Chapter 5
Theo Cavanaugh stormed away from the little group that he’d just been in, followed by several sets of glares. ‘Damned bitches!’ he thought furiously as he went, a black scowl on his face. He hated clan women. They always had their noses in the air, and looked down on him at every opportunity. As though he weren’t as good as they were! Human women were better. He wished that he hadn’t had to come to this stupid gathering. But his father had threatened to cut him off completely if he didn’t, so he’d reluctantly come even though he knew he was going to hate every moment.
He heard laughter coming from nearby, and whirled around to see a girl leaning against a fence post and watching him. At least he thought it might be a girl - her face was painted ghost-white, and her hair was dyed night black. Her arms were folded over the front of long black leather coat.
“What’s so funny?!” he snarled at her.
She fluffed her black hair idly. “You are, silly puppy,” she drawled. “I saw you over there,” she waved a hand back at the group that he’d just deserted in a huff, “Trying to glom onto the girls like you think you’re a leech or something. Didn’t anybody ever tell you that girls hate that? It’s a wonder one of them didn’t smack you.”
His lips lifted off his teeth. “When I want advice, I’ll ask for it,” he said angrily.
She shrugged. “That’s too bad, because you sure could use some,” she taunted, straightening up. “But whatever. If you want to go on being an idiot, far be it for me to interfere,” she waggled her fingers at him and started to stroll away.
“Wait,” he growled.
She paused, looking at him over her shoulder. “What?”
He glowered at her. “What kind of advice?” he asked.
Her thin black brows lifted. “All kinds, actually,” she remarked. “Like how not to act like such a complete jerk, and how to actually pick up women rather than just getting rejected all the time, and…”
“Fine! I get it!” he snarled. “Why would you help me?” he demanded suspiciously.
To his surprise, she grinned widely. “I’m doing my uncle a favor,” she remarked. “He’s interested in your brother, I can tell. I don’t want him to have to deal with someone like you while he’s busy courting somebody. So I’ll keep you busy for the next couple of weeks and keep you out of his hair.”
He gaped at her. “Who’s your uncle?”
“I think you might know him. His name is Kane Haley.”
“That wanker is your uncle?!” Theo squalled in disbelief, staring at the pale chick as though he thought that she were crazy. “He didn’t look that old,” he added suspiciously.
She snorted. “He’s not. He’s only thirty-two. But he was a surprise baby when my mom was ten years old. Uncle Kane is only twelve years older than I am.”
“You don’t look twenty,” he remarked dubiously, looking her over.
“And you don’t act like you’re in your twenties. What’s your point?” she drawled sardonically.
He scowled at her. Typical bitch, he fumed. Seeing his expression, she grinned. “What’s the matter, puppy? Did I hit a nerve?” she gibed. “Get over it. If the shoe fits, as they say…”
Theo growled in the back of his throat. “I don’t have to take this,” he snarled. He turned to stalk away, but she somehow moved quickly enough that she was suddenly standing in his path. He stopped, eyeing her warily. “Get out of my way,” he said in a dangerous tone of voice.
She tilted her head up to look at him. Again, he was amazed that somebody as tall as that Alpha would have such a small niece. Or that she actually was so short, considering that she seemed much taller because of her presence and the power she exuded. “I can’t let you go off in a snit,” she told him. “Because you’ll just go and get into trouble somewhere again. And you’ll interrupt my uncle’s courting, because your brother will have to come and corral you. I can’t have that. So you’ll just have to stay here and talk to me.”
“What makes you think that I’ll stay here if I don’t want to?” he demanded, his lips lifting off of his teeth a little.
She sighed and closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, there was a golden sheen to their surfaces that made his stomach clench. “I can make you stay,” she told him, and the command in her voice made him flinch slightly. “Believe me. My mom likes to tell me that I’m a lot like my uncle, and she’s right. Maybe when I’m older I’ll even be an Alpha. If you don’t stay here and talk to me willingly, then you’ll stay here and talk to me under duress. Which will it be?”
Staring down into her eyes like a mouse mesmerized by the hypnotic gaze of a serpent, he said: “I’ll stay and talk to you.”
She looked pleased, which surprised him. “There now, that wasn’t so hard,” she said as the light slid away from the surfaces of her eyes. “Was it? I promise not to be too mean to you, puppy. We can have a nice talk, and your brother can get to know my uncle better. It will work out for everybody all around.”
“If you say so,” he muttered, which made her laugh. She had a very nice laugh.
