jerold, things with Timothy would have been different.”
“You were a kid back then. You can’t blame yourself for what that male Omega did or what your brother did.”
“I’m not blaming myself.” Mostly. “But I’m not going to pretend everybody other than Tillers was perfect, and I’m not going to paint every male Omega with the same brush just because Jerold claimed they could seduce an Alpha into losing his free will and becoming a mindless hormone.”
“A mindless hormone?” She arched one eyebrow.
“I may be embellishing for effect, but you get the idea.”
“Yes, I get the idea.” She nodded. “But keep in mind that your hound dog brother isn’t the only Alpha who lost control because of a male Omega. The rumors out of the Green Field pack are that Iredell was quiet and kind before he met Timothy. Now the guy lives alone in the forest, and his only socialization with other shifters consists of coming here and challenging you. That shit is not normal, and if being with a male Omega had anything to do with it, we need to keep close tabs on the Purple Sky Alpha and his mate.”
“I’ll make sure the pack stays safe. Don’t worry.” He had been doing that from the moment he had stepped into the role of pack Alpha. But before he went to meet the visitors from Purple Sky, Morgan had to figure out why his mind and body couldn’t stop pinging with a need to track something he couldn’t quite identify and yet absolutely couldn’t deny. “Do you smell something?”
“No.” Lillian tilted her head up and twitched her nose. “What kind of smell?”
“Never mind.”
“Okay.” She tapped her foot a few times and then said, “I think I know who to invite to the dinner. I’ll handle it.”
“Thanks, Lil.” Morgan turned in the opposite direction and inhaled. That scent was incredible and he needed to find its source. “I’ll see you at dinner.”
Chapter 3
“I don’t like this,” Alpha Berger muttered as he paced across the room for what had to be the hundredth time.
Fairly sure a response from him wasn’t desired, Ricky continued his course of action from the past half hour and stayed silent.
“They’ve basically locked us up. Who does that unless they have bad intentions?”
The bedroom door wasn’t actually locked, something Alpha Berger knew because he had, on three occasions, opened and then loudly closed it, so Ricky assumed he wasn’t speaking literally. He also assumed the comment wasn’t intended as a question for him to answer, which was good because he had no insight into why they were being treated so oddly by the Golden Valley pack. So while Alpha Berger paced and muttered, Ricky quietly picked at a thread on his pants.
“Ricky?”
Jerking his head up, Ricky said, “Yes?”
“Did you hear me?”
Regardless of whether Alpha Berger had been asking him questions, it was disrespectful of Ricky to ignore an Alpha. Gulping, he desperately tried to remember what Alpha Berger had just been saying.
“Are you hungry?”
Shoulders slumping in relief at having the riddle answered, Ricky shook his head. “I’m still full from lunch, Alpha.” They had a stopped at a diner outside of Golden Valley because Alpha Berger wanted to fuel up and be at his best when he was introduced to the powerful neighboring pack. Not much of an eater, Ricky had asked for a glass of water only, but Alpha Berger took that to mean he should order for both of them. Offending the pack Alpha wasn’t an option, so Ricky forced the food down. He knew he would have to do the same thing at dinner that evening so the last thing he wanted right then was more food.
“Are you sure? Because if you are, we can leave the room to get something to eat.”
Personally, Ricky didn’t think wandering through the house would be looked upon favorably even if they did claim it was in search of food, but he kept that thought to himself. It wasn’t his place to question or second-guess an Alpha’s decisions, and besides, he wanted to ease Alpha Berger’s worries. Seeing his pack Alpha frowning and pacing unnerved him.
He opened his mouth to say that everything was probably fine, but then he realized that would not only be useless but could even be perceived by Alpha Berger as condescending, so he licked his lips and tried to think of something else he could say or do to calm the larger man. But before he could focus on a solution, his brain went on high alert and took the rest of his body with him. Straightening his posture, Ricky tilted his head and listened intently. Had he heard something? There weren’t any discernable sounds. He raised his nose in the air and inhaled. Maybe he had smelled something.