Baby and the Wolf by Victoria Sue

Chapter Five

Ryker held Emmett close,unwilling and unable to let go, and knowing full well he hadn’t told him the worst. He could hear Emmett’s pulse fluttering like a baby bird, but overlaid by a strong, steady beat that calmed his own racing heart. Strong meant healthy, right? Strong meant—fuck. There were two. Two heartbeats. He still couldn’t scent Emmett, but his alpha hearing worked just fine, especially in such a close, quiet environment. If he wasn’t holding him, he wouldn’t have been able to hear it.

Now what?

A surge of such wonder would have knocked him off his feet had he been on them. Possession, rightness, clicked into place in Ryker’s mind. Did he say anything? What should he say? What if it was too much to cope with? What if it was one shock too many? But then, how could he let Emmett out of his sight now? What if he did something that might harm the pup because he didn’t know he was pregnant?

What if he hates me?

The second ring of the doorbell interrupted them again, and Ryker groaned. Emmett—who seemed to be happy being held—moved away, much to Ryker’s dislike. He walked to the door, Ryker hot on his heels, looked through the peephole, took a deep breath, and opened the door. Ryker’s heart sank as he stared at Zeke. Couldn’t he have given him some more time?

Emmett stared at his father for a few seconds before stepping back so he could come in. Zeke walked in, his face a picture of anxiety. Ryker didn’t much care. “Sit,” he ordered Emmett, but kept his tone as gentle as he could. “I’ll make tea.” Which meant no one could ask him to leave. Not that he was going anywhere. Zeke wouldn’t be able to hear the pup, so he had a while to decide what he was going to do. He didn’t meet Zeke’s surprised look. He knew the man expected him to hightail it out of there.

Zeke turned his attention to Emmett. Emmett didn’t start talking though, and satisfaction shot through Ryker. Good—he was going to make Zeke work for it.

“I’m sure if Ryker has told you who I am, you have lots of questions,” Zeke said lamely.

“Why don’t you start at the beginning?” Ryker could hear the way Emmett was trying to keep himself together and swore silently. How fucking long did it take a kettle to boil? He should be sitting with Emmett. What he wanted was to have him on his lap while Zeke explained. Shocks weren’t good for him or the pup. He threw together three teas and brought them to the table. Zeke hadn’t even started explaining. Ryker pulled out the chair closest to Emmett and sat so their legs were brushing.

Zeke gave him another surprised look, but he didn’t comment on it. “I met your mom when she was nineteen. She told me she was an orphan.” He rubbed his short beard. “You know what she was?”

Emmett nodded.

“I don’t know what Ryker has had the chance to tell you, but panther packs or clans are different from a lot of other shifter groups. Not even mated pairs live together. They don’t have pack houses like wolves or even large families like bears. They’re very solitary animals, but they are very narrow-minded as well. The one thing they will not allow is mixed matings. Human and panther especially. If the clan had found out about you, you would have been killed. Josie never told me about her family because she knew the clan banned mating with humans, and she ultimately left me to protect you.” His face softened. “She loved you very much.”

“Josie?” He nodded, and Emmett once more fingered the photograph he still clutched. “Mom’s name was Hannah Keefer.”

“It would have been the identity she took as a safety precaution. She told me her name was Josephine Ellis.”

“They would have killed her?” Emmett asked in a small voice. Ryker snaked a hand under the table and laid it on Emmett’s knee. Emmett dropped his arm and covered it with his own. Ryker held back the smile. It had been automatic, and the fact that Emmett had sought him out for comfort filled Ryker with pride. He didn’t think Zeke had noticed, but he was happy to go head-to-head if necessary.

Zeke nodded. “It was a mess. I didn’t know that shifters even existed. I was just working up the courage to ask her to marry me when I had to go away on a corporate trip for my grandfather, and she was so young.” He laughed. “I guess we both were. When I got back, she was gone. The apartment was empty of a few changes of clothes and her wallet. She left most of her things.”

Emmett swallowed and looked down.

