Dillon stared at the door Cotton had just slipped through, feeling like roaring every ounce of anguish bound within him. He’d hurt Cotton with the things he’d said, but he knew he’d had to say them. They both likely had fated mates out in the world… and to bind themselves to one another would only lead them down a road of heartache and pain.
Can’t feel much worse than it does now…
He fell back onto the bed that still smelled of the two of them. Inhaling, he drew in Cotton’s alluring aroma, capturing it. After that conversation, he wasn’t sure they’d have another evening together, not like this and that nearly broke him.
It had started as a quick round of fucking to let out a little frustration. And then he’d decided they could have another go. And another… until he craved Cotton like a drug. He wasn’t’ sure he’d ever had enough.
There had been a reason he’d kept the omega at arm’s length, the very reason he’d just given the male. They weren’t mates and fate could tear them apart.
He’d been truthful. Cotton meant the world to him. He downplayed it to his brothers because he didn’t want them irritating the everloving fuck out of him for falling for an omega that wasn’t even his.
Of course Dillon would want something he couldn’t truly have. What they shared now was the best they could have. Going out on dates and getting to know one another? It would just make the inevitable even worse when it came around.
Dillon wasn’t sure what he was protecting more—Cotton’s heart, or his own.
His cell rang, breaking up his lapse into the doldrums. Glancing at the screen, he saw it was Declan.
“Yes, my alpha?”
“Can you come to my office? It’s time we had that talk.”
Dillon scrubbed a hand over his face. He wasn’t mentally prepared at the moment, but he also needed a damned job. Since the alpha had yanked him out of firefighter training, saying there was a plan for him, his bank account was getting mighty thin. “I can be there in fifteen.”
“Sounds good. See you then.”
The click of the line going dead hit his ear, and he disconnected on his end.
Ten minutes later, Dillon McCreary sat just outside the office of the den’s alpha. His brother, Tyler, kept looking his way from where the shifter sat at his desk. His older brother had been working as Declan’s assistant for a few years now.
It was absolutely killing Tyler that he didn’t know why Declan had called Dillon in. Dillon could read it in every line in Tyler’s body. While he wasn’t absolutely sure the exact reason for this meeting, he had some idea.
He could’ve told Tyler that, but where would the fun in that have been? From the corner of his eye, he could see his nosy brother fidgeting. Within seconds the guy would explode into some new reasoning as to why he should know.
Five… four… three…
“You know, I put a roof over your head… The least you could do was tell me if you’re in trouble,” Tyler said from behind his desk.
Damn, my count was off. He tilted his head and glanced Tyler’s way. “This has nothing to do with you.”
“I didn’t say it did,” his brother muttered. “But if you’ve done something to embarrass the family, I’ll kill you.”
Dillon’s jaw clenched. “I don’t think there’s much I could do at this point that would embarrass us any more than we’ve already been embarrassed.”
Tyler slammed a book down on his desk. “We’ve spent the last few years digging ourselves out of the hole our fathers put us in.” Tyler paused and Dillon could see the wheels turning behind his brother’s eyes. Tyler was using the wrong tactic to get him to talk. Bringing up their past only built up the wall.
Not that Tyler would find the right one. It didn’t exist.
But he tried. “If you’re in trouble, I can help. All you have to do is ask.”
Dillon smiled. “And just how do you think you can help me?”
Tyler lifted one brow. “How can I tell you that unless I know what you did?”
Dillon’s smile faded. “You’ve become just as bad as the others, you know? Assuming the worst. Maybe I didn’t do anything at all.” His brother was quickly becoming a pretentious pain in his ass. Tyler had mated two strong males that had given them all a home after their fathers died… then popped out a few babies… began working for the alpha… and established himself as the head of the family.
Dillon must’ve missed that vote.
Tyler thought he needed to be in the middle of all of their business, even though he now had a growing brood of his own to manage. It almost seemed as if by the time one of them moved out, Tyler gave birth to a new cub to fill the void.
“Why else would you be here?” Tyler asked flippantly.
Dillon growled lowly in his throat and looked at Declan’s closed door. “Don’t you have a shitty diaper to change or a snotty nose to wipe?”
Tyler glared at him. “I know you seem to think I’m less of a male because I’ve given birth, but one day you’ll see how wrong you are.”
