Chapter 7
Miracle watched as Mack searched his contacts on the video app for his daughter’s name. She fidgeted with her clothes and wondered if she should’ve put on lipstick.
“I see you being all twitchy. These are my kids. They want me to be happy, and you make me happy.”
“I know, I’ve just never been in this situation before.”
“I’ll point out that I just had to have a conversation with your parents, who are in their nineties. If it weren’t for Tonya, I would’ve been talking to their ceiling because they couldn’t figure out the app.”
She grinned. If the conversation hadn’t been so serious, it would’ve been hilarious. Her parents bickered at each other for half of it, and fussed at an exasperated Tonya about the tablet. Tonya had threated Miracle with limb removal if she ever made her host a video call with her parents again.
“Ready?” he asked, bumping her shoulder with his as they sat on the couch in the suite. She stared at the tablet, which he’d placed at eye level using a stack of books from a bookshelf in the bedroom. It was tilted slightly in the case.
She swallowed and clenched her hands together. Then she exhaled slowly and relaxed her hands. “Yeah.”
He clicked the call button, and they waited for it to connect. He’d already texted with Whisper about the call, and she’d promised to get everyone together. It felt like a full hour before the call went through, when she knew that it had really only been a bare minute. The screen blinked and then revealed eleven people.
“Wow, the whole gang is here,” Mack said with a smile.
“Of course,” a pretty young female with dark hair and light brown eyes said. “Bliss insisted on being part of things, because, you know, she’s annoying.”
“That is totally uncool!” another brunette female said.
“Kids, this is my mate, Miracle Caprice. Miracle, this is everyone.” He named them one by one, and each of them waved and said hi. Whisper and her three hyena mates; Kross, Kayne, and their hyena mate; and Bliss, who was a non-shifting wolf, and her three hyena mates, who were Whisper’s biological brothers. After the initial introductions, everyone left the room except for Whisper, Kross, and Kayne.
“Since you found each other, does that mean you’re coming home soon?” Whisper asked.
“Um, no. We’re in Florida, sweetling, and you’re in cold New Jersey.”
Her nose wrinkled as she smiled at the teasing. “I can see why you want to stay. I’d take a beach in the sunshine over the snow any day.”
“We’ve decided to stay here for two weeks and enjoy the resort. Then we’ll head to her clan’s mountain in Pennsylvania. We’ve gotten approval from her king to stay for ten days to pack up her belongings, and then we’ll be back the day after the full moon.”
Mack had told Miracle that he was ready to retire from being alpha, but he hadn’t wanted to share that news with his kids yet. There was always a chance that Kross and Kayne wouldn’t be ready to take over the alphaship yet, so he wanted to give them the whole month to try out the position. He enjoyed being alpha, but he was ready to set aside that responsibility and focus on the bar. And he wanted to help Miracle grow her glassware business, starting with the bar as her first new customer.
“I know you guys want to know what will happen with the pack, but the truth is that I’m not sure yet. It’s early in the month, so I think that you don’t know yourselves how you feel about being alphas. When things are easy, being alpha is great. When they’re difficult because of pack issues, then it’s less great and can be a headache from morning to night.”
“It would be easier if we didn’t also have to run the bar,” Kayne said.
Mack shrugged. “Whisper and her mates are denning-in, so they can’t handle things without upsetting their hyena nature. The bar can’t be run only one day a week. I’m sorry to be so blunt, but you two need to suck it up.”
Kross grimaced. “We’re trying.”
“And you’ll do fine. If I didn’t think you could handle it, I wouldn’t have left you in charge. Finding balance is important for an alpha. There are two of you, after all, not including Heaven. Divvy up the duties as best you can. When Miracle and I come back to Beyton after the full moon, I’ll have made a decision. For now, keep moving forward as if this is permanent, because it might be.”
Whisper’s eyes widened. “You’re going to come back, though.”
Mack gave her a soft smile. “I said I would, sweetling.”
“But will you stay?” she asked.
Mack didn’t say anything for a moment, so Miracle answered. “Mack can’t stay in the mountains with me, it’s against clan customs. Now that we’re mated, we can visit, but the mountains are closed to us for residency. We’ve already decided to stay in Beyton, so that’s not going to change.”
“Thank you,” Whisper said.
Mack put his arm around Miracle’s shoulders and said, “Beyton is home for me, and Miracle is part of my life now, which means it’s home for her, too. Whatever happens once we’re back, Beyton is it for us, okay?”
Whisper nodded. “Okay.” Then her demeanor brightened. “Are you buying me a lot of souvenirs?”
“Of course.”
“Remember, I like large-sized shirts so I can be comfy.”
“I remember.”
“It was nice to meet you,” Kayne said.
“Thank you. It was nice to meet all of you, too.”
“See you in a few weeks, Dad and Miracle,” Whisper said, waving.
Mack said goodbye to his kids and pressed the button to end the call. He leaned back against the couch, and she turned and snuggled against his side. “Your kids are sweet.”
