The Omega's Heart (Wilde Creek Four) (9 page)

“I’m glad I followed your scent.”

“Me, too, sweetheart.”

* * * * *

Mia missed the rabbit by an inch, its furry
little butt darting right out of reach. Huffing in annoyance, she
sat on her haunches and looked for Honey, wondering if she’d had
any better luck. Mia was not the best hunter. Her wolf had good
instincts, but Mia had never cared much for practicing or training
like the males did when they were younger. She’d never taken down a
deer or anything bigger than a rabbit, although once she’d lunged
and caught a bird in flight. She’d been pretty impressed with
herself, but it wasn’t worth the kill. Freaking feathers
everywhere.

She didn’t see Honey. Alarms went off in her
head — she was supposed to stay with her. She lifted her muzzle and
sniffed, but scented nothing but the snow and the trees. Canting
her head, she listened carefully, hoping that Honey was nearby
hunting and wasn’t actually injured or in trouble. When she didn’t
hear anyone in trouble, she knew
she
was the one who was
going to be in trouble for losing Honey.

She lowered her muzzle to the ground and
inhaled, moving slowly and trying to catch Honey’s scent, but she
couldn’t find any trace of her. Deciding it was best to go back to
Brynn’s house and wait for Acksel, she raced through the woods as
quickly as she could, hoping she’d find Honey waiting for her on
the alphas’ back porch.

When she skidded into the backyard, the snow
fluffing up around her with the motion, the only person in the
backyard was her brother Malachi. She could tell he was about to
shift, so she hurried and shifted herself, calling for him.

“Mal, wait! I need you to stay in your shift
and go find Acksel!” She ran through the snow toward her brother,
who turned to look at her in surprise. “Please! I’ll explain
later.”

Malachi barked sharply, cast a glance at the
back door where his mate Nila stood holding her son, Jack, and then
hauled ass into the woods. Mia grabbed her clothes from the porch
and hurriedly dressed, thanking Nila as she opened the back sliding
glass door and let her in.

“Is everything okay?” Brynn asked, coming
into the kitchen.

“Honey took off, so I don’t think anything’s
okay right now. Acksel’s going to kill me.”

Brynn shook her head and came to Mia and gave
her a hug. “I won’t let him, I promise. Hopefully it’s just a
misunderstanding and he’ll have one of the protectors find her and
bring her back.”

Mia certainly hoped it was something as
simple as a misunderstanding, for all their sakes.

Chapter 8

Jeremiah adjusted the blanket so Honey was
more fully covered as she slept next to him. Her head rested on his
shoulder, and one arm and leg were thrown over his body so she was
tucked very close to him. He inhaled slowly and let her sweet scent
saturate his senses. The name Honey fit her, since she really did
smell sweet. She was gorgeous — curved in all the right places,
with soulful brown eyes and long black hair. He wasn’t sure what
he’d done to deserve such a beautiful mate, but he sure as hell was
going to do his best to take care of her. He was kind of surprised
by how right everything felt. To hold her, to call her his mate, to
know she’d be there when he woke up; it must be how mates felt when
they connected. He and his wolf were very content.

She was worried about her father. He knew
that some alphas were very ruthless. Acksel was a fair alpha, but
he had a temper, and before he mated Brynn he hadn’t been as kind
as he was now. He’d had his inner circle of wolves, pretty much
ignoring the rest of the pack in favor of his select few. The
omegas had still worked for him and the rest of the pack when
called for, but it wasn’t like it was now, with the omegas finally
feeling like an integral part of the pack instead of strays hanging
around for scraps. Honey believed her father was going to give her
away in a mating, but those plans were out the window since she was
now fully mated to Jeremiah and there wasn’t anything but death
that would separate them.

He curled his hand, looking at his fingers
where claws would emerge when he was pissed. If her father was
planning to give her away, he was probably getting something in
return. An alliance, or territory, or something else he valued more
than his own flesh and blood. Jeremiah didn’t understand that.
Family should be first in all things. Not that he’d experienced
that from his own parents. Disowned by one, abandoned by the other.
He spoke on the phone to his mom once a week, but his father hadn’t
wanted anything to do with him in years.

