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Chapter One
Sawyer
We are unique. Tadeo and I. My mate. My love. My life.
And also, my co-alpha. We serve the pack together, equals and lovers both. How we got to this place is a story for another day, but suffice it to say we greet each day with gratitude that we did. The ranch is owned in common by all members of the pack, and thanks to the Goddess who watches over us, we have a successful cattle and bison ranch that provides products to restaurants the world over. Grass-fed and finished meat sells at a premium.
The dual-alpha situation is rare, but we didn’t set a precedent with that. When our historians checked the records, they found a few instances of it. Where we did set the precedent was in being a mated couple who were both alphas. That never happened before to two males or a male/female mated pair. And the other cases involved either brothers or cousins. All locals. Born to the pack. In every way my mate, Tadeo, and I had broken the mold and brought the pack out of poverty and despair and into its current prosperity.
Not alone. Of course not. Every member could take pride in what they enjoyed now, but by making us alphas, they also made us responsible for their welfare.
And after a day of riding the range or meeting with pack members, managing our investments and making deals to benefit us all, we returned to the simple house where I had been living alone when Tadeo entered my life.
On this particular afternoon, with fall making the days shorter, I had returned home early enough to prepare a meal for us. That didn’t always happen, but we tried. I valued our time as a family of two in our cozy cabin. The aspens on the higher slopes had already lost their leaves, but lower down, in the valley where we dwelled, they were just now turning red and gold and orange, and the distinctive rattle of the drying leaves was music on the wind.
Tadeo would be along after sundown, and I had a special evening planned for us. We’d worked so hard all spring and summer, and with the cattle and bison settled in their winter grazing lands, we could plan on more time together. There were always projects, of course, even when the snows flew, but the strength of the alpha couple was important to the pack. I piled wood in the pit in the clearing in front of the cabin and stepped over to the stump where I split kindling and arranged it carefully. Taking pride in my fire-making skills, I used only one match and stood back to admire the results. The kindling caught, and as the sun dropped behind the mountains, I set the grill over the fire. Potatoes wrapped in foil as well as the last sweet corn went directly into the coals, off to the side, and once they were partly cooked, I laid the porterhouse steaks on the steel grate.
“Something smells delicious.” Tadeo appeared from the tree line, naked. “What’s the occasion?” He strolled toward me, eye candy as always. My mate ran often in both wolf and human form, his muscles firm and toothsome. As in, I wanted to bite them. To bite him. It wouldn’t be the first time.
“You mean because of the fire?” I poked the potatoes deeper into the coals. “Or the steaks?”
Tadeo’s arms came around me from behind and his erection poked me. “Fire. Although those are real prime meat.” The kind the pack made bank on, but if we never enjoyed the spoils of our work, what was the point?
“Only the best for my alpha.” I flipped the steaks, pleased with the crust on the browned side. “Why don’t you take a shower and get cleaned up before dinner.”
“Why don’t you join me?” He ground his hips into my ass. “I’m very dirty.”
“Yeah, I sensed that.” I tried to suppress my chuckle and failed. “But I can’t bring myself to waste this prime meat.”
His hands dropped to cup my bulge, rubbing in a very convincing way. “And this prime meat?”
I shuddered, wanting nothing more than to turn and take him up on his offer, but… “Let’s eat fast and then hit the shower together.”
He gave my cock a squeeze before stepping back. “You’re right. It’s one thing to appropriate a great steak or two for our own use, nobody minds that, but it’s a slap in the pack’s face to waste them.”
I turned to agree, and, if he hadn’t been naked, I probably would have succeeded, but my mate was hot. Even clothed but especially naked. “You know what occurs to me?” I closed my fist around his shaft.
“That steak is great cold in a sandwich?”
“And the potatoes will be perfect fried for breakfast.” The corn…I’d shave it from the cob and make it into a salad with some other vegetables tomorrow. “But you need to go into the house long enough for me to finish cooking and then I’ll meet you in the shower.”
“I can’t.”
“Come on, Tadeo. Why not?” I thought I’d made a really great compromise.
“Because you’re still gripping my cock, and stroking it… Alpha, I’m only human.”
“You’re anything but that.” However, I did release him after stroking the glistening droplet of pre-cum over the head instead of licking it off as I’d have preferred. “Give me ten minutes.” The steaks would be done sooner but the veggies needed just a bit longer. I’d planned it that way in order to allow the beef to rest. Now it would rest a while longer.
Steak sandwiches had happened before, and I hoped they would happen again for the same reason.
Because my mate and I couldn’t keep our hands off each other.
