Page 11 of Saving His Omega
“We’re going to go for a short walk in these woods. Nothing strenuous. Understand?” At Tripp’s nod, Graham went straight to it. “Change.” He put sternness into the command to ward off any resistance.
It took a second or two, then a light gray wolf with streaks of white and brown stood on four shaky legs in front of him. The poor thing was shivering. Graham knelt in front of him in human form.
“It’s okay, sweetheart. You’re safe here.” He slowly reached out with his hand.
Tripp’s wolf whined and dropped his head to avoid the touch. Graham kept going, though, and placed his palm lightly between his ears.
“I’m not going to hurt you. I promise.” He wondered if anyone had made false promises in the past. Probably not. From what he knew about Tripp’s first mate, the fucker wouldn’t have bothered to care how his mate or his wolf felt.
Lifting his hand off, he shifted so his wolf stood nose-to-nose with Tripp’s. He chuffed and nuzzled his mate until the poor thing stopped shying away from the contact. Because the point of the shifting was to allow the wolves to get better acquainted, a run in the woods was just the thing. Except the omega was heavy with the pup and couldn’t manage anything strenuous. So Graham took off at a slow, loping pace, taking a path that was relatively clear to walk.
The waning day was a beautiful one, warm with a nice breeze that ruffled his fur. He made sure to keep track of where Tripp was, circling back to check on him. It wasn’t really necessary. The omega wasn’t wandering away. Instead, he stuck close behind him. For the first few minutes of their wandering, the little wolf kept his head down. After a while, though, he lifted his muzzle to take in the scents. Every place had different smells, even forests with the same animals and flora. Graham happened to think that the Green Mountain Packlands was the most wonderful and fragrant place within his relatively small part of the world. He’d done enough traveling to other packs to appreciate how his home smelled sweeter than anywhere else.
Anytime Tripp slowed to explore something deeper, Graham stopped and sat, watching but not interfering. They didn’t get far, of course. As they entered a small glade that he particularly loved, he led his mate to the shade of a low-hanging tree and lay down. Tripp followed suit, resting on his side to accommodate the bulk of the pup. The omega wasn’t snuggled close to him, but wasn’t too far away, either. He decided to press the matter. His wolf instincts didn’t really permit anything different. Keeping a distance went against their shifter natures. Crawling up to the omega, he stuck his muzzle into the fur of the servient’s neck and lapped, then nipped. It wasn’t merely grooming, which wasn’t all that necessary anyway, given that this wolf hadn’t been outside like this for quite some time. The common activity help forge bonds between wolves.
The omega flinched and quivered at first. Not long into it, though, he relaxed with his head lying on his front paws and his eyes half-closed. Graham concentrated on the throat and head, steering clear of the omega’s face. Every time he buried his nose into the omega’s fur, Graham inhaled deeply. The scent of his mate was even sweeter than the woods. He smelled like…home. It hadn’t taken long for the bond between them to not only form, but strengthen into a connection unlike any other he’d ever known. He chuffed into the omega’s ear.
Tripp whined in response, though not from fear. As Graham neared the omega’s jaw, the servient wolf dared to lift his head to lick Graham’s muzzle. He flicked his tongue along Graham’s face, tentatively at first, then with more vigor. It was an age-old way of their kind to show submission. His wolf took it as his due, chuffing encouragement. His human brain gleefully recognized the action as a breakthrough in their relationship. The healer had been right. Shifting and socializing in wolf form had broken through the omega wolf’s trauma-induced retreat.
Although he could have happily stayed as they were until the sun set, Graham heard the ringing of the dinner bell. His mate needed as much food as he could eat. They had to return, but they would make time for this natural communing every day until the whelping. He gently shook off the omega’s attention and stood. The little wolf did the same and as they returned to the longhouse, he stuck closer to Graham’s side. It was more than a small victory.
Graham made sure to praise Tripp for the success of their walk as soon as they’d shifted into their human skin and were getting dressed. “Your wolf did really well.”