“Her brother, who I didn’t even know existed, came to see me after a few days because I was making so much noise, as he put it, he was frightened the clan would come after me. I talked to the cops every day. Put up flyers. Canvassed every organization I could think of. I knew she loved me, and I was convinced whatever was wrong we could face together. He told me to stop involving the human world, as he called it, because it could risk her life. He also threatened me, not that I cared. Six months later, I started Shifter Rescue with the money my grandad left me, plus I had already diverted some of the business’s assets into a charity. I always hoped I would find your mom. I never expected to find you.”

Emmett looked like he’d been sucker punched. Slowly, he reached out a hand, and Zeke clasped it.

“Male panther omegas are very rare, that much I do know. May told me what your tests revealed when I got back from my trip. She didn’t know you were my son.” Zeke glanced at Ryker and seemed to notice how close they were sitting. “I asked Ryker to tell you because we’ve never met.”

Emmett nodded. It was like he didn’t know what to say. “How do you know I’m an omega?”

“There is a gene in your blood that’s undetectable unless you know what you’re looking for. There is a fail-safe on the computers at the labs here to identify it. When the computer flags it, May is notified. The only type of panther shifter that doesn’t shift is an omega. It’s possible you didn’t inherit the gene, as from a mixed mating you have a fifty-fifty chance, but if that was the case, the computer wouldn’t have flagged you.”

Emmett nodded again, and Zeke leaned forward. “I never stopped looking for your mom. I can’t believe you were both so close all this time, and I’d very much like to get to spend some time with you.”

“It’s a lot to take in,” Emmett said quietly.

“And we need to do scans to confirm things,” Zeke added gently. Ryker’s heart thumped.

“What things?” Emmett asked. “You said you knew from a blood test.”

Zeke shot Ryker a look. Ryker tried not to squirm. “I just want to know you’re healthy. You need a special diet.” The sudden tightness in Ryker’s chest eased. Zeke had just chickened out as well. He probably thought Emmett had been through enough for one day. “It’s likely you’ve been protein starved for a lot of years.”

“Why don’t you think Mom ever told me? She couldn’t have known I was an omega.”

“I’m still trying to do some research, but I have to be careful.”

“Male panthers aren’t in danger of shifting until they are teenagers,” Ryker put in. “She probably thought she had plenty of time, plus it’s not just bam and you have four legs and fur.” He smiled ruefully. “I felt like I had the flu for a whole week.”

“I’d very much like you to come and stay with me,” Zeke said hopefully. “I have a penthouse—”

Before Ryker got the chance to nix the idea, Emmett interrupted. “Can you give me some time to process everything first?” He smiled. “I want to get to know you, but I’d really like to take it slowly.”

Zeke nodded eagerly and sat back, releasing Emmett’s hand. “Whatever you want. Do you want your own apartment? You share with humans at the moment.”

“Let me think,” Emmett said. “I just need some time to process everything.”

“Okay,” Zeke said and reluctantly got to his feet. So did Emmett, and they shared a brief hug. Zeke looked like Emmett hung the moon. Ryker knew how he felt.

“It’s just so much to take in,” Emmett murmured.

“I know,” Zeke replied. He looked at Ryker, expecting him to get up as well, but Ryker stayed where he was. Zeke gazed at him for a moment. “Call and see me before you go. I have a new area I need you to look at. It’s large enough for a full pack house, and it looks like you’re getting the acres you need next door as well.”

Ryker nodded once. He didn’t know what their exact plans were with the extra land, but more space was always a good thing. It was clear Zeke wanted to ask about Emmett, but he didn’t know what to say. He stayed sitting when Emmett got back from showing Zeke out. Emmett glanced at the clock. “Katy will be back from class in a moment.”

But Ryker wanted to spend more time with Emmett. A lot more time, and he especially didn’t want him out of his sight. “Would you like to see the pack house?”

Emmett looked at him in surprise, and then genuine pleasure shone from him. “I’d love to, but am I allowed?”

Ryker nodded firmly. “You’re Zeke’s son—of course you’re allowed. Plus, you’re a shifter.” He didn’t say what else Emmett was. “And I thought you might like to get out of here.”

Emmett nodded eagerly.

