Omega's Harem (Feral Wolves of the Arctic Book 3)

by J. L. Wilder

  “They’re not the people your father told us they were,” Pax said. “They’re not savages. Lily is all the proof we need of that.”

  “That’s not even what I’m talking about right now,” Victor said. “My father’s opinion of them is a concern for me; I won’t lie to you about that. But it isn’t my only concern. What about the fact that none of us is the alpha of that pack?”

  “Do we need to be?” Pax asked.

  “Well, how are we supposed to incorporate them into our group if we don’t have any authority over them?” Victor asked. “Blending the Vancouver Pack and the Moose Jaw Pack will work, probably, because the alphas of those two packs are aligned now. It’s conceivable, at any rate. But Lily isn’t the alpha of the Arctic Wolves. She’s just a member.”

  “That’s a good point,” Donovan admitted. “Whoever’s in charge up there...what happens if we disagree on something? It’ll be all right if the three of us disagree, because we have Lily’s well-being as our common highest goal. But can the same be said of the Arctic Wolves’ alpha?”

  “I’m sure whoever it is wants the best for her,” Pax protested. “She’s a member of his family too.”

  “But she’s not his omega,” Victor said softly. “And not all alphas do want the best for the omegas in their packs. You know that.”

  He was thinking of his father, Pax knew. He swallowed and nodded, conceding the point.

  “There’s also the question of what will happen when we present ourselves to them,” Donovan said. “I don’t think it’s such a concern that it couldn’t be dealt with. But we have to bear in mind that the northern wolves and the southern wolves haven’t really interacted in the past twenty years. We know very little about each other. And just as they were built up as savage brutes in the stories we grew up hearing, I’m sure they were told stories that depicted us as unsavory characters.”

  “You don’t think we could convince them otherwise?” Pax asked.

  “Maybe we could,” Donovan said. “But they might not give us the chance. Think about it. Our packs did battle against one another twenty years ago. Then we disappeared from their lives. Now we’d be coming back with an omega that we kidnapped from them—I know we love her, and she’s glad to be with us, but can you honestly say you’d wait around to have that explained to you if you were in their shoes?”

  Pax sighed. “Maybe not.”

  “So is it really worth the risk?” Donovan asked.

  “I can’t discount the fact that she wants us to go,” Pax said. “And you’re right that we can’t assume something is best for her just because she wants it. But I don’t think we can assume that we know best either.”

  “Do you have some reason to think she might be right about this?” Donovan asked.

  “All I have,” Pax admitted, “is the fact that she knows her pack. Anything we might think about them, or about how they’ll react to us...it’s an assumption. A guess. But she knows them. If she thinks it’s a good idea for us to try uniting with them, maybe we should trust that.”

  “You’re talking about risking our own safety,” Victor pointed out. “You’re talking about risking the safety of the rest of our packs.”

  “But they’re at risk anyway,” Pax said. “Eventually, the Arctic Wolves are going to figure out what happened to Lily. There’s a chance they’ll come looking for her. We can stay here and wait for that day to come, for them to attack us on our own territory, or we can take the initiative and go to them. At least that way, we would have some measure of control.”

  “You acknowledge that it could turn into a fight, then?” Victor asked.

  “There are never any guarantees,” Pax said.

  “And you’re still willing to go?” Donovan asked. “You hate fights.”

  Pax grinned at his friend. The tension that had once existed between himself and Donovan had all but disappeared over the past week. It felt, now, as if they had never been anything but brothers.

  “Sometimes a fight is for the best,” he said. “If it’s for a good cause. Even I know that.”

  Donovan turned to Victor. “If Pax is willing to do this, then I’m willing to do it too,” he said.

  “So it’s three against one?” Victor asked.

  “No,” Pax said. “It’s not like that. We won’t do this unless we agree unanimously. You’re right that there’s risk involved, and it’s risk that all of us and all of your betas would have to absorb. So if you say no, Victor, then we’re not going.” He looked to Donovan.

  Donovan nodded his agreement. “That’s right,” he said. “We all have to be in favor of this idea. If not, then no one goes.”

  Victor stood and strode to the end of the porch. He looked out over the grounds, his back to Pax and Donovan.

  “You’d let me make the decision for all of us,” he said.

