Page 25 of The Feisty Omega

“Fuck off,” I told him, but there was no heat in it and he knew it.

“Are you okay now?”

I still felt jittery. My legs were shaky and I was glad we were on the mattress, otherwise I didn’t think they’d be able to hold me up right now. I’d never experienced such a lack of control before, and it was terrifying.

“Yeah. Thanks… for what you did. I…” I choked on the words, almost in tears. “I was out of control. I couldn’t stop the shift,” I explained. I was mortified. What sort of alpha lost control like that?

Irian shrugged, seemingly unconcerned. “You haven’t passed majority yet, you can’t expect to have full control.”

“I’ve never heard of anyone losing it like that,” I whispered, “none of the others have ever had that happen to them.”

He cocked his head. “Would they have told you if they had? Are you going to tellthem?”

I thought about it for a moment. He had a point. They probably wouldn’t want to talk about it either. But it occurred to me that maybe I had a responsibility to warn them it could happen. If Irian hadn’t been with me, I might not have been able to stop. The consequences could have been dire.

“Besides,” Irian continued in his soft voice, “I think I know what caused that.”

I squinted at him, brows scrunching.

“It seemed to start when you were thinking about Mar. Do you want to know what I think?” and he giggled softly, though an involuntary shift was no laughing matter. “I think your wolf got jealous.”

Oh fuck!Now I had a jealous wolf to deal with.

???

Christmas lunch was similar to last year. There was the empty seat beside Mar again as we all went to seat ourselves, and with a sigh, I escorted Irian to it. I hated it, from the look on his face I was certain he hated it, but it was better than allowing his mother to compel him again.

Irian refused all venison again and helped himself to chicken, beef and potatoes, with an unobtrusive eye-roll to me where I was watching with narrowed eyes from further down the table. Yes, I felt possessive. Yes, I felt protective. I wasn't sure why, but it felt right.

I piled the venison high on my plate, not caring that I looked like a glutton, and I put it aside for when Irian came over that evening.

Chapter 12

Christmas – Year 3

IRIAN

Another year passed, pretty much the same as before, and before I knew it, we were in the lead up to Christmas again.

This year, as soon as we got to the Moray compound I was eager to run off to find Tal. I was more confident this time, after how things had gone last holidays. Besides, he'd called me a couple of times during the year. It had only ever been at night and I wondered about that. But I knew he didn't have a cellphone,no-onein his pack did - apparently Alpha Moray thought cellphones would spell the end of pack culture or something. Anyway, Tal had to be using a landline of some sort and there was no privacy in that, so our conversations weren't deep and meaningful. Still, it had been something.

I knew he would have passed his majority this year, and I was keen to see what changes it had brought.

We arrived at the Moray pack compound a week earlier than usual.

“Where do you think you’re going?” my mother scowled as she caught me sneaking away from the car even though it was still laden with our stuff.

“Um… I was going to find my friends…” I trailed off, hesitating.

She humphed. “Not until you’ve helped with the unpacking.”

“Eh, let him go,” advised my dad. “He needs to get used to being around shifters. He’s got too many human friends. It’s not natural. He needs to learn his place by being around them. You know we discussed this.”

My mum just rolled her eyes at him. Respectfully, of course. “Just bring the luggage in and then you can go,” she said, grudgingly.

I was pleased that she wasn’t trying to force me to stay around Mar this year, so I counted that as a win. I hurried to get the car emptied so I could disappear before something else came up.

It was true Tal and his friends were still the only shifter friends I had. All the others were human, except for one guy, a mage, who I often saw at the same functions I attended with my parents. (Xeres always looked about as happy as I was to be at these events). And I really did need to spend more time around them learning what it was like to be a shifter and part of a pack.

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