Page 6 of The Feisty Omega

“Don’t ever change. Feisty as you are, you’re just the sort of omega the world needs.” I wasn’t sure, but I thought I caught the whisper of something else said beneath his breath. It sounded likeyou’re just what I need.

Chapter 03

TAL

My wolf’s hearing detected the change in background noise long before my conscious brain.

“Oh.”

We were lying on the bed beside each other, looking at the ceiling and talking like best mates who hadn’t seen each other for a while and had a lot to catch up on. Of course, that wasn’t what this was, because we were learning about each other for the first time, but it seemed that was the way we rolled. Like two pieces of a puzzle. It was strange to have this easy connection with a total stranger, and an omega at that (no offence to omegas anywhere but while I did have a couple of omega friends, I didn’t habitually hang out with any of them. Alphas tended to hang out together, and after our recent conversation, I wondered if maybe that was because the omegas didn’twantto hang out with us). I didn’t really want to move yet, so I just lay there a little longer, pretending we didn’t have to go. But something must have shown on my face.

“So… What’s up?” Irian broke the silence.Damn it!It had been a companionable silence and I didn’t want it to end.

“We need to go downstairs.” I reluctantly pushed myself upright with a grunt. “They’re about to give out the presents. Family tradition, they won’t start until everyone’s there.”

“Oh, okay. I should probably get going then.” The mattress shook as Irian wriggled to the edge and he was standing before I could say “No! You don’t need to go. No-one will mind if you join us.”

As he slowly turned to face me, a couple of small snowy white teeth worried at his lower lip. Fine lines appeared around his eyes and across his brow. It looked cute on his youthful face. He reminded me of a worried pup.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Unless your family expects you. What do you usually do on Christmas morning?”

“Nothing really. There’s only the three of us and we don’t make a big deal out of Christmas. We usually have a special meal, and each person gives and receives a gift, and that’s all we do. Not even sure what’s happening this year since we’re guests here.”

“Oh, well that’s easy. We always have a massive pack lunch for Christmas. Alpha and his family will be there. Everyone goes to it. There’s a large shed that we turn into a huge dining hall for celebrations. That won’t be for a few hours though. Everyone does their Christmas morning rituals in their own houses and we come together for lunch.”

Irian shivered. Maybe he found the prospect of all those unknown shifters a bit intimidating.

“You can sit with me at lunch if you like, I can introduce you to a few people.”

Irian’s smile was sweet and gentle like the early dawn on a cloudless day. It slid slowly across his face, and two dimples rose with it. It was very distracting.

“I’d like that,” he admitted, softly. “You’re the only person I know here. I was supposed to sleep in one of the dorms with the young wolves last night, but I skipped out…” he shrugged.

“So I saw… and your parents won’t be looking for you?”

“Nah. They’ll expect me to hang out with all the young ones.”

“Then you can stay!” I said, unable to keep the excitement from my voice.

“If you’re sure it’s gonna be okay…?”

“It’s fine. Honestly, there’ll be so much going on, no-one’s going to have time to worry about one extra person. It’ll be fun to have a friend of my own there for a change.”

Silence hung heavy in the room. Irian was gnawing on that bottom lip again and I decided it was up to me to save it, so I made the decision for him.

“You coming?” I got up from the bed and headed towards the door. It wasn’t really a question. Once again, I’d stopped short of using compulsion on him, but there was an implied command. I wasn’t sure if he’d go along with it, seeing as, despite being clearly submissive, he had a definite spark of feisty independence, which honestly, I found quite appealing.

Irian nodded his head and followed me to the door. I felt a kind of pride and no small amount of satisfaction that he was following my lead.

Voices excitedly talking over each other and the thud of bodies moving around on the wooden floor grew louder as we approached the stairs. I was acutely conscious of Irian following me half a pace behind and beside me. It felt right. Not because he needed to walk behind because he was an omega or because he was weak, but because I felt a strong impulse to walk in front, to be between him and any potential danger. Not that there was any danger here, of course, not in my home. It was simply instinct.

We arrived at the bottom of the steps and the true chaos of Christmas morning was unveiled before us. I shook my head and glanced at Irian, but he just smiled sweetly as he watched the kids scrambling and jockeying for position around the tree, climbing over each other and nudging in between others that had taken their places. Already there were furrowed brows and flushed, tense faces as the adults fussed over the kids, trying to get them settled in one place for five minutes.

As soon as we stepped into the room, one of the kids spotted me.

“Hi Uncle Tal,” he shrieked, and a bundle of wriggling squirming excitement wrapped itself around my legs.

---