Waiting For Raine

Midsummer, or, as most of the pack called it, matesummer. Raine watched the vehicles pulling onto the grounds. Large motorhomes and SUVs packed with members of other packs flooding their lands for the gathering. Resting his cheek against the bark of the tree he was sitting in, Raine grumbled a stream of curses, a nearby squirrel angrily chattering his own stream of profanities back at him. 

​

“Why does it always…. have to be.… a tree?” Huffing and grumbling proceeded his brother Noah’s appearance beside him, a sour expression on his face as he gripped the branch overhead. 

​

Shrugging, Raine looked away from his annoyed gaze, and back towards the impending invasion. As soon as they got settled, all of their scents would fill their lands and linger for weeks afterwards. “I like trees.”

​

“I like trees too, to pee on, not to climb. We’re wolves, and wolves are supposed to keep their feet on the ground.”

​

“There are exceptions to all things.”

 

“Uh-huh.”

 

“What are you doing here, Noah? Shouldn’t you be curled up with Evan and Holden in your little love nest?”

 

He knew he’d failed to keep the bitterness out of his voice the moment his brother’s eyes narrowed at him and wolf amber momentarily replaced the gray. 

 

“And yet I’m here. I wonder why that is.”

 

“That’s what I’m asking you.”

 

“I came to deliver a message, not that you’ll care. That big brown and white wolf from the northwestern pack is looking for you. I believe he said his name was Gabriel.”

 

For a moment, Raine couldn’t breathe. It was like Noah had sucked all the air out of the forest and left him digging claws into the branch of the tree to ground himself. 

 

“How’d he look?” Raine gritted out between clenched teeth. 

 

“At first glance, you’d never know he was in a fight that nearly killed him.”

 

“No one asked him to do that.”

 

“With the way he was always watching you and trailing you, there was no way anyone was going to tell him not to.”

 

Sighing, Raine scrubbed a hand over his face, shoulder aching from how heavily he was leaning against the trunk. Butterflies and fear warred in his belly, clenched tight to keep from vomiting up his last meal. He would not think about the gathering two years past, or the mistake he’d nearly made in allowing himself to be claimed. 

 

“Saw him struggle to lift his backpack with his left arm. It’s a wonder he can use it at all. I was certain he was going to lose it, with as mangled as it was.”

 

“Shut up, Noah.”

​

Of course his brother didn’t listen. That was part of his charm. He was stubborn that way, always had been, even back when they were young pups and Raine steadfastly refused to have anything to do with their father, Noah’s mother, or the rest of their siblings. Alone. Scared. Grieving over the death of his mother, he’d become a snarling, feral thing, living in the small apartment at the back of the house that he and his mother had lived in for as long as he could remember. He’d bitten everyone that approached until Noah. 

“My guess is he was still rehabbing it last year, which was why he didn’t show up to the gathering then,” Noah continued on, as if Raine hadn’t interrupted. “You should talk to him. It’s the least you can do.”

His brother was right, not that he planned to listen. Nearly going down that road once was bad enough. Never again. His mother had taught him better. 

“He was alone, if that helps any. No mating marks on his wrists either, so it’s safe to say he’s still single.”

“So.”

“Stop pretending you don’t give a shit and take the second chance you’re being offered. I doubt you’ll get a third one.”

“Why can’t you stop meddling and drop it. For fuck’s sake, Noah, I’m not interested!”

“Could have fooled me, what with the way you called to check on him every day after he first went home.”

“And then I stopped, which should tell you something.”

“Yeah, that you’re clinging to an irrational notion put in your head by an irrational woman, who…”

“Do not talk about my mom!”

“Why! Afraid of hearing the truth?”

Snarling, Raine ripped a furrow in the wood. “Leave Noah, before I forget how much I love you and throw you out of this tree.”

“You’re ruining your life, you know that, right?” 

“No. Taking a mate and trusting that I would be their one and only would ruin my life. I won’t do it, Noah, and I wish you’d stop asking me too.”

“I’ll stop asking when you come to your senses and see that there is room in our hearts to love more than one person,” Noah insisted, not for the first time. In fact, he was sick of hearing it. 

