Page 5 of Beneath His Alpha's Wings
“Well, at least onlyoneof the omegas. You rescued looks absolutely terrified,” he quipped. “Has anyone actually explained things yet, or are we just going to let Larkin here do all the talking?” The corner of his mouth lifted into a smirk that I felt oddly relaxed by. “Because we all know Larkin is such a big talker.” He crossed the room and began to help himself to a mug of coffee.
Larkin cleared his throat in annoyance. “I was up all night too, you know. And if you're so good at bringing omegas up to speed, why don'tyouexplain?”
The man turned his head, almost unnaturally far around over his shoulder and arched an eyebrow at Larkin. “I never said I was good at explaining, I merely implied thatyouwouldn't be.” He twisted his head the other way, toward the table. “I think Tagger is the only one with experience in that department.”
Tagger shrugged helplessly. “I can try. But I'd like to remind you that the only the only thing aboutthisin my wheelhouse is the pregnancy. My omega was already turned when we met.”
“Oh right,” said the newcomer.
“You helped Adam,” Mesha said. “Maybe it should be you.”
“Adam?” I said sharply at the familiar name. I was well aware every pair of eyes was suddenly on me. “Where is he?!”
“You know Adam?” the new guy said with interest.
I took a deep breath, but said nothing, suddenly filled with dread. Adam was the name of someone that Knash met a month after me. According to Knash, Adam ran from him. Knash had been furious that night. It was the one time he actually scared me. He stocked me up with food and water, and vanished for a week. When he returned, he was much calmer. He apologized and explained to me that he was worried the wardens had gotten Adam. Over the next month or so he mentioned Adam several times and seemed convinced that the wardens had probably imprisoned or killed him.
Everyone waited for a moment, obviously expecting me to answer. The newcomer sat down on the counter, took a long drink of coffee andthen said, “Adam is currently doing just fine.” I looked at him, surprised he was actually answering. “I rescued him from the human hospital before he could shift and hurt anybody. He’s safe and sound in a safehouse with Nol—with a shifter we trust. Well…” He paused to take a sip of his coffee. “As safe as he can be considering the feral is still probably still after him, so he can enslave himand breed a little army.”
“Kessel!” Mesha snapped. “Seriously?”
“What?” the man, Kessel, said. “He wanted to know what happened to Adam. Am I supposed to call them or something?”
“No,” Mesha snarled in exasperation. “You’re not supposed to tell him that the father ofhiscub is trying enslave another omega and breed an army!”
I hadn't actually realized that he was talking about Knash until Mesha rephrased it. Panic gripped me as it sank in and I looked at her nervously. “What do you mean, breed an army? He… he was lonely. His bear took over…” I stammered. I slid my chair a little further away from them. “You people killed his whole family! He's just trying to have a pack again.”
“Is that what he told you?” Kessel clacked his teeth in a weird, although somewhat aggressive way. “What a fucking liar.”
“Kessel!” Tagger and Mesha snapped at the same time.
Mesha shook her head. “I take it back, Kessel isnotthe one who needs to bring the omega up to speed.”
“If he's trying to breed an army…” Teddy ventured. “Does that mean I probably really am pregnant?”
They all looked at him in surprise. “Did the feral shifter say you were?” Mesha asked. “Did you mate?”
Teddy shrugged. “We spent the full moon together a couple of nights ago. Knash said that our bears probably mated.”
“Bastard,” said Tagger. “Someone call Nolan. He’ll have to check.” He turned to me. “And I suppose you haven’t seen a doctor yet?”
“No…” I admitted. “Knash said it isn’t safe.”
“For fuck’s sake,” Kessel groaned. “Let’s get Nolan over… actually, better make that Avery. The feral probably knows what Nolan looks like, we don’t need him popping up.”
“I’ll call,” Tagger said.
“Nah, Avery and I go pretty far back,” volunteered Mesha’s brother. “I can do it.”
“Thanks, Dev,” said Tagger as the other man left the room, pulling out his phone as he went.
Before I could ask if anyone was planning on explaininganythinganother cell phone rang. My eyes darted automatically to Larkin as he moved to answer and I winced as I remembered him towering over me.
I wondered if I was crazy for sitting around here with the wardens.
Larkin answered, then nodded to the others. “Parliament.” With that, he left the room. Teddy and I exchanged a curious look, but everyone else seemed to know what the word meant.
Kessel plopped a plate down on the table, dragged a chair up next to me and sat down. He yawned, then took a vicious bite of a large muffin, ripping it in half and gulping it down. For a moment, I was caught off guard by the animalistic way he was tearing at it. Well, if I had any doubt he was a shifter too…
