Say My Name Read online

  "Cecilia was Jeremiah's twin sister," Liam rasped out. "She killed herself and Jeremiah...Jeremiah blamed me for it."

  Chapter 9

  Elle's eyes widened, looking doe-like as ever when Liam told her about his previous mate. Her fingers clenched slightly before she reached out for her notepad, taking it from its place on the bed and writing quickly on it.

  I'm so sorry, Alpha. I thank you for sharing your story with me. I hope you don't mind if I ask a personal question since we are having this heart to heart.

  What will you do without your mate? How will you hand your pack down without a mate to have pups with?

  Liam smiled – not his sad, dreary smile, but one that was thinking of this kind and caring female in his midst. One who thought of other people's problems before her own.

  "I was thinking of giving power over to the first-born son of my sister," Liam said. "But she lives so far away – halfway across the country – that I don't know if Arden will let her oldest son move 1,500 miles to another pack to take over. She is very much the motherly type figure, one I could see becoming a helicopter parent in the future. If she isn’t already.”

  Arden. Such a pretty name. But if you cannot hand the pack down to your nephew in the future, how will you choose someone worthy of your station?

  "You sound like Blake," Liam told her with a smile. "He's always bothering me to choose a mate at The Claiming. I thought he was going to hogtie me and force me to go this year, but the Elders have been generous in giving me some time to get over the death of my true mate. And giving me ample time to find a second chance one, if one exists for me."

  It is not likely for that to happen though, is it? I heard of a she-wolf with two mates on the west coast who, under very mysterious circumstances, mated with two males successfully, one her second chance mate. I hardly believed it. I thought they must be smoking their own crops over in California.

  Liam barked out a laugh, a hale, hearty sound that made Elle smile at the whimsical look in his eyes. It wasn't an expression he seemed to wear too often. At least not that she had seen.

  And now she knew why.

  "Yes, it is difficult to find a second chance mate, which is why The Claiming ritual was put in place," Liam explained, though Elle already knew that. "I suppose that since it's been a few years, the Elders will most likely start to hound me to attend. They aren't very lenient, though they have loosened the reins a bit in the past few years."

  Will you attend? The Claiming, that is. To be mated to one the true way is difficult enough at times, but to choose someone at random would be a lot harder I would reckon.

  "I may not have to," Liam told her. "There has been talk about giving males with deceased mates the right to choose whether to participate or not, particularly Alphas."

  Elle's brows furrowed cutely over her eyes, her lips thinning in unconcealed disapproval.

  "I know it's not fair," he told her. "She-wolves don't seem to garner as many rights as the men in Were society, do they? Most unfair, in my opinion. But there's an even greater a gap when it comes to hierarchy. The higher up you go in the pecking order, the more leniency it seems that you accumulate. I assume it was the same at Blackriver. From what I know of Jeremiah and the additional information you have told me, he doesn't seem a man to hold any regard for lower ranking wolves. Pathetic, if you ask me."

  It takes all kinds to form a society. Imagine if we were to have a society of only Alphas...they would end up all killing each other. Or Omegas....there would be no security and utter chaos. Omegas were meant to serve, and I am not ashamed to count myself among them.

  Liam smiled again, this time even wider.

  "Nor should you be," he told her.

  ∞∞∞

  "Excuse me?"

  Blake blinked, thinking he couldn't have understood Liam correctly. Perhaps he hadn't had enough caffeine that morning. Stupid K-cups. He was convinced they were watered down imitations of the really good stuff. The kind of coffee that put hair on your chest and ass and pumped you up with so much hi-octane go-go juice that a man – or wolf – could take on a small army and suffer from nary a scratch or two.

  "You heard me, Blake," Liam told him from behind the desk in his office. "Elle is to get full pack protection, before and after she takes her oath as a wolf of Plumbrook."

  "The fuck, Liam?"

  "I know who JB is," Liam said, stopping the next words that wanted to come barreling out of Blake's open mouth.

