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“I still don’t get it,” Liam groused from the couch.
Brett shifted in his seat, long legs sliding sideways as he turned to face him. “The greatest gift one Alpha can give another is pack,” he replied. “The larger the pack, the deeper the well of power.”
“But Scott’s a True Alpha,” Liam argued.
Brett nodded. “Yeah, but Satomi owes him a life debt. And not just a personal one. Scott stepped in and saved her whole pack on his own. He took us all under his protection, injured and broken and he didn’t ask for anything in return. He could have taken the whole pack right there, but he didn’t.” He smiled at Liam’s look of horror. “It happens more often than you think. Alphas...generally aren’t big on showing weakness. Scott’s different because he can afford to be. You can’t steal a True Alpha’s power. Because you can’t steal love and loyalty.”
Liam heaved a sigh, tugging one leg beneath him and throwing an arm over the armrest of the couch. “So, you’re a...present?”
“Essentially, yeah. But, I volunteered.” He laughed. “I would have fought for the right honestly. I wasn’t just talking out my ass when I told you you were lucky. The power in a True Alpha’s pack flows through all its members in a way it just doesn’t in any other kind of pack. Scott doesn’t treat you like submissives. He treats you like equals. And your pack bonds carry that strength.”
Liam frowned. “So it’s about power.”
“It’s about feeling safe. It’s about belonging. It’s about being a part of something that has more value as a greater whole not by definition alone, but because it has actual meaning. I want what you have, Liam, I’m not ashamed to admit that.” He shook his head. “Satomi’s a great Alpha. One of the best. But...you don’t know what it’s like. You won the werewolf lottery. I just…” He shrugged. “I want to want to lay down my life for my Alpha. I want to choose to put myself in harm’s way because it’s the right thing to do, because it’ll keep others safe. Not because I’m told to.”
“But, you’ll have to do what Scott says. He’ll be your Alpha,” Liam pointed out.
“He’s your Alpha,” Brett countered evenly. “When has he ever made you do something you didn’t want to?” At Liam’s silence, he added, “I thought so.”
“Did Satomi make you do things you didn’t want to do?”
Brett shrugged. “Sometimes. It wasn’t bad, but…” He sighed heavily, shoulders slumping. His feet tucked up against the seat of the chair knees leveling with his chin.
“What happened?”
They both looked up to find Scott suddenly in front of the taller teen, eyes warm with concern, but lit slightly. He placed a hand to his knee and levered himself down. Brett shuffled up quickly, startling Liam, who still didn’t understand much by way of werewolf politics.
Scott’s hand smoothed over Brett’s knee and up his thigh, squeezing lightly. “Are you okay?”
Liam noted the way Brett’s entire body seemed to melt into the touch. His chest rising and falling in sync with the flare of his nostrils. He tilted his head, looking at Scott through his eyelashes. Liam felt something flare in his gut he couldn’t name.
Scott smiled though, reaching out to cup the side of Brett’s face and rub his thumb against his jaw. Brett’s eyes closed at the touch, head tipping back slowly until his entire throat was exposed. Liam watched completely transfixed as the corner of Scott’s mouth tipped up in a small, fond smile and his hand slid back to cradle Brett’s head. He stood over him and Brett went lax against the cushions. “Still can’t believe she gave you to me,” Scott huffed in amusement.
Brett’s eyes opened, meeting Scott’s. “I volunteered,” he reminded him.
“I know,” Scott replied. He bent down and Liam felt his entire body flush as Scott bit Brett against the curve of his jaw. Liam could practically feel the other teen’s heartbeat kick up a beat or four. Scott pulled back and ruffled Brett’s hair. “Still not over that either.” He laughed and moved around the coffee table, somehow sliding an arm about Liam and pulling him up into a deeply satisfying hug before releasing him back into the couch. “Stay here. I’ll be back in about an hour.” He checked his watch. “Shit.” He looked up at them, meeting their eyes, first Brett’s then Liam’s. “No fighting.”
Liam opened his mouth to protest, but Brett responded with an almost too eager, somewhat joyful sounding, “Yes, Scott.”
Scott laughed and shook his head again, before reaching for his helmet and leaving with the light jangling of keys.
“What the hell was that?!” Liam demanded once Scott’s bike was out of earshot.
Brett raised an eyebrow. “What was what?”
Liam pitched his voice, “Yes Scott!”
“Shut up.”
“And the other stuff!” Liam went on, flagging an arm.
It earned a double brow raise.
