Pack Law - 3/4

[radiogaga33]

When Tommy woke up alone in his bed the next morning, the first thing he saw was his mobile telecom flashing red with unread comms on the bedside table. He reached for it instinctively, wanting to see what Adam had sent, before last night’s conversation and his newfound resolution came rushing back in and he stopped halfway to the mark. He had to end this with Adam, starting right now.

By the time Tommy sat down at his workstation two hours later, there were five new messages on his telecom, all from Adam. For a long moment, he stared at the flashing display, wanting so badly to reach out to Adam, to lose himself in another day of rambling exchanges. I shouldn’t. I won’t. And for the first time in days, he didn’t. Instead, Tommy deleted each comm without reading it, trying to ignore the awful feeling that settled in the pit of his stomach, cold and heavy and inescapable.

The feeling stayed with him for the rest of the morning and well into the afternoon, right through his outing with another alpha, despite Tommy’s efforts to push it away. No matter what he did, he kept wondering what Adam was thinking, what Adam was doing and who he was doing it with. He found himself imagining Adam with a beta, a woman with dark eyes and an easy smile, slim fingers resting in Adam’s hand. Or another omega, confident and playful, grip tight on Adam’s arm, marking his territory. Halfway through the outing, he stood up abruptly and headed straight for the restroom with a murmured excuse. Inside, he splashed his face with cold water and stared at his reflection in the mirror. He was going to drive himself insane like this. Adam didn’t belong to him. Adam wasn’t his to want.

He returned to the table with new resolve and managed to hold up his end through the rest of the outing. Tomorrow evening, he would join Adam for their scheduled time together. He would keep things polite and impersonal like he was supposed to, like he should have done all this while. For now, he deleted each new comm Adam sent through the rest of the afternoon, and when he got home to prepare for his evening outing, he left his telecom behind deliberately.

“You received a package while you were gone,” Lisa informed him later when he returned home.

Tommy paused halfway up the staircase and looked back over his shoulder. “But I didn’t order anything to be delivered,” he said, confused.

“Well, you’ve got something all the same. Father sent it up to your room.” With that, Lisa turned away and walked out of the foyer.

Tommy took the rest of the stairs two at a time, hurrying across the landing and into his bedroom. He saw the package instantly. It was hard to miss the large black case laid out on the floor by the foot of his bed. Curiosity rising, Tommy shrugged off his navy blue long coat and tossed it onto the bed. Then he flipped the brass latches on the case and opened it.

It was impossible. It had to be, and yet, there he was looking down at an antique Tesari blackwood guitar, one of only two hundred ever made, and in perfect condition by the looks of it. Awed, Tommy reached out and flicked the guitar strings. It sounded perfect too. But how-just that moment, Tommy caught sight of the card inside the box. He picked it up, heart pounding, knowing whose name was signed there before he even read it. Adam. It could only be Adam. Tommy remembered the conversation from four days ago when he’d told Adam about his love of antique guitars, how he’d always wanted a Tesari blackwood guitar and how he’d resigned himself to never owning one. They were so rare, even when one had the money to pay the obscene asking price of one. And yet, somehow, Adam had managed to get it. For a long minute, Tommy simply stared at the guitar, completely overwhelmed. Because Adam had remembered. Because Adam had likely paid a fortune for the guitar. All for him. Tommy straightened up and picked up his mobile telecom. To hell with his new resolutions.

Tommy dialed Adam’s frequency code, something he’d never done before, but this time, he needed to hear Adam’s voice.

“Tommy?”

He sat down on the bed and cradled the telecom closer when the static cleared and Adam’s voice came through. God, he’d missed the sound of his voice, only he hadn’t known it until now.

“You shouldn’t have,” he said, rushing right in.

“It’s been delivered then? I’ve been trying to reach you all day to let you know ahead of time.”

Guilt cut through Tommy as he thought of all the comms he had deleted today.

“You shouldn’t have,” he repeated. “This is too much, Adam.”

The line was silent for a few seconds. “Not for you, it isn’t,” Adam replied quietly.

“Adam….”

Tommy trailed off into silence. There were so many things he wanted to ask Adam, but he was too afraid to hear the answers. What does this gift mean? Is this just a game for you? But even more immediate were all the things he wanted to tell Adam, if only he could find the words, if only Pack Law permitted him to say them even if he could.

The silence dragged on, heavy and protracted until Tommy wondered if Adam was doing the same thing he was, if Adam was biting back his own questions and confessions. Suddenly, he recalled other moments like this over the last few days, when long minutes would pass between Adam’s replies, like he was hesitating, like he was holding back some vital piece of himself.

