The alpha huffed and licked his ears.“With you.”
Oliver could feel Matteus and Julian’s eyes on them, watching the exchange as they nestled into one another. His brother sat with his paws pressed together, eyes bright and wide in the moonlight. Oliver padded over to him, touched the underside of his muzzle to the top of his head and licked his face. Julian dropped his massive head, allowing Oliver to do the same.
Then they turned to Lucas.“Come,”Julian said across the bond, though it would have been barely a whisper to the other alpha. But Lucas heard it, and after a breath he dropped his head and padded towards them.
Oliver was the first to move, stepping forward and resting his muzzle across Lucas’ skull. He was followed by Matteus, who enthusiastically sniffed and licked all over Lucas’ face. The ministration was followed by Lucas giving him one, swift lick to the ear before Julian stepped forward.
The alphas stared at one another for a long, tense moment, Lucas’ hazel eyes into Julian’s deep umber. They kept their heads low as they circled one another, sniffing the ground where the other walked. Oliver could feel the bond growing between them, and the tentative first awakening of trust.
“Mate…mine…yours…trust,”Oliver whispered across the bond, pouring all his love and affection into the two alphas. Matteus did the same, until they finally stopped circling.
Julian lurched forward, Lucas mirroring his movements as they surged together and bit down on one another’s scruffs. There was a moment of tension, and the two seemed to wrestle for dominance. But the latent alpha pride quickly faded, giving way to something new.
Julian huffed as he released his scruff, Lucas doing the same. As they stared at one another once again, Julian finally said,“Brother… Pack.”
The bond crackled to life as they howled at the moon, and where once they were separate, now all four were united by the two sandy wolves.
“Tell them,”Lucas said, nudging Oliver’s flank.
His words, combined with Oliver’s sudden tremor of nervous energy had his pack-mates closing around him in an instant.
“Tell us what?”Matteus said, nipping Oliver’s ear. Julian only sniffed his chest and stayed quiet.
Oliver padded from paw to paw, dropping to his belly and covering his face with his front leg. Lucas lay down next to him, licking his ears and muzzle.
Eventually, Oliver looked up at his brother.“Pups. Yours… And mine.”
Matteus remained quiet and unmoving, not quite grasping the meaning behind his words. Lucas pressed his nose into Oliver’s belly, licking away the dew that dampened his fur. Then, a bolt of joy cracked across the bond as Matteus leapt into the air and landed on Oliver’s back. He nipped and tugged at his scruff as pure happiness lanced though Oliver’s body and lit up all the dark places within him.
“Brother… Mine… Brother… Pups!”Matteus said, his excitement making the words come out in a garble. Juliansprang forward, and soon all four of them were yapping, and pawing with reckless abandon.
THIRTY
SIX MONTHS LATER
Silence fell over the courtroom. “All rise.”
Oliver groaned as he heaved himself out of the uncomfortable folding chair inside the witness box. He was certain they made those seats unbearably rigid just to put people on edge. The babe nestled in his belly thrashed about like the fucking kraken, as the sudden disturbance interrupted her peaceful slumber.
“Bring the defendant in,” the Judge said with a nod of her be-wigged head.
Oliver swallowed, as the clinking of chains echoed up the underground staircase. Patrick Coletta emerged from the custody holding bay, craning his neck to look across at the jury. He twisted the handcuffs around his wrists in some kind of misplaced display of dominance. It worked, because a good handful of the jurors dropped their gazes.
As a prison officer removed the handcuffs and shoved him down onto the bench, Patrick’s dark eyes slid straight to the witness box. They trailed up and down Oliver’s body, narrowing as they paused over the bump protruding from his navy blue suit. Resting a hand on his belly, Oliver cleared his throat again to bring the alpha’s leering gaze back up to his face.
Eyes up here, dipshit.
They glared at one another for a long moment, and Oliver felt—just a little—satisfied when he noticed the freshly split lip and deep worry lines marring Patrick’s face. Prison, it seemed, was not a kind place for child sex traffickers. The Judge gestured for them all to sit.
The trial of Patrick Coletta, Adrian Moore, Bartek Bosko and the other suspects had been ongoing for four weeks, and Oliver was sick to death of the court building. As were the twelve jurors, judging by their stony expressions. Oliver found it odd, though, that Patrick’s defence team had chosen to cross-examine him at the very last possible minute. Perhaps as a last-ditch attempt to cast doubt on the police? Either way, Oliver straightened when the defence barrister hummed and adjusted his robes.
“Oath or affirmation?” The Judge asked.
“Affirmation, Your Honour,” Oliver replied, taking the prompt sheet that was handed to him. “I do solemnly, sincerely, and truly declare and affirm that the evidence I shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”
The Judge nodded and turned to the defence barrister, who stood with a smug expression plastered all over his face. That was never a good sign.
“Detective Sergeant Reed,” the barrister said, giving Oliver a pointed look.