  “Nobody wants you to be uncomfortable, Victor,” Donovan said. “You have to know that. I know this whole thing has been hard for you, but we don’t want it to be.”

  “That’s right,” Pax agreed.

  Victor shoved his hands into his pockets and rocked back onto his heels.

  “We’ll have to bring the betas along,” he said at last. “The whole pack. Both packs. Everyone will have to go north together. It’s the only way I’ll agree to this. I don’t feel right leaving my pack undefended.”

  Pax nodded. That made sense to him. It would be best to have everyone together.

  “So you’re agreeing?” Donovan said. “You’re saying yes?”

  “I’m sure I’ll live to regret it,” Victor said.

  Donovan got to his feet, went to Victor’s side, and clapped him firmly on the back. “You won’t,” he said. “We’ll be smart about this. It won’t come to a fight.”

  “I wish I had your confidence,” Victor admitted.

  Pax was just glad that Victor had finally agreed to work with the rest of them. It had begun to seem as though he would never accept the way their lives had turned. But today had been a real step forward.

  “I’ll go tell Lily,” he said, rising to his feet. “She’ll want to know that the decision’s been made.”

  Donovan nodded.

  “Pax?” Victor said.

  Pax turned.

  Victor hesitated. “Tell her...tell her that I’m going to try to keep an open mind,” he said. “When it comes to meeting her family, I mean. I wish I could promise more than that, but—”

  Pax smiled. “I’m sure she’ll appreciate that,” he told his friend and went into the house, eager to deliver the good news to his omega.

  Chapter Thirteen

  LILY

  The packs ranged far apart as they journeyed north.

  Donovan’s Moose Jaw Wolves stayed largely to the south, keeping about five miles behind the alphas and guarding them from the rear. Meanwhile, the Vancouver Wolf Pack moved to the east, spacing itself out for several miles, keeping its distance from the alphas.

  Lily was glad for the distance between them. She hadn’t yet grown fully comfortable with all of the betas in her new family. It would happen in time, she knew. But she hadn’t been with them long enough to establish working relationships yet.

  It was better, for now, to focus her attention on the relationships she did understand. Especially given the fact that she was incredibly nervous about seeing her family again.

  Unfortunately, her alphas weren’t much help when it came to keeping her calm. Donovan and Pax tried to say reassuring things, but I’m sure it won’t come to violence didn’t exactly restore Lily’s confidence. She wanted to believe they were right about that, but the fact that violence was so often the first thing to spring to their minds was more alarming than comforting.

  Eventually, she began to keep her distance from them, as much as she could without drawing attention to the fact that she didn’t want to be around them. She walked several yards away from them, close enough to hear their footsteps through the trees, but far enough away that they didn’t have to spe
ak.

  That was, until the day Victor came up beside her while she was eating lunch.

  He stood over her, looking down, until eventually, she became self-conscious. “I’m not going to run away,” she told him. “You don’t have to stare at me while I eat.”

  “I know you’re not going to run away,” he said.

  “You do?”

  “You would have done it already.” He said this as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “You haven’t been under orders to stay with the pack for days now. You could have left at any time.”

  She shook her head. “I couldn’t,” she said. “You would have chased after me and brought me back.”

  He sat down beside her on a log. “The thing is,” he said, “I don’t think I would have.”

  She looked up at him.

  “I go back and forth about this,” he said. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. Was I right to bring you home with me that day, after we met? Or should I have let you go?”

  “I didn’t want to go,” she told him. “If you’d asked me at the time, I probably would have thought I did. I was afraid of you. But if you had left me, I don’t know that I ever would have gotten over it.”

  “It’s a strange way to start,” he said.

  She watched him quietly, unsure of what this was. The two of them had never been able to find common ground. This was the first real conversation they had had. But he was acting almost as if they were old friends.

  He looked at her. “You’re glad you came with me?” he asked. “You’re glad I brought you home?”

  “I am,” she said. “I just wish you felt the same way.”

  “I don’t know how to feel,” he admitted.

  “You seem like you hate me.”

  “I don’t hate you.”

  “You never talk to me. You go out of your way to avoid me.”

  “That’s not because I hate you,” he said.

  “Then why?”

  He sighed. “You said you weren’t afraid of me.”

  “I’m not. Should I be?”

  “Of course