Zach Read online

  Jared opened the door and walked Zach to his sister’s room. They were slow, but it wasn’t far. Ellie smiled when she saw Zach entering, and just like that, Zach knew. He knew he had done the right thing trying to protect her, even if he probably should have done it in a different way. It didn’t matter anymore, though. She and the baby were safe, and Stan was gone. There were still others who could hurt them, but if Ellie stayed in the hospital, she would be fine, and Zach could defend himself.

  Zach smiled back at Ellie before turning to Kameron. The Alpha was sitting in a chair close to Ellie’s bed, and Zach was surprised to see him there. He had thought Kameron would just accompany them to the hospital and wait for Jared to tell him they were fine, but he was still there, and it made Zach’s wolf feel better. The wolf whimpered a bit before settling down in Zach’s mind, and Zach realized that his wolf wasn’t the only one feeling better now that they had seen Kameron. He felt calmer, even if he was still worried and hurt.

  Kameron stood up as soon as he saw Zach. “Sit down. You look like you’re about to fall on your face.”

  “Wow, thanks for the compliment. You always had a way with words,” Zach quipped before remembering that his relationship with Kameron wasn’t what it had been months before. He hurried to the chair, his gaze firmly riveted on his own hands and never looking up at Kameron’s eyes. Zach wasn’t sure what he would see in them, and he didn’t want to see anger or disappointment. Hiding was safer.

  “Okay,” Jared said after he had turned the lights off. The room was now illuminated only by a small light next to the door and by the screen of the ultrasound machine he had wheeled closer to Ellie’s bed, and Zach had to blink a few times to adjust his vision. He couldn’t wait for his eyes to heal completely.

  Jared grabbed a bottle of something. “This is going to be cold, but you already know that,” he told Ellie with a smile before squirting the gel on her exposed stomach.

  Zach felt Kameron move behind him and jumped a little when he felt the man’s big hands closing on his shoulders. The contact seemed to sear itself in his skin, the warmth of Kameron’s body invading him and soothing him from behind. Zach might not know what Kameron thought of him or of their relationship right now, but he was happy that the man seemed to want him to be okay.

  Jared took something from the machine and held it up, explaining to Zach and Kameron that he was going to pass it on her tummy before doing it.

  An image appeared on the screen and Zach tilted his head to the side. It was in black and white, and while he knew it was a baby, he couldn’t actually identify anything. Jared seemed to know what he was doing, though.

  “It’s the same as before. Everything is fine. The baby’s size is fine, although he is a little underweight, but that should be fixed easily once you start eating enough.”

  Zach watched as Jared pointed out a foot, then a leg, amazed at the thought that he really did see stuff on the screen, because to him it was just a jumble of stuff moving around. At least until the baby changed position, or maybe it was just that Jared was looking at it from a different angle.

  Suddenly Zach realized he was looking at a tiny hand, and he felt his heart constrict. Sure, he had known there was a baby in his sister’s bump, but actually seeing it made everything so much more real.

  Zach leaned forward, grabbing Ellie’s hand and squeezing it, his eyes never leaving the screen. He felt Kameron move and startled a bit when the Alpha grabbed his free hand, but just then, a profile appeared, and Zach gasped. It was incredible.

  “He’s sucking his thumb,” Jared said with a smile.

  Zach could really see the baby now. There was a small head with a tiny nose and a hand close to the mouth. The arm was delineated, and he could also see a knee sticking out from the far end of the picture on the screen. “You said he. Is it a boy?” he asked, his voice slightly trembling.

  “Yes. It’s a boy. I couldn’t see it before, but now he’s in a good position.”

  Zach tore his eyes away from the screen and looked at Ellie. His sister was crying, but they were tears of joy. Her mouth was open in a big smile as she looked at the screen, her other hand leaning on the upper side of her baby bump. “You already know what you’re going to call him?” he asked her.

  They had never talked about names. Zach knew Ellie had been scared that she and the baby wouldn’t make it, and even if they did, they both knew Stan would have taken the boy away, so they had tried to keep some distance. They didn’t have to anymore.

