Jarrett
When they heard the howl, accompanied by an awful scream, Jarrett’s heart skipped a beat. Cory was already sprinting through the trees. Jarrett had heard that sound once before, on one of his earliest hunts. But there hadn’t been a panther around here in years. They could hear growling and snapping up ahead. Avery quickly came into view and Jarrett detected the coppery scent of blood. His veins turned to ice.
It was hard to figure out who had the upper hand. The two creatures were a flurry of black and gold. Avery growled and snarled as he leapt and dodged. He was leading the panther in circles around a large, dead buck. Jarrett caught sight of a growing rusty strain on his shoulder. He noticed immediately that the tough little omega wasn’t even limping, as if he didn’t feel the pain at all.
A snarl of rage was all the warning Jarrett got before Cory lunged forward at the beast, eyes wild with fury. The panther, caught off guard at the sudden attack, let out another scream that made Jarrett’s ears ring. Jack let out a bark beside him and joined the fray. Jarrett and Gerald circled the area, to make sure the panther couldn’t escape. He didn’t know why the creature was here, but it couldn’t be allowed to leave. Something like that could easily climb the walls and wreak havoc in their village.
Jack managed to land a blow to the panther’s flank. The beast barely staggered. It lifted a massive paw, long claws glinting in the sunlight, and brought it down hard. Jack yelped and fell back. But its back was wide open now. Jarrett took the opening and lunged forward, sinking his teeth into the panther’s flank. The taste of hot, rich blood rolled over his tongue, dripping down the side of his jaw. The large cat yowled and hissed, spinning in an effort to shake him off.
Suddenly, there was another body beside him. Out of the corner of his eye, he was astonished to see Avery had latched onto the panther’s neck. The cat was spitting and screaming, panicking now. Avery’s eye caught his, and his brow arched mischievously before smoothly twisting sideways. There was a loud snap, and suddenly the panther went limp beneath them. The alpha just managed to catch himself, pulling his teeth free from the limp body beneath him.
Before Jarrett could blink, Cory was in at Avery’s side. He growled, furious at his little brother, before tenderly licking at the wound in his shoulder. Avery let out a soft snort, rolling his eyes at his brother’s worrying.
Now that the forest had fallen silent again, Jarrett took a moment to look at the deer on the ground. He admitted to himself that he was impressed. It was large, and healthy looking. Something that he usually wouldn’t take down without a second wolf at his side. He looked over at Avery,who was watching him again. The smaller (though not that much smaller) wolf had a pleased look. He looked more feral than anything, with blood staining his fur and his tail still bristling.
Gerald looked over the buck, looking rather impressed himself. He shifted back into human form, and hauled the buck over his shoulders with a grunt. “Damn, this guy’s heavy.” He looked to Avery. “You did good, kid.”
Avery beamed, looking at Jarrett expectantly. He wanted praise. Specifically, he wanted Jarrett’s praise. Not that Jarrett could understand why. Nevertheless, he gave Avery a nod, acknowledging Gerald’s words. Avery let out a happy bark. Cory just growled, clearly unhappy with how the day turned out. Jack just looked amused by the whole thing. If he were human, Jarrett figured he’d be snickering.
They began the long walk out of the forest, Jarrett and Jack taking the lead. Jarrett kept his head low, avoiding his brother’s gaze. Neither had mentioned the incident with JJ, and Jarrett was stubbornly ignoring the slight tension. JJ had no doubt told Jack everything, and Jarrett really didn’t want to hear what his hot-headed little brother had to say about it.
Jack gave him a gentle nudge, and Jarrett finally looked up. Jack’s eyes were soft and warm. There wasn’t a trace of anger in them. Jarrett suddenly wanted to laugh. It was like their roles had suddenly reversed. Jack was now the level-headed mediator, and Jarrett was now the temperamental, bratty younger brother. Shameful. Completely shameful. Jarrett averted his eyes, staring straight ahead stubbornly.
