Pretty Poison (17 page)

“Wade...” The beta raised both palms, his shoulders lifting in an awkward shrug. “He said he’d be right down.” His lips curved. “Congratulations.”

After years of hospital stays and physical therapy in which his body had been examined by medical personnel who’d had zero regard for modesty, Noah shouldn’t have been embarrassed. His face heated, anyway. “Thanks,” he muttered.

His cheeks burned, at least, until he noticed what Lydia was wearing.

A dress.

She’d worn one on her wedding day, a frothy confection of lace belonging to Scott’s mother. She’d also once squirmed into a mini-skirt while she and Scott had dated, black leather with silver studs and thigh high boots. Dad had thrown a fit. His sister hadn’t worn dresses otherwise. While he wouldn’t call the navy blue sundress frilly, it definitely hadn’t emerged from Lydia’s closet. Not a chance. Noah frowned, nodding to an empty chair. His sister sat. Then he gaped as shock rolled through him again. “Is that lipstick?” he sputtered.

Tinted an unnatural pink, Lydia’s mouth thinned. “Shut up.”

With Fletcher standing behind Noah, missing Fletcher’s throaty growl was impossible. “Quit that,” Noah said over his shoulder.

Unbelievably, the beta heeded him. Sort of. “She needs to show proper respect due to the alpha mate,” the beta said once he cut off the rumbled warning.

His sister’s pink mouth pinched, the glare she shot over Noah’s head at Fletcher glittering with a disdain that made a mockery of Lydia’s gauzy blue sundress and her expertly applied cosmetics. “I’ll talk to him how I please. Alpha mate or not, he’s my little brother.”

“The one you poisoned,” Fletcher said, voice steely.

Lydia’s hands—manicured, for pity’s sake—fisted on the table. “We kept him alive, which is more than I can say for this pack.”

Panic fluttered in Noah’s stomach. If he didn’t end this, the two would come to blows. “Will you see what’s keeping Wade?” he asked Fletcher. When the beta grabbed his cell phone from his waist, Noah scowled. “I meant...I’d like some privacy.”

The beta glowered. “No.”

Lifting his chin, Noah found his backbone. The pack’s full moon hunt might yet be days away, but that hadn’t prevented his and Wade’s wolves from tying. The mating had progressed. A true bonding between them would grow with time, but that lack didn’t alter the certainty that more than Wade’s choice and his bite appointed Noah as alpha mate now. The moon had blessed their mating and as such, Noah’s status had changed.

“Over there,” Noah said, tipping his head toward the security checkpoint Fletcher maintained at the edge of the garden. When the beta hesitated, the conflict of obeying a higher ranking wolf and his distrust of Noah’s family warring in his stare, Noah relented. “Wade will be here in minutes and this is my sister. I promise she won’t hurt me.”

“Of course, I wouldn’t,” Lydia gasped. Then, she glared at the beta. “I only wish I could say the same of you city shifters.”

“Lydia...” Noah sighed. “Not helping.”

She harrumphed. “Fine.” She scooted back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest. “I need to talk to you and Wade both. Speaking to you alone is nice, but not my purpose for being here.” She flashed a toothy smile at the beta. “See? I haven’t seen Wade yet so I’ve no motive to hurt your precious alpha mate by trying to drag him away.” Her nostrils flared. “Not that he’d come with me by the smell of him. Not now. That lecherous bastard.”

Noah winced. “It’s not what you think.”

His sister grimaced, nose wrinkling. “It’s exactly what I think.”

Fidgeting with the corner of his closed laptop, Noah gulped because Lydia was right. He and Wade had tied. He’d squirm in his seat if his ass wasn’t so sore. “He isn’t what you believe, though. The pack isn’t, either. He’s genuinely trying to help—”

“By breeding you?” Lydia snorted.

“I haven’t bred him,” Wade said as he walked into the garden. He plopped a neat pile of clothes on top of Noah’s computer and then dropped into a chair beside Noah. Wade scooted the chair until the wrought iron edges grinded against Noah’s seat, Wade’s hand landing on the wrecked clothes draping Noah’s thighs to cover his nudity. He squeezed Noah’s leg and beamed a reassuring smile at Fletcher. “I can handle this. Thanks.”

Fletcher nodded and pivoted. He stalked to his security post, hidden behind the garden’s foliage.

“Noah’s sense of smell is dulled, but mine’s perfect.” Lydia tossed her head, blonde hair feathering out with the motion. Her brown eyes snapped with indignation. “You’ve bred him.” She sniffed. “
Very
recently, too.”

