Page 4 of His Bonded Omega Mate
I shook my head, lowering my face and staring into the mug, hoping it would have the answers. I couldn’t do what those alphas wanted. There was no way that I would abandon my pack to their lawlessness in Blake’s absence.
If I was honest with myself, I understood their hatred. I wasn’t one of them, and Blake had put me above them. We were all struggling under immense stress and I’d had to pass out some orders that hadn’t sat well. Not that Blake had other options.
“Look,” I raised my head, meeting Aldrin’s eyes. “We need to keep this between ourselves. Blake can’t know.Kadecan’t know.“ I stressed my best friend’s name. If Kade found out about this, there would be no stopping him from coming here, risking his babies, to make those alphas hurt. If they thought Blake was scary, they hadn’t seen a pissed off Kade.
“But —“ James protested.
Aldrin nodded. “As you say. The alpha mate mustn’t find out about this until after the babies are here, or the betas are awake. Not until it’s safe for them to come home.”
My body sagged with relief. “Thank you.”
“You can’t seriously think you can hide this from them!” Larken was furious. “Roan, you are still covered with bruises and cuts! If they see you —“
“Then they won’t see me until I’ve healed from the worst of it. I just need a couple of days.”
“As soon as Kade gets wind of this, he’ll be here to make it right as best he can. His omega instinct won’t allow for anything else. Especially for his best friend. If he does that, the stress could put him into early labor. One of the babies could get the sickness.” Aldrin put words to my thoughts. He knew Kade well.
Larken slumped into an armchair, defeated. “I get your point. It’s just —“
“It isn’t fair.” James sympathized with my friend. “It feels like the ones that did this will get away with it. They won’t. I swear. I’m going to find out who they are, and when it’s time, they will get what’s coming to them.”
James was scary. My wolf huffed in agreement and I thanked the goddess for my alter. During the attack, they had cut us off from each other.I’m sorry, he told me and I reassured him there was nothing to be sorry for.
“I smelled magic. In the hall.” Larken clarified as we looked at him, confused.
“My alter —“
“Perhaps a spell to hide their scents?” Aldrin mused.
“Not just that,” I said. “The whole time it was happening, I couldn’t feel my alter.”
Larken rose from his chair. “I’m going to find traces of the spell and tomorrow I’m going to find me a witch to help.”
Bitter Heat
Hiroshi
Thetell-taleprickleofmy heat beginning blazed a path down my spine as I finished my last checks on Tate and Asher for the night. Every time I looked at them, my heart sank. They remained unchanging. Staying exactly the same as they had been for the last two weeks. My precious betas were sick with the beta flu like we’d heard in the stories from other packs.
As the healer for the Northarbor pride, my alpha had granted me permission to house our only sick betas in my small two-bedroom home while I cared for them. Otherwise, their presence in my house night after night would have attracted too much attention.
We kept our relationship on the down low. Logan, our Alpha, was fair, but there was only so far I was willing to push him for fear of him enforcing the mating pact with his youngest son, Jared.
I loved my men. Tate and Asher filled my heart with love and hope. I just prayed to the goddess that she would send me an understanding alpha and not ask me to part with them. Jared wouldn’t be that alpha.
A shiver raced down my spine at the thought of being mated to Jared. I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself or I’d never be able to go through with the plan.
I’d been stuck with an impossible decision for my heat. With Heatwave closed and my betas sick, I’d finally relented and agreed to Jared and his two best friends taking me through it. I could have gone it alone with some toys and magical help, or tried to find another alpha, but Jared had made it damn hard to approach anyone else in the pack. I was a pariah, thanks to him.
Jared was young, twenty-three, to my forty-one, and had never taken an omega through a heat. Hence the help from his beta henchmen. Them being with us was the only way I’d agreed to it. I’d spent as little time as possible with my betrothed and hardly knew him. His reputation preceded him, though. He was known to be rough and demanding. Hopefully, having the betas acting as a buffer would prevent serious injury.
Hunter and Xander were the young alphas’ guards and babysitters and the betas tasked with helping him through my heat. It was impossible to tell if they genuinely liked Jared or just tolerated him. I couldn’t imagine he was the easiest to deal with and they’d been stuck with the job after Jared’s last faux pas nearly started a war with the aviary. I mean, it wasn’t hard to offend those prickly bastards. Even so, he had inherited none of the diplomacy his father, Logan, or his older brother, Jameson, showed daily.
I needed to find some cheer, to paste on a smile and pretend that every day wasn’t on the verge of breaking me. What would I do if Tate and Asher didn’t come through this? The smile I’d mustered slipped slightly. They wouldn’t recognize me if they saw me now. Tate called me sunshine, but I was having trouble mustering any warmth and light. Everything seemed so pointless without them next to me. Neither would want me wallowing. It was just hard being alone with so many enemies lining up to take a shot at me.
The doorbell rang.
Another deep breath and I left the sickroom to answer the door.
