It was dark when Scott and Ted pulled into the parking lot of the strip center. Scott parked and sat back.
“No one’s here yet.” Ted looked all around.
“I suppose that’s good.” Scott got out. “It’ll fill up quick, I promise.”
“Think Wyatt will come?”
“Hell, I think he’ll be first.” Scott laughed as he got his keys to the building out. He unlocked the door and walked quickly to the back to turn off the alarm. “This is where we hold our meetings.”
Ted stood in the middle of a large room with chairs arranged in rows. “So you think everyone in the pack will show?”
“Yeah. Wives included.” He snorted. “It’s their turn to give back to me since I’m the one that has to approve their marriages.”
“Well, if we can’t be married, how can they approve it? If there is no marriage, we can just be together, and no one gets hurt.” Ted hoped he’d found a loophole, anything they could use to get out of this.
“Sorry. It’s not just the marriage. That’s not what I or the pack votes for. We vote to bring a mate into the pack, not if you can or can’t marry.”
“Right. Pack stuff.” Ted didn’t think he’d ever get the hang of the rules. “So what now?”
“We wait.” Scott checked his watch. “It’s seven forty-five.” Scott moved to stand behind the podium at the back of the room, near the offices.
Ted pulled out a chair and sat next to him. He hated waiting, and this was just about the worst thing he’d ever waited for except one. In that case, the ambulance didn’t arrive on time.
Ted wondered if he’d have to call for an ambulance tonight.
“How would they explain your death?” Ted looked up at Scott, but Scott was staring at the door.
“We’d come up with something. If they ever found the body,” a voice said from behind Ted.
“Hello, Bobby.” Scott straightened.
Ted spun around in his chair. A large man, around fifty or so, stood in the doorway. He wore jeans and a western shirt, the kind with mother-of-pearl snaps, and a huge belt buckle. This was a man to be reckoned with, Ted knew. He didn’t know how he knew, but this man had been an alpha.
Ted stood. “Hello. I’m Ted Canedo.” He held out his hand as the man advanced.
“This him?” Bobby looked Ted up and down like he was a prize bull. “I can see the attraction, son. Hope the others will too.” He came up and took Ted’s hand and gave it a single shake with a firm grip.
“I hope so too.” Ted grinned, then glanced over at Scott.
“Thank you, Bobby. Having you behind me—you don’t know what that means to me.” Scott and Bobby shook hands, pulling in to clap backs.
“Best find my seat before all the good ones are taken.” Bobby ambled over to the side and took a seat in the last chair in the row at the very front.
Mike and his wife Sharie came through the door next, waved to Scott, introduced themselves to Ted, and then took the seats next to Bobby.
Sharie gave Ted a very concerned look, and Ted nodded in response. Then she smiled, leaned over and whispered something to Mike. He laughed and nodded. Sharie winked at Ted, then Scott.
“’Bout time you settled down,” Scott’s mother said as she walked up the aisle and took a seat next to Mike’s wife. “It sucks about the grandkids, but what are you going to do?” She shrugged. Sharie patted her hand in sympathy.
“Good to see you again, Mrs. Dupree,” Ted said as he leaned over.
“Call me maman, son.” She winked at him.
Scott coughed into his fist, his glance dancing over to Ted. Ted figured he’d get lots of looks, lots of comments, and he’d have to do his best to keep his temper. This was Scott’s fight, not his.
Over the next ten minutes, the place filled. About twenty men and ten women, of all ages, took their seats. Ted figured at least half of the men were single, too young to mate. The others were probably their fathers and mothers. Only half of the men, like Mike, had women sitting with them.
“Is this everyone?” Ted asked Scott.
“No. We’re missing some who are on duty. Another ten or so.”
“Are they mostly married?”
“No, single. They take the night shifts so the married men can stay home with their families.”
Ted wished more of the younger men had shown. Younger might mean more open to different ideas, like gays in the pack.
“Where’s Wyatt?” Ted asked, covering his mouth with his hand so no one would know what he’d said.
“In the back. The large guy in the blue flannel shirt,” Scott whispered back. “His wife is next to him.”
Ted used his best PI skills to assess Wyatt without seeming to look at him at all.
His stomach sank. Wyatt was bigger. Scott had to be six feet two, but Wyatt looked to be about six feet six or so. His hands looked huge. Ted shivered at what he’d be like as a wolf.
Wyatt’s wife looked worried. Very worried. She bit her lip and twisted a handkerchief in her hands. Ted figured she knew what was going to happen, and maybe she was as frightened as he. There was more than one life at stake here.
Everyone waited for Scott to take his place and call the meeting to order.
“Good evening.”
Heads nodded.
“I guess most of you know why we’re here tonight. I’ve found my mate, and I’m here to bring him before the pack. I ask the pack to accept my mate, Ted Canedo.” Scott turned to Ted and motioned for him to stand.
Ted swallowed and stood, moving next to Scott.
The entire room gaped at him. Well, not everyone had their mouth open, but to Ted, it seemed that way.
“What do I do?” Ted whispered.
“Introduce yourself.” Scott moved away from the podium and pulled Ted behind it.
Ted grabbed the podium for dear life. Public speaking wasn’t his forte, but this was do or die, so he dived in.