Maybe he should talk to someone. Dinah had told him as much weeks ago. But he didn’t know who. Jack or JJ would be the obvious choices, but he just…couldn’t. All he could picture was them holed up in their perfect little homes with their perfect little mates; happy, content, sometimes not even thinking about John. He knew he was being completely unfair. John was their father too. But his argument with JJ had shown him that they were doing just fine. They wouldn’t understand what it was like to be so weak and pathetic. The more honest part of him wondered if he was doing this to himself on purpose. But if he let himself move on, let himself heal, then he wouldn’t think about John anymore. And he honestly didn’t know which would be worse.
Avery padded up to walk beside him, ignoring Cory’s unhappy sound. He looked at Jarrett, almost expectantly, but his happy gaze slid away and his blue eyes were suddenly filled with concern, as if he could sense the alpha’s low mood. He was limping now. The adrenaline had probably worn off a while ago. But he didn’t complain or anything. He had grit. Jarrett would have to give him that.
The omega was a strange one, that was for sure. From the moment he’d arrived, Jarrett had been seeing him everywhere. It was like the little bastard was never out of sight, at least not for long. Jarrett wasn’t completely blind. It had taken him longer to catch on than he was proud of, but he knew that Avery seemed to have taken a liking to him. Why, he wasn’t sure. As far as Avery knew, he was just a cranky wolf with a ton of baggage. Why the omega would be interested in that, was anyone’s guess.
Not that Jarrett wasn’t flattered, but he had too much on his mind to deal with a relationship right now. That’s what he told himself anyway.
The incident, as he referred to it, flashed behind his eyes. Of his embarrassing breakdown. Of the golden brown wolf’s soft head on his knees. He had pushed it to the back of his mind at the time, but now he was remembering how quickly he’d calmed down. How a tiny amount of warmth had lit in his chest. He had to admit it, but it had made him feel much better. He and his brothers had never been much for physical comfort. His dad even less so. There were pats on the back, mussed up hair, and the occasional hug, but they were still alphas. The last time anyone had held Jarrett was when he was a child and afraid of the monster under the bed.
If Cory hadn’t interrupted, Avery looked like he would have climbed right onto Jarrett’s lap, and Jarrett might have left him. The thought of talking to Avery crossed his mind, but he shook it away. That was a dumb idea. If he couldn’t even talk to his own brothers, how could he possibly talk to an omega that had just arrived a few weeks ago? No matter how eager said omega might be. Even though the thought of talking to someone was pretty appealing.
When the walls of the village came into view, they all shifted back. Gerald grabbed the bag from the tree and doled out their clothes. Jarrett looked over at Avery and winced. Four deep looking slashes lined his shoulder, down to his collar bone. They would definitely need stitches and copious amounts of painkillers. But other than hissing when Cory tried to wipe at the blood with his shirt, Avery didn’t look particularly bothered. He must have a high threshold. Or he was trying to impress Jarrett.
“Want me to do the stitches?” Cory asked.
Avery shook his head. “You suck at them. They’re always crooked.” Ignoring his brother’s protests, the omega’s eyes drifted over to Jarrett’s. “Can you do them?”
Subtlety didn’t seem to be the omega’s strong suite. Jarrett wondered if he realized just how obvious he was being. But before Jarrett could say anything, Jack nodded. “He’s really good. He’s stitched me up plenty of times, and it barely leaves a scar.”
Jarrett glared at Jack, who leaned in. “Don’t fight it, man. You’ll thank me later.”
So, with the vow to get back at his brother later, Jarrett headed for the medical cabin, Avery matching his steps. He pulled the sewing kit out of the cupboard. Avery sat down on the bed, waiting patiently.
“So what did you think of my buck?” he asked eagerly.
“Impressive,” Jarrett answered honestly. To say anything less would be a lie. “Hold still.”
The scratches were deep and painful looking. Jarrett was honestly surprised that they weren’t bleeding more. He was even more surprised that Avery showed no reaction to the pain other than a couple small hisses, even as Jarrett began stitching them up.
To say he felt awkward was an understatement. Leaning in close, Avery’s scent reached him, filling his lungs. The omega smelled sweet. Sweeter than anyone Jarrett had ever met. He could feel the heat coming off of smooth skin. He could hear Avery’s heart beating, quick and steady. He suddenly felt a bit lightheaded, and hurried to finish the stitches. What was wrong with him?
When he looked up again, Avery was staring at him with those large blue eyes that never seemed to stop moving, except when they were looking at him. His soft pink lips were parted slightly. He was so close that their noses were almost touching.