“Bring it with you tomorrow night,” Adam finally said, breaking the silence.

“Why?”

“You’ll see. It’s a surprise.”

“What kind of surprise?”

Adam chuckled softly. “That’s all the detail you’re getting out of me until tomorrow.” He paused for a moment. “Goodnight, Tommy.”

No, no. Wait a while. Stay with me. Words Tommy couldn’t say, so he said the only thing he could.

“Goodnight.”

Another moment and Adam was gone. Afterward, Tommy stood up and undressed slowly, putting away his formal clothes and dressing for bed. When he was finished, he walked over to the open guitar case and ran his fingers over the gleaming blackwood. Unbidden, an image rose to mind of the first time he’d seen Adam, tall and broad and perfect, walking toward him like something out of a dream. I could love you, he thought. Then he shut the case carefully, turned off the lights and got into bed.



The next evening found Tommy running back and forth to his dressing room for a solid hour, changing outfits a dozen times until he was afraid he’d go insane. Finally, just when his nerves had almost gotten the better of him, he decided on a rich indigo long coat over black leather pants and boots. Afterward, he examined himself in the full-length mirror in his bedroom, nervous and slightly terrified, like a fifteen year-old boy heading off to his first school dance. That thought made him pause mid-turn, suddenly hyper-aware of how ridiculous he was being, not to mention how late he would be if he didn’t leave the house right this moment.

Quickly, he turned away from the mirror and grabbed his mobile telecom and the guitar case before heading downstairs.

“You’re off to see Lambert, I see,” his father said, just as Tommy reached the front doors.

He turned around to face his father in the foyer. “Just keeping to the schedule,” he said, trying to sound casual while his heart pounded wildly in his chest.

For a brief, uncomfortable moment, Tommy’s father stared at him with narrowed eyes, gaze searching. Neither of Tommy’s parents had commented on his unusual attachment to his mobile telecom lately. Tommy had assumed no one had noticed his conversations with Adam, but now, shifting nervously on his feet before his father, it suddenly occurred to him that they must have.

“Be careful, Thomas.” His father’s expression softened, shifting into something Tommy recognized from his childhood. He had been nine, loud and wild and convinced he could fly. His father had looked at him just like that the morning Tommy had climbed up on the arm of a chair and leapt forward only to come crashing down to the floor. Here Tommy was, on the edge again, and this time, it was a long, long way to fall.

“Aren’t I always?” Tommy replied with a forced smile. “Goodnight, Father.”

When his father nodded his acknowledgement, Tommy slipped out the front door. Outside, he pulled his touch-key out of his pocket and activated the ignition protocol for his hover-car. A few seconds later, the vehicle approached and touched down on the driveway. Tommy got in and before long, he was steering into the driveway at Caledonia, a new restaurant on the waterfront that Tommy had been dying to visit. His lips curled in a small, private smile as he exited the hover-car and handed his touch-key to the valet. Adam had remembered this too.

“Tommy!”

Tommy turned around at the sound of Adam’s voice calling his name, ready to return the greeting, but the sight of Adam stole every last word from him. It should be impossible, but somehow Adam managed to look even better than the first time they met. He was dressed all in black again, silk long coat over a silk shirt and leather pants, each piece a perfect contrast to his pale skin and golden hair. In the soft glow of the lamplights above the restaurant’s doorway, Adam looked absolutely perfect, and Tommy couldn’t help but think that he’d be happy to just stay right here and simply stare at Adam for the rest of the evening. Then, some still-functioning part of his brain realized how idiotic that thought was and forced him back into motion.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” Tommy said when he’d closed the distance between them.

Adam looked at him strangely for a moment before laughing. “Where else would I be? Shall we?” With that, he held the door open for Tommy to walk through before entering right behind him. For a few seconds, no one seemed to notice them. Then suddenly the soft hum of conversation turned to dead silence as all eyes turned to them. Tommy looked back defiantly, protectiveness rising when he caught some of the hostile looks directed at Adam. He shifted closer to Adam deliberately and slipped his arm around his.

Adam looked down at him, surprise and curiosity mixing with some emotion Tommy couldn’t begin to guess at. “You’re breaking your own rules.”

So I guess I’ve got the rules clear for our turn: show up on time and keep my hands to myself?

Tommy smiled at the memory. “I never said the rules applied to me.”

“Fair enough,” Adam said with an answering smile before the hostess led them to their table, a plush, leather booth set back from the main dining room of the restaurant but still right next to the windows so they got a lovely view of the water but were largely shielded from overly curious eyes.

“I’ve always wanted to come here,” Tommy said when they were seated. “The waiting list is always three months long. How did you manage it so quickly?”