“I do,” she said, relaxing. “Besides, look at it this way - if you really don’t like your brother, and he becomes Uncle Kane’s mate, you’ll hardly ever have to see him again, will you? Because you’re British, and he’ll come and live here in San Francisco with my uncle and our clan. I’d think that would be incentive enough for you to back off and let them court. But I don’t know, maybe I’m wrong,” she went on with a shrug of her leather-clad shoulders.
Theo was taken aback by her statement. He hadn’t thought of that, but if Benedict did become that Alpha’s mate most likely he WOULD move here to California! He’d barely ever have to deal with his brother again - and more importantly, maybe his parents would pay less attention to their ‘golden boy’ and more attention to their younger son for a change. He liked that thought. In fact, he liked it a lot. “Okay, then,” he said aloud to her. “You’ve got a point. I’ll stay out of Benny’s way while your wanker uncle courts him.”
She nodded, but eyed him suspiciously. “I don’t know what a ‘wanker’ is,” she said, “But something tells me that I wouldn’t like the meaning of the term. Would I?”
He shrugged. “Probably not,” he replied.
******
Unaware that his brother had been ’detained’ by Kane’s niece, Benedict was scanning the crowd rather anxiously to see if he could spot Theo anywhere. But there was no sign of his brother, and he felt apprehension run through him. Was his sibling off somewhere that he couldn’t see causing trouble? Well, at least no fights had broken out yet…
As though his thoughts had been a spur, yelling and snarling broke out not too far away. Benedict cursed and dove into the crowd, followed closely by Kane. The Alpha helped to clear a path for him using both his size and dominance, and they managed to get to the spot where the sounds were coming from much faster than he would have been able to on his own. The crowd had cleared a space in the grass, and two large wolves were circling each other while baring their teeth threateningly. To his relief, neither had the dark-brown fur that Theo’s wolf form possessed. One was sandy-colored, and the other had black fur.
The two wolves came together in a snarling, growling, biting mass, and a girl standing anxiously near the edge of the circle cried out and visibly wrung her hands together. Kane snarled in disgust and strode fearlessly into the circle, reaching out to grab two ruffs with his big hands and haul the struggling beasts away from each other. “Enough!” he yelled loudly enough to get their attention. “I’ll knock your heads together if you both don’t stop this fighting!” when the two wolves snarled at him, he snarled right back and made them wilt in his grasp.
“Change back,” he instructed them both, tossing them away from him in two directions. “Now.”
The wolves stood with their fur bridled but their tails tucked under them for a moment, glaring at each other. But then their bodies began to flow and change, swiftly becoming two young human males(still wearing their intact clothes; one of the gifts that the blood of gods had given them along with their ability to transform into wolves), both sulking and staring daggers at each other across the circle.
Kane eyed them both. “Who started this? And why?” he demanded.
Both the males glanced at the girl, who looked ashamed and even more anxious as the Alpha turned his gaze on her. “I-I didn’t mean to!” She protested. “I wasn’t leading either of them on, Alpha! It’s just…I sort of like both of them…” she said helplessly.
“Ah, I see,” Kane remarked in understanding. He turned to the two young males. “Listen up, you two,” he began. “Fighting over a girl is no way to make her like you. Most of the time, unless there’s a really good reason for the fight, it just makes her dislike you instead. You have to let HER,” he indicated the watching girl with his hand, “Decide which one of you that she likes more. Dominance fights only decide leadership questions; not mating questions. Besides, if one of you had hurt the other I’d simply kick both of you out of this Gathering and send you back home anyway. So what would this fight have accomplished? A little more thinking with your heads, and a little less thinking with your private parts. Is that clear?”
Now they both looked rather sheepish, their shoulders drooping. “I’m sorry, Alpha,” the black-haired one said unhappily. “It’s just…” he glanced at the girl, then dropped his eyes to the grass.
“You’re surrounded by other wolves, and the girl that you like is encouraging another male too,” Kane finished for him. “I get that. But you have to learn some control over your wolf instincts. And your primitive male instincts, for that matter…” he added with a wry quirk of his lips. “So here’s my judgment. Both of you will take turns talking to her,” he nodded at the girl, who looked relieved, “And the other will stay far away until it’s his turn. You’ll take it in hour shifts, and no bad mouthing your rival or trying to cut him out. Show some manners and respect for each other, and I won’t send you packing. Got it?”
“Yes, Alpha,” they both said, almost in tandem.
