“Odin?” Re asked.
“I agree with Kirill,” Odin said. “Trevor allowed me to become a part of this family despite his wishes otherwise. Vervain gave him his final say, and he said no. But it hurt her so much that Trevor relented. It would be dishonorable of me to oppose him now. You are alpha, Trevor. I accept.”
The Wolf smiled viciously and then looked at Re and Azrael; the only holdouts.
“Re, you can say no,” I whispered. “You—” I broke off to swallow the pain that even saying those words brought me. “You have no ties to me yet. You don't have to agree to this. I will understand.”
“Oh, fuck you, Vervain,” Re growled.
I flinched.
The Wolf growled and narrowed his eyes at the Sun God.
“I don't have to agree to this? I have no ties?” Re snapped. “You think that I can just walk away from you? What happened the last time I did that?”
I remembered writhing on the floor—my lioness tearing me apart inside—and shivered violently. No; I couldn't go through that again.
The Wolf pulled me close and laid his cheek against mine. “It will be all right, Mate,” he said. “Your Lioness has made a pact with me.”
“What?” I jerked back to stare at him.
“When we were together, I spoke to her,” the Wolf said. “I explained my needs, and she explained hers. We made a compromise; she has agreed to my alpha status and to all the conditions I've set. In return, I have agreed to allow her to keep those mates who are willing to stay. If they are unwilling to accept me, she'll let them go.”
“That's my boy,” Fenrir muttered under his breath. “My wily wolf.”
I sent my attention inward and saw her there; my lioness. Not only had she agreed to the Wolf's conditions, but so had my dragoness. The beasts were connected by my nine-pointed star. They knew that they needed to work together to survive. Ultimately, their survival depended on me. And my survival was linked with Trevor's. I couldn't lose my Wolf.
“You're amazing,” I whispered to the Wolf.
“A wolf can accomplish a lot when he isn't hindered by a man's morals,” the Wolf said. “I spoke to your beasts as one of them, and they accepted me. How can they not? I am one of them; part of my soul is your wolf.”
That reminded me of what I wanted to do for Trevor, but this wasn't the time. First, we had to settle things in our family. Re was looking as if he were going to break into a million golden pieces. I let go of the Wolf, but he wouldn't let go of me. I stood there with my hand open and his still clutched around it.
“You're going to have to let go sometime,” I teased him.
“No; I'm not,” the Wolf said firmly.
“You made an agreement as well,” I reminded him. “I love Re, and I've just hurt him for you. Now, let go.”
The Wolf shuddered on a sigh and let go of my hand.
I walked over to Re and hugged him. He collapsed against me and pulled me in tight against his chest. I could feel his heart hammering beneath my cheek and feel the tension in his arms.
“I can't, Lala,” Re whispered. “I can't walk away. Don't ask me again.”
“I won't,” I said softly. “I want you to be happy, Re, and I thought I should give you the chance to be free of this.”
“Being free of this would chain me in my hell,” Re said as he pulled back. He stared at me and stroked my cheek softly.
“He healed me, Re,” I whispered. “No more sexual hang-ups. Do you know what that means?”
Re's eyes widened. “Chains?”
I nodded.
“Whips?”
Another nod.
“Paddles and cuffs and nipple clamps?” His voice was rising in his excitement.
“Yes, Re,” I said. “I've also lost all of my inhibitions. I'm up for anything you want to try.”
Re whooped, picked me up, and spun me around before looking back at the Wolf. “So be it; you are Alpha.”
The way Re said it made it into a title; gave it a capital letter. It was almost a blessing; he was that happy. My beautiful pervert.
The Wolf nodded in acceptance; hearing all that Re implied. And then he looked at Azrael.
“Fine,” Azrael snarled. “Be Alpha; take your damned respect. Knock up our wife and piss in the fucking corners if you have to. Thanks so much for being here for me when I needed you, Trevor. Thanks for not letting your personal bullshit take priority over my family dying.”
“The Demons,” I whispered in horror. “Are they all right, Az?”
“They're fine for now,” Azrael gentled his tone for me. “But we've wasted five days chasing you and arguing with Fenrir.”
“I'm sorry my personal shit eclipsed yours,” the Wolf growled as he stalked closer to Azrael. “I'm sorry that the man hunting you raped our mate through me. I'm sorry I had to be summoned to the surface to heal our mate and fix this fucked up situation. I'm sorry that took time away from your precious family!”
Azrael went still and his eyes flashed diamond bright once before he shifted them to me. I had forgotten about the Demons, but he had forgotten about what Katila had done to me; to Trevor and me. His shoulders dropped and his brow furrowed.
“Forgive me, Carus,” Az whispered brokenly. “I didn't mean to lessen your pain. I will kill Katila for what he did.”
“No; you will not!” The Wolf roared. “I will fucking kill him! I claim his blood! You will save your people, and I will get revenge for our mate. Is that understood?”
Azrael held up his hands and gave in. “All right,
