Blue Mountain (Pack 1)

Simon sighed and then turned around. “Yes. So you already know I was introduced to this pack a long time ago and I wasn’t welcome.”

“My Lord!” Donia jumped to her feet, rushed over to Simon, and threw her arms around him. “Where have you been? My gram was devastated when you and Tricia disappeared. None of us knew where you went or why.”

Sherry, Donia’s grandmother, had been a dear friend of Simon’s mother and an Omega. She’d often brought Donia’s cousins—John and Duane—with her to visit and they’d become the closest people Simon’d had to friends. So, yes, Simon realized Sherry hadn’t been happy about their departure. He also knew Sherry was well aware of why they left.

“Your gram knew why we left.” Simon extricated himself from Donia’s hold and picked up his mug. “She helped us get away.” He blew on the hot liquid, more to have something to do than because he wanted to cool it.

“Get away from who? You were here one day and then the cabin was empty and nobody heard from either of you again. My gram didn’t—”

“Sherry gave us every dime she could access without drawing suspicion.” Simon raised the mug to his mouth and took a scalding sip. “We didn’t tell her where we were because we never wanted her to have to lie if she was asked.” Except one winter when both of Simon’s arms were broken in an accident at his job loading trucks, his mother had pneumonia, and they ran out of funds and food. Desperate, they called Sherry and she got money to them again. “Your grandmother was a wonderful woman. I remember your uncle a bit too. He was nice.”

“Gram passed about five years ago, but Dujon’s still around. He’ll be so happy to see you. And you remember his boys, Duane and John, right? They have seven little ones between them. Plus my Lucy and then this baby.” Donia rubbed her belly. “The family’s grown a lot since you were here.” Donia picked her mug up and then returned to the table, her gaze fixed on Simon. “Tell me what happened.”

“I’m an Omega.”

“Yes, you are. You were too young for me to notice back then, but I smell it now. Did my gram know? I bet she was thrilled. She always fancied herself a mentor to the younger Omegas.”

“She knew and, yeah, she was happy about it. But Kristof wasn’t. He said I had to go so my mom went with me.” It was incredible how few words it took to explain the most painful, destructive moment of his life.

“Why would he do that?” Donia asked, her eyebrows furrowed together and her lips parted in shock.

“Male Omegas are weak and useless,” Simon repeated the words by rote. “The last thing Kristof wanted was to explain that his DNA was fifty percent responsible for creating one.”

“Kristof’s your father?”

Simon nodded. “He never wanted my mother to tell anyone, so she kept it quiet but your gram knew.”

“Kristof was a motherfucking piece of shit asshole, and the one thing I’ll never forgive my husband for is getting to him first, so I didn’t have the chance to rip his throat out myself.” She picked up her mug, took a sip, and said, “Do you have any sugar? Pregnancy gives me a sweet tooth.”

Once he picked his jaw up from the floor, Simon bobbed his head, got the sugar container and a spoon for Donia, and sat down next to her.

“Simon?” She put her hand over his.

“Yeah?”

“Kristof’s dead. His friends are either dead or gone. But the rest of us are still here. This was your home once and there are people here who loved your mother and you. Please don’t hold what he did against us. Give us a chance.”

“Simon?” Mitch’s voice boomed through the house as the front door banged open.

Donia yanked her hand away and flinched.

“We’re in the kitchen,” Simon called out as he stood up. “Stop being scary.”

Mitch was there in seconds. He tugged Simon up against him and said, “I scented Donia. What’s going on?”

“Well, right now you’re raising the blood pressure of the woman carrying your future niece or nephew. What did you do to make her so scared of you?”

“I saved her and everyone else from the power-hungry people who ran this pack.”

“Oh.” Simon considered that explanation. “Well, maybe they just don’t know you. If they realized—”

“Simon,” Mitch interrupted.

“Yeah?”

“I don’t care what the pack thinks of me. I keep them safe. That’s what matters. Now”—he tucked Simon under his arm and looked at Donia—“care to tell me why you’re here? If this was another of Freddy’s setups, I’m going to make him regret it more than the time he broke my favorite RC car.”

“I think that kind of tone and language might be the reason people are nervous around you,” Simon pointed out.