Part Seven



“How did I go from no pack to this?” Brian muttered to Justin in bed that evening. After everything had settled down, those who were left, those in their pack, had finished the party, including the cake. Gus had still been a bit wary of Ben, and had stuck beside Brian most of the time, but he had returned to human form and hadn’t felt the need to shift again that afternoon.



“I have no idea,” Justin said innocently.



“It’s entirely your fault you know,” Brian pouted. “Before you, I was happy being alone.”



“Well, I’m glad you let me in,” Justin said. “I like being your Beta.”



Brian kissed Justin and said, “I like having you as my Beta, too.”



BJBJBJBJBJ



Time seemed to fly past for the pack and things settled back into a routine. As the weeks and months passed, Gus gained more control over his shifting and Brian and Justin were pleased to find that he was developing his human skills as well. He walked for the first time just a few weeks after his first birthday, and he began using small words a few weeks after that. By the time he was 18 months old, Gus was much like any other toddler.



Brian and Justin continued to have their nights out at Babylon, and Justin continued to follow Brian’s lead when it came to picking up tricks. Truth be told, he rather enjoyed the hunt. It was something that the predatory side of him seemed drawn to. But Justin was only half predator. One of his forms was prey. Justin found that he enjoyed the times he spent alone with Brian more and more, and while he didn’t wish to stop tricking together, he wished that Brian would acknowledge the fact that there was more between them than just Alpha and Beta.



Kinnetik was doing better than ever and Justin’s schooling was right on track. Things were well with the pack. Ben seemed to fit right into the group, both pack and human, and Brian often spent time with him, talking about the other packs and shifters he had met in his travels. Emmett continued to watch Gus during the day and Debbie often watched him when the boys went out, but now Ben and Michael took turns as well. They were getting closer every day and no one was surprised when Ben went to Brian and asked for permission to marry the human. As Alpha, Brian had the right to refuse the match, especially since most packs frowned upon mating with non-shifters. Brian had laughed and said, “If you want to tie yourself down to one man, don’t let me stop you.”



And so Brian had done something he had never thought he would do: he performed a traditional mating ceremony for his best friend. Mating was taken very seriously among shifters and the mating ceremony was the most serious of all traditions among shifters. It didn’t matter that same sex marriage was not legal. To a shifter the tradition carried more weight than human law. So, when Brian stood before the pack and listened to their formal petition and declared the two mates, he was more moved by the moment than he had ever thought he would be.



Justin was thinking wistfully about their ceremony one Saturday afternoon, wishing that Brian would just go on and take the leap with him already, when the doorbell rang. Gus was napping and Brian was working, so Justin went to the door. He was wary, since they weren’t expecting anyone, and when he opened the door, his senses went on high alert.



“Justin?”



“Matt?” Justin said with some surprise. Matthew Ryerson had been two years ahead of him in school, but they knew each other from the old pack. “What are you doing here?”



“I left,” Matt said quietly. “Can I… can I come in?”



Justin used his empathy and realized that Matt was being sincere. He held the door wider and smiled, “Sure. Let’s go to the kitchen. I was just about to fix some sandwiches for lunch. We can eat and you can explain.”



Over lunch, Justin heard the entire story. Matt had gone to college at IUP and met a human girl that he was totally in love with, but he knew that the pack would never accept her. He had graduated from school and Garret had ordered him to come home, which Matt had done, but he’d asked his girl, Alicia to come with him. He had told her about what he was and about the pack, so she understood the need for secrecy. For a few months it had worked, but Alicia was getting tired of trying to hide their relationship and Matt was tired of it too. He wanted to get married and have kids and do what other people in love do. So he had made the choice to leave the pack.



“Only now that I’m gone…”



“You miss being a part of something bigger than you are,” Justin said. “You miss knowing that someone out there cares about your well-being. You miss the friendships and family and companionship that having a pack gave you.”



Matt nodded. “I heard… I heard that your Alpha performed the mating rite for a shifter and a human.”



Justin grinned. “He did. Brian’s not big on mating himself, but he believes we all have the right to love whoever we want to love. Actually, he’d say we have the right to fuck whoever we want, but he means the same thing.”



“Do you think…?”