Dillon had already started cooling about his brother yielding, but he wasn’t in the mood to say that. Between the episode with Cotton and now Tyler’s assumption he was up to now good, he wasn’t feeling nice at all. He met his brother’s gaze. “Don’t count the days.”
Tyler opened his mouth to argue, but Declan’s door swung open. The large male took up the entire space, blocking most of the light coming through behind him.
“Come on in, Dillon.”
Dillon rose from his seat and crossed the outer office. He took the alpha’s hand and shook it before entering and taking another seat, once bidden. After glancing over his shoulder for one last look at his brother, Declan closed the door.
The alpha rounded his desk before taking his own seat. “I hope I didn’t make you wait too long.”
Dillon shrugged. “I got to play catch up with my brother,” he said, trying to keep the sarcasm from his voice.
“Good, good.” Declan smiled, leaning back in his chair. “No point in wasting any more time. I know you’re curious as to what I’ve got planned for you.”
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t.”
“We’ve made a lot of changes in Bear Mountain over the past few years, some that have been difficult to make. What do you think of the direction we’re moving in?”
“Changes or no, my life took a dramatically different path after my fathers were put in the ground.”
Declan met his stare and was silent a moment. “I can’t truly imagine how rough you boys had it.”
Dillon hadn’t said the comment to get the male’s pity. “It’s done. In the past. We move forward.”
“Indeed.” Declan paused a moment. “You wanted to become a firefighter… because you wanted to help the community.”
“No. I wanted a job. Pure and simple.” It had nothing to do with helping the community. He’d needed a job that wouldn’t make him lose his mind. Dillon needed a challenge.
Declan frowned. “Most people don’t choose to rush into burning buildings as their career choice if they were simply looking for work.”
Dillon grinned. “I like a little sense of adventure.”
The alpha grinned. “I know you’re aware of the team Bull and Deacon have assembled to bring down Project Zed.”
“I am.”
“You’re aware of the beasts they’ve freed, but there have been others. Shifters targeted for abduction… ones we need to give shelter to until Zed can be stopped.”
Dillon nodded, not sure how he fit into this. He wasn’t a soldier, nor did he like the idea of marching to Bull or Deacon’s tune.
“More and more new folks have moved into Bear Mountain,” Declan said as he leaned back. “And now… I want even more to come. I want to offer safe haven to all shifters… all those capable of getting through the dome.”
“The den nearly lost their minds when a couple of polar bears tried to move in… and then when the soldiers came… now you want to wedge the doors wide open?”
“They”—Declan paused to put up air quotes with his fingers. “Lost their minds… and then they got over it. As others have come and added their knowledge and skills to the den, we’ve grown in amazing ways. We have the means… I want to grow more.”
“There’s only but so much space in the valley,” Dillon said.
“Not true,” Declan said, smiling. “Our borders are expanding by the second.”
Dillon frowned.
Declan waved his hand. “More on that in a moment. Here’s what I need from you. Ben told me that practically anything you studied, you mastered in no time at all. Is that true?”
Dillon shrugged. “To an extent.”
Declan smiled, tilting his head. “Why do you always look slightly embarrassed when I bring up that big genius head of yours?”
Dillon slid down in his chair some. “I don’t.”
“You do,” Declan said before pausing to look at him. “You have no reason to be ashamed of your intelligence.” He paused again. “No matter… no matter what Tymber or Taryn might’ve said to you.”
Dillon met the alpha’s stare.
“For your fathers to maintain control over you boys, they had to eschew education… shame intelligence, and make you feel as if you were wrong. If you rose higher, you would leave them… and they’d have to work for once.” Declan leaned over his desk. “You have no reason to be ashamed.”
Dillon shrugged again, uncomfortable.
The alpha tossed two thick volumes his way. “I need you to read up on modern urban planning and development.”
Dillon grabbed the two textbooks and sighed. It didn’t exactly sound like his cup of tea. “Fun for hours.” He glanced at the cover of the one on top: Contemporary Urban Planning. “This is what you want me to do?”
“My plan for you is evolving,” Declan said. “Once you’ve read those, I want you to make a trip to Midnight, Mississippi.”
Dillon’s head whipped up. “Midnight?” A small smile came to his lips. He’d heard of the place whispered about. A hidden supernatural city protected by witches and populated by all kinds of bumps in the night. Now this was more up his alley.
“Bear Mountain just bought Bull and Deacon a helicopter to use on missions. Their human pilot, Rhett, will be ready to take you to Midnight as soon as you’re prepared. How long will it take you to read those?”