“If I told you, you wouldn’t be half as impressed. I rather like you looking at me like I’m a magician.”

Tommy chuckled. “Come on. Tell me.”

“Well, truth is, I’m the silent partner.”

“You own this place?”

“Only half of it, but yes.”

Tommy looked around the large dining room, taking in the long row of glass windows, fanciful furnishings and antique light fixtures, doubly impressed now that he knew part of it belonged to Adam.

“Now that I know, I’ll try not to break anything,” he said.

“What?”

“Think about it. If you own half, that means, someday very soon, I might own a quarter. If you win at the mating ceremony, that is.”

Adam leaned forward. “Do you want me to win?”

Tommy’s pulse quickened at the way Adam asked the question, joking and serious at the same time, eyes sharp like he could see right into Tommy’s thoughts.

“Pack Law, regulation P-63, section 3422 says I’m not allowed to answer that question,” Tommy said in a light, teasing tone.

Adam laughed. “Fine then. I’ll just make up your answer in my head.” He closed his eyes for a second. “There.”

“So, what did I say?”

Adam opened his eyes. “Pack Law, regulation B-24, section 355 says I don’t have to tell you a thing.”

Tommy laughed, shifting to the edge of his seat to kick Adam’s foot beneath the table.

“Ouch,” Adam said, smiling that dazzling, perfect smile of his. “Those violent tendencies again. I worry for you, you know.”

“Shut up,” Tommy replied, feeling light and warm and so happy to be right where he was, at this table, with this man.

Over the next hour, they placed their orders and worked their way through the first two courses of their meal, talking about a dozen different things, conversation flowing smoothly, as if they had shared a meal a hundred times before. Tommy had felt silly admitting it to himself, but he’d been worried all day that their easy exchanges over their mobile telecoms wouldn’t translate to a face-to-face encounter. He felt even more ridiculous now, because this was so much better, laughing at each other’s jokes, delving into deeper detail about each other’s lives, getting to see Adam’s smile in person instead of imagining it as his fingers dashed across his telecom screen. Being here with Adam magnified everything he’d felt since the moment he first saw Adam, multiplied it, making him want to make a dozen promises he didn’t have the right to make, making him lean forward unconsciously, eyes dark with barely concealed desire and open admiration.

Adam was the one carrying the conversation for the moment, telling Tommy about his misadventures when he’d first arrived in Sorei and how amazing it had been to find people like Sutan and Terrance and the rest of their circle of friends. “They adopted me, in a way,” Adam said with a fond expression. “They became my family.”

“I’m glad you have them. I can’t wait to meet all of them someday.” The words were out before Tommy realized what he’d implied. That he and Adam would be together. Across the table, an unreadable look passed over Adam’s face for a moment before he settled back into a half-smile.

“You’ll get to meet them sooner than you think.”

“What do you mean?”

“Haven’t you wondered why I asked you to bring the guitar?”

“Of course I have. Tell me.”

“There’s a nightclub near the hill on the outskirts of the city called Roma. Have you heard of it?”

“Vaguely, once or twice.”

“Well, it’s a bit off the beaten path, so to speak. There’s usually a good group of people gathered there on most nights. Live music, good liquor, good company, everything you could want. Everyone makes it onto the stage one way or the other on any given night, to sing, strum a guitar, bang a drum-whatever you want.”

Tommy suddenly realized what Adam was saying. “You want me to play?”

“You talked so much about it. I’d love to hear you play. If you want.”

There was something about the way Adam said it, earnest and a touch nervous, that made Tommy want to play a hundred songs for him right this moment. Hell, he’d play until his fingers bled if Adam said so. But he couldn’t think things like that, shouldn’t want to give Adam everything he had. Suddenly, everything he’d managed to forget since they’d walked into the restaurant came rushing back in. Pack Law and the rules of courtship and the fact that even now, this could all be a game for Adam. Abruptly, Tommy shifted back in his chair, drawing back his hand from where it had been resting less than an inch away from Adam’s, fingertips nearly touching on the expensive silk tablecloth.

“Are your Seconds going to join us soon?” Tommy asked, now that he remembered protocol.

Adam looked down at his hand with a shuttered expression. Then he drew back as well, dropping his hands onto his lap. “They’ll meet us at Roma,” he said, expression carefully blank. “Unless you’d rather not go, in which case I can call them right now and tell them to meet us here.”

