Part Two



Justin knew that he was fucked. As soon as Brian had dropped him off on his way back to the hospital and he saw Daphne’s face as she stood on the steps outside St. James Academy, he had known that the time for hiding was over. “They know.”



“I’m so sorry,” Daphne gushed as she handed him his school uniform and backpack. “They called my mom and she… I couldn’t lie to her. You know how she is!”



Daphne’s mom was the pack Beta, one of the strongest betas Justin had ever met. Poor Daphne had never been strong enough to openly defy her. She had, on occasion, bent the rules a bit to get around her mom, but she would never be able to stand up for herself. In fact, the only thing that kept her from being the pack Omega—the lowest man on the totem pole in any pack—was the fact that she had healing powers.



“What are they going to do?” Justin asked with resignation.



“They’ve called a meeting of the elders,” Daphne said. “The only reason I’m allowed to even speak with you right now is that they wanted me to make sure you show.”



“When?” Justin asked as he headed for the boys bathroom so he could change his clothes.



“Tonight,” Daphne said. She looked heartbroken. They both knew that the chances were good that this would be the last day they were allowed to even speak to each other. If the pack decided to uphold pack law, Justin would be shunned and no one would be allowed to speak to him after the meeting tonight or else face their own expulsion.



“We knew it was coming,” Justin told her but he accepted the hug she gave him anyway. They tried to comfort each other. This was Daphne, his best friend from birth and Justin needed to know that she loved and supported him even though he knew she would never defy the pack.



“I don’t want to lose you,” Daphne cried.



Justin kissed her temple. “I’ll always be there for you if you need me, but you and I both know that your place is with the pack. You have to do what’s right for you, just like I have to do what’s right for me.”



They hugged once more and then Daphne rushed off to her class while Justin went to the bathroom to change. Rather than rushing to his class, Justin sat in the bathroom and thought about the meeting to come. What did classes matter? He knew that he was not going to be allowed to continue to attend St. James after today. Once shunned by the pack, his family would be forced to remove all financial support, including his tuition. After tonight, Justin would be homeless and without any way to support himself.  The tears that had been threatening to fall ever since he had first caught a glimpse of Daphne’s face finally streamed down his cheeks.



It took a while but once Justin finally pulled himself together he grabbed his cell phone and made a call. There was no answer, but he left a voice message and he hoped that it would be received before the meeting tonight.



BJBJBJBJBJ



Brian growled as he hung up his phone. He’d spent all morning dealing with the movers he had hired to transfer the baby items from Lindsay and Mel’s house to his loft and then getting the room fixed up the way it had been before all of this baby nonsense had started. Then he had stopped by the hospital again to see Gus and Lindsay. He had just finished that and had been heading to the office when he noticed that he had missed a call from an unknown number. The voice mail had been short and sweet. Justin was being called before the pack elders tonight.



Brian had never been a part of the pack Justin was born into. In a city the size of Pittsburgh, there were several packs, and his pack had been made up of more blue-collar families. Justin’s pack, he was certain, was more the country club set. Hell, the kid went to a fucking private school. Just because they were better off financially, however, didn’t make them any less prone to bigotry. The pack mentality and laws stated that the pack was above all else. That included one’s sexuality. Homosexuality was considered one of the worst sins against the pack because same sex mates could not produce children and children were the key to a pack’s future.



Brian had never faced expulsion from his pack. He knew the rules and had chosen to reject them before they could reject him. Then again, he’d not had the type of home life he had wanted to cling to, either. He suspected that Justin’s family was a lot different than Brian’s.



No matter what he had said to the kid the night before, he knew that Justin wasn’t really the type who could ever be happy alone. He could survive, there was no doubt, but he would never thrive. He needed a pack, or at the very least a large group of human friends. It was a curse of the empath to need support and affection that was freely given. This shunning was going to hurt Justin more than the kid could ever realize.



There were several types of shifters and Brian knew that there were packs in the area that represented many of the different types. There were wolf shifters, feline shifters of three varieties—lion, leopard, and lynx—bear shifters, and coyote shifters. Brian had heard of other types of shifters in Australia, but those were rarely found outside of that continent. There were rumors of hyena shifters in Africa, but if they were there, they kept to themselves.



There was one other type of shifter, the type that Brian was, and the type that he instinctively recognized Justin as being, and that was the Omni-shifters. They were descended from what the Native American’s knew as spirit guides. Omnis could take on almost any animal form—in his old pack, there had been a bunny, a cockatiel, and poodle along with dozens of other animals. The most powerful Omnis could take multiple animal forms. Brian, for instance, had four forms. He wondered how many forms Justin could take. The kid was too powerful to have only one.



The question that played through Brian’s mind now, however, was should he involve himself in this mess or should he just walk away. He had told Justin that it was just for that night, and Brian’s personal rules dictated that one night was more than enough for any trick. But Justin wasn’t just any trick. He was an Omni, like him, who was about to be shunned for his sexuality. The kid had known it was coming, Brian realized. His comments the evening before made that clear and yet Justin had been happy to help him assure his son’s safety and then still come back and fuck until morning light streamed through the windows.



Brian sighed entered the offices of Kinnetik Advertising. He’d do what needed to be done this afternoon and then… he’d decide what to do about Justin later.



BJBJBJBJBJ

Justin was in his lynx form as he strode into the meeting hall. It was considered respectful to show your form when appearing before the elders. Their pack meetings all took place at the pack’s country club. It wasn’t unusual for packs to form small social clubs. Some were disguised as Elk lodges or other fraternal brotherhoods and had small meetings halls built for pack functions. His pack was made up of wealthier families and they had long ago built a small country club for their gatherings. The fact that it had a decent golf course, restaurant, pool and tennis facilities was merely a convenient guise to hide the true nature of the club.



