Chapter Twenty-nine
Parker
Feeling ashamed for his shifter family was something Parker had never considered. They had their ups and downs, their good and bad sides, like any other family. Parker wasn't going to start being ashamed now. He was what he was. He loved who he loved, and he turned into what he turned into. The wolf shifters had taken his story pretty well, considering it started with him as the villain. It was Glenn who Parker was most worried about. He was taking this all pretty hard, judging from his slumped shoulders and the way he kept squeezing his hands into fists. When they finally got away and to Glenn's apartment Parker was sure the other two felt exactly as he did.
Glenn pushed open his front door and walked inside, pulling the other two in behind him. "This is the hallway," he said, kissing Brady's neck, Parker's shoulder and any other body part he could get his mouth on. "The kitchen," he mumbled against Parker's lips, jerking his head in what Parker assumed was the general direction of the kitchen. The tour was less of a tour and more of a lesson on the quickest way to the bedroom. Which he was fine with. It was comforting that although so much had changed about their surroundings, their desire for each other was the one constant.
Glenn's bed was larger than Brady's had been and was made neatly. Somehow, that suited Glenn. He seemed like he'd had a very nice, neat and orderly life. Then Parker had to come along and messed it all up. "Come back to me," Glenn muttered, nibbling onto Parker's ear as he did. "Come back to us."
Parker blinked, bringing his attention to the two men who had somehow become naked while Parker had gotten lost in his head. He gave them a cocky smile. "Make me," he responded and lay back. They slid up either side of his body, winding their limbs together into one big snuggle ball. As their gentle touches grew more heated, Parker's entire body ached, hot all over as if they hadn't had sex a few hours earlier. He needed these men, would always need them. Glenn pulled away, getting on his knees as Brady draped his body over Parker's kissing him sweetly. He cried out into Parker's mouth when Glenn entered him from behind, slipping inside of his body smoothly.
"You are so beautiful," Parker murmured, watching Brady's face as he accepted their mate. "You are doing so good. Does it feel good, love?"
Brady opened his eyes, staring into Parker's as if he was seeing into his soul. "It's perfection," Brady whispered back before wailing loudly.
Parker held onto him as Glenn pounded into him. It was as if he was the anchor, keeping the three of them safe and grounded. Because their heat could split them open, pull them into pieces that floated away. He whispered encouraging words, telling Brady how good he was, how nicely he was taking Glenn's huge dick.
Brady's release coated their bodies, slickening their skin. Glenn roared, driving into Brady one last time before remaining buried to the hilt, his cock knotting inside of his mate, filling him with his seed. Parker couldn't help himself, he slipped his hand between him and Brady and found his own throbbing erection. He stroked himself, orgasming right as Brady came again, simply from the feeling of Glenn's dick pressing into his most sensitive areas.
After, when they were all heaving, trying to catch their breath, after Glenn had finally been able to pull out, after the other two had gone to bed, Brady snoring lightly against his chest as Glenn draped an arm over the two of them, Parker looked up at the ceiling and tried to imagine the stars beyond the plaster and wood. He thought about living Brady's life, more similar to his own, and then about living as Glenn had, in the open, in the city, always strong, always adored. Was this why fate, their inner animals, the powers that be, saw fit to bring them all together? Maybe they were meant to complement one another.
In the forest, Parker felt like he belonged, but here in the city, he was a fish out of water. It didn't help that it had only been one day and that no one had been expecting the enemy to walk through the door. If it had been only Brady with Glenn, there would have been no anger or fear. There would have been a party.
Glenn tightened his grasp around him as if sensing Parker's turmoil in his sleep.
When he opened his eyes again, it was bright outside. Parker heard the inhabitants of the apartments around them bustling about. It sounded so loud to him he wondered how anyone could sleep through it. Turned out, Brady wasn't. His eyes were open and he was searching Parker's face, a worried expression in his eyes. Parker wondered what emotion had been showing there that he hadn't thought to hide. "Everything okay?" Brady asked, leaning up on his elbows. Glenn stirred on the other side of him.
"It's just really noisy out there. Is it always that loud?"
