half a mile long. People stopped what they were doing to watch Jasper go by, craning their necks around to take in the figure on the back of his bike. They wouldn’t realize Elias’s car was also part of his homecoming parade.
As they drove out the other side of town, the landscape turned rural again. Here the houses were widely spaced between large swaths of land. Barns dotted the fields, and large pieces of machinery crawled over them. Though they’d only been driving a couple of hours, Elias felt like he’d gone back in time. Jasper was a throwback alpha from a throwback town, one where people lived very close to the land.
“Do you think we’re going to be farmers?” Elias asked, giving voice to his thoughts.
“I wouldn’t mind. I was planning to keep working with my father in his construction business, but I’d rather not. What were you planning to do?”
“I hadn’t decided.” His future had been on hold pending the answer of whether or not Jack Henry would accept him as a mate. If by some miracle Jack Henry had chosen him, the two of them would’ve figured out what to do next together—maybe move to a city big enough for Jack Henry to work as a dancer. If Jack Henry had chosen someone else, Elias might have gone away to college like his parents wanted him to. The emotional distance would’ve been easier to bear with some physical distance.
“I don’t know how Jack Henry is going to feel about Galvetta,” Saul said.
“It’s definitely not big enough for a dance troupe, but Jasper said we weren’t necessarily staying. We have a whole pack to start. Are you worried at all that we’re too young for this?”
“Absolutely,” Saul answered immediately. “But it’s in Jasper’s blood, right? He’ll know what to do.”
Saul sounded way more certain than Elias felt. Elias preferred to know things himself, not rely on other people, but this situation was so strange he didn’t have anything except legends and fairytales to guide him.
Jasper turned up a dirt road, and Elias followed. It ended at a farmhouse, set amongst a sheltering copse of old trees. Elias parked behind Jasper’s motorcycle in a wide circle that already housed a variety of vehicles—cars, trucks, tractors, and wagons. The house loomed over them, two stories tall and very wide, with a shady wrap-around porch decorated in a profusion of flowers.
“This is our home?” Jack Henry asked in an awed voice.
“Sorry, no.” Jasper took Jack Henry’s helmet from him and gave him a chuck under the chin. “I’ve got a cabin, but it’s super rustic. This is my parents’ farm. If it was just you and me, we could stay here while I got the cabin fixed up better, but with there being four of us…”
Elias had to believe there’d be enough room in a house this size for all four of them, but he understood what Jasper was getting at. Adjusting to living as a pack was going to be hard enough without anyone watching them do it.
“I’m sure the cabin is fine,” Saul said. He’d gravitated straight to Jasper’s side, as if he were magnetically drawn to him. Elias felt the draw too, but he chose to resist it.
“Figured I’d introduce you to my folks,” Jasper said. “We can grab some lunch while we’re here, then head out to the cabin. See what we can make of it.”
Jack Henry nodded. He seemed ill at ease, so Elias made a point of maneuvering next to him as they followed Jasper onto the porch. He brushed Jack Henry’s hand with his own, and Jack Henry immediately glommed onto it. Jasper’s eyes flickered to the spot where they were joined as he held the door open for them, but he didn’t say anything, just ushered them into a cool hall with high ceilings, dark wood floors, and sepia-toned walls.
“Mom?” Jasper called. “I’m home.”
JASPER
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jasper’s family worked the land. They weren’t rich—far from it—but this house was a mansion compared to his cabin, which wasn’t a fit place for an omega of Jack Henry’s quality. If Jasper had known what was going to happen last night…
But if he’d known what was going to happen last night, he wouldn’t have gone to the heat race at all. He’d have spent a few more years building up his holdings—preparing to start a pack instead of actually starting one. Ready or not, here they were.
“You’re back,” his mother exclaimed cheerily, as she bustled in from the direction