He paused and sucked in a shuddering breath as he shrugged. “I don't know why they won’t let me go, I can't be that important to their operation. But every season, they have me out there listening while they start up the still. They keep me chained to a tree and have me listening to both the still's operation and monitoring the area for anyone snooping around. I keep telling them there's electronic equipment that can do my job—and it would be a lot cheaper than feeding me—but they still won't let me go. I might be a bit biased, but I think they’re off their rockers."
My heart broke for my new mate. “And you still can’t shift? How did you get across the country?”
Larry shrugged helplessly. “I don’t really remember. The last week is a fog. I remember being in the yard for my daily fifteen of monitored free time when a strange truck stopped to ask directions. It happened right when the sister watching me had gone inside to get her phone, so I jumped in his truck and offered to show him personally. After that, I think it was a series of long walks and hitched rides. The shit they were feeding me messes with my memories though, so I don’t know how much of that is true and how much is fantasy. I just wish I didn’t have any gifts at all, then they wouldn’t want me so bad.”
Dottie’s face was red with outrage as she huffed out a breath. "It's not your skills those bitches wanted. No, it's a power trip, hon. They think they own you. Damn geese. If they think you're their property, then they aren't going to be letting you go anytime soon."
Dottie's lip curled with distaste as she continued. "Narcissistic female alphas who get stuck on power trips are always worse than you boys could ever dream of being. Believe you me, I've dealt with one or two of them in my day. Dollars to donuts, they have a tracking device embedded on you somewhere. Either that, or one of them has a gift for tracking and managed to exchange fluids with you at some point. Let's hope it's the former, that's easier to handle. If it was a fluid exchange, we might need to get a shaman involved. Either way, we’ll get some miles between us before we stop for the night. You boys go ahead and relax for now. We can figure it out later."
I shook my head and wagged a finger at her as she started to turn to leave. "Hold up. Not so fast, lady. You still haven't told me what my gift is or where we're headed. It's your turn to spill."
Dottie perked up, rubbing her hands together as she glanced at Niles. "Am I correct in guessing you’re a puma shifter, darlin'?" Niles looked a little surprised but nodded. Dottie looked even happier. "And it's true that puma alphas need to be a pack alpha, but you have yet to find your own pack, right? Your home pack kicked you out when you reached maturity, is that also correct?"
Niles's eyebrows shot toward his hairline. After the initial shock, he sighed a little as he answered with a shrug while he tried to pretend it didn’t bother him. "That is… yes. It’s absolutely correct. For a firstborn alpha, anyway. It is a biological imperative that we have a pack, but our tradition says that we must find one or start our own. I'm not allowed to return home until I have a pack and am happily mated. And even then, I can only visit."
Thinking of my large overly involved family back home, I was ready to cry for him. "That's horrible, Niles. And here I've been teasing you about having a stick up your butt. I don't blame you for coming off so uptight, if your family treated you like that."
Niles quickly shook his head. "No, you've got it wrong. My family loves me, and I love them. But we respect our tradition and the rules of our people. I wouldn't feel like a man or like I had the right to even call myself an alpha if I didn't get my own pack in my own territory. It's just the way of my people. I’m not saying it’s right or that I would raise my kids that way, but it’s what I was born to, so it’s not offensive to me that my parents made me leave. You’re also forgetting that it’s wired into my DNA to want my own pack. Staying at home with my old pack could lead to problems with the alpha there, even if I didn’t intend to try and take over. Biology can be rough sometimes."
Dottie came around the bed and rested a hand on Niles’s shoulder. "Are you allowed to have a pack given to you by an outsider? If so, then here's what I have. I’ve got a pack that needs a leader and an alpha who needs a pack. Why don't you help me solve both problems in one?"
Niles chuckled under his breath. "Am I to assume that's where we've been heading?"
"Smart man.” She paused with a snort of laughter before repeating the two words sarcastically. “Smart man. Damn, but ain't that an oxymoron if I’ve ever heard one." Dottie cackled like her joke was funny. When she saw that none of us were laughing, she just laughed harder.
When she calmed down, she slapped her leg and shook her head. "Kids these days. I swear, you have no sense of humor. So yes, if you will accept it, we are headed to a homestead just outside of Cottonwood, Arizona. There's a group of other homesteaders who are all settled in the same area. They each have their own properties and are determined to live off the grid as much as possible. The problem is, they need a leader to handle the occasional disagreements, government paperwork, and emergencies that pop up. I’ve been paying someone to do that for the past couple years since I bought the place at an auction. But the manager I’d hired died last month and I really need to get the position filled. While I was contemplating hiring someone new, I may or may not have received a vision that may or may not have involved Kyle and the homestead. And look! Kyle has an alpha who needs a pack to lead.” Dottie gave Larry an uncharacteristically shy smile. “You, my dear, were a shadow in the original vision. It wasn’t until earlier today that I saw it all coming together. It’s a gift, I tell you.” Turning back to Niles, she continued with the peacock flair I’d come to love about her. “Please consider the alpha position. The other homesteaders are ready and willing to swear loyalty to you."
The three of us just stared at her in shock for several minutes while we processed this crazy gift she was handing us. I was the first to speak up. "What about you and Sandy? What are your plans? Were you planning on dumping us and going back to Vegas or did you want to stay?"
Dottie blushed and looked sweet enough at that moment to remind me why I had a soft spot for the old gal. She fluttered a hand. "I’m good either way. I can sell my place in Vegas, I suppose. There's nothing left there anyway if my favorite nurse is gone. So you’re saying you’d like for me and Sandy to stay and help you get settled? We could do that. I’m sure I could pick up a neighboring piece of land for a song. Especially now that you decided to heal my heart and stick me with more time on this planet."
Niles stood and pulled Dottie into a hug. I didn’t know who was more shocked by the move, Dottie or me. But watching him hug her answered any doubts I may have had about whether or not I wanted him as a mate. The man obviously was hiding a soft side. I'd just have to see what I could do about revealing more of that, I reckoned.
When Niles pulled away, he held on to both of her hands, lifting them to his mouth to kiss her knuckles on first one hand then the other. "That is a tremendous gift you are offering us, Miss Dottie. It would be my honor and privilege to take you up on your offer—on one condition. I would like you and Sandy to park your rig and stay right there on the property you’re gifting us. If it's true that you're responsible for the life you save, then Kyle will need to keep you close enough to keep an eye on you."