He kissed the top of her head. “I told you they’d love you.”
“I think they’re just happy we’re staying in Beyton.”
He hummed and looked at the clock on the wall. “Want to go to the beach?”
“Definitely.”
After changing into a blue-and-black striped bikini, Miracle slipped a gauzy blue cover-up on and tied her hair into a low ponytail. Mack was waiting for her in the living room, wearing black trunks and holding two of the resort’s red-and-blue beach towels. He kissed her with a growl that was so low and soft, she felt it more than heard it. “Lovely,” he murmured.
“A girl could get used to so many compliments.”
“You should,” he said, giving her ponytail a gentle tug.
They left the room and took the elevator to the ground floor. The beach wasn’t crowded, because the unmated resort attendees were out doing a poker-run boat race. According to the director, two other couples had mated. It seemed like the resort was good luck for matings this year.
She stretched out her beach towel next to Mack’s and put her flip-flops on the sand. Then she rolled to her side and rested her head on her propped-up hand. “Did you always want to be alpha?”
He mimicked her pose as he faced her, but he rested his free hand on the dip of her waist. “The alpha position in my pack is hereditary, so it never occurred to me to do anything else. My wolf was born to be alpha. As I got older, I didn’t rail against it, I embraced it.”
“Are there alphas who don’t want to be alpha?”
“Of course. If an alpha has more than one son, the eldest is supposed to lead when the time comes. Sometimes the eldest doesn’t want to lead, and a younger sibling will step in. It’s rare, but it happens. And on the flip side, sometimes a younger sibling will feel they are the better choice. That leads to fighting, and sometimes death. I heard about an alpha in North Dakota who had twin sons. The oldest was only older by a minute, but it was an important minute because it meant he was to be the leader. The brother didn’t want to be beta; he wanted to fight to prove he was better. But the alpha didn’t want his sons to fight, so he banished the younger twin. The night of the first full moon after the eldest twin took over, his brother showed up with some other disgruntled wolves and attacked, killing him.”
“Holy crap! I can’t imagine killing a sibling over being alpha.”
“Because you’re a dragon. From what you’ve told me of your clan’s hierarchy, it’s not remotely like the pack. For us, the alpha is the be-all and end-all. For you, the king is the law but the elders are there to keep things in line, too.”
“What happened to that pack?”
“The father imprisoned his son to await a pack trial, and the son killed himself. The pack disintegrated, most of the members joining other packs, except for the alpha, who went into seclusion.”
“It’s hard to be alpha?”
“Anything that’s worth doing usually is.”
“Do you think Kross and Kayne can split the alpha duties? It wouldn’t be better for one of them to be the second-in-command?”
“I considered it, but they both have alpha traits. Either one of them would be a fine alpha on his own, but together they’ll be a great one. I think it would be more difficult for them if they were split into different ranks, because of Heaven. They’re attempting to share her equally, and I think they should apply that to other aspects of their lives as well.”
“I didn’t know that there were shifter groups who shared a mate.” She was curious about the ménage relationship, but she had no interest in having another male besides Mack.
“Hyenas always have a clan of three males to one female. Kross and Kayne have embraced sharing Heaven, and I’ve heard that there are some groups out there – mountain lions, for example – where males form a mating group with a brother or close family member and share a female.”
“But not wolves?”
“My kids are the first I’m aware of.”
She wiggled her brows. “One wolf is plenty for me.”
“Good, because that’s all you’re getting.”
“You’re all I need, I promise.”
* * *
The two weeks they had given themselves at the resort in order to get to know each other passed both quickly and slowly. They spent a lot of time on the beach, talking and sharing their lives. He was such a strong male, full of loyalty to his family and pack, concerned that everyone was being taken care of. By the time their stay on the island drew to a close, she’d never felt closer to anyone in her life. He didn’t just turn her on with his sexy smile, he obliterated her senses with his passion, making sure that she was taken care of first. It hadn’t taken long for her mate to claim her heart. He was everything she’d ever dreamed of in the lonely nights of her youth. Somehow, they’d both gone to the island for the first time and found each other.
Mack zipped up his suitcase and turned to face her. “What are you thinking about so seriously?”
“That fate is a funny thing.”
“Oh?”
“Well, we’re from two different states, and our shifter groups couldn’t be more different. And we both happened to come to Florida for a singles’ gathering.”
“I’m thankful for fate.”
“Me too,” she said.
“Are you ready?”
She looked at her bags and glanced around the room. “Yep. Are you sure we got enough souvenirs for Whisper? I still have room in my carry-on.”
He laughed as he shouldered his bag and grasped the handle of one of her rolling suitcases. “I’m positive.”
“It’s nice to be part of a big family. It’s felt like just me and my parents for such a long time. And Tonya. She’s kind of like a crazy sister.”
“Well, now she’s my crazy sister too. And my big family is yours.”
