“Gale?” Cocking his head, Isaac gazed up with confusion. “The pack has lived under these rules and laws for generations. Why did we do that if it was wrong?” he asked, voicing the one question no one had been smart enough to ask.
Gale couldn’t find the words to say how proud he was.
Jude answered, gaze firmly on Gale. “Because we never knew it was wrong,” he said, simplifying the truth.Someknew it was wrong and left. “We’ve lived the same way for so long we never knew life could change. The people who came to Dnara for acceptance never returned. It wasn’t wrong but it wasn’t right to abandon the rest of us who were trapped, never telling us there was another way, another life, a safer place to live.”
The hard, painful honesty demanded action. Whether or not anyone was looking, Gale couldn’t resist. He cupped Jude’s head and pulled him into a hard kiss, proud of him for saying ‘us’ and meaning it, for claiming and owning his pain and anger.
Keeping his orientation secret didn’t mean the pain didn’t exist, that Jude hadn’t been hurt, devastated, and oppressed by what had gone on in their pack.
Holding his gaze, Jude swallowed his feelings. “Until Keon came home, we didn’t know Vihaan, our laws, and our hearts, could change.” He squeezed Gale’s hand and whispered, “But we can. We have.”
Chapter Five
Gale was drowning in the sweet scent of sage when the model took a break. Even when Jude joined Drew, he wasn’t bereft. The scent lingered, the mate bond intensified, and Isaac released him with a smile that eased the ache Jude left behind, letting him pretend everything was fine.
“Leo?” Drew approached a tall man with blue hair.
The model paused, gaze narrowing, drifting over Drew and evaluating the team. Leo took a discreet sniff and a smile blossomed. “Come with me,” he said, slipping off a fashionable jacket that barely touched his hips to hand to a young woman. She hung it on a rail as Leo continued towards a sofa not far from the door.
Without care, he undid his jeans and stepped out, handing them to a young man who took the clothing and left.
Gale eyed Leo with curiosity. The description they’d been given didn’t tally but he guessed a lot had changed in the last nine years. If this was the right man, he’d gone from sixteen to twenty-five in Dnara. Far from home. Alone.
He looked good, tall enough to match Gale’s six foot, with hair shorn close at the sides and back, long hair at the top dyed bright blue. Freckles drifted across his cheeks and nose, his physique well-toned, and scent clean, like morning dew and camomile.
When Leo turned, in nothing more than black boxers, he didn’t hesitate to step close to Jude. He dipped his head into his neck and breathed deeply. “Holy Mother. You guys smell amazing.”
Gale pulled a fottai from his pocket, lighting it in this safe corner, with no scent except a faint residue of cleaning solution. Someone had been keeping this area scent-free.
“Oh!” Leo groaned and took a whiff of the smoke. He visibly shuddered and cracked a grin. “Can I roll in your scent?”
“Um, Leo?” Drew sputtered in shock.
Janet leaned her elbow on his shoulder to shush him.
Gale shook his head and pointed to Isaac. “Rub on him. He’s little and unattached,” he said, as it would make this easier. Now they knew Leo was Vihaan, it was likely he was the right man.
Without embarrassment, Isaac stepped closer. “Hi, Leo.” He hugged the stranger, and they both glowed in contentment.
“Hi.” Leo rubbed his cheek over Isaac’s hair, inhaling deeply.
A finger hooked onto Gale’s back pocket, and he found Jude standing by his side, jaw tight. He was no doubt thinking about how Isaac, innocent and someone he couldn’t be mad at, had been basking in Gale’s scent, and realising Leo was getting a heady mix of Isaac’s scent mingled with Gale’s.
The jealous, possessive tug delighted him as he took a drag and handed over his cigarette. Jude’s eyes flashed a warning, but he took the cigarette, sharing saliva, sharing breath.
If they’d been anywhere else, Gale would have shoved him against the wall and shared more than Jude could handle. Maybe later.
Drew flushed as the hug extended beyond the comfort of most humans.
Gale shook his head and winked at the lynx. “It’s a m’weko instinct. The ‘Holy Mother’ gave it away. We’ve got the right man. He’s m’weko and homesick,” he confessed, knowing the feeling. He’d been gone two weeks and missed the pack like crazy. He couldn’t imagine how it felt for a guy who had been gone foryears. From a sixteen-year-old kid to an adult in Dnara, without his mate, without seeing or scenting him. The thought made him twitchy, so he grabbed Jude by the belt loop to bury his nose in his hair, and Jude relaxed against him.
Leo broke the hug, pressed his forehead to Isaac’s, and whispered his thanks. Both had tears in their eyes when they parted, Isaac stepping into Janet’s orbit to take her hand, all three equally homesick and alone. “I haven’t scented another m’weko in forever. The Vihaan I know are mostly kalou,” Leo confessed, glancing at Drew to nod in acknowledgement. “Like you.”
“Oh, I’m not from Vihaan.”
Cocking his head, it took Leo a second for the confusion to clear. “You were turned,” he said, staring at Drew in wonder. “I’m sorry. Turning is unpleasant and distressing for both parties. It must have been awful,” he said, with the compassion of someone who had seen a forced turning of a human.
Interesting.
