Vicktor Alexander Tate Pack 04 Unassumed (1)

Tate Pack Series

UNASSUMED

The Tate Pack Series Book 4

By: Vicktor Alexander

Copyright 2012. The Rooster & The Pig Publishing. All
Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be copied,
reproduced or reprinted without express permission is
given in written consent by the publisher.

Vicktor Alexander/Unassumed

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Dedications

This one is for my Granny Mary who taught me all about
“pay-oh-tee” and told me that I was still me, no matter what
body I was in or who I chose to love.

For all of the seekers who are desperately trying to find
acceptance and love from society’s expectations and
standards of beauty and of what is “normal.” You are
fabulous just the way you are. You are a beautiful, unique
version of yourself. Live your truth and live it out loud.

And To Daniel: RAWR!

Vicktor Alexander/Unassumed

Tate Pack Series

Chapter One

He was going to kill him. Plain and simple. Ton

needed to have the shit beat out of him and Howell Lourge-
Marshall was just the cowboy to do it.

Howell stared at Ton in shock and anger. He

understood Ton was still hurt and angry that Tommy, the
man Ton had informed them all was his mate, hadn’t been
able to handle the whole wolf shifter thing and had taken
off. Well…no, he didn’t understand it. He knew that, as a
wolf shifter he had a mate out there somewhere. He just
hoped their paths never crossed. He didn’t want a mate. He
didn’t need another reason to keep looking over his
shoulder; he had enough of that already. It was bad enough
that he’d gotten to be good friends with the guys from the
Tate pack; he didn’t need to add a mate as another sack of
luggage. Besides, while he saw that Richard and Vet, the
pack Alpha, definitely had a connection and were in love,
he wasn’t so sure their connection had anything to do with
them being soul mates, he was pretty sure their fierce
closeness was just about love. Ton and Tommy hadn’t been
together long enough to have formed that type of
connection. Besides, Ton didn’t seem the type to fall for
someone like Tommy and all of his moping around and
bitching was just starting to piss Howell the fuck off.

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Shoving Ton out of the way, Howell stormed out of

the house, slamming the door open before him, ignoring the
sound of Richard yelling at him to stop.

“I’m either going to bend him over to fuck him, or

bend him over to fucking kick his ass because he definitely
needs one or the other to happen!” Howell snarled as he
stomped angrily towards his truck, ignoring Richard who
ran behind him, clutching one of the triplets to his chest.
Jerking open the driver’s side door to his F-150, Howell
turned and stared almost angrily to the mate of the Alpha.
He wasn’t mad at Richard; he was pissed off at Anton
Forrester, better known as Ton. The huge Beta had been
moping around the ranch for the past few weeks and then
subsequently turning around and growling at everyone who
crossed his path. Howell was sick of it and was on the
verge of letting his wolf take over and have it out with the
slightly larger man.

“He’s just upset Howl. He didn’t mean it!” Richard

gasped as he came to a stop in front of Howell, his face red
as he panted from the lack of breath. Any other time
Howell would have laughed at Richard’s appearance. The
formerly impeccably dressed, New York dancer now
looked like a frazzled, tired Texan…rancher’s house-wife.
Howell would never utter those words to the smaller man,
but with his blond hair in disarray, clutching a now
sleeping child to his mis-buttoned checkered shirt clad
chest, his Wrangler jeans hugging his slight hips, the hem
of the pants covered in red Texas mud, his feet bare. “He
just really misses Tommy. You know he only left three
weeks ago. Ton’s just having a hard time. Don’t leave,

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Howl, he really didn’t mean what he said,” Richard
finished with an exhausted sigh.

Chuckling in the face of Richard’s obvious

exhaustion, Howell leaned forward and snatched the infant
out of Richard’s arms…Curt, which was the one he was
holding…he thought it was Curt anyway. Breathing a sigh
of relief that the baby hadn’t woken up at his sudden shift
in position and height, Howell looked down at Richard.
The Alpha’s mate was quickly becoming his best friend, of
course he wouldn’t tell the little Yankee that little piece of
information, because he’d never hear the end of it if he did,
but it was the truth. His rather surprisingly close
relationship with Richard is the reason why he’d even
bothered to stop and tell the mate, he was leaving.

“I don’t understand why he’s letting that little cross-

dresser’s leaving bother him so much. I mean he was just a
man,” Howell muttered as he watched in fascination when
Curt yawned in his sleep and then stuck his right thumb in
his mouth, all without waking up. Children were
fascinating to Howell. Of course his fascination with them
didn’t mean he wanted any, far from it. Children were right
up there with a mate, things he absolutely did NOT want.
He didn’t see the purpose of having either. What man in his
right man would give up all of the possible gorgeous ass
out there in the world just so he could wake up to the same
person every morning? It made absolutely no sense to him.

Ignoring the voice that called him a liar, the voice

that sounded amazingly like his sister, Noel, Howell
handed Curt back to Richard when the other man held out
his arms.

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“Tommy is so much more than just a cross-dresser,”

Richard huffed as he adjusted Curt in his arms, grimacing
when the infant started to whimper, “Please don’t wake up,
please don’t wake up,” Howell heard the smaller man
mutter and felt a temporary flash of sympathy for the
smaller man before he turned back towards his truck.

“Look, it don’t matter to me what the hell Tommy

is. All I care about is that Ton is walking around with his
dick so hard and his balls so godsdamn blue that he just
insulted my family and my ethnicity…and my hair,”
Howell growled, grabbing one of the long ropes of his
dreadlocks and displaying it to Richard who grimaced.
Everyone knew that three things of Howell Lourge
Marshall’s you did not insult: his family, his ethnicity and
his hair. Howell was a very proud Caribbean-American
black man, with a family history so rich in Barbados, where
they immigrated from, even he couldn’t believe it
sometimes. As far as his hair went…Howell rubbed the end
of his dreadlock before tossing it over his shoulder to join
the others, he’d been growing his hair since he was twelve
and he, Noel, and their cousin Latroy had all made the pact
to never cut their hair and to keep it “dreaded up.” It was
something they’d done in honor of their deceased cousin,
Latonya, Latroy’s twin sister who had been kidnapped and
killed when they were still children.

The news media hadn’t covered his cousin’s

disappearance, something that hadn’t really shocked his
family or most of the black community; it was a well-
known fact amongst minorities that most African-
Americans who went missing didn’t get any big media

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coverage, at least not until a celebrity or political figure got
involved and decided to speak up about it. While Hispanics
and Asians received a little more coverage than blacks even
their coverage was limited at best. So Howell’s family had
appealed to the Georgia police department and the Georgia
news media but had only done so out of a sense of duty.
When nothing happened, they were not too surprised by the
apathy. Instead the family had instead poured into the
streets of Rome, Georgia and all of the surrounding cities,
even going hours away into Fairburn and Atlanta and still
coming up with nothing. After nothing still had turned up
three weeks later through the human law enforcement
system, his family, full of shifters, had gone on the prowl
looking for the young girl themselves. Latonya’s body had
been found in a forest in Jacksonville, Florida, only five
weeks after she went missing. Her body had been raped and
viciously mutilated, and while those things were
devastating, they weren’t what had horrified the family, it
was the letter that had been left with her remains:

One nigger bitch wolf down and so many more to

go.

Always overly cautious, his family had realized

then that there were only three children left in the family
and they had to do whatever they had to in order to keep
them safe. So, they had faked the fatal accident that
supposedly had taken the lives of him, Noel and Latroy and
then had a funeral for all three of them. His family had then
split up him, Noel and Latroy, sending all three of them to
different orphanages to live until they came of age. Though
they made sure the three cousins, and especially Noel and

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Howell, stayed in touch with each other. It was something
the three of them still made sure to do. Stay in touch. He
wouldn’t think about the fact that he hadn’t heard from
Latroy or Noel in the past three weeks. They were probably
just busy with their children. That had to be it. It was the
only plausible explanation. He wouldn’t imagine that it was
anything else.

“Howl? Howl?” Richard’s voice yanked him out of

the past with a vicious tug and Howell gritted his teeth to
stop the growl that threatened to be ripped from his throat.

“Sorry,” he apologized, his voice low and rumbly as

he forcefully shoved his wolf back. He had to get out of
there and get himself under control. Turning quickly
towards his truck, Howell hopped in and slammed his door
shut.

Looking out into the confused gaze of his closest

friend Howell knew that he had to explain…something. He
hadn’t told anyone in his pack about Latonya, or the family
he’d left behind in Georgia…and had no plans to ever do
so. “Look Rich. It ain’t about you okay? It ain’t even really
about Ton, although I think all he needs is a really good
fuck by me or someone else who ain’t gonna just bend to
his whim and is gonna make him take it instead of taking it
themselves… he’ll get over Tommy real quick like if that
happens. It’s just…,” he sighed, gritting his teeth against
the howl of despair that threatened to explode from his
chest, where the hell was his sister and his cousin? Why
hadn’t they contacted him? He once again yanked his mind
back to the present and took a shuddering breath before he
continued, “I got some shit I gotta work through; you know

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what I’m sayin’? This ain’t a good time for me to really be
dealing with Ton’s shit when I got my own that I need to
work out,” Howell sighed. He knew he wasn’t doing
anything but making Richard much more curious, which he
could see in the dancer’s eyes, but Howell wasn’t going to
indulge the other man’s addiction for gossip, he was getting
the hell out of there right then.

“I’ll call you whenever I stop,” Howell said before

cranking up his truck.

“Where are you going?” Richard asked as Howell

started to pull down the driveway.

“I don’t know. Probably Las Vegas,” Howell stated

before he backed out and quickly spun his truck around in
the wide gravel drive and headed away from the ranch, his
pack, Ton, Ton’s problems with his mate, Tommy, and
Howell’s own demons from his past.

*****

Michael Prosace bit his lower lip nervously and

smoothed down his blonde hair as he observed himself in
the mirror. Something still wasn’t right. He turned to look
at his ass in the tight, curve hugging Lucky jeans that he’d
just bought and sighed in abject disappointment, no matter
what he did, he never seemed completely satisfied. He
smoothed down the front of his light lavender, button down
shirt over his B-cup sized breasts and sighed again. Maybe

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that was what was wrong? They weren’t big enough? Or
maybe they were too big?

“You know, no matter how many times you stare,

or how many times you touch them, they aren’t going to get
bigger,” Michael’s older sister, Katharina signed to him
after tapping him on his shoulder.

Michael rolled his eyes and flipped off his know-it-

all sister. Sometimes she got on his last damn nerve. What
the hell did she know? She’d been born into the right body,
had never had to struggle with her gender or her sex or her
sexual identity. People didn’t look at her and try to figure
out whom or rather what she was. She didn’t have to deal
with the ever-persistent ache and stab of guilt at knowing
that because of her, her only sibling had also been tossed
out of their pack. Those things were Michael’s reality. It
was his every day, never-ending truth, and, contrary to
popular belief or the misconceptions of the religious right
wing or even the ignorant left, he did not choose to feel like
this. Who in their right mind would choose to feel like a
prisoner in their own body? No one sane. No one that he
knew.

Michael heaved a big dramatic sigh, watching as his

small silicone implanted breasts rose and fell with the deep
breath he took. He still wasn’t happy by what he saw in the
mirror. He reached up a hand and gently ran his fingers
through his blond hair, his eyes closing as he shivered in
delight at the small impromptu head massage.

Gods, maybe that was all he needed? A really good

massage? Given to him by a gorgeous, tall, black man, with

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long black dreadlocks, a gorgeous smile, broad chest, and a
dick like a fucking horse? It was the image of the man he’d
been dreaming about for the past few years that filled his
mind in that moment. The man had definitely been
haunting him and Michael could only hope the man in
question was his mate, and that said mate could give one
hell of a head massage because Michael desperately needed
one. Either head would work too. The one that held his big
brain and the one that held his little one. Then maybe he’d
feel better. Maybe all of his problems, the discontent with
his body, the anger at being deaf, the guilt at being gay and
the confusion at till being deaf, even though he was a wolf
shifter, and the ever-present disappointment with life in
general and in his own circumstantial celibacy, would all be
solved with a really good, toe-curling massage from the
man of his dreams.

Michael laughed at his own idiocy…at least he

hoped that’s what he’d done. He was never actually sure
his sounds of amusement actually came out sounding as
they should. He felt his eyebrows pull down into a frown,
the familiar anger rising up in his chest, making his hands
ball into fists and his teeth grit angrily. He lifted his balled
fist of his right hand to punch the wall when he felt his
sister’s hand lightly touching his arm. Relaxing at her touch
almost immediately, Michael felt the gentle warm brush of
her spirit sweep over his own spirit. Gods, he loved how his
sister was able to do that for him, to calm him with one
touch. He knew he had a mate out there, somewhere, had in
fact been dreaming about said mate for months, years, each
time the man become more distinct, more clear to his
mind’s eye. He’d gotten his first glimpse of his mate when

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he was a young boy. His mate had been crying at a funeral
and he’d wanted to comfort him. The image had changed
over the years and he’d watched as his mate had grown up
and grown harder physically. He could only hope whoever
this mystery man was; he wasn’t someone prone to big
displays of anger and emotion. Michael needed peace and
calm while he made his transition, as much peace and calm
as he could possibly hope to get. He could only hope his
mate provided him the peace that he so desired. He also
hoped that he would be able to give his mate a life of
happiness and love, so he would never have to see him cry
again.

He opened his eyes when he felt the gentle, sweet

touch of his sister’s hand on his face. He smiled at her and
watched as the worry on her face eased. She grinned
broadly back at him before she lifted her hands completely
from his face in order to sign to him.

Wanna go down and get a coffee?

With an energetic nod Michael moved to follow her

from the room and downstairs to the coffee shop they lived
above and she managed. They had been very fortunate to
find the apartment and the job, and even more so when the
owner gave them permission to make some adjustments to
the place to make it more “deaf friendly.” Michael hesitated
before taking the first step down to the shop. He couldn’t
exactly explain it, but he suddenly felt as if he had to hurry
up and get downstairs. Something or someone that would
change his life forever was waiting for him downstairs.
Shoving away the fear that threatened to eat at his insides,
he squared his shoulders and with one final glance at the

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mirror on the wall at the bottom of the steps, followed
Katharina through the door into the shop.

He looked around the room at first with a very

critical eye. Whenever Katharina wasn’t working, the shop
tended to go to shit and so he felt it was his duty as her
little brother to always observe the store and make sure
things were as they needed to be. Turning when he felt his
sister’s hand on his wrist, he looked over at her and noticed
her gesturing as if she were drinking. Rolling his eyes and
grinning at her, he nodded and let her know that yes, he
wanted a cup of coffee, which he was pretty sure was the
whole purpose he’d left his intense perusal of his body to
come downstairs with her in the first place. He shook his
head in fond exasperation when she blew him a kiss before
heading off behind the counter. He knew his sister was
beautiful and the admiring gazes from the other men in the
store did nothing but confirm that fact to him. He wished he
could announce to them all that his sister was a very proud
lesbian, but he knew they wouldn’t believe him, even if he
could talk to them. So he shrugged and looked away from
his sister.

He turned back to look over the patrons in the room.

His eyes took in the beauty of the painted dark purple walls
with gold sconces on them. His eyes swept over the
circular, cherry marble wood tables and the black iron
chairs all filled with customers, to the long line of
customers that still stood in line in front of the cash register
waiting to place their orders. It was here he felt his eyes
widen as the most amazing smell assailed his nostrils. His
eyes slid close as the smell of peaches, horses and melted

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caramel filled his nose. He felt his chest expand as every
hair on his body stood on end. His heart began rapidly
pounding in his chest and he felt his spirit man fighting
against his wolf in an attempt to prevent himself from
shifting in public. His cock hardened almost painfully, the
throbbing there synching up with the pounding of his
heartbeat and every other pulse point in his body.

Only one thing could cause him to have such a

reaction.

His mate was here.

Opening his eyes he saw the large black man

moments before he walked forward and pressed him
roughly against the door behind him. He saw Katharina’s
eyes widen as well as the looks of shock and horror that
crossed the faces of everyone else in the shop and he raised
his hand and shook his head slightly to let them know that
he was okay. There was no need for them to worry, he was
perfectly fine. He was the safest place that he’d ever be. In
his mate’s arms.

His head tilted back when he felt the other man

press his nose to the side of his neck and he shivered with
delight as he felt the larger man’s breath on his neck.
Shortly thereafter he felt the raspy texture of the other
man’s tongue in the same area, causing his every cell to
tremble within his flushed body. He was going to have an
orgasm right here in front of everyone and he couldn’t even
bring himself to give a flying fuck. He gripped his mate’s
biceps in his hands and curled his toes in his pair of black
Nordstrom shoes, when he felt the slight scrape of his

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mate’s incisors on his throat. They were practically making
out and having sex right there in front of everyone in the
shop…

And Michael knew without a doubt that he really

didn’t care. He was practically begging his mate without
words to fuck him in front of a room full of strangers. If his
mate asked him at that moment, and if he could hear him
ask, he would happily strip and assume the “head-down-
ass-up” position.

After the whole debacle with his birth pack, them

finding out that he was gay, then them finding out that he
liked to wear women’s clothes sometimes, he’d grown very
private, very conservative in public. No one needed to
know that he fantasized about having sex in a public place;
it was something that he would never allow himself to do.
It was illegal, number one, and because he’d learned long
ago that when something like that happened and he got
caught, which he always did, then he’d be the only one to
get in trouble, the other guy always got away scot-free.

So why in all of the gods name was he panting and

practically desperate for his mate to rip his clothes off and
fuck him right there in front of everyone?

Giving himself a mental shake and realizing that it

was probably just the whole just found my mate thing, he
looked up at the man in question. He stared at the beautiful
chocolate skin and up over the very prominent Adam’s
apple, over the chin that was covered with hair, past his
beautiful and moving plump lips to the thin nose and the
gorgeous light brown eyes that fairly sparkled with

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excitement. It wasn’t until he’d reached the black hair that
had been twisted and intricately arranged in beautiful
dreadlocks that he realized what he’d failed to fully
categorize and accept before. His mate was talking to him
and had been for a while.

Feeling like a complete asshole in that moment

because he’d forgotten to let the other man know he was
deaf he placed the palm of his left hand over the gorgeous
man’s heart and felt the vibrations in his chest stop as the
other man stopped talking. Michael inhaled deeply, the
smell of his mate rushing through his blood and making
him almost lightheaded with its delightful scent. With his
right hand, he pointed to his right ear and shook his head.
Trying his best to alert his mate to the fact that he couldn’t
hear.

The vibration under his hand alerted him to the fact

that his mate was talking again and he lifted his gaze from
his hand on the other man’s chest and up to the other man’s
lips.

I. Don’t. Care. He read slowly as his mate’s lips

slowly formed the words. Feeling his eyes fill with tears, he
lifted his eyes to the other man’s eyes, hoping the other
man could see the almost desperate hope shining there that
he felt thrumming through his veins.

When his beautiful black man merely nodded his

head with a smile, Michael launched himself into his arms,
wrapping his arms around the other man’s neck and
pressing his very erect cock against the other man’s

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stomach. He was so happy that he was extremely shocked
when he felt himself being shoved back.

What the hell was wrong?

He watched as his mate’s eyes traveled from his

breasts down to his prominently displayed erection with a
look of shock. Like a bucket of cold water had been
dumped on his head, Michael saw all of his hopes and
dreams for a happily-ever-after with his mate flowing down
the drain.

He was a freak. A short, deaf, wolf-shifting freak.

No wonder his mate didn’t want him.

With despair flowing off of him in waves and a

grief so strong that it nearly dropped him to his knees,
Michael pressed firmly against his mate…no, this stranger
until he stepped back as if in a daze and wrenching open
the door that led to the apartment he shared with his sister,
he ran upstairs without a backward glance.

And if he tripped a few times running up the stairs

because of the tears that clouded his vision, well…could
anyone blame him?

Vicktor Alexander/Unassumed

Chapter Two

It took Howell a full three minutes before he

snapped out of the stupor that he’d fallen into. Three
minutes before he finally understood exactly what was
going on with his mate. Three minutes before he realized
that his shock at discovering that his mate had not only soft,
womanly breasts but also a nice, firm cock, had probably
been construed as disgust at finding out that his mate was
transitioning. Three minutes before he realized that his
mate probably thought he was disgusted at him. Three
minutes before he realized that he was a shit...and an
asshole.

Three minutes before he realized that Richard was

right and that when he finally met his mate he’d make the
biggest ass out of himself.

Stupid New Yorker.

It took him another full minute after that thought,

four minutes since his mate had raced up the stairs in
dejection and pain before he realized that he should
probably go after his mate. Giving himself a firm shake,
both mentally and physically shaking his body into action,
he went to step forward only to find himself standing in
front of the person that he’d originally thought was his
mate’s twin sister, but that he could now see was his mate’s
older sister. His mate’s older, much more pissed off, sister.
No doubt she’d just seen what had happened between him

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and his mate. She looked disgusted with him, worried about
her brother, but more than that, she looked like she was
ready to kick his ass. By the slight gleam from her right
incisor, she was more than capable of doing so.

He lifted his hands to start signing…or trying to

sign, he did know the alphabet at least, when he heard the
almost angry huff coming from the woman in front of him.

“I can hear and speak you fucking idiot,” she

growled at him and Howell felt his hackles rise. Who was
this little chit to speak to him like that? Didn’t she know
who he was? Didn’t she know which pack he came from?
Bigger than the fucking Tate Pack he came from the
Barbados-based, Georgia-planted, Lourge-Marshall pack.
They were the most powerful pack in America next to the
Prosace pack, but it didn’t matter at that point, Howell was
facing a very angry sister and he was instantly contrite. He
knew that he’d fucked up…big time.

“Sorry,” he apologized and gave her a small smile,

which instantly fell from his face when he saw that she
wasn’t the least bit affected by it. What was up with this
woman? Did she have anti-Howell repellant on or
something?

“You hurt my Michael,” she state to him and

Howell felt his brows pull down in a frown. Who the fuck
was Michael?

“My brother? The guy you pushed into the door and

were grinding all over just a few minutes ago? Your mate?”
she growled at him. She rolled her eyes at him and Howell

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instantly felt like an even bigger asshole than he had
previously. “You didn’t even get his name? What the hell is
wrong with you? First you just push up on him and then
you act like he disgusts you and then you don’t even chase
after him? And in all of this bullshit you didn’t even get the
name of the person you were screwing over?” Howell
winced at the very accurate description of events and
wished for the first time that he were a snake shifter so that
he could turn into one and slither away in shame at that
moment. He could feel the wolf inside of him whimpering
and tucking his tail in misery. Gods, his mate was better off
without him.

Only, Howell had found him now, despite his

resolve to never find the person who was created to be his
mate, and he wasn’t going to give him up without a fight.
He looked down at the woman standing in front of him and
knew that his first step was to get Michael’s sister to let
him go upstairs and see his mate.