“I’m Ted Canedo. I’m from New Orleans. I’m Scott’s mate. I hope you’ll accept me in the pack.” He looked at Scott and raised his eyebrows. What else was he supposed to say or do?
Scott moved next to him. “I’d like to call for a vote.”
One of the men in the group stood. “What the hell is this, Scott? Some kind of joke? You telling us you’re gay?”
“It’s not a joke, Henry. This is my life I’m talking about. Ted is my mate. If that makes me gay to you, then so be it.” His attitude and voice said it all: get over it.
Ted gazed at Scott and saw why these people had him as their alpha.
Wyatt stood, and Ted braced himself. “So does this mean you’ve claimed him?” Everyone had turned to look at the man speaking.
“Yes.” Scott nodded. The audience turned back to Scott.
“You fucked a man?” Wyatt spat out. “Merde. What the hell is this pack coming to? Fags leading us?” His eyes narrowed. “Maybe he claimed you? Huh? He fuck you, Dupree?”
Scott’s fists went white as they held on to the podium. Ted watched as coarse blond hair sprouted from Scott’s knuckles. Even his smell changed, and it excited Ted, arousing him.
“Sit down, Wyatt,” Scott ordered. “All you need to know is I claimed him. I didn’t ask you what you did when you brought your mate to me, did I?” Scott’s intense gaze bore into his competition.
Wyatt’s wife tugged on her husband’s sleeve, trying to get him to sit. He slapped at her hand, then fell into his chair.
“And this is 2017, not the Stone Age. Just like on the force, or on the fire department, discrimination isn’t allowed. I’m not going to let narrow-minded bigotry drag St. Jerome back to the time when some of us”—Scott paused and gazed out into the room—“couldn’t walk on the same side of the street, or eat at the same restaurant.”
Ted looked around and for the first time, realized the there were men and women of color in the pack. He’d never thought what segregation would do to a pack, but he knew what it could do to a neighborhood or town.
“Who I chose as my mate, black or white, male or female, shouldn’t be an issue. Not now. And if I have anything to do with it, not ever.” Scott looked over his pack.
And Ted watched as Scott’s words filled the air of the room, and heads nodded in agreement.
“So this is Ted. He’s my mate. I claimed him.” Scott came over to Ted and wrapped his arm around him. “This is my mate.”
Ted leaned into Scott and jerked his head toward Scott. “He’s my wolf.”
The crowd laughed, and people smiled at him.
Wyatt jumped up again. “I say we vote,” he called out.
Scott nodded. “All in favor of Ted Canedo taking his place by my side as my mate, raise your hand.”
They watched as the crowd hesitated.
Bobby raised his hand, Scott’s mom, then Mike and Sharie. She turned around, gave a nod, and then every woman in the room, including Wyatt’s wife, raised her hand.
“What the hell? Woman, what are you doing?” Wyatt yelled at her.
“I’m voting. You don’t control me or my mind, Wyatt. I might be mated to you, but that doesn’t mean I think like you.” She set her jaw and glared at him. “I’m doing this for our kids, for the future of the pack.”
“But our sons aren’t gay.” Wyatt looked completely confused.
“That’s right. They’re only five and ten. We don’t know what they will be, but whatever it is, I want them welcome in this pack.” Her jaw jutted out, and her eyes gleamed with the determination of a female protecting her young.
Scott counted, going down the rows. He reached Billy Trosclair and his deputies sitting together.
“Billy?” Scott said.
Billy stood. “I’m with you, Sheriff. Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For making it possible for me to claim the man I’ll want as a mate when it’s my time.” He turned to the other men. “I am gay. Always have been. Always will be. And when my time comes to find a mate, I’ll be lucky to find someone like Ted.”
Scott gave him a nod of thanks. The other men, his deputies, stood too. “Men? Do you have something to say?”
Frank Commeau stepped forward. “Yes, sir. Been a privilege to serve with you and have you as our leader. Whoever you chose is fine with us.” Then they sat and held up their hands.
Scott smiled at Ted, and Ted could read the relief in his eyes. The pack had accepted Ted. Thank God. There wouldn’t be a fight. All he had to worry about was moving his things into Scott’s house and finding a job.
Ted slung his arm around Scott’s waist. “You did it.”
“We did it,” Scott answered. Right then, all Ted knew was that he was happy and safe, with Scott by his side.
“Just wait a goddamned minute,” Wyatt shouted. “I can’t believe it. You’re going to let our alpha have a boy toy?” He stared around at the men and women.
“I’m not a boy,” Ted said. “We’re mated. For life.”
“Right. Until the next guy comes along. I know how loose you queers are. How many men have you fucked in bars, huh?”
Ted’s face burned, and he wished he could hide his embarrassment. “None of that matters now. Just like whatever you did before you got mated and married didn’t matter. You did tell her the truth, didn’t you? Or were you a thirty-year-old virgin?” Ted couldn’t resist giving Wyatt back some of his own poison.
Wyatt sputtered. His wife ducked her head and shifted away from him. He searched the faces of everyone around him, looking for support, but didn’t find any.
Wyatt’s face turned red, and to Ted’s amazement, he began changing. Ted turned to Scott, but Scott’s gaze was focused on Wyatt like a laser beam, along with a low growl rumbling in his chest.
“I challenge you, Dupree. Here and now! I challenge you as alpha of this pack!” Wyatt snarled.