They checked out of the resort and took a cab to the airport. Mack had changed their flights, and they sat together in first class on their way to the airport nearest her clan’s mountains. The three-hour flight was just long enough for her to take a nap, leaning against his strong shoulder. When they picked up their bags from baggage claim, she dialed Tonya’s cell. She had promised to pick them up and was expecting Miracle’s call.
“That’s weird. It went right to voicemail,” she said.
“What color car does she drive? Maybe she’s here and her phone is dead.”
Miracle followed him out of the airport. They stood on the sidewalk and looked up and down the street, but there were just a few shuttles and several cabs. She didn’t see Tonya’s white sedan.
She dialed her friend’s number several more times. Then she tried her mom’s cell phone.
“I was wondering when you would call,” Tais said.
A chill ran down her spine. “What are you doing with my mom’s phone?”
Mack put his hand on her shoulder, and she moved the phone from her ear and pressed the speaker button.
“Oh, I was just visiting my in-laws. They’re getting up in age, you know. It’s a shame that you’re such a selfish bitch who went off to go fuck random shifters, and left them all alone.”
“They’re not your in-laws anymore, Tais. Our mating was dissolved by the council, with your uncle’s approval. I want to talk to my parents. Put them on the phone, now.”
“Aw,” he said, tsking. “You’re not even going to ask me where that ice bitch friend of yours is?”
Dread pooled in her stomach. “Tonya? Where is she? What have you done?”
“Nothing much, really.” His voice drawled a little, and she could imagine the smarmy smile on his face as he toyed with her. “I followed you when you got your tattoo. I didn’t know that dragon tears were so valuable. After you left the shop, I talked to the owner. Did you know he’s a wizard? They’re crazy into buying valuable potions. I offered to get him some dragon tears, fresh from the source, and let’s just say he was very happy to partner with me.”
She imagined her mom, with her silver-white hair and crinkly blue eyes, being forced into her shift and then made to cry. She was shaking so hard that Mack took the phone from her and pressed the button to take it off speaker.
“What do you want?” Mack demanded. Miracle could hear Tais screaming through the phone, but couldn’t make out his words. “I’m her mate, that’s who, chosen by her dragon. You’ll release her family or I’ll take you apart piece by piece.”
She could hear the venom in Mack’s voice, and was very certain in that moment that he would absolutely kill to save her family.
Mack pulled the phone from his ear as Tais went on another screaming bender, and Miracle pushed the speaker button again.
“She took everything from me! If she doesn’t dismiss the dissolution and come back to me as my mate, I’ll take everything from her, starting with her precious mother.”
“You took it all yourself,” Miracle said. “You never once treated me well in twenty years! I won’t come back to you.”
“Oh no? I think you will. I think you’ll come crawling back on your knees when you hear your mom’s pain. When she dies because you thought you were too good for me… I know you’ll crawl.”
“Release her family or suffer,” Mack said. His voice was low and deadly, and his eyes were bright amber.
“No. You have an hour, Miracle, then I make your parents and your friend really cry.”
A pain-filled dragon scream blasted through the phone. She knew it was Tonya. Her best friend was being tortured because Miracle had tried to start a new life. Mack ended the call and grabbed her shoulders, giving her a shake.
“What?” she asked, blinded with tears.
“Listen.”
His head was tilted and his eyes were narrowed. She copied his actions, and listened intently. On the wind she could hear the dragon scream. “It’s coming from beyond the mountains,” she said.
“Good. Fly us there, babe.”
“I can’t fight him. He’s bigger than me, and no offense to your alpha skills, but he’s twenty times your size at least.”
“Do you trust me?”
“Of course.”
“Then shift, Miracle. Right now. Only you can get us there in time.”
Nodding, she pushed her phone into a pocket in her suitcase and grasped his hand. She hurried away from the airport toward the parking lot, where she stripped as fast as she could and shifted. Lowering her neck, she waited for Mack to climb up and settle between her shoulders.
“You can do it,” he said, patting her neck.
She wasn’t sure what would happen, but as she lifted into the air with powerful presses of her wings, she knew that they were the only ones who had even a shot of helping. She would never forgive herself if she lost her parents or Tonya.
Tonya screamed again, and the sound cut through Miracle like a blade. Moving high into the sky, she followed the sound and flew at top speed toward the mountain, curving around to the back, away from the gated community. Behind the mountain was a valley with a lake, and thick woods that she and her family had been hunting in for years. Below in the distance, she could see firelight and an odd blue glow close to the ground. Figures lurked in the shadows, and Tonya’s dragon was stretched out on the ground near the fire.
“Let’s end this,” Mack said, snarling the words. He gripped her neck tightly as she dove for the valley. She let out her most terrifying roar, punctuating the sound with her fire. As she neared the ground, she felt Mack change forms, and she slowed her speed so he could leap safely to the ground. As her mate landed near Tonya, she wheeled around, roaring, and headed straight for the people who were screaming in terror.
It was a bad time to be caught in the woods mistreating the people she loved.