Tommy cursed at himself inwardly. He hadn’t meant to do that, to be the cause of the sudden tension between them. He studied Adam’s guarded expression, wondering at the contrast between this and the way Adam had looked all through dinner, face bright and open, staring at Tommy like he was the only person in the room. Surely Adam wasn’t that accomplished an actor? Surely one couldn’t feign all of that? But if this wasn’t a game for Adam, where did that leave Tommy-where did that leave both of them when, a week from now, Tommy could be mated to someone else? No. No. He couldn’t think about that. Tommy sat up straighter, forcibly pushed the questions away, and focused instead on what Adam had been saying before Tommy had opened his mouth and nearly ruined the evening.

“Roma sounds great. I’d love to go there with you if the invitation is still open. You’ve met my family. I’d like to meet yours.” Tommy smiled afterward, shaky and nervous as he waited for Adam’s response.

“I’d like that too,” Adam said quietly, returning Tommy’s smile.

Thirty minutes later, they walked out of Caledonia together and headed to the valet stand to wait for their hover-cars. When their vehicles arrived, Tommy turned to Adam with a slight frown as a thought suddenly occurred to him.

“I don’t know how to get to where we’re going.”

“Just follow right behind me. I’ll get us there.” Adam smiled, bright and playful. “Do you trust me?”

“I trust you,” Tommy replied immediately. Then, without thinking, he added, “I think I’d follow you anywhere.” Musing and low, a thought meant more for himself than for Adam, and God, he hadn’t meant to say that out loud.

Adam froze for a moment, staring at Tommy with surprise. Then he turned away with a small, private smile. “Come on,” he said. “Roma’s waiting.”

Tommy followed.



Roma was like a rush of blood to the head, frantic and loud, colorful and dazzling and nothing at all like anywhere Tommy had ever been. He couldn’t help gaping as he walked into the cavernous space of the main room on Adam’s arm, turning his head this way and that, trying to take everything in all at once: the rich, antique chairs and benches juxtaposed against cerileum glass tables with intricate titanium bases, the dizzying diversity of people he saw, young and old, locals and foreigners, all of them dressed strangely and extravagantly, chain metal and silk here, bronze cuffs and lace trimmed gloves there. Now he understood why Adam had told him to take off his formal long coat outside, and why Adam himself had rolled up his shirt sleeves afterward and deliberately ruined his perfectly finished hairstyle with a few drags of his long fingers through his hair. They were a little less conspicuous in their clothing now, a little less out of place in the sea of wildness and excess all around them.

Adam looked completely in his element as they walked further into Roma and a loud cheer went up to the right of the room where over a dozen people crowded around four or so tables pushed together. If Tommy had thought Adam’s smile was brilliant before, well, it was positively incandescent now as they made their way towards what had to be Adam’s friends, his family, as he had called them. He recognized Sutan and Terrance right away when they stopped at the tables, greeting them first and trying to hide his surprise at how informal they were with him, pulling him close and talking to him like they’d known him for years instead of having shared a meal for a few hours two weeks ago. And speaking of the banquet, these introductions were almost more overwhelming than being on the receiving line that night. It was incredible to be the center of attention in a group like this, so many bright and colorful people talking to him all at once, trying to catch his attention, pulling him every which way at once so that, before long, he’d gotten separated from Adam, seated two tables down between Sutan and a gorgeous beta named Brooke, with his guitar case carefully set against the wall behind his chair.

“I’m going to go get drinks,” Adam announced, standing up from his chair.

“Go ahead,” Sutan said, slinging his arm across Tommy’s shoulders. “Now I’ll have him all to myself.”

Adam’s friends laughed, some of them winking at Tommy.

“Hands off, Sutan. He’s mine.”

“He can keep his hand right where it is,” Tommy said, light and giddy with excitement. “You haven’t won me yet.” Sweet and teasing, drawing laughs out of everyone gathered around them.

“Well played, darling,” Sutan said, grinning at him before looking up at Adam. “See? He’s going to fit right in.”

Adam rolled his eyes, shaking his head and laughing before disappearing into the crowd of clubgoers. The questions came at rapid-fire pace then, all corners launching off at once until Tommy could barely keep track of who was asking what when. And besides all that was the music, sharp and loud, pounding in his chest.

“It can get a little loud sometimes. It takes some getting used to.”

Tommy turned to discover that a new person had taken Brooke’s place beside him. The man was handsome with golden hair and silver-blue eyes like Adam, only his were a little darker. His skin was darker as well, freckles less pronounced; shorter and leaner too, but still gorgeous. Another half-breed. There was no mistaking it, which meant that this had to be Sauli Koskinen, the one Adam had talked about during one of their rambling conversations days ago, the half-breed omega he’d met a decade ago when they were both alone and near-penniless in Sorei. Now, Sauli was one of Adam’s closest friends and the research and development director for Adam’s entire portfolio of companies. Seeing him in person, discovering how handsome he was, Tommy couldn’t help but wonder if they had ever been lovers. Shaking off the thought, he told himself he didn’t care. It was an unconvincing lie.