  Ellie turned to Zach, her eyes still full of tears. She smiled at him before looking behind him. “Yes, I know. I... I’m going to name him Kameron.”

  * * * *

  Kameron was stunned. He couldn’t understand why on earth someone would want to call a child his name. Wait, maybe she just liked the name. Maybe she wasn’t thinking about him, the Alpha.

  “You’re going to call him Kameron?” Zach asked Ellie. Ellie nodded, and Kameron just knew he was gaping.

  “But... why?”

  Zach and Ellie both looked at him as if he was stupid. But it was Zach who said softly, “You took us out of that hellish house. You saved us.”

  “And also because you’re Zach’s—” Ellie continued, but Zach stopped her.

  “Don’t.”

  “What was she going to say, Zach?” Kameron asked, even if he already had a very good idea of what it was.

  Zach looked uncomfortable, especially when Jared finally turned the lights back on, bringing everything in focus again. “I... can we talk about it later?”

  Kameron wanted to pry, to push until Zach finally admitted what they both knew or at least suspected, but he knew this wasn’t the time or the place. “Fine, but we are going to talk about it. Don’t think I’ll let you off the hook easily.”

  Zach nodded stiffly before turning back to his sister. Kameron moved toward the door, knowing they needed a little time alone before he could take Zach home.

  “So, Kameron, huh?” Jared said with a smile playing on his lips as he followed him outside.

  “Looks like it. I have no idea why, but she’s the mother.”

  “I think it’s nice.” Jared hesitated as if he wanted to say something more.

  “What?”

  “I got Zach’s blood work back, and there were some chemicals present in it. I’m not sure what they’re for yet, but they don’t seem to be hurting him.”

  “I’ll ask him.” And Zach would answer.

  “You do that. I asked, but he didn’t answer, which leads me to think he knows exactly what they’re for. I think he’s been taking them on purpose, but I have no idea why. I shouldn’t be telling you this, but you’re his Alpha. Maybe he’ll tell you.”

  Jared left soon after and Kameron walked back to Zach. The siblings were still talking, but it was time to go home and let Ellie rest. Even Kameron could see she was exhausted, and Zach wasn’t far behind. “Zach? Time to go.”

  Zach looked up. Kameron could see he wanted to protest, and he didn’t know if he just wanted to make sure his sister was safe or if he was dreading the conversation he knew he would have with Kameron. Well, tough stuff. “Come on, let’s go.” Kameron looked at Ellie. “You have my number if you need anything, or you can ask Jared or anyone of the nurses to call me.”

  “Thank you,” Ellie answered, making Kameron a little uncomfortable. He knew he had saved them, but it was his job. There was no reason to thank him.

  He reached for Zach and grasped his hand, pulling him along as he walked toward the exit. Zach followed without protesting, even when Kameron helped him in the car Duncan had driven to Whitedell. They wouldn’t be able to talk, not with Duncan with them, but Kameron had every intention of staying as close as possible to Zach. There was no way he was letting the man he thought about as his mate away from him, not after what had happened.

  “Everything all right in Gillham?” Kameron asked as he sat in the back seat with Zach. Both Zach and
Duncan shot him surprised glances, but he couldn’t have cared less. He settled next to Zach and looped his arm around the smaller man’s shoulders, pulling him close.

  Zach squeaked and tried to pull away, but Kameron held on until he finally surrendered and leaned his head on Kameron’s chest, sighing deeply. Kameron’s wolf settled down, finally happy and content. Kameron looked up to see Duncan raising a brow at him in the rear-view mirror. Kameron mirrored his expression. He had no intentions on explaining his behavior to anyone but Zach.

  “So? Did you find Stan?”

  Duncan shot Kameron a toothy grin. “Yeah. He was at work.” Duncan turned the car on and drove out of the parking lot.

  “Problems?”

  “He wasn’t particularly happy to be led away from his job, but once we told him we knew what he had done, he shut up. Hasn’t talked since then.”

  “Has Nick call Dominic?”

