Page 4 of Unable Omega
But I sent one more message with my eyes.Shift! Do it now.
Locke lifted the gun, pointed it, aimed. And then…a fraction of a second before he’d have been tranquilized, the bear disappeared, replaced by the man.
An omega.
Mate,my bear said, completely unruffled by it all.Ours.
I didn’t reply, but I didn’t have to. It was preposterous to think my omega mate had just casually strolled up the driveway and into my life. Those things only happened in fairy tales. I’d long accepted that Fate didn’t have a true mate for me lined up. I had my friends and my work, and that was more than I’d ever expected anyway.
My bear must just be engaging in wishful thinking. He was as lonely as I was—maybe more.
As the others moved in, I faded back and took over my body again, shivering as the cool night air wrapped around my vulnerable human skin. Someone tossed me a pair of sweats, and I gratefully dressed, looking around to see if there was another set for the intruder.
I didn’t know who had brought them out, or maybe gone back for them, because I had no sense of what time had passed. But I did manage to get the shaky omega dressed in sweatpants and a hoodie before leading him back to the buildings.
My bear was adamant that we take him back to our rooms, but I wasn’t ready to do anything like that, just because my beast was overreacting. I assisted the omega to a small vacant cabin and, because my bear was about to rebel, took the first shift watching over him. He looked a lot better with his matted fur gone but still so tired.
Chapter Four
Sage
Everything hurts.
There wasn’t an inch of me that wasn’t in screaming, ripping agony. I’d been in my bear form for too long, and he didn’t give up the shift easily.
Not until that man challenged us. That alpha.
Our mate?
Ugh, everything was fuzzy in my head. With the sun glaring right through the window, I decided to get up. Before opening my eyes, I took a scent inventory, since I had no idea where I was. The alpha’s scent was the most prominent in the room. Also blood. Fresh air. Bears. Even the incoming sunlight had a scent. Humans didn’t think it did, but it absolutely smelled divine.
Flashes of the night before popped into my mind. Defending myself against the other bear, the alpha…the one my bear called mate.
Almost fighting him.
He’d demanded I submit, and my bear obeyed. Maybe he was the alpha of this sleuth. That would make more sense than the mate theory my bear had come up with.
I sat up slowly and threw my legs over the side of the bed. My muscles ached. My throat was dry. So damned dry. I scanned the cabin, finding a bed and a small table. No kitchen but there was a bathroom. I hobbled to the sink and filled my hands with water, drinking until it sloshed in my belly as I took a few steps to the toilet and did my business. Inside the shower, I spotted a three-in-one shampoo, conditioner, and soap and a towel hanging on the rack. It had been years since I had anything more than a sterilization shower. Standing under the hot water spraysounded like a vacation. There was no one else in the cabin, so I went for it.
Oh, it was better than a vacation. It was like I’d died and gone to the afterworld. The bodywash in the shower smelled like pine and vanilla and, while it was nothing close to the alpha I’d scented the night before, it made me feel like a new person.
A bleeding, tired, hungry, thirsty, and scared person, but a clean one anyway.
I got out and toweled off. There was a pair of shorts and a T-shirt on the edge of the bed, along with a pair of boxers Were they there when I got up? All of them smelled new. Did they keep new clothes around here? Were they expecting me?
“Shit!” I said out loud. What if I’d walked right into a place where the shifters turned in one of their own for money?
That would be my luck.
I scrambled to put the clothes on and rushed to the door only to find it was locked—from the outside. I jiggled the doorknob but there was no getting out of here.
My gaze slid to the window, but before I could get there to see if it was locked and moreover if I could use it to escape, the knob moved. Voices resounded outside, and I picked up one of the chairs beside the small table, ready to defend myself.
The door opened, and two men entered. One taller and leaner than the other. The one behind him had dark hair and a large tattoo covering both pecs. He was muscular, but he also looked like a plate of cookies wouldn’t be turned down by him. A cuddly big bear if there ever was one.
“We aren’t here to hurt you,” the first one said, putting his hands up in a sign of surrender. “Please put the chair down.”
My stare flicked from one to the other. My bear swept into my senses and sniffed, finding no danger or even a hint of anger. And something even more interesting… “Okay.” My voice cameout rough. Talking made my throat feel raw as though being a bear for so long had ripped the lining.
