Page 11 of Omega's Breed

Caleb’s expression turned almost feral. “Yeah. See, Will mostly grew up in the alpha’s house. His mother died when he was a young pup, then his sire was killed in a fight before Will had his first shift. When Will came into heat unexpectedly, Magnus kept him in a back room and paraded all the betas and gammas in until someone’s seed took. At the time, he said it was all Will’s idea, and that as his surrogate sire, he disapproved. But, he went along with it because it was what made Will happy.”

He glanced at Finn. “I would have told you this earlier, but there wasn’t a time when Will wasn’t around, and I didn’t want to embarrass him.”

Everyone was silent for a moment as they digested the information. Finn felt physically sick, but at the same time, damn glad that he’d gotten Will out of that other pack regardless of why. Someone should have stepped in and taken the boy as a mate, saved him from being passed around.

“Magnus said Will refused to mate with any of the pack members. Is that true?”

Caleb shrugged. “I know that’s what Magnus said, that Will refused to mate with anyone and preferred to be mounted by a variety of males instead.”

“I don’t believe that,” Finn spit out.

“I didn’t, either, for what it’s worth. Because I never mounted him, I never had a chance to find out for sure what was happening. I only know that Will is a sweet boy, and that Magnus is an asshole.”

Lorcan slapped his palm on the table. “Even if Will had wanted to be treated like that, no decent alpha would have permitted it, especially with someone in his own household. The poor boy could have been badly hurt.”

Caleb huffed. “Knowing my former pack mates as I do, I doubt anyone was particularly gentle with him.”

Finn’s wolf had its hackles up now. The thought of Will being abused made him want to race back to Magnus’ pack and start tearing all the betas and gammas to pieces. As he worked to bring his wolf under control, something Caleb had said struck him.

“You said Will’s heat was unexpected. Why?”

Caleb fisted his hands as if picturing something or someone to pound. “Because he was so young. Only sixteen.”

“What!” Finn’s exclamation was drowned out by a chorus of them. He leaned over the table. “Are you saying Will’s only seventeen?”

Caleb shook his head. “No, he’s turned eighteen at this point. I’m pretty sure. Yeah, I remember telling Magnus at the time that sixteen was too fucking young to be going into heat. Magnus had shrugged off my concern, saying that the kid was nearly seventeen and it was none of my business anyway.”

“Shit,” Deidre swore. “You weren’t kidding when you said the guy was an asshole. Poor boy. He’s so obviously scared coming to a new pack.”

Finn placed his hand on Lorcan’s arm to get his full attention. “Lorcan, Will’s worried that you’re going to kill Annie.”

The alpha gaped at him. “Why would he think that?”

“Because Magnus offered it up as a possibility right in front of Will.”

Liam cracked his knuckles. “Hey, Boss, can we just go up there and kill this guy?”

“Yeah,” Craig chimed in. “That sounds like a plan. No offense,” he threw at Caleb.

“None taken.”

Lorcan sighed and leaned back in his chair. “As tempting as that sounds, we aren’t going to wage war on a faraway pack. We’ve got our own problems closer to home.” He shook his head. “I don’t know why this other alpha would even suggest such a thing. It’s obscene to think I’d accept Will and kill his pup. Is that something that happens in your old pack?” he asked Caleb.

“No, sir. Not that I’ve ever heard, but I remember an old beta telling stories about how when shifters still lived in caves, packs had to stay small. An alpha wouldn’t let any other male breed, and if he did, the alpha would kill a pup not of his blood.”

Lorcan’s expression darkened. “Well, we’re not living in caves anymore. Finn, I assume you’ve developed some kind of rapport with the boy.”

Finn squirmed a bit in his chair. “I’m not sure I’d characterize it quite like that. I think he’s become less nervous around me, and maybe trusts me some.”

The alpha nodded. “We’ll take what we can get. I want you responsible for acclimating him to the pack, help him get settled in. Make sure he and the pup have everything they need.”

Finn wasn’t sure how he felt about taking on that duty. Part of him would prefer to shift the responsibility over to Deidre. Being female, she might be someone the omega could trust more, especially around Annie. Then again, Deirdre wasn’t like most females. Not in his experience, anyway. More hard edges than round ones. Besides, just thinking about handing the care of Will and Annie over to someone else, even a female, irritated the shit out of his wolf.

Resigned to his fate, he said, “Yes, sir. In some sense, it’s going to be an easy job. They need damn near everything because they have practically nothing.”

“They did look like they came from a poor pack,” the alpha observed.

“Not that poor, sir.” Caleb fidgeted a bit. “Magnus was stingy, that’s all, and Will was under his direct protection.”

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