By the time that Frankie and I made it downstairs, dinner was in full service. We had already discussed having a public dinner together where the other shifters would see that I'd taken a mate. After that, we would go out for a moonlit run in our animal skins. Well, that was our story anyway. The truth was that we needed to get back to Jules' house to check in and take a shift so the other men could have a break.

We took a table near the kitchen, where I would be accessible to any of my staff that might have a question for me before I disappeared. Almost as soon as the beta who waiting tables tonight had walked away, the first staff member came up to bug me. By the time our meal came, nearly every member of my nine person staff had been by the table to scope out Frankie. The only ones who hadn't were the ones who weren't working today.

Frankie's back stiffened, shoulders tense, as he looked up with narrowed eyes at the wolf shifter walking toward us. I covered his hand with mine to calm the low growl that rumbled in his throat.

"Well, lookie here. If it ain't Fingers. When did you get out? I figured you was out in the desert somewhere translatin' memos for the colonel by now." Tommy, my maintenance man and former rogue wolf mercenary, was standing at our table looking at my omega with a false smile that came nowhere near touching his eyes.

"Tommy the Tank. I thought I smelled a mangy mutt. What the fuck are you doing here? Shouldn't you be out kidnapping some poor little rich omega, terrorizing villagers in a third world country, or practicing your fucked up breath play shit and killing hookers?"

"Aw, c'mon, Fingers! That dead omega wasn't on me, you know I got cleared of all charges. I didn't know that little whore had that collar fastened over his windpipe so tight like that. When I pulled on the leash it wasn't supposed to kill the kid, just get him off. Fuck, I still feel bad about that shit."

Tommy was grinning as he spoke, which completely negated any semblance of guilt or contrition. Hmm. He'd killed a guy during sex? That sure as hell hadn't come up in the interview for this job.

"Was there something that you needed, Tommy? My mate and I are about to have our dinner." I spoke firmly, leaving no room for doubt that he was an uninvited third wheel.

"Nope. Don't need nuthin', boss. I just saw my old army buddy here and had to come say hey, y'know?" He shifted his beady little eyes over to Frankie. "So yer finally admittin' that yer an omega, huh? Not gonna play the lone wolf that only gets off from fuckin' humans no more?"

Frankie gave a warning growl, his eyes flashed gold behind the thick lens of his glasses where his wolf prowled just under the surface. "Fuck you, Tank. Who I fucked or didn't fuck isn't your business. At least none of mine ended up dead with a fucking collar and leash attached them with my fingerprints all over the scene."

Tommy looked like he wanted to say more, but instead he pasted on a conciliatory smile and held his hands up with the palms facing out in a placating manner. "Hey, hey, let's slow this shit train down. I didn't mean to stir up old business. I'm out of the game now, Fingers. I'm startin' fresh up here. Your alpha here gave me a shot at a regular job. No more of that mercenary shit, y'know?"

His eyes flickered over to me then back to Tommy before Frankie asked: "And what about Butch? What does your old partner in crime think of your new life makeover?"

"Naw, we cain’t talk 'bout Butch, Fingers. That's a story with a bad endin', trust me. Let's just say that Butch ain't around no more to have a say in nuthin' in this world."

Frankie's lips pinched together as though he were clamping back on speaking his thoughts. Finally, he shook his head and exhaled a long sigh before he spoke.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Tank. No matter what went down between you, I know you had a long history. Well, obviously we're going to be seeing a lot of each other if you work here. Let's just bury the past and start fresh, yeah?"

Tommy gave one of overly friendly smiles. "Now that's good idea, Fingers. I got a new life here. I'd like a chance at a fresh start with you too, seems to how we're gonna be stuck runnin' in ta each other."

Frankie nodded and tipped two fingers to his temple in a salute. "In that case, it was nice talking to you. I'll see you around, Tank."

"Tommy," the wolf shifter stated with that fake ass smile. "I don't go by Tank no more. Tank died with the old life."

"Okay, Tommy. I can appreciate that. Tell you what, I'll burn the name Tank from my memory if you'll do the same with Fingers. I prefer Frankie these days."

"Why not just go with your real name, Francis?" The wolf smirked.

"Try it. I can't guarantee you'll still have teeth if you do. But sure, go ahead and call me that, Thomas."

"Pleasure chattin' with ya, Frankie. I got tools ta clean." Tommy nodded at me. "Bossman, congrats on yer matin'. Frankie here's a good enough omega, I suppose. If ya wanted somethin' different than yer normal pretty little omegas."