Kane nodded, then turned to the girl. “Don’t try to play them against each other,” he said to her, his tone faintly threatening, “Because if you do, and I get wind of it…”
She cowered, her head bowed. “I won’t, Alpha,” she replied. “I’m sorry…”
“No need to be sorry. Boys will be boys, of any species. Okay, you get the first hour,” he pointed at the black-haired boy, “Starting now,” he went on, glancing at his watch. “When he comes to take your place, no grumbling or arguing. Got it?” he looked at the sandy-haired youth as he said this, and the black-haired boy nodded.
“I understand, Alpha,” the black-haired one said.
“Great. You’ve both been warned. Either one of you starts anything else, and you’re gone. No excuses, no reprieves. Now, let’s everybody get back to having fun!” he called, raising his voice so that the watchers could hear him as well.
The crowd looked happy to return to what they’d been doing before the fight had broken out. The black-haired boy went off with the girl, looking happy. The sandy-haired one trailed away with a miserable expression on his face. Kane turned to Benedict with a smile. “Always going to be a bit of trouble when there are so many of us in one place,” he remarked “Especially when this is basically about mating. Gets the cubs overexcited,” he added indulgently.
Benedict found himself laughing a little. “And not just the cubs,” he noted, reminding Kane about the scene in the elevator.
The Alpha looked almost as sheepish as the boys had. “Well, it’s understandable,” he said defensively. “Finding your mate is a very exciting thing. I couldn’t help myself any more than they could help fighting over the girl they both like.”
“I quite understand,” Benedict told him, his lips quirking. “To tell you the truth, I think your impetuosity is rather…attractive, actually. It’s one of your better qualities. Especially when coupled with having enough control to apologize and back off afterward. I must say, I also have to give you kudos for how you handled that situation just now. Some Alphas would have punished those boys much more severely.”
Kane shook his head. “Nobody got hurt,” he said. “No need to punish them too severely. And now they’ll be on their best behavior for the rest of the Gathering. So will the girl. I’d have hated to break up a potential mating by sending any of them home, especially since it’s only the first night.”
“Reasonable,” Benedict agreed.
Kane grinned suddenly. “Well, you’ll find that I’m mostly a reasonable guy,” he told Benedict affably. “Except where it comes to you, that is. Then I get really unreasonable, because I want you for my mate. But then - who ever said that love was reasonable?”
*****
Theo eyed the girl warily. “What did you want to talk about?” he asked her.
She shrugged. “Anything. For example - I don’t actually know what your name is.”
Surprised, he replied: “I’m Theodore. Theodore Cavanaugh. But everybody calls me Theo.”
“Theo,” she mused. “Not Teddy. I think I like that. I’m Ariadne, by the way. Ariadne Mathews.”
“Ariadne?” he repeated incredulously.
She laughed. “Most people call me Ari. But Mom loves Greek mythology, and I guess she got a kick out of naming me after the wife of the God of Wine, Dionysus. But I’m not going to be like her - she had like nine kids with him! Yuck.”
“Don’t you like kids?”
“Sure I do. One at a time, that is. About all I could handle.” she tilted her head to the side. “I’d ask if you like kids, but unless you don’t like yourself I have to assume that you do.”
He scowled at her for this gibe. “You’re just like everybody else,” he muttered sullenly.
Her darkened brows lifted. “I am? How so?” she asked curiously.
He looked away, his jaw tight. “Everybody always looks down on me,” he growled, his arms folding tightly over his chest.
“Do they? Or do you just assume that they do? If you always react like that’s what people are doing, after awhile they really will start to look down on you. Because they’ll be annoyed and irritated that you do that, and they’ll start to think that you’re nothing but a petulant brat. How about waiting to see if people are actually looking down on you before reacting next time? You might be surprised,” Ariadne commented calmly.
He looked back at her, a slight frown on his face. “What do you know about it?” he demanded.
She gave him a shrewd look. “I’ve got you pegged, puppy. I know what your real problem is.”
He scowled blackly. “Oh? And what’s that?” he asked angrily.
Ariadne shook her head. “You’re a submissive,” she told him. “Surrounded by dominants, I’ll bet,” she went on, meeting his eyes fearlessly. “I’d also bet that they’ve always sort of made you feel small -without meaning to - about being the way you are. That’s why dominants make you so mad. That’s why you think that they’re looking down on you. Because they’re all dominants, your family may not know how to treat you properly. When you were a kid, they probably ignored you most of the time, right? Because you weren’t pushy or dominant, so they didn’t realize that you needed attention too. I can tell just by looking at him that your brother is a dominant, so he probably got the bulk of your parents’ attention. Again, without meaning to, he stole what should have been yours by right. By now, you’re so angry about it that you do the only thing that you can to protest - you lash out at everybody. You sulk and you cause trouble because you want them to pay SOME attention to you. You’re practically screaming ’look at me!’ every time you cause havoc. That’s the problem with a submissive in a family of dominants with no Alpha in it - dominants don’t always recognize or value submissives properly if they don’t have an Alpha’s protective nature toward his or her clan.”