“I’ll put in a good word,” Justin said with a shrug. “But you’re going to have to be the one who asks. He’s not as bad as all the stories.”



“There are new stories these days,” Matt said conspiratorially. “The young shifters are getting tired of the old ways. They talk a lot about you and Brian and how you’re building a new kind of pack. There are others interested in joining your pack. And not just from our old pack.”



Justin frowned. “Well, I predicted there would be others who left, but I’m not sure I expected anyone else to want to join us. I mean, we’re gay and we’re Omnis.”



“You were right about the old prejudices,” Matt told him. “Those of us who have spent any time out in the real world see how things are changing and we don’t want to be held back by outdated traditions and bigotry.”



“Well, good to know that there are intelligent shifters out in the world,” Brian said as he entered the kitchen.



“Brian, this is Matt,” Justin said. “He’s just left my old pack because he fell in love with a human girl.”



Brian snorted. “A breeder. I suppose you want to mate with the girl?”



Matt nodded. “I had hoped that you might… I’d like to formally request permission to join your pack, sir.”



“Sir? Fuck that shit,” Brian snorted as he moved over to kiss Justin hello and then steal a bite of his sandwich. “My name is Brian. And if you think you can put up with our unique pack, you’re welcome to join. Meet the rest before you go getting too set on joining though.”



“We’ll have a party,” Justin suggested. “Matt can meet the others and bring Alicia. They can decide together if this is something they want.”



“She would be pack to,” Brian said. “We already have three humans in our pack, so she wouldn’t be alone.”



“We’ll come meet everyone, but I’m pretty sure this is where we’re meant to be,” Matt said with a smile. “Thank you.”



Brian sat and Justin got up to fix him a plate of his own. While he worked, he continued to catch up with Matt. “So, you graduated from IUP. What was your major? What are you doing now?”



“I was a business and marketing major,” Matt said. “The job market sucks, though, so for now I’m stuck working as a waiter.”



Brian perked up his ears and began shooting questions to the kid about his various courses and what sort of work he wanted to do.  Matt, it turned out, wanted to go into advertising.



“I have a position open for a junior copy writer,” Brian said. “It pays shit, but it’ll still be better than waiting tables. And if you prove you can do the job, there’s room to move up.”



“I… sir!”



“Fuck,” Brian muttered. “What did I say about that sir shit?”



Matt flushed. “Sorry, Brian.”



“Sorry’s bullshit,” Brian said. “Just don’t do it again.” He got up and put his now empty plate into the dishwasher. “Be at Kinnetik at 8:30 Monday morning. If you’re late, I’ll give the job to someone else.”



Matt turned to Justin once Brian had gone. “Is he always like that?”



Justin smiled. “Yes. He acts like a complete and utter prick but at the same time he’s doing everything he can to help someone out.” Justin shook his head. “I’d known him for less than 24 hours when he let me live with him and made me his Beta. That was after telling me he didn’t believe in packs.”



BJBJBJBJBJ



Others came to them in the weeks that followed. By the time Matt and Alicia had their mating ceremony, their pack had grown from seven people to twenty-three. They came from packs all around the region. Most had some reason to turn away from their packs. Some were gay, but not all. There were those who, like Matt, wanted to mate with a human. There were those who felt like they were being stifled by old traditions. There were some who had been abused.



There was even one who had simply left because she had been assigned by her Alpha to care for twin toddlers until their mother was healed from surgery on her foot. The Alpha, in fact the entire pack, knew Mary was horrible with children and tried to avoid them as much as possible. She believed it was the Alpha’s not so subtle reminder that she had a duty to mate and produce offspring for the pack. Brian had snorted at that and welcomed her to the fold.



These people would just show up that their house and Brian listened to their tales before allowing them to meet the rest of the pack. Of the 23 members of their pack, 6 were human, 7 were Omnis, 5 were Lynx, 2 were wolf, and 3 were leopard. Of the 23, 12 were gay and 9 were straight and two were too young to know. There were now three young ones, though one of those was close to adulthood. She and her mother had come from an abusive situation, and had run all the way from Chicago to get away before stumbling upon their pack.



And then, just days before Christmas, two more refugees landed upon their doorstep.