“Have you been here before?” Sauli asked.

Tommy wondered briefly about his odd accent; then he remembered what Adam had told him, that Sauli had grown up in the North, which explained his lilting vowels and blunt consonants.

“No, never.”

Sauli smiled. “Don’t worry, you’ll grow accustomed to it all. Especially since you’ll be back here a hundred times with Adam-assuming he wins, that is.”

“Assuming,” Tommy replied quietly.

Sauli was silent for a moment, looking at Tommy strangely before breaking into a broad smile. “This is so strange. I’ve only just met you, but I feel like I know you already. You’re all Adam has talked about for weeks, you know. But then again, that’s nothing new. He’s been talking about you for years.”

The entire world seemed to slow to a crawl. “Years?” Tommy repeated, low and strained, feeling like the ground was shifting beneath him. “What do you mean ‘years’?”

He could see the moment Sauli caught himself, eyes going dramatically wide when he evidently realized what he’d just revealed. Agitated, Sauli bit off a low curse before standing up abruptly and pushing his chair back from the table.

“Listen, I never said that, alright? I’m dead drunk.” It was an obvious lie. Sauli’s eyes were clear and sober. “I don’t know what I was saying.” He made a show of looking at the chrono-display strapped to his wrist. “Look at the time. I have to go…uh…water my plants. Yes, I’m going to run home and do that. Give Adam my apologies for leaving early, won’t you?”

Before Tommy could react, Sauli was already moving away. “Wait!” Tommy called. “What did you mean?”

He pushed back his own chair, already halfway to his feet in a bid to chase after Sauli when Sutan grabbed his arm and pulled him back down.

“Where are you going? You’re the guest of honor and I’ve got some more people for you to meet.”

As much as it killed him, Tommy sat down again and plastered on a polite smile. He had no way of explaining a sudden departure and for reasons he didn’t care to examine, it meant everything to him for Adam’s friends-his family-to form a good opinion of him. So he stayed in his chair and smiled and chatted with each new person Sutan introduced him to until Adam came back, bearing a tray of drinks. He took the abandoned seat next to Tommy and set a glass in front of him.

“I’m glad to see my friends haven’t eaten you alive yet.”

“I’m surviving,” Tommy said, aiming for a smile and missing by a mile.

“Are you alright?” Adam asked immediately, concern obvious.

No, Tommy wasn’t alright. He didn’t know what to do with what Sauli had told him, the revelation that Adam had been talking about him for years. How was that possible? What did it mean?

“I’m fine. It’s just the noise.”

Adam’s expression brightened. “You’ll get used to it.”

“So I’ve been told.”

As the night wore on, the same questions whirled round and round in Tommy’s head so that he barely heard the conversations going on around him anymore. Which was probably why it took him a half-minute to realize that a small group of Adam’s friends were heading up to the stage.

“Come on,” Adam said, standing up and grabbing Tommy’s guitar case. “It’s time to play.”

“I can’t do that alone.” He’d never played for anyone except his family and friends. There were easily six hundred people in Roma at the moment, possibly more.

“You won’t be alone. I’m going up with you.”

Tommy frowned. “What are you going to do?”

“Sing, of course.”

Tommy couldn’t help but think of that first night, when he’d wondered if Adam sang and decided it would be a shame if he didn’t. So his voice was meant for music after all. For the first time in an hour, Tommy felt light and happy again. He was going to hear Adam sing.

When Tommy took the stage with Adam and his friends, Isaac, Camila and Ashley, the crowd in Roma started clapping and cheering, well before they had even done anything. Quickly, they decided on a song, a popular tune from two summers ago. It started off with a lone guitar, a playful cascade of notes that Tommy picked out carefully, forehead creased in concentration as he tried not to let his nerves get the better of him in front of all these people, in front of Adam. Twenty seconds in, Camila picked up the melody on the keyboard, Isaac pounded on the drums and Ashley brought up the rear with a solid bass line. Tommy smiled at the sound they made together, settling into an easy equilibrium on stage.

And then Adam joined in.

No one should sound like that, Tommy thought as his fingers stuttered across his guitar strings for a moment before he righted himself. He gaped in awe, struck dumb as Adam’s voice ebbed and flowed, caressing each note, transforming each one into something extraordinary, something Tommy could only describe as transcendental. He stole a quick glance at the others, gauging their expressions to see if they were as stupefied as he was. Surely Adam didn’t sound like this every time. But the others looked normal, keeping time on their instruments and playing to the crowd. When the song finally ended, Tommy decided that he’d been wrong that first night. Adam’s voice wasn’t made for music. Music was made for Adam’s voice.