He opened his mouth to apologize again and to

plead with her to let him see Michael when he saw her
smile at him. It was a smile that to anyone else would have
appeared sweet and completely non-threatening, but one
that to him completely filled him with dread. Oh he was so
scared of what she was about to say.

“You need to go upstairs and apologize to my

brother,” she said sweetly and Howell blinked in
puzzlement at her. Why was she allowing him to go
upstairs? Granted, it was what he wanted, but he was
suddenly very leery of taking that next step.

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Taking a cautious step forward, Howell nodded at

her, “Thank you,” he said with a confused tone in his voice.
He watched as her grin widened and knew true fear for the
first time in years. He very much felt like a mouse making
its way closer and closer to the mouth of a snake that he’d
previously thought was dead only to find out that it was
alive, seconds before the jaws of the predator had closed
around his throat. Taking another step towards the stairs,
Howell wasn’t surprised to feel the firm grasp of the
woman’s hand on his bicep and he looked down at her.

She was very beautiful. He wouldn’t deny that. Her

blonde hair was almost as beautiful as Michael’s blonde
hair. Howell felt his cock thicken at the thought of running
his fingers through his mate’s lustrous locks. Thinking
about the man’s hair made him think about his head, his
eyes, his nose, his lips, and thinking about his lips cause the
wolf within him to pant with extreme desire. He knew that
Michael’s sister, whose name he still didn’t know, could
smell the arousal wafting off of him, but when his eyes
swung up towards the stairs, he knew that he didn’t care.

“Just so you know,” she started talking to him again

and Howell dragged his eyes back down to her face.
“Michael has been hurt enough in this life. He was
mistreated by our parents because he was born deaf. The
first wolf shifter that we’ve ever heard about who was born
deaf, who, once they shifted, wasn’t able to heal from it.
Then he was kicked out of our pack for coming out as gay,
when they found out that he was transgender as well…”
Howell heard the catch in her voice and felt his wolf growl
inside of him. Someone had hurt his mate, he just knew it.

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They had hurt him badly, he would find out who they were
and he would make them pay…all of them.

“They almost killed him; they almost killed my

baby brother. The only sibling that my parents ever gave
me and those bastards almost killed him because biology
fucked up and gave him the wrong body,” she whispered
and Howell saw her big blue eyes fill with tears and felt as
if he’d been punched in the gut very hard. He hated to see a
woman cry, but with this woman it felt as if he felt her
every pain, her every heart-wrenching, soul-stirring twist of
heartache in his own body. It was very disconcerting. “So I
don’t care if you’re his mate or not. I don’t care if he thinks
that you’re the most gorgeous man on Earth, if he thinks
that the sun rises and falls out of your ass, if you hurt my
brother, I will hunt you down in the street and kill you.”

Howell desperately struggled to ignore the icy heat

that washed over his spine at the sister’s words. He knew
that there was no way that she could have known that her
words made him think of his family in Georgia and the
threat that still hung over his head. He knew that there was
no way that she could have known that those words made
him want to run as far and as fast as he could away from
Michael just to keep him safe. She had absolutely no
idea…and he had no plans to tell her. At all. Ever.

Howell nodded. He had heard her threat and took it

for the promise that it was. He was being given a very rare
opportunity. The chance to apologize to his mate. It was
special and precious and he was being told to treat it as
such. So he would. “I understand what you’re saying,” he
said to her. “I promise that I will do everything within my

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power to not hurt him. To never hurt him. To keep him safe
and protect him. I swear,” he promised as he lifted his right
fist and placed it over his heart.

She nodded at him and Howell felt peace instantly

wash over him. She’d forgiven him…for now, and for that
he was eternally grateful. He placed his hand over hers on
his bicep and gave it a slight squeeze. He smiled at her
when she nodded at him in approval and turned to head up
the stairs.

“My name’s Katharina by the way,” she said with a

grin. Howell stopped his trek forward and turned back to
look at her.

“Nice to meet you Katharina,” he said, feeling his

face stretch into the first real grin he’d had in the last
fifteen minutes. “My name is Howell. Howell Lourge-
Marshall. It’s really nice to meet you.”

Uncertain of why Katharina’s face suddenly

bleached white of all color and not willing to spare another
minute trying to figure out why, Howell turned and hurried
up the steps towards his mate, taking the stairs two at a
time. He thought of every possible thing he could say or do
to make up his extreme idiocy to Michael, only to
remember, once again, that his mate couldn’t hear. He
sorted through and discarded almost a hundred different
reactions and apologies before he finally reached the door
to the apartment. Uncertain of protocol on how to enter and
while noticing the doorbell beside the door, he was very
aware that if he rang the doorbell, his mate wouldn’t hear
it. So raising his nose, he sniffed the air and detected the

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distinct smell of his mate…peaches, fresh bread, and
cinnamon. Howell groaned as he felt his cock fill with
blood and he reached a hand down to adjust his thickened
shaft.

Placing his hands on the doorframe, Howell closed

his eyes and tried to calm his body’s raging hormones. He
inhaled and shivered as the smell of his mate got stronger,
letting him know that the other man was coming towards
the door. While Howell could smell Katharina and faint
traces of other people, food, and coffee, it was the smell of
his mate that made his limbs weak and caused him to hold
onto the doorframe in order to keep his footing. Inhaling
again, Howell pulled up short and sniffed once more,
feeling his forehead bunch together as he frowned. His skin
stretching tight as he fought the shift from man to wolf. He
ground his teeth together and tossed his head back as he
pushed back against the wolf inside of him that clamored to
get out.

He could smell his mate and the other distinct scent

of salt water. His mate had been or was crying and it was
all Howell’s fault.

He…was an asshole.

*****

Michael could smell him. He was standing right

outside the door. Just standing there. Sniffling, Michael

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wiped his face with the tissues that he held in his hand and
gave a shuddering sigh. Why the hell wasn’t he coming
inside? Was he that disgusted with Michael that he couldn’t
even face him? Even though he’d come all the way
upstairs? How disgusting did he actually find Michael? Did
he think Michael was an abomination because he was a
man who liked having breasts and liked dressing up as a
woman sometimes? Or was Michael disgusting because he
was a woman who liked having a cock and a prostate?
What was turning his mate off so much?

Michael didn’t understand it. Humans need to

define and label everything. Even the most open-minded of
people seemed to have a box that they put everyone in and
in order to be in a box certain items had to be checked off
before you were accepted as that particular identification.
Oh! So you think you’re a gay man? Do you like sucking
cock? Check. Do you like having anal? Check. Are you
either a twink or a big, athletic man? Do you know about
fashion? Do you love Madonna, Cher, Lady Gaga, Barbara
Streisand, Diana Ross, Christina Aguilera, George Michael
and Elton John? Do you live in a fabulous apartment, own a
tiny dog or cat and have dinner parties all of the time? If
you didn’t check off all of those then you’re not gay.

Michael shook his head as he thought of that stupid

conversation with his parents. They’d asked him those
questions. Very bluntly and to the point. Then they’d tried
to prove to him what gender he actually was…they hadn’t
succeeded. Michael had been completely middle of the
road with both sexes. Katharina had stormed into the room

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and informed them that he was neither male nor female,
gay nor straight, transgender or not, he was just Michael.

The two of them had packed that night and moved

away, never looking back. They’d barely managed to avoid
the fire that had mysteriously burned down the guest house
where Michael had been sent to live in by his parents after
he’d come out to them. No one had ever been arrested in
conjunction with the fire and in fact, they’d been told that it
was just a freak accident. They’d both known better though
and had cut all ties with their “biologicals.” They were both
much better off. Or at least they had been and then Howell
had shown up.

The asshole.

Michael glared at the door that his mate stood

behind and wished all sort of horrible plagues to befall his
body, then instantly felt guilty for thinking such things. If
something happened to his mate, he’d instantly feel as if it
fell to him to take care of the other man. He sighed. This
whole mate thing was already becoming a pain in his ass.
When another minute passed and his mate still hadn’t come
through the door or even rang the doorbell, Michael threw
forward his hand and jerked open the door and found
himself staring up into the very confused gaze of his mate.
The look was so unbelievably amusing that Michael had to
force himself to not laugh, though he was pretty sure that a
snort came out if his mate’s reaction was any indication.

The other man looked positively put out by

Michael’s amusement and any other time Michael would
have apologized but at that moment he remembered why

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the man was even hesitant to speak to him anyway. The
whole, “being disgusted by Michael,” thing.

The asshole.

Narrowing his eyes at the taller man, Michael

turned and walked away angrily not stopping until he was
on the other side of the room and then he turned to stare at
the man who had only come into the room and closed the
door and then not moved from there. What the hell was
wrong with him? Was Michael really that scary to him?
Was he so disgusted by him that he didn’t even want to
come any closer to him?

Michael tried to swallow back the tears that clogged

his throat but when he felt the tears trace his cheeks, he
knew that he’d failed in that. He’d just lifted his hand to try
to wipe away the tears on his face before his mate saw
when he realized that the man in question was right in front
of him. He was grabbed and pulled tightly to the man’s
broadly muscled chest and he inhaled deeply for a moment,
breathing in the man’s erection-inducing scent, before he
began pushing him away. He didn’t want the man’s pity.
He didn’t want him to hold him because he felt guilty; he
wanted him to hold him because he wanted Michael to be
comforted. He wanted a mate in truth, not a mate in
gesture.

He kept pushing and shoving, the tears running

down his face harder as he shoved and fought against the
man’s unrelenting hold on him. Why wasn’t he letting him
go? Why did he insist on hurting Michael in this way? He

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didn’t want him, didn’t want to be mated to him so why in
the hell was he still holding onto him?

Michael felt his world tilt on its axis and realized

that his mate had picked him up. He wrapped his arms
around the other man’s neck and held on tightly as they
walked over to the couch and then sat down. He was placed
in his larger mate’s lap, turned to face the other man, with
his legs on either side of the man’s hips, which gave him
ample opportunity to feel as his cock thickened and pressed
against Michael’s ass. This made no sense at all to him.
Why would his mate be getting turned on by him when he
found Michael so grotesque?

He felt his brow furrow as he shook his head in

confusion. He looked up and found his gaze trapped by the
sight of his mate’s mouth moving very slowly as if he were
mouthing words.

Oh shit! He was mouthing words.

What is the easiest way to talk to you? He read the

words that flowed from his mate’s lips and felt his heart
melt just a little bit. Truly, if his mate found him hideous he
wouldn’t be trying to talk to him right then would he?

Michael turned and grabbed a notepad off of the

coffee table along with a pen and handed both items to his
mate. He waited while the other man wrote, his eyes
studying the larger man’s features as he did so. He found
himself extremely fascinated by the man’s hair; he wanted
to know how exactly one’s hair was “locked.” What did
they do to it? How long did it take to get it done?

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He jumped slightly when a piece of paper was

shoved in front of his face, not expecting his mate to have
written so quickly. Taking the paper with a small smile he
allowed his eyes to scan the paper in his hand.

My name is Howell. Friends call me Howl. I’m

sorry I was an ass. You’re hot and I want you. NOW.

Michael swallowed thickly as he read the words;

Howl’s note was short and straight to the point. Michael
found that a complete turn on. He read the words again,
choking back a moan, before he lifted his gaze up to meet
Howl’s. The black man’s light brown eyes had darkened
considerably and Michael felt his heart pound in his chest.
He leaned back slightly on Howl’s lap, adjusting where he
sat and grinned when the other man’s eyes closed. Talk
about an ego boost. He’d thought that his mate had found
him grotesque and disgusting, but it turned out that his
mate was actually attracted to him. So maybe the Fates
didn’t actually mess up.

As Michael looked at Howl, who sat with his eyes

shut, he wished, not for the first time, that he could hear.
He would love to hear his mate groan at that moment and
not just feel it vibrating under his ass. He took the notepad
and scribbled a quick note to his, hopefully, soon-to-be
lover and hoped that he wouldn’t regret his hasty decision
later.

I have to call into work and let them know I’m not

coming in. By the way, my name is Michael.

Vicktor Alexander/Unassumed

Michael watched as confusion swept over Howl’s

face as he read Michael’s words and before the other man
could ask the question that Michael knew he desperately
wanted to, Michael took the other man’s head in his hands
and turned it toward the TTY phone that sat on the desk
next to the front door. He could see the curiosity that
grabbed hold of his mate and knew that if ever a time there
was to show Howl what life would be like with him, this
was the time.

He climbed down off of Howl’s lap and grabbed the

other man’s hand. He walked over to the phone and lifted
the receiver. Punching in the numbers to the Center for
Homeless Deaf and Hearing Youths, Michael allowed his
eyes to rake over the very attractive frame of his mate as he
waited for someone to pick up the phone. Once he received
a reply, he sat in the chair in front of the desk and began
typing his message to the receptionist.

-This is Professor Michael Prosace. I’m afraid that

I won’t be able to make it into the center today to work. My
boyfriend arrived in town very unexpectedly and I want to
spend a few days with him.-

He didn’t have to wait long to receive the reply that

he knew he would get from Tracey, the receptionist on
duty. She’d been telling him for a while that he needed to
find a boyfriend and that his life would be much better.
He’d been telling her for a while that he had someone out
there, someone especially for him and she’d merely smiled
at him and told him that everyone did. He was glad to be
able to show her that he was right.

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-Oh my Michael! I’m so excited for you. Of course

I’ll let Mrs. Dervishire know that you won’t be in today.
It’s okay really; there haven’t been too many kids in today
anyway. We’ll probably combine classes. Have fun with
your boyfriend. What’s his name?-

Michael turned to Howl, who was watching him

talk on the TTY with a fascinated expression on his face
and felt his lips spread into a wide smile. Turning back to
the telephone device, he gave Tracey a final response
before signing off completely.

-His name is Howell. Bye.-

Vicktor Alexander/Unassumed

Chapter Three

Howell felt his nostrils flare the moment his mate

hung up the phone and heard the low growl that emanated
from his chest. He knew that Michael couldn’t hear the
growl, but from the darkening of the other man’s eyes, he
knew that the smaller man could definitely smell his
arousal. He didn’t want to wait any longer; the time for
talking would come later, much later. He knew all that he
needed to know about his mate by that point. Michael was
blonde, deaf, and transgender. He worked for a deaf center
here in Las Vegas. He had a sister named Katharina. He’d
been kicked out of his pack for being gay and transgender.
More importantly than all of that, Michael was his mate.

His.

Really, the rest of it was all semantics and details.

Reaching out one hand he ran his hand through the soft
looking golden locks of his mate. Sighing when he felt the
fleece softness of Michael’s hair, he gave into his deepest
urge and lowered his face into the other man’s locks and
inhaled deeply. He felt the tremble that rocked through
Michael’s body and felt his own body return the shiver.
Breathing deeply, he allowed the smell of his mate and the
slight citrusy scent of the shampoo that the younger man
used to waft over his senses and grabbed Michael’s hips in
his hands. His wolf panted within him, pushing and
pressing, wanting him to get closer, wanting him to bury

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himself deep inside of his mate. Brushing his hand down
over the back of Michael’s neck, he felt the goose bumps
that rose on the man’s skin and grinned.

He was about to make love to his mate and the other

man didn’t even know what was about to hit him. He’d
never been made love to by Howell before. It was an
experience that he’d make sure that Michael never forgot.
Brushing his lips over Michael’s forehead, he allowed his
lips to trace the skin of his mate’s face, kissing his eyelids,
nose, his cheeks, his temple, his chin, his jaw as his
fingertips caressed down over the man’s body. He was
slightly surprised at the muscled definition of his mate’s
body and then reprimanded himself. Just because his mate
couldn’t hear, it didn’t mean that the man couldn’t work
out. He decided that that particular flub he would keep to
himself and never share and pushed away from his mind
any thoughts of his mate’s limitations.

He stuck out his tongue and licked at the sweat

forming on his mate’s brow and trembled at the strong taste
that washed over his taste buds. He’d never been the type
of man to really be into licking sweat off of his partner, but
being with his mate, he could definitely see the appeal now.
Drifting his hands along the outside of Michael’s legs, he
pushed his hands underneath the blonde’s ass and lifted
him into his arms effortlessly. Without a word, he felt his
left eyebrow quirk with the unspoken question as to where
Michael’s bedroom was. He watched with a satisfied smirk
as Michael’s eyes, which had closed tightly at some point
opened slowly and stared at him with a dazed expression.
Michael looked at his face and Howell wondered what he

Vicktor Alexander/Unassumed

saw there to make that satisfied smile come across it,
especially since they hadn’t done anything yet.

Michael pointed directly behind himself and Howell

headed off in the direction of his finger. He paused in front
of the door that he figured was Michael’s. The door was
purple and had what appeared to be a doorbell next to it.
That was something that Howell knew he’d have to ask
Michael about, since again, he knew that his mate couldn’t
hear and why in the world would he need a doorbell? He
hefted Michael up further into his arms so that he could
grab the doorknob and he pushed the door open.

Upon walking into the room, he paused and looked

around in confusion. Michael’s room looked just like his
did back on the ranch in Texas. Complete with alarm clock,
DVD player, flat screen television, he had a phone on the
desk underneath the TV which was mounted on the wall,
exactly like the one in the living room. What had Michael
called it? A TTY? On the walls of his bedroom there were
posters of Brokeback Mountain, Criminal Minds and
Torchwood. Howell would have laughed at his mate’s
decision to put posters up on his wall like a teenaged boy,
but he could tell why the other man had done so.

Deciding he could do a thorough perusal of the

room later, Howell laid his future lover down on the black
and purple comforter and leaned up on his elbows as he
looked down into the other man’s blue eyes. Gods, Michael
was so beautiful that Howell wanted to cry. He held
absolutely still as Michael stretched a hand up to cradle his
jaw and then closed his eyes and whined, feeling his chest
rumble with the noise and his nose detecting the scent of

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Michael’s arousal growing heavier, darker and muskier.
Howell wanted to roll around in that scent, brand it on his
brain and smell it every day for the rest of his life. He
shivered when Michael’s hand drifted down the side of his
face over his neck to his shoulder, his head tilting with the
movement.

His mate’s hand was soft, moisturized, nothing like

the rough callused hand of the cowboys and rodeo riders
that Howell usually picked up. To his amazement, he much
preferred his mate’s soft hand rather than the rough hands
he thought he’d desire. When Michael’s hand lifted away,
Howell opened his eyes and looked down at his mate in
confusion, only to find the smaller man nibbling on his
lower lip in worry. Howell felt his nose wrinkle slightly at
the smell of his mate’s worry and leaned over to kiss the lip
that Michael had been biting on.

He was amazed by the jolt that shot through his

body as he experienced his first kiss with his mate. His toes
clenched and his hips thrust forward, rubbing his hard cock
with the equally hard erection that lay trapped behind
Michael’s trousers. Howell felt himself tense for a fraction
of a second at the feel of Michael’s breasts pressing against
his before he sank down onto the body beneath his. It
wasn’t as bad as he’d thought it would be. Rather than a
completely hard body beneath his, Michael just had one
soft place.

He traced Michael’s lips with his tongue and felt his

chest rumble with the groan in his throat when the other
man opened his mouth to him. The hands that had been
resting on Howell’s shoulders now sank into his hair,

Vicktor Alexander/Unassumed

wrapping the dreads around their fingers. Howell thrust his
hips forward hard as a jolt of fiery pleasure lanced up his
spine when Michael pulled on the dreads wrapped around
his fists. Who woulda thunk it? He got turned on by a little
aggression from his partner. Pulling his head down he
stared down at his tempting little mate and saw the puffy
lips, swollen from his kisses, the skin there red as an apple,
his favorite fruit and unable to help himself, he grabbed
Michael’s lower lip with his teeth and pulled.

He let go after a moment and wondered if Michael

had felt the groan that he’d just heard. He felt his lips
stretch with his grin and he gave a small chuckle before he
put his lips at the edge of Michael’s jaw. Kissing the area
he licked it and then nibbled it gently, his wolf howling in
pleasure and approval when Michael tilted his head to the
side, baring his neck in a show of submission. Licking a
trail from behind Michael’s ear and along his neck to his
collar, Howell realized that they were both still dressed.

“Brilliant Howl,” he muttered to himself, before he

stood to his feet and pulled his shirt off and hurriedly
jerked off his jeans, not caring that he fell to his ass as he
did so, having forgotten to pull off his boots. He heard
Michael’s giggle and looked up quickly. His mate’s
amazing laugh, while a little louder than others would deem
appropriate at such an intimate time, was still melodious
and beautiful. Howell felt his heart pause as if it too were
frozen by the sheer beauty of Michael, before it resumed,
pounding furiously in his chest. He pulled off his boots
with his sweaty hands and then his pants and boxers before
he pushed up to his feet quickly. He stood stock still as he

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watched Michael look over his naked body slowly,
grinning wolfishly when the other man’s eyes zeroed in on
his cock. While it was a myth that every black man was
amazingly endowed, it wasn’t an exaggeration for the men
in his family. There was a reason that he was known as
“Howl” and it wasn’t because he was a wolf shifter like a
lot of other shifters thought. It was because that was usually
what his sexual partners did once he started pounding away
in their ass…howl.

*****

There was no way that was going to fit. No way in

hell. Since it wasn’t going to fit, there was no reason for
him to get undressed. None at all.

Michael tried to reassure himself with that thought

and was extremely angry with his hands when they, of their
own free will, began unbuttoning his pants and pulling
them down to bare himself to Howl’s hungry gaze. He
focused on the feel of the cotton trousers scratching his skin
slightly as they lowered and dropped off of the tip of his
toes onto the floor. Biting his lower lip harder, he grabbed
the elastic waistband of his boxers and pulled them down
an inch and hesitated. Gods, could he do this? Howl was
almost physical perfection. Even with the tattoos scattered
on his skin, the words on his chest, and the tribal band on
his left bicep and was that an arrow on his right hip?
Michael snickered, the arrow was pointing towards

Vicktor Alexander/Unassumed

Howell’s very erect cock. That was the other problem.
Howl’s cock was big and beautiful, but Michael had been
on estrogen for almost an entire year before he stopped and
the pills worked almost exactly like steroids. He wasn’t at
all as endowed as he used to be, which actually hadn’t been
a lot in the first place. Would Howl be disappointed when
he finally saw Michael naked?

Feeling despair wash over him and on the verge of

apologizing to Howl, Michael was surprised to feel Howl
pick up his right foot and press a kiss to the arch of it. His
gaze flew to Howl’s and he could feel surprise spread
through his body. The surprise soon changed to white hot
longing as Howl continued to kiss and lick his foot and up
to his toes. Michael had the urge to kick Howl away from
his foot. He was very aware that he’d been wearing shoes
and socks for a while before he’d come stomping back
upstairs and kicked them off. He knew that Howl wasn’t
exactly kissing, licking and sucking on clean, fresh
smelling toes, but the other man seemed to be enjoying it, if
his closed eyes and the scent of pleasure rolling off of him
was anything to go by.