“Jennifer?” Brian said with a frown as he saw Justin’s mother standing in the cold night, snow falling fast around her and clutching something under her coat. “Come in here before you freeze.”



“Brian,” Jennifer breathed in relief. “Thank god.”



Brian had just shut the door when he saw a small head peeking out from the collar of Jennifer’s coat. “Is that Molly?”



Jennifer smiled and shrugged off the garment. Brian saw a small capuchin monkey clinging to Jennifer’s side. “Yes. Molly, this is Brian.”



The monkey chittered at them and then hopped to the floor and headed for the kitchen. The adults followed in time to see a very surprised Justin with an arm full of monkey and a jealous Gus growling in cub form at his feet.



“Mom?” Justin said as soon as he saw Jennifer. “Molly’s an Omni?”



Jennifer sighed and sat down at the kitchen table. “She is. Today was the first time she’s shifted to anything but a lynx. I thought she might be safe since you started long before you were eight. I was wrong. Your father found her and…”



Justin took the chair beside his mother at the table and let Brian deal with Gus. “It’s going to be okay. What did you do?”



“Well, I told him off for the bastard that he is,” Jennifer said with a small smile. “And then when he shifted, I took him down a peg or two. Your mother is no pushover. Craig may think he’s a Beta, but he’s got nothing on an enraged mother.”  Justin chuckled and gave her a hug.  “Afterward, I packed up our things and left. I told Sherry I’m leaving the pack and I’m divorcing your father. They’ll never let Molly stay now and she was the only reason to stay after you left.”



“What will you do?” Justin asked.



“She’ll stay here until she gets on her feet,” Brian said. “And she and Molly will be joining the pack.”



Jennifer looked at Brian. “Is that an order?”



“Yes,” Brian said with a smirk. “Don’t make me pull rank on you.”



Jennifer laughed. “Okay. We’ll stay for a few days. But the truth is, I’ve been thinking of divorcing Craig for a while now. I’ve got my realtor’s license and a job lined up with one of the better real estate agencies in town. And I have some money put aside to get us on our feet. Plus your grandmother left me a little something. The biggest issue is going to be who’ll watch Molly if I’m working.”



“Emmett watches Gus,” Justin said. “But there’s another young one about Molly’s age in the pack. Tim is a stay at home dad, but he used to be a teacher for kids with special needs. He might be willing to help with Molly. And I think she and Andy, Tim’s son, would get along pretty well.”



Jennifer nodded. “It’s worth talking to him at least.”



They got Jennifer and Molly set up in the guest bedroom, put Gus to bed and then headed off to bed themselves. After their bedtime routine, which included at least one round of fucking per night, they settled down and Brian held Justin in his arms.



“I’m glad they’re here,” Justin said. “But I’m sorry mom had to go through this. First me and now Molly.”



“Hmmm,” Brian grunted noncommittally. “There are two multi-form Omnis in your family, Justin. One might be considered an aberration. Two is a pattern.”



“You think one of my parents is an Omni?” Justin asked.



“So do you,” Brian said. Justin had not been surprised at all by Brian’s theory.



“I used to think it might be a recessive gene or something,” Justin said. “But with both of us being Omnis, yeah, the thought had occurred to me.”



“One of them is definitely a Lynx,” Brian said. “Otherwise you wouldn’t have both ended up with a lynx as one of your forms.”



That made sense. After all, Gus had not taken on any of his father’s forms. But both Justin and Molly’s first forms were that of a lynx.



“I don’t think my mom is an Omni,” Justin said. “I think she would have told me after she found out I was, if she had been.”



“You’re probably right,” Brian said.



“So that means my dad must be,” Justin said. “How could he have hidden it for all these years? And how could he be such a prick to me about being an Omni when he’s one himself?”



“Who knows,” Brian said. “Maybe he was jealous that you have multiple forms. He might only have one form. Or maybe he was jealous that you felt comfortable with your forms. They say that some of the biggest homophobes are those who are fighting some latent homosexual tendencies themselves. Maybe it’s true of closeted Omni’s as well.”



Justin chuckled and then sobered and sat up to look at Brian. “You don’t think….”



“Who knows, princess,” Brian shrugged. “Now lay back down and let’s get some sleep. I have a feeling that a capuchin monkey doesn’t sleep late.”