Page 18 of The Enforcer's Rejected Mate
“Good girl.”
Maud deposits me at the kitchen table and wraps a woolen shawl around me before she gets to work on stoking a fire in the hearth. I shiver, watching her for a minute before she’s gone again, out the door and on her way to the water pump. I lean back in the chair, the smell of chicken and potatoes still hangs in the air and I open my mouth and take in a deep inhale. I can taste our supper on my tongue with my new senses. Before, I would have maybe picked up on a sniff here or there but nothing like this. I look towards the door. I want to run.
Goddess, what would it be like to shift? To lose myself to this and really feel the night? My wolf wants me to do that too but acramp from my heat makes us both pause. If I go out there right now I’ll be at the mercy of whatever Alpha I come across.
“I’d say your first heat is enough to repay the debt you owe the pack for supporting you all these years, wouldn’t you?”
The Alpha’s words remind me I’m not safe if I venture out of Maud’s hut alone. Even if it wasn't the Alpha that found me, I know he isn’t the only one in the Frostclaw Pack that would see me as fair game. As prey that owed them. I stay put and wrap the shawl around my shoulders tighter while I wait for Maud. How could so much happen in so little time? I look up at the ceiling, the wooden beams and dried herbs hanging above me are familiar and the firelight plays over them and for a second I pretend the last hour didn’t happen. I take in a deep breath again and then let it out slowly. It’s comforting to be in a place I know so well.
What will I do when I have to leave?Where will I go?I’ve never been farther than the nearest town and when I’ve been, it’s always been with Maud. I’ve never set foot outside of pack territory on my own.
That’s not true though, is it?
The thought is just a whisper. I want to shove it away because this thought always hurts too much to follow but tonight I follow it this time. I’ve been outside of pack territory before because I’m not from this pack. Once, I lived somewhere else and even if I don’t remember it, I know it has to be better than here.
Anywhere is better than here.
I watch the firelight’s shadows while I wait for Maud. I must doze off because the next thing I know Maud is shaking me awake and pulling me to my feet.
“Into the bath with you.”
I stumble after her and I’m thankful for Maud’s steady hands. Without her there’s no way I’d be able to stay upright. It feels like my head is full of cotton. And hells, my body is a mess.A cramp brings me to my knees with a gasp, and that’s when I feel something I’ve never felt before.
Slick.
Oh gods.
I grab at my thighs and shake my head. “Oh no.”
Maud pauses while I have an existential crisis on the floor. “What is it?”
“I’m an Omega,” I whisper. All female shifters get a heat but only Omegas get slick. How is it that everything just keeps piling up on me today? Never in my wildest fever dream did I think I would be an Omega. A beta was the most likely choice and I used to pretend that I would turn out to be an Alpha. From the way my wolf reacted tonight I hoped that was the case when I shifted. My first shift would force everything to click into place and make sense. At least, I thought so.
“Can you smell me?” I ask Maud. I raise my wrist up for her to smell and she gives me a sniff.
She shakes her head and makes a face. “No, I only smell Keiran.”
“How do I still not have a scent?” I sit back on my haunches and think. “I-why am I broken? Why does nothing about me come easy? It’s not fair.” I hit my hand on the ground. I’m throwing a pity party right now but could anyone blame me?
Maud doesn’t point out that I’m having a fit and gets me undressed while I wallow.
“I’m broken,” I whisper. “Or cursed, like everyone says. An Omega you can’t scent? That’s ridiculous. A fucking joke. I’m a joke.” Blame it on biology and the need to lure in an Alpha to mate but Omegas are the easiest of all shifters to scent. I always hoped my lack of scent was because I didn’t have a wolf, even if others in the pack had their scent long before they shifted. I should be happy to be an Omega, and under normal circumstances I would be.
Being an Omega means having a pack and a home always. It means finding a mate will be easy and quick. Omegas are rare and Alphas fall over themselves to court and win one as their mate. Some Omegas in the pack have more than one mate devoted to them, but those are normal Omegas with actual scents.
If I don’t have a scent then finding an Alpha is going to be a challenge. As much as an Alpha might want to bed an Omega in heat, there’s something about the scent that anchors them, makes them return like a ship to port. All it would take is another Omega’s scent to lure my Alpha away and destroy everything.
I feel like I’m hollowed out, like all my insides have been scooped out and tossed in the garbage. How is it that I’m so close to getting everything I want and still missing the mark?
“Does this mean I’m not going to be able to find a mate? To keep one?” I ask Maud. If I don’t have a scent how am I going to be able to hold on to my mate?
“Don’t worry about things like that. It’s best to leave it to the future.”
“But how can I keep my Alpha when-”
“Into the bath and no more about scents or damned Alphas,” Maud orders.
I’ve never been one to argue with her so I do what she says out of habit. Maud hums while she folds my sundress and cardigan nice and neat for me while I sink into the warm water she’s filled her copper tub with. When I’m settled, she adds a few drops of rosemary and lavender oil to the water, my favorite combo. I take in a deep breath and grip the edges of the tub tightly. I look down into the water. The scent of lavender and rosemary fills my nose. My heightened senses make the normally delicate scents intense now. I swirl my fingers in the water before I clench my hand into a fist and let my hand dropdown to the bottom of the tub. Wouldn’t the world be so much easier if I smelled like the oils Maud just added?