Michael gripped the sheets next to his still clothed

body as Howl slowly kissed his way up the inside of
Michael’s leg towards his groin. The burning hot flush of
desire zapped his body and made him groan with need. He
tilted his head back, pressing it firmly into the mattress
beneath him as he felt Howl grip the elastic waistband of
his boxers in his teeth and growl. He almost laughed at his
mate’s absurdity and would have laughed with extreme
delight, if the tip of Howl’s canines hadn’t very gently

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nicked the flesh of his hip. He thrust his hips up towards his
mate’s mouth and gripped Howl’s hair in his fists again.

Some part of his brain informed him that he was

supposed to be stopping Howl from undressing him. That
he had, not even five minutes before, decided against
having sex with the…oh-so-sexy black man. However, the
sound of his panting and his moaning as Howl licked up the
inside of his thighs as he pulled Michael’s boxers
completely off, drowned off that fearful, rational part of his
brain. He shivered as Howl nuzzled and licked his hairless
crotch rather than pushing him away from his less than
impressive length. He moaned when Howl licked from the
base of his erection to the tip of it rather than stopping his
mate. And when Howl grabbed the placket of the button-up
shirt that he wore and tore it with a loud growl, buttons
flying all over the room, one almost popping him in the
face, he still didn’t protest. As a matter of fact he’d almost
forgotten why he’d been so afraid of being naked with
Howl until he felt his mate’s fingers ease under the bra
strap on his right shoulder and lightly fondle the skin there.

Michael felt every muscle in his body tense and go

on full-alert. He waited for Howl to push him away in
disgust, he waited for the other man to shift and attack him,
because no matter what Howl had said to him earlier, being
face to face with the reality of who Michael really was, was
something very different than just the faint idea of it. So
when neither of those things happened Michael opened
eyes that he hadn’t even been aware that he’d closed and
looked up into Howl’s face as the other man looked down
at his breasts. Howl was smiling, his eyes had grown darker

Vicktor Alexander/Unassumed

and…Michael sniffed delicately…his arousal had definitely
grown heavier. Could it be that his mate was actually still
attracted to him this way? How was that even possible?
From the look of him, Howl seemed to be the type of man
who would pick a gender and stick with it, not one who
seemed to be almost…fluid with his sexual preferences.

Was that even possible? Sure, he’d heard of

bisexuals before, but a bisexual was completely different
from someone who was gender fluid. Had Fate finally done
something right in his life and given him a mate that was
completely okay with his body in a way that he still
struggled to be?

Michael got his answer when Howl tore the bra

from his body and latched his mouth onto the peak of
Michael’s very pebbled nipple. Michael felt his throat
vibrate with what he could only assume was a cry up ripped
from his chest. He blinked his eyes repeatedly, his hands
fluttering wildly from the bed back to Howl’s head as the
other man licked around his nipple, before sucking it deep
into his mouth. He hadn’t realized that his breasts were so
sensitive. He didn’t usually play with them. They were
just…there. They were a way to help him feel like he was
more like himself, a way to make him feel more
comfortable on the outside the way he was on the inside.
However, this, this right here, having Howl between his
legs, switching to his other nipple, biting down on it,
plucking on the wet nipple he’d been playing with only
seconds before, that went farther than any other type of
surgery he could ever consider.

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Why was that? Why was the act of having sex with

his mate so much more physically fulfilling to him than any
other surgery in the world that he could ever have?

Michael opened his eyes when Howl released his

nipple and paused. What he saw there, what he saw in the
cowboy’s eyes told him exactly why this felt so right to
him. It was right there in front of him this whole time.
Well…for the last hour or so.

Acceptance.

Howl accepted him, warts and all. The cowboy

hadn’t turned his back on him. He hadn’t cast Michael
away from him or called him a freak. He had accepted him,
he admitted his attraction to him and then he set out to
show that attraction, to prove to Michael that he accepted
him.

Michael felt his heart squeeze and knew that he just

might be in trouble. There was a definite chance that he
was going to fall head over heels in love with his
mate…hard.

Vicktor Alexander/Unassumed

Chapter Four

Michael felt his heart pounding furiously in his

chest, the pure, wondrous emotion of joy, something he
hadn’t felt for years, almost choking off his oxygen,
overwhelming him and filling his eyes with tears. With
delight, he threw his arms around Howl’s neck and pushed
the other man over onto his back. Mashing his lips down
onto his mate’s, Michael wiggled his body on top of the
other man’s much larger one.

Oh, he sighed. His body feels just as good as it

looks. Lifting his head he grinned down at Howl and then
licked and kissed his way down the other man’s body. He
felt his breasts swaying slightly before he pressed his chest
down onto Howl’s stomach and his lips to the other man’s
nipples. He felt Howl’s hips jerk when he bit down onto the
other man’s dark brown nipple and grinned with
satisfaction. Sticking out his tongue, he trailed it over
Howl’s pecs to his other nipple and flicked his tongue back
and forth over the hardened nub before he bit down on the
skin directly below it. Howl groaned and Michael felt the
rumble through his skin.

Oh he bet that was a lovely sound. The feeling was

definitely amazing to his heightened senses. He swayed his
body slowly left to right, letting his own hardened nipples
graze the skin of mate’s stomach before he moved down
slowly, his tongue following the path that his nipples had

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made only moments before. He licked his way through the
black curls that surrounded his mate’s impressive length
and pressed his nose into the hair in order to inhale deeply.

Oh, his mate’s scent was intoxicating. Michael

continued to inhale, rubbing his face in his mate’s groin
and the crease of his thigh and pelvis, allowing the other
man’s unique smell to completely cover him. He wanted to
smell like his mate when they were done. He wanted to be
marked, claimed, and possessed. It was something that he
wanted with every fiber of his being, something that he
craved with every cell of his body.

A trail of wetness pressed against his cheek and he

turned his head and licked at the slit of his lover’s cock,
collecting the pre-cum that had gathered there, the taste of
his mate’s desire exploding on his taste buds. Michael
closed his eyes and shivered. His own cock jerking and
reached down and squeezed the base of his length to
prevent himself from coming prematurely. He felt like he
was back in high school with Justin Trackens, sneaking
around and getting each other off in the bathrooms between
classes. He would get off so quickly back then. It was
partly the excitement of doing something that they weren’t
supposed to and the fact that Justin was the first gay boy
that he’d met in his extremely conservative high
school…well Justin and Latroy Marshall. Michael shoved
away thoughts of Latroy and returned his attention back to
Howl. It was probably the height of rudeness to be thinking
about his first love when he was with his mate.

Grabbing Howl’s cock in his right hand, he lifted

the hard as steel shaft towards his mouth and lowered his

Vicktor Alexander/Unassumed

mouth as far down as he could, which wasn’t too far down
the anaconda that was his mate’s cock and sucked with all
of his might. He was determined to bring his mate to a
shuddering orgasm that day and if he had to suck his
internal organs out through his cock then Michael was
driven to do so.

Reaching a hand down to Howl’s balls, Michael

pulled his mouth off of the top of his mate’s cock and
smacked his lips together in extreme happiness. Gods, his
mate tasted delicious. Wanting more of Howl’s addictive
taste, Michael lowered his lips to the other man’s balls and
placed his mouth around one, his tongue grazing over the
organ. He screamed when he found himself lifted high into
the air and wrapped his arms and legs tightly around
Howl’s body as he quickly found himself on his back,
being pressed down into the mattress, the head of Howl’s
cock pressing against the entrance to his ass.

He tensed up almost instantly. It had been over

six...no wait…ten months since he’d been with anyone else.
Ten months of only his dildo in his ass and his favorite
purple dildo was nowhere near the size of Howl’s cock.
What the hell? Did they even make dildos the same size of
Howl’s? He didn’t think that they did. He watched as Howl
reached towards his nightstand before stopping and looking
down at him. Michael grinned up at his mate when he
realized what the man was looking for.

Reaching underneath the pillow that he lay on with

his right hand, Michael grabbed onto the tube of lube that
rested there and pulled it out. He handed it to Howl and
exhaled deeply, giving his lover a tremulous smile. He

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knew that he was exuding the scent of fear and hesitation,
but he really couldn’t help it at that point. Closing his eyes
and released a deep breath as he reached mentally for the
courage to relax and take his mate into his body.

Expecting to feel his mate’s finger or fingers in his

ass, Michael’s eyes flew open and he began twisting his
body in shock and embarrassment as he instead felt the tip
of his mate’s tongue pressing against his puckered
entrance. He panted and gripped the sheets of his bed in
such a firm grasp that he felt the fabric tearing beneath him.
No one had ever done this to him, for him. He didn’t know
what the fascination was for his mate, putting his mouth
and tongue on and in places that no one else ever had
before, but Michael wholeheartedly approved.

Reaching a hand down towards Howl’s head,

Michael was shocked to see that his hand had shifted in his
bliss. That certainly explained how he was able to tear the
sheets. Consciously shifting his hands back from his wolf
paws, Michael put both of his hands on the back of his
mate’s head and pressed his ass more firmly towards the
other man’s mouth. He was still a little unsure about the
whole, having a tongue in his ass thing, but it was
something that he’d mull over and debate with himself over
much later. Right now, it felt way too wonderful to tell his
mate to stop.

Don’t stop, please gods don’t stop, Michael pleaded

with his mate in his mind. He wished that Howl could hear
him, but when he felt his lover’s large hands on his ass and
spreading his cheeks further apart and shoving his tongue
in deeper, he knew that while Howl hadn’t heard him, he’d

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still known, on some telepathic level that Michael was
enjoying himself and didn’t want him to stop.

He barely registered the feeling of Howl’s finger

pressing into his ass, so focused was he on the tongue
lashing that he was getting. Oh man, is this what I’ve been
missing all of these years? An attentive lover who thinks
every part of my body is a place to lick, kiss and suck on?
He wondered himself as he became distantly aware of
Howl pressing a second finger deep into his hole. He
shivered as he felt the tip of Howl’s tongue trace around his
clenching hole as the larger man pressed and withdrew his
fingers slowly. Michael felt the moment that his hole
stretched enough for Howl to press a third finger into his
chute. His head pressed back into his pillow, his hips lifting
off of the mattress and his back bowing as a pleasure so
intense, so explosive swept through his veins. His limbs
trembled and his mouth opened on a scream that never left
his chest.

Tears gathered in his eyes as Howl began pumping

his fingers in and out of his ass quicker and harder. It was
too much. The pleasure, the small bite of pain as Howl
pressed a fourth finger in his ass was too much. He couldn’t
take anymore. There was no way he could take anymore
pleasure. There was no way that he could feel any better
without exploding into shards of “Michael-bits.” He needed
Howl to stop. He needed him to stop right now.

Even with him thinking that he knew that he

whimpered with Howl pulled his fingers free, though he
couldn’t hear the sound. He opened his eyes to see what
was wrong when his eyes alighted on the sight of Howl

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pouring a generous amount of lube onto his oversized cock.
He was so far past gone at this moment that he could only
spread his legs farther apart and reach out for his mate. He
wanted Howl to fill him. He needed him to fill him. His
skin felt too tight, his body was thrumming with desire and
his organs felt agitated. All of him was waiting for
something, anything, to make the heightened awareness,
the tension, leave his body. He felt as if he were about to
self-combust. He couldn’t think, he couldn’t begin to sign,
write or impart to his mate the enormity of what he was
feeling, and so it was with extreme relief and satisfaction
when he felt Howl’s cock press against his guardian
muscle.

Gods, yeessss. Please, oh gods, please, please,

please fill me, he sobbed mentally, desperation for his mate
overwhelming his senses. Exhaling deeply in an attempt to
relax his body fully, he felt a few tears escape his eyes
when the head of his mate’s cock popped into him. He
looked up at Howl and was amazed to see that his large
mate had tears in his eyes as well. Knowing that he didn’t
want to wait another minute to hear his mate’s voice in his
head, didn’t want to wait another second for their souls to
connect and join, Michael tilted his head to the side to bare
his neck to his other half. He hissed and pressed down
deeper onto his mate’s cock when Howl leaned over him to
lick at the side of his neck.

A swirl of colors flashed across his eyes as he felt

Howl’s canines sink into the base of his neck and mark
him. He wrapped and squeezed his thighs around Howl’s
waist, his fingers pressing deeply into his man’s back as his

Vicktor Alexander/Unassumed

body quivered and heated to boiling from the inside out
with the force of his orgasm. His sperm shot from the tip of
his cock with force, splattering his chest and some of it
landing on both his chin and Howl’s. He was distantly
aware of Howl’s cock, the anaconda battering ram, as he’d
renamed it, still pounding away furiously into his hole.

Fuck! Shit! Damn! He yelled out in his head and for

the first time heard the most beautiful sound ever, the
sound of his mate’s voice, like smooth velvet over a deep
bass; it filled his mind and flowed through his body.

Gods dammit you feel so fucking good baby.

Unexpectedly, Michael felt the muscles in his ass

squeeze his mate’s cock as he exploded in another orgasm,
on the heels of his first one. He felt Howell gently slide his
teeth from his neck and lick the wound closed as he
continued to ram his cock deeper and deeper into his ass.
Michael pressed his hands against his headboard as he
began to shove his ass back down onto Howl’s cock, his
heart near bursting as he felt his man freeze and heard the
roar in their mating link as well as he felt the hard rumble
in Howl’s body as the bigger man threw his head back as
his body exploded in an orgasm.

Michael reveled in the rush of heat that flooded his

insides. He knew that if he’d been a woman there was no
way he wouldn’t have gotten pregnant from the copious
amount of seed that his mate had just released into his ass.

He barely stifled a giggle at the thought of a man

being pregnant, of him being pregnant and instead wrapped

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his arms and legs tighter around his mate, sighing when
Howl turned to rest on his back. He snuggled closer to this
man who was now his future and shivered when he felt
Howl’s softened cock slip from his ass moments later. He
wanted to stay awake so that he could talk to the other man,
so that they could get to know each other better, but as the
edges of his vision began to go dark he knew that it was a
futile hope. He stopped fighting the feeling and slipped into
the first truly peaceful sleep he’d had in years.

Vicktor Alexander/Unassumed

Chapter Five

Howell woke up and felt his muscles tense almost

immediately. He was in bed with someone. They were
wrapped around him almost like an octopus or a spider.
Whoever the stranger was, their head was pressing against
his chest, the top of the blond head resting just underneath
his chin. He inhaled deeply, struggling to remember where
he was and felt his wolf calm instantly as the enchanting
smell of his mate washed over him.

Michael, he thought with a satisfied smile and felt

the other man stir at the sound of his name through their
mental link. He lifted the sheet that covered them both and
admired his mate’s pink petal-like skin.

Mmmm, his groan rumbled in his chest, vibrating

underneath the very place Michael’s head lay. Lifting up
the sheet with one hand, he ran the tips of his fingers over
Michael’s side. He watched in fascination as goose bumps
appeared along the skin of the petite man. Tossing the sheet
back towards the foot of the bed, he smoothed his hand
along Michael’s shoulder, down the smaller man’s arm and
up to the hand that rested on his left shoulder. He could
spend the rest of his life touching his mate’s supple skin
and never get bored.

And I could spend the rest of my life letting you

touch me and never get bored, Michael said to him through

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their mating link, before tilting his head back and smiling
up at him.

Howell grinned down at his man, his mate, and

lowered his head down to kiss the other man’s full lips. The
taste of his mate, a delightful blend of peaches, Colgate,
and morning breath, something Howell never thought he’d
find arousing, along with the softness of his lips, caused his
already burgeoning erection to thicken and harden to the
point that he could pound nails if he needed to. With a low
growl, he lifted Michael into his arms and shivered when
his cock rubbed against the puckered hole of Michael’s ass.
It was in that moment, just before he was about to enter his
mate’s ass once again that he froze.

Wait…why can I hear you? He asked Michael,

confusion filling his body and causing his muscles to lock
as he stared up at his beautifully naked and completely
aroused mate.

What? Michael responded, leaning over to kiss him.

Howell turned his head and flipped the smaller man over
until he was on top of him.

Only Alphas and their mates can hear each other.

So why can I hear you? Why did I know that as soon as we
mated I’d be able to hear you? Howell knew he was
babbling and he knew that he wasn’t exactly being very
cool in that moment, but he didn’t care. Something fishy
was going down, and he didn’t particularly care for fish,
even if he was Caribbean.

Vicktor Alexander/Unassumed

Okay, now he wasn’t making sense to himself. He

was really losing it.

Howell, calm down. We have a mating link we can

talk through because you’re an Alpha, aren’t you? Or
you’re a descendant of an Alpha who stepped down?
Michael reasoned with him.

Howell shook his head no frantically, climbing out

of the bed and pacing the floors. He was just a cowboy.
That was it. Period. End of story. He was at most, a Gamma
for the Tate Pack. Ton was the Beta, he was the one who
would take over if something happened to Vet. Then again
Ton had once told him about his father’s uncle who was an
Alpha of a pack out in Washington somewhere. So Ton
would either take over for Vet or he would go on to lead his
uncle’s pack if that man ever passed away, even then,
Howell was third in line for the position of Alpha for the
Tate Pack. There was no way that he could be an Alpha.
Unless…

Every time that I’ve ever dreamed of you, you were

an Alpha. I could tell. I could feel your power, your
position and your strength through the images. I knew that
my mate was an Alpha and you’re my mate, so you’re an
Alpha. How do you not know this? Howell heard Michael’s
soft voice in his head and he felt a ball of grief so big, so
hard fill his entire frame.

His father was dead. How was that even possible?

His father Fitzgerald Marshall was invincible. He was the
bravest, strongest man that Howell knew. There was no

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way that he could have died. He didn’t know of anyone
who was strong enough to defeat his father. No one.

He tried to reason with himself and knew a moment

of extreme heartache so strong that he felt his legs shake.
He was aware of Michael climbing out of the bed quickly
and walking towards him. He even knew that his mate had
wrapped his arms around him. None of it registered,
however. Even if his father had died and the mantle of
Alpha had passed to him, there was no way that he could
go and claim the title or the position. He was, for all intents
and purposes, dead to his biological pack. Being “dead” to
the pack but not really “dead” in reality meant that while
the power of being an Alpha ran through his veins, the
responsibility would never be his.

He wasn’t too sure how he felt about that. He

wasn’t too sure how he felt about anything.

Would he be able to go to the funeral? Had they

already had the funeral? Was his mother still alive? How
had his father died? What about his grandmother Mary?
Was she still alive?

These questions swirled around in his mind, causing

a maelstrom of chaotic images to flash in his mind resulting
in an upheaval of emotions that he barely managed to push
Michael away in time to rush off to the bathroom and the
toilet to expel the contents of his stomach. His father was
dead and all he could think of was getting back home, back
to Texas, back to Tate Ranch and the Tate pack.

Home. He needed to get home.

Vicktor Alexander/Unassumed

*****

Michael stared at Howell in shock. His mate had

completely fallen off of the deep end. It was the only
explanation for why he’d just said what he’d said to him.

I’m sorry, you said I’m coming with you where? He

asked, hoping that he was accurately conveying his
disbelief.

Texas. Wichita Falls, Texas to be more precise,

Howell told him, though the man hadn’t looked at him
since returning from the bathroom. He was trying really
hard not to feel insulted or upset that his mate was
practically ignoring him, but it was kind of hard not to feel
that way when said mate refused to acknowledge his
presence.

Had they really only met the day before? In that

moment he felt as if Howell had been annoying, ignoring
and trying to completely control his life for years. Decades.

Fucking centuries.

Michael turned and picked up the pillow that sat on

the bed and lobbed it at Howell’s head, feeling a bloom of
satisfaction spread through his chest when it connected
soundly with the back of the other man’s head. He watched
as his mate froze his motions and felt fear course through
his veins.

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His mate wouldn’t hurt him right? Right. In all of

the dreams that he’d been having about Howell he’d never
once gotten the feeling that his mate was dangerous. Not
once.

Well okay…not violent towards him.

That whole, being an Alpha thing pretty much

guaranteed that Howell could rip another shifter apart if he
felt that he really had to. Michael could only hope that
being hit in the back of the head with a pillow didn’t
warrant a need for his mate to be violent.

I would never hurt you Michael. I hope you know

that, he heard Howell sigh through their link. Look there’s
a lot about my family, my past, my whole fucking history
that you don’t know…and I’m going to tell you everything,
I promise. But you know, this whole shifter, mates, thing
isn’t really conducive to getting to know each other first. So
I’m going to need you to give me a little bit of time to get
my head together. Just know if I tell you we need to go
somewhere, then, we need to go somewhere and I need to
get back to Wichita Falls. As soon as possible.

Michael could feel his mate’s dark emotions

pressing against him and he gasped and clutched the
coverlet as the anger, grief, despair, hopelessness, fear
and…revenge all rolled over him. Why the hell was his
mate seeking revenge? Against who? For what? What the
holy fucking hell was going on?

I get that Howl, I do. But I need something more

than just you need to go back to Wichita Falls. I can’t just

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uproot my life here; leave my job, my home, my sister,
because you want me too. Look at this from my point of
view, please? I want to be with you. You’re my mate. I was
made to be with you, but I’m the one being asked, or
rather, told, to move and you’re not even asking me if I’m
okay with it or if I’m afraid or hell, even if I like Texas.
This is a partnership. You’re just as much my mate as I am
yours. Michael waited for Howell’s response with baited
breath. It was the longest tirade that he’d ever given
anyone. Usually sticking with his patented kiss my toe and
suck my ass jab whenever someone was being a complete
ass to him. He knew that Howell wasn’t doing it
deliberately. He also knew that if he didn’t stop the man
from doing it now, he would spend the rest of his life being
controlled by someone else.

He’d spent enough time in someone else’s clutches.

His father Alfred Prosace was the asshole of every wolf
pack, past, present and future. He’d raised and trained his
children to act and behave a certain way. Michael had
conformed for a time but finally decided to live his life on
his terms. He loved his freedom. He adored his
independence. He wasn’t going to give that up for anyone.
Not even his mate.

He ran the fingers of his right hand through his hair

as Howell continued to sit facing away from him, not
speaking and no longer moving. He didn’t know what was
going on with his mate, but if he agreed to go with the other
man to a place that sounded a lot like “Witches All Fall”
Texas, then he was going to make sure that his curiosity
was satisfied to a certain degree.

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He reached forward and lightly touched Howell’s

shoulder and felt the moment when his man relaxed. This
was what he wanted. What he needed. He needed for
Howell to relax, to calm down, and to tell him what had
happened only thirty minutes before to cause such a
reaction in him. He had an ache in his stomach, one that let
him know that he probably wasn’t going to like what his
mate was going to tell him, but whatever he was told he
knew it would be something he needed to hear.

When the last of the tension left Howell’s frame,

Michael shuffled forward on his knees, the embroidered
leaves on the coverlet scratching and upbraiding the skin as
he made his way closer to his mate. He sat behind the
grieving man and wrapped his arms around him. Oh man,
the anger and grief that surrounded his mate was making
him ill. What in the world was his man keeping from him?