Liam tried to imitate it, but found himself entirely too embarrassed by the whole affair to manage to get it out in any way that wasn’t entirely mortifying. Luckily, Brett seemed to understand.
“Oh. That.”
“Yeah. That. What the hell, Brett?! Scott has a girlfriend!”
Brett snorted.
“What?!” he demanded, standing.
“First, sit down. I promised Scott we wouldn’t fight and we won’t. Especially not over this.”
Liam frowned, crossing his arms. He felt like it definitely deserved some kind of argument at least. Brett was moving awfully damn fast and Liam didn’t appreciate it one bit. He wasn’t about to just let him come into the pack and get away with...whatever the hell he felt like.
“This is your first pack,” Brett pointed out.
“So?”
“It’s my third.”
Liam felt the fight leave him. It flew free so suddenly, he flopped into the couch.
Brett’s lips thinned. “My first…” He blinked a few times before shaking his head. “I don’t like talking about my first. Satomi wasn’t the Alpha who bit me. So I’ve been through this before.”
“Been through what before?”
“Claiming.”
It was Liam’s brows turn to rise.
Brett laughed. “Yeah. It’s...not really as sexual as it seems. It’s just...we’re kind of really tactile as a species. I don’t know if anyone’s mentioned that to you yet. And it’s super important that you smell like your pack. That you carry the scent of your Alpha. The weight of their presence on your body is like a protective shield. The more powerful they are, the deeper, more ingrained the scent, the more power that radiates off you from them...it makes the difference between bad things happening to you and life and death.”
Liam blinked at him.
“Scott’s shielding you from it. And he can, because he’s a True Alpha with a pack wholly and unquestioningly loyal to him. That kind of power...it keeps you safe from...well other werewolves.”
“....I have to be afraid of other werewolves now?”
Brett choked out a laugh. “No, you never really had to. Scott’s not just your Alpha. Scott made you. Every time someone breathes you in, Liam it’s this burning property sign. ‘Scott McCall’s Beta! Back the fuck off!’. And believe me...it’s coming from right here.” He reached across the distance between them and tapped Liam in the center of his chest. “It’s in your blood. Every time your heart beats, it’s echoing the same thing. Everyone else is hearing ‘Scott McCall’s. Scott McCall’s.’ And Scott is hearing, ‘Mine. Mine. Mine.’”
Liam swallowed, surprised by just how deeply the revelation pleased him. It was a sort of happiness he’d never really known before, and couldn’t even express. Not without sounding like some sappy, love sick idiot.
“But for the rest of us,” Brett sighed. “Who don’t have that relationship. Who get passed around. Or rejected or abandoned or exchanged...we have to start that process over every time. The Alpha who takes us in has to choose to take us in completely. They aren’t just accepting us into the pack, Liam. They’re accepting us as their own. They have to mark us, claim us, put their scent all over us. And that takes time. And it takes...patience and…” He sighed. “It can be forced. But…” He dropped his eyes, fingers twining. “I like the way Scott does it better.”
Because Scott was gentle, Liam thought. Scott held out his hand and waited for it to be taken. And he was patient enough to wait as long as it took. Because Scott was tender and caring and considerate and kind. And because Scott...was Scott. “Yeah,” he agreed. “I like the way Scott does it too.”
They were silent for a while, lost in their own thoughts. Brett broke it first asking, “So...tell me about Scott’s second.”
Liam’s head jerked up. “His what?!”
“His second,” Brett repeated. “The one he went to go pick up at the airport. You can’t tell me you didn’t notice...You didn’t notice.” He sighed. “Liam...how many of the wolves in Scott’s pack do you know?”
“There’s just Scott and me. And now you.”
Brett rubbed at his temples with one hand, fingers and thumb extended. “Have you even used your nose at all?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?!”
Brett’s arm extended, palm out toward the house. “There are at least half a dozen in the pack,” he stated. “Their scents are all over the house. It’s not trace scent either, it’s ingrained.” He picked up a pillow and threw it at Liam’s head. “Stick your nose in that. They either live here or Scott’s the kind of Alpha who keeps his pack with him at all times.”
“You do know there are non-wolves in this pack, right?” Liam replied, gingerly sniffing the pillow. He gave up after a moment and stuck his whole face into it, inhaling deeply.
“Yeah. Should make life interesting. You get anything?”
“Dust, mostly.”
Brett heaved a sigh. “Well...I guess we’ll both be a surprise.”
Liam’s nose wrinkled. “Half a dozen?!”
“You had to know a True Alpha would have an actual pack, Liam.”