  “Yup. He’ll send a few Nix to shimmer Stan and Bud to the council’s jail as soon as you’re done with them.”

  Kameron was hoping to be able to use this situation to flush Erskine’s old inner circle out of the pack. Once he got rid of Stan and Bud, he would have another five men to take care of, and he knew some of them had known about Zach and Ellie. He just had to prove it.

  Thinking about the dynamics of that group, he thought Tom had probably known, as well as Harvey. He wasn’t sure about Roland and Renaldo, and he didn’t think Rick had known. Rick was the only one who was trying to leave Erskine’s legacy behind, or at least that was what it looked like. Kameron was going to have to talk to him anyway, see if he was ready to help his Alpha to purify the pack.

  The ride was silent. Kameron’s mind never stopped thinking about what he had to do, both as the pack Alpha and as a council member. They still had to deal with Glass.

  The man was in jail, but he was human. Was it really okay for them to keep him there? If they didn’t, that meant he would be free, though, and they couldn’t afford that. Dominic didn’t seem to have any problems with locking him in a cell and losing the key, but Kameron wasn’t so sure. He was going to have to reunite his own inner circle and talk to them, see what they thought. When I finally create an inner circle, that is.

  Looking down at a now sleeping Zach, Kameron wished he could talk about his problems with the man. He used to, before Zach moved in with Ellie and Stan, and everything had seemed easier to deal with just because of that. Would Zach even want to keep on seeing Kameron now that he was free to do whatever he wanted?

  Kameron’s wolf whimpered, and Kameron fully shared its fears. What if Zach wanted to move on? There wasn’t anything between them, not really. Sure, Kameron had felt that they could have something, and they had started to get closer, but it was months ago. He’d had to deal with the aftermath of killing Erskine and become an Alpha, and it hadn’t been an easy time. Zach had been there to help him as much as he could, but while Kameron knew he was in love with Zach, he didn’t know what Zach had felt for him, or if he still felt the same way.

  He had thought Zach did feel something toward him. There had been small actions, smiles and words, that had led Kameron to believe that maybe, just maybe, they could have something good together. He had started imagining that maybe they could even mate, even if Zach didn’t smell of mate, but Kameron hadn’t cared. He had never been obsessed with finding his fated mate as so many shifters were, and he didn’t care if Zach was fated to be his or not.

  Then Zach had moved away, and they hadn’t even talked for months. Kameron had lost hope, even after finding out that Zach hadn’t gone willingly. Surely if he’d had feelings for Kameron, if he really had wanted him, Zach would have said something, right? He would have fought for them and for Ellie instead of just moving in with the bastard who had beaten them until only a few hours ago.

  Kameron ground his teeth together. He was an Alpha, damn it! He shouldn’t think like that, shouldn’t think that he would do anything to have Zach, even give up the pack, but that was exactly what he would do. The feeling only got stronger when he looked down to watch Zach sleep against his chest, bruises and split lip still obvious, but his face relaxed.

  “He’s your mate,” Duncan said, and Kameron looked up at him.

  “He’s not. He doesn’t smell like mate.”

  Duncan shrugged. “Who cares? He’s your mate, mate scent or not. I’m not blind, Kam. The way you look at him, and the way he looks at you in return... it’s obvious to anyone, really. We’re just waiting to see who’s going to take the first step.”

  Kameron opened his mouth, wanting to tell Duncan the thoughts that were still twirling in his head, but he didn’t want to appear weak in the man’s eyes. Not that Duncan would ever think less of him because he was in love, but still.

  “You can talk to me, you know?” Damn, the man really was too perceptive. “Feeling is not a bad thing, not even if you’re the Alpha.”

  Kameron snorted. “When did you become the love expert? I’ve never seen you with the same guy for more than a few times.”

  “That’s because I haven’t found the right one yet, but one day I will, and I won’t care if he’s my fated mate or not.” Duncan winked at Kameron in the rear-view mirror. “You’ll remember this conversation someday down the road, when you and Zach have been mated for years, and you’ll laugh. You’ll see.”