Brady cocked his head to the side but shrugged. "Human ears hear nothing," he said.
"The pack party," Glenn mumbled into his pillow. "They're all getting ready for the pack party."
"Who is going to be there?" Brady asked, sliding out of bed. Parker rolled over onto the spot he'd just been, enjoying the warmth and scent of him that he left behind.
"The Den wolf pack obviously. Luke's wolf pack that live down at Frannie's house. Though they are basically a part of us now there is so much crossover. The wolf packs that live along the coast are all coming. I heard there was a pack of lions that were supposed to come, which is extremely rare. There bear pack will come most likely late as usual. And finally, there's another wolf pack about a hundred miles north from here that is sending a team of delegates. We haven't gotten along with them for years, despite who was leading us."
"You make it all sound so official, like it is the UN meeting."
"It kind of is like that. Traditionally, shifter packs keep to themselves. I mean, have you ever even met another shifter before me?" Glenn asked Parker.
Parker shook his head. He had sort of thought that isolation was a coyote trait, apparently it wasn't.
"It's also just easier for us to stay hidden and under the radar of the general human population when there aren't a ton of us cramped together. But as we have learned, isolation can breed contempt from other packs that may have just heard things about you from other people. This is a good step but it has a massive possibility of blowing up in our faces."
"Have they invited everyone they have room for?" Parker asked, trying to sound casual despite the thoughts whirling in his mind. What if he could convince his pack that creating a relationship with the wolves was better than trying to fight them? Or, if he couldn't convince his uncle, he could try to convince his aunt.
"I don't know how it would look…" Glenn said, clearly reading Parker's mind despite his attempts to hide his thoughts.
"They're just children," Parker retorted sharply.
"Parker, I know and I like them."
"But?"
"I didn't say—"
"You were about to. But they are coyotes? But you think your family will hate them before they can get a chance to know them, like they did me?"
"It was one day, Parker. Less than a day. One moment in the evening."
"Okay, then let's go down for breakfast right now. It's been a few more hours people have had a chance to sleep on it. Let's go see." He was being argumentative and baiting his mate and he didn't like it. But there was a battle going on inside of him - one that demanded he and his family be accepted and one that wanted him to just blend in and makes this easier on his mates. He jumped from the bed, heading for the bathroom. "I shouldn't have come here," he muttered. He heard Glenn leap from the bed a moment before he felt his hard body behind him. Parker spun around, his back bumping into the wall as Glenn set his hands flat on either side of him.
"Parker, you belong here," Glenn said gently, his body trembling with the force of holding back. "You are mine. You belong where I am."
At the clinic, in the forest, Parker believed that. But here, surrounded by people who were afraid of him, he wasn't so sure. "Then let's go to breakfast."
Glenn sighed, the corners of his eyes tilting down in a sad expression that Parker wanted to kiss away. "Fine, we're going to breakfast."
Around thirty minutes later, the three of them walked into The Den. There was a different crowd than the night before, quieter and more subdued. Parker thought he heard every fork in that room drop as they all stopped eating and talking to stare at them. Glenn and his coyote.
Glenn sat them at a table in the middle of the restaurant; if he was trying to prove a point that he wasn't ashamed of his mate, then he was definitely doing a good job.
In minutes, a thin, doll-like wolf shifter with long glossy brown hair walked up to their table. "Hey there, Glenn. I'm Andrea," she said smiling at Brady and Parker.
"Hey Andrea, I thought you worked the kitchen on Fridays?" Glenn asked conversationally.
Andrea squirmed, her smile faltering a little before she stretched it back across her face. "I do, but I really wanted to wait on your table. I missed you and wanted to meet your mates." Andrea was a better liar than Parker, but it was still obvious that that wasn't exactly what had happened.
"Who was supposed to wait at our table?" Glenn asked, his words rumbled from his mouth like boulders.
Andrea sighed, her bright smile disappeared replaced by something rueful and more authentic. "Ruthie got a job here a few weeks ago. It isn't her fault. She was part of the pack of kids that were attacked."