He opened his mouth to question Howell again

about why he needed to leave so quickly when he saw the
light over his door begin to flash rapidly. Katharina was
knocking on his door and she was upset. Howell tensed in
his arms and Michael could feel the growl that rumbled
through his mate’s chest. He wanted to curl up in the other
man’s lap and reassure him that he was okay, but he had to
see what was wrong with his sister. He’d seen her briefly,
the night before, when he’d stepped out of his room to get
some food for he and Howell and they’d both gushed and
giggled over how extremely sexy Michael’s mate was.
She’d gone out shortly after, telling him that she wanted to
go and hang out with a friend of hers. Michael only smiled
and winked at her at the time, he knew where she was

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going and who the friend was. Katharina thought he didn’t
know about her beautiful Latina girlfriend that she went to
the strip club to see, but he knew. He’d seen the other
woman…he believed that Katharina called her Rose, he’d
seen her leaving early one morning.

He was happy for his sister. He’d be much happier

if Rose was his sister’s mate, however, then he wouldn’t
feel so horrible for even considering the prospect of leaving
her in Las Vegas while he went to Texas with Howell.
Rubbing Howell’s chest until the vibrations beneath his
hand stopped, Michael kissed the thick neck of his mate
and quickly slid off the bed to rush to the door. He jerked it
open and quickly signed to his sister.

What the hell is wrong with you? He asked her,

annoyed that she wasn’t bleeding or gasping for breath.
Was she only knocking to be nosey? He wouldn’t put it
past her.

Dad’s here, she signed back, Rose saw him in town

asking about us, we have about an hour to pack up and get
the fuck out of town before he catches us. We’ve got to get
back to Georgia and help the Marshall pack before he
attacks again.

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Chapter Six

Howell grabbed his head as images of Noel and

Latroy rushed through his mind. His head pounded as
memories of them, the last time that he saw them alive,
flashed through his brain. Suddenly one image appeared,
hazy at first, then sharpening until it was completely clear
in his mind. A young boy, Caucasian, with blonde hair and
pretty blue eyes, his friend, Mikey. They had spent the
summers in Georgia playing together. Mikey had been his
first kiss when they were seven. He had written a letter to
Mikey and told him that they were going to get married
someday when he was eight. He couldn’t remember Mikey
completely, but he did remember that he and Mikey had
spent a lot of time writing letters to each other. Mikey had
been a year behind him and he had felt as if he were
Mikey’s protector, even until the very end.

Howell felt the muscles in his body clench and

stretch as more memories resurfaced. Memories he’d
buried with Latonya’s death, people he’d forced himself to
forget. He felt the wetness on his cheeks before he even
realized he was crying. He heard footsteps rushing towards
him and felt the arms of his mate surrounding him, smelled
his scent. Something that was distinctly Michael and just a
trace of his own scent, it soothed him, calmed his tense
muscles…and brought forth more memories. He shivered
as ice filled his veins as the memory of the night Latonya
went missing washed over his senses.

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He’d just turned ten and there was a party going on

inside of the house, but he’d been sad because his parents
had told him that Mikey couldn’t come to the party. So
he’d gone outside to sulk. He’d felt someone throw
something at his head and when he’d turned his head he’d
seen Mikey standing there in a pink shirt that had obviously
belonged to his older sister, Kat, a pair of dark blue jeans
and he’d been leaning against the tree in the yard of the
Marshall family home in his bare feet. Howell remembered
how happy he’d been to see Mikey. He remembered how
he’d wanted to do nothing more than grab Mikey’s hand
and run away with him. Even at the age of ten he’d known
what he wanted and had been determined to get it, no
matter what the cost. He’d been walking towards Mikey
when he’d heard his aunt scream.

The blood curdling scream had frozen him in his

tracks. He’d turned his head towards the house when the
lights had all turned on brightly. He knew that something
bad had happened and he knew, in some distant, wise part
of himself that if his family found Mikey there at that
moment they would hurt him.

He’d run towards Mikey, his feet slapping against

the cool grass of the yard. He’d ignored the sharp, jagged
edges of the rocks that cut his feet and the dirt that buried
itself into those same cuts as he’d headed straight towards
his friend. Lifting his hands he’d signed for Mikey to leave.
To go back to the Prosace house and to not look back no
matter what. That he had to go right then.

Wait…he’d signed?

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Howell’s eyes snapped open and he stared at

Michael in shock. He saw the tears in his mate’s eyes and
knew that the grief that he saw in the smaller man’s gaze
directly mirrored his own.

Mikey?

Michael’s eyes slid closed and he shook slightly.

Howell sat up quickly and pulled his mate, his Mikey into
his arms. How was this possible? How was it feasible that
his fated mate was Mikey, the same little boy he’d fallen in
love with when he was just a child himself?

“This is all really touching, but our father is here

and we now have about half an hour to grab as much as we
can and get the hell out of here,” Katharina said to him, fear
and anger lacing her words.

Howell stiffened at her words. He wouldn’t run.

There was no way he would tuck tail and leave town just
because the same man who had so oppressed his mate and
his mate’s sister had come to the city. He would stay and
confront the man who had terrorized his little man. He
would protect Michael and Katharina both. It was his job.

“Why should I run? I’m not afraid of your father. I

doubt he even remembers me,” Howell pointed out to
Katharina watching as she signed to Michael.

“You have to run with us Howell. You have to

come back to Georgia to warn your family or he’s going to
do what he did to Latonya, Latroy and Noel to someone
else,” Katharina told him, her blue eyes unwavering in their
gaze as they captured his.

Vicktor Alexander/Unassumed

Howell felt his breath lock in his chest. What the

hell did Michael’s father have to do with Latonya and what
the fuck had happened to Noel and Latroy?

Later, Howl. Please. We need to go and we need to

go now. Michael pleaded with him and Howl looked down
in the desperate gaze of his mate and gave him a quick nod.
He’d go with them now because he had to protect his mate,
but they would give him the answers he sought and since
they were driving all the way to Georgia, they would be
able to give him the whole story.

*****

Michael couldn’t stop shaking. He wasn’t sure if it

was just the fear of his father being in the same city as him
and his mate or if it was the rush of memories that had
rushed through Howell’s mind and by extension his own.
How was it possible that his Howell was the same HL
Marshall that he’d been so hopelessly in love with as a kid?
He didn’t know whether to shout out with happiness at the
ingenuity of the Fates or to yell out in despair. His being
mated to a member of the Marshall pack was so far beyond
bad that it was an epic, massive, universal fail.

He looked over at Howell as the other man rushed

around the room shoving his clothes and other hearing
assistance devices into bags and suitcases with no concern
for order. He understood the need for haste, he really did,
but reality had finally caught up with his mind and he’d just

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realized how truly fucked they all truly were. He grabbed
his hoodie from Tumbler & Tipsy and clutched it to his
chest before pulling it on. Reaching his hands into the
drawer of his dresser he pulled out every article of clothing
that he had from that brand and turned to face Howell. He’d
spent too much money buying every single article of
clothing that he could get from them for him to not take
them with him.

He saw Howell look from him to the clothes in his

arms to the already stuffed bags and suitcases. He knew
that he was being irrational; he knew that he was barely
holding back a panic attack, but he didn’t care in that
moment. He was going to take his clothes with him. All of
his clothes. He smelled Katharina walk up behind him and
then saw the suitcase that she tossed to Howell and his face
burned slightly with shame. His sister had to pack as well
and she had a lot more stuff to worry about rather than
catering to his childish tantrum. He turned to thank her and
saw as she merely smiled at him before racing out of the
room.

Okay Mikey, put the clothes in the suitcase and let’s

get the hell out of here, Howell told him and Michael
moved without hesitation towards his mate. He shoved the
clothes into the suitcase and slammed the locks closed. He
grabbed the handle of one suitcase with his right hand,
slung the strap of his red backpack over his left shoulder
and picked up another suitcase with his left hand, the
frayed edges of the handle digging into his hand. He took a
shuddering breath and looked up at Howell who’d come to
stand before him.

Vicktor Alexander/Unassumed

I may not know exactly what’s going on, but I am

giving you my word that I will protect you with every ounce
of strength that I have and I will not stop until I take my
last breath, Howell assured him, lightly stroking the skin of
Michael’s cheek with his fingers. Michael shivered at the
tender caress, his skin tingling once Howell dropped his
hand.

He did not deserve this man. He really didn’t. That

didn’t mean that he wasn’t going to do everything in his
power to keep him. More than that, he was going to do
everything in his power to keep him safe.

Going up on his toes, Michael placed a soft kiss on

his mate’s full lips and turned to leave the room. They met
Katharina in the living room where she stood surrounded
by bags and suitcases of her own. She gave him a small
smile and lifted her hands to sign. He waved her off. They
didn’t have time to talk, they needed to go and go now. He
trailed behind her as she took off down the stairs, feeling
the heavy pounding of his mate’s footsteps directly behind
him. The bigger man’s cloying scent wrapping around him
in a tight embrace even as his presence pushed Michael to
rush behind Katharina.

We’re taking my truck. I’m sure that your sister’s

car is bugged or he’s identified it. He doesn’t know my
truck, Howell rationalized to him and Michael assumed that
he’d verbally told Katharina, because she froze in her trek
forward almost immediately and turned to allow Howell to
lead the way. The three of them pushed their ways through
the patrons of the coffee shop and out the front door.

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Michael sniffed the air, no trace of his father in the

air, but a feeling of dread settling on his shoulders. If his
father wasn’t there now, then he was definitely close and
getting closer. They had to hurry or they’d be out of time.

Howl, my father is close. I don’t know how I know,

but I do. We have to hurry; he conveyed to his mate and
sighed with happiness and relief when the other man began
to jog towards his truck that was parked on the side of the
building. They all tossed their suitcases and bags into the
truck, taking a little bit of extra care with the fragile items,
but still moving quickly.

At any other time Michael would have admired his

mate’s truck but at this point in time he just couldn’t do it.
He swung open the door to the cab of the truck and pulled
the seat up, allowing his sister to climb into the backseat.
Once she settled, he pushed the passenger seat back into
position and jumped into the seat, before slamming the
door shut. He buckled his seatbelt and then turned to look
out the back window in fear when he realized that Howell
wasn’t in the driver’s seat. He breathed easier, only
slightly, when he saw that Howell was covering their bags
and suitcases with a tarp. He began bouncing in the seat
slightly when time passed and Howell was still fighting
with the tarp. What the hell was wrong with his mate? It
was just material shit.

Howl! Get your ass in the truck right now. That’s

all material bullshit. We can replace it. I can’t replace you
though. Please, please get in the truck so that we can go!
Michael pleaded with his mate and breathed a sigh of relief

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when Howell finished tying off the tarp and jumped into
the driver’s seat and cranking up the vehicle.

He backed the truck out of its parking spot quickly

and then with a turn of the wheel peeled out of the parking
lot and down the road. Michael’s hands clenched as he
continued to check the mirrors to see if they were being
followed. He could see that his sister was doing the same
and wondered if Howell was going to think that they were
some paranoid freaks in a moment. He knew that Howell
didn’t remember exactly how evil Michael’s father was
when they were children, but Michael would never forget
the black sludge that flowed through his father’s veins
instead of blood or the black hunk of rock that sat in his
chest that had obviously replaced his heart. If the man ever
had one. Michael couldn’t remember his father ever being
kind and generous to anyone. Not even their mother, his
wife, his supposed mate. Michael had questioned his father
once, and only once, about why he was so mean to
everyone and his father had told him that it was because the
world was full of stupid and idiotic people and that he’d
been put on the Earth to straighten them all out. That was
before he’d dragged Michael outside and made him kneel
in front of the tree out in the backyard with his hands tied
behind his back and a rope wrapped around his neck and
the tree that he knelt in front of.

Michael had been six.

He’d met Howell shortly after that. Though the

other man had introduced himself as HL Marshall at the
time and that’s what Michael had called him the whole time
they’d been together as kids. HL. And he’d introduced

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himself as Mikey. It was the name that he’d allowed his
mother and his sister to call him because he loved them.
He’d fallen in love with HL, or Howell, the first time he’d
seen him.

That apparently hadn’t changed.

Michael looked over at Howell as the other man

maneuvered the truck in and out of traffic, his jaw clenched
and his hands squeezing the steering wheel. Michael’s eyes
locked onto the sight of those fingers clenching and
releasing the wheel and he felt his body flush with desire.
Probably not the wisest time to be getting aroused, and he
was pretty sure that it was probably also due to the whole
running for their lives and getting away with it thing, but he
couldn’t help the fact that he was majorly turned on at that
point. He saw Howell stiffen and then grin from his seat
next to him and Michael knew his mate had smelled his
arousal.

He clasped his hands together tightly in an effort

not to reach over for his man, especially not with his sister
being in the car with them. He nibbled on his bottom lip
and turned his head to look out at the scenery that flashed
by as they sped along south down the NV-604 towards US-
93 into Arizona. Gods, Michael hadn’t ever wanted to see
this stretch of highway ever again. Especially not when he
was once again running from his father. He was so tired of
running.

Okay, now. Howell’s voice sounded in his mind and

Michael felt his entire body shiver as the deep, sensual
sound of his mate’s tone rolled over his body. Hearing his

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mate’s voice through their mating link was so personal and
so intimate. He already got supremely aroused just hearing
Howell’s voice in his head, he was selfishly glad that he
couldn’t hear his voice audibly; he would be a walking
orgasm if he could. How about you tell me what the fuck is
going on Mikey. Did you know that we knew each other as
kids? Where the hell are Latroy and Noel? What do you
know about Latonya? And why, for fuck’s sake, am I
headed back to Georgia when for all my pack knows, I died
over two decades ago?

Tate Pack Series

Chapter Seven

The night of your birthday party I remember being

angry that I’d been told by my mother that I wasn’t able to
go. I’d run off for my room and pouted for a while. Then
Kat told me that she’d cover for me if I wanted to go and
see you for a little while. So I climbed out of the window to
come over and see you, Michael began and Howell felt
some of the tension that held the muscles in his body so
taut, slowly begin to easy and loosen at his mate’s words. It
was a relief to know that Michael had been just as anxious
to see him that night. He may be slowly regaining his
memory of events, but the feelings that came with those
memories were quick to make themselves known and felt.
Howell wasn’t too sure how he felt about his mate now, but
he for sure remembered how he felt about him then.

I was so happy to see that you were outside by the

time I got there. I was happy that the land between our
houses bordered each other so I could come over to see you
that night. I was elated when I saw you look at me and get
that big ass grin on your face. It made me feel special. Like
you actually liked me. Like you cared, Michael admitted to
him. Howell felt his eyes sting slightly at the feeling of
hope warring with loneliness washed over his senses
through their mating link. Gods, what had his mate endured
at the hands of his father and his pack? Why did this
beautiful man feel as if he’d been honored, given a special,
priceless jewel because someone cared for him? Michael

Vicktor Alexander/Unassumed

deserved to be cared for and loved and spoiled. Howell
could remember the sweet boy he was then and could sense
the caring man he was now. People that were that amazing,
that loving and caring, that giving…those people were
priceless and deserving of the greatest things that life had to
offer. Howell would see to it that Michael got those things.

Contingent upon if he and his sister were

completely innocent of any wrong against his family, of
course.

You came running towards me and I remember how

happy I was that you were so happy to see me. Then you
started signing to me. Telling me that I had to leave. That it
wasn’t safe for me to be there. Telling me to run and not
look back. I didn’t want to leave you if something bad was
happening but you made me. We hugged and you kissed me
on the lips. Do you remember that? Michael asked him and
Howell’s mind flashed with the image of him pressing his
lips to Michael’s. How innocent he was then. How innocent
they both were. That night had been the night that his life
began to change forever. It seemed as if the same thing
could be said for Michael as well. Howell nodded to
Michael, to let him know that he remembered, not trusting
either his mental voice, nor his physical one to relay his
thoughts and feelings properly at that moment.

I did exactly what you told me to do HL, Michael

reassured him, using the nickname that Howell had used
when they were kids. Hearing that name filled him with
warmth and he fought back the urge to grin at hearing the
name. He would smile later. He would smile after his sister
and cousin had been found.

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He would smile when Latonya got justice.

When I got home and climbed back up into my

window, Kat was so scared and freaked out. She’d
overheard my mother yelling at my father. Asking him why
he would do something. Screaming and crying at him.
Calling him a monster. We both crept down the hallway to
the top of the stairs so that we could hear them better. Mom
asked Dad how in the world she was supposed to look
Valerie, your mother, in the face ever again knowing that
her husband had kidnapped and killed her niece.

Howell felt his heart stutter in his chest and his

hands trembled as he jerked the car over to the side of the
road.

“What the hell? Howell? Why the fuck did we

stop?” Katharina yelled at him.

With a low, feral growl, Howell turned to her. He

could feel the rage thrumming through his veins. His wolf
pounded at his senses, desperate to get free, seeking
revenge for the affront done to his family. A member of his
pack had been brutalized and Howell wanted blood.

“Did you know?” he asked Katharina, hearing how

low and growly his voice was, aware of just how close he
was to shifting. In that moment, at that time, he didn’t care.
He didn’t care if he shifted in front of the entire country.
He wanted answers and he wanted the full story right then.

He watched as Katharina swallowed nervously and

then nodded. She signed for Michael as she answered his
question and Howell wondered when he’d forgotten how to

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sign. When had he lost the knowledge and the ability to do
that? Was it after Latonya went missing? When Latonya’s
body was found? Or perhaps it was the moment that his
family had sent him away for his own safety.

Howell wasn’t bitter about that…or even angry

about it.

Nope, not one bit.

“When you introduced yourself as Howell Lourge-

Marshall that’s when I knew. I remembered how you and
Michael used to play together as kids. I remembered how
upset he was that he couldn’t go to your party. Then I
remembered the night that I helped him sneak out and what
happened afterwards. I didn’t know what to tell you. I
didn’t know how to tell you,” she sighed and Howell could
smell the confusion and the truth as it oozed from the pores
of her skin. “I felt ashamed. I felt guilty. I was so fucking
scared that you were going to blame me or Michael. But
more than that-” She stopped and gave Michael a watery
smile before looking back at Howell who was barely
holding onto his visceral response to the information. “I
was happy,” she admitted to him.

Happy? Why the fuck would your sister be happy

about what happened to my family? To Latonya? To me?
Howell asked Michael, barely able to open his mouth to ask
Katharina.

“I was happy because it meant that you weren’t

dead. That my father hadn’t killed you and that you and
Michael were together again, or would be. He was never as

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happy as he was when he was with you. Not even when he
and Latroy dated in high school, he still wasn’t as happy. I
was happy that you were alive and happy that you are big
enough, strong enough, Alpha enough to be able to stop my
father, once and for all.”

Howell heard Katharina’s words, and they did go a

long way towards calming him down a bit, but one part of
her statement locked in his brain and as he pulled back onto
the highway, he picked up his conversation with his mate.

You dated my cousin Latroy?

*****

Michael was going to kill his sister. Why in the

name of all that was holy would she tell his mate, that
Michael had dated his cousin? Was she trying to get them
killed? She was obviously trying to get them killed.

In high school I met Latroy. He looked familiar but

I couldn’t really place him. You and I had played with each
other away from everyone else so every glimpse I ever had
of him was distant. He told me what pack he was from and I
immediately apologized for my father. I’d known there was
no evidence to link my father to the crime and since I’m
deaf everything that I knew or had heard was all considered
hearsay from Kat to me by the police when I went to report
him. Latroy understood that and we began working on
trying to get some dirt, some information on my father and

Vicktor Alexander/Unassumed

what he’d done. We were trying to find some way to make
him pay for his actions. We ended up dating and falling in
love in the process. He smelled almost like my mate, but not
quite. He told me that I didn’t smell anything like his mate
at all and so we dated with the understanding that we were
only together until one of us found our mate. When we
graduated high school we went to two different colleges.
We tried to keep in touch but it didn’t work. Then Latroy
found his mate, fell in love, had his son…and I let him go. I
thought he was my first love after you HL. I see now that
my wolf was merely trying to substitute him for you.

Michael could tell that Howell was confused by his

words and he wondered what could have possibly said to
bring that look of intense concentration and confusion to
his lover’s face. He’d explained everything. He told Howell
everything that he knew, so why did he look so
heartbroken, so upset?

Latroy was kept in Georgia? Noel and I were

placed in foster homes in different states. She was sent to
Virginia to live and I was sent to Texas. The farthest away
from my family. My pack. I can’t believe they let Latroy
stay in Georgia.

Michael could hear the despair and the underlying

anger in his mate’s voice and felt guilt slash through him,
causing his breath to catch in his lungs. He knew that it was
irrational; he hadn’t done anything to cause his mate’s
misfortune. He was just as much a victim as Howell was,
that didn’t lift the burden of guilt that rested on his
shoulders, however. Reaching over towards Howell’s hands
that now gripped the steering wheel with an almost choking

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grasp, the lightly touched the skin of the back of his lover’s
hand. He ran a finger over the veins that he could see
protruding there. Howell’s skin was slightly dry but still
silky smooth, in spite of the work that he did.

What exactly did Howell do anyway? Michael felt

his eyebrows pull down into a frown as he realized that he
didn’t really know anything about his mate. He knew the
things that he’d known when they were kids, he knew that
he currently lived in Wichita Falls, Texas with another
pack, but what did he do for work? What did he like to do
for fun? What was his favorite color? Favorite food? Hell,
what was his favorite position? These were all things that
Michael would have gotten a chance to know about Howell
if they’d had the chance to grow up with each other as
they’d originally planned to do. Things that they would
have learned about each other if they weren’t running for
their lives from a man who should be supporting their
union.

What’s your favorite color? He asked Howell and

he could feel his mate’s shock at the unexpected question
floating through their link. He turned and saw the moment
that Howell looked at him out of the corner of his eye.
Michael felt the shiver that ran up his spine and bit his
lower lip hard in an effort to stop the groan that he could
feel wanting to rumble up from his chest. He didn’t
understand this. He’d known other couples who were
mated and they’d never shared with him that when they’d
gotten mated they’d had an overwhelming urge to be
continuously tied to their mate. To always be joined to

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them. Always having sex with them. Always touching or
kissing them.

Was this something that only he would suffer from

because he was such a freak? Was this because he couldn’t
decide exactly what gender he wanted to be? This morning
he’d woken up and felt considerably manly, but just
yesterday he’d felt womanly. There definitely had to be
something wrong with him. What other wolf shifter out
there was as fucked up as him.

Michael was shocked out of his musings when

Howell’s right hand gripped his left one and pressed it
against the hard ridge of his erection pressing against the
zipper of his jeans. Michael looked down at the sight of his
mate’s obvious state of arousal and then looked up him,
confusion swamping his senses. Why was Howell so
aroused? And dear gods in heaven why was it suddenly so
hot in the truck?