Jeremiah was ashamed of his lack of shifting
abilities, but Honey didn’t care, so he was going to stop caring,
too. If his mate accepted him for what he was, then he could accept
himself as well, and to hell with everyone else. It would suck to
watch her leave to hunt on the full moons while he was stuck at the
alphas’ house, but he’d be proud to have a mate who could shift and
hunt.

He covered his mouth as he yawned, not
wanting to wake her. She had drifted off to sleep so quickly, he
wondered if she hadn’t been sleeping well. Or maybe he wore her
out. Smiling to himself, he pressed a kiss to her forehead and then
closed his eyes.

He’d just dozed off when the front door
creaked as it was opened. In a heartbeat, he was in a defensive
crouch on the floor in front of the bed. His skin prickled as fur
emerged, his anger at his mate being disturbed fueling his partial
shift. His gums tingled as his fangs elongated and his fingers
ached for just a moment as thick claws emerged.

The bedroom door opened and Acksel, Ren,
Dade, and Malachi stood in the hall. “What the fuck, Jeremiah?”
Acksel snarled.

“Get out of my house.” Jeremiah growled the
words. “I might be your omega but this is
my
house and you
have no right to come in here.”

He felt Honey move on the bed and he wanted
to warn her to stay covered, but he felt her press her naked chest
to his back as her arms looped around his shoulders.

“Calm down, Jeremiah, it’s okay,” she cooed
the words into his ear, her palms rubbing up and down his chest as
if she were petting him.

Acksel sniffed loudly and groaned. “Are you
fucking kidding me? She’s leaving, Jeremiah. I don’t care what
happened tonight, she’s on her way out of town. Whatever you’re
trying to accomplish by screwing one of my pack members, Honey, it
won’t work.”

She made a soft, shocked gasp and Jeremiah
straightened from his crouch with a sharp growl. “She. Is. Mine!”
He roared the words as Honey hid behind him, her arms now wrapped
around his stomach as he glared at his alpha.

“Whoa, shit. They’re mated,” Malachi said in
surprise.

“Stand down, son,” Dade said to Acksel.
“Someone’s going to get hurt.”

Acksel gnashed his teeth. “You have two
minutes to get dressed and get the fuck into the front room.” He
spun on his heels and stomped down the hall; the others
followed.

Honey’s whole body trembled against him as he
stared at the doorway until everyone was gone. He scented the salty
tang of her tears and turned, wrapping his arms around her. His
partial shift receded, but only because he didn’t want to hurt her.
He was still pissed as hell.

“They’re gone,” he whispered.

She burrowed against him, locking her arms
around him tightly. “I’m sorry.”

He stroked her hair, hating that she was so
upset. “For what? Rocking my world? Making me the happiest guy on
the planet?” She peered up at him, cheeks wet with tears, lower lip
trembling. “Hey now, sweet wolf, it’s going to be fine. They can’t
make you leave. You’re my mate and that makes you part of the pack.
Your father’s plans are moot.”

“It’s gonna be bad.”

“Are you planning to leave me?” he asked,
raising a brow.

She snarled, baring her teeth in displeasure.
“No.”

He chuckled. “Then whatever shit hits the fan
out there, we’re still good.”

She straightened but stayed pressed against
him. “You tried to make me leave earlier.”

He shrugged. “I didn’t want you to regret
having me as a mate.”

Her nails dug into his back. “I don’t want
you to regret me, either.”

“No regrets,” he said, tucking a lock of hair
behind her ear and kissing her forehead.

“Hell or high water,” she said, echoing his
words to her earlier.

Since she didn’t have clothes, he pulled a
shirt and pair of shorts from the dresser and gave them to her, and
then tugged on his jeans. He wasn’t particularly happy about being
interrupted, but at least they were getting it over with and then
they could go back to bed. When she was sufficiently covered, he
walked with her out to the front room and found Malachi, Ren, and
Dade sitting on the couch, and Acksel pacing.

“What the fuck happened?” Acksel
demanded.

Jeremiah wanted to order the wolves out of
his house. He was tired of being walked all over, and he especially
didn’t like being called on the carpet in front of Honey. “She
followed my scent in the woods because we’re mates. Now we’re mated
and you’re interrupting our mating night.”