His jaw was dangling as he stared at her in shock. He felt chilled to his bones. Exposed and stripped of any protection, right out here in the open under her all-seeing eyes. He wanted to flee, but he couldn’t. All he could do was fight not to cower and finish making a fool of himself. Ariadne waited patiently for him to recover, but when he said nothing after a few minutes she continued: “It’s okay, Theo,” in a soothing tone of voice. “I won’t tell anybody else. It’s your personal business, after all. But I’ve gotta say this - you shouldn’t be ashamed about being a submissive. There’s nothing wrong with being one. We all have our place in the clan, and that’s how it should be. What you have to do is find someone who values you as you are, and doesn’t expect you to be someone that you’re not. I suppose that you’re generally drawn to really dominant girls because they remind you of your family, but many of them won’t value or appreciate you either. You need to find a girl who understands and likes a guy who’s submissive.”
His mouth was finally working again. “Like there are any girls like that,” he said scornfully.
She smiled suddenly, taking him aback. “Oh, there are a few,” she murmured. “More than you’d think, actually. You just have to know where to look.”
******
Kane and Benedict were standing on the edge of the ‘dance floor’, watching some of the younger wolves gyrating on the grass. “Did you want to dance?” Kane asked doubtfully.
He shook his head wryly. “No, thank you. I’ve never been that coordinated. I end up looking like a man who’s been possessed.”
Kane rumbled a laugh. “That’s fine by me,” he said. “I’m too big to be graceful. We’ll leave it to the youngsters.”
Benedict eyed him. “I’m about the same age as most of these people,” he pointed out acerbically. “Speak for yourself.”
Kane grinned. “Well, you just seem older than you actually are,” he pointed out. “Not in a bad way,” he added hurriedly, “Just very mature for your age. I like that.”
“Is there anything about me that you don’t like?” Benedict asked, eyeing him.
Kane shrugged. “Nothing so far. I might find something as time goes by, but I’m not holding my breath.”
He rolled his eyes. “As you say,” he replied.
Kane leaned toward him, and he felt hot breath tickle his ear. He shivered as Kane breathed: “I REALLY like the way you talk. Not just your accent, but how intelligent and high-class you sound. I figure that if you talk dirty to me, in that refined voice, it’ll really drive me crazy…”
He gasped in a sharp breath as his body came alive. Traitorous thing that it was, it throbbed sullenly as he forced himself to frown at Kane. “I thought I asked you not to say thing like that,” he said, trying to sound exasperated rather than aroused. “To court me properly.”
Kane contrived to look apologetic, an expression that he couldn’t quite manage. “I know.” he said, straightening up again. ’But I just can’t seem to help myself. Can you blame me? You’re so sexy that I can’t help myself.”
Benedict sighed. He was silently flattered by how much Kane desired him. Who wouldn’t be? A handsome, powerful Alpha was practically drooling down his neck, consumed with lust for him. He’d never encountered anything like it before. He’d mostly done the pursuing in his other relationships. He wasn’t used to being courted by someone else, especially someone like Kane Haley. But he had to keep Kane in check, even just a little, or he was going to be in real trouble.
“Maybe so,” he said aloud, with this thought in mind. “But you have to try. You have to give me space in which to make up my own mind, not try to overwhelm me so that I’ll say ’yes’ no matter what. It’s just like with those boys who were fighting earlier - you told them to respect the girl and let HER decide. You can’t have one set of standards for them and another for you.”
His words, spoken in a firm voice, made Kane wilt a little. He rubbed at the back of his head, looking like a little boy. “You’re right,” he said unhappily. “I’ll try harder to behave myself. But it’s not going to be easy. You really are totally sexy, you know.”
“Thank you. I’m glad that you think so,” Benedict told him tartly. “But if you expect those much younger boys to learn some control, you must practice what you preach as well. It’s only fair.”
“You’ve got me there,” Kane said mournfully. “I’ll try harder from now on, I swear.”
“That’s all I can ask.”