“Yeah well, where the hell have they been?!”
“He might have sent them away.” Brett shrugged. “Maybe the fight before this last one got a lot of them injured and Scott stayed behind to keep the territory, but sent them off to heal.”
“What fight before this one?”
“....you don’t know anything about your pack do you?”
Liam crossed his arms, leaning back in his seat. “I’m starting to get that feeling.”
Brett unwound himself, standing up and crossing over to him. He nudged him gently with his knee, before settling down next to him and wrapping an arm about him.
Liam stiffened. “What are you doing?”
“Relax, Liam. It’s called pack bonding. Remember the part where I told you we’re tactile creatures?” He gave him a little shake. “Come on, relax. You’ll feel better after a good snuggle.”
“This is ridiculous,” Liam grumbled, even as he found himself reflexively making himself comfortable against Brett.
“And yet…” Brett teased. Arms wrapping around him as Liam made an indignant noise and made to move. He threw one impossibly long leg over both of Liam’s effectively pinning him in place. “Oh come on,” he laughed, winding his limbs about Liam. Liam was fairly certain he could get out if he really wanted to--he could get out if he decided to try--he could totally take him. And then give him to Mason. Yeah, that’d work out well, he thought.
Brett’s nose bumped his ear and Liam’s body turned to ooze. “Pack bonding is good for everyone,” Brett said with authority. “Also, I don’t have to start over with just the Alpha you know.”
Liam hummed distractedly.
“It’ll be fine,” Brett soothed. “I have a lot more to worry about than you do.”
“I’m so sure.”
“You’re the Alpha’s Beta. You’re the only one they can’t contest.”
Oh God. They.
His arms wound about Brett’s, holding tightly despite himself. “Do you...do you think they’re all coming home?”
“They have to eventually,” Brett reasoned, smoothing back his hair.
“Yeah, but…”
“They’re your pack, Liam. You don’t have anything to worry about.”
Liam wasn’t so sure. He couldn’t be certain how he knew - call it gut instinct, but...there was just something about it all - maybe Scott’s silence about the others - that just left him feeling off about it.
Either way, in about an hour he wasn’t going to have a choice - like it or not.
He shifted closer to Brett, heart hammering like a caged bird’s, noting idly how it seemed to soothe at the nearness of the other wolf. Brett stretched out his legs and dropped back, adjusting them so they were stretched out along the couch. One of his hands began to smooth its way down Liam’s back with a steady sureness that lulled the smaller wolf’s eyes closed. Before he knew it, he was fast asleep. And time, whisked on by all on its own.
********
He woke to the feel of staring. Blinking his eyes open and rubbing a hand against the corner of one he pushed himself up. Brett made a soft sound of protest, shifting under him, and Liam was instantly awake.
The wolf towering over them was easily as tall as Brett, with blue eyes and blond hair. He looked away from them as they pushed themselves up, turning to Scott who was leaning against the doorframe smiling at them all. Liam felt himself relax; Scott’s nearness a security he hadn’t ever had before, but one he never wished to live without again.
“Just two, yeah?” the wolf said.
“Just the two,” Scott replied. He pushed himself up and crossed over to them, winding both arms about the tall wolf, leaning up - the other wolf tipped sideways to give him access, Liam noted - to kiss him against the underside of his jaw. Scott nosed him there a few times until the tension in the other wolf’s shoulders eased. “Isaac Lahey, this is Brett Talbot and Liam Dunbar. Liam, Brett…” Their Alpha’s eyes closed slightly as he inhaled deeply at the curls just behind the other wolf’s ear. “This is Isaac.”
Isaac wrapped an arm about Scott, fingers trailing down his spine. Scott shivered slightly. Brett’s raised brows met Liam’s. Apparently no, this was not normal pack behavior.
“You’ve been one of us a while, Brett.” It wasn’t a question.
“Four years,” Brett answered.
Liam turned to look at him in surprise. He’d been bitten young.
Brett didn’t look away from Isaac.
Isaac nodded. “And you bit Liam.”
“I bit Liam,” Scott admitted against the skin of Isaac’s neck.
Isaac sighed heavily. “I wasn’t here,” he said, with a heaviness Liam couldn’t interpret.
“I don’t regret what happened,” Liam informed him, spine straightening under the insinuation.
Scott huffed a small sound, pressing his face into Isaac’s throat. Isaac turned his head, running his jaw over the top of Scott’s head.
“Well, we can’t change what happened,” Isaac continued, after an extended moment of the two of them just indulging in touching one another. “We’ll just have to move on.” He looked down at Scott. “When are the others coming?”