Acksel growled sharply, but Jeremiah didn’t
back down. Honey, however, dropped to her knees next to him and
tilted her neck.

“What the hell?” Malachi asked, staring in
surprise at her.

Acksel made an annoyed sound. “Get up, Honey,
I’m not that kind of alpha even though I’m pissed enough right now
to see fucking red. I don’t give a damn about your mating night,
Jeremiah. I give a damn that I promised her father that she would
be out of here by dawn. Now I have to tell him she’s mated. I’m
going to look like an asshole who can’t control his pack.”

Jeremiah helped Honey stand back up. She was
trembling, her eyes wide with worry, as he tucked her close to his
side.

Dade stood and moved to Acksel, whispering in
his ear. Acksel snorted in annoyance and then exhaled loudly.

“At sunrise, I want you both at my house so
we can call your father. Don’t be late.”

The wolves stood and headed outside. Dade
turned to look at them. “It’s a good thing to find your mate.
Whatever other shit happens, you’ve found your other half, and
that’s worth celebrating. See you two at dawn.”

“Thanks, Dade,” Jeremiah said. The older male
nodded and left, pulling the front door closed.

Jeremiah walked to the door and flipped the
deadbolt. He had never once locked the doors of his home, but
Acksel and the others just walking inside as if they owned the
place had rubbed him raw. Pack hierarchy was one thing, but there
was also general decency, and walking into his home unannounced and
uninvited, making demands, and scaring the hell out of his mate
were not acceptable under any circumstances.

Honey sat on the couch with a weary sigh.
“Your alpha looked mad enough to spit nails.”

He leaned against the door and closed his
eyes. “It doesn’t matter.”

“I think he… thinks I’m using you to stay
here.”

He opened his eyes and found her looking
incredibly sad. Joining her on the couch, he slid his arm over her
shoulders and pulled her close. “I know you’re not. I feel so
connected to you, it’s like I can’t imagine my life without you in
it. These are incredibly sucky circumstances, but we’ll get through
them.”

“Do you always look for the bright side?”

“I guess I do, because of what I’ve had to
put up with. It’s hard to be a male who can’t shift, to be treated
like a second-class citizen because of a flaw in my genetics.”

She cupped his cheek and he looked down at
her. “I don’t think you’re flawed.”

He pressed his lips to hers and drew her
close. She melted against him and his body tightened with need, but
he pushed away those thoughts and broke the kiss. “We have a little
time before dawn; let’s get some sleep.”

* * * * *

The sun was bathing the woods in soft oranges
and yellows, glinting on the icicles hanging from the tree
branches. It had been a long winter, but he was hopeful that spring
would come quickly. Honey walked next to him, wearing a pair of his
sweatpants rolled up at the bottom, a long-sleeved shirt, a pair of
his boots, and his warmest jacket. He knew she wasn’t as bothered
by the cold as a human woman would be, but he still wanted her to
be warm. He’d spent countless years taking care of people as an
omega, chopping wood for winter fires, cooking for those who were
too busy or unable to do it themselves, cleaning and repairing
homes for those in need. But this was a different kind of care.
He’d held Honey while she slept, and then they’d gotten up and
showered together, before he made her breakfast. She said no male
had ever cooked for her before, and that made a part of him as
proud as a peacock.

They stepped into the backyard and he pulled
on her hand to stop her. “You’re nervous?”

“Yeah.” She chewed on her lower lip as she
stared at the alphas’ house.

“Don’t be. We have the laws on our side. No
one can separate us. Even if Acksel insists you leave town, which I
don’t believe he will, I’ll go with you.”

She turned her attention to him. “You’d leave
everything for me?”

Silly question.

“Without a doubt.”

She smiled. “I would too. This is some kind
of fucked-up crazy, huh?”

He snorted. “That may be the understatement
of the century.”

They walked up the steps to the deck and he
pushed open the sliding glass door and let her in. They stomped the
snow from their boots and left them on the rug next to the door.
Taking her coat, he hung it next to his on the rack, then took her
hand in his, gave her a peck on the cheek, and walked into the
front room where the alphas, several high-ranked males, and two
elders – Hollis and Renfrow – were waiting.