Page 2 of Monster's Obsession

Leaving the mushrooms on her doorstep, I struggled with the desire to remain. I wanted to see her reaction when she opened the door and noticed my gift, but there was nowhere I could hide.

Irritated growl rumbling from my throat, I turned away, slinking back into the forest. I still needed to hunt before bedding down for the night so I could be up with the dawn to watch her.

Soon.

Soon she would be mine, and I could see her smile as I locked her on my knot.

Then I’d never have to wait again.

Chapter Two

Meaghan

The morning light fell across my eyelids, pulling me from the depths of slumber. Stretching, I forced myself to climb from my nest, the precious blankets clinging to my limbs as if to prevent me from leaving, but there were chores to be done.

Placing a log on the coals from the previous night, I stirred them to life, leaving the little pot of leftovers to warm. The mushrooms I’d stumbled across had been the perfect addition to my other vegetables, giving my dinner a hardiness it would have otherwise missed without meat.

A sigh escaped before I could swallow it.

The winter had been hard, and I’d lost half my larder to frostbite and rodents. Since my brother had died while off raiding the previous spring, there was no one around to hunt, and I’d relied on my garden to get by. I traded the extras and what I found in the forest for things I had no way of getting myself, but now I barely had enough to make one meal a day.

I rubbed a hand across my belly when it complained. I’d wanted to devour the entire stew the night before but knew I wouldn’t have anything for breakfast if I did.

When I mentioned my loss during the last trade day, Lainy claimed it was a blessing. That I should be grateful to be forced into rationing, since I clearly couldn’t control myself around food.

Growling under my breath, I pulled off the shirt I’d slept in, tossing it into the washbasin with the skirt I’d worn the previous day. Looking down at my body, I found no flaws with my curves, but Lainy, as well as many others, thought an omega was supposed to be like her. Slim and delicate, soft-spoken and feminine, she was the epitome of what was expected of an omega.

My growl ended with a snort. My size wasn’t the only thingwrongabout me. I wasn’t meek enough, quiet enough, or utterlyuselessenough.

Lainy spent her days the way alphas expected her to, sitting around entertaining them with coy flirtations. She couldn’t cook, barely knew how to sew, and gods forbid if someone asked her to do manual labor. She was satisfied with their expectations of her to be nothing more than a pretty sleeve for their cocks.

Plunging my arms into the frigid water, I started scrubbing with a vigor that was too harsh if I wanted the fabric to last. With only two sets of clothing, I had no choice but to wash them each morning and leave them out to dry in the sun, but I had to be careful not to make them anymore threadbare than they already were.

The mindless task couldn’t pull my thoughts from their well-worn tracks. Resentment was a frequent friend when everything I did was met with derision and negativity.

Told I was too vulnerable to walk in the woods alone, yet no one was willing to go with me. Too independent to attract a goodalpha who wanted nothing more than a pliable omega, willing to do as she was told. Too old to keep refusing to mate, even though the alphas refused to show me even a drop of respect.

Wringing the fabric, I let irritation fuel my arms.

I enjoyed my walks, and I was careful to stay close to the village. It wasn’t my fault I hadn’t had any females around when I was a child to show me theproperway to be an omega. Father had done his best to raise my brother and I after Mother passed, and I thought he’d done fine. I could take care of myself. I didn’t need some alpha to provide for me.

Though it would be nice to have another body to keep warm against, or someone to hunt for meat when I was sick of vegetables.

Sighing, I dropped my wet clothing into the basket beside the door before going back to the washbasin. Dipping a small square of cloth into the water, I picked up my tiny block of soap, tension draining from me as the scent of jasmine filled the space. The soap was my one luxury, the one thing I allowed myself to have that wasn’t plain, bare necessity. I collected the flowers and things Marta needed to create it, and she let me have a block twice a year.

I took my time washing myself. It was my favorite part of the morning, something I never skipped, though I didn’t know another person in the village who washed daily.

My nose curled as I put the soap and washcloth away, trading them for the scrap of rough fabric I used to dry myself. That was another reason none of the alphas in the village interested me. I could scent them paces away, the stale sweat, blood, and who knew what else mingling with their pheromones did nothing except make me want to run the other way.

But they kept circling. Kept pushing me to choose.

Reaching for the dress I’d cleaned the previous morning, I pretended the tremble in my hand was from the chill in the air. Ithad nothing to do with my approaching heat and that I no longer had my brother to keep the others away. If I didn’t pick an alpha before the time came I’d end up with no say in who claimed me, because there was no chance of being left on my own. Even if the alphas didn’t really want me, their instincts would kick in when my pheromones rose.

Two full rotations of the seasons older than Lainy, I should have mated already, but constant exposure to my brother’s scent, then the grief from his death, had affected my cycle. I’d been moody and territorial the past two springs but had never descended into the lust that ruled an omega’s heat.

I couldn’t count on that now. Already, I could feel it coming. An awareness growing. A need to be surrounded by soft, pretty things. A greater craving for water and food to get me through. A sudden interest in males that had never before occupied my thoughts.

But none were good enough.

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