“After the mating process begins, male shifters are swayed by the moon as much as females and none more so than the alpha pair.” Grabbing Noah’s hand, Wade smiled. He threaded his fingers between Noah’s and gripped tightly. “He accepted me,” Wade said.

Despite the ache, Noah wriggled in his chair at the pride in Wade’s declaration. And at the expectant arch of Wade’s eyebrow at his sister.

“Do you seriously expect me to congratulate you?” Lydia huffed. “He’s my brother!”

Wade dipped his dark, mussed head in assent. “All the more reason to wish him and our mating well.”

“Stop being a dick.” Nervous patience at an end, Noah yanked his hand free of Wade’s iron grasp. “I’m learning to shift deliberately, how to control it. I can do that. I practice every day, and because I’m practicing, I won’t get pregnant,” he told his sister. “I don’t need aconitum anymore. I’m better without the injections, Lyd. I swear.”

She gaped, eyes rounding. “You’re...okay?”

“Look at him. Truly look and you’ll see it,” Wade said, all teasing gone. “He grows healthier by the hour. By the minute. His recovery has been remarkable.”

Noah stripped his glasses from his nose and showed them to his sister. “They’re new,” he said, the wonder of that just as baffling but no less marvelous to him. “Half my old prescription strength. Half! My hearing’s sharpened, and Trudy says my sense of smell has become more sensitive.” He gazed at the forearm crutches leaning negligently against the table at his elbow. “Tell Scott I have normal range of motion in my left knee.”

Lydia gasped. “Oh my God.” She leaned forward, motioning him with giddy hands. “Go on. Do it. Show me. I need to see. They won’t let Scott anywhere near you, and he’ll want to know how the joint—” Her eyes sheened, her fingers fluttering up to cover her lips. She smothered an abrupt laugh. “Oh God, sweetie. Mike said, but we didn’t believe him.”

“It’s true. All of it.” The relief of finally sharing his astonished joy with someone who understood after sharing his struggle for so many years choked him, made his voice tighten. “You have to tell Dad to back off. Mikael, too. No more trying to sneak messages to me at Vanguard. I’m all right.”

“Better than all right. And due to recover more with his first shift during the full moon hunt.” Wade’s lip curved to a sly grin. “I’d never risk that by knocking him up.”

“But you need to appoint your successor. Quickly. A guaranteed line of succession is the only thing that convinces some shifters an alpha pair bonding has truly cemented.” Lydia shook her head, as though to clear it. “A litter of whelps, fresh from the alpha coupling, is expected. That’s why I had to see you.”

“I appreciate your concern.” Wade shrugged. “But it’s unnecessary.”

“I’m shifting daily to learn to get better at it, faster,” Noah said. He leaned forward, snatching his sister’s hand. “As long as I’m doing those exercises, I won’t get pregnant. No kids, at least not right now.”

Wade grunted, his annoyance grooving the features of his face into harsh and forbidding lines. “We don’t need to produce children, anyway.”

“Bullshit,” Lydia answered the alpha. Her attention refocused on Noah. “He’s keeping you isolated so you don’t hear the complaints and murmuring against you and this mating inside the pack. But if we’ve learned of the objections even on the farm, you can bet he has.” She tipped her head at Wade. “If you don’t give evidence that you’re physically capable of honoring your obligations as alpha mate...” She blew out a stuttered breath. Then she curled her unnaturally painted lips. “But it’s going to be okay, Noah. You don’t need to wreck your body trying to please him.” She sneered at Wade.

Noah’s mate sneered right back. “I don’t want him to have kids.”

“No damage to you struggling to satisfy this infernal pack, either.” Lydia tore her hands free and lifted them in supplication. “That’s what I’m for.”

Bewildered, Noah blinked at her. “Uh...what?”

“The only reason he had a chance at mating you was because I’d married Scott. The mating pact was originally drafted with me in mind, as the eldest. I was supposed to mate with the next alpha,” she said.

Noah frowned, possessive instincts blooming to life within him. Those impulses were strong enough to compel Noah to rest his palm on Wade’s knee. “We’re mated. You’re too late.” A red haze bled into his field of vision and his wolf’s teeth tingled inside his mouth.
You can’t have him.

“Don’t be dense,” Lydia said to Noah and then glowered at Wade. “He used to be brilliant, smarter than my brothers and me combined. This is
your
fault.”

“Yes.” Wade slung an arm over Noah’s shoulders. “It is.”

The jerk.

“I don’t want your mate. I love Scott,” Lydia said, sniffing in contempt at Wade. “The point is I was selected for the pact because I was oldest, but also because it’s easiest for women to carry whelps.” She scowled at Wade. “I can still do that.”

