When No Doesn't Cut It (3 page)

Chapter Four

Damien didn’t get drunk very often.  For one thing it was really hard for a wolf shifter to get drunk, and as Damien was an Alpha, with so many people depending on him all the time, he just couldn’t afford the luxury of the time it took to get well and truly sloshed.  But, after the men had cleaned up and buried Max and Isaac in the forest, they went inside to share a subdued meal.  Kane had pulled out two bottles of Jack Daniels, and they had all raised a toast to the two men who had fallen.  Then Damien kept on drinking.

He drank as the others finished their meal.  He drank as they slowly peeled off and went to bed.  And now he was sitting in the dark
, drinking alone in the room Kane had given him, assessing his life.  He had lost four enforcers in one day. 

His heart hurt over the treachery of Levi and Drake.  Sure he had been angry enough to kill them both after what they had done to Scott, but to have them turn on him
, and fight against him was a cruel blow. Up until that day, the two men might have been rough and mean, but they had been loyal.  Or so Damien had thought.

Max had been a solid enforcer.  He was a big wolf who had always longed to find his mate.  He fought hard and had never once questioned Damien on the Alpha’s decisions.  Max had been strong, loyal
, and everything Damien had always wanted in an enforcer.  And Isaac.  That man had been with Damien the longest of any of the enforcers.  He never said a lot, but he always seemed to get the job done. He would be sorely missed.

Losing four enforcers weakened Damien’s position as well.  Over the hundred years Damien had ruled his pack
, he had faced more Alpha challenges than he could count.  Having such a large, wealthy pack with huge resources, meant that challenges came from both inside and outside of the pack.  As Damien had gotten older, the challenges had come that often, that Damien scheduled one day a month to meet them.  To take them as they came up was just too time consuming, and distracted Damien from the million other things he had to do as Alpha and the owner of the biggest BDSM club around.

Leaning his head back on the wall behind him, Damien acknowledged to himself he was bone tired.  Every day meant more responsibilities.  More demands on him and his time.  He never had any time to himself
, often working late into the night at the club before fronting up in his office at first light to meet the demands of his pack.  He had often thought about selling the club, or at least putting in a full time manager, so that he didn’t have to worry about the day to day stuff.  But Damien was proud of his club and the safe place he provided for pack members to play. 

Ruefully
, Damien admitted to himself he also liked the fact that he only had to click his fingers and a dozen subs all ran to service his needs.  The mindless fuck or blow job he ordered was Damien’s prime form of stress release, and he availed himself often.  Not that he would be doing that anymore.  No, because aside from everything else that had happened on this clusterfuck of a day, Damien had finally met his mate.

Scott.

The wolf who had fought by his side to help him kill one of the bear shifters, and who had then gone off to defend his brother.  Damien hoped the fact that Scott had managed to kill Levi went some way to making up for the fact the wolf had tried to rape him. He was also seriously impressed that Scott had managed to kill one of his meanest enforcers.  The man, or the wolf at least, was an impressive fighter.

Scott.

The man who had stood by his side, offering him strength and comfort when he had to perform a mercy killing for his friend.  The man who had been one of the first to pick up a shovel, and start digging the graves for Max and Isaac.  The same man who had then gone with Griff and Diablo to dispose of the bodies of their enemies.

Scott.

Who had watched him all through dinner and yet never said a word.  Who watched, as Damien drank his way through the meal, and been one of the first men to retire for the evening.  The man who was currently sleeping alone, because Damien was too damn sick and tired of everything and anything, to even approach his mate

Fuck what a mess.  As Damien drained the last of the bottle and sank back onto the bed he vowed to himself that
he would make a much better impression in the morning.  He would get organized, and find Bruce and his remaining cronies, including the traitor Drake.  And he would find the time to introduce himself properly to Scott, and start making head roads into convincing the man that moving to Texas was going to be a good idea.

When Damien set his sights on something, he got it.  He had waited far too many years to let his mate ignore him
now.  Damien knew how to charm the birds from the trees if he had too.  Now all he had to do was charm Scott into his bed, and then onto Texas.