Go to Next Chapter
Theo Cavanaugh stormed away from the little group that he’d just been in, followed by several sets of glares. ‘Damned bitches!’ he thought furiously as he went, a black scowl on his face. He hated clan women. They always had their noses in the air, and looked down on him at every opportunity. As though he weren’t as good as they were! Human women were better. He wished that he hadn’t had to come to this stupid gathering. But his father had threatened to cut him off completely if he didn’t, so he’d reluctantly come even though he knew he was going to hate every moment.
He heard laughter coming from nearby, and whirled around to see a girl leaning against a fence post and watching him. At least he thought it might be a girl - her face was painted ghost-white, and her hair was dyed night black. Her arms were folded over the front of long black leather coat.
“What’s so funny?!” he snarled at her.
She fluffed her black hair idly. “You are, silly puppy,” she drawled. “I saw you over there,” she waved a hand back at the group that he’d just deserted in a huff, “Trying to glom onto the girls like you think you’re a leech or something. Didn’t anybody ever tell you that girls hate that? It’s a wonder one of them didn’t smack you.”
His lips lifted off his teeth. “When I want advice, I’ll ask for it,” he said angrily.
She shrugged. “That’s too bad, because you sure could use some,” she taunted, straightening up. “But whatever. If you want to go on being an idiot, far be it for me to interfere,” she waggled her fingers at him and started to stroll away.
“Wait,” he growled.
She paused, looking at him over her shoulder. “What?”
He glowered at her. “What kind of advice?” he asked.
Her thin black brows lifted. “All kinds, actually,” she remarked. “Like how not to act like such a complete jerk, and how to actually pick up women rather than just getting rejected all the time, and…”
“Fine! I get it!” he snarled. “Why would you help me?” he demanded suspiciously.
To his surprise, she grinned widely. “I’m doing my uncle a favor,” she remarked. “He’s interested in your brother, I can tell. I don’t want him to have to deal with someone like you while he’s busy courting somebody. So I’ll keep you busy for the next couple of weeks and keep you out of his hair.”
He gaped at her. “Who’s your uncle?”
“I think you might know him. His name is Kane Haley.”
“That wanker is your uncle?!” Theo squalled in disbelief, staring at the pale chick as though he thought that she were crazy. “He didn’t look that old,” he added suspiciously.
She snorted. “He’s not. He’s only thirty-two. But he was a surprise baby when my mom was ten years old. Uncle Kane is only twelve years older than I am.”
“You don’t look twenty,” he remarked dubiously, looking her over.
“And you don’t act like you’re in your twenties. What’s your point?” she drawled sardonically.
He scowled at her. Typical bitch, he fumed. Seeing his expression, she grinned. “What’s the matter, puppy? Did I hit a nerve?” she gibed. “Get over it. If the shoe fits, as they say…”
Theo growled in the back of his throat. “I don’t have to take this,” he snarled. He turned to stalk away, but she somehow moved quickly enough that she was suddenly standing in his path. He stopped, eyeing her warily. “Get out of my way,” he said in a dangerous tone of voice.
She tilted her head up to look at him. Again, he was amazed that somebody as tall as that Alpha would have such a small niece. Or that she actually was so short, considering that she seemed much taller because of her presence and the power she exuded. “I can’t let you go off in a snit,” she told him. “Because you’ll just go and get into trouble somewhere again. And you’ll interrupt my uncle’s courting, because your brother will have to come and corral you. I can’t have that. So you’ll just have to stay here and talk to me.”
“What makes you think that I’ll stay here if I don’t want to?” he demanded, his lips lifting off of his teeth a little.
She sighed and closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, there was a golden sheen to their surfaces that made his stomach clench. “I can make you stay,” she told him, and the command in her voice made him flinch slightly. “Believe me. My mom likes to tell me that I’m a lot like my uncle, and she’s right. Maybe when I’m older I’ll even be an Alpha. If you don’t stay here and talk to me willingly, then you’ll stay here and talk to me under duress. Which will it be?”
Staring down into her eyes like a mouse mesmerized by the hypnotic gaze of a serpent, he said: “I’ll stay and talk to you.”
She looked pleased, which surprised him. “There now, that wasn’t so hard,” she said as the light slid away from the surfaces of her eyes. “Was it? I promise not to be too mean to you, puppy. We can have a nice talk, and your brother can get to know my uncle better. It will work out for everybody all around.”
“If you say so,” he muttered, which made her laugh. She had a very nice laugh.