“Go get a change of clothes in case we decide to stay tonight, then. It’s nearly two hours with traffic each way. I’ll call Zeke.”

Emmett went to pack. Ryker didn’t call Zeke, but he texted him to say Emmett wanted to see the pack house and Ryker thought it was a good idea to try and introduce him to what they did. Zeke’s reply was enthusiastic. Ryker promised to let him know when he brought Emmett back.

Ryker escorted Emmett to the truck. Emmett seemed happy to allow Ryker’s hand on his back, sometimes a steady arm on his as they went down a few steps, opening the door for him.

“I won’t break, you know.”

Ryker chuckled. So much for him thinking he’d gotten away with it. “I know.”

“But?” Emmett said, a small smile finally teasing at his lips.

“Humor me.”

Ryker started and failed to tell Emmett about omegas a million times on the way to the pack house. Ryker’s wolf was desperately wanting to come out and meet Emmett properly as well. Not that Ryker blamed him. He’d teased the poor animal by changing twice without so much as a run. No, he’d get him home and— Ryker’s thoughts just about screeched to a halt.

Home?

A million times, yes. He shouldn’t have ignored his wolf when it tried to tell him when they met. But then what if it wasn’t what Emmett wanted? Could Ryker live in an apartment? Thousands of shifters did, but he could hardly commute nearly four hours a day. He had responsibilities to the pack house. And Emmett was so young. Fuck, he was going to make a mess of the whole thing.

“Tell me about you.”

Ryker shot a look at Emmett. His mate was gorgeous. A pale pink flush stained his cheeks, and his eyes sparkled with excitement. “I can’t believe with everything that’s been thrown at you this morning you’re not…”

“Hiding under a bed? Locked in a closet?” Emmett teased. “I’ll be honest, I’m still not convinced that I’m not going to wake up and find out this was all a dream, but I want to be part of a family. I had it good for a few years, and I want that back.”

Ryker chewed on that a moment. It sounded hopeful, but there was a huge difference between wanting to be part of a family and having your own kids. Especially with someone sixteen years your senior. Shifters never cared about that sort of thing. Your mate was your mate, end of story. Which was why Ryker had always avoided humans before. Emmett wasn’t a human, but he’d been brought up as one, and you couldn’t suddenly do a one-eighty on your beliefs in a single morning. “I’m glad.” Ryker didn’t realize he’d blurted that out until Emmett looked at him.

“Glad I want to be part of a family?”

Ryker reached over the console and grabbed Emmett’s hand. Emmett’s lips parted as if he was going to say something. “Yes, but I’m glad you’re a shifter.”

“But I don’t shift.” Emmett said it like he was trying to puzzle out something.

“Doesn’t matter,” Ryker said. “You’re still a shifter.”

Emmett smiled shyly but, more importantly, didn’t take back his hand. They were silent for a while, but then Ryker took a breath and started talking.

“There was me, Mom, and my father, who was the alpha of a pack back in Oregon. He was a lazy alpha, especially when he started drinking, and a crap husband all the time. Anyway, shifters were becoming even rarer, and we were struggling to keep the pack operational. Another pack—a much larger one—wanted our land, and he was challenged. It should have been a traditional challenge.”

“What’s one of those?”

“A fight. It can be to the death, or they can agree to just submit to the winner, but Dad thought he could negotiate. Thought he could let the other alpha run things and still keep his perks. Stay in the pack house and let the gammas do the hunting for him. The other alpha took over and gave us a cabin on the outskirts of the pack. He didn’t have to even give us that, but he did. Things went downhill rapidly after that. Ninety-five percent of what we ate I caught because he spent all of our money on booze. He was always a bully, but he was ten times worse when he’d been drinking, and when he was drinking, he blamed everything on my mom.” If Ryker hadn’t been driving, he would have closed his eyes. He could still smell the blood. He’d always wondered when he was little why he never got a naming ceremony, the traditional way of welcoming new shifters to the pack, until he found out why he wasn’t something his father was proud enough of to even name. So as an adult, he’d taken his mom’s name and become Ryker Sullivan.