My eyes narrowed as I replied. "Well then, I guess it's good that I didn't ask for your approval before claiming my mate. Go ahead and get back to work, Tommy. Don't let us keep you from it."

Tommy took the hint and took off. Frankie puffed out a breath and reached for his water glass. After he'd drained it, my mate looked over at me wearily. "Am I correct in assuming that he's the one that recently proved himself to the Alpha?"

I nodded. "You'll have to ask Jules for more details, but yeah. He's definitely the guy they were talking about last night."

Frankie shook his head with a slight frown. "In that case, I'm glad I nixed letting him know about anything involving me. As you can see, we aren't the best of friends."

"Do I want to know what all that was about, Frankie? That seemed tense. I wanted to intervene, but you don't need me for that. Plus, I figured you might hurt me if I tried."

"Thanks, alpha. I appreciate that, and yeah, I totally would've had to hurt you if you'd gone alpha on me in front of that mutt. Still, it feels nice to know that you wanted to put a stop to it."

I took a sip of coffee and smirked at my mate. "So...you and humans, huh?"

Frankie chuckled dryly. "Wow. I wondered how long it would take you to bring that up. I was pretty sure it didn't get past you." He shrugged. "Humans are easy. They can't smell your emotions or pull you into shifter politics. Although, I will say that they're shit for getting an omega through a heat."

I growled before I could stop myself. "Sorry. My bear didn't like that comment. He's a jealous fucker, you know how it is with our inner beasts."

Frankie nodded. "I'm sure it's even worse when you're an alpha. I'm sorry. That was a thoughtless remark on my part. But if it makes you feel better, you're the first and last alpha I've ever been with? And yours was definitely the first knot I've ever felt. I've never even tried one of the toy knots, so you were definitely the first to plant your flag on that virgin territory."

"As long as I'm also the last, then I definitely feel better. Besides, it's not like I'm a virgin either. It would be ridiculously hypocritical of me to expect you to be a virgin at your age just because you're an omega. It's that kind of backward thinking that keeps so many omegas from following their dreams." I smiled and turned my hand over in his to clasp hands.

Frankie smiled back and said: "You're an amazingly liberal alpha, Liam. I'm glad. It would have been impossible for us to be mated if you'd been one of those uptight alphaholes that want to control their omega."

Shrugging, I reached for my water. "We bears are much less controlling over our omega. We're protective like any other alphas, but we tend to treat our mates as equals. You won't find as many beleaguered omegas among the bears."

"Yeah, well, I imagine that it's a little hard to oppress omegas that are as big as some wolf alphas." Frankie grinned and squeezed my hand gently before pulling it away as the beta delivered our meals.

We dug into the venison stew, both of us silent as we took a moment to appreciate the savory bowls of heaven. Big pieces of chunky carrots, fresh peas, cubes of potato, and hunks of venison were all married together in a savory stew with fragrant herbs and spices.

After a few bites, Frankie looked up at me shyly. "I suppose I should tell you that it's a bit of relief that we can live here. My skill set doesn't include creating delicious meals like this one. Or that awesome soup earlier. I'm kind of a broken omega, I should warn you of that now."

I grinned and blotted my mouth with my napkin. "Well, babe, if that's the case? Then I'm just a broken alpha, which makes us a matched set. You don't need to worry about cooking, I don't share my kitchen well anyway."

He looked at me in confusion. "Your kitchen? I know you're part owner, but shouldn't the cook be the one to be controlling of the kitchen?"

I winked and waved a hand to indicate the stew. "And that would be why I'm controlling, and probably a broken alpha. I'm much better at cooking than fighting. And by the way, thanks for calling my tomato soup amazing. I think it's the thyme that makes it sing."

Frankie's mouth dropped open, but not for long, as he quickly spooned another bite of my venison stew into it. His eyes closed for a moment as if he were tasting it again for the first time now that he knew it was my hands that had made it. After he'd swallowed his mouthful, Frankie took a drink of water before looking back at me with a glowing smile.

"You should've led with the cooking, alpha. You'd have had me in your bed five minutes after we met. Holy shit, that is good food. That soup this afternoon? And that sandwich? Cooked to fucking perfection, I mean it. I meant to have you compliment the cook, but I got a little sidetracked by a horny alpha after lunch." He winked at me and took another bite.

Snorting out a laugh, I rolled my eyes. "Um, thank you? Whether it's because you admitted that I sidetracked you to the point that you forgot about the food or because you loved my food, I don't know. I just feel like I need to say thank you either way."