“I do,” she said, relaxing. “Besides, look at it this way - if you really don’t like your brother, and he becomes Uncle Kane’s mate, you’ll hardly ever have to see him again, will you? Because you’re British, and he’ll come and live here in San Francisco with my uncle and our clan. I’d think that would be incentive enough for you to back off and let them court. But I don’t know, maybe I’m wrong,” she went on with a shrug of her leather-clad shoulders.
Theo was taken aback by her statement. He hadn’t thought of that, but if Benedict did become that Alpha’s mate most likely he WOULD move here to California! He’d barely ever have to deal with his brother again - and more importantly, maybe his parents would pay less attention to their ‘golden boy’ and more attention to their younger son for a change. He liked that thought. In fact, he liked it a lot. “Okay, then,” he said aloud to her. “You’ve got a point. I’ll stay out of Benny’s way while your wanker uncle courts him.”
She nodded, but eyed him suspiciously. “I don’t know what a ‘wanker’ is,” she said, “But something tells me that I wouldn’t like the meaning of the term. Would I?”
He shrugged. “Probably not,” he replied.
******
Unaware that his brother had been ’detained’ by Kane’s niece, Benedict was scanning the crowd rather anxiously to see if he could spot Theo anywhere. But there was no sign of his brother, and he felt apprehension run through him. Was his sibling off somewhere that he couldn’t see causing trouble? Well, at least no fights had broken out yet…
As though his thoughts had been a spur, yelling and snarling broke out not too far away. Benedict cursed and dove into the crowd, followed closely by Kane. The Alpha helped to clear a path for him using both his size and dominance, and they managed to get to the spot where the sounds were coming from much faster than he would have been able to on his own. The crowd had cleared a space in the grass, and two large wolves were circling each other while baring their teeth threateningly. To his relief, neither had the dark-brown fur that Theo’s wolf form possessed. One was sandy-colored, and the other had black fur.
The two wolves came together in a snarling, growling, biting mass, and a girl standing anxiously near the edge of the circle cried out and visibly wrung her hands together. Kane snarled in disgust and strode fearlessly into the circle, reaching out to grab two ruffs with his big hands and haul the struggling beasts away from each other. “Enough!” he yelled loudly enough to get their attention. “I’ll knock your heads together if you both don’t stop this fighting!” when the two wolves snarled at him, he snarled right back and made them wilt in his grasp.
“Change back,” he instructed them both, tossing them away from him in two directions. “Now.”
The wolves stood with their fur bridled but their tails tucked under them for a moment, glaring at each other. But then their bodies began to flow and change, swiftly becoming two young human males(still wearing their intact clothes; one of the gifts that the blood of gods had given them along with their ability to transform into wolves), both sulking and staring daggers at each other across the circle.
Kane eyed them both. “Who started this? And why?” he demanded.
Both the males glanced at the girl, who looked ashamed and even more anxious as the Alpha turned his gaze on her. “I-I didn’t mean to!” She protested. “I wasn’t leading either of them on, Alpha! It’s just…I sort of like both of them…” she said helplessly.
“Ah, I see,” Kane remarked in understanding. He turned to the two young males. “Listen up, you two,” he began. “Fighting over a girl is no way to make her like you. Most of the time, unless there’s a really good reason for the fight, it just makes her dislike you instead. You have to let HER,” he indicated the watching girl with his hand, “Decide which one of you that she likes more. Dominance fights only decide leadership questions; not mating questions. Besides, if one of you had hurt the other I’d simply kick both of you out of this Gathering and send you back home anyway. So what would this fight have accomplished? A little more thinking with your heads, and a little less thinking with your private parts. Is that clear?”
Now they both looked rather sheepish, their shoulders drooping. “I’m sorry, Alpha,” the black-haired one said unhappily. “It’s just…” he glanced at the girl, then dropped his eyes to the grass.
“You’re surrounded by other wolves, and the girl that you like is encouraging another male too,” Kane finished for him. “I get that. But you have to learn some control over your wolf instincts. And your primitive male instincts, for that matter…” he added with a wry quirk of his lips. “So here’s my judgment. Both of you will take turns talking to her,” he nodded at the girl, who looked relieved, “And the other will stay far away until it’s his turn. You’ll take it in hour shifts, and no bad mouthing your rival or trying to cut him out. Show some manners and respect for each other, and I won’t send you packing. Got it?”
“Yes, Alpha,” they both said, almost in tandem.
