Page 8 of Taming The Omega

The few strange shifters he’d encountered since running away hadn’t bothered with social introductions. When they weren’t chasing or attacking him, they’d simply shoved his head down in unspoken command once they’d forced him to shift to human form. He’d been lucky if they’d tossed him some food in return. Often the blowjob was currency for being allowed to leave in one piece.

He shuddered at the memories and swallowed hard. He really was terribly thirsty, likely from the painkiller as well as the dick he’d taken. Did he dare take a drink without permission? Caleb had been amazingly kind to him so far, but he knew better than to trust that. Kindness could morph into brutality with little provocation. His dithering ended with the gamma’s return in any event. Seth instinctively shrunk back.

The guy had put on pants, which hardly served to hide his powerful bulk or the bulge between his legs. Of course, gammas were highly sexed. He was no doubt ready for getting head again no matter what he’d said. It would be nice if he’d let Seth have some food and water first. Not that Seth was dumb enough to wish for anything anymore.

The gamma flashed him a smile. With morning, more light filtered into the cave. Seth could easily see the paleness of the gamma’s skin and the brightness of his short, red hair. The strange shifter was so different than Seth’s people and the packs he’d known back in the western mountains of his birth. But, he’d seen all kinds in his wanderings and knew that like humans, shifters came in all manner of sizes, shapes and colors. The one overarching characteristic of his species seemed to be that the higher up the chain you were, the meaner you got.

“You must be thirsty.” Caleb grabbed the bottle of water Seth had been coveting. “Andrea, my pack’s healer, warned me that the pain medicine would do that.” His cheeks turned a deep pink. Maybe the gamma was thinking about the other reason why Seth might want something to drink.

Nah, that made no sense. Since when did gamma’s worry about omegas? With a shaky hand, Seth reached out to take the bottle. Caleb didn’t release it, though. He guided it to Seth’s lips and helped him keep his head up so that nothing spilled. Seth tried to ignore the warmth of the man’s touch. As with the previous night, there was a gentleness that surprised him. He was used to being grabbed roughly and held in place by pinching fingers. Nothing like that happened now. He felt that he could break away at any time if he wished.

With his immediate thirst slaked, Seth slumped back down onto his side. His stomach chose that moment to rumble. He ignored it, hunger being all too familiar to him. Food would come or it wouldn’t. Either way, he’d survive.

The gamma grinned at him. “Hungry, eh? That’s a good sign.” Putting the bottle down, he rummaged through the big bag.

Seth watched with surprising interest as the muscles of the gamma bunched and flexed. There was an odd cadence to the man’s speech. “You’re Canadian,” he blurted out, then immediately tensed. How dare he speak to him so freely?

Caleb didn’t seem to mind. He returned with a container of something in his hand. “That’s right. I relocated to a new pack down here. They were looking for more gammas. For more omegas, too,” he added casually.

Seth dismissed the information the moment he heard it. What did he care if a pack wanted someone like him? As if he’d ever want to tie himself to a pack again and give up the freedom he’d found on his own. If he were sure that a pack would treat him differently, better, than his birth one, he’d be happy to give up his solitary and dangerous life, of course. But nothing that had happened to him since his decision to run away had assured him that such a thing existed. So far, every shifter he’d encountered had left him more certain, not less, that pack life for an omega was an unrelenting misery. Caleb might act differently for the time being, and maybe he was really as kind as he seemed. That didn’t mean everyone else in his pack would be.

Not that Seth would be given a choice, of course. If Caleb’s ultimate goal was to drag him to his pack as some kind of prize for his alpha, Seth would have to be ready to run again the moment he was well enough.

You can’t outrun a gamma. He swatted away that internal taunt, as well. Given the right motive, he could be as fast as the wind.

“Here’s some granola.” The gamma held up a rectangle of packed roasted grains, nuts and dried fruit. “Joey made it himself right before going into labor, and he’s the best cook our pack has.”

Taking the offering, Seth bit into it expecting it to be hard. It wasn’t, surprisingly. The chewy, crunchy mouthful made for a wonderful change from the raw meat he’d been ingesting for months in wolf form. His human palate delighted in the taste and feel of it. He quickly swallowed and took another bite. The import of Caleb’s words penetrated his pleasure, however. This food had been made by a male omega, like himself, even though he’d been heavy with a pup. Of course, he thought bitterly. It wasn’t like a pack would give a weak shifter a break. What good was an omega if they weren’t breeding and working—preferably at the same time?

Not that the plight of this Joey was any of his concern. He had his own problems. Finishing the bar of food, he reached for the bottle of water. The gamma got to it first and once more held it up to his lips. Seth didn’t really need the help and told himself he didn’t say as much because he didn’t want to piss off the gamma. The truth was that he liked the attention. If nothing more, it gave him the illusion that he was cared for.

“Thank you, sir,” he said when he’d finished the bottle. Damn, he was thirsty.

“Call me Caleb, remember?”

“Yes, sir. Yes, Caleb,” he amended. He lay down with his head pillowed by his arm.

“Are you in pain?”

Seth shrugged, intending to make himself as low-maintenance as possible. The movement caused a flare of pain, which in turn made him wince. “A little,” he confessed.

“No need for that.” The gamma mixed up a cup of the medicine, using part of another bottle of water. “We’ll see how this and the granola sit in your stomach, then you can have more to eat if you want. I’ll check your bandages in a minute and put on some fresh plaster.”

“I-I can do it, sir. Caleb,” he offered tentatively. He wasn’t sure he wanted to be touched anymore by this gamma. No, he wanted to be touched again too much, he amended inside his head. The notion scared him.

Caleb shook his head. “No need. Let me take care of you. I know I make a weird healer, but I’ve got you.”

Seth looked up into the gamma’s blue eyes. They were perhaps the most unusual part of him. As he dutifully wrapped his lips around the cup, he thought, yes indeed, Caleb had him.

Chapter Five

Seth spent the rest of the day wrapped in the fuzzy haze caused by the pain medicine. He slept for most of it, only rousing when Caleb offered him more to eat and drink. His wounds were healing quickly enough in the way of their species without any complications that he could feel. Soon he’d be able to shift into wolf form to help with the final mending.

As to what would happen then, he didn’t know, and was too tired to even muster much thought about it. Any time he was awake enough to ponder his situation, his thoughts always focused on what Caleb would want from him, would expect from him. Notwithstanding the gamma’s assurance about not taking blowjobs in exchange for help, Seth couldn’t imagine where else this attention was leading. In fact, the one rule his old pack had about leaving an omega’s ass cherry for its eventual mate might not apply here. His hole clenched at the thought. His life may have taken a turn for the worse.

There was nothing to be done about it in any event. So, he reveled in the unexpected boon of being warm, relatively safe and full-bellied for the first time in almost a year. Despite his injuries and the potential for a forced mounting, he knew he’d come out of this situation in better shape than he’d been. He lay thinking all of this and more in the now-empty cave during the waning hours of the sun. He’d woken to find Caleb gone. A brief burst of panic had shot through him until he realized that if the gamma had abandoned him, he wouldn’t have left his things behind.

A rustling at the cave entrance caught his attention. The sight of Caleb easing past the narrow opening made him almost dizzy with relief. He chided his own foolishness and chalked the reaction up to the lingering effect of the medicine. Lying on his good side, he watched silently as the gamma placed a large piece of bark down by the pallet. He caught the smell of roasted fish and rose up on one arm to get a better look.

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