You are not fucked up. You are not a freak. You are

my mate. Mine. You are beautiful. You turn me on just by
looking at me, just by touching me, just by breathing my
air. If I weren’t driving this truck right now and we weren’t
running for our lives, I’d have you bent over the front of
this truck with my cock shoved so far up your ass that it
was coming out of your mouth. Unfortunately I can’t do
anything about it right now, but hold onto that thought
because as soon as we get a chance to stop I’m going to
take you into a bathroom and fuck you so hard that you’re
going to be screaming my name, Howell promised him, his
voice low and growly in Michael’s mind.

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Michael swallowed thickly, feeling the moan that

rumbled up from his chest and very aware of the wet spot
that appeared on the front of his jeans. Oh, his mate was
devious, evil and so fucking hot.

I think I’m hungry Howl, maybe we can stop for

breakfast or lunch or something?

Vicktor Alexander/Unassumed

Chapter Eight

Howell pulled up in front of a roadside diner in

Flagstaff and sighed deeply. His life had completely
changed in the last forty eight hours. Wow, had it only been
two days since he’d met his mate and then found out said
mate was the little boy he’d been in love with as a kid? And
now they were on the run from his mate’s father who was
directly or indirectly responsible for the murder of his
cousin Latonya and the reason his sister Noel and other
cousin Latroy were missing. He was beginning to think that
there was definitely some weird type of bad Tate pack mojo
following him around or something. While finding Michael
definitely wasn’t a bad thing, the rest of it was a major
shitstorm.

His chest rose and fell with another deep sigh and

he removed the key from the ignition and turned to observe
the other passengers in the car. Katharina looked
disheveled and paranoid, her blue eyes darting back and
forth out of the windows as if she expected her father to
pull up in his car directly behind them. Her hands
continuously clutched and released the back of the seat that
she sat on and Howell knew that he needed to get her
something to calm her down. He wondered if she
drank…or smoked. He didn’t smoke, but he was pretty sure
that he could find someone to sell them some weed if it
came down to it.

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You are not going to give my sister drugs!

Michael’s voice sounded in his head, sounding shocked
that Howell would even think such a thing.

Howell snorted and turned to look at his mate. He

was the biggest shock for sure. Michael was beautiful, he
was all sweet, softness. Fluff and sexiness all rolled into
one. Howell wasn’t sure if he wanted to wrap him in bubble
wrap to keep him safe or if he wanted to tie him up to a bed
and have his wicked way with him.

I guess that makes you rough huh? Michael teased

him and Howell chuckled, realizing that he’d sent those
thoughts to his mate.

Yeah I guess we’re Fluff and Rough, he teased back,

before finally opening the door and sliding out of the truck.
Stepping down in his brown cowboy boots, he hissed as he
felt the sharp stab of pain in the top plane of his foot as he
did. With the pain came the flash of memory with it. He’d
been running. Away from his parents towards…someone.
The flash of blue eyes gave him his answer. He’d been
trying to get back to Mikey. A large grey wolf had
appeared out of nowhere and chased him, biting his foot as
he’d attempted to leap over a log. When he’d fallen to the
ground, the wolf had shifted back to his human form.
Standing over him was an older white man, his lips pulled
back in a snarl.

“Stay away from my son, you black perversion,” the

man had said before turning around and shifting back to his
wolf form and running away.

Vicktor Alexander/Unassumed

Howell hadn’t known about shifting then. Hadn’t

even had his first shift by that point, so he’d limped back
home and had only been able to tell his parents that it was
an “old white wolf man” who had bitten his foot…he’d
been nine at the time. It had been the last time that his
parents had allowed him to freely go and see Mikey. The
two of them had been forced to sneak around after that.

Howell was jerked out of his memory by the sound

of his mate’s cry of dismay. His head snapped towards
Michael and he saw tears streaking down his lover’s
beautiful, pale cheeks. Howell rushed towards him and
pulled the smaller man into his arms.

My father bit you? He warned you away from me

when we were still kids? Why would he do that? Michael
asked and Howell felt fury rise inside of him.

I don’t know why, baby, but we’ll figure this whole

thing out. I promise, he reassured his man, kissing his
temple before he gently wiped away the tears on the other
man’s face and placed a small kiss on his lips and taking
him by the hand led him towards the diner door where
Katharina stood waiting for them.

Howell smiled at the slim woman and gestured for

her to precede him into the restaurant. He followed Michael
inside the diner and found that the three of them were
instantly the center of attention. More than used to having
people staring at him, having grown up black in the South,
Howell smiled a feral grin at the other customers and gave
a low rumbling growl that he felt throughout his entire
body as he put his arm around Michael’s waist. His words

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and intention very clear, if anyone wanted to fuck with
Michael or Katharina, they would have to go through him
first.

He smiled at the young waitress who came rushing

towards them, tightening his arm around Michael slightly
when he smelled the distinct scent of elf on the stranger. As
he looked closer at the young woman he realized that the
stranger was exactly like Michael. Not entirely man, yet not
entirely woman either. He could feel the tension that had
gripped Michael’s frame ease as he realized the exact same
thing that he did. Not only was the elf fluid like Michael,
but they could definitely scent a curse on her…him.

“Hi. My name’s Ginessa. Everyone calls me Ginny

or Gin or Nessa. You know, whatever floats your boat and
cranks your tractor. Are all three of ya’ll together?” the elf
asked them and Howell felt himself relax completely at the
friendliness in her tone.

“Yeah. Can we get a booth please?” Howell

requested.

“Sure thing. Is that your partner?” Ginessa asked as

she led them to a table. Howell was very proud of himself
for not staring at her large breasts that bounced as she
turned to face him. Damn, what the fuck was wrong with
him. He’d never been particularly fascinated with breasts
before mating Michael, but now that he had he found
himself checking out boobs and cocks. Did that make him
bisexual?

Vicktor Alexander/Unassumed

He shuddered as he thought of sleeping with a

woman and shoving his cock…there and heard Michael
chuckle beside him as they got settled into a booth at the
back of the diner. He felt his cheeks burn when he realized
that he’d once again projected his thoughts to his mate.
How the hell was he supposed to control that? He didn’t
want to be walking around telling his mate his every single
thought. What if he was trying to keep a secret from him?
Like a birthday present or something?

You have to imagine a wall or a bubble when

there’s something that you don’t want me to know. Just
imagine that you’ve put that wall or bubble up and it will
keep your thoughts from flooding my head all of the time.
Even though I’ve sort of enjoyed knowing your every
thought, Michael informed him.

Howell grinned as he looked down at his mate

sitting next to him. There wasn’t much that he thought he’d
ever keep from his little man, but it was good to know how
to do it just in case.

How did you get to be so smart? He teased his lover

and watched with delight as Michael blushed prettily.

I studied “How to be an Alpha Mate for Dummies.”

Michael responded and Howell threw his head back and
laughed loudly. His mate was absolutely delightful. He was
definitely a keeper.

Speaking of studying. How about you re-teach me

sign language?

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*****

They’d been in that diner for four hours. They’d

done nothing but catch up and learn about each other. He
and Katharina had taught Howell as much sign language as
they could. They were surprised at how quickly he’d picked
it up and how much he’d remembered. It seemed as if that
sense memory thing was actually a real thing. Michael had
learned a lot about his mate in those four hours. He’d
learned how stubborn he could be. He’d been told by
Ginessa that they couldn’t just sit around in the diner if
they weren’t eating or drinking something ordered from the
kitchen, so Howell kept ordering coffee and slices of pie,
only leaving the table to go to the restroom and coming
back out to resume their lessons.

About halfway through their lesson, Michael had

gotten downright uncomfortable in the brown t-shirt that
he’d thrown on in their haste to leave Vegas and had gone
out to change into a V-neck shirt. He’d noticed, when he
returned, how often Howell kept looking at him. It went a
long way towards making him feel sexy. At least to his
mate.

Michael found himself relaxing for the first time in

a long time the longer that they sat there, allowing his left
leg to press against Howell’s right one underneath the table.
After a while he’d slowly wrapped his left foot around
Howell’s right, spreading the big Texan’s legs apart. He
nodded as his sister explained to Howell how to ask a

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question in sign language and dropped his left hand
underneath the table very casually.

He slowly slid his hand over to Howell’s thigh and

rested it there for a moment. He felt the muscles in
Howell’s thigh tighten beneath the fabric of the jeans and
felt a thrill race down his spine. He swallowed deeply,
trying to calm his racing heart as he subtly drifted his hand
up towards Howell’s crotch. He could feel the heat
radiating from his mate’s groin, could feel the hard ridge
pressing against his fingers from behind the denim. His ass
clenched in response.

His cock lengthened and thickened in his own jeans

and he inhaled deeply the scent of his arousal mixing with
Howell’s and washing over his senses. He couldn’t believe
that he was doing this, feeling up his mate in public. There
was something about being with Howell though; it made
the wanton, overly confident side of him that he’d only
caught glimpses of, want to come out to play. Feeling his
cheeks burn in embarrassment when Katharina looked at
him with a raised eyebrow, he went to move his hand back
to the table only to have Howell grab his hand and prevent
it from moving.

He cast a glance up at his mate through his hair, his

heart pounding, his question catching in his throat at the
smoldering glance thrown his way from Howell. He saw
the Texans lips move as he said something but wasn’t able
to follow or understand exactly what he was saying. How
was it possible that his mate’s lips always looked so
fucking kissable? Almost like they were filled with the
sweetest juices. Michael found himself leaning towards the

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bigger man, intent on biting his lip and sucking to see if he
could get all of the juices out when he was startled out of
his reverie by a sharp pain in his right arm.

He swung around to glare at his sister as she sat

back with a pleased smirk on her face when he remembered
where he was. He was in fucking Flagstaff. What did they
even think of gays? Of interracial couples? Of
transgenders? He could be setting them all up for a massive
brawl. He had to pull himself together. He could wait and
not attack his mate before they had a chance to get to a
hotel for the night. Yeah. He totally could.

With a determined grunt, Michael sat back in his

seat and began to recite every state and state capitol when
he got through the list if he was still rock-hard horny, then
he’d just move onto the periodic table. He’d do whatever
he had to do to keep himself from ripping his mate’s
clothes from his body.

It’s going to be a long day.

Vicktor Alexander/Unassumed

Chapter Nine

"So is it fun to be a cowboy?" Michael asked, his

hands moving in an almost smooth rhythm. Howell pulled
his eyes away from Michael's cleavage when he noticed the
other man's hands moving, and focused on the man in front
of him. He was proud of himself for being able to
understand what the other man had just signed to him. It
was starting to get dark outside and they had been informed
that the diner was going to be closing soon. They knew that
they’d have to get up and leave in at least an hour or so, but
they were enjoying themselves way too much. Learning
about Michael was definitely one of Howell’s newest
favorite past times.

"What was the question again?" Howell inquired,

his hands moving slow and with no grace at all. He started
clenching his teeth in that moment, in order to stop him
from reaching across the table and pulling Michael into his
lap. The smaller man had gotten up and moved across from
him when he’d been unable to keep his hands to himself.
Could Michael really blame him though? There was a
persistent fire that was burning underneath his skin and it
was driving him to distraction.

Michael smirked and shifted on the seat before

asking the question again, "I asked if it was fun to be a
cowboy," he asked again, this time his hands moving
slower, as if that was the reason that Howell hadn't first

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understood the question. Howell almost groaned in
frustration when the smaller man folded his arms across his
chest.

His gorgeous chest. Howell didn't fully understand

why Michael hadn't gone and gotten both surgeries done, or
why he still referred to himself as Michael and as "he."
Howell knew other transgenders and they were all very
emphatic about being called the correct pronoun. Michael
didn't seem to be phased by it. Or maybe he was just really
good at pretending. He had told Howell that getting the
bottom surgery was just more money than he was willing to
spend and that he felt like a woman now...or rather, he felt
like he was supposed to feel, like he was finally in the right
body.

And it was a beautiful body.

Noticing that Michael was laughing he looked

around to see what was so funny before returning his
attention back to his mate.

"What's so funny?" he asked with a grin, his fingers

moving very quickly through the signs for the sentence. He
was very proud of himself for that one sentence and turned
to grin broadly at Katharina who sat at the next table with
Ginessa helping the elf to fill ketchup bottles.

"You. I bet you forgot the question again, didn't

you?" Michael asked with a chuckle, his hands moving
quicker as he signed the question this time. Howell was
aware that Michael was signing faster and faster as he got
more and more comfortable with the motions, but it still

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didn’t help when he was still so easily distracted with his
mate’s mouth-watering body.

Howell groaned and slapped a hand to his forehead,

loving the sound of Michael's giggle, who knew that a man
into his 30s could make a noise like a teenage girl? Lifting
his head Howell looked at Michael again and raising his
hands signed: "What was the question again?"

This time he made sure that he paid attention to

what Michael asked him in order to answer the question
this time. He nodded to let Michael know that he’d caught
the question this time and thought seriously about what he
was being asked before he attempted to answer.

“I don’t know if I would say that it was fun,” he

signed slowly. “It is challenging,” he signed out the last
word, letter by letter and watched as Michael showed him
the sign for “challenge” before he continued. “I enjoy
working with animals, being a part of a pack, working on a
ranch. I don’t really like riding horses though.”

He watched as Michael tilted his head to side as he

thought about what Howell had said. Howell could hear the
thoughts swirling in his mate’s mind and could finally
understand why the other man had suggested that he learn
how to sign in addition to their mating link. Wow, Michael
could think a lot of things at once. That was kind of
intimidating.

“Why don’t you like riding horses?” Michael finally

asked him.

“Lack of control,” Howell responded, prepared to

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answer the question as soon as it fully formed in Michael’s
mind. He watched as Michael nodded, pleased that his mate
understood why that would be such an issue for him and
then mentally girded his loins in order to ask the question
that he’d been avoiding for hours.

“Do you know what happened to Noel and Latroy?”

He tried not to whine with sadness when Michael’s

face was leached completely of all color. He could tell from
that reaction alone that his mate knew exactly what had
happened to his sister and cousin.

“We got word that they were found and killed,”

Michael answered him.

Howell’s eyes slid closed and his hands clenched

into fists on the table. His wolf began battering at his soul,
desperate to get free. He needed to run, he needed to howl,
and he needed to rip someone apart. He could feel his body
shaking with the urge to not shift and he shoved out of the
booth without another word to Michael. He turned towards
the door to the diner. Just needing to get out of the building.

The smells of grease, meat, humans, other

paranormals, fear, grief, shame, anger and even lust
clogged his nostrils making it difficult for him to breathe.
His lungs locked in his chest. The edges of his vision
blurred and he could feel himself losing the fight with his
wolf against the shift. He raced towards the door and
shoved open the door, gulping in a lungful of the clean
night air. He coughed when he the smell of gas, engine fuel
permeated his senses.

Vicktor Alexander/Unassumed

He was still too close to humans, to civilization, to

other people. They weren’t even the right people. They
weren’t the people that he needed to be around at that point.
He needed to be around Noel and Latroy, but they were
dead.

Dead.

How was that even possible? How was it possible

that he’d lost his father, sister and cousin so close together?

His skin stretched tight across his body, to the point

of causing him physical pain as he felt his wolf shoving to
get free. Tossing back his head he let loose a loud howl of
grief and ripped off his clothes and boots. He allowed the
shift to finally flow over his body and then ran for the
woods that surrounded the diner. He had no destination in
mind and thought of nothing else but outrunning the cries
of the dead that followed him.

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Chapter Ten

Michael ran out of the diner after Howell and saw

the moment that his mate shifted into his wolf form and ran
for the forest. Guilt, anger and shame clawed at his insides
and he wondered if what he was feeling was his own
emotions or those of his almost feral mate. He could sense
Katharina and Ginessa walking up behind him and another
person, a man who smelled faintly of Ginessa as well.
Turning around he almost swallowed his tongue at the sight
of the gorgeous tall man who stood with his arm wrapped
around Ginessa’s slender shoulders.

“This is Prince Drakko Lightensun. He’s Ginessa’s

song-keeper. Ginny’s mate,” Katharina signed to him.

He bowed to other man out of respect and then

turned back to the areas where he’d seen Howell disappear.
He knew that what he’d just done could be seen as a slight
against the elven prince, but in that moment he didn’t really
care. He was worried about his mate. He was especially
concerned because of the disjointed thoughts and images
that flashed through his mind and the fact that he couldn’t
speak to him. He wished that he knew where Howell was
and if he were coming back. Well, he was pretty sure that
he was coming back. Howell wouldn’t just leave him
behind. Granted, they hadn’t been mated that long, but he
knew his mate. He knew his man’s character. Howell was a
man of integrity and no matter how hurt and angry he was,

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he wouldn’t abandon his mate at a roadside diner.

Besides, his truck was still there.

Michael just really wished that he knew where he

was and if he was really okay. No matter how short of a
time he’d been gone, they couldn’t be sure that Michael
and Katharina’s father hadn’t tracked them to the diner and
wasn’t waiting, even at that moment, to take them all out,
one by one.

I can tell you where your mate is, if you would like

me to, Little One, Michael heard the voice in his mind and
opened his mouth in shock as he turned to face Prince
Drakko.

Can you hear me? He questioned the elf and took a

step back in fear when the other man merely nodded and
smiled. How is that possible? You are not an Alpha, nor my
mate. How are you able to talk to me?

I am a prince. An elf prince. My realm is full of

magic, we exude magic with every step we take, and it is
the same for our distant faery cousins. I can hear your
thoughts and those of your mates. Indeed I can hear the
thoughts of anyone that I choose. I can also tell you where
your mate is, if you wouldn’t mind me touching the mating
mark on your neck, Prince Drakko offered taking a step
towards Michael.

Michael took a step back instantly. The mating

mark was a sacred thing among wolf shifters. If he let this
man, this stranger touch his mating mark, then his scent
would be on his skin when Howell returned. That would

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pretty much ensure that Howell would attempt to rip the
prince limb from limb. With the prince having magic would
he kill Howell in defense of himself?

I will do nothing to hurt your mate Little One, but

you seem very distressed by his departure and I only seek
to help you find him, Prince Drakko reassured him.

Aware that he was very concerned about his mate,

Michael nodded his head and turned his head away from
the mate, baring his mating mark to the prince. No sooner
had he done that than he could smell his mate. Turning
quickly to his left he was stunned by the sight of his mate
in his wolf form. His mate was a gorgeous, and very large,
white wolf, his fur coat almost the exact same color as the
sands on the beach of Barbados. Michael didn’t have time
to continue to admire the beauty of his mate in wolf form,
however. He became aware of the fact that his mate was
staring at Prince Drakko with his upper lip pulled back in a
snarl. He then realized that the prince was standing very
close to him with his hand up near Michael’s neck.

Oh shit.

Howell? He called out to his mate through their

mating link. When he received no response from his mate
he stepped away from the prince and walked slowly
towards his mate. For once he welcomed the silence of his
deafness. He knew that his sister was no doubt yelling at
him, forgetting that he couldn’t hear her. He was aware of
the prince trying to get his attention through his mind, but
he threw up a wall to cut out anyone except his mate. He
had to get Howell to calm down; he had to bring his mate

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back to him.

Howell? Baby? It’s me. Michael. Your mate. He

could see his mate’s fur vibrating and knew that regardless
of his reassurances the other man had not heard him.
Grabbing the hem of his shirt he pulled it off and then
slowly pulled off his shoes and pants. He was absurdly glad
that his breasts weren’t large enough to really need a large
bra at this point since he’d chosen not to wear one. Pulling
off his briefs, he closed his eyes and felt his skin ripple as
he allowed his shift to wash over him.

Once the shift was complete he opened his eyes and

saw Howell standing directly in front of him, his teeth
bared. Without hesitation he rolled over to his back to
expose his stomach to the more dominant wolf. He whined
softly as he felt the press of Howell’s muzzle against his
neck seconds before he felt pierce of his mate’s canines in
his mating mark again. His body shook as he felt himself
shifting back to his human form, Howell removing his teeth
in time before the shift completely started. Wolf shifters
returned to their human forms after having an orgasm and
Michael was, of course, no exception. When he opened his
eyes this time, he felt himself being blanketed by over six
feet and two hundred pounds of gorgeous man flesh.

Mine, he heard Howell growl in their mating link.

He exhaled happily and wrapped his arms and legs around
his mate, happy that grief and anger hadn’t kept his mate
feral. He knew that the situation with his father was far
from being over, but for the moment he was extremely
happy to have his mate in his arms. His mate was
apparently just as happy. Michael wiggled against the hard

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ridge pressing against his stomach and felt his previously
satisfied cock growing hard with renewed energy.

He knew that Howell said something to those who

still stood outside looking at them, he could feel rumbling
of the other man’s chest against his face, but at that
moment he didn’t care. He lifted his head and licked a line
up his mate’s torso to his collarbone. Closing his lips on the
beautiful brown skin, he sucked it into his mouth deeply
and scraped one canine down the swollen skin. The lower
half of his body pressed up and undulated against his
mate’s pelvis as he chased after that desired physical relief.

He pressed his body closer to Howell’s when he felt

the man pressing up against the ground in order to stand.
He scrambled to hold on, the hard ridges of his lover’s abs
rubbing deliciously against his cock, providing a
deliciously wicked feeling of stimulation against his
engorged shaft. His back arched as Howell held him close
to his body as he walked them quickly over to the truck,
pressing his finger against Michael’s clenching ass hole.

Michael exhaled shakily, the air in his lungs

returning and escaping in quick bursts of air as his arousal
and his need for his mate rose to higher heights. He
grabbed the thick ropes of his mate’s hair and pulled them
roughly, grinning wolfishly when he felt his back slammed
against the side of the truck. He leaned forward and
crushed his lips down onto Howell’s. He needed a taste of
his mate in that moment. He had to fill his mouth with the
unique flavor of his mate, and he had to do it now. When
Howell sat him down on the passenger seat of the truck, he
quickly turned and lay down with his head hanging down

Vicktor Alexander/Unassumed

towards the bottom of the truck.

He was uncaring of the feel of the truck’s leather

seat against his skin; he didn’t care about the bugs that flew
around his flushed and aroused body. All he cared about in
that moment was getting his mate’s cock in his mouth.
Reaching out he gripped his mate’s large, hard dick and
brought it towards his open mouth. At the first touch of the
smooth as silk over a hardened steel shaft on his tongue,
Michael’s hips thrust upwards in pleasure. His eyes closed
as he savored the slightly bitter taste of his mate’s pre-cum
sliding over his taste buds. He felt as Howell surged
forward and then pulled back slowly and relaxed the
muscles of his throat as he felt the head of his lover’s cock
enter the tight passage of his esophagus. He put his hands
up and around Howell’s legs, grabbing his ass and pulling
him closer. He wanted him to fuck his mouth.

Please Howell, please fuck my mouth, he pleaded.