“The twins and Danny will be in tomorrow afternoon. Aiden’s still healing.” Scott sounded like he didn’t want them to come back at all.
Isaac drew him impossibly closer. “You’re lucky they stayed away through the deadpool at all,” he commented. “And Jackson?”
“His plane’s coming in tomorrow morning. I told him I’d pick him up, but…” He sighed. “He said he doesn’t want anyone to have to go out and get him. He’s planning to take a cab in.”
“Cora?”
Scott shook his head. “I told her to stay where she was. No point in coming all the way out here, when Derek’s going to be heading out there with Malia next month.”
Isaac heaved a sigh. “Have you gone shopping yet?”
Scott laughed.
“I’m going to take that as an ‘Isaac, I still have no idea how to handle a shopping list, please take care of that for me’.”
Scott tipped his head back, looking up at him. “I’ve had a lot on my mind.”
Isaac bent forward, dropping their brows against one another. “And you’re going to be resting this summer,” he informed him.
“Whatever you say.”
“I mean it. No job. No interfering in other packs politics. No picking up strays. You’re going to take a few months off and get your head together, Scott. Or there’s going to be a mutiny.”
Liam looked to Brett to gauge whether or not he should be concerned about the threat. But Brett was looking at Scott and Isaac.
Scott’s hands threaded in Isaac’s hair. “Going to challenge me, Isaac?”
Isaac snorted. “I’m going to handcuff you to the bed. And if you think anyone’s going to help you escape…” He took a moment to meet Brett and Liam’s eyes, his own flashing yellow, before returning to blue and Scott’s. “You’ve got another thing coming. And if Stiles thinks he’s going to rope you into anything, I’ve got a few ideas about him as well.”
Scott laughed. It was a happy sound, Liam noted. The kind of laugh he hadn’t really heard from Scott. Like some part of him that had been missing was slotting back into place.
“Come on everybody,” he said, practically climbing Isaac, eyes flashing a red challenge.
Isaac’s flashed yellow back, but Liam had the distinct impression they weren’t about to get into a fight.
“Let’s have lunch.”
***
“I didn’t know Scott had a mate,” Brett remarked, looking slightly pole axed.
“A what?” Liam asked, pillow in hand. He usually went to bed in his own room, snuck out and went to Scott’s to sleep, snuck back out in the morning and went back home. But tonight he’d circumvented the whole issue by simply asking for permission. Brett, who’d been an orphan and had been gifted to Scott was now living with him and so hadn’t needed to do any such thing - Liam was still unreasonably jealous, stupid as it was.
“A mate.”
Liam sat down on the bed - Brett’s bed; formerly Isaac’s bed - and hugged the pillow to his chest. He may not understand much about werewolf politics, but there was something instinctual about the weight of the word.
“I mean, it’s not unheard of,” Brett went on, mostly talking to himself. “It’s just…”
“That he has a girlfriend?” Liam suggested.
“Well, there’s that,” Brett admitted, flopping down beside him.
“How does that work?” Liam found himself asking, leaning sideways enough to bump shoulders companionably. “Mates and stuff.”
“I have no idea. It’s not...It’s just not really that common a thing.”
“Well, it’s Scott.”
“Exactly. So, maybe the rules don’t strictly apply?”
“I don’t get it.”
“Neither do I, really,” Brett replied, raking a hand through his hair. It was still wet from his shower and stuck up oddly.
“Do you think it’s going to make things weird? Between you and Isaac,” he clarified when Brett looked at him oddly.
“Why would it?”
“Well, because they’re mates?”
“Yeah, but, you’re the first Beta Scott ever made.”
“So?”
“So, it means every other Beta in his pack had to go through the same process as me. Scott’s been through this at least six times already.” He blew out a breath, dropping back on the bed, arms splayed. “No wonder he’s so good at it.”
Liam turned so he could see him. “He’d be good at it regardless,” he pointed out.
“Yeah, he would.”
“Come on,” Liam said, dropping the pillow over Brett’s chest. “Let’s get some sleep. We’ll feel better in the morning.” He paused at Brett’s grin. “What?”
Brett shook his head, climbing under the covers. “Nothing.”
“What?!” he demanded.
“I didn’t say anything.”