The crowd cheered as they headed off stage and returned to Adam’s group of friends. Another hour passed in a haze of conversation and liquor and laughter and loud music until Adam stood up and invited everyone back to his home for some quieter fare.

Outside, Tommy paused uncertainly as the others headed to their hover-cars. He was already bending the rules, spending this much time with Adam, far more than he’d spent with any other alpha. Going to Adam’s home after all that wouldn’t be bending the rules anymore-he’d be breaking them.

“You don’t have to come if you don’t want to.”

Tommy looked up at Adam. He had on that soft, sweet smile again, the one Tommy was starting to think of as meant for him alone, even though he shouldn’t, even though he knew better. Tommy looked back over his shoulder, watching for a few seconds as the other hover-cars lifted off. He couldn’t go home yet. Tonight might be all he would ever have of Adam. Tommy couldn’t let it end yet.

“I want to.”

Adam’s smile deepened at Tommy’s reply. He moved closer and brushed a lock of hair from Tommy’s forehead, fingertips skimming Tommy’s skin, making him tremble as if Adam had burned him.

“We’d better get going then. I’m the host. It wouldn’t do to have everyone waiting out in the cold on my doorstep.” With that, they both headed for their hover-cars and joined the impromptu caravan to Adam’s home.



Adam’s home was in the hill range community to the south of the city, more a mansion than a house, a sprawling series of rooms and verandas and marble niches. It was a beautiful home, Tommy decided as he moved through the rooms, wandering around, running his finger along sculptures and marble pieces. In a week, he could be living here, just him and Adam, finally alone, with the rest of their lives to look forward to: growing older, career successes, children. As he returned to the main living room where most of the party was gathered, Tommy couldn’t help but imagine dozens of night like this, their home filled with friends while their children slept upstairs, tucked away in their beds. It seemed so real, so palpable and yet for now, it was the thinnest of fantasies.

The revelry carried through the night, lasting for another two hours so that it was almost daybreak by the time Adam’s friends started leaving one by one. When Adam went off to escort the last of them to the door, Tommy finally got up from the leather couch he’d been sitting on and walked out into the hallway leading to the front doors. On his way there, he passed by an open door that had been closed hours earlier. Looking in, he saw what he had missed before, a large bright room with thick carpeting and antique wood and bronze armchairs. But the showpiece of the room was a large, ebony-lacquered silkwood piano displayed with its top raised and finished off with a large, button tufted leather bench.

Tommy slid a finger across the lighting pad on the wall by the door, turning up all the light fixtures so that the room was even brighter. Then he walked to the piano and ran his fingers over the keys admiringly. It really was a gorgeous instrument. Tommy thought of the Tesari guitar locked away outside in his hover-car. Adam, it seemed, had an eye for beautiful things. Tommy was still smiling at that thought when Adam walked into the room.

“Do you play?” Tommy asked, looking up from the piano.

“Only a little. It’s mostly for decoration, I’m afraid. I had lessons when I was a child, but after my mother died, there was no time for music. I think that’s why music is so important to me now. It’s the only connection I have left to her.”

Tommy nodded and sat down on the piano bench. A moment later, Adam closed the distance between them and sat down on the other end of the bench.

“What was she like?” Tommy asked.

“She was beautiful. She always had a smile for me, no matter how terrible things were. It didn’t matter that I was the son of the vampire who had forced….” Adam trailed off for a moment, looking away. “She told me every day how much she loved me.” Adam gave him a sidelong glance. “I think she would have loved you too.”

Tommy looked down at his hands, unsure of how to respond to that. “What about your father? I remember what you said at my house. Do you truly know nothing about him?”

“Not a thing. He must have died in the war for liberation, and if not, then he left for Vampiris decades ago. Either way, he’s nothing to me. I used to hate that part of what I was so much. It was hard not to, sitting in classrooms with full-blooded cubs, getting taught how vampires were the enemy, how they were the lowest form of life. Deathmongers. I remember sitting in the back of the room, wanting to crawl under a rock and die because I was half-vampire. When I was old enough, I’d spend what little money I had trying to hide what I was. I dyed my hair black every six weeks without fail and I’d use artificial tanners to make my skin look darker. But I could never change my eyes; the color always gave me away. They’d mock me in the schoolyard and on the streets leading back to the orphanage. ‘Look at the deathmonger pretending to be a werewolf.’ It’s the reason I left Kaduna to come here. I thought in Sorei, in the big city, no one cared what you were, only what you could do. The first thing I learned here was how wrong I was. Nothing changed.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Why? You didn’t make things the way they are. It’s not your fault that I had to work thirty times as hard as everyone else to be taken seriously, that I had to grovel for knowledge and opportunities. I learned to swallow my pride, because I knew someday I’d get everything that was coming to me, money, social standing, and then they would be the ones begging me.”