"Coyotes attacked children?" Parker asked, unable to help himself.
Andrea's eyes widened briefly as if she was surprised he didn't already know. "Yes, when Caleb brought them up the mountain. They damn near killed Caleb, which accounts for Asher's behavior. You can't blame people, Glenn. They're trying. I know what it is like, coming in from the outside. It just takes time."
"But you're a wolf," Parker said.
"That certainly helped. Now, what can I get you all? Stella is at the grill so it will be extra tasty."
They each ordered, and a few minutes later Andrea came back with coffee. All in all, breakfast was turning out to be uneventful. Glenn smirked smugly in his seat, taking a sip of his coffee with a noise that seemed to scream, I told you so. Parker relaxed enough to look around the room. The decor was a little odd, old dirty decorations mixed with ones that looked brand new. He looked over at the bar where a couple of people sat, hunched over, clearly ordering a little hair of the dog. His dad had done something like that often enough and had always told Parker the fastest way to get over a hangover was to get drunk again.
"What if I became their supplier?" Parker wondered out loud. "If I supplied my uncle with clean alcohol, the kind that wouldn't get him or anyone else sick. They'd still be jerks, but maybe their morale would rise if they could shift again."
Brady looked unconvinced while Glenn seemed unwilling to offer his opinion.
"Why would you want to make the coyotes stronger?" a gruff voice asked from one table over.
Glenn sat straighter, looking the man who had spoken up and down a few times. "I don't recognize you," he said finally.
"In for the party, the rest of us are coming later tonight. Darius," he said, sticking his hand out.
Glenn finally shook it. Parker did not miss how Darius did not offer his hand to either of the other two inhabitants. "Nice to meet you, Darius, but we were having a private conversation here."
"In the middle of a restaurant," Darius replied, turning his chair in their direction. "Now I heard you had some trouble with coyotes down here. I was telling your pack master, the true shifter, not that hybrid one, that when we had a run in with a pack of coyotes up north, we took care of them the only way that works." Darius pulled something out of his pocket that jingled like keys. Parker frowned, wondering where this was going, before he saw what Darius meant. On his key chain, hanging there like a souvenir was a furry object. Parker set his coffee cup down.
"Is that coyote?" he asked quietly, his blood boiling.
"Only way," Darius replied with a smile.
Parker leapt from his chair, grabbing the butter knife as he did. He landed squarely on Darius, his feet on the man's lap as he toppled back in his chair. Parker wasn't sure what he was going to do, he wasn't thinking straight enough for any kind of forethought. He'd seen that bit of flesh that could have been a brother, a sister, a friend of his, and he had blanked. When he came to his senses it was because he was being held back. He snarled at his captor, noticing too late that it was Glenn. Parker snapped his mouth shut and sagged in the man's embrace, the fight leaving him as quickly as it came.
Conner and Felix burst into the restaurant along with two other strong wolf shifters Parker had never met and one shifter that he would have guessed was a lion. They cleared the place out, to much grumbling from the customers and staff who would be missing out on their tips for the morning rush. Parker slumped down on a chair, Brady by his side, as Glenn spoke with his pack masters. Darius had been taken to the apartment upstairs, bleeding from his nose and lip. Parker looked down at his hand, noticing he was still holding the butter knife that was thankfully clean.
"That's ridiculous," Glenn exploded, stomping back from his pack masters. Apparently, they weren't rushing in to take Parker's side. Not surprising to Parker. "He had a piece of another shifter hanging from his key ring like it was a Troll Doll. Why is a shifter like that even here, welcomed with open arms?"
"We all knew there would be getting-to-know-you pains, they do things differently in other packs. Judging someone is the exact opposite of what the party is supposed to be."
"And yet everyone feels free to judge my mate," Glenn growled. Parker could tell he was getting close to maybe saying some things that he would regret later on. Parker stood, Brady following beside him.
"Glenn, stop, it's fine."
Glenn turned to him, holding him in his arms. "It isn't," he insisted.
"What that guy did isn't fine, but this is. Don't hurt your relationship with your pack. Let's just go back to your apartment."