Kane nodded, then turned to the girl. “Don’t try to play them against each other,” he said to her, his tone faintly threatening, “Because if you do, and I get wind of it…”
She cowered, her head bowed. “I won’t, Alpha,” she replied. “I’m sorry…”
“No need to be sorry. Boys will be boys, of any species. Okay, you get the first hour,” he pointed at the black-haired boy, “Starting now,” he went on, glancing at his watch. “When he comes to take your place, no grumbling or arguing. Got it?” he looked at the sandy-haired youth as he said this, and the black-haired boy nodded.
“I understand, Alpha,” the black-haired one said.
“Great. You’ve both been warned. Either one of you starts anything else, and you’re gone. No excuses, no reprieves. Now, let’s everybody get back to having fun!” he called, raising his voice so that the watchers could hear him as well.
The crowd looked happy to return to what they’d been doing before the fight had broken out. The black-haired boy went off with the girl, looking happy. The sandy-haired one trailed away with a miserable expression on his face. Kane turned to Benedict with a smile. “Always going to be a bit of trouble when there are so many of us in one place,” he remarked “Especially when this is basically about mating. Gets the cubs overexcited,” he added indulgently.
Benedict found himself laughing a little. “And not just the cubs,” he noted, reminding Kane about the scene in the elevator.
The Alpha looked almost as sheepish as the boys had. “Well, it’s understandable,” he said defensively. “Finding your mate is a very exciting thing. I couldn’t help myself any more than they could help fighting over the girl they both like.”
“I quite understand,” Benedict told him, his lips quirking. “To tell you the truth, I think your impetuosity is rather…attractive, actually. It’s one of your better qualities. Especially when coupled with having enough control to apologize and back off afterward. I must say, I also have to give you kudos for how you handled that situation just now. Some Alphas would have punished those boys much more severely.”
Kane shook his head. “Nobody got hurt,” he said. “No need to punish them too severely. And now they’ll be on their best behavior for the rest of the Gathering. So will the girl. I’d have hated to break up a potential mating by sending any of them home, especially since it’s only the first night.”
“Reasonable,” Benedict agreed.
Kane grinned suddenly. “Well, you’ll find that I’m mostly a reasonable guy,” he told Benedict affably. “Except where it comes to you, that is. Then I get really unreasonable, because I want you for my mate. But then - who ever said that love was reasonable?”
*****
Theo eyed the girl warily. “What did you want to talk about?” he asked her.
She shrugged. “Anything. For example - I don’t actually know what your name is.”
Surprised, he replied: “I’m Theodore. Theodore Cavanaugh. But everybody calls me Theo.”
“Theo,” she mused. “Not Teddy. I think I like that. I’m Ariadne, by the way. Ariadne Mathews.”
“Ariadne?” he repeated incredulously.
She laughed. “Most people call me Ari. But Mom loves Greek mythology, and I guess she got a kick out of naming me after the wife of the God of Wine, Dionysus. But I’m not going to be like her - she had like nine kids with him! Yuck.”
“Don’t you like kids?”
“Sure I do. One at a time, that is. About all I could handle.” she tilted her head to the side. “I’d ask if you like kids, but unless you don’t like yourself I have to assume that you do.”
He scowled at her for this gibe. “You’re just like everybody else,” he muttered sullenly.
Her darkened brows lifted. “I am? How so?” she asked curiously.
He looked away, his jaw tight. “Everybody always looks down on me,” he growled, his arms folding tightly over his chest.
“Do they? Or do you just assume that they do? If you always react like that’s what people are doing, after awhile they really will start to look down on you. Because they’ll be annoyed and irritated that you do that, and they’ll start to think that you’re nothing but a petulant brat. How about waiting to see if people are actually looking down on you before reacting next time? You might be surprised,” Ariadne commented calmly.
He looked back at her, a slight frown on his face. “What do you know about it?” he demanded.
She gave him a shrewd look. “I’ve got you pegged, puppy. I know what your real problem is.”
He scowled blackly. “Oh? And what’s that?” he asked angrily.
