Page 24 of The Feisty Omega

He wrinkled his cute nose. I bet he hated that people described it that way, but it really was.

“Um, are we gonna get woken up early if we stay out here?”

“Probably,” I said cheerfully. I really didn’t care right now, I was just so happy and relieved that he was there. We were gonna pick up our friendship right where it left off.

“Then is it okay if we sleep in your room? We’re probably gonna talk for a while, right? And I don’t wanna be totally destroyed on Christmas Day, so I’m gonna need some sleep.”

“That’s perfect,” I told him. “We won’t have to get up ‘til mid-morning that way. No-one will bother us until then.”

I led the way, and he fell into step beside and a little behind me. Huh. I was fairly certain he didn’t even realize he did that.

There was no spare mattress of course, so we piled onto my bed, which was plenty big enough even with me being larger this year, and we talked.

There was a lot to catch up on. I’d been to my first Alpha Camp and Irian peppered me with questions about that. He seemed genuinely interested and his questions were intelligent. Honestly, it was hard to see the age gap between us at this point.

For his part, he’d been at school of course, but he’d been traveling around the country with his parents as they attended conferences and Council meetings and the like. The world he inhabited was so different to mine. Out here in the country, pack life was relaxed, but in the city, he was leading a much more sophisticated life with his family.

“Are you sure your family won’t mind me staying over?” Irian broke the comfortable silence that had eventually fallen between us.

“No, they’ll be happy to see you. It’ll be fine. Although,” I frowned as a thought occurs to me, “You said Mar tried to get you to stay in his room, right?”

“Yeah, but I told them I was happy in the dorm.”

“When was this?”

“We got here just after lunch. It was right after that.”

“And Mar was there when you arrived?”

“Um, yeah. His whole family was there when we arrived.”

“When did they find out you were arriving today?”

“I don’t know. I think it’s been planned for a while. Why? What’s up?”

“Fuck that,” I snarled. Internally, my wolf bristled, and the hairs on the back of my neck and arms and feet stood on end.

Irian's eyes grew enormous, the irises small brown circles in a sea of white.

“What? What is it?” he whispered.

“Every one of us older shifters was sent on a useless, fucking errand for Alpha today. It took all fucking day and it was totally pointless - you can't get anything done on Christmas Eve, but no, we had to go. That’s why I didn’t get back until after everyone was in bed tonight. Every fucking one of us went. Everyone... except Mar.” I was furious. Blood rushed into my face. My ears burned, and my eyes prickled hot.

Irian’s sharp inhale, as his eyes fixed on me, told me something was wrong. My shirt felt tight and rubbed uncomfortably against my back. My back was itchy as fuck.

“Your eyes are red,” the furrow in Irian’s brow deepened. “And your ears…” His eyes went even wider and he stepped back.

Suddenly, I knew what was happening. I was doing an involuntary shift! And I must have been blasting him with a whole lot of alpha aggression. I tried to stop, but I couldn’t. My wolf was going absolutely nuts. He wanted to break out of this body, and race up to Mar’s house and rip his throat out of his neck.How dare he try to take what was ours?

My head started to buzz, my vision narrowing, and I began to panic, knowing I couldn’t control the shift.

A gentle hand slid up my arm, soothing the bristling hairs. The hand was cool against my fevered skin. Although I must have been very frightening in that moment, as my canines had started to descend, Irian leaned in close and the next inhale hit my nostrils laced with his sweet fresh omega scent. It sent a soothing ripple through me. I dragged in another lungful of his scent. The buzzing subsided. I became more aware… of my labored breathing, of my pounding heart, and my racing pulse, which, thankfully, seemed to be slowing.

My wolf was completely distracted by Irian’s omega scent. The rage subsided. Embarrassingly, because I was still part-wolf I want to nuzzle up against him, but I had enough presence of mind not to. We were too young for any of that sort of shit, and I didn’t understand why I reacted so strongly to him. Although he hadn’t reached majority yet, when the scent glands would really kick in, I was very reactive to this omega. Even last year I had been able to scent him at a distance. And he’d always been able to calm me. I wondered if we were fated. It’d be a few years yet before we’d find out, but it seemed a possibility.

I took a few more breaths, until I was feeling more myself. I touched my ears, but they felt normal.

“Shame,” smirked Irian. “They were cute.”

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