There were pack members gathered around the grand ballroom, in attendance to observe the council, but the elders were all sitting along a table on the dais at the front of the room. Justin strode proudly to his place standing in front of the table and shifted into human form.



“Justin,” Garret said coolly. He was the pack’s Alpha and Craig Taylor’s best friend. Justin nodded at the greeting but refused to speak. Craig, Justin’s father, sat to Garret’s right as the man’s personal Beta. Daphne’s mom, Sherry, was seated to his left as the pack Beta. Justin still thought it was weird how they worked that out. Most packs only had one Beta, but the pack didn’t trust Craig the way they trusted Sherry, so they had split the duties between the two people. The rest of the dais was made up of the pack elders. There were fifteen of them and not one under the age of sixty.



“Do you know why you have been called before the Council of Elders?” Sherry asked.



“I only know that I was summoned,” Justin said. He knew why he was here, but he had not been told, so there was no reason to give anything away too soon.



“Charges have been brought against you for breaking pack law,” Sherry explained. Her voice was firm but more sympathetic than either Garret or Craig’s. “It has been brought to this council’s attention that you have been engaging in homosexual acts. In addition to those charges, you have kept company with one of the forbidden shifters.”



“Which shifter would that be?” Justin asked for clarification. Again, he knew the answer, but he was going to make them work for what they wanted.



“Brian Kinney,” Craig hissed. “You’ve been in contact with that disgraced faggot.”



Justin refused to flinch at the derogatory term. Instead he held his head high and formulated his response. “Disgraced in what way?” Justin asked. “Has he molested children? Has he absconded with money? What crimes did he commit against this pack? Or any pack for that matter?”



Craig had shifted and begun snarling at his son, but Garret restrained him from attacking as he obviously wished to do. Garret kept a soothing hand on his friend’s neck and answered. “He has disgraced his family and pack by his choice to live a perverted lifestyle.”



“And so what?” Justin asked. “You don’t even like his former pack. You all look down your noses at them because they are not feline shifters and because they aren’t as well off as you. So what is it to you if he has disgraced his family?”



“That sort of influence is what destroys packs,” Sherry said firmly. “We do not tolerate relations with his sort because they lead our young to dangerous thoughts. Your pack is your safety.”



“Yeah, well, I think he’s done pretty well without a pack,” Justin muttered.



“Do not be insolent!” Garret shouted. “You have yet to explain your actions.”



“And I have yet to hear actual actions to explain,” Justin said resolutely. “Rumors and innuendo is all I have heard so far. That and disparaging remarks about a man you have never even met.”



There were murmurs of discontent as the elders and pack all showed there displeasure towards Justin’s attitude. Those called before the council usually cowered, but Justin, a mere kit, was speaking out against not only the Alpha but pack laws and customs.



“You are so full of prejudices that have no basis in fact or reality,” Justin told the elders. “You believe that homosexuality is the greatest sin against the pack, but I contend that ignorance and bigotry are greater sins. Do you honestly believe that who a person has sex with will destroy the pack? Gay men and women have been having children for decades. And your bigotry against other shifters is absurd. Are you truly better than other packs because you are lynx instead of wolves or Omnis?”



“He speaks treason!” one of the elder women shouted and there were mutters of agreement.



“I speak the truth!” Justin shouted back at her, finally allowing his anger to show. “In my lifetime, I have watched you run off eleven powerful and productive homosexual shifters. Eleven! Those people could have been contributing to the pack and making it stronger, but because they preferred their own gender, they were ostracized.  In that same time, I have seen your disdain for anyone who isn’t exactly like you. You have made it impossible for anyone to have thoughts or feelings that differ from the collective, forcing some of the brightest and most creative people to hide their true gifts and talents.



“The world is changing around you,” Justin said. “The need for pack is not the same as it once was. We are not joined together for survival. We join together to create a community. But the community you are creating is restrictive and intolerant.”



Justin paused to look at his mother and Daphne who were both looking on with sad eyes. They had both known that this day would come and so he turned back to the elders.



“I will not stand before you and accept your judgments regarding my actions or my choices,” Justin said. “I will not give you that privilege. I renounce this pack. And if you cannot find a way to allow those who do not fit your stringent model of what is acceptable, I can guarantee that I will not be the last to do so.”



There was silence in the ballroom as Justin stared at his father, still in cat form. He ignored the rest of the elders, all of whom were glaring at him.



“Bravo!” a voice shouted from the back of the room as a single pair of hands began to applaud. “That’s the way to tell them, Justin!”



Justin turned and let a smile spread across his face. Brian was slowly sauntering through the groups of people to where Justin stood.



“And who are you?” Garret hissed. “You are not pack and you are not welcome here.”



“I’m his pack,” Brian said. He looked at Justin. “Assuming you want to be my Beta.”



“I would be honored,” Justin said with a beaming smile.



“You have yet to identify yourself,” Sherry reminded him.



“Oh, I’m the boogey man,” Brian shrugged. “Also known as Brian Kinney.”



“What happened to ‘packs are bullshit’?” Justin asked him quietly as the crowd erupted in outrage.



Brian shrugged insouciantly. “I may not need a pack, but I think my kid might.” Brian looked at Justin closely. “They really dislike Omnis?”



“Almost as much as gay people,” Justin said.



“How about one last ‘fuck you’, then?” Brian said with an unrepentant grin.



Justin nodded and shifted into the form of a coyote. Brian was right beside him as a mountain lion. There were more hisses of outrage as the two natural enemies of the lynx sauntered out of the room.