Ariadne shook her head. “You’re a submissive,” she told him. “Surrounded by dominants, I’ll bet,” she went on, meeting his eyes fearlessly. “I’d also bet that they’ve always sort of made you feel small -without meaning to - about being the way you are. That’s why dominants make you so mad. That’s why you think that they’re looking down on you. Because they’re all dominants, your family may not know how to treat you properly. When you were a kid, they probably ignored you most of the time, right? Because you weren’t pushy or dominant, so they didn’t realize that you needed attention too. I can tell just by looking at him that your brother is a dominant, so he probably got the bulk of your parents’ attention. Again, without meaning to, he stole what should have been yours by right. By now, you’re so angry about it that you do the only thing that you can to protest - you lash out at everybody. You sulk and you cause trouble because you want them to pay SOME attention to you. You’re practically screaming ’look at me!’ every time you cause havoc. That’s the problem with a submissive in a family of dominants with no Alpha in it - dominants don’t always recognize or value submissives properly if they don’t have an Alpha’s protective nature toward his or her clan.”
His jaw was dangling as he stared at her in shock. He felt chilled to his bones. Exposed and stripped of any protection, right out here in the open under her all-seeing eyes. He wanted to flee, but he couldn’t. All he could do was fight not to cower and finish making a fool of himself. Ariadne waited patiently for him to recover, but when he said nothing after a few minutes she continued: “It’s okay, Theo,” in a soothing tone of voice. “I won’t tell anybody else. It’s your personal business, after all. But I’ve gotta say this - you shouldn’t be ashamed about being a submissive. There’s nothing wrong with being one. We all have our place in the clan, and that’s how it should be. What you have to do is find someone who values you as you are, and doesn’t expect you to be someone that you’re not. I suppose that you’re generally drawn to really dominant girls because they remind you of your family, but many of them won’t value or appreciate you either. You need to find a girl who understands and likes a guy who’s submissive.”
His mouth was finally working again. “Like there are any girls like that,” he said scornfully.
She smiled suddenly, taking him aback. “Oh, there are a few,” she murmured. “More than you’d think, actually. You just have to know where to look.”
******
Kane and Benedict were standing on the edge of the ‘dance floor’, watching some of the younger wolves gyrating on the grass. “Did you want to dance?” Kane asked doubtfully.
He shook his head wryly. “No, thank you. I’ve never been that coordinated. I end up looking like a man who’s been possessed.”
Kane rumbled a laugh. “That’s fine by me,” he said. “I’m too big to be graceful. We’ll leave it to the youngsters.”
Benedict eyed him. “I’m about the same age as most of these people,” he pointed out acerbically. “Speak for yourself.”
Kane grinned. “Well, you just seem older than you actually are,” he pointed out. “Not in a bad way,” he added hurriedly, “Just very mature for your age. I like that.”
“Is there anything about me that you don’t like?” Benedict asked, eyeing him.
Kane shrugged. “Nothing so far. I might find something as time goes by, but I’m not holding my breath.”
He rolled his eyes. “As you say,” he replied.
Kane leaned toward him, and he felt hot breath tickle his ear. He shivered as Kane breathed: “I REALLY like the way you talk. Not just your accent, but how intelligent and high-class you sound. I figure that if you talk dirty to me, in that refined voice, it’ll really drive me crazy…”
He gasped in a sharp breath as his body came alive. Traitorous thing that it was, it throbbed sullenly as he forced himself to frown at Kane. “I thought I asked you not to say thing like that,” he said, trying to sound exasperated rather than aroused. “To court me properly.”
Kane contrived to look apologetic, an expression that he couldn’t quite manage. “I know.” he said, straightening up again. ’But I just can’t seem to help myself. Can you blame me? You’re so sexy that I can’t help myself.”
Benedict sighed. He was silently flattered by how much Kane desired him. Who wouldn’t be? A handsome, powerful Alpha was practically drooling down his neck, consumed with lust for him. He’d never encountered anything like it before. He’d mostly done the pursuing in his other relationships. He wasn’t used to being courted by someone else, especially someone like Kane Haley. But he had to keep Kane in check, even just a little, or he was going to be in real trouble.
“Maybe so,” he said aloud, with this thought in mind. “But you have to try. You have to give me space in which to make up my own mind, not try to overwhelm me so that I’ll say ’yes’ no matter what. It’s just like with those boys who were fighting earlier - you told them to respect the girl and let HER decide. You can’t have one set of standards for them and another for you.”
His words, spoken in a firm voice, made Kane wilt a little. He rubbed at the back of his head, looking like a little boy. “You’re right,” he said unhappily. “I’ll try harder to behave myself. But it’s not going to be easy. You really are totally sexy, you know.”
“Thank you. I’m glad that you think so,” Benedict told him tartly. “But if you expect those much younger boys to learn some control, you must practice what you preach as well. It’s only fair.”
“You’ve got me there,” Kane said mournfully. “I’ll try harder from now on, I swear.”
“That’s all I can ask.”
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