Jacks, Marcy - Mason Returns to His Mate [DeWitt's Pack 8] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove) (6 page)

before their encounter.

Of course, somehow those bastards knew. For humans, hunters

made pretty good trackers. It was annoying to admit, but it was the  only way it was possible for them to have put together that he and  Derek were connected even though they hadn’t seen Mason’s human  face.

That is, until Derek had mentioned something about his tire tracks after he’d driven away from the attack and the hunters had apparentlytried to get into the store when Mason and Derek had been in the back.

He fought against the warmth in his face at the reminder of what he and Derek had been doing.

“What’s the matter?” James asked.

Mason shook his head. “Nothing, just angry about all this.”

Finding out that the pawn shop and everything inside of it had been burned to the ground the next day, with a warrant out for  Derek’s arrest for the insurance fraud he was supposedly attempting by lighting up his own business, had just been the cherry  on top. It made Mason want to show his face to Derek less and less.

“You don’t have to be angry, and you are a part of this pack. You  didn’t have to stay away. You could’ve come back.”

“I know,” Mason said, wetting his lips as he and James walked  around the trees immediately surrounding the clearing of cottages.  With new hunters in the area, James didn’t want to be far from either

his home base or his mate.

“Then why did you stay away for so long?”

“Because … ” Mason could never tell his brother about what he

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did. It was bad enough he’d shamed himself out of the pack, but  telling him that he’d raped his own mate was something else entirely.  He’d been lucky to have been received so well by his brother and the  rest of the pack, and he didn’t want those curious looks to change into  disgust and horror.

“I was ashamed,” Mason said. It wasn’t a lie.

James listed a crooked brow at him. “For losing?”

“Yeah.”

James stopped walking. “Are you saying that if I’d lost to you, you would’ve expected me to stay away in shame for ten years?”

“What? No!”

“Then why did you stay away? The law says that if a challenger  loses the battle for the rights to alpha, he only has to stay away for  twelve months―”

“I know.”

“Ten years, Mason. Are you serious? And you haven’t even  started your own pack in all that time.  I was beginning to think you’d  died.”

“I know! Okay? I get it,” Mason snapped. Wolf law stated that the  loser of the challenge only had to be away in shame for the twelve  months so that they would be more submissive when they returned. If  they didn’t return, it was expected that it was because they’d started  another pack.

Mason hadn’t started another pack, and he hadn’t died. Sometimes  he wished he had, however. He hadn’t really done anything except go  through the motions of living, trying to forget the people he’d left  behind.

Mason rubbed his face with his palms. “Look, I can’t explain this right now, but I stayed away for a reason. Can you just leave it at that for now?”

How about forever?

James looked at him. “Is it something to do with that human?”

“James,” Mason growled in warning.

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“Because in case you hadn’t noticed, a lot of the guys around here  are mated to other men. It’s not exactly uncommon anymore, at least  not in this pack.”

Mason had noticed that, and he thought it was strange as hell and  completely unfair that he had his mate in his sights, was now able to  see Derek whenever he wanted, but had fucked up so totally and  utterly that any kind of relationship was out of the question.

The second Derek remembered what happened that night, if he  really was repressing the memory, Mason was going to have a lot of  explaining to do.

He was still considering the option of just asking Derek if he  remembered or not so that he could apologize now.

That was going to be an awkward conversation.

“Mason? Are you listening to me?” James growled. Clearly the  leading alpha didn’t like to be ignored when he was speaking.

Mason came out of his thoughts and remembered where he was.  “Yeah, sorry. Look, just please let me handle this with him. It’s  something I need to deal with on my own.”

James looked at him in that sharp way Mason recalled their father  doing whenever he was trying to get information out of his sons.  James was so much older than Mason was, but he’d always been a kid  in their father’s eyes, and always treated as such whenever they’d  gotten into mischief together. Usually that was because Mason  wanted to be troublesome, and James had been humoring him by  going along with whatever stupid little plans he’d come up with.

“For now. I’ll leave it alone for now and only because I have other  things to worry about. I don’t want you vanishing for another ten  years on me, Mason.”

“I won’t,” Mason promised, knowing it was probably a lie. If, or  rather when, the pack found out what he’d done to his mate, their  disgust in  him would be so strong that they wouldn’t need the law of  the pack behind them to state that he had to go.

Anyone who could rape their own mate was considered a danger

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to the other omegas and was not to be tolerated.

Mason turned to leave, but James’s hand on his arms stopped him.

It was mostly his own shock that allowed him to be pulled against  his brother’s chest. He felt James’s hands behind his shoulders and

neck as they hugged.

Mason hadn’t realized how much he’d missed this warmth, this

loving embrace of family, until just now, and he held his brother back  as tightly as he could.

“You’re all grown up now. You look so different,” James said.

He did? Well, he supposed so. There was still a major difference  between twenty and thirty. The last of his boyish looks were gone,  that was for sure.

“I think you’ve changed more,” Mason said, referring to all the

scars on James’s face.

James just snorted. “Yeah, probably.”

They were silent for all of three seconds before James’s grip on him became tighter, if that  was possible. “I’m serious, Mason. Don’t leave us again. You go see that human now, and you and I are going to talk later,” James said, releasing him and stepping away.

