Page 135 of Carmichael's Omega

The park at Caluna is a National Preserve. The landscape is a mix of desert and scrubland, with a few odd copses of trees here and there. Just a few hundred miles to the north, the land at ClearHowl is nearly completed forested at the base of the Rockies.

"I love how different this land is from ClearHowl, Nico. The smell reminds me of Carm. Isn't it wonderful?" I gush as we walk deeper into the preserve to shift.

"Sí,chica," Nico smirks Carmichael's signature smirk at me.

"Is LoboGris like this?" Mattie asks him quietly.

"No, Mattie. It's drier. More desert, less forest." Nico answers.

"I like it, too," he says.

"Bueno. You will like living in LoboGris, then," Nico answers a bit arrogantly.

"Do you..." Mattie says carefully, "do you think that we'll live there one day?"

Nico stops walking to look at my brother. "Mi hermanowill make it happen. Carmichael... he raised me,sí?" Nico laughs a little sarcastically. "He did a lousy job. I love him," he adds hastily, "but we had noMama,andPapádidn't pay me any attention."

"Our sister raised us until Teague came along," Mattie explains.

Nico looks at him, surprised. "You were raised by your sister?"

"Yeah. Mina. Our dad died when we were young pups, and our mom... she wasn't around, either. She died when we were eleven."

Nico nods, "so you know."

Mattie echoes his posture, "yeah."

I beam at them both, giddy that they are finally getting along.

"This is good," Nico says suddenly, looking around in all directions.

"Put your things in your bags so that you can remember them," Alize reminds us. She and I duck behind a rock formation and strip down. Mattie waits until Alize, and I shift and come out from behind the rocks to grab his bag and take his turn.

"You are tiny,chica!" Nico looks my omega wolf over with a grin. He waits, shirtless, for Mattie's wolf. Mattie's wolf has twenty pounds on mine, but he's still much, much smaller than Alize's dark-colored alpha female.

I sniff everything. An omega doesn't have the senses on feet that other wolves do, but my sense of smell is heightened on paws.

Alize stands guard with Nico while I smell the desert dirt, Nico's shoes, Alize's left flank until she growls in warning, my tail, my paws, the dirt on the bottom of my paws, the rock Mattie is changing behind, and Alize's nose.

"Cassie," Nico calls me over to him. I bound over, my tail wagging. He chuckles, "you stay right with the three of us,sí?" His eyes find Mattie's wolf, tentatively smelling the left flank that Alize growled at me for.

"Mattie, does she wander?" Nico calls out.

My wolf huffs a bark at him. We are not a pup.

Alize's wolf chuffs along with Nico's laugh. I pout a little, but I can't stop my tail from wagging. Still laughing, Nico shucks his jeans and shifts. I close my eyes. Nico, like the rest of the LoboGris wolves, doesn't seem to like undies.

A cold nose touches mine. My eyes spring open, and I sneeze right in Nico's face. I know it's him because he's so much taller than I am but very thin.

My omega whines and starts to examine the skinny adolescent wolf, but Nico snaps at me and nudges my side gently to get me moving.

Smiling internally, I take off running. A few steps later, I stumble on a rock. Barking at it, I climb to my feet again and start to run.

I love running. The desert wind sharpens as I pick up speed. Every inhale brings the arid scent closer, deeper. Mattie lets out a little woof and spins me around. I turn twice, taking in the view that stretches for miles, the two alpha-blood wolves standing guard, my brother trying to nip at my tail as it whips around.

Barking, he crouches, his tail wagging furiously. I crouch, too, then straighten out my hind legs in a pounce.

I miss and fall hard to the desert floor. Nico growls in reprimand, but I ignore him. Overprotective males... pshh.

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