Something sharp and cold twisted in the pit of Tommy’s stomach at the fierce, hard-edged way Adam spoke. There was no more avoiding the question; this was the moment of truth.

“Is that why you sent a proposal for me?” he asked quietly. “To improve your social standing?”

Adam gave him an odd look. “Is that what you think?”

“I don’t know what to think. I wonder if this all a game for you, this…thing between us. Then tonight, your friend, Sauli, he said you’ve talking about me for years and I don’t know what that means.”

“He said….” Adam voice trailed off as he ran a hand through his hair roughly. Barely a second later, he stood up and began to pace the length of the room. Tommy sat perfectly still, almost afraid to breathe, certain that they were on the edge of some precipice.

Finally Adam stopped pacing. “I have a confession to make,” he declared. “The night of the banquet, that wasn’t the first time I’ve been in a room with you.” Tommy finally moved, looking up sharply with surprise. “On the fifteenth anniversary celebration of Liberation Day, they held a tribunes’ ball at the Capitol. Do you remember?”

Of course Tommy remembered. It had been his fifteenth birthday, and his family had been extended a special invitation by the Tribunal to attend the celebration.

“I remember,” Tommy replied.

“I was there.”

“What? How?”

“I’d only been in Sorei for a few weeks. I was working the event as part of the catering crew. I remember I’d just come out to restock a tray on one of the buffet tables when I looked across the room and saw you. The whole world stopped. I remember standing there far longer than I was supposed to, watching you and thinking, ‘If he would just turn, if he would just look at me.’ There was nothing I could have done even if you had, but in that moment, it seemed like the most important thing in the world.”

Tommy thought about the ball, how nervous and uncomfortable he’d been, how he had spent the evening counting down the hours until he could be alone again without politicians and broadcasters and wealthy citizens poking and prodding at him. And the entire time, Adam had been there. All this time, they could have been together. They could’ve-

“I didn’t turn.” Tommy’s voice was barely a whisper.

Adam looked at him with a small, sad smile. “No, you didn’t, and eventually the moment was over. Later that night, I described you to my crew’s supervisor and asked who you were. Do you know what he said? ‘Forget that one, Lambert. That’s Thomas Luna you’re talking about. Have you gotten it all confused? Dyeing your hair and darkening your skin doesn’t make you a real werewolf. You’re nothing but a half-breed underneath all that. Do you think they’ll let you mate with a full-blooded omega-and not just any omega, the Victory Child? The Tribunal would let the whole of Lycan burn to ashes first. He’s not for you. He never will be.’

“That’s when it started for me, changing into who I am now. I met Sauli the next week; then Sutan, Terrance and rest of them two months after that. Just like my mother, they didn’t care what I was. They accepted me and in turn, I learned to accept myself. Doing that lit the fire in me, the drive to prove myself, to show all of Lycan that a half-breed could accomplish just as much as a full-blooded werewolf could. And you…you became a symbol to me, of everything the world said I couldn’t have. I remembered you, talked about you, but in a way, you weren’t…real anymore. Then I heard the banns read for you and it all came rushing back. Suddenly I was eighteen again, staring at a boy across the room and wanting him to be mine. So I sent a proposal out of curiosity, just to see if you really were the one, or if I’d blown a memory too far out of proportion. And then I was there, in a room with you again, and you were nothing at all like what I would have expected. You surprised me that night when you came after me. I knew right then that this wasn’t an experiment anymore. You became real to me again, and I couldn’t walk away.”

Adam walked back to the piano and sat down on the bench again. “Now you know everything,” he finished quietly.

For a long moment, Tommy sat silent, overwhelmed with feeling. There was no doubt now that Adam was genuine, that this wasn’t a game for either one of them. Tommy stared down at the floor, incredibly humbled by the fact that this stunning, proud, strong-willed man could think so much of him, that this man could truly want him.

Finally, Tommy looked up and shifted on the piano bench to face Adam. If Adam could go out on a limb, lay himself bare like that, then Tommy had to do the same.

“All my life, all I’ve ever wanted was to find my mate, but nothing ever felt right, no one ever felt right. And now I learn that all I had to do was turn around once upon a time and I would have found him.”