“Mom had to get a job. She made friends with the new alpha’s mate, and my father didn’t like that. Our old, beat-up truck died on her one day while she was coming home, and one of the betas gave her a ride.”

Ryker swallowed. He’d only told this story to Zeke and Chrissy. Twice in nearly twenty years. He felt Emmett’s fingers tighten in his, and his wolf calmed.

“I arrived five minutes too late. He’d sent me on some stupid errand to buy booze for him from a guy that didn’t ask questions about how old I was. I came back and could hear Dad arguing with his former beta, and the guy was furious. He’d said all Dad had to do was keep quiet, and they’d have it made. I walked in, and Mom was lying dead on the floor, blood everywhere. The beta cornered me and told me succinctly that I had to keep my mouth shut or everything would be ruined. That they were onto a good thing and that we would be able to start our own pack with the money they could make with the scheme he was running. But I didn’t listen. All I could see was my mom on the floor and Dad covered in blood where he’d beaten her. Dad was a big guy and a violent drunk, and he had a gun. He told me in no uncertain terms either I was his son and he’d make me alpha one day despite my mixed blood, or I was dead. I told him to go to hell, and he shot me before I even realized what had happened.”

“Oh, Ryker,” Emmett said, his voice shaking.

“Shifters don’t bother much with guns. Maybe gammas if they’re on guard, but it’s very rare. I mean, what are we going to do with one when we shift? Too dangerous to just leave lying around. Anyway, Zeke was passing through. He was looking for your mom and scoping out the local area when he heard the shot.”

“How old were you?”

“Sixteen. Believe it or not, your dad’s seven years older than me.” Ryker didn’t believe it himself. Zeke easily looked ten years younger than he did.

“I would have been okay if Dad’s beta had let me shift, but he didn’t. He knew Dad was unreliable, and I certainly would talk. He took Dad’s gun and put two more in me and emptied the chamber into Dad.” He signaled and turned into a gas station, and they sat for a moment, Ryker’s head full of the shots and the blood. His mom’s body. Killed when he wasn’t there. “The beta heard your dad’s truck. I was bleeding out anyway, too weak to shift, and I guess he’d run out of bullets. If your dad hadn’t come along, I’d be dead.”

“I’m so sorry.” Emmett squeezed his fingers again.

Ryker blew out a breath. He hadn’t meant to dump all that on Emmett and mentally switched gears. He nodded toward the station. “Thought you might need something. Can you get me a can of Coke while I get gas?” He handed over a couple of twenties. “Get some snacks. I’m kind of hungry. Maybe see if they have a couple of bananas.”

If Emmett had been surprised at the swift change of subject, he didn’t show it, just took the cash and went inside. Ryker knew there would always be food ready at the pack house, but whatever calories he could get into Emmett was good. Emmett dutifully came out with a hoard of fruit and some chips, a couple of bottles of water, and Ryker’s Coke. Ryker went inside to use the restroom and spied some protein bars on the way out. Maybe Emmett might like one of those.

Emmett was peeling a banana when Ryker got back, and he grabbed an apple. He threw the protein bars into the bag with the rest of the things.

“Do we have to hunt our own food or something when we get there?”

Ryker grinned at Emmett’s teasing. “I thought you might be hungry.”

Emmett huffed. “I’m going to be the size of a whale if you keep feeding me like this.” For a moment, Ryker imagined the sight of Emmett naked. A taut, swollen belly that Ryker lovingly kissed. His wolf whined in impatience. You and me both, Ryker thought to himself.

“How many shifters live there?”

Ryker let out a relieved breath, more on solid ground. “We can take twenty in the pack house. Two to a room. There are another dozen cabins in the main area.”

“And they live there permanently?”

“Not usually. We don’t have the room. We have people who work there who stay on site, but the whole point is helping shifters get over whatever the problem is and relocate.” He paused. “There are six or seven omegas there semi-permanently. They’re too much at risk either from their old pack or mates to go back. We just had a large group leave, so we’re pretty empty, but it doesn’t usually stay that way for long.”

“You’re doing such a good thing,” Emmett said quietly.