“Not equally.”

“Bullshit!”

“Do you really believe Evan and Holden love you as much as they love each other?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Then you’re a fool. They had three years together before they met you. Three years of memories, moments and promises. No matter what you do, you can never catch up. It will never be equal.”

“If that’s all you think love is, then I pity you, Raine, I really do.”

The look on Noah’s face, disappointed, sad, left Raine momentarily upset that he’d put it there. Until he thought about his mother, her tears, the way she’d looked in the mirror, asking what was wrong with her that his father couldn’t love her. Asking why she’d never be enough. He’d spent his early years with a broken ghost who’d hug him one moment and scream at him for wanting to play with his siblings the next.

He’ll drown you the moment I’m not around to protect you, she’d rage, grabbing him by the arm, shaking him hard enough his teeth clacked together. Sometimes she’d forget her strength, or claws, leaving deep, bleeding marks in his upper arm or accidentally dislocating it. It had happened so many times he could do it at will now. A constant reminder of her pain. 

“I don’t want your pity.”

“No, you never want anything, do you?” Noah glanced away from him, over to the slowly filling grove where the gathering would take place. 

“Wrong, I want to be left alone.”

“Fine, wish granted, but I want you to remember this moment in ten years, when you’re alone and sorry you blew your opportunity with someone who really and truly loves you.”

With those last words hanging in the air between them, Noah lowered himself to the ground, shifted, shook himself and disappeared into the forest. Asshole! He’d be the one to see, in ten years, when he was living in an add on apartment or back at mom and dad’s after his two mates decided there was no longer room for him in the relationship. 

If only there was a way to insure a pairing would never become a tri-bond. Then he’d happily go to Gabriel and explore the possibilities.

Another idea took hold then, as he watched awnings popping up on campers and people pitching tents. Maybe he should go to Gabriel anyway, talk to him and get it out of his system. Maybe they’d prove to be incompatible and he could stop daydreaming about what it would be like to belong to someone. Hell, maybe he was just looking for Raine to curse him out about the fight. Hearing Gabriel say he hated him would go a long way towards helping him to stop dreaming about the man. 

Decision made, he dove off the branch, somersaulting twice before hitting the ground in a crouch, sniffing. 

Rabbit, squirrel, skunk, deer, moss, dirt, pine, rotting leaves, cinnamon…

Cinnamon?

That didn’t belong out here. 

Nutmeg, dough, sugar…

Those definitely didn’t belong out here.  

His nose led him back to the trail, fully aware that following it might mean running into strangers and pairs already getting a jump on the frolicking and fooling around portion of the event. A bunch of pups would be born ten months from now, that was for damn sure. And then what? Some pairs would end up trapped by those stupid bond marks, others would raise their pups alone. Hell, he even knew of occasions where one parent took half the litter and the other raised the rest, siblings who never saw, or even knew of one another until they met at a gathering, stunned to discover someone else who looked like them. 

Deep in thought, he nearly slammed snout first into a moss-covered log, narrowly avoiding it only to end up with his front paws in the mud, tail tangled in a bunch of sticker burrs. Great. Just fuckin’ great. The sticky sweet smell was growing closer too, heavy on the wind, leaving him drooling as he pulled his tail free, taking several of the burrs with him. 

Maybe heading home to clean up and regroup would be the best course of action. Whatever the smell was, it was probably coming from one of the invading packs, some foreign food, like the lumpia a visiting pack from across the ocean had made. Crunchy, savory, and so, so good. 

Changing course, he bounded off the path, taking a shortcut back to the village. One that didn’t go anywhere near the gathering ground. Rounding the back side of the pond, the door to his dwelling in view, Raine stopped short when a familiar figure stepped from the woods to stand directly in front of him. 

“So, is this where you’re planning to hide this year?”

Joy, if there was anyone he wanted to see less than Edward Champlin, he hadn’t met them yet. 

“Not anymore.”

“As sarcastic as ever. You keep that up and you’ll never land a mate.”

“Suits me.”