He was extremely happy when he felt Howell

slowly begin fucking his mouth and throat. As Howell
pressed his dick deeper and deeper, Michael swallowed
around the head of his mate’s thick cock and gloried in the
quivering of the larger man’s limbs. When Howell pulled
his cock out of Michael’s mouth with a pop, he scrambled
up to his knees, prepared to beg Howell for more when the
black man, grabbed his breasts in his large hands and
squeezed them in his unrelenting grasp. His head dropped
back as pleasure sprinted through his body. His cock was
leaking copious amounts of pre-cum by the time Howell
began flicking his hardened nipples with his tongue and
scraping his canines over them.

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100

Gods, Howell. I am so past needing foreplay right

now. Just fuck me already!

He heard Howell’s chuckle in his mind and felt his

chest expand on the squeal he no doubt released when
Howell flipped him over onto his hands and knees. He
didn’t even have time to reprimand the other man before he
was gasping at the feel of Howell’s tongue pressing deep
inside of his ass alongside the finger that he slowly pressed
in. He grit his teeth in an effort to hold back the pleasure
that threatened to drown him and pressed his ass back
towards his large mate. He forced himself to relax when he
felt Howell pressing another finger in his ass.

His passage stretched to accommodate Howell as

the cowboy pressed two more fingers into Michael’s tight
channel. His arms shook as he fought tooth and nail to hold
back his orgasm, digging his fingers into the seat
underneath him, biting his lower lip so hard the coppery
taste of his blood filled his mouth. He didn’t care what he
had to do but he absolutely refused to come until Howell
was inside of him.

Finally, finally, he felt the press of Howell’s

supernatural snake pressing into his ass. He felt Howell
freeze as he pushed the head of his cock into Michael’s ass
and then he heard the other man’s laughter in his mind.

What the fuck is so funny and why are you thinking

about it when you should be fucking me? He asked
grumpily, putting forth an image of him pouting to his
mate’s mind.

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101

Supernatural snake? Howell questioned him with

another mental snicker before he shoved his cock balls
deep into Michael’s ass. His inner muscles clutched onto
the intruding member as if they never wanted the oversized
cock to leave them and Michael could certainly understand.
His body trembled as he felt Howell withdraw from his ass.
Oh gods, out was good. Out was so very, very good.

He scrambled to hold himself up as Howell

slammed back into his puckered entrance and revised his
earlier statement. Oh Christ, in was delicious. In was so
wonderfully delicious. He waffled between which was
better, in or out as Howell rammed his cock in and out of
his body until he couldn’t think at all. Howell’s thrusts sped
up and Michael balanced himself on his left elbow as he
dropped his right hand to his red, almost purple, and
leaking cock and barely stroked it before he felt the tingle
at the base of his spine spread up and down his body like
wildfire and his orgasm exploded within him a full minute
before he felt his seed shoot from the slit of his cock.

He fell forward with a long and deep exhale of

sheer pleasure, his body now nothing more than a wet
noodle, his ass still a tight, gripping vise of pleasure for his
mate’s extreme enjoyment. He was barely aware of
Howell’s continued rampage in his puckered hole, he was
so blissed out. The minute that Howell stiffened and he felt
the copious amounts of his mate’s hot, white, sperm flood
his channel, come of it overflowing it and dripping on his
balls and the seat below him, he gripped the edges of the
seat as another, smaller orgasm swept over his body.

Howell collapsed over on top of him and he

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102

couldn’t even work up the energy to complain. He was
beyond satisfied. He was worlds away from sexual release
and gratification. He’d been beyond Heaven’s pearly gates
with that orgasm. Had in fact seen God, Buddha, Krishna,
the Goddess and every other Deity that he’d ever heard of
and thanked them all for creating Howell, just the way that
they did and as he returned to Earth, back to reality, on a
purple cloud of hazy, musky, gratifying, man-sex, he was
astonished to once again hear his mate’s chuckle in his
mind.

Seriously Mikey…supernatural snake?

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103

Chapter Eleven

Howell sighed with relief as he looked up at the

large house before him. He was home. Well…he was at the
place that had represented home for him for the past ten
years. It was so good to be back at the Tate Ranch. Even if
they were only there for a few days. Just long enough to
rest up before they headed towards Georgia. He hated to
delay, but he also knew that Richard would be worrying
about him and more than that Vet was probably beyond
pissed at him for leaving without talking to him first.

The smell of nervousness was almost choking him

and he turned to reassure Michael when he realized that the
nervousness was coming from Katharina. He quirked an
eyebrow at her in confusion and opened his mouth to ask
her what was wrong when he caught the distinct smell of
horses and wood…Ton. No wonder Katharina had been so
nervous. There were very few people in the world who
were bigger than Howell, Ton and Vet just happened to be
two of them.

Hhhmmm…apparently it’s an Alpha thing to be

oversized? He wondered to himself.

I wonder if he’s dragging around an anaconda in

his pants like you are, Michael asked, an innocent smile on
his face when Howell turned to glare at him. The sight of
the petite man’s smile caused his own lips to twitch as he
fought to not give into the urge to grin. His mate was a

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brat…a gorgeous, sexy, irresistible brat. He puckered up
his lips at the smaller man and then turned back to face
Ton. Anton “Ton” Forrester was one of his oldest friends
and now that he was mated himself, he could certainly
understand Ton’s reaction when Tommy left him. He was
pretty sure that if Michael said he couldn’t handle being
mated to him he would bitch and moan for a few hours and
then he would take off after him and drag him back. It was
just how he was.

Ppfffttt, Michael scoffed. Like I’d ever be stupid

enough to leave you, he heard Michael say seconds before
the door closed. He climbed from the truck and slammed
his own door closed, before shoving his hands in the
pockets of his jeans. He knew that he and Ton needed to
make amends and apologize, but damn if he knew what he
was apologizing for.

For being insensitive, Michael offered and Howell

threw his mate a grateful glance before looking back at his
old friend. His palms were sweaty and his mouth was dry.
He hated apologizing, so he had a rule to either never do
anything that would require him apologizing to someone
else or just never apologize. He often got stuck doing a lot
of the first thing because options two and three never
worked out for him all that much.

“So, look man. You know what I said about

Tommy-” he said allowing his words to trail off, knowing
that Ton would understand what he was trying to say.

“Yeah man, I gotcha. And what I said about you

and your hair…you know that I-” Ton began and Howell

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105

cut him off.

“Yeah man, I know,” he promised his friend.

“So…we cool?” Ton asked him, checking to make

sure that all was really well between them.

“Yeah man, we cool,” Howell assured him, the two

cowboys bumping fists and grinning like schoolboys at
each other.

Remembering Michael and Katharina, Howell

called them both over with a wave of his hand.

“So, looks like you’re not the only one whose got a

mate. I found mine out in Las Vegas. Pack kicked him out
and disowned him, after beating him up when he came out
to them as gay and transgender,” Howell explained to Ton,
knowing that if he explained everything to Ton now, the
older man would explain it all to Vet later, thereby saving
Howell a little bit of trouble.

“Aaww godsdammit. Shit. For real?” Ton asked and

Howell merely nodded. He watched as Ton looked at
Michael and then back at him. “So…he was a female and
now he’s a man or…”

Howell hesitated to answer. He probably should

have checked with Michael first before he started spouting
off his personal information. He’d just been extremely
excited to show off his mate and he’d wanted to get all of
the preliminary information out of the way ahead of time.
Shit. Looked like he’d fucked up…again. One day he was
going to manage to go the whole day without fucking up

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106

things that dealt with his mate, he promised himself.

Hey baby is it alright if I tell Ton about you? You

know…the whole transgender thing? He questioned his
smaller mate. He could sense Michael’s hesitation and fear
through their link and knew that he was worried that Ton
would react the same way that Michael’s father and his
pack had reacted. Howell knew that Ton wouldn’t react that
way, but Michael didn’t and so it was up to him to reassure
the man.

Ton is Anton Forrester. He’s the Beta of the Tate

Pack. His mate is Tommy Wilkins who is a cross-dresser.
He wears women’s clothes and performs on stage back in
New York…well; at least he used to perform on stage back
in New York. Our pack Alpha is Vernon Tate but we all call
him Vet. His mate is Richard Tillson who used to be a very
successful dancer. The two of them are raising Vet’s
sister’s triplets since she passed away recently. He could
sense Michael’s fear easing and his hesitation fading away.
He breathed a sigh of relief. He was glad that he’d made
the right call there. Really glad. He wanted everyone to get
along, but more than that he wanted his mate to feel
comfortable. Michael’s comfort and safety were his main
priority.

Yeah, you can tell him, Michael reassured him and

turning towards Ton, Howell proceeded to tell his best
friend everything that he knew about Michael, his sister
Katharina, his father Alfred and the Prosace pack back in
Georgia. They walked towards the main house as they
talked, Michael’s hand gripped firmly in his own and he
struggled to keep his mind focused on what he was saying

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107

and not on the image of his cock buried in his mate’s ass or
the thought of Michael on his knees begging him for more
of his cock.

He was abruptly pulled out of his fantasies by the

impact of Richard launching himself into his arms and
welcoming him home. He moved to wrap his arms around
his best friend when he heard Michael growling
possessively. It wasn’t a sound that he’d ever heard before,
but judging from the way his cock was growing hard, it was
a sound that he found very arousing. He gently pushed
Richard away from him and pulled Michael into his arms,
wrapping his arms around his mate and pressing the other
man’s face into his neck.

He shivered as he felt Michael snuffling and

pressing his nose into the crease of his neck, licking and
growling as he pressed closer, trying to rid Howell’s body
of Richard’s scent and replace it with his own. He could
feel his cock growing impossibly thick, the organ trying to
burst through his jeans and get into Michael’s ass. They
obviously couldn’t do anything right now. Not with Vet,
Richard, Ton and Katharina all standing there watching
them, but he promised himself that as soon as he got the
opportunity he was going to whisk Michael away to his
cabin on pack lands and he was going to fuck him so hard
that the other man wouldn’t be able to sit down for a week.
As Michael pressed his equally hard cock against the front
of his thigh, Howell growled low in his throat, lowering his
head to lick the side of Michael’s throat, the sound of the
younger man’s heartbeat calming his racing heart.

“If you’re done molesting your mate, perhaps you

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can introduce him to the rest of us?” Vet said from
somewhere in front of him and Howell lifted his head to
grin sheepishly at his Alpha.

“Everyone, this is Michael Prosace, my mate.”

*****

Michael was completely overwhelmed. He and

Katharina had been introduced to the Alpha, his mate and
their children. He and Howell had then been asked to take a
walk with Vet where the Alpha admitted to Michael,
through Howell, that he didn’t know sign language and that
he thought it would be good for him to learn, not just him,
but all of the pack members. Vet had then turned to him
and asked for him to teach a few ASL classes. Michael had
been confused and shocked that the Alpha had requested
such a thing from him. He’d stammered out a yes and then
turned to Howell in amazement. His cowboy had merely
smiled at him and signed that he would be able to do a few
classes before they’d be leaving for Georgia and then he’d
be able to pick them back up when they got back.

He hadn’t realized how much he loved teaching

until that moment and he was actually really excited about
teaching the other pack members all that he knew. For now,
however, he was on pins and needles as he and Howell
walked towards Ton and Tommy’s cabin to have dinner.
Howell had shown him his own place which was actually
pretty large for him to have been the only one sleeping

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there. Howell had grinned and shrugged sheepishly when
he’d admitted that he’d always felt, in the back of his mind,
where he’d shoved it years ago, that he would have a
family of his own one day. His cabin was one story, but
there were four main bedrooms, a guest room which also
doubled as an office, a kitchen, dining room, and a family
room that seemed massively huge by Michael’s standards
until he saw that it was that big to house Howell’s
extremely large flat screen television. He’d laughed at his
mate when Howell explained that it was for watching the
Superbowl the way it was meant to be seen and had just
continued back to their bedroom.

Their master suite was a thing of beauty. It was

large and surrounded by windows on three sides, a king
sized, four-poster bed sat in the middle of the room. There
was no television in the room, but Michael did notice that
there was a stereo and two large dressers. Besides those
things there was nothing else. There were no bookshelves,
no pictures, no knickknacks. Michael felt sadness wash
over him for his mate. He wondered how many people
from his pack knew exactly how lonely he was. He’d
looked over at his mate and saw that deep seeded sadness
that reflected in his eyes and without thought he’d dropped
his bags to the ground and grabbed Howell’s arm to drag
him off to the bed. He’d been rather forceful with the big
cowboy, but Howell seemed to be extremely turned on by
that fact. They’d both had explosive orgasms and now,
even hours later, he was still slightly weak and shaky from
the force of it.

Howell had spent the hours that they’d been there

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on the phone with everyone that he knew and still kept in
contact with back in Georgia. Katharina had shut herself up
in her room for a few hours and had left; signing to him
that she’d see him at dinner. He didn’t know what was
going on with her, but she’d been hyper-reserved since
arriving on the Tate ranch. He hoped that whatever was
bothering her would go away soon, he didn’t like his sister
the way she was currently behaving, as if she were looking
for someone or avoiding someone. It was all very confusing
and distressing to him.

He’d been online, checking his email on the laptop

that Howell had given to him for him to use and after he’d
replied to his former job, explaining why he’d been forced
to leave without notice, he’d begun a search. He wouldn’t
tell Howell, but he was pretty sure that he knew where
Noel’s children, Mariah and Cody, were being held. It was
Latroy’s two children that he couldn’t find. He didn’t know
their names; there were no records of them having ever
been born, although he was pretty sure that they existed. So
he’d spent hours trying to find out whatever information
that he could find about them and Latroy. He hadn’t talked
to Howell about it of course, but he knew his mate and he
knew himself. Those children didn’t need to be in the foster
homes and orphanages that they’d been forced to live in,
they belonged with their family and he’d do whatever he
had to do to bring those children home with them.

Hours of searching and he’d come up with nothing.

Their trip to Georgia had taken on a whole new meaning
for him. He wasn’t just going to be heading there to warn
the Marshall family that his father had snapped…again, he

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was going to be going to put a stop to the man once and for
all and he was going to find Latroy’s children. He owed it
to his friend. As he looked up at Howell who stood beside
him in front of the Ton and Tommy’s cabin he knew that he
didn’t just owe it to Latroy…he owed it to his mate as well.

He smiled up at Howell when the man looked down

at him and pressed himself fully along the other man’s side
just as the door opened. He smiled widely at the woman
who opened the door and quirked his eyebrow when the
smell of his sister wafted off of the woman’s skin towards
him.

Well that’s interesting, Howell mused and he

agreed. Was that why Katharina had been so on edge? Was
this woman her mate? He knew that he could pester her
about it all later, and stuck out his hand to shake the
stranger’s hand. She says that her name is Luci, she’s Ton’s
sister and a “friend” of your sister’s, which means either
they’re mates or they’re new fuck buddies because she
smells just like Kat, Howell told him. Michael snickered
and signed the letters of his name to Luci slowly, pointing
first at himself and then stretching and bending his fingers
to form the letters of his name, M-I-C-H-A-E-L. He
watched as Howell did the same and watched as Luci
turned to him and flawlessly spelled her own name.

Makes me feel like an idiot, she picked it up so fast,

Howell stated with an obvious pout in his voice through
their link. Michael just shook his head at the other man and
followed Luci in the door, mentally girding his loins for
anything.

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*****

"You remember Howell right?" Ton asked Tommy

and Howell smiled when the smaller man smiled and
nodded at him. He nodded his head back in greeting before
reaching underneath the table to rub Michael’s stomach
where he sat on his lap, which of course caused his smaller
man to giggle. He’d only found out a few hours before how
extremely ticklish his mate was and he had no shame in
exploiting that knowledge right at that moment. He knew
that Michael was still very tense about meeting the pack
and really, this was the only way he could think of to get
the other man to loosen up. If it caused everyone else to
smile at them and think that they were such a “cute”
couple, then that was just an added bonus.

"The giggly little man on his lap is Michael. He's

one of the wolves that just recently joined the pack because
his pack kicked him out for not only being gay and deaf,
but he's transgender. Male to female, he just didn't get the
full procedure done," Ton stated with no hesitation and
when Tommy gasped, Howell tried not to laugh. Tommy
obviously had not known how extremely nonchalant the big
Texan could be when it came to divulging the life story of
this complete strangers, especially when it came down to a
subject that he didn’t find particularly taboo, before that
moment. It had taken Howell a few weeks to get used to
Ton’s particular brand of speech, but he was extremely
grateful for his friend’s bluntness now. One never had to

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question where they stood with Ton, they always knew. It
was refreshing.

I am Michael and I approve Ton’s way of speaking,

Michael teased him through their link and Howell pressed
his face against his mate’s neck in order to stop himself
from laughing out loud. Michael had started saying that
silly catch phrase since they’d gotten back in the truck to
head from Arizona to Texas. No one knew why Howell
would burst into, what seemed to them to be, spontaneous
laughter, but they didn’t know how extremely refreshing
his mate could be for his usually very serious nature.

"Don't worry baby, he told me I could tell you," Ton

reassured Tommy and Howell smiled at the other man
when he turned to silently question him. Tommy nodded
and greeted Michael shyly, merely waving his hand, which
Michael returned just as shyly. Howell knew that their
shyness with each other would only last for a moment. It
wouldn’t be long before the two of them would be best
buds and would be causing havoc with Alex and Richard.
He’d bet his favorite pair of boots on that. "And sitting next
to Luci is Michael's sister, Katharina," Ton finished the
introductions and Howell watched as Kat beamed
brilliantly at Tommy. She had certainly done a complete
one hundred and eighty degree turn from the depressed
shell of a woman she’d been previously. He was certainly
very happy for that, but he couldn’t fight the curiosity that
filled his mind at what exactly had happened between the
last time that he’d seen her and now.

"It's very nice to meet all of you," Tommy said with

happy smile and sat in the chair that Ton held out for him.

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Howell was happy that the other man had finally showed
up and sat down. He was starving and he’d heard some
very good things about Tommy’s cooking. He knew that at
some point he would have to go and get to know the other
man that he had looked down on previously, but at that
moment, he was more than content to get to know his
cooking.

"Well, let's eat," Ton stated in a booming voice that

caused everyone at the table, except Michael, to jump.

"Damn Ton! If Mikey wasn't already deaf, you

yelling that loudly would have made him that way," Howell
teased and everyone laughed with him, before they began
passing around the food and filling up their plates. Howell
smiled internally as he felt his soul breathe a sigh of relief.
Right or wrong, this was what he needed, a little time spent
with his pack, his new family, before he went to face the
demons of his past.

Michael would teach a sign language class the next

day, which Howell was determined to go sit in on in order
to learn more than what he already knew and as soon as the
class was over, they would be heading to Georgia. He
glanced over at Katharina, sitting next to Luci, the two
women speaking in hushed tones and touching often, and
wondered if she would still be traveling with them. He
hoped so. They needed all the help that they could get.

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Chapter Twelve

It was a full two weeks before they left for Georgia.

Two whole fucking weeks. They’d had to deal with
Tommy’s psychotic ex showing up at the Tate ranch. First
Tommy, Ton and Christine, the horse, had all been shot.
Tommy was paralyzed from the waist down, though he
wasn’t letting that stop him from still being fabulous, he
just made Ton dress him now. Michael shook his head,
with a fond smile stretching his lips as he thought of the
last glimpse he’d had of Tommy. The small, beautiful man
had been wearing a sundress that was white with yellow
flowers all on it, with yellow high heels, his hair had been
blowing in the wind and Ton had been holding him in his
arms against his chest. Michael found Tommy completely
fascinating and was glad that he’d taken the chance to talk
to him and get to know him better.

They had discussed the difference between cross-

dressers, transgenders, drag queens, drag kings, and people
who were gender fluid, which was what Michael had
realized that he was through their conversations. He
resisted the labels of male or female, he was proud to
essentially encompass both. He grinned when Howell took
his hand in his own from where he sat next to him in the
truck. His mate apparently approved as well.

Yes, everything would be perfect for them right

now if it wasn’t for one major thorn in their sides.

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Michael’s father. They had received word back from one of
Howell’s contacts back in Georgia that Alfred Prosace had
declared war on the Marshall pack and that Howell’s
grandmother, Mary, was the one leading the pack at the
moment. Michael had never seen a look of anger like the
one he’d seen cross his mate’s face at that moment. Had his
father not been the pure embodiment of Satan, he might
have felt pity for him. Too bad his father was the devil.

He turned to look back at Luci and Katharina

hesitantly, when he felt a knee press into the back of his
chair. He could only hope that they weren’t making
out…again. He was happy that his sister had found one of
her mates, the other one, a man, someone from Luci’s past
and someone that she’d informed Katharina that they would
have to live without. However, they made out more than he
and Howell did, which was definitely saying something.

His thoughts cut off as they pulled up in front of the

gates of Marshall Plantation. Memories rushed through his
mind. Pictures of he and Howell playing together as
children, watching Howell play with Noel, Latroy and
Latonya with Katharina and wishing that they had a family
like theirs. His heart clenched in his chest and his throat
clogged with unshed tears. When he’d left Prosace House,
he’d made a promise to himself that he would never return
to Georgia and he definitely would be close enough to the
Prosace pack that he’d have to worry for his safety. This
whole situation sucked, big, huge, hairy monkey balls…and
not in a good way either.

Now that was just a disgusting image, Howell

teased him in an effort to soothe him and he gave his mate

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117

a small smile. He felt selfish and ashamed. He should be
comforting and supporting Howell, instead he was the one
sitting in the truck shaking like a leaf. Howell was the one
who had lost four members of his family. Howell was the
one who was essentially rising from the dead in the eyes of
his birth pack. Howell, who had four children from his
family missing, was comforting him. He had to shake the
fear and melancholy off of himself or he was going to be of
no use to his mate at all.

You being beside me is a huge help to me, baby.

Trust me, Howell reassured him, squeezing his fingers
lightly. Michael swallowed thickly, the large knot of
tension that had lodged itself in his throat slowly sinking
down to rest in his stomach.

He watched as Howell pressed the gate code and

when the gate swung open, he could feel Howell’s
frustration drifting through their link. He wondered at that
moment how Howell knew the code for the gate when he
hadn’t been on the grounds in over two decades.

They haven’t changed the code since I left. If your

father or any other of his bigoted, racist cronies knew the
code, they could have come and attacked the entire pack by
now, Howell informed him and Michael shared his mate’s
frustration at that point. While their hometown was a lot
safer than other cities in the country, the fact of the matter
was, the Marshalls weren’t safe from the Prosaces, so them
leaving the gate code the same as it had been two decades
ago was beyond irresponsible, it was just plain stupid.
Michael opened his mouth to suggest to Howell that
perhaps they should get someone to change the code, when

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his eyes took in the beauty of the Marshall Plantation pack
lands.

