Chapter Fourteen
A call from Seth had Axel wondering about a change in their plans. He found Joe and Kai down by the river, chatting quietly. They were both still recovering from their ordeal at the hands of the hyenas, and he was glad they had each other to talk to.
“Hey, guys.”
Joe got up and greeted him with a hug and a kiss. Kai hung back, giving him a shy smile and a wave.
“So, Seth called to invite us to the Cove for the Gathering. It’ll be in two weeks’ time. I was thinking we could head there on our way back to the Weir. How does that sound?”
Axel guessed Joe was thinking of the same thing he was. The previous Gathering, where the omegas had helped reaffirm their connection to each other.
The beta smiled and nodded. “I think that’s a great idea. What about you, Kai?”
The omega looked bewildered. “What’s a Gathering?”
They sat down beside him on the river bank.
“It’s when all the wolf packs get together, have a party, and the younger adults choose their mates.”
Kai frowned. “Like an auction?”
Axel winced at the comparison.
“No, nothing like that. The people who want to be mated put themselves forward, and the omegas from the den help match them. And then they choose each other. No money changes hands. Sometimes there are fights if more than one person wants the same mate.”
“Is that how you and Joe became mates?” Kai was starting to look less wary and more curious.
“Not exactly. We were there last year but not taking part.” He didn’t tell Kai that the omegas had placed them together. He didn’t want to confuse the omega or make him feel unwelcome. It was all new to him. They had to introduce the whole thing slowly.
“And now you’ve found each other, you don’t need to,” Kai continued.
“Something like that. But it would be nice to go. It’s lots of fun and there’ll be plenty of people from the den there. What do you say?”
“They won’t make me take a mate?”
The wariness was back. Joe pressed closer to Kai, bumping his shoulder while Axel reached out and took Kai’s hand in his.
“No one is going to make you do anything you don’t want to do. I give you my word.”
“Our word,” Joe corrected. “We’ll take care of you, we promise.”
Kai finally capitulated. “I haven’t been to a party like that before. It sounds like fun.”
Axel ensured that neither Kai nor Joe were expected to work during the Gathering. After what they’d gone through, he wanted them to have a month or two of relaxing and feeling secure, Kai especially. Though even Joe was off-kilter, hyper-aware of where he was and who was around him.
Kai was completely enchanted by Seth and Dara’s kids. Watching him with them couldn’t fail to bring a smile to Axel’s face.
“He’s good with them,” Joe murmured in his ear one afternoon, as they watched Kai and Dara encouraging the little ones to stand and walk.
“A natural,” Axel agreed. “Like someone else I know,” he added, with a significant look at Joe.
The beta flushed. “Bringing them into the world is one thing, actually raising them is something different altogether.”
Axel slung an arm around his shoulders. “And yet you’d be a dab hand at both, I’m certain of it.”
They watched for another minute before Axel broke the bad news.
“My dad’s not coming.”
Joe turned to him, a frown on his face. “Not coming? What do you mean?”
“He’s not coming to the Gathering. No one from the Weir is. Seth just told me. Dad banned anyone from attending, calling it a mockery of wolf tradition. All matings in the Weir have to be approved by the alpha.”
“Have you talked to him?”
“Just after I spoke to Seth. It wasn’t encouraging in the slightest. He’s dug himself into a hole that he has no intention of climbing out of.”
“And we’re going back to that? Bringing Kai into that?”
“It’s not perfect, but I hope, with our influence, he’ll come around. He didn’t get like this overnight, it’ll take time to see changes.”
Joe rested his head against Axel’s shoulder with a sigh, his eyes still on Kai.
“I want to take part.”
Axel blinked. “Take part?”
“In the Gathering,” Joe added with a huff.
“Bored of me already?” Axel teased lightly.
“I want to do it properly. I want everyone to see. Especially now your dad has drawn a line in the sand.”
“Okay, sure. You and me…”
“-and Kai,” Joe interrupted. “It has to be the three of us.”
“We haven’t even really talked to Kai,” Axel said softly. “Don’t you think this is throwing him in the deep end.”
“And you think bringing him to the Weir isn’t? We’ll ask Cade and Dara, get the omega seal of approval while someone explains to Kai what that means. It’ll give him confidence which, right now, is something he sorely lacks.”
“Confidence in what?”
“In what he means to us and who he could be standing by our side. He’ll need that if he’s going to face down your dad in a week’s time. Especially with Shane being all anti anything that doesn’t fit in his narrow worldview. Make no mistake, neither I or Kai are what he had in mind for you. And he’s just banned the rest of the pack from having that either.”
Joe talked to Cade and Dara and the omegas promised they’d do what they could. He left it to their capable hands.
As he walked down to the beach to meet Kai and Axel, he saw a familiar face, from the Weir, waving to them as they passed by.
“I just saw Greg,” he said to Axel when he reached the beach.
“Yeah,” Axel replied. “He arrived this morning, with two others. They’ve left the Weir.”
“Left? As in… they’re not going back?”
“After this week, they won’t be allowed. All three have eyes on mates that Dad either wouldn’t approve or whose packs insisted on them going through the Choosing. They weren’t left with a lot of options.”
“Damn,” he said softly. “That’s rough.”
“Really rough. I’ve promised them I’ll do what I can to turn things around, but at this rate, we’ll lose a handful of pack members every year, maybe more as time goes on.”
“Can’t your dad see what he’s doing to your pack?”
“You know Shane. Stubborn to the last. The only person he ever listened to was Angus. With Angus gone…”
“We’re doomed,” Joe said with a smile, trying to lighten the conversation.
He got a grin from Axel. “Something like that. Kai and I were just talking about going for a walk along the cliffs.”
Speaking of Kai, the omega was about twenty feet away, peering at something on the sand.
“Kai?” Joe called.
“It’s moving.”
They jogged over to see what he was staring at.
“A starfish,” Axel concluded. It wasn’t anything special, but Kai seemed enthralled.
“It looks like a star,” he murmured.
“Hence the name. Do you want to give him a hand back to the sea? The tide will pick him up later on anyway.”
Kai made a face. “He looks spiky.”
Joe grinned. “He’s not so bad as all that. Here.” He plucked it gently from the sand and held it out on his palm so Kai could get a closer look.
“You haven’t spent much time at the sea, I take it?”
The omega shook his head. “We’ve always lived inland. I’ve never seen anything like that in a river.” He cautiously reached out and touched it.
“Don’t worry, it won’t bite,” Joe assured him. Within a minute, Kai had the starfish on his palm and was carrying it toward the sea, settling it down as the waves lapped around his feet.
“Are there starfish shifters?” he asked, wiping his hands on his shorts as he walked back toward them.
“I’ve never met one,” Joe said. “And they’re a little small so probably not.”
Kai was looking past them suddenly. “It’s Cade,” he said, pointing. “And Dara. Their litters aren’t with them.”
He looked so disappointed that Joe almost laughed. “Let’s go say hi.”
It quickly became clear that Cade and Dara were looking to talk to Kai alone. Joe encouraged Axel to come walk with him along the cliffs, leaving the others to ‘omega business’ as he jokingly referred to it.
“What do you think that’s about?” Axel asked as they walked arm in arm through the soft grass.
“The start of something,” Joe said with a smile.