Reaching Dylon’s office, Smokey was relieved to see that the door was open. Rapping his knuckles against it, he waited until Dylon looked up from his computer screen. “Do you have a moment?” he asked.
Leaning back in his desk chair, Dylon smiled, waving Smokey in. “Sure, I was just catching up before the twins wake up. It took forever for us to get them settled down enough to fall asleep last night. Have a seat.”
Closing the door, Smokey walked over and sat down, glancing around the office. “Nice space you have,” he said, nervously rubbing his hands on his thighs. Now that he was here, how to start the conversation had flown from his mind. The man in front of him was pure muscle and power and, while Smokeywasn’t lacking in either of those attributes, he knew Dylon could easily take him down.
Before Smokey could start, Dylon said, “I didn’t get a chance yesterday to personally thank you for killing Josiah. He’s been a thorn in our sides for quite a while. I’m not sure how much you know about what he did, but I’ll bet anything Jackson and his brothers slept better last night than they have at any time since the massacre.”
“That’s good to hear. Theo told me he was evil but…”
“He was…to the core.” Pausing for a moment, Dylon asked worriedly, “Is there a problem with Theo’s cub?”
“What? No! At least I don’t think so. Why did you ask? Did Mac say something?”
“Whoa,” Dylon replied, holding up his hands to stop Smokey. “No one told me anything. The only reason I asked is because of how nervous you are. If it’s not Theo, then why are you acting like a cat on a hot tin roof?”
Smokey’s cheeks burned bright red before he could hide his face in his hands. Talking about his sexual exploits had never bothered him before, but then he’d never faced this particular issue before. It certainly was nothing he could talk to Glenn or Ghost about, so that left only Dylon. He would just have to swallow his embarrassment and do it.
Smokey’s behavior confused Dylon for a moment until he remembered something Jackson had told him yesterday, and then all the puzzle pieces fell into place. Knowing how hard it would be for him to talk to a relative stranger about it, he was impressed by Smokey’s courage. Deciding it would help if he broke the ice, Dylon said, “I haven’t told anyone this, but whenI was shipped off to a Shaman who taught me how to be a Dom, I could never picture my mate submitting to me, especially since he’d be a wolf. But I was proven wrong when I met Cody.”
“Cody is submissive?” Smokey asked.
“Yeah, but he didn’t know it until we met.”
“I don’t understand. How come?”
“It just never occurred to him that he was. The same way Theo never knew he needed the structure being submissive gives him.”
“That’s what Norm said.”
“Nor did Norm know he was actually a Dom,” Dylon replied.
“He told me Theo kept asking him for more…”
“And I bet he told you Cody sent him to me for help.”
“Yeah…but I still don’t understand why. Theo’s an Omega…wouldn’t it be enough that Norm’s an Alpha?”
“It probably would under normal circumstances, but then that’s not what happened to Theo and Norm,” Dylon said. “You have to remember they were taken from their home and shipped thousands of miles away from everything they knew. When they woke up, they found themselves chained and locked in a filthy cell where they were not permitted to shift. The only reason Theo didn’t die was that Norm and Kieran kept him alive. And that’s why they all share such a tight bond, even to this day.”
Smokey’s eyes glowed red with anger. “That asshole needs to die for what he did to my mates! A prison sentence would be too good for him.”
Dylon chuckled. “I agree with you, but not by either of our hands. Did you know that Arald killed Jake and Jessica’s parents just to get the twins who he planned to sell?” Seeing the disbelief on Smokey’s face, he continued, “It’s true. Thankfully, it was Kieran’s job to take care of them and when Cody and I finally freed all of Arald’s prisoners, the Fates decided Cody and I should be their parents. As much as I want that asshole dead, I won’t do anything that would adversely affect my mate or my pups. Let the High Council take care of Arald while you take care of Theo and Norm.”
“Jackson said the same thing to me.”
“He’s a smart man.”
“Yeah…he is,” Smokey said, distractedly, his mind still on his problem.
Dylon’s eyes narrowed as he studied the grizzly bear. Whatever drove Smokey to seek him out hadn’t been resolved and it was still bothering him. Steering the conversation in that direction he began by saying, “I’m not a kiss-and-tell type of guy…whatever we talk about is between us…unless it affects the safety of the pack.”
Smokey’s eyes widened. “No…no, it’s nothing like that.”
“Is it about Theo and Norm?” Dylon asked, keeping his voice low.
Sighing, Smokey nodded. “Not so much about Theo but more about me and Norm.”
“What about…oh, I understand. It’s about Norm being the dominant when…”