/~/~/~/~/

Scott woke early.  Truth be told he barely slept.  Having his mate under the same roof as himself was arousing, exciting and annoying, all in one go. He had wanted to find his mate ever since he realized he could have one.  Hell, he had cleaned up his act and broken up with Claude, the wolf shifter Alpha owner of the BDSM club in the next town, because the man wasn’t his mate.  And what did the Fates decide to land him with - a bigger Alpha, in a bigger town, who owned a bigger BDSM club, in Texas?  It had to be a joke, right?

When Scott had dreamed of his mate, and he had dreamed of him often in the past months,
his faceless dream man had been smaller than him.  He had been loving, kind, gentle and sweet.  He’d been the consummate bottom.  Not that Scott minded either way, he was a switch.  But when Scott had dreamed of his mate, he dreamed of the fact that he could both claim, and be claimed by his mate.

Like that was ever going to happen with Damien.  No, Scott had to resign himself to life as a permanent bottom boy
, and quite frankly, in Scott’s opinion that sucked.  The more he thought about it, and he had thought about it a lot through the night, he was at a disadvantage in every facet of a relationship with Damien. 

He didn’t have Alpha status, he was a beta wolf.

Damien was bigger, and far stronger physically, than Scott would ever be.

He owned a BDSM club
, and Scott didn’t want to be a part of the BDSM scene - he wasn’t a boy or a sub.  He definitely didn’t want a Master, he wanted a mate.

And the thought of Damien being loving, gentle, kind, and sweet, had Scott in fits of silent giggles.  He tried to imagine it.  He honestly did.  But Scott just couldn’t see it.

Scott was also really upset.  He knew Damien had had a really bad day.  Shit they all had.  But Damien had said nothing to him after he killed Isaac.  There was no acknowledgement of Scott’s support of his mate, either during the fight or afterwards.  Nope, afterwards, Damien, set out to get shitfaced drunk, and once Scott realized that Damien wasn’t going to stop drinking, he had gone up to bed.  His mate didn’t want him enough to even speak to him - that much was obvious.

Not that Scott could really blame him.  Beta wolf, smaller wolf, not that good looking.  Shit
, what did he have to attract and keep the almighty Damien?  His skills as a mechanic?  Yeah, like those assets were really necessary to a guy that runs a BDSM club. Damien deserved a big strong wolf at his side, or a perfectly submissive, gorgeous little twink.  Scott was neither of those things, and obviously what he was, what not enough for his mate.

So
, swallowing down the pain in his heart, Scott did what any self-respecting wolf did, when faced with a situation they didn’t want to handle.  He went to work.  Or in this case, he text his brother and Griff and made arrangements to meet Troy, Griff, and Diablo in the kitchen, in ten minutes.  They were going to follow the tracks of the missing bear shifter and his cronies.  Because once Bruce was dead, then Damien would be going back to Texas, and he would forget the fact that Scott was supposed to be his mate. And Scott…well, he would never forget Damien, but he would get on with his life.  A sex-free one probably, thanks to the mating curse, but a life nonetheless.  In time maybe the hurt of being rejected would go away.

/~/~/~/~/

By the time Damien staggered out of bed and into the shower, it was past eight o’clock.  He quickly dressed, flicking his long dark hair down his back, and went downstairs.  First order of business, find a huge cup of coffee.  Then find his mate and start the charm offensive.

When he got to the kitchen Kane, Shawn, Lucius
, and Vincent were arguing, and Dean was cooking breakfast.  Ignoring the problem at the table for a moment, Damien found the coffee pot and the biggest cup he could find.  Pouring a healthy dose of the black liquid, he wandered back to the table and sat down.  The four men sitting there had all gone quiet.

“W
ell, what’s the problem this early in the morning?”  He asked, taking a grateful gulp of his coffee.  Hmm, that tasted good.