“Well, I want you to know that you don’t have to worry about me hounding you this year. I found mine, both of them. Jenny is already pregnant with our first litter of pups.”

Hands shoved out in front of them so there was no chance of Raine missing his bond marks, Edward preened like a damned peacock, leaving Raine wishing he could pluck the tail-feathers outta him. 

“I wasn’t worried. Now, if there is nothing else you’re after, you can get out of my way, I have things to do.”

“I hope one of them includes making yourself halfway presentable before you give your pack a bad name, if you haven’t already. Running around looking like a hot mess. You might seriously want to consider the image you’re trying to project.”

“Then it’s a good thing I’m not trying to project one, isn’t it? Contrary to what you, and so many others seem to think, this is not a meat market, and I will not waste my time trying to shine myself up so someone can take one look at me and sneer ‘cause they’ve already heard that I’m defective.”

“The only thing defective about you is your attitude. The rest of you is sweet, sweet eye candy. I just wish you’d given me a taste when I asked you too.”

“Don’t you mean begged,” Raine growled, trying to nudge his way past only to have Edward slide back in his way. 

“Of course, it’s never too late.”

“And what would your mates think of that?” Raine asked, slinking left only to have Edward block him again. 

“What they don’t know can’t hurt me.”

That leer was the last straw. He sunk fangs in Edward’s hand without a word of warning, shaking until he tasted blood. The moment he let go he bolted, leaving Edward clutching his hand and cursing him, vowing to make him pay. 

Just what he needed. Something else to worry about as the week dragged on. Now he’d have to be extra careful to avoid every hiding place Edward had ever tracked him to before. What the hell was he doing here in the first place if he was mated?

Almost as soon as the question entered his mind, the answer followed. He was already stepping out on them. And then people wondered why Raine refused to be part of this perpetual cycle of misery. 

Inside his home, he grimaced at the mess he was making on the hardwood floor, grateful it wasn’t carpet. His father’s mate had tried several times to have some installed, in addition to several other things she’d called comforts, but he’d driven her and the remodeling crew away from his door. Except for a few touches he’d added here and there, the apartment was the same as it had been before his mother died and he intended to keep it that way. 

Making his way to the bathroom, passed the living room where a big bookcase shelf dominated one wall, he was reminded of one of those changes. The best one. He’d built them into the wall after hours of careful sanding and took great pride in keeping the wood oiled to a soft sheen. There wasn’t much on it, magazines, a few books, the odd knickknack, some interesting rocks he’d found in the stream, but that wasn’t the point. The point was behind it. The door to the main house which over the years had been the primary way his old man had ambushed him. Usually with complaints about him being disrespectful to the whore who’d made his mother’s life so miserable. Maybe if she’d have learned to stay out of his face, there wouldn’t have been issues. 

At least now he only had to see them if he opened the front door, ‘cause there was no way they were getting around that bookcase without wrecking the wall. Chuckling to himself, he got the shower started, grabbed clothes from his room and climbed in the tub. Now for the tricky part. Picking those burrs out of his tail with his teeth hurt, and wet fur wasn’t making it easier. Shifting with them in there would hurt worse though, so he tugged, one popping free so fast he banged his head on the wall. 

After that he was far more careful until the last of the burrs came free. Shaking himself, he shifted, the speed of it leaving him momentarily off balance, like standing up from a chair too fast. A little soap, some shampoo, a lot of conditioner, and he stood as ready as he was ever going to be. 

Staring at his reflection in the mirror, he struggled to see beyond what Edward had called him. Eye candy. Beauty with no substance. Was that what Gabriel saw? Was that why he’d pursued him so relentlessly, to the point of rescuing him from a situation he’d blindly blundered into?

At the very least, a thank you was in order, even if it was coming two years too late. 

He was well aware of the attention he garnered, walking through the campgrounds in distressed jeans that hugged his legs and a t-shirt that showed off the definition he’d worked hard to achieve. Power. Strength. He was a damn excellent hunter, and he knew it. Members of his pack knew it too. Others had told him about the stories they circulated, fresh kills left on the doorsteps of elders, especially during the coldest parts of winter when old joints protested being out in the snow too long. 

