Page 4 of Taming The Omega

Picking up the fork on his plate, Caleb started in on his mound of food. He happily ate his dinner, standing a little apart while watching the others mill about and socialize in a way he’d never been comfortable doing. The mated pairs and their pups slowly left the great room. When Liam picked up Joey and their pup to head back to their cabin, Caleb scraped the last of his meal off his plate and into his mouth before bringing his dirty dishes into the kitchen. The sigma on clean-up politely declined his offer to help and shooed him away.

He should have gone to the communal room for the unmated males and hunkered down on his pallet for the night. Instead, he walked back to the porch and stood staring out into the tree line. He didn’t feel sleepy. His mind was still on the omega—about where he was now and was he safe? He worried that the answer to the second question was no, but there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it now.

Or, was there? Without giving himself time to rethink his decision, Caleb stripped off his pants and shifted. He raced back into the woods, something urging him on to look for and find that omega.

****

Pain.

As the terror from the attack drained out of him, Seth was left with agonizing pain. Only a grueling determination to put as much distance as he could between him and the other shifters kept him moving. Gone was his speed, leaving in its wake a limping gait. His left hind leg was all but useless. He had to drag it behind him as he headed back to a place that should be equally as dangerous as the one he’d run from. And, yet some part of him instinctively believed he would find safety there. Rational thought had mostly left him anyway. If nothing else, he knew where he could find a soothing drink of water.

He smelled the stream before he saw it. The promise of that simple relief gave him an extra bit of energy. He flopped down on the damp bank and stuck his muzzle right into the rushing water. The relief he felt as liquid coated his tongue and dribbled down his throat almost made him forget the throbbing of his hip and shoulder. But the distraction was temporary. And while the temptation to simply lie all the way down and give up was strong, he pushed back and away from the stream. Pain flared white-hot when he tried to put weight on his injured leg. He whimpered in distress, then immediately bit back the noise. Like the squirrel he’d recently caught, he was easy prey now that he was hurt.

He fought the fuzziness clouding his human brain and remembered the location of a small cave he’d found and hidden in for a couple of days. It wasn’t far, and it was his best chance of sheltering in hopes that his injuries would heal. Progress was slower than ever, but he made it and slipped inside the cool space. It smelled very faintly of shifters that had once been there. They were long-gone, however, or their scent would have been much stronger. He limped over to the pile of fir boughs he’d dragged in as a make-shift pallet.

He considered shifting into human form and back again, except he had sense to understand that it wouldn’t help with wounds such as these. And being human would make him more vulnerable, not less. If his attackers had pursued him, they’d have no problem tracking him down. In here, he would be easy prey, except he didn’t think it mattered. As he flopped down on his side, he knew that no matter where he was, if other shifters discovered him, he would never have the strength to fight back or run. At least on his meager pallet, he was somewhat comfortable. It was the most he could hope for.

Even as he thought that, an image rose in his mind of the big, red gamma he’d encountered earlier in the day. The spot of their encounter was very near the cave because he’d been caught as he was leaving the territory. It never paid to stay too long in one place. In his pain-racked imagination, the red shifter came to him, not to hurt, but to help. As he closed his eyes and fell into a fitful sleep, he dreamed of the impossible—of a home, safety within a pack and of the protection of a stronger male.

He woke with a start, a low and pitiful growl erupting past his snout. In the sliver of moonlight coming through the cave’s opening, he saw the familiar glow of wolf eyes. The scent wafting into the cave told him that it was the red wolf that stood staring at him. In the blink of an eye, however, the vision changed as the intruder squeezed inside and shifted into the shadowy form of an upright human.

Hunched over, the man padded quietly to where Seth lay panting from fear and pain. White teeth flashed in the gloom. “There he is.”

In the next instant, the man crouched in front of him. “You’re hurt.” He reached out and skimmed his fingers over Seth’s injured flank.

Seth reacted out of instinct, nipping at the hand that dared to touch him. He managed to break the man’s skin and tasted blood. Only a drop or two hit his tongue before sanity overrode his mindless terror. Letting go, he cringed back, expecting a harsh blow in rebuke. Gods, he’d be lucky if this gamma didn’t kill him outright.

Surprisingly, the man pulled his hand back to rest on his massive thigh. “None of that, now,” he chided in a mild voice. “I’m not going to hurt you. I want to help, eh? Who did this to you? Couple of Haldon’s goons probably.”

Seth had no idea what the guy was talking about, but he didn’t dare do anything other than lie there and wait for whatever fate was in store for him.

With a heavy sigh, the gamma stood as much as the low cave would allow. The guy was huge, bigger than most of his kind, even. “I’m going to need some supplies to treat these wounds. I’d bring you back to my pack, except I’m not sure you should be moved.”

The gamma leaned over him. “Now, don’t get any ideas about taking off again. You’re too badly hurt to go running around, and I don’t much feel like chasing you in any event. I won’t be long,” he added before turning.

Seth cowered in his meager bed and watched the gamma shift back to wolf with an enviable speed and grace. The moment that he was alone again, he almost could believe that he’d imagined the entire interaction. But the scent of the powerful shifter lingered in the air as did the taste of him on Seth’s tongue. He lay his head on his paws and panted through the growing pain of his injuries.

He wasn’t even sure he should worry about the gamma returning. Or, worry that he wouldn’t.

Chapter Three

Caleb raced back to the longhouse, fear for the omega driving his speed. He took only a brief moment to drag his jeans back on before entering and heading straight to the healer’s room. Silence reigned given the hour, so he was careful to tread as quietly as his large feet and heavy frame would allow. Once he reached his destination, he fought a short, internal war with himself over how to proceed. He didn’t like the idea of rousing the older female from her well-deserved sleep, yet didn’t feel comfortable simply barging into her domain and taking her stuff.

In the end, he did a little of both by knocking softly and pushing open the door. “Andrea?” He kept his voice low enough not to carry back into the hall.

A snort and shuffling sounds greeted him, and as he shut the door, the shape of the healer loomed out from the back of the room. “Gamma?” The woman sounded sleepy, yet coherent. She padded over to him, rubbing her eyes. “What is wrong? Joey?” Now her tone sharpened.

“He’s fine,” he was quick to reassure her. “I, ah, need some supplies to treat bite wounds.”

Andrea walked over to her clinic area and snapped on a light. The sudden brightness made Caleb blink. “Who is injured?” the healer asked, after giving him the once-over.

He spent a few awkward seconds weighing how much he should tell her before remembering that he had no skill at dissembling. “There’s a feral omega lying injured in a cave on our pack lands. I think he was attacked by one or two of Haldon’s boys. I was afraid to try to carry him here given his condition, so I decided to leave him where he is and treat him there.”

The healer’s face softened with concern. “Oh, the poor thing. I should go to him.”

Alarm shot through him. He held out his hands. “No. I mean,” he continued with a hard swallow. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, ma’am. He’s deep in the woods and somewhat volatile.”

He rubbed the spot absently where the omega had nipped at his hand. “I can’t put you in danger without the alpha’s permission. I have some experience with tending wounds because in my old pack, our healer wasn’t always willing to patch up minor hurts of the lower pack members.”

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