Page 34 of The Feisty Omega

I didn't really feel safe sleeping in the dorm any more though. Talius wasn't around, and who knew if Marius might become a little more predatory.

I spent the night in the forest as my wolf, pacing though the wilderness until I found a cave. It was small and protected. I made it into a den and I curled up tight inside. The longer hairs of my bushy tail rose with each breath, falling back softly onto my nose. The rhythm was gently soothing. I focused on it, ignoring the uncomfortable feelings in my heart, and the lingering fear from the run. Eventually it lulled me to sleep.

I spent all the remaining nights of the holidays there, slinking back to my bunk only as dawn lightened the sky.

???

“Pack your bags, Irian, we’ll be heading home this afternoon,” my mother’s head appeared in the doorway of the dormitory. From where I lay under the covers of my top bunk, her voice was muffled. Surely, I’d misheard?

The sheets fell away as I sat up in bed, blinking the sleep from my eyes.

“We don’t usually go home before the last weekend of holidays!” I observed, groggily. “Did something happen?”

“No. Just leaving today, is all. Pack your own things and leave the rest. The pack will clean up.” And then she was gone.

I wasn’t going to be difficult. Goddess knew I just wanted to get out of here. It was going to be a relief to leave. As much as I appreciated the way the alphas had kept me company and tried to include me in their activities, it was an effort to keep up the façade and pretend I wasn’t breaking inside. I really, really, just wanted to be alone, where I could collapse in private, and afterwards maybe scrape myself together.

Dispiritedly, I shoved my few belongings into my bag. The zip rasped home with finality and I sucked in a deep breath as I straightened up.

How best to spend my last few hours here? I didn’t feel like playing. I might as well go and say my farewells to the alphas before they got sent on some errand or something. I didn’t doubt when it came to leave there’d only be Marius and his family around to bid us farewell.

“We’re leaving today,” I told them as I joined them under the old tree. A few pairs of eyebrows raised.

“That’s early isn’t it? Don’t you normally stay to the end of the holidays?”

A firm hand grasped my shoulder and squeezed it.

“I’m sorry it didn’t work out this year,” Darius whispered in my ear. “But he’ll be sorry he missed you.”

I shrugged. I wasn’t in the mood to argue with an alpha, but I thought it seemed fairly clear to me. Talius wasn’t here becausehe didn’t want to be.

“Guys, move in,” Lin growled warningly. Marius was making his way over the dusty ground towards where we were standing under the tree. The alphas pretended not to see him, but they clustered around me, making sure I was at the center of the group. Since I was an omega, I was a lot shorter than they were, and this tactic virtually ensured I was out of sight.

But not necessarily out of scent… unless the adolescent pheromones all around me were enough to cover my omega scent. I held my breathe, waiting.

The sound of a very obvious sniff suggested Marius was checking to see if I was there.

Concentrating on remaining inconspicuous, it was hard to know what caused the disruption that had started over near the packhouses. The alphas were shielding me from Marius, but that also meant I couldn’t see and the distant exclamations and shouts were muffled. I wanted to know what was going on.

One by one, the guys, who had been chatting animatedly as they pretended not to notice Marius, ceased their conversations, turning to look in the direction of the commotion. The alphas obstructed my view of… whatever. Didn’t they know I’d want to see? I jumped up and down a couple of times but still couldn’t see over their bulk and height. It was frustrating as hell.Somethingwas happening.

A hush had fallen across the entire courtyard. The sounds of play had ceased. No more murmured conversations. Nor running feet. Magpies called to each other in the trees, oblivious to whatever was happening below, but then they fell silent too.

Feet shuffled, dust stirring, as the alphas stepped back, leaving a space around me.

My breath caught.

The scent of wolf caught my nostrils. But not just any wolf.

And there he was: a lone creature limping his way across the dirt towards us. His grey fur was scruffy, clumps had been torn out of it, and a large gash glared ugly and red across the top of one shoulder. Nevertheless, the wolf was unmistakable.

It was Talius.

He paused, scented the air. His head turned slowly and his eyes latched onto mine. In his wolf form, they were as dazzlingly blue as when he was human but the rest of him looked exhausted.

I stumbled forward, falling to my knees in front of him, little clouds of dry dust puffing out from underneath me. The shaggy head lowered, resting against my forehead, and we breathed together. I winced, hearing the way the air gurgled wetly as it made its way through his air passages. He swayed slightly, breaking contact, then turned towards his house and moved towards it, his steps slow and deliberate. I didn’t need him to look back, to know to follow him.

He walked so slowly and looked so unsteady on his feet, I feared he wouldn’t make the distance. And though I wanted to help him, I just followed after him. There was a proud alpha underneath that gentle exterior. He wouldn’t want to display weakness in front of his friends. Not that it was a weakness to accept help when it was needed. But I knew him well enough to guess at his preferences and honor them.

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