Dillon glanced at the tomes before lifting his stare. “A day or two.”
Declan chuckled. “It would take me that long to get through the first few pages.”
“Speed-reader,” Dillon said offhandedly.
“But you’ll understand it… retain it all?”
“If it’s in there, I’ll have it,” Dillon said “So what is it you want me to do in Midnight?”
“See the city. Use what you’ve learned from the books to see how we might use their planning in our own.”
“Where’s all this going? Are we going to bulldoze the entire village and rebuild from the ground up?”
Declan jumped to his feet. “Come with me.”
As soon as they made their way into the outer office, Declan informed Tyler they were leaving.
“Where are you going with my brother?” Tyler asked.
“I have something to show him,” the alpha said.
“Is he in trouble?”
Declan frowned. “No. He’s not. Why would you think that?”
Tyler turned his way. “Because he’s… Dillon.”
Declan glanced at Dillon before turning to Tyler. “I just hired your brother to do a very important job for me, one I believe he’s well suited for. I’ll explain when I return.”
Dillon glared at Tyler on his way out, hefting the two heavy books in one arm. At least his brother looked ashamed.
After jumping into the passenger seat of the alpha’s pickup, he began reading as they flew through the valley. Almost an hour later, they stood in a field near Tyler’s house. The field was filled with little orange flags waving in the summer breeze.
“What is this?” he asked the alpha.
Declan stood at the flag closest to the road. “This was where the edge of the dome was a few months ago.” He took another few steps, passing flags and coming to a rest mid-field. “This is where it was about month ago.” He pointed to the end of the field. “That’s where it is now.”
Dillon stood stunned, looking at all the lined up flags. When his numbed mind had thawed a bit, he walked to the wall and stopped right at the edge. Just outside it, the ground was blackened from the fires that had raged around the dome.
The dome had protected them from slaughter. Everything outside it for miles hadn’t survived. It had been Project Zed’s plan to extinguish the werewolf threat. It had worked, and left a swath of destruction behind. He looked back at the field, verdant and alive. There was a tree half in/half out of the dome. One side of it was alive and flush with branches and leaves. The other was blackened and dead.
“Are you telling me that the wall of the dome is spreading outwards—and that it’s bringing the vegetation back to life as it moves?”
Declan nodded. “That’s what I’m telling you.”
“Is the dome shifting? Is there land loss on the opposite side?” Dillon asked.
“It’s expanding in every direction, north, south, east, and west,” Declan said. “We’ve kept it quiet, because we aren’t sure how much farther it will go. But I feel strongly that it will reclaim the destroyed earth the humans left behind. It will increase our boundaries three times over, if that’s the case. Giving us plenty of room to build a sanctuary city.”
Dillon stared at the wall, still stunned.
Declan walked closer. “One of the things I’ve heard over and over and over again from the new shifters is how blessed we are—to have been given this place and the protection of the bear gods to keep us safe from harm. Seeing what Project Zed is capable of… what humans are capable of… it makes me want to reach out and help other shifters. I want to make this place a safe haven for those who are in need of it. I want us to share these blessings we have.”
“And what will the den think of this?”
Declan chuckled. “You leave that to me.” He paused gazing at Dillon. “I need someone smart and strong, and quick on his feet to help me bring this idea to life. But I also need someone who believes in it, as well.”
Dillon didn’t answer. He could only stare at the wall, as if it might move right before his very eyes.
“What would a safe haven have meant to you boys a few years ago?”
He turned and met Declan’s stare. A safe haven might’ve changed their lives a lot sooner. But Dillon wasn’t one to jump onboard bandwagons. It wasn’t his thing.
“And after I return from Midnight with my ideas? What then?”
“We put your ideas into plans… plans into action,” Declan said before a broad smile crossed his face. “Ever read up on architecture?”
“No, but I can,” Dillon said, more intrigued by that. He loved to build things. Always had.
He paused, looking around at the flags once more, still stunned by what the alpha was telling him. “This’s going to ruffle feathers and piss the den off.”
“As you keep saying.”
Dillon smiled. “Count me in. Anything that’s going to irritate the living fuck out of those people sounds like fun.”
Declan laughed out loud before he shook his head and offered his hand. “Good to have you aboard.”
Dillon took the alpha’s hand and shook it with a grin to his lips.