Noah’s jaw dropped. So did the floor of his stomach. His blood rushed in his ears. “B-but you hate kids,” he said to Lydia, dumbfounded.

Wade arched an eyebrow. “So do you.”

Irritation mixing uncomfortably with his shock, Noah elbowed his mate. “Just because I don’t especially like Mia—”

“A few foam darts never hurt anybody.”

“Will you focus, please?” Lydia’s eyes snapped keen annoyance as both Noah and Wade stared across the table at her. “Thanks.” She pointed at Wade. “You need a successor and the pack needs to understand that your choice of mate doesn’t impede your duties and obligations to them.” She targeted that accusing finger at Noah. “And you need to not die.” She spread both hands to gesture at herself. “I’m at my prime, fertile, and willing to be inseminated. Everybody gets what they want.”

“I won’t die.” Noah wasn’t sure he wanted kids, but he was dead certain of one thing: he was strong and healthy enough to carry Wade’s whelps. If he wanted. Maybe he hadn’t believed it at first, but he did now. “No one else is having our kids.”

“Of course you won’t die.” Fingertips digging into Noah’s shoulder, Wade squeezed him. Drew him closer. “No one needs to have kids at all. Alpha pairs having children so fast is another antiquated tradition.”

Lydia’s chin lifted to a mutinous angle. “Like mating pacts?”

That didn’t throw Wade off. He nodded his agreement. “Like mating pacts. The pack knows we are as likely to produce a litter of gammas as any other rank of wolf. Since personality traits tend to skip generations, the odds of my breeding another alpha are remote.” He turned his jaw to kiss Noah’s temple. “Children should be desired. I won’t risk you for an obligation.”

Noah faced him. “But you
want
kids.”

“You don’t.” The corners of Wade’s mouth rose to form a rueful grin. “And I want you more.”

While his sister made unattractive gagging noises, Noah peered into his mate’s dark, fathomless eyes. “You don’t think I’m strong enough,” he said, crushing disappointment twisting his gut. “You don’t think I can do it.”

“I think you can do anything you set your mind to do.” Wade leaned to brush his sinfully soft lips over Noah’s. “There’s a difference, however, between can and should.”

“I’m
not
weak.” Noah pulled away, angry. Dejected. The sense of betrayal stretched out before him like a cavernous ravine separating Wade and him. “I’m healthy enough to carry your children or my wolf never would’ve responded to tying.”

“Damn it, Noah,” Lydia snapped. “I really don’t want to know the intimate details of—”

“What do you care?” He pushed to his feet, furious to his core. “You marched into my new home, intruded on my mating...for what? To offer to have my mate’s babies? Because your crippled brother can’t?”

“Using a surrogate isn’t shameful. Plenty of shifters do it.” Lydia stood too, arms rigid at her sides. “We held a family meeting, discussed it, and agreed. This is the safest way to move forward. We’re trying to help you!” When Noah refused to answer, Lydia reached across the span of the table. “Noah, honey, c’mon. You know us. Know me. We love you. We’d do anything to spare you the slightest risk of extra misery.
I
would. This isn’t about what you can’t physically do. This is about keeping you as strong and healthy as we can. I’ve never treated you like a cripple.”

“You just did.” And that made his family’s lack of faith in him that much more painful. That Noah had entertained identical doubts and anxieties about whether his body could handle the demands of childbearing was immaterial, at least while his sense of betrayal shined so brightly. Maybe he’d manage to reassure his family about their old fears for him and their abiding worries later. Just not now. Noah shoved his arms into his crutches, mindless of the soiled clothes that fell from his hips. “I want you to leave.”

Wade stood, his grasp enclosing Noah’s wrist like a manacle. “Arguing is stupid. Meaningless. I already have a successor.” He stooped to pick Noah’s discarded shirt from the ground and released Noah only to tie the shirt, crudely, around Noah’s middle to cover his cum-spattered groin. “My nephew is an alpha,” he told Lydia. “We don’t need our own kids. Chase will take over when the time comes.”

Noah had guessed as much. For being such a snotty brat, the power maturing inside Chase had exhibited great promise. Even Noah had felt it. One day, Chase would be the next alpha of Loganville’s pack. But Wade’s hesitation tore at Noah like razors. At least Noah’s family had the excuse of sometimes loving him too much. Wade’s failure of confidence didn’t labor under a decade of surgeries, setbacks, and repeatedly dashed hopes when one therapy after another yielded bland and, at best, partially effective results. His mate hadn’t suffered those along with him, as his family had. As Lydia had. No, Wade’s refusal to entertain the possibility of children cut Noah to the bone.