Liam pulled the pillow out from under Brett’s head and hit him in the face with it. Muffled laughter bubbled up from beneath it as he situated himself under the covers beside his packmate. He’d slept with Scott loads since he’d first started having nightmares, and Mason a few times, so he was used to sharing - not that Scott had given them much choice when there was only one bed in the room and nothing else. It didn’t even strike him as odd that it didn’t feel uncomfortable in the slightest. As he burrowed under the covers, he sighed at the coolness of the sheets, but he didn’t really start to relax until Brett rolled over and threw an arm about his middle.
Lying there in the dark, the thrum of central air working through the vents and the easy rhythm of Brett’s breathing beside him, Liam felt, for the first time, something warm and solid vibrate inside him. A deep, steady pulsing, like a heartbeat, only more rolling like a purr. It latched onto him, hooking him by the sternum and he jolted once, startling Brett who stroked his back soothingly.
“It’s just the pack bond,” he murmured sleepily. “Relax Liam.”
“The what?”
Brett groaned and rubbed his face against Liam’s shoulderblade as if willing himself awake enough to have a conversation, when all he clearly wanted was to be swept up in whatever it was that was setting up a steady cadence in their souls. “You’re used to it being just you and Scott,” he explained, breath warm against Liam’s tee. “Who knows where the others were. Probably far…” He yawned, turning his face against Liam’s spine. Liam felt shocks like sparklers go off in every direction. And then Brett’s brow dropped against him and rocked as if he were fighting consciousness. “Maybe Scott shielded you, I don’t know. You wouldn’t have felt it with the others. You and Malia aren’t really close are you?”
He shook his head before realizing Brett neither could see, nor was coherent enough to lay a guess as to the gesture, and so responded verbally. “No, we’re not.”
Brett yawned again, widely this time. “Yeah, so. I’m not surprised. Anyway, this is what packs feel like. Full packs, with wolves in them. The buzzing will get stronger and stronger until your blood is singing with wolf cries. It’s…” He sighed dreamily, head rolling so he was mostly sprawled across Liam’s back. “Heaven. It’s why Omegas go nuts. It’s so lonely without it.”
“What’s an Omega?”
“SHHH…” Brett’s hand flopped by his face, missing him entirely and thumping his pillow lightly. “Sleep Liam. It’s nice.”
“Yeah...It’s nice.”
He tried to relax into it, but found himself anxiously keeping track of the increasing pitch as the others slowly made their way closer.
**********
By the time Liam woke up on the first free Saturday morning of the summer, the rest of the pack in house was downstairs in the kitchen. Noting that he must have fallen asleep some time around three in the morning, he took a quick shower to refresh himself, got dressed and trudged down the stairs. Brett was sitting at the table, looking chipper as ever - if Liam had to guess, he’d say the other teen hadn’t had such a restive night in a while.
Scott was at the head of the table, sprawled in his chair, looking tired, but happy. Stiles had popped in at some point, and was sipping coffee beside him, their legs tangled beneath the table. Isaac was at the stove, tending to bacon, if Liam’s nose wasn’t lying to him. And sitting at the other end of the table was someone Liam didn’t recognize.
“Is this him?” the guy said, immediately raising Liam’s proverbial hackles.
Scott’s head tipped back so he could see him and he smiled and held out an arm.
Liam went to him on autopilot, not finding it in him to protest at all when Scott took him by the wrist and dragged him into his lap like a favorite pet. “This is Liam,” Scott replied, cradling him with one arm and smoothing his hair back with his free hand. He idly kissed his brow and leaned his mouth against Liam’s forehead. “You didn’t sleep well.”
“The pack thing,” Liam mumbled, embarrassment flooding him. He was too tired to fight the instinct to curl up in his Alpha’s arms and press his face to his neck so he didn’t bother trying. Scott just held him closer, rocking him slightly as he adjusted his position in his chair so they wouldn’t tip out of it.
“Yeah, it takes some getting used to,” he said softly. “I’m sorry I didn’t warn you.” His hand smoothed down Liam’s back and Liam sighed and wrapped both arms about Scott, feeling suddenly sleepy.
“Liam, this is Jackson. Jackson, Liam.”
“Hey.” Liam could practically feel the chin thrust.
“Hey,” he replied, voice muffled by the bulk of Scott.
He must have drifted off at some point because Scott was suddenly gently stroking him awake, calling him. Liam’s eyes fluttered open before his brain caught up with the fact that apparently, Scott could summon him even from the depths of unconsciousness. He’d be scared if it weren’t Scott. He blinked at the bacon in front of his nose. Eyes lifting to take in his Alpha’s beaming face. He pushed against his chest, rubbing at his face, feeling a million times better. He made to get up, but Scott just kept his arm about him. Liam looked back at him, then around at the group once. None of the other wolves seemed at all bothered by it. Stiles just shrugged one shoulder. Liam sighed. “I can feed myself,” he protested.