“I was trying to get my pig-headed brother-in-law to understand that his men just
can’t go off looking for Bruce and the others on their own.  That Bruce was our problem, and we should be with them,” Lucius said.

“Yes, well that’s a given, so what’s the problem.  I’m sure Kane doesn’t have a problem with that,” Damien said easily, taking another gulp of coffee.  A few more mouthfuls and he would start to feel half human again.

“I don’t have a problem with that,” Kane rumbled beside him, “but it’s a moot point anyway.  The boys have already gone.”

“What,” Damien spluttered, spitting out his mouthful of coffee.  “What do you mean gone?  “Who’s gone? When?  Where?”

“Really Damien, you shouldn’t have tied one on last night,” Shawn said teasingly, as he got up to get the pot of coffee and brought it back to the table.  “The when, is at first light.  The where, is tracking Bruce and his cronies through the forest, and the who, is Diablo and Griff and the twins.”

“Why didn’t you bloody stop them?”  Roared Damien.  “They could all be
fucking killed.”

“Griff didn’t text me to tell me
, until they were ready to go,” Kane said quietly, “and by the time I got down here, they were already gone.”

“The boys apparently cooked this up between themselves.  The plan is to track the shifters
, and then try and drive them back to the house, where we will be waiting to help kill them off,” Shawn continued.

“Well
, we’ve got to go after them,” Damien said decisively, already getting out of his seat.  His unclaimed mate was out there in the woods with a killer bear shifter.  He was damned if he was going to sit still and wait for the man to come home.

“NO,” Kane shouted.  “Don’t you think I wanted to do that too?  Don’t you
realize I am worried sick about my boys?  They are more than my pack, they’re my family.  But Griff’s plan is a good one, and the best thing we can do for them is stay here.”

“It wasn’t Griff’s plan,” Dean said quietly as he put platters of food on the table.  Bacon, sausages, mushrooms, tomatoes and fried potatoes.  It all smelt really good
, but Damien’s stomach was still upset at the thought that Scott was out there, somewhere, putting himself in danger.

“What do you mean, Dean?
” Kane’s voice naturally softened when he talked to his Omega.  “Griff made out like this was his and Diablo’s idea.”

“No,” said Dean.  “It was Scott
.”  The smaller man glanced at Damien nervously before focusing his gaze on Kane.  “Scott was upset at being rejected by his mate, so he and Troy convinced Griff and Diablo, to go with them to get rid of the threat of the bear shifter. He figured with Bruce dead the Texan pack members would go home.”

Oh
great, now Damien felt really sick.  His mate thought he had rejected him.  Way to go, putting his own selfish needs to get drunk, over those of his mate.

“Why did Griff and Diablo go along with this, Dean?  I mean I know Troy would support his twin in anything
, but why did the other two go?”  Kane’s was still talking quietly, but there was an edge to his voice now as well.

Dean glanced over at the clock and seemed to come to a decision.  “They er, they wanted to protect us, all of us.  They, oh shit
, either Griff is going to kill me…or you will.” Dean broke off, almost in tears.

“Tell me Dean.  I won’t get angry,” said Kane, who was already getting that way.

“The guys don’t plan on driving the bear back here.  They plan to take him out where they find him.  Griff didn’t want Bruce anywhere near you, Kane, and Scott didn’t want him near Damien, so Troy and Diablo went along with it. Griff and Diablo are going to take on Bruce, and Troy and Scott are going for the four wolves.  They said they’d got it all worked out.”  The small man was almost crying now.

“Why didn’t your men rope in me and Vincent to help out?  That would have made the odds of them succeeding a little bit better,” Lucius asked from the other side of the table.

Dean sniffed loudly as he wiped the tears from his eyes. “They did talk about it real quick.  But then Diablo pointed out that if this Bruce got away from them again, then he would immediately head back here, knowing that four of the men were away from the house.  Scott and Griff didn’t want the Alphas here without protection.”

Kane slammed his fist on the table.  “I will kill the pair of them once I know they are bloody safe.  Shawn, can you get any idea of where they are?”