  Kameron smiled at his friend, still unconvinced, but feeling a tiny bit better. He hadn’t talked with Zach yet, so there was still hope. He couldn’t lose that.

  * * * *

  Zach was jolted awake when the car stopped. He hadn’t been sleeping, just dozing, but he had been acutely aware of leaning against Kameron, and it had felt so good that he hadn’t wanted to move. That was why he had faked sleep. That way Kameron had held him without questions or reserves, and Zach knew it might not happen again. He had so many explanations to give, and he didn’t know how Kameron was going to react to them. He could only hope the man would still want him after it.

  “Where are we?” Zach straightened and looked out the window.

  “Home,” Kameron answered, and Zach saw that the car was parked in front of the Alpha’s house.

  Kameron disentangled himself from Zach’s hold, and Zach blushed. His arm had still been clutched around Kameron’s waist, exactly where he had put it while faking sleep, but it didn’t look like Kameron was very happy about it.

  Zach slowly climbed out of the car, surprised to see that Kameron was still there, hovering close to him in case he needed help. It made Zach’s heart warm a bit, but it also confused the hell out of him, because he didn’t know what it meant. “So, where am I staying?” he asked when he finally got off the car.

  He could go back to his parents’ house, even if he would prefer to avoid that, especially after what they had done—or not done in Ellie’s case—but there weren’t a lot of other places he could go. Maybe he could ask Duncan to take him in. He didn’t really know him, but he knew Derick, and Duncan wasn’t a complete stranger anyway.

  “Here.”

  Zach swirled around to face Kameron, groaning when his head swam a bit with the movement. Kameron was there right away, his hands on Zach’s waist to keep him upright while Zach pressed his hands on his face. “Here?”

  “Yes. You’ve lived here before, and it’s the Alpha’s house. You know as well as I do that the house is open to every pack member who needs it, and in this case, you do.”

  Ah, so Kameron wasn’t doing this because he wanted Zach to be close, but just because he had no other choice. That certainly didn’t make Zach feel better. “I could go back home. I don’t want to bother you.” He kept his eyes firmly riveted on the gravel under his feet, not wanting to see whatever feelings Kameron had reflected in his eyes.

  “You’re staying here. I’m not giving you a choice, Zach.”

  Zach nodded, his eyes prickling with tears he didn’t want to shed. He had to obey his Alpha, he knew that, but he would gi
ve just about anything he had to be able to run away from Kameron right now. He didn’t want this tension between them, this fear of how Kameron would react after Zach finally told him what had been going on.

  Zach stayed there, standing next to the car, his eyes down, while Kameron quickly talked to Duncan before Duncan finally said goodbye. Duncan passed next to Zach as he walked away, and Zach jumped when he felt a hand land on his shoulder. He looked up, his gaze locking with Duncan’s.

  “Don’t worry so much, pup. He won’t eat you... unless you want him to, of course.” Duncan winked and Zach smiled at his attempt to lighten the mood. “He cares for you, probably more than he’s willing to admit. He’s just scared to be stung again, what with everything that happened. I’m sure that once the two of you talk, you’ll be fine.”

  Zach smiled again. He wasn’t so sure the man was right, but it felt good to have someone believing it.

  Duncan walked away and Zach turned back to Kameron. The Alpha was patiently waiting, and when he saw Zach was done, he gestured to the house. “Come on. Do you need to eat?”

  “No, I ate and showered at the hospital.”

  “Straight to bed, then.”

  Zach looked at Kameron in surprise. “Don’t you want to talk to me?”

  “It can wait. We already have Bud and Stan, and anyone else involved knows better than to run away. If they do... I’ll find them anyway.”

  Kameron’s expression was feral, and Zach shuddered. The man in front of him rarely displayed his power, but when he did... God, how Zach wanted him! He looked down, not wanting Kameron to see it in his eyes, but the man was already heading for the house, so Zach quickly followed him.

  Once inside he started walking down the hallway for the guestroom he had occupied when he had lived there, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. “Where are you going?”

  “Well, uh, you said I could sleep before we talked, so I was going to bed.”