“I know,” Scott replied, amused.
Liam shifted until he wasn’t so precariously balanced and took the bacon Scott handed him, crunching on it with a little more force than was necessary. Scott just laughed and dragged a plate over for him.
“Brett,” he said, sliding one at the other teen.
Brett beamed as if Scott had just handed him keys to a brand new car. “Thank you!” He didn’t seem at all bothered by the fact that Scott had loaded up a plate for him. Liam noted that Scott slid one across the table at Jackson, set one in front of Stiles, and drew one against the empty space to his right, calling Isaac over. The blond Beta sat as directed and began to eat. Scott, Liam noted, waited until they’d all started eating before reaching for his fork.
**
“I don’t get it,” Liam said, dropping both feet atop the coffee table to give his belly a bit of a break. They’d just finished lunch, in which Scott had again performed the bizarre feeding ritual and Brett had looked caught somewhere between tears and outright joy. “It was just a sandwich, you don’t have to jump his bones over it.”
“You’re an asshole, you know that?” Brett replied, throwing a pillow at him. He was equally lounging, unable to say no to the second helping Scott had pressed upon everyone.
“I just don’t see why you’re getting so emotional about food. Did Satomi never feed you?”
Brett groaned and dragged a hand over his face, but he wasn’t the one who answered Liam’s question.
“Alphas eat first.”
They both looked up to find three people in the doorway, two of them identical, if one of those identical people, was slightly hunched.
“Always.”
“And they always eat the most of the best,” said the other.
“Except Scott,” said his twin.
“Except Scott,” agreed Brett. He looked relieved to have someone get it, and his fingers flexed against one another as he sat up. “I’ve never had an Alpha offer me food. Let alone insist I ate first.”
“Yeah, Ethan cried the first time,” the hunched twin said.
Ethan turned on his brother. “Are we really going there?” he replied, raising a brow. “Mister so grateful I offered the Alpha a-”
“Hi, I’m Danny,” the non-identical teen said. “This is Aiden.” He gestured to the twin whose arm was thrown over his shoulder. “And that’s Ethan.”
“Brett.” He hooked a thumb at Liam. “That’s Liam.”
“Can’t believe Scott expanded,” Ethan commented. “We were only gone a few months.”
“Scott’s the Alpha, he can do what he wants,” Liam defended.
The twins laughed, Aiden slinging an arm about his ribs and leaning heavily into Danny.
“Oh believe me kid, we know,” he wheezed.
“You’re home!” Scott gasped, suddenly appearing in the hall.
The trio turned and flashed smiles at him.
“Sorry it took so long,” Aiden began, but Scott stepped into him, picking him up as if he weighed nothing and pressing their brows together.
“You’re home. That’s all that matters.” He closed his eyes, and Aiden did as well, arms going about his Alpha, all pretense at wellness fading away. He didn’t look any worse for the wear, but he’d clearly been putting up a front. “How’re you feeling?” Scott murmured.
“It still hurts a lot,” Aiden admitted quietly. He snuggled closer, nosing Scott lightly. “But I’m a lot better. Especially now.”
Scott kissed him.
Liam had never seen Scott kiss anyone. And he wasn’t at all expecting to see what he saw. Ethan inhaled sharply as dark lines appeared on the pair of wolves, their kiss deepening.
“What’s that?” Liam asked, finding himself on his knees, prepared to defend his Alpha.
A hand closed over his shoulder and he looked up to find Isaac standing beside him. “Scott’s taking his pain,” he explained quietly.
Liam’s eyes widened, following the darkness as it passed from Aiden into Scott. Aiden seemed to be getting stronger, as his arms locked about Scott and his hands closed into fists in his hair. Scott didn’t so much as shift in his stance, delving deeper into Aiden’s mouth with his tongue.
“He’ll be fine,” Isaac soothed.
“Will Ethan?” Brett asked.
Liam looked to where Aiden’s twin was being comforted by Danny, a hand stroking down his sternum gently.
“Werewolf twins,” said Stiles, flopping down onto the couch. “They share stuff. He’ll be fine.”
When Scott drew away his eyes were blazing, but he set Aiden down on his feet, clasped his face in his hands and kissed the center of his forehead. He turned, holding out an arm which Ethan all but ran into with something akin to a sob. Scott brought him close, kissed him as well, then drew both twins close, resting their brows against his own. They stood that way for several long minutes, before Scott looked up and smiled.