  "Who? Who the fuck is he?" Blake asked. If the anger had been directed at Liam, Blake would have lost his nuts. As it was, Colleen was going to flip her shit when she found out. She was acting half mother hen and half big sister to Elle and was already sharpening her proverbial knives so she could filet the offending man's cock and serve it to him on a platter.

  "Jeremiah Bluth," Liam stated, a growl lingering under the man's name.

  "The fuck?"

  Liam sighed.

  "Do you know any other cuss words today, or were you planning on helping me teach Elle to swear first?" Liam asked. "I was going to start with important words like the, and food, and maybe some people's names, but if you wanted to start her out more colorfully, please let me know."

  "I just...fuck! Jeremiah? The Alpha?" Blake was slow on the uptake today, banging on only half the cylinders in his engine that morning.

  "Yes, Jeremiah, the usurper's fucking son," Liam reiterated. "None other."

  "He's going to come looking for her if he doesn't find her body," Blake pointed out.

  "Not necessarily," Liam said, sitting back in his chair. "He could decide that she was most likely carried off by scavenger beasts or that she was tossed into one of the lakes or rivers."

  "But their bond-"

  "Minimal at best," Liam interjected. "He never marked her, and there was no emotional tie beyond the initial mating pull."

  "Are...are you sure?" Blake looked dubious, and the creases in his forehead spoke like Braille to the blind of his concern.

  "Positive," Liam said. "She could have died and he wouldn't have felt it. Not that he would have cared."

  "Right." Blake still looked doubtful, but trusted his friend implicitly.

  "Okay, now that we're through with that, you can tell me what Colleen has prepared for the monthly bonfire," Liam told him, already moving on from the business of Jeremiah and his unappreciated – and now protected – mate.

  Blake let his eyes do all the talking for him and rolled them exaggeratedly.

  "You know Colleen," Blake told him. "Going overboard as usual. Wanted to pay a fucking band because this will be Gi-uhm, Elle's first bonfire and everything. I told her to cool it, but you know what I always say when she gets this way."

  "Right," Liam said, shifting uncomfortably.

  "If you would just pick a chosen mate or attend The Claiming-"

  "We would have a Luna that could do it instead of Colleen," Liam finished, having heard this line for what seemed like decades of his life.

  "Or just someone else besides me and you reeling her in when she gets a little too gung-ho," Blake added. "A calming influence. Someone like..." He dramatically snapped his fingers in his little “Ah, Eureka!” moment. "Someone like Elle!"

  Liam narrowed his gaze on Blake. He could smell Colleen all over this “suggestion”.

  "Not you too," Liam told him with a sigh. "Please tell me that this was all Colleen's idea and not something you thought up yourself."

  Blake shrugged, winking at his friend.

  "I promised her I would bring it up at least once," Blake said on a laugh. "I honestly don't care who you choose to be your mate as long as it's not one of those fucking wretched plastics that wear so much makeup they resemble that creepy clown from IT. Shit's nasty."

  "I promise to take a mate someday," Liam said, tamping down on rolling his eyes. He had been saying that for the past year to Blake and still couldn't choose. No one appealed to him on that level.

  Well, that was until quite r
ecently.

  ∞∞∞

  Elle had woken up, clearing her throat to test if the minimal pain had gone away. There was a slight twinge, but it had been on the top membrane of her throat, not internally, and that had made her smile. Perhaps she could start practicing talking today.

  A couple of days had gone by and, little by little, the pain in her body had eased until it felt no stronger than a slight ache in her muscles – the kind you might have felt after a vigorous workout at the gym. Not that she had ever been one to attend a gym. Music, not muscles, was more her thing, and she wondered if Liam had an iPod or something hanging around. She could do with some tunes while she kept house for him.

  As she was mopping the kitchen floor after having dusted, swept, and wiped every surface in the room clean, she heard a sound coming from the front of the house.

  "Knock, knock!" a cheery voice sing-songed from just inside the front door.

