Page 13 of In the Mouth of the Wolf

Her round, hazel eyes darted around the room nervously, and I hated that her first introduction to her people had left her drowning in alpha pheromones. It was oppressive even for me, so I couldn’t imagine how she was dealing with all of this. She hadn’t been exposed to this world before and had no practice in handling shifter males.

I shuddered to think what would have happened to her if I had arrived just a few minutes later – the first omega in the Chippewa Valley in a century, bonded to that loser against her will.

She might not have wanted it, but until shewasbonded, she needed protection. And if I wanted it to be me and my pack mates, then I had to keep my anger and desire in check before I scared her off like Camden almost had.

I’d be trading words and possibly fists with that idiot later, because this angel in front of me could possibly be ours, if we worked carefully. Sure, she was engaged, but her fiancé was a human and, if Elias was correct, being around this many alphas could trigger her first heat after a lifetime of hormone suppressants. She would quickly realize that marriage with a human couldn’t satisfy her, nor could a human husband protect her on his own.

I allowed myself a moment or two to picture what Marlowe would look like naked, and then dismissed the images. I couldn’t be like the alphas of long ago, taking advantage of a female in the throes of a heat. I was better than that.

My pack was better than that.

Well, everyone but maybe Camden was better than that.

Sometimes I regretted that I’d let him talk us all into bonding right before we graduated high school, and I was now forever tied to that moron just because fifteen years ago, the four of us had played football and liked getting drunk together on the weekends.

Although I supposed we’d all actually turned out alright.

Elias had gone to law school and opened his own firm in Chicago, serving shifter clients all over the upper Midwest.

Camden had taken over Wolfcrest Construction with James Linden after his own father had died two years ago. Although now that James had passed away, he might be running it with Marlowe. If we could convince her not to write us all off, that is.

Nolan was the youngest mayor in Maiingan Hollow’s history. His progressive policies were helping to revitalize our local economy, and it still shocked me every time I came back to visit and saw our once dilapidated downtown, now a bustling hub of commerce and community.

And then there was me. After getting my Ph.D. from Northwestern in Biomedical Sciences, I had taken a tenured position at the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire. Half the staff there were shifters or humans who knew about our world, and it was nice to not have to hide myself all the time.

It also gave me the chance to do my own research on our people. In addition to omegas, the ability to shift into our wolf form had disappeared over the last century, and recently we’d seen an uptick in a fatal disease we called Shifter Repression Syndrome. The genes responsible for transformation were still present in our bodies and were partially active, causing physical distress whenever we tried and failed to change. As a result, the energy and biological systems once used for shifting were being constantly triggered, and since they couldn’t complete the process, it led to a gradual shut down of our vital organs and bodily functions, ultimately ending in death.

I had been utterly useless as I watched my own father wither away from the disease five years ago, and I suspected it might be what had taken James Linden as well.

But tonight, I was out of my lab, and my job was to “woo” the beautiful omega sitting in front of me. The beautiful, engaged omega. The beautiful, engaged omega who didn’t know what she was, why she was special, or that our world existed.

No pressure at all.

She devoured the burrito in front of her and eyed the fish tacos I had ordered longingly.

“Do you want one?” I asked.

She blushed, clearly struggling internally with the hunger building inside her. As her perfume deepened, I began to worry that Elias might be right about the hormone suppressants. Her first heat could start here and she’d have no idea what was happening. Would we have the willpower to help her through it without falling into a rut? It was already hard enough just sharing a meal with her.

The scientist in me was curious to observe the changes in her biologically and behaviorally during a heat, something only omegas experienced. But the alpha in me wanted to fuck her until she collapsed on my knot in orgasmic delirium.

Thank the Moon for this table covering the very obvious erection in my pants right now.

Perhaps I could ask my sister, a beta who lived in Maiingan Hollow with her husband and kids, to help find a female-led safe space for her. Those types of places had existed many years ago when omegas were still a part of our communities. But with how rare she was, once her scent or the word of her got out, every alpha in the state would come looking. She wouldn’t be safe even with an army of females guarding her.

“Are you sure you aren’t going to eat it?” she asked shyly.

I smiled, sliding her the rest of my plate. “I had a big lunch. Don’t worry about me,” I said. A low vibration rumbled through my chest, the alpha in me pleased that I had provided for this little omega. I was surprised she could hear anything over the sound of the TV blasting the college game, but her head tilted and she eyed me warily.

“What’s that sound?”

Decision time. Do I deny she’d heard anything, keeping up with her delusion that she was a normal human and shifters didn’t exist? Or do I take a risk, slowly getting her used to the idea that we were most definitely a different species altogether.

“Me,” I replied, deciding to ease her in. “I’m purring.”

She burst out laughing, covering her mouth before any food came flying out. I gave her my water as she started choking.

Some people would consider laughing so hard you spit out your dinner to be undignified, but all I saw was an adorable female I wanted to scoop up in my arms and spend all night with, finding different ways to make her smile like that over and over.

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