Heads turned his way, whispers began, most knew better than to approach though. His reputation for shutting suiters down cold proceeded him as much as some of his exploits did. Lone wolf. Enigma. Freak. That last one was a gift from wolves like Edward, who were certain there was something wrong with him for not being receptive to their offers. 

They were closer to the truth than they knew, not that he’d ever let them know what it truly was that made him so different. 

Damn, there was that smell again. Cinnamon, sugar, dough. His mind conjured up images of cinnamon rolls, sticky sweet, gooey, fresh from the oven with just a bit of glaze drizzled over the top. Mouth watering, he decided to make himself a batch in the morning, even if it meant burning off all that sugar with a long, punishing run. 

A familiar black and silver camper sat tucked against the trees. Good shade and not in the thick of everything, typical Gabriel. Deep breath. Get it over with. The sooner he did that, the sooner he could hole up in his apartment behind a locked door and pretend the gathering wasn’t happening. 

It would suck, being stuck indoors for a whole three weeks. He was libel to go stir crazy, but in the long run, it might be better than risking Edward, or anyone else, catching him wandering the woods. 

The closer he got to the trailer, the more intense was that cinnamon roll smell. Was Gabe baking? Was it too much to hope he’d be offered one, and some coffee too?

What the hell was he thinking? Smacking a palm to his forehead hoping to get a few rational brain cells to kick in, he debated turning back, only to have the door open up in front of him. And there was Gabe, looming over him, filling the frame with those wide shoulders and sculpted chest. Intense amber eyes stared from a face framed by wavy brown and white hair, the ends brushing against his cheeks. That cinnamon roll smell was everywhere now, flooding his senses. 

“I figured I’d have to go looking for you,” Gabe said, appraising him slowly, like he couldn’t get enough of looking at him. 

“Decided to save you the effort.”

“Thanks.”

“No, thank you. I never got the chance to say that after the fight. You didn’t have to jump in like that. Was my own damn fault I was in that situation. I’m just sorry you got hurt.”

“Any wolf with an ounce of morality would have gotten involved, even if it was to rescue you from yourself. That wasn’t the case though, and you know it. I heard you ask Mavin, rather politely, to stop following you around and stop trying to corner you in places. I also heard him bragging about his position in his pack and how you should be honored to be receiving his attention. I heard you tell him to back off when he crowded you, and to let go when he grabbed you. I also heard him strike you, which is when I got involved. Me getting hurt was on me. If I’d paid better attention when my brothers were trying to teach me to fight, I might not have gotten torn to shreds.”

“I’m still sorry.”

“Don’t be. I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Just do me a favor, huh, and not go wandering off alone with people you don’t know if you can trust. My fighting skills haven’t improved any, and I’d hate to get my ass beat again.”

Between the smile Gabriel flashed him and his words, Raine found it impossible not to snicker, which turned into full on laughter once Gabe joined in. It felt good to laugh, and that cinnamon roll smell was no longer overwhelming. He could think clearly, every fiber of his being screaming at him to stop goofing around and get his ass back home. 

“You have nothing to worry about,” Raine sought to assure him. “I have no intention of leaving my apartment until this gathering is over.”

“Now that would be a shame.”

“Why?”

“Because it wouldn’t give me a chance to spend time with you.”

Mouth hanging open, Raine did not know how to respond to that. His wolf wanted him to say yes, but the rational part of his brain was screaming at him to run. That this was how it started. Hanging out, catching feelings, first elation, then crushing devastation when the other person refused to even entertain the idea of a relationship comprising only two. Why the hell couldn’t he find someone who was as opposed to the concept of tri-bonds as he was. It was greedy, wanting the love of two people. 

His wrist tingled, stung. Rubbing didn’t dull it any. Damned mosquitoes. For some reason, those little bastards really loved his blood. Unfortunately, his system didn’t love them any. Every bite ended up swollen and painful. 

“Sorry, I umm, that isn’t an option,” he muttered, whirling around and racing back home as fast as his legs could carry him, the echo of Gabriel’s voice trailing after him.