Adam stiffened with surprise. “Tommy-”

“I’m sorry I didn’t turn,” Tommy continued, shifting closer to Adam. “I’m sorry I didn’t look at you. But I’m here now. I’m looking at you now. You’re all I can see, my head is so full of you.”

They were seated so close together now, close enough for Tommy to feel the heat radiating from Adam’s body. On his lap, his fingers twitched, wanting so badly to reach out and touch Adam, to sink into all that heat, to commit every line of his body to memory. He must have moved then, or may Adam did, Tommy would never really know, because every coherent thought turned to dust the moment their lips met, Adam’s mouth soft and sweet against his.

Adam moved slowly at first, as if testing Tommy, before deepening the kiss, teasing at the seam of Tommy’s lips until Tommy gave in, moaning as Adam’s tongue slid wetly against his. It was everything Tommy had imagined and more, wet and perfect and wild, a desperate crush of lips and teeth and tongues. As the kiss wore on, Tommy became aware of the sharp scent of desire in the air, his own scent intermingled with Adam’s, making every nerve ending in his body burn with the purest form of electricity. He moaned into Adam’s mouth, giving as good as he was getting, pushing for more and whimpering brokenly when Adam’s hand settled against his throat, fingertips pressing into his skin as Adam took and took and took.

There was nothing tentative about the way Adam was kissing him now. Adam’s kiss was pure ownership, pure lust, an alpha claiming what belonged to him. The thought made Tommy whimper low in his throat, made him press closer, wanting more contact, to feel Adam’s heat and weight on him. Tommy fought for more, grasping and pulling until they crashed down onto the thick carpet, still kissing, hands roaming frantically across each other’s bodies. Adam was the one to break the kiss, pulling away to leave a trail of kisses across Tommy’s jaw and down his neck, sharp teeth sinking into Tommy’s skin again and again before soothing away the sting with slow drags of his tongue.

“Please, please,” Tommy babbled helplessly, not even sure what he was asking for. All he knew was that he needed more, because nothing had ever felt like this. No one had ever been able to do this to him, to reduce him to a writhing, incoherent mess with little more than a kiss.

Adam growled against his skin in response to Tommy’s words before taking Tommy’s lips again, kissing him deeply even as he moved his hands down to Tommy’s thighs, spreading them wide and settling in between them.

Oh God. He could feel Adam now, the muscles rippling beneath his skin, the delicious weight of him and the hard, swollen length of his cock. Tommy moaned and spread his legs wider, desperate for even more contact, hating the layers of clothing separating them. He wanted skin on skin, wanted to feel Adam’s cock rubbing against his own, rock-hard with desire, slick with precome, rutting against him until they both came. But even more than that, he wanted to feel Adam inside him, to spread his legs as wide as they could go while Adam fucked him open, pressing in deep, tying with him, making Tommy take his knot and getting him hot and dripping wet with his come.

The images came hard and fast, making Tommy moan as Adam rutted against him, dragging his cock along Tommy’s aching flesh, grinding into him. It wasn’t enough.

“More,” he demanded, thrusting up to grind his cock harder against Adam’s. “Touch me. Fuck me. Adam, please.”

“God,” Adam groaned, hands gripping Tommy’s thighs hard enough to bruise. “You can’t say that. You can’t ask me for that.”

Tommy reached out, frantic and confused when Adam started to pull away. “No. Wait, please.”

“We shouldn’t have started this,” Adam said raggedly when he’d put some space between them, resting back on his heels on the floor. “We can’t do this; you know that.”

Tommy scrambled up, closing the gap between them, hands gripping the rumpled fabric of Adam’s silk shirt. “Just another kiss,” he said. “Just our hands and mouths.”

“I won’t stop there. I can’t; I want you too much. I won’t stop until we’re tied together, until I’m holding you down and pumping you full of my come, marking you, making you mine in every way. Bonding, Tommy. Imprinting.. We can’t do that. That is one law we can’t break. I won’t let you die because of me.”

To hell with Pack Law, Tommy wanted to say, but Adam was right. If Adam tied with him in a full mating tonight, he would imprint on Tommy. And if Adam lost at the mating ceremony, that meant he could never replenish the chemical bond again and Tommy could die. Reality shattered the lingering haze of desire, sobering Tommy. He shifted closer to Adam on the carpet and pulled him into a tight embrace, sighing with relief when he felt Adam relax against him and wrap his own arms tightly around Tommy’s body.

“You have to win at the mating ceremony,” Tommy whispered fiercely. “You have to win.”

Adam sighed and tightened his hold on Tommy. “I know.”

PART 4