Frankie grinned. "All I know is that it's a good thing we have fast metabolisms with all this rich food that I'm going to be stuffing into my face." He wiggled his eyebrows at me suggestively. "And having a mate with a good way to help me burn calories helps too."

I shook my head with a light heart and pointed to the empty bowl in front of him. "Would you like more, or should we go for the moonlight run that we discussed earlier?"

Obviously aware that the walls could have ears, Frankie played along. "As good as the food was, I'm going with option B. But, you might want to set up someone as backup for you here because we might get lost in the woods for a little bit."

"Then what are we waiting for, babe? Let's get going." I stood and held my hand out for his. Taking my hand, Frankie stood and walked with me. I took him through the kitchen where I stopped to let my assistant know that he was in charge until I returned. Once that was handled, I led him out to the backyard.

The backyard opened onto the tree covered slope that stood just past my property line. My uncle had originally purchased this property because it backed up to the mountain. Once shifted, we could run through the trees and disappear.

Jules' house was about two clicks to the west, as he was fond of saying. If we went in the other direction, we would be on den territory. My property was right in between the two, which was why Jules would easily be able to secretly carry messages between us.

The only reason I'd been walking the long way through town and not this direct mountain route when Frankie had almost hit me was because I hadn't wanted to run into any shifters. Which was laughable now that I knew that Alpha Mikael had been well aware of my visit the entire time.

Once we stepped outside, there was a covered porch that ran the length of our inn. It would protect us from prying eyes, on the rare chance that humans were hiking up on the hill where they could see down into the yard. There were two or three hard to reach spots that were the only places where the yard could be seen. The covered patio hid us from those sight angles.

I mentioned this to Frankie as we changed, and he nodded thoughtfully. "It's also good to protect you from satellites. I'd worry more about the earth mapping satellites catching you on their feed than I would about a random hiker."

Tossing my clothes onto the bench that sat beside the back door, I looked over at him strangely. "Wow. I never would have thought to worry about shit like that."

Frankie winked and tossed his clothes over with mine. "And now you won't need to, right? You handle the cooking and I'll handle the security concerns."

I chuckled softly. "You do realize that neither of us is broken, right? We're just playing the opposite roles that are usually expected of our designations. It actually works out quite well for us, don't you think? I don't need a homemaker omega, and you don't need a protective alpha."

Frankie smiled then. "Perfect! Instead, you can have a protective omega, and I get the homemaker alpha? How the hell did I luck out? And, just to clarify. If we ever have kids, does this mean that you'll deal with them?"

"Well, I can't spit them out. That's on you. But I'll be happy to take care of them once they arrive. Except when they get older. You get the teen detail. I fucking hate teens. Hell, maybe if I was better with them then my cousin, Dylan, would be living here where he belongs, instead of at the den."

With a sweet look in his eyes, Frankie stepped up and wrapped his arms around my waist. He looked into my eyes and spoke. "I think that is a perfect plan. And I will be happy to talk to Dylan too. Maybe help you get him to come home. What's his designation?"

"Dylan is an omega. But he's a traditional one. He wants to be a little house husband."

"There's nothing wrong with that, Liam. Everyone has their own deal, you know? There is nothing wrong with fulfilling a stereotypical role if that's what you want. It's when you don't want it and are forced into it that it becomes a problem. I'll talk to him."

I leaned forward and touched my lips to his. After we shared a soft kiss, I touched our foreheads together. "I wish we didn't have to leave. I would enjoy finding new ways to make you beg."

Frankie hummed in the back of his throat. "Yeah, but just think of how much hotter it's going to be after we spend the rest of the day anticipating it." He swatted my hip and grinned. "Now let's shift. I want to see that sexy big ass bear of yours."

We took a few steps apart and relaxed into our shift. I didn't watch Frankie's shift happen because I was busy shifting myself. Once we shifted, I looked down to see a thick, muscular wolf with a long body looking back at me. His thick coat of brown and white fur just begged to have my human hands ruffle through it. One day I would do just that, I quickly determined.

At first glance, he looked like a white snow wolf that had rolled in cocoa powder. The tips of his white hairs were brown, with thicker patches of brown in places, and less in others. His eyes almost glowed, they were so golden as they looked back at me. Most shifters retained their human eye color when in animal form.

But the purer lines that had descended from the older families had those golden eyes like my Frankie. I heard of this in school, but it was my first time seeing it. He gazed at me unblinkingly, which showed me that he knew that I was taking note of those unique eyes.