Mason wished he could make himself look his brother in the eyes as he left, but he didn’t. He made his way over to the cabin where his mate was staying. It was one of the newer but smaller ones. Mason had noted that not so many wolves bunked up with each other anymore with all the added space. Some even kept cabins to themselves and their families instead of having to share.

Mason was going to have to ask James when all these new renovations had started, but he didn’t want to be nosey about it.

He inhaled a heavy breath at the door, fighting to keep from fidgeting on his feet too much. He finally stopped being such a pussy and just knocked on the door.

Derek answered. His blond brows lifted slightly at the sight of him, and he stepped aside, holding the door open for Mason to enter.

“Didn’t think I’d be seeing you,” Derek admitted.

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I didn’t think you’d want to see me
. “Sorry, was just catching up on a couple things with my brother.”

He looked around at the small kitchen they were in. There was a mug of coffee on the table, but it was still full, and no steam wafted out of it. Cold.

“How’ve you  been feeling?” Mason asked then cringed inwardly  at the stupid question.

Derek’s jaw clenched. “Fine, fine, aside from the fact that my life  is ruined.”

“I’m sorry about the pawn shop,” Mason said.

Derek flopped back into his seat with a scowl on his face. He  grabbed the mug between his hands and glared at his dark reflection  in the liquid. “Thanks,” he muttered.

Mason stood there for a minute before Derek sighed. “Sit down.  You’re making me uncomfortable standing there like that.”

Mason did as he was told, somewhat shocked by the command.  He had to remind himself that this was not the same Derek he knew

ten years ago. That was plenty of time for personalities to change.

He cast an appreciative glance at Derek’s body as the other man  got up to fix another mug of coffee.

His personality wasn’t the only thing to have changed.

His jeans fit him perfectly. Tight enough to give Mason a good  view without being indecently skintight. He wore a borrowed black Tshirt with the Spider-Man logo on the front.

There was no coffee machine in here, so Derek had to rely on the  tea kettle on the stove and some instant mix. It took only a minute  before the thing was screaming and Derek was lifting it off the burner  and pouring Mason a cup.

“Do you still take it with four sugars?” Derek asked, reaching for  the half-full sugar dispenser.

Mason couldn’t believe there was ever a time when he drank

coffee like that. He couldn’t believe Derek remembered it either.

“One sugar is fine. A little milk, too, if there is any.”

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Derek nodded.  “They stocked me up with the basics. Everyone here’s been really nice.”

Mason didn’t quite understand the accusatory look Derek sent to him when he said that.

Mason accepted the coffee gratefully, sipping carefully, and surprised at how good it was. Last time he ever had instant, it tasted like shit and he swore himself off the stuff.

He watched as Derek dumped out his own cup and started making another one for himself. “When did you buy the pawn shop?”

The clink of metal against the ceramic was the only sound Mason heard for a minute as Derek stirred his coffee. “Two years ago. The old lady was selling it for cheap, and I’d saved up some money, so I picked it up.”

“The crazy cat lady?” Mason asked, incredulous. “Wow. I didn’t think she’d survive another eight years.”

Derek smiled a little and came to sit down across the table from

him. “She still is alive, too. Still luring the squirrels in for her stupid  cats to go chasing around.”

Derek always had been more of a dog person. Maybe that was part  of the reason he and Mason had both clicked so well back then.

Mason’s spirits suddenly sank. “I thought you were saving your money to go to the city? What happened with that?”

Derek had always talked about going to either New York or San  Francisco. It was one of the  few topics they’d managed to properly discuss in the three days they’d been together. He’d wanted to go to be around more other people like himself and even kept maps on his walls.

Not that Mason had paid much attention to them as he’d been too busy pounding into the other man, but he did remember them.

Mason had been excited for him and saddened with the thought that he would never be able to go to places like that. Being a werewolf in a city was never a good thing.

Derek shrugged. “I guess I decided that  I liked it here better.”

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Mason nodded. He wet his lips and had to push the mug of coffee away from himself before he gripped it too hard and shattered it.  “There’s something I need to talk to you about.”

Derek took another mouthful of coffee and nodded. “Yeah, I

figured as much.”

Mason stiffened. “Uh, you did?”

Derek glared at him sharply again. “Do you have any idea how

many gay couples I’ve seen since I got here?”

“Uh  ”…

“A whole lot considering the size of this place. I swear, I think the  gays outnumber the straights at this point. Granted, one guy seemed to  be talking to himself, but that’s not what this is about.”

Mason couldn’t figure out where this was going. “Is that bad?”

“It is when your brother was the one who told me you left because  you were ashamed of me.”

“
What?
”

“You just disappeared without saying anything. Your whole  family here was avoiding me, too, and that’s fine, I got that with the  secrecy thing you all did, but when I finally got up the nerve to ask  James what had happened the next time I saw him in town, he told me  you left because you were ashamed.”

This had clearly been eating away at Derek for the last ten years.  He was definitely suppressing his memories of what had happened  that night, too.

Mason opened his mouth to tell him the truth, that he didn’t leave  because of anything Derek did, that it was entirely his fault.

Instead, only the half-truth came out.

“He didn’t tell you I was ashamed of you, and I never said that to  him either.”