“Danny.”
“Oh I get a hello now?”
“We human underlings must band together,” Stiles deadpanned, raising an arm, fist clenched for solidarity. “Equal rites or equalizing bites!”
Isaac laughed.
Jackson shook his head, thumping Stiles with a pillow for good measure.
“Hey, what? Scott offered!”
All eyes turned to the Alpha in the room. Scott didn’t look the least bit sheepish. “Yeah I did. And if you still want it, Stiles, we’ll talk about it.” He released the twins to hug Danny, kissed him against the temple and murmured against it, “You too.”
Danny just nodded.
“You made us jump through hoops and now you’re giving out free passes,” Ethan grumbled.
“Liam was a life or death situation. Brett was a gift. And I like Danny.”
“Hey!” cried Stiles.
But the twins were looking at Brett differently. They seemed to understand just what it meant and it was almost as if their newest packmate had jumped up several respectable levels in their eyes. The eyes they had for their Alpha when they next looked at him were entirely indiscernible.
“You were given a gift, Scott?”
“From who?”
“Satomi Ito,” Brett replied.
The twins brows went up in an identical display of surprise.
Brett beamed.
“And he volunteered to be mine,” Scott informed them, crossing the room to pull Brett out of his seat and into his arms. “Did he mention that part?”
It seemed the voluntary nature was news to everyone, because Brett blushed and ducked his head. Scott nosed his jaw and stroked his shoulder.
“Have you…”
Liam didn’t know what the twin - he couldn’t tell them apart anymore now that he’d lost his bearings - meant to say, though it was clear the rest of the pack did.
Scott shook his head. “Not yet,” he replied, tucking back some of Brett’s hair.
The twins closed the distance between them and leaned in to sniff at Brett, who held still and let them.
“You’re not sleeping with him yet,” one of them pointed out.
“He only just got here,” Scott defended.
They sighed in unison. “Scott,” they said.
“We talked about this,” one finished.
“I’m not rushing into anything,” Scott replied, drawing Brett - all six feet, two inches of him - to his chest. Amazingly it didn’t look comical - though that probably had a lot to do with the werewolf goggles. Nothing really looked comical when Scott did it. Scott was the Alpha. It just was. “Brett will come to me when he’s ready.”
“Umm…” said Brett.
“We all sleep with our Alpha in this pack,” the twin on the right explained.
“Okay,” Brett replied, drawing out the word slightly.
“He’s a True Alpha,” the other twin continued, more gently. “The bonds work a lot differently than a traditional pack.”
“I know,” Brett answered, more confident.
“I don’t think you do,” Jackson pointed out.
Brett straightened, looking over his new pack. “Yeah, I do.” He looked to Scott. “True Alpha packs have individual bonds. Each pack member bonds tightly to the Alpha and through the Alpha they’re a pack - whether they like it or not. They don’t even have to like each other, but they’ll get along in the end because they all have one thing in common.”
“And what’s that?” asked Isaac.
Brett looked to Scott. “They love the Alpha. They trust the Alpha. They’re willing to lay down their own lives for their Alpha or one another for what their Alpha believes in. Because they believe in their Alpha. Because their Alpha believes in them.”
“Well, he’s not wrong,” stated Jackson.
One of the twins was rubbing a hand over his face, muttering to himself.
“Yeah, but, it’s a lot more literal than that, Brett,” Isaac informed them. “True Alpha bonds...they form individually between the Alpha and their pack members, through love. It’s why Satomi sent you. Because you volunteered. You had the right foundations to be in a True Alpha’s pack. But your bond with Scott won’t be like any bond you’ve ever had with any other Alpha.”
“I know.”
“For fuck’s sake,” grumbled the frustrated twin. “We fuck him! We all fuck him!”
Liam felt himself caught between the need to rapidly blink and to not blink at all, stalled in complete shock.
“Ethan,” Scott growled.
“He has a right to know, Scott!” Ethan snapped back.
Brett blinked himself, caught off balance.
Aiden shook his head and lay a hand to Brett’s back soothingly. “Are you okay?” he asked softly.
“I-...” Brett swallowed thickly. “I thought...You and Isaac…”
Scott nodded. “Me and Isaac.” He gestured to his right. “And me and Jackson. And me and Aiden. And me and Ethan. And me and Stiles-”
“Stiles too?!” Liam found himself squeaking.
“Hey, I’m in this pack too!” Stiles defended. “And I’ve known Scott the longest. If anyone’s granted advantage to the perks of True Alpha lovemaking, it’s me. I’ve got prior dibs!”