  Elle was going to need to lock the front door to keep Colleen from barging in at any time of the day or night. Liam may have been used to it, but it always startled Elle, making her heart race in her chest and think of all the worst possible scenarios of who it could be. Jeremiah or one of his evil-doing henchmen topped her list of likely suspects, though she hoped the smell of other wolves and the fact that she was on another pack's land would keep him far, far away from her. Not so much for her sake as for the good shifters of Plumbrook. She hadn't met many yet as she was still skittish when it came to strangers, but she could tell that they were a close-knit group, made up of decent wolves who only wished for peace amongst themselves and other neighboring packs. At least that was the vibe she was getting as she watched them move about from the upper windows of the Alpha's home in between cleaning, cooking, and whatever else needed to be done around the home.

  Scheduling her time always worked best for Elle. Though she could be flighty and lose herself to her music at times – be it in her head or out of it – if she didn't make herself a schedule, she ended up sidetracked and gazing off into space. Getting lost in her own mind, her mother had called it, shaking her head. Therefore, she allotted different days for different chores.

  The thought of her mother made Elle sad, wondering if she would ever be able to see her family again. Colleen had taken to her like a fish to water and Blake pretty much followed along with whatever Colleen did. Liam was far more caring than any Alpha she had ever met, though he didn't often show it in public. His demeanor inside his home differed drastically from the stalwart, reticent one he portrayed in front of his pack. But that was sort of to be expected. Any hint of his love for comic books and the occasional Rom Com, and he was sure to be seen as a little less macho in front of his pack. And they weren't exactly menacing traits to outsiders either. Appearances were everything.

  As she let the kitchen floors dry and walked toward the sound of Colleen's voice, she swiped an arm over her forehead, catching the thin sheen of sweat on her brow with her small forearm.

  Smiling as a greeting, Elle walked towards Colleen, whose eyes lit up to see Elle coming toward her, seeming completely at ease in the Alpha's home and with her.

  "Are you done being domestic for the day?" Colleen asked, watching as Elle eyed the bags she had in one of her hands.

  Elle nodded, then gestured toward the bags, a quizzical look on her face. Colleen's grin grew wider in response.

  "Have you forgotten? It's the bonfire tonight and we're going to get ready together," Colleen reminded her.

  The bonfire. She had completely forgotten and she was absolutely drenched in sweat.

  "Don't worry," Colleen, who had gotten very good at reading Elle's facial expressions, said. "We have plenty of time as it's not for a few more hours. They'll start lighting the timber at 8-ish or so, but they'll have the meat started on the spits even before that."

  That sounded good to Elle and she nodded, her smile resurfacing.

  "Well, first things first, my friend," Colleen said, nose wrinkling a bit. "You're dripping with sweat and that can't be comfortable. Let's get you showered and then we can pick out something to wear. I brought some makeup I think would look good on you. Less is more since your natural complexion is quite lovely. I say some mascara and lip tinting gloss or a peachy color lipstick possibly?"

  Colleen continued to talk as she walked with Elle to the stairs. She chatted the whole way up and Elle was sure that she would have followed her into the bathroom to continue her soliloquy if Elle hadn't specifically closed the door behind her to get undressed. Shower time should be peaceful and, while Colleen's constant babbling didn't bother her, she wanted to be alone in the bathroom and test out her own voice.

  It was only a rasp so far, but at least it was something. It was both encouraging and disheartening, but she was certain she'd be able to make noise, or even words, soon enough. The doctor had been most sure she could heal, though the progress made would be unknown for a while.

  Wrapped in a robe, Elle made her way to her bedroom where she could hear Colleen still talking. To herself or on the phone, she had no clue – not that it mattered.

  "...showering, then we'll get ready and come down after they start the spits," Colleen was saying. "I think introductions should be done slowly...no need to overwhelm...hey, let me call you back."

  Elle cocked her head, asking a silent question as Colleen looked over at her in the doorway.