Tripp grinned. “The walk was lovely. Thank you. I know you have a lot to do and spending time with me takes you away from your duties.”
He cupped his mate’s jaw, rubbing his thumb along the soft skin. The bond that came from touching worked both ways. “Right now, nothing is more important than taking care of you.” He dropped his hand to clasp his mate’s. “Come on. Even a slow walk in the woods makes me hungry.”
Graham gave Cora a quick nod as they entered the dining room to affirm that the walk had been a success. Then he led Tripp to a table, sat him down, and filled a plate of food. It was pasta night. He ladled on big scoops of noodles smothered with a hearty red meat sauce and added a pile of leafy greens to one side. Having learned from the previous experience, he gave his mate more than he thought the boy could need. He’d been wrong in the past about the omega’s appetite but also it was better for there to be too much than too little. Tripp should never feel insecure about food and if it looked as if the boy was struggling to clean his plate, Graham could always intervene and eat more himself.
Tripp rewarded him by attacking his meal with obvious relish. “Hmm,” he moaned with the first bite.
The sound hit Graham square in the balls, lifting his cock to full erection, his dumb male parts being unable to differentiate between the sound of pleasure of eating from that of sex. He forced some pasta into his mouth to distract himself.
Blake joined them on Tripp’s right side. “This is such a treat. We first had pasta while in the human world. I hadn’t realized any shifters bought it.”
Graham swallowed. “The kitchen sigmas make it here, as it happens. We grow a small amount of wheat and grind it at our own mill. Have you been up there?” The question was for Blake, naturally. Graham hadn’t taken Tripp that far into the packlands. It was a long distance to make his mate walk and it wasn’t important enough to drive him there. After the whelping, he’d take Tripp on a full tour.
Blake nodded at him over Tripp’s head. “Yes, I have, Beta. It’s amazing.” He nudged Tripp. “You’d like the river that powers it—so pretty and peaceful. And it tastes amazing.” He lifted his glass. “I hated human water. There was stuff in it that nature hadn’t added.”
Seeing the opening, Graham probed for more information about what his mate’s life had been like since they’d fled their old pack. “How did you end up living among humans?”
Tripp froze with a forkful of pasta in front of his parted lips. He flicked his gaze toward his brother before shoving the food into his mouth.
Blake put down his own fork and looked steadily at Graham. “When we first left, we stuck to the woods in wolf form.” He grimaced. “Tripp wasn’t long into his pregnancy so we were able to keep up a fast pace. And we had a good head start before anyone knew we were missing. Still, I knew they’d catch up sooner or later. That’s why I headed to where the humans lived.” He dropped his gaze. “I stole stuff, but it allowed me to wear clothes and find work doing odd jobs. A lot of humans don’t ask questions as long as you work hard and keep your head down.”
Tripp stopped his brother from saying more by placing a hand on his arm. Then the omega turned to Graham. “Blake did what he had to and I never went hungry. Once he was able to buy the truck, we put more distance between us and our old pack. And eventually, he could afford to put me in motels to stay out of site and danger from the humans.”
To reassure his mate that he wasn’t judging either of them for what they’d done, Graham put his arm around his shoulder. “It must have been hard and frightening. For both of you,” he added with a glance at Blake. “Why did you head in this direction?”
It was Blake who answered. “It wasn’t so much that I wanted to come up here. Rather, this was where the path we needed to take led us. We passed through swampland that helped to hide our scent. It made it harder for them to track us.”
The sigma went back to eating, clearly hoping to put an end to the topic.
Graham wasn’t done, though. The details mattered because if the old pack had members still tracking them—and why wouldn’t they, given that there was a murderous sigma and a pregnant omega to find—he needed to be able to tell Elijah how likely it was for those shifters to track the boys here.
“How long has it been since you started mingling with humans instead of living off the land?”
“It’s been months,” Blake answered with his mouth full.