He and Katharina had always thought that the

Marshall pack was full of kings and queens. Their property
was full of lush, green trees and flowers. They were
constantly in awe of the extremely beautiful homes and
gazebos that covered the land. Those things hadn’t changed
at all, the land was still beautiful. However, it seemed as if
the life of the pack, the air surrounding the grounds was
heavy and fraught with tension, grief, despair and rage. It
made Michael shiver as if icy fingers had traced a line up
his spine. Something was coming. Something was about to
happen and it was going to be big and it was going to be
bad.

And they were going to be right in the middle of it

all.

*****

Howell choked back the tears that threatened to spill

from his eyes and wrapped a mental chokehold around the
grief that tried to overwhelm his senses. He had to stay
strong. He couldn’t give into the emotions that threatened
to drag him under. He had to be brave and bold for his
mate, his pack…his grandmother. His sweet grandmother,
who was always happy and always saw the good in people.

His grandmother…who was walking towards the

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119

truck smoking a joint? What. The. Fuck?

Howell threw open the driver’s door and hopped out

quickly, ignoring the pain in his foot as he stormed towards
his grandmother.

“Grandma Mary! Are you seriously getting high?

At your age? Seriously? You need to put that out! As a
matter of fact you need to give me the joint right now,” he
ordered her, holding out his hand. He heard the gasps and
the cries of surprise and shock that sounded from the pack
members who had gathered around them but ignored them
all. He couldn’t deal with them at the moment. He had to
deal with his “sweet grandmother,” the drug addict.

“Boy, this is Pay-otee. You know, peyote that them

Indians be smoking all the time. I had a few of my friends
come over and we went on a spirit walk out in the fields. It
was very enlightening. I saw my son, your daddy, and he
told me that you was coming home and bringing your mate
wit’ ‘chu,” his grandmother said, her words starting to slur
and slow down as the drugs began to take effect. He
watched as she looked over his shoulder at Michael,
Katharina and Luci, before she nodded and looked back at
him.

His grandmother Mary stood at a whopping five

feet, four inches when she stood up to her full height, but
she spent a lot of time hunched over, that she appeared
even smaller than what she actually was. It was a pure
manipulative move. People didn’t think she was as
dangerous as she actually was because of her height and
diminutive frame, but when she shifted into her wolf form

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they were always shocked and afraid. Her wolf form was
almost the exact same as Howell’s wolf and even more
vicious. Howell wouldn’t admit it, even under threat of
torture, that his grandmother scared him sometimes. She
would easily smile at someone one minute and then stab
them in the heart in the next, still with that sweet smile on
her face.

“I always knew that the Prosace boy was your

mate,” she shocked him by saying. Howell had thought he
was going to have to explain to her that he was gay and
Michael was his mate, but it seemed as though she’d
already figured it out. He merely nodded at her, feeling like
a little boy all over again as he shuffled his feet and looked
down at the scuffed toes of his boots.

“Well stop lollygagging’ boy and introduce me to

the boy. I remember that he was deaf, but I don’t remember
him being so damn pretty. Although I do seem to recall a
bunch of foolishness going on over on the Prosace land
when he came out to them. It’s stupid if you ask me. Don’t
people know that love don’t care about gender or race? It’s
a bunch of scared bisexuals in this world,” his grandmother
said to him before taking another hit of the “Peyote.”

Howell shook his head before taking the joint out of

her hand. Turning to face the members of his pack who all
stared at him like he was a ghost…or the Messiah, which
he guessed to them, he was both, he gestured for Michael to
come and stand next to him on one side, his grandmother
on the other side.

“I am sure that you are all surprised that I am

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standing before you alive and mated, so allow me to
explain. When Latonya was kidnapped and murdered my
parents and aunt and uncle decided to send Noel, Latroy
and myself off to be adopted in an effort to keep us safe
from the person who had threatened to kill us,” he began
explaining.

“Alfred Prosace!” a man yelled from the back of the

group. Howell raised his right hand to get everyone to calm
down. He didn’t need to incite a riot among his pack
members before he got a chance to introduce Michael to
them.

“Regardless of who it was that was responsible for

Latonya’s kidnapping and death, the three of us were sent
off to live with other families but we kept in touch with
each other. Both Noel and Latroy had found their mates, I
have unfortunately been informed by my mate and his
sister that they were both killed and their children are
missing.”

He waited as the members of the pack began to

murmur amongst themselves. He knew that he had a lot of
information to give them to process, but unfortunately, they
didn’t really have that much time to grieve and understand
everything. They had to prepare themselves for battle.

“My mate, Michael and his sister Katharina and her

mate Luci are here to offer their assistance to us. Michael is
deaf, but Katharina is hearing and translate for you if you
need a translator. We need to prepare for a war with the
Prosace pack. I know for a fact that Alfred Prosace has
declared war with our pack and we don’t have much time

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to get ready for him. I also need a team of you to find out
where Noel and Latroy’s children are. I want them with me
and my mate as soon as possible.”

He looked out over the crowd to make sure that he

had everyone’s attention. He was looking for traitors, for
those he wouldn’t be able to trust. He’d seen it happen
often. Someone in the pack who is dissatisfied with the way
things are going, seeking a position of power, wealth and
they turn on the very people who are there to help them. He
didn’t want that to happen to his family’s pack. He
wouldn’t let them be betrayed by someone. Not on his
watch.

“Who’s the Beta here?” He called out and watched

as a massive mountain of a man stepped forward, his thick
as a log arms folding over his chest as he observed him.

“I am,” the man called out. Howell stared at him for

a long time before a large grin stretched across his face.

“Jerome? Jerome! You old dog! You’re the Beta?”

He exclaimed with happiness and shock as he ran down the
steps and threw his arms around his old friend. Jerome had
been a few years older than him and had taught him
everything that he’d needed to know about the proper way
to skip a rock across a pond.

It took a moment for the other man to react, but

after a minute had passed with him hugging Jerome without
Jerome hugging him back, the other man finally hugged
him back just as tightly as he hugged him, almost
squeezing the air from his lungs and Howell would swear

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123

that he’d crushed a few of his ribs. After a few minutes of
the two friends gripping each other, Howell became aware
of Michael’s hand on the back of his shoulder. He stepped
back and wrapped his left arm around his man’s waist and
pressed his nose against Michael’s neck. He inhaled his
mate’s delicious scent and tried to stem the flow of tears.

“I’m so glad you’re not dead,” Jerome said and

Howell chuckled into Michael’s neck before turning back
to the other man.

“Yeah me too,” he responded before he called for

everyone to gather in the field for battle training. It was
time he led his pack like the Alpha that he was. He even
pretended not to notice when his grandmother took her
joint from the pocket of his jeans.

The Marshall pack was finally going to fight back

and if they needed a little bit of “Peyote courage,” then
he’d allow them to have it.

They were avenging family and they couldn’t afford

to fail.

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Chapter Thirteen

Three nights later Michael lay on the bed in the

room he shared with Howell and sighed. Three days and
nights of physical training for battle and sign language
classes for the pack so that they could talk to him and each
other without using words, his father had never learned sign
language and he’d reassured the pack that they could use it
to talk to each other without his knowledge. Three days and
nights of Howell getting up in the morning, kissing him on
his forehead and leaving to go and train the pack members,
then make phone calls in order to try and locate the missing
children of his sister and cousin and not coming until the
sun had already gone down. Three days and nights of them
making love in the room that had once belonged to
Howell’s parents, and Howell falling asleep almost
immediately. Three days and nights of disconnect settling
between them.

Michael missed his lover. He missed his mate. They

had just started getting to know each other better when they
got to Georgia and now, everything seemed to be extremely
chaotic. He understood, he really did understand, that what
his mate was doing was important. He was trying to save
his birth pack, he was trying to find the missing children,
the ones they’d recently found out were either adopted or
sold into human trafficking. Mariah and Cody had,
thankfully, been placed in a foster home in Louisiana and
Howell and Michael had begun the paperwork to try and

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adopt them and they hoped that things would go well, but
they were both hyper aware that they were an interracial
gay couple, trying to adopt children in the South. The
adoption process could go on for a year or more.

The other two children, Latroy’s children, had been

traced to a warehouse in Texas and then the trail went cold.
Michael had been very impressed with Jerome’s skills as an
investigator and a hacker, but that’s where his admiration
stopped.

Jerome was still single and Michael knew he wasn’t

being paranoid about Jerome being attracted to Howell. He
knew that he couldn’t ask Howell to stop spending so much
time with the other man, but he didn’t think he was out of
line by wanting to ask Howell to spend more time with
him. He was the man’s mate after all.

He sat up on the bed with a sigh. No matter how

much he complained to himself, he knew that he wasn’t
going to say anything to Howell about how he was feeling.
It wasn’t in his nature to complain to others. He would
complain to himself from now until kingdom come, but
he’d never open his “mouth” and “tell” Howell anything.
Sighing in resignation, he turned and dropped his feet to the
floor beside the bed and went to stand only to gasp in
startled surprise at the presence of Grandma Mary in the
doorway.

She gestured for him to come over to her so she

could talk to him. Grandma Mary had told Howell that she
was too old to try and learn how to do sign language, but
that she would figure out a way to talk to Michael on her

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own. So she carried around a notepad and two cellphones.
They either wrote or texted each other when they needed to
talk, and Michael found Howell’s grandmother to be one of
the smartest, snarkiest, funniest women that he’d ever met.
He usually enjoyed talking to her, but he was definitely
having a pity party day and he really didn’t want to have to
be “Mikey Sunshine” for her at that moment.

Forcing a smile to his face, he shuffled over to her.

The striped nightshirt that belonged to Howell looked like a
dress on him, so he wasn’t embarrass to face the elderly
woman in his nightclothes, the clothes that he’d been
wearing all day, although he did wish that he’d thought to
but on some boxer briefs or pants or something before he’d
gotten out of the bed to approach her. He ran a hand
through his hair and gave her a hug when she held out her
arms.

Closing his eyes, he allowed her extremely calming

presence to still the tumultuous emotions that churned in
his stomach. Her scent wasn’t exactly Howell’s scent, but it
was definitely close enough for him at that moment. He
didn’t understand what was wrong with him. Why his
emotions were so out of control and crazy. All he
understood was how desperately he needed his mate at that
moment. He felt his eyes fill with tears and sniffled slightly
before lifting upright from the hug and looking down at
Grandma Mary with a wobbly smile, his lips trembling and
waited for her to tell him the reason that she was there.

I think that you and Howell need to go out to

Atlanta on a date, she scribbled onto a piece of paper.
Michael read the words in shock and then scoffed.

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127

Accepting the pencil from her he wrote her his response,
pressing the paper onto the wall as he wrote.

I wish we could, but haven’t you noticed? Howell is

a little distracted and busy.

He watched Grandma Mary’s face carefully as she

read his response and saw her roll her eyes at him, before
writing again.

You leave Howell Fitzgerald Lourge-Marshall to

me. You just put on a tuxedo or a dress or whatever you
want to wear and be ready to head into town at six o’clock.
So you’ve got about an hour to get dressed.

Michael stared at her in shock and when she merely

turned and walked away, he knew that she was serious and
without another thought turned and raced towards the
bathroom planning his wardrobe in his mind the entire
time.

*****

Howell stood at the bottom of the stairs looking up

and trying not to whistle for Michael to hurry up. His
grandmother had told him that his mate was feeling
neglected and he needed to take him out on the town. Show
him around Atlanta. He’d argued at first, trying to get her
to understand that he was the Alpha, he was a very busy
man, when she pointed out to him that Michael was already

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having to deal with not only being deaf and not really able
to communicate with everyone like he wanted to, but he
was having to fight his own guilt for being related to the
man who the root cause of all of their problems. That was
all it took to snap him out of his argument. He’d agreed that
she was correct and when she offered him tickets to the
opera house in downtown Atlanta he hadn’t blinked. He’d
just graciously accepted the tickets and the keys to his
father’s BMW and had quickly driven into town to buy a
tuxedo that would fit him.

Now he stood at the bottom of the stairs waiting for

his mate to show up. When another five minutes passed, he
slapped his hand down on the newel post of the staircase
and turned to rush up the stairs and see what was taking
Michael so long when he saw him standing at the top of the
stairs. Howell almost swallowed his tongue at the image of
his mate, wearing a long red velvet and fur dress that clung
to the top of his slim frame before flaring at his hips. As his
eyes traveled over the front of his body, he realized that
Michael had borrowed his mother’s dress. Howell only
remembered her wearing it once. She’d put it on, came
downstairs to show him and Noel how “pretty” it was and
then had gone back upstairs and placed it on a hanger.
She’d told Howell and Noel later that she was leaving the
dress to them, either for Howell’s mate or for Noel to wear
for hers.

Howell swallowed against the emotion that formed

a hard ball in his throat and held out his hand to help
Michael take the last few steps down the staircase to stop
before him. He looked down into Michael’s eyes and felt

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his heart slam in his chest. How could he have neglected
this man? His man? Michael was the main reason that he
got up every morning and the reason that Howell looked
forward to coming home after a day of hard training and
battle strategies and simulations. Had he ever told him that?
Had he ever actually shared with Michael exactly how
special he was to him?

Not before right now. Thank you Howell, Michael

said to him, his voice soft in Howell’s mind. Howell smiled
down at him and took Michael’s face in his hands, his eyes
moving over the features of the other man’s beloved unique
and distinguishing marks. From his blue eyes to his pert
nose and full lips, his blonde hair, that had grown longer
since Howell had first met him, was brushed and held back
with hairclips. Howell lowered his head and let his lips
place a soft kiss on Michael’s upturned ones. It wasn’t a
kiss of a passion, though that was always there, simmering
just underneath the surface. No, this was a kiss of affection,
a kiss of commitment…a kiss of love. Howell moaned as
the taste of Michael exploded over his lips and tongue and
pulled away while he still could. Turning towards the door
he held out his elbow for Michael to take and led him out
of the front door and into the waiting vehicle. He was
determined to make this a night that Michael never forgot
and one where he never forgot just how much he meant to
Howell.

Two and a half hours later and Howell felt like he

was going to explode in his new tuxedo pants. They had
come into the opera house, found their seats in the balcony

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and Michael had instantly dropped his hand to Howell’s
thigh and had been rubbing and caressing ever since.
Howell was supposed to be showing Michael how special
he was to him. He was supposed to be showing the other
man how it wasn’t just about sex between the two of them,
but all he could think about at that moment was sex. Sex
with Michael. Sex with Michael…now.

He saw the big grin that covered his mate’s face and

knew that the smaller man had done that intentionally. He’d
been trying to get Howell so turned on that he did
something foolish. Well, he didn’t want to disappoint his
mate. Without another word, he grabbed Michael’s hand
and dragged him off behind him. As they walked down the
hallway, Howell’s eyes took in every doorway and closed
door, trying to find the best place to do what he wanted to
do, when he saw the open door for the coat closet. With a
feral grin he pulled Michael into the room behind him and
turned to close and lock the door behind them.

Howell pushed Michael up against the wall roughly,

lowering his head in order to sniff and lick all over the
smaller man's neck. This, this was what he'd wanted since
the moment that he'd picked the other man up at the house.
He sucked up a red mark on the side of Michael's neck
directly above his mating mark, his wolf howling happily
inside of him at the sight of another small sign of his claim
on Michael. He reveled in the sound of Michael moaning,
in the feel of the other man pressing his erection against
Howell's, as Howell licked and nibbled his way down
Michael's neck to his collarbone and then down to the
smaller man's cleavage. He wished that Michael could hear

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how delicious his moan was, but as he pressed his leaking
erection against Michael’s stomach, he knew that he could
at least feel what his moaning did to Howell.

He made a mental note to tell Michael about how

beautiful his breasts were...later, much later. He was a little
busy at the moment to consciously think enough to tell the
other man anything really profound, but he knew that he’d
be able to articulate it better later. He continued to lick and
nibble his way down Michael's body, not taking off any his
clothes, they were in the coat room of a very sophisticated
opera house, after all. If they got caught by security, they
wouldn't have time to do anything but run, so if they were
still dressed that would make things easier for them. With
that thought in mind, Howell pushed up the bottom of
Michael's dress and pulled down his mate's briefs, just
enough so that the other man's cock and balls were out of
their confinement. With a low, happy growl, Howell
lowered his head and took in the head of Michael's cock,
swirling his tongue around the head over and over again
before lowering his head down almost completely, feeling
the head of Michael's cock enter his throat.

He moaned when he heard Michael's breath catch in

his throat and swallowed around the other man's cock.

Oh. Oh God, he heard Michael's voice come out in

a shuddering breath in his head and knew that his mate was
about to come, very soon. Apparently Michael had been
wound up from the car ride over. Driving with his fingers
in Michael’s ass as the other man was turned to face him,
his dress up around his waist and his head pressed against
the door, his legs spread wide and one foot planted on the

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floor, the other pressing against the side of Howell’s car,
may not have been the safest or smartest thing that they’d
ever done, but it was definitely one of the most fun.

Lifting his head off of his mate's cock, Howell

looked up at the beautiful blonde haired man that the Fates
had chosen for him. Thank you, he prayed to whatever
Deity happened to be listening at the time. He watched as
Michael's eyes almost rolled into the back of his head and
he whined in frustration. He didn’t want him to come just
then. He wanted Michael to come when he told him to.
Michael was begging him. He’d let Michael come when the
other man begged him.

Suck my cock Howl, please. Michael pleaded and

Howell’s pleasure at Michael’s plea caused his chest to
expand with pride.

Never a man who could deny his mate anything

when he asked so prettily, Howell sucked Michael's cock
back into his mouth deeply and stuck three of his fingers
into Michael's mouth. He groaned as he watched Michael's
mouth suck on the broad digits and pulled them out after
they were sufficiently wet and coated with saliva.

Knowing that Michael would still be lubed and

stretched from just a few hours before, Howell pushed two
fingers deeply within his mate's ass, feeling the muscles
stretch to accommodate his large fingers. He heard
Michael's low, throaty moan and sucked on his man's cock
harder. He began to fuck Michael’s ass deeper and faster as
he tried to bring him over the edge. He wanted to watch his
lover fly off the edge of this cliff of arousal and then be

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there to catch him when he returned to Earth. He swirled
his tongue around Michael’s cock and felt his fingers brush
against the bundle of nerves in the blond man’s ass.

Michael’s hands gripped his hair in his fists as his

hips began thrusting forward and back. Howell twisted his
fingers and continued to peg Michael’s prostate as he
sucked harder on the smaller man’s engorged shaft. He felt
Michael stiffen and seconds later, his tongue was covered
with the slightly bitter taste of his mate’s sperm. Howell
moaned, Michael’s shaft still in his mouth.

Dropping both of his hands to his pants, he quickly

unbuttoned and unzipped his pants, falling to his back and
releasing Michael’s cock when the smaller man pushed
him. He lay sprawled on the floor of the coat closet, his
hard and leaking cock pulled out and seeking a tight hole to
conquer. He shivered when he felt the wet heat of his
mate’s mouth surrounding his cock. He knew that Michael
couldn’t swallow his cock completely, but appreciated the
fact that the man always tried to do it, no matter what.

He thrust his hips upwards as he watched Michael

lower his head, swirling his tongue around the head and
Howell shivered at the feeling of pure ecstasy that raced
through his body. He heard Michael moan and he growled
loudly as he looked down and saw that Michael had indeed
swallowed his cock completely. He didn’t have time to be
amazed, however, as his orgasm engulfed his body, his
arms and legs trembling, his fingertips going numb as the
head of his cock erupted with the force of his seed.

As he drifted back down to Earth, he reached out

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and pulled Michael down onto his chest. Rubbing his hand
up and down his mate’s back as he continued to shake from
the aftershocks of his earthquake imitating orgasm, Howell
breathed a satisfied sigh.

I think I may just be in love with the opera.

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Chapter Fourteen

In the end, he couldn’t be too upset with his

grandmother for sending him and Michael away to the
opera. Even if it did mean that when they returned home,
having decided to leave the performance early, they arrived
at the end of the battle between the Marshalls and Prosaces.
She’d explained to him later that she had to ensure that no
matter what the outcome was that someone from both
packs had to survive. She couldn’t think of any two people
better suited to surviving than him and Michael.

They’d pulled up in front of the house and heard the

howls, growls and whines of hundreds of wolves, without
thought, he’d undressed outside of the car and prepared to
run into the fight. When Michael faced him in wolf form
he’d felt a moment’s hesitation. Knowing that there was no
way that he would be able to talk his mate out of fighting
with them, he’d merely pressed his muzzle against the other
man’s neck and with a small nip at his throat turned and led
him into the battle. Michael’s wolf was an almost exact
replica of his own wolf, except he was just slightly smaller
than Howell’s own size. He knew that Fate had made them
duplicates for a reason and when he leapt onto the back of
one of the Prosace wolves attacking a Marshall wolf, he
was eternally grateful that he could look out over the field
and see the white fur of his mate and know that he was
okay.

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He’d just begun towards Michael when he heard a

very distinct whine. Turning his head he saw a large wolf, a
large grey wolf standing over the wounded body of a young
wolf, a teenager, who had probably just had his first shift.
He knew that wolf. Knew what that wolf was capable of
and with the red haze of fury filling his eyes, turned and ran
after the wolf. He had one thought on his mind, he wanted
Alfred Prosace dead…now. He could just imagine the
feeling of his teeth imbedding themselves into the flesh and
muscles of the older man’s neck. He could hear the sound
of bones breaking and muscles tearing away, the scream of
terror that would come up from the other man’s throat as he
ripped it out…like he was doing now.

Howell stopped and stared at the three wolves, all

females, one with grey fur, one with black fur, and the
other with brown fur. All three of them charged at Alfred
from different angles and ripped him apart with their teeth.
Howell stood there in shock, before allowing himself to
shift back into his male form. Who were these women who
had denied him the thrill of the kill? He waited for them to
all shift back and gasped when he saw who they were.
Luci, Katharina and his Grandma Mary. He shook his head
in amazement and then threw his head back and laughed. It
was a laugh so loud and filled with joy that it caused every
other wolf to stop their fighting to look at him in confusion
and shock.

“Alfred Prosace is dead! My fight is not with you, if

you would like to continue this war, have your new Alpha
declare war with me, otherwise I would like there to be
peace between our packs. It is my deepest wish,” he

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shouted out among the field and turned as he felt Michael
press himself against his side as they waited. He told
Michael that his father was dead and saw as his mate
sighed with relief. He wrapped his arm around him as they
waited for the new Alpha of the Prosace pack to show
himself to them.

Finally a rather imposing figure of a man

approached them. He had a large, healing scar on his thigh
and his arm and held out his hand to Howell as he stopped
before him. Howell held out his hand to him as well before
gesturing to Jerome to come over to shake the other man’s
hand.

“Alpha Howell, I am now Alpha Cole and I accept

your offer of peace,” Alpha Cole stated diplomatically.
Howell nodded and shook his hand before stepping back
and allowing Alpha Cole to shake Jerome’s hand.

