Page 31 of The Omega's Bloodline: Part One

Logan rolled dextrous hips, cunt gripping me as she moved. Her brow crinkled as she concentrated. She squeezed me so tightly I saw stars; the rhythmic pulsing of her muscles dragged me closer to the edge. I helped her along, knowing I’d already tired out her thighs when she’d worked so hard to stay still. Each stroke up was punctuated by a desperate sound from her. I let my growl free. There was no reason to stay quiet.

She braced her hands on my chest and let me take over, plunging up as I pulled her down by her hips. Her face scrunched. She was close. I knew that face well and pressed an eager thumb to her clit. Logan dug her nails into me as she came in a slick surge of pleasure that snared me up with her. The world fell away, pulling me into a blinding light before descending into darkness.

I surfaced to her sprawled across my chest, her cunt twitching around me. I kissed her like I was starving and onlyher mouth would satiate me. My fangs ached to sink into her, to mark her for the whole world to see she belonged to me.

I felt the loss of her as she slid off and sprawled to the side. Unwilling to let her go far, I rolled over and tucked myself around her.

Mine.

Logan trailed gentle fingers through my hair and sighed contentedly. “Yours.”

I nuzzled her skin and tucked my face against her throat. The pounding beat called me. I couldn’t do it. She’d never survive a claiming. It was just my luck to fall for a human. I wouldn’t trade her for the world, though.

Logan yawned. “Bed?”

We’re already in bed.

“Don’t be a smartass. I’m too tired for that.” She laughed softly and tapped my shoulder. “Let me go pee and brush my teeth. We should get some sleep before...”

She left the next words unspoken. Before we fled I wanted to take her apart on silk sheets and curl around her until she slipped under the sway of dreams. One normal night before everything changed.

I let her go and shifted into my house cat form, waiting inloaf mode, as she called it. Her bright smile when she returned and saw me was worth every embarrassing name she gave my habits.

Logan stretched out under the blankets and patted the bed next to her. “Come on, snuggle bug.”

I’d take the embarrassing names too. They made her happy, and that was what my whole existence had come to revolve around. I flopped down against her chest and she arranged us so my head was on the pillow with her, and her arm tucked around me. She scratched my cheeks and I purred freely, both because it felt amazing and because I knew how much she loved the sound.

“Good night, Caden,” she whispered and kissed the top of my head.

Good night, my love.

Icouldn’t sleep.

I gave up on even trying around four in the morning and wandered through my home in the dark even though I knew it would keep Caden and Seth up. Packing needed to be done and we had no idea how long we’d be gone. I hauled out a few backpacks from a box in the garage, prepared to dedicate one to clothes, one to food and toiletries, and one to comfort items. IfI was going to leave everything I knew, then I was going to keep the most important things with me.

Caden abandoned sleep to help me, turning on a load of laundry, and packing what he knew were my favorite pieces that were already clean. While I gathered up toiletries, he made us an absolutely monstrous omelet, using up as many ingredients from the fridge as he could. There would still be a lot of waste but that couldn’t be helped. At least I had a compost bin in the yard to deal with most of what we couldn’t take. The pantry and freezer would be fine, but I couldn’t leave the fridge full.

Seth watched helplessly for a while, unsure what to do, so I gave him my credit card and sent him to go fill up the car with gas. I had already decided he was going to come with us, at least for part of the journey. Seth might be able to get some good distance as a shifter, but a black panther was conspicuous and he could only get so far if he were stuck as a house cat. I knew Caden wouldn’t be pleased, but I could put my foot down about a few things.

“How long do you think we’ll be gone for?” I asked.

“No idea,” Caden replied. “I hate that we’re leaving at all.”

I hadn’t really expected him to have an answer, as nice as one would have been. The safest bet would be to assume we had to leave long term, so I would pack enough for about three weeks and manage anything that wouldn’t last until the end of that time.

Clothing was the easiest to deal with. While I wasn’t certain of our destination, it would be smartest to pack for all climates. Toiletries were easy too since I tended to pack the same whether I was going for a weekend or a month.

By the time Seth returned, we were sitting down at the table, eating our middle-of-the-night feast. Shifters could pack away a lot in a short amount of time, so I let the boys eat their fill while I polished off a package of strawberries.

Caden had packed all of the travel-ready snacks from the pantry, sending Seth to load up the car with what we had available.

Exhaustion and anxiety were a steady pulse through my body, one driving me back to bed, the other demanding that everything be ready. Preparedness was the only way I could deal with the uncertainty. I hated not knowing what was coming, or even if it was coming specifically for us. Whatever it was had already killed multiple shifters.

I was only a human.

I couldn’t do anything if something wanted to come after Caden or Seth, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t go down swinging.

I paused in front of my altar to give myself a moment to breathe and to cherish it in this state. The birch wreath I’d woven as a teen hung above the altar. I traced my fingertips over the rim of my bowl of hazelnuts, the string of dried rowan berries, and the dried branches of bay laurel. All plants for protection. I never quite knew if they worked, but it didn’t hurt to keep them around if we were headed into danger. I tucked them in velvet bags and then into my totes.

---