Warmth spread through Ryker at the praise. “I think we had a couple of new arrivals this morning, and there are more coming tomorrow. A local pack’s been taken over. I wasn’t there. Chrissy handled everything.”

“Chrissy?”

Ryker glanced over at Emmett. There had been an odd catch in his voice. “Yeah, one of the betas. She’s a mechanic. Her mate, Dinah, is the best cook you’re ever likely to meet.”

Emmett beamed, and Ryker pulled onto the track that led to the pack house. “There are five of us on the rescue team, but only two of us live in the compound full-time. There are a few from the ranger service who help, and we have a mated pair that does the housekeeping, that sort of thing. We have three gammas to provide security, but we really need more. At the moment we take wolves from other packs. They help us and we help them if they need us.” The truck lurched a little, but Ryker wasn’t worried. The roads were hard, they were supposed to be to discourage curious humans, because some people took no notice of the privacy warnings posted. He knew gammas would have seen his truck over a mile ago and reported that he was on his way. Not that the compound was a secret. It was officially a charity. It helped that two of the local deputies over in Asheville were wolf shifters.

“Don’t you think it was a huge risk for my mom to take when she knew how dangerous it was to be with my dad?”

Ryker glanced over at the worried look Emmett wore. This had probably been bothering him a while. “No. Your mom and dad would have been naturally attracted to each other without definitely knowing why.”

Emmett still looked confused. “But surely her need for safety would have overridden attraction. I mean—”

“It’s more than that. The mating instinct for a shifter is a very powerful one. It can’t be ignored, and sometimes separation can cause physical illness.”

Emmett was quiet then, and Ryker wished he’d asked him earlier if he had any questions. He had to get over himself and start thinking about his mate. He was going to get him settled, maybe stretch their legs—because exercise was good for the pup—get some of Dinah’s food into him, then he had to tell him everything.

Ryker finally pulled up, and Emmett looked with interest at the huge house. He turned the engine off and smiled. He’d helped build it. Of course, it was a lot bigger now.

The forest stretched for miles behind it, and the huge cabin looked like it belonged amongst the trees. Wooden steps rose to two massive doors. Nearly all the windows at the front had their own patio area, so the shifters who were too traumatized to even think of going near the tree line could at least get some sun.

“It looks like one of those fancy ski resort hotels.”

Ryker chuckled. “Might as well be in the winter.” He hopped down and was around to Emmett’s side to help him before Emmett had so much as gotten the door open. He made sure Emmett was on his feet and turned around as he scented Chrissy. She was jogging down the steps with a big smile on her face. She opened her arms wide and enveloped Emmett in a hug. He looked at Ryker, startled, but didn’t seem to object.

“May called me. I was expecting you both. It’s so good to meet you, Emmett. I’m Chrissy.” She eventually let go and sent Ryker a knowing look. Ryker pretended he hadn’t noticed, but he knew none of the shifters who could even hear Emmett’s second heartbeat would say a word. When you lived in a world where hearing, sight, and smell were exponentially increased, privacy was jealously guarded.

Chrissy looked over Emmett’s shoulder as she stepped back. “Emmett, it’s Kai’s first day as well. Come and say hi.”

Ryker turned as he smelled a wolf shifter, and his world seemed to go very quiet. The young man smiled shyly at Emmett and returned the handshake Emmett offered. “Kai’s not a panther omega. He’s a wolf omega.”

“And trying to get this pup to stop doing acrobatics.” He rubbed his swollen belly ruefully and smiled at Emmett. “This is one of those days I wish I was an alpha. Grr.” He grinned impishly. “Sorry I can’t stay and chat—I also have to visit the bathroom a million times a day.” He rolled his eyes and headed in the other direction.

If Chrissy heard Ryker’s heart stop beating, she gave no sign of it. “Let me know if you need anything. I know Dinah’s got lunch ready whenever you are.” She hugged Emmett again and walked back to the pack house.

Ryker swallowed, turned to grab Emmett’s bag, and risked a look at him, knowing his plan of a talk later just got blown out of the water.

He started walking in the direction of the cabin, not even a little bit sure Emmett wouldn’t go the opposite way.