  "That was Blake," Colleen told her. "He's with Liam and they're just finishing up so they can get home to get ready. Men are so lucky they don't have to put on makeup or high heels to look good."

  Elle's eyes widened and she shook her head. She wasn't a fan of heels. Ballet flats or sneakers were more her thing, and she hoped she had something to go with whatever she was sure Colleen would hassle her to wear.

  "Read 'ya loud and clear," Colleen said with a smile. "We'll keep the foot apparel on the down low – literally." Then she beamed at Elle and opened her closet door.

  "You ready to do this thing?"

  Chapter 10

  A trickle of wolves – in human form, of course – started to arrive around 8 PM. Many of the first were families with little kids who couldn't stay as long, and the younger, unattached folk who were always quick to get the party started. Since Colleen had overseen the planning of the event, she was there first, along with a shy Elle who watched the comings and goings with bright, anxious eyes.

  It wasn't that she was truly frightened of crowds or overwhelmed with the number of people coming, it was more that she was looking out for any faces that seemed familiar to her. Mates were found, moves to another pack were made. You never knew who you would run into in the grand scheme of things.

  Colleen, being the social butterfly she was, seemed to know everyone's name, rank, and shoe size. It was amazing that she could keep them all straight. And when introducing Elle, she always prefaced it with a disclaimer about Elle's inability to vocalize.

  "Jason, come meet Elle!" Colleen called over to a young man around Elle's age. He sauntered over with a broad smile before taking in Elle's small form.

  "Jason, this is Elle. She's new here and still recuperating from an injury to her throat," Colleen said in her rapid-fire manner of speaking. "She can't speak yet, but she understands you and if she has anything to say, she's got that handy little notepad she can use." She gestured to the pad of paper in Elle's hand.

  "Hey, Elle," Jason said, his grin widening. "Welcome to Plumbrook. What brings you here?"

  Before leaving for the party, Colleen had come up with some answers to the commonest of the questions she would probably receive. The biggest, of course, being where she came from and why.

  "In a nutshell, her parents moved to the area for work recently, and since her Dad's a cop and on call much of the time, they're staying in town," Colleen told him, practiced words shooting from her mouth like bullets from a gun. "She's staying in the Alpha's home where she works. It makes more sense that way."

  Jason's surprise was only made appare
nt by the slight widening of his eyes. Then he nodded in understanding. As if it was every day that a new wolf made their home with the Alpha who had never before taken in boarders, much less one so young, pretty, and apparently unattached.

  "I see," Jason said, his voice measured before blinking and coming out of whatever thoughts that had been hurtling through his mind for the briefest of moments.

  Colleen walked off to greet more guests, her loud voice ricocheting off the sides of the buildings around the spits and bouncing back with rock-solid precision. It was enough to give one a headache.

  "So, where are you from originally?" Jason asked, seeming to latch onto a topic he was comfortable with.

  California. San Diego to be exact.

  Elle had been there once to visit a relative a few years ago, so she at least knew a little bit about the city.

  Smiling, Jason responded. "Much different weather in New England. Have you ever seen snow?"

  Once when I went on vacation. My parents thought it would be fun to learn how to ski. We came back 2 days later with Dad's foot in a cast. He broke it in two places after he decided to tussle with the wrong tree.

  That much was at least true. Her family had headed to a ski resort once in southern New York State and had never gone back after her father's little incident.

  Jason laughed, his voice booming out as he tossed his head back. Elle smiled back at him, wishing she could hear her own laugh again. The thought was sobering, but she pushed through it with a smile.

  "If you don't mind me asking, what's your rank?" Jason questioned, eyes brightening a bit.

  Omega.

  "Me too," Jason said, his demeanor brightening. "I just turned 18 a couple of weeks ago. What about you?"

  Elle hesitated. If she admitted she was 18, he could ask if she was mated. That would have set off a bunch of uncomfortable questions that Elle didn't know how to answer. Answer the truth and Jeremiah could find out about her. Answer with a lie, she would have to live that lie. And that made her uncomfortable.