Squeezing Michael closer to him, he turned to

address both packs. “Alpha Alfred Prosace terrorized,
kidnapped, raped and murdered members of the Marshall
pack just because they were black. Racism, homophobia,
transphobia and any other type of discrimination and
prejudice are not things that we as wolf shifters should
employ. We are the minority in this world. We must stick
together, working together to protect each other from those
on the outside who would seek to kill us. Do not allow this
feud to continue, we are all a part of the same species. We
are all shifters, no matter the pack or the color, which
means we are all family.”

His speech over, Howell pressed a kiss to Michael’s

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temple.

Thanks for giving me the words baby, he said to the

other man and his heart skipped a beat when he saw the
sweet smile on Michael’s face. He loved his birth pack, but
he loved his mate much more and more than that, Georgia
wasn’t home for him anymore, Texas was home.

He would talk to Michael and be sure that he was

okay with them only staying for a brief time and as soon as
they could manage it, he wanted to head back to Tate
ranch. Back to his family.

*****

Christmas

Michael and Howell stepped into the barn from

Howell’s office, both men smiling and Howell chuckling as
they watched Tommy chase after Ton. They had just
finished spying on the couple having extremely hot sex
right in the barn and then watched as Tommy failed at
getting Ton to agree to play Santa for the Christmas
program that Tommy was determined to put on for the
triplets. Michael turned to his mate and began speaking to
tall man almost immediately after Tommy’s footsteps died
away.

Poor Tommy. He’s only trying to do something nice

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and everyone keeps fighting him about it. Michael grinned
when he saw Howell’s body shudder.

He can be nice all he wants to be, but there’s no

way that I would ever consider putting on a fat suit and
dressing up as Santa Clause either, Howell responded
before wrapping his large arms around Michael’s body.
Michael pressed himself closer to his mate, reaching his
slim hand up towards Michael’s hair and wrapping a few of
the dreadlocks around his fingers and pulling on them
delicately. He smiled when Howell groaned, knowing how
much the bigger man loved it when he took a more
aggressive position in their relationship.

With a saucy grin, Michael drifted his hand down

the front of Howell’s buttoned down, green-checkered shirt
to his belt buckle where he caressed the wolf that was there.
So are you saying that if I asked you nicely, that you
wouldn’t even consider dressing up as Santa for the
program? Leaning forward he licked at Howell’s Adam’s
apple and mentally grinned when he felt the other man
shudder, his hands squeezing Michael’s ass.

I’m saying that I’m not Ton. I don’t think I’d make a

very good Santa, Howell responded, tilting his head back
and giving Michael more room to play.

Michael snickered in his head. He and Howell had

dressed up in many different costumes over the last few
months of them being mated but they hadn’t done Santa
Clause and his naughty elf just yet. Michael would have to
rectify that and soon.

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I think that Tommy’s trying to do a good thing,

Michael told Howell, kissing the black man’s jaw, He’s
trying to give the triplets a great first Christmas. I think
that’s a very good thing. And not even that, I agreed to help
him out with the program, he admitted.

He felt Howell stiffen in his arms and he stepped

back to look at the other man. Howell’s light brown eyes,
which had darkened with arousal, were slowly lightening as
he looked down at Michael. Michael bit his lower lip
nervously and gave Howell a hesitant smile before
dropping his arms from around his mate’s shoulders and
reaching up to twirl a strand of his blonde hair around his
fingers. He saw Howell’s eyes turn and focus on his fingers
and his hair, before returning to his face.

You did what? Howell asked and even though his

tone didn’t seem angry to Michael through their mating
link, Michael couldn’t be positive that the cowboy wasn’t a
little upset. Howell had told him that he wanted him to be
involved on the ranch and in town. He had told Michael
that he wanted him to have friends and Howell even
encouraged him to spend time with the other mates
whenever he was going to be busy with work, but maybe
Howell didn’t celebrate Christmas or maybe he didn’t want
Michael to do anything that would put him in the spotlight.
Michael wasn’t sure and while he knew that Howell would
never hurt him, the wolf was extremely still just watching
him and not moving and it was a little disconcerting to him.

I’m not mad baby. I’m just…processing. I didn’t

think you would volunteer for a Christmas program where
you would be performing in front of others, Howell

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explained. You made it a point of always telling me,
repeatedly I might add, that you don’t like performing in
front of people. I just didn’t think that you would ever do
that.

Michael nodded. He could understand that. He did

hate performing in front of crowds of people, but this was
different. This was for the triplets and the triplets were
special. Very special and they deserved the very best that
life had to offer and Michael would do his best to
contribute to their happiness. Even if it meant conquering
his stage fright to do so.

He sighed deeply. That was so easy to say and so

hard to do. The good thing was that he wasn’t performing
really, he was just doing the sign language for Alex who
was going to be singing “Chestnuts Roasting Over An
Open Fire,” “Silent Night,” and “White Christmas.” Alex
was really the true performer of the whole thing, he was
just the lovely assistant. He just wish that his nerves
believed that, they seemed to get more and more rattled as
it got closer and closer to the day of the program.

Michael looked down at his feet and then up into his

mate’s eyes. He knew that Howell was understanding and
wouldn’t judge him. He hadn’t judged him when he’d
found out that he was transgender, he didn’t judge him
when Michael later realized that he was gender fluid and
he’d been nothing but supportive with the whole deaf wolf
mate thing. He knew that he could try and explain it to
Howell and that the other man would understand, the thing
was, he’d have to understand it himself first.

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I don’t like to perform in front of people, he began

explaining slowly, his hands gripping Howell’s biceps as
he struggled to find his emotional center and some peace,
You remember how I told you how gripped with fear I was
whenever it came to my ASL classes. I was petrified. And in
those classes the people there were either deaf or knew
someone who was and so for that reason knew a lot of the
sign language already. Michael paused here, his mind
drifting back over meeting his mate in the coffee shop and
then the moment, days after, when Howell had shown up in
his classroom, here at the Tate Ranch, in order to learn sign
language. But this? We’re putting on this Christmas
program for cowboys who freak out over the prospect of
dressing up and singing and shopping and some triplets,
who are too tiny to even really remember anything. It
seems silly and if it was I wouldn’t have any problem
telling Tommy no, but he brought up a very good point.
Michael sighed and then wrapped his arms around
Howell’s neck before pressing close to the other man,
cuddling into his chest.

He needed to feel his mate’s heartbeat against his

cheek as he explained this last part. Needed to be reminded
of why he was doing this. His real motive behind accepting
Tommy’s invitation to perform in front of anyone outside of
his immediate family was a precious one. He said that over
this past year, all of our lives have changed. We’ve become
mated, started families, a lot of us have moved, but more
than that, we’ve all taken our individual families and made
one big family and we need to celebrate that. Not just for
the triplets, but for us as well.

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When Howell didn’t respond, Michael felt a strong

sense of disappointment wash through him. He thought that
of all people, his mate would understand. He knew that
Michael had been disowned and kicked out of his pack for
being a “freak” and being “gay” and wearing women’s
clothes. He knew that while Katharina, his sister, had
joined him when he’d left the pack lands, that his parents
had stayed behind and had disowned them both. Howell
knew that family was really important to Michael, any type
of family, so Michael couldn’t understand why Michael
couldn’t understand this.

I understand baby, Howell’s voice came through,

sounding odd to him, even thru their mating link. Lifting
his head Michael looked at his mate and was shocked to see
his big, strong, tough mate’s eyes filled with unshed tears.
We’re a family now, Howell agreed, all of us are. And
because of that, we should have a big celebration and
Christmas is the perfect time to do so.

Michael grinned up at his mate and nodded in

excitement. He knew that Howell would understand.
Standing up on the tips of his toes, he pressed a kiss to his
mate’s full lips in happiness. He knew that he had so much
to be thankful for this Christmas. Not just his mate, not just
his sister and his new job. Not just the home that he shared
with the both of them, but the new family that he had as
well. He was really very lucky.

He allowed both hands to trail down Howell’s arms

to his wrists and pulled both arms behind the bigger man’s
back and held them firmly at the small of the cowboy’s
back. He smiled at Howell’s moan that rumbled against his

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own chest, and nibbled on the man’s lower lip. He knew
that no one knew that his bigger mate liked to be restrained
and dominated. It was something very private and very
special between the both of them. He would never give
away his mate’s secret, but he reveled in it as well. He
grunted when his erection pressed against the front of his
jeans and tilted his hips forward to rub his hard cock
against Howell’s which looked as if it were about to make a
break from his jeans and come after Michael’s ass so that it
could plunder it.

Michael pulled his mouth away from his mate’s and

laughed, Howell’s deep chuckle vibrating against his chest
seconds later. He’d asked Howell once before how his
laugh sounded and had been told that it was beautiful. He
knew that his mate was biased when it came to him, but he
chose to believe him.

Really? My cock is a pirate now? Howell asked him

with a chuckle.

Michael smiled with delight and nodded. The one-

eyed pirate.

Both men looked at each other for a moment before

Michael released Howell’s wrists and they both collapsed
against each other laughing and clutching each other in
amusement.

They were still laughing when Ross and Alex

walked into the barn looking for them. Seeing the two men
looking at them in confusion only sent the two of them into
a further fit of giggles. Michael knew that the other men

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were surprised to see Howell laughing or maybe they were
surprised to hear Michael laugh, since it was something that
he consciously tried not to do in front of others. All he
knew was that seeing their comical looks of surprise and
amusement caused him to snort in amusement and froze
everyone in their tracks, before all four of them laughed.

“I have no idea why we’re laughing, but I can’t

stop,” Michael saw Alex’s mouth form the words and he
shook his head in further amusement, knowing that the
other two men wouldn’t understand what had initially
started the laughter. He lifted his hands to get their
attention and was just about to sign what had happened
when Vet walked into the barn, holding RJ in his arms and
pushing Curt in a stroller. Richard walked in behind him
holding Amy in his arms, the little girl happily slapping her
hands against the former dancer’s cheeks as she chattered
away in baby talk. Michael ignored the pang that shot
through his chest as he thought of his dead parents and the
children that he and Howell had tried to adopt. Their
paperwork for Vet’s niece and nephew was still being held
up in the Louisiana State Department of Child Affairs.
They’d been able to spend a few days every few weeks
with the two beautiful children, but it hadn’t been enough.
Each time they left Michael felt as if his heart was
breaking.

Blinking away the tears that leapt to his eyes, he

swallowed the lump in his throat and pressed himself
against Howell’s side when he felt the other man wrap his
arm around him.

“What is going on in here?” Vet asked. Michael

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grinned at the Alpha before lifting his hands to sign.

“Howell and I were talking and I said something

amusing and we started laughing. That’s when Ross and
Alex came in and they looked so confused that we laughed
harder. Then I snorted and we all started laughing and then
you came in,” he signed to the Alpha, grateful that the other
man had required everyone that worked on the ranch to
learn American Sign Language in order to be able to talk
with Michael. Michael had thought it unnecessary at first,
he was always with Howell or Katharina and they could
easily sign for him, if need be. That was before Vet had
offered him his new position and he realized that he needed
to be able to talk to almost everyone on the ranch. It also
made it easier and didn’t make him seem as if he were
weak in the eyes of the rest of the pack.

“Got it,” Vet signed and nodded to him with a grin.

Shaking his head the Alpha continued through the barn
towards the pen where the sheep were kept, Richard
walking next to him, the two men smiling at each other and
talking.

Michael looked up Howell, knowing that the other

man could feel the yearning just as much as he could. He
accepted the kiss that Howell placed against his temple and
turned towards Ross and Alex to see the two men sharing
the same tender gesture. Michael had to fight against the
clawing need to know exactly what was going on with
them. It was none of his business. None at all.

But he still wanted to know. Giving a mental shrug,

he and Alex were close and he knew that eventually the

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other mate would tell him if he needed to know, Michael
turned back to Howell and gestured back towards the
office. It was time for him and his mate to discuss
Christmas, the program and the one subject that was sure to
cause them both to get emotional.

Mariah and Cody, he heard Howell’s voice through

their mental link and he nodded as he led the other man
away.

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Chapter Fifteen

New Year’s

The Christmas program had gone amazingly well.

Besides a few mishaps, Richard spraining his ankle,
Michael’s wrists being broken, Alex going hoarse, they’d
been able to give the triplets and Calvin’s mate, Maurice,
one of the pack members who also live on Tate ranch, the
best Christmas that they’d been able to. Now Howell and
Michael stood outside the front door of their cabin and
waited for the car that was headed their way. Maurice had
told them about two children that had been locked up in the
same warehouse with him. An older boy, almost five and
his younger sister, who was one. They hadn’t been there
long and no one did anything to them, but the man who had
brought them into the warehouse, a Mr. Alfred Prosace, had
told the men who’d captured him that they were to be left
there until they were old enough to learn the trade. When
Calvin had rescued Maurice, involving the police from the
town, the two kids had been taken into custody and their
next of kin had to be contacted. It had been weeks before
Howell had finally been contacted.

Valerie and Howell Jr. were being brought along

with their cousins and new siblings Mariah and Cody to
live with their new guardians and future parents, Howell
and Michael Lourge-Marshall.

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Howell had been humbled when he’d learned what

Latroy had named his son and then he’d been completely
freaked out by the idea of being the father to four children.
Michael had pointed out that he did have help and Howell
had instantly calmed. They had an entire ranch full of help
and Katharina and Luci were just one cabin over if they
needed them to come and help.

He bounced on his toes when the car came to a stop

in front of them and shut off. He bit his lower lip nervously.
What was he supposed to do? Was he supposed to go and
help the kids out of the car or not? He watched in awe as
Michael walked over to the car with no hesitation and
opened the door to help the children out. Howell felt frozen
on the steps as he watched the four children step out of the
car and look up at him curiously.

He looked at the older girl and knew that it was

Mariah. He knew that she was his sister’s daughter. He
could see his sister’s spirit in her big light brown eyes, her
chubby cheeks and the way she held her slim shoulders
rigidly as if prepared to do battle. He’d been told that she
was the oldest at the age of 10. Cody was six, Howell Jr.
was five and Valerie was only one. Howell watched as
Michael picked her up and held her close to him and the
little girl curled instantly into his chest. He felt like an idiot
as he watched his mate talk with the social worker and he
stood there staring at the other three children as they stared
at him.

Move your ass Howell, he said to himself,

attempting to get himself to move. When he still stood
there unable to do anything more than clench and unclench

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his fists and swallow, panic causing his heart to pound and
his forehead to sweat, he opened his mouth to tell the social
worker that they’d made a mistake and he couldn’t do it.
He just wasn’t cut out to be a father, when he saw that the
other social worker, where’d he come from? He questioned
himself, pulled out two pet carriers. The children rushed
over to the carriers and opened them.

Howell felt his feet moving, finally, heading

towards the pets, wanting to see who the other two new
members of his family were. He’d only taken four steps
towards the animals when he heard shouting, looking down
he saw a large German Shepherd heading straight towards
him. He held up his hands in an effort to stop the
overgrown animal but still huffed out an exhalation as his
back connected with the ground and forty pounds of hairy
animal rested on his chest, licking his face excitedly, his
tail wagging frantically as he gave Howell’s face a bath.

He finally pushed the dog off of him and when he

saw the looks of shock on the faces of his new…children,
he let loose a loud bark of laughter. He heard Michael’s
snort and realized that the smaller man could see the
amusement on his face. It wasn’t long before the yard filled
with laughter, the most precious laughter coming from the
four children, all of them embodying their deceased
parents. Their soulful eyes, all with a trace of pain in them,
were now filled with amusement as the saw him fight off
the large German Shepherd and the tiny tabby cat who also
found him interesting and had climbed into his lap.

Finally standing to his feet Howell walked over to

the children and crouched in front of them. He stared at

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151

each of them with a wide grin on his face.

“My name is Howell. This is Michael,” he gestured

to Michael as he signed to the children. “Michael is deaf, so
we’re going to teach you sign language so you can talk to
him, but the biggest thing you need to know is that we’re
going to take care of you. You are home now.”

Mariah stepped forward and touched his hair, her

light brown hair was a mass of tight ringlets that blew in
the wind and caressed his cheeks as she twirled one of his
locks around her finger. He stared at her as she watched his
hair, his heart in his throat as he looked at this little girl
who looked so much like his sister that his soul hurt. She
finally turned to look him in his eyes and he could have
sworn that the entire world paused in that moment to hear
what she had to say.

“My mommy had hair like this. She said that I’d

know it was you by your hair,” she informed him. Howell’s
eyes slid shut at her words and he pulled her into his arms,
breathing a shuddering sigh when she wrapped her arms
around his neck. It wasn’t long before his arms were filled
with Cody and Howell Jr. as well, Michael kneeling beside
him, holding Valerie close to his chest.

He let the tears that he’d been fighting for days,

weeks, months and years…the grief that he’d held in for
over two decades pour forth from his chest with heaving
sobs as he cried for Latonya, Noel, Latroy, his parents and
even Michael’s parents. His father had died at the hand of
his own daughter, and Michael’s mother Lorraine who had
taken her own life. So much senseless tragedy had occurred

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152

because of one man’s prejudice. The children in his arms
had lost their parents, their homes and their sense of
security. He would do all that he could to replace or
supplement those things.

This was his new family. He was pretty sure that

they were in for a bumpy road ahead, but he was beyond
ready for it. A mate and children were things that he never
assumed that he’d ever have, but it just goes to show,
sometimes the “unassumed” things are the best things to
ever happen to you.

Vicktor Alexander/Unassumed

153

Epilogue

Michael ran towards the bed and leapt on top of

Howell where the other man lay resting; reading a book,
with his back resting against the headboard.

RAWR! He growled playfully at his mate, holding

one hand up like a paw. He watched as Howell put the
book down and then quickly flipped him over until Michael
was on his back looking up at him. Michael felt his chest
rumble with his giggle and wrapped his arms and legs
around Howell’s body.

The past month had been crazy. They had gotten the

kids enrolled in school, preschool and daycare and then had
spent days having to go back and forth to pick them up
because they were acting out or crying. They’d finally
talked with the counselors, social workers, their friends and
each other, with a special call to Grandma Mary, and had
decided to give the kids a year of homeschool, right there
on the ranch, to get used to their new home, their new
family and then try the public school thing that next year.

However, the kids being homeschooled meant that

they’d have to be schooled…at home. This meant that
either he or Howell would have to quit their job or take
time off in order to teach the kids. They were both so
extremely grateful for Vet who had not only allowed them
both to keep their jobs but had helped them create a
schedule that allowed them both to teach, work and spend

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time with the kids. In theory, it was perfect. In execution, it
was a dismal failure. The girls loved Michael, but were
afraid of Howell. The boys listened to Howell, but tended
to misbehave with Michael. So they’d rearranged things on
their schedules two weeks ago that allowed them both to be
able to teach the kids, together, and still keep their jobs.

So far it was working.

That night had been Michael’s turn to put the kids

to bed, which was something that he loved to do. He signed
the stories to them, which gave them the opportunity to
continue to study sign language, but was also, for them, so
boring watching his hands move, that they all fell asleep a
lot quicker. This of course gave Howell and Michael a lot
more…adult time with each other.

Was that your sexy growl? Howell asked him and

Michael stuck out his tongue at the other man before he
started smiling again.

He had such happiness running through his body all

the time. He looked at himself in the mirror and was happy
by what he saw. He’d cast off the expectations and the
guidelines of society, both hetero and homosexual and had
embraced who he was. He was Michael. Gender fluid. Both
gay and straight. He was deaf. He was a wolf shifter. He
was an ASL teacher and the accountant for Tate Ranch. He
was a mate, a parent of four beautiful and intelligent
children, who were thankfully asleep and he was hopelessly
in love with his husband, Howell.

I love you, he told his mate through their link before

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155

holding up his hand, with his fingers bent in the universal
sign for “I Love You.”

I love you too beautiful, Howell responded back

before leaning over and taking his lips in a deep kiss.
Michael pulled Howell down on top of him, his hands
gripping the long dreads that now hung to the middle of his
back. He couldn’t believe how much his life had changed
in a year. His life was filled with love, acceptance,
encouragement, happiness and passion so overwhelming
that it took his breath away.

He tilted his head back as Howell began licking and

biting his way down the side of his neck and had just
opened his eyes to look at the man of his dreams when he
saw Valerie and Howell Jr. standing in the door way,
Mariah and Cody directly behind them. He shoved Howell
off of him, a little too hard and covered his mouth in horror
as the big man fell off the bed onto the floor. He crawled
quickly over to the edge of the bed and looked down at his
mate where he lay on the floor looking up at him. The
children had rushed into the room and looked down at him
as well.

Mariah looked at him and signed with a cheeky grin

on her face, We were going to ask if we could have a
sleepover and all sleep in the bed with you two, you didn’t
have to push Howell out of the bed and onto the floor. All
you had to say was yes.

Michael looked down at Howell and then back at

Mariah before he burst into what he could only assume was
infectious laughter because it wasn’t long before everyone

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156

was clutching their stomachs and laughing.

He watched as Howell lifted each of the children

one-by-one into the bed after kissing them all on the head
and climbing into the bed after them. Michael got them all
settled, once again, very happy that Howell had gotten a
king sized bed and turned to smile at his bruised, but still
very happy mate.

Night baby, he said to the gorgeous cowboy and

blew him a kiss. He felt his cheeks widen as Howell smiled
back at him.

Night back, Howell replied, blowing him a kiss in

return and leaning over to turn off the lights.

They hadn’t had the night of passion that they’d

hoped for, but they were together, they were in love and
they were surrounded by their children and the pets that’d
made their way into the room sometime in the middle of
the ruckus.

In light of all of that, Michael couldn’t have asked

for a better way to fall asleep.

Vicktor Alexander/Unassumed

157

Vicktor Alexander can be found at:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/vicktoralexanderb
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/VVeeB
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/vicktoralexander
Website: http://www.vicktoralexander.com
Blog: http://vicktor-alexander.blogspot.com
Email: vicktoralexander@vicktoralexander.com

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158

Coming Soon From Vicktor Alexander:

The Tate Pack Series
A Very Tate Valentine’s
Impossible
Untouchable
A Very Tate Summer
The Tate Mate Diaries
A Very Tate Thanksgiving

Passion’s Hero
The Alpha King
The Beta Prince
The Epsilon Elder

cUm: Chance, Utopia & Micah

Wooing Elijah (co-authored with Cherie Noel)

The Tonawanda Faery Tales (a series with Cherie Noel)
The Faery Truth
A Faery Promise

Daddy’s Boy

Markus Fucking Nelson

Light The Way

The Virgin Special Forces
The Alpha Team
The Bravo Team
The Charlie Team

The Dom Series
Mark Me
Claim Me

Vicktor Alexander/Unassumed

159

The Cowboys of Mercy Ranch
The Cowboy’s Fireman
The Cowboy’s Teacher
The Cowboy’s Biker

The Sacred Duets Series
Special Song

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