Wolfsbane (Werewolves of Boston #1) - S.J. Himes Page 0,2

Southside Pack. Rael had spent a few shallow moments in the last few years wishing Bertram Mercer would get struck by lightning or piss off a necromancer and Jameson would take over, magically making Rael’s life easier.

Alpha Mercer had plenty of offspring, but none were alphas. His new mate, Abigail, was pregnant with their first kid together, and it was too soon to know if the unborn pup would be an alpha or not. Until the pup’s caste was determined, Jameson remained the heir. More progressive packs had betas or gammas as alphas, setting aside the old traditions that handicapped packs from putting the best person in charge regardless of caste, but that wouldn’t fly in the Southside Pack.

Luckily for them, Jameson had every leadership quality a pack could want, on top of an MBA and a master’s in Communications from UMass. Jameson graduated high school at sixteen and breezed through undergrad and graduate school in half the time it would usually take. At twenty-four, he ran his own business and had half the pack on his payroll already, along with numerous humans and practitioners. Unlike Alpha Mercer, Jameson embraced working with different supernatural species and mundane humans. His employees in the pack spoke of how fair and open-minded Jameson was, and that he never spoke down to anyone or took his people for granted. Alpha Mercer inherited money and the position from his father, and he augmented his income with tithes from pack members rather than work. Mercer made no effort to curb his inclinations to insult and demean those he saw as lesser, and no one was safe, not even his own pack members.

Now that Rael was eighteen, he’d have to start paying tithes to the alpha. Unless Alpha Mercer kicked him out before then. He had a part-time job at a tattoo parlor, but it didn’t pay a ton. Paying tithes to Mercer would sting for certain, making him more than grateful that he’d earned a scholarship to his college of choice.

They entered the house in the rear of the group, keeping their jackets as they didn’t plan on staying after the meeting was over. His mom had an early morning shift and Rael didn’t feel like getting harassed by the assholes in the pack. The house echoed with dozens of voices, and he hated the noise. Everyone was loud and boisterous, some pack members roughhousing as they greeted each other. Rael and Scylla dodged a tumble of wolves and headed for the rear of the house. The meeting room was huge and just off the kitchen, leaving little room for a backyard.

Scylla led the way to the corner closest to the doorway, and they leaned on the wall out of the way. Rael hated drawing attention to himself, and Scylla had no desire to draw the alpha’s regard either. Before Mercer mated with Abigail Lauder, he’d made overtures to Scylla, who politely rebuffed them. Rael was grateful Mercer didn’t make a bigger deal out of it, though his new mate Abigail hated Scylla for that very reason. His mom was educated, a highly talented and skilled nurse, had a steady job and numerous degrees, and had caught the eye of more than one pack member over the years.

Abigail Mercer sat near her husband’s throne at the other end of the room, eight months pregnant and supremely smug about it. Twenty-three years old, blonde, and petite, with light, golden skin free of blemishes, curves, and a girl-next-door kind of appeal, Abigail was gorgeous and knew it, and made sure people recognized her new status. Mated for nearly a year, Rael figured by now she would be more secure in her position, but she still acted like Scylla would swoop in and steal her mate, and that Jameson would refuse to relinquish his position as heir to her pup. It didn’t help that every pup Bertram Mercer ever sired was a beta or a gamma, and none of them stuck around once they reached adulthood. Abigail was absolutely certain her unborn pup would be an alpha, and while she played nice with Jameson in public, everyone knew she loathed the other alpha. It didn’t help that Jameson and Abigail were peers or had been before Jameson left high school after his sophomore year and went to college. There was a year between them, and Abigail acted like they were still in high school.

Jameson entered the meeting room from the kitchen, and Rael failed at not staring. Jameson was