As he leaned in, Jarrett thought hazily that he should pull away. That he didn’t want this. He was dealing with too much crap to add a relationship to the pile. And besides, the omega was too strange. Annoying and twitchy and with no understanding of social norms. He was weird and upfront, honest and bold…
Avery leaned in quickly and their lips met. Jarrett’s eyes closed as all rational thought faded away. He couldn’t even feel surprised at the sudden odd turn this patch-up job had taken. All he could think of was that if the omega smelled sweet, he tasted ten times better. Avery’s tongue probed, seeking further entrance, and Jarrett welcomed it gladly. He couldn’t pull away now. The omega had trapped him. Caught him in his web of want and need. Thin, wiry arms wrapped around his neck and he clung back just as tightly, snaking his arms around a lean waist as he pulled the small wolf onto his lap.
If his cock was twitching before, the firm ass grinding against his groin had it desperately straining. He could feel something twitching against his belly through thin trousers. Avery let out a small moan and clung tighter, whimpering as Jarrett’s hand tangled in his hair.
Avery was just the last in a slightly embarrassing line of notches. Wolf omegas, human omegas, a couple betas, even a bear omega once (never again. Bears had a habit of scratching). Every last one of them had nothing on the beauty straddling him. Jarrett couldn’t explain why. All he was aware of was the thin layers of clothing separating them, and the sudden urge to shove Avery down on the cot and tear his shirt off with his teeth.
But because Jarrett apparently wasn’t allowed to have one fucking good thing, the door of the cabin suddenly burst open. Avery let out a startled yelp. Jarrett immediately growled, his wolf snapping and snarling inside of him at whoever dared interrupt. He immediately fell silent when he saw who it was.
Cory looked ready to kill. His upper lip curled into a snarl, showing off sharp white teeth. “The fuck is going on here?”
“Uh…” Heat rushed to Jarrett’s face as he calculated the odds of getting out alive. The last time an angry big brother had caught him, Dinah had had to reset several joints and shove two teeth back into his skull. He was also permanently banned from the east side of the wolflands.
“Now hold on a second,” he was about to begin his speech of apology, but he was interrupted by an angry snarl from the omega still wrapped around him.
“The fuck does it look like?” Avery replied.
Jarrett groaned and gently pushed the omega off of him. Avery stared down his older brother with a look of fury, then strode forward and grabbed the alpha by the collar of his shirt. “Come on, big brother, let’s go talk.” Cory looked outraged and reached up to grab his wrist but Avery just pinched his arm hard. “Now!”
Looking back over his shoulder, Avery gave Jarrett a warm smile. “We’ll continue this later.”
Somehow, Jarrett didn’t think he had a choice in the matter. Eyes wide and blank, he wandered back toward his house. He could hear the two brothers engaged in one hell of a screaming match. He jumped when Jack’s hand landed on his shoulder and turned to glare at his own brother.
“This is all your fault,” he said.
Jack attempted a look of sympathy, but failed miserably. His face was pink and the corners of his mouth were straining. “It was nice while it lasted though, huh?”
“Why are you doing this to me?” Jarrett huffed.
Jack rolled his eyes. “You feel a pull toward him, right? You can’t explain why, but your wolf gets riled up when it knows he’s near. And I bet that he smells good to you too, right?”
Jarrett said nothing, but that was as good as saying yes. Jack nodded. “Just…trust me on this. Don’t fight it, alright? Let whatever’s going to happen happen. I promise, you won’t regret it.”
“Since when did you get smarter than me?” Jarrett grumbled.
“We learn from our mistakes,” Jack answered, “and I’ve made more than either of you.”
Jarrett smiled, but it faded quickly. “There’s too much going on. I shouldn’t…”
“Be happy?” Jack finished. “Come on. That’s a load of crap. You need this. Dad would have wanted you to have this.”
Jarrett’s lips pressed into a thin line, retort on the tip of his tongue, but he held it back. He’d already pissed off one brother. He didn’t need to piss off the other. Jack just gave him a knowing look and squeezed his shoulder again. “Just think about it.”
Somehow, Jarrett didn’t think he had a choice anyway.