Brett’s shoulders slumped, and then surprisingly, he laughed. Liam paused to take in the sight of the older wolf as he doubled over, hands to his knees and laughed and laughed until he went a little blue.
“Brett,” Scott cooed, stroking over his spine.
Brett waved off the coaxing, straightening. “I thought…” he gasped, wiping at tears, a broad grin on his face. “I thought you were off limits. I thought Isaac was your mate.”
“Oh,” Scott said, taken by surprise.
“True Alphas don’t mate, Brett,” Isaac replied. “They can’t. Other Alphas need mates for stability.”
“But that’s what True Alpha’s packs are for,” Jackson finished for him.
“Oh,” Brett said, as if it were something obvious he’d never taken the time to look at close enough. “I’m glad I volunteered then.”
“I don’t know how you do it, man,” Stiles said, slapping Scott against the back.
“So, just to clarify.” Liam heard the words coming out of his mouth, but couldn’t for the life of him control them. “Scott is having sex with everyone individually.”
“And some of us at the same time,” one of the twins pointed out a little lecherously.
Liam felt something in his brain crack.
“Really?” Brett asked, a little too enthusiastically.
“Sometimes,” Scott answered.
“Regularly,” Isaac sighed.
“And...Scott…” He pointed at his Alpha. “Is going to have sex with Brett.”
Scott held up both hands, only barely refraining from looking at the ceiling. “I’m not going to be doing anything. Like I said, Brett will come to me when he’s ready. It’s a natural thing.” He pointed at one of the twins. “And you’re going to have to do so much penance for this one.”
“Wait a minute, wait a minute!” Jackson interrupted. “Scott, you’re spanking now?!”
The twins whined. Scott flushed. Brett’s eyes went wide. Stiles laughed. Isaac sighed and dropped a hand over his face. Liam took a moment to close his eyes and see if maybe he’d wake up.
He cracked one eye open to find the group staring at him, quietly waiting.
“So?” Stiles urged.
“What?” he snapped.
“Really? You’re not going to drag this out to it’s logical conclusion?”
Liam paused, blinked, then proceeded to feel his skin burn as he flushed hotly.
“You too,” Scott scolded, crossing over to him.
Stiles just high fived one of the twins.
Scott wrapped both arms around him and drew him close, let him bury his face in his chest and breathe him in until the world made sense again. “Our relationship is different,” he said at length. Liam drew away to look at him and wondered when the others had been sent away, and when they’d cuddled up on the couch.
“You’re my Beta. No one gave you to me. I didn’t come across you. No one abandoned you or kicked you out or fucked up your life and left you alone to deal with it.”
“Is that…?”
Scott exhaled heavily. “You’re already mine. That’s all that matters.” He stroked over Liam’s back soothingly. “And I don’t make advances on anyone. I just…”
Liam huffed a laugh. “You’re you and they fall in love with you.”
Scott rubbed his face in Liam’s hair. “Yeah...I guess.”
“Must be rough being a True Alpha,” he teased.
“You have no idea.”
Liam laughed and snuggled closer. They held each other for a while, content to simply soak in one another’s presence.
“Scott?”
“Mmm?”
“What happens if the pattern holds?”
Scott sighed. “And you fall in love with me?”
“Yeah. Do I get to fuck you?”
“Statistically, no.”
“That’s not fair,” he pointed out. “If Stiles gets to pull the best friend card, I should get to pull the Beta card.”
“Are we really having this conversation?”
“Hey, I just want to know my rights,” Liam replied with a playful shrug.
“If it happens, when you’re of legal age-”
Liam pushed himself up and stared his Alpha down. “This is such bullshit! You’ll fuck Brett but you won’t fuck me!”
“Brett’s a year older than you!”
“What’s that got to do with anything?!”
“You’ll be underage!”
“We’re werewolves!”
“Not to the state of California.”
Liam dropped back into Scott. “You suck.”
Scott just smirked.
Liam shoved both hands over his face. “Oh God I don’t want to know!”
His Alpha laughed. “Don’t worry, Liam. If I bite Stiles and Danny, then you’ll at least have siblings to commiserate with.”
“You’ll stop fucking Stiles?”
The look Scott gave him was worth a meme all its own. “Are you insane?”
“You won’t fuck Danny?”
“That ship has sailed.”
Liam shook his head. “I can’t win in this pack. What’s my door prize?”
“Being insufferable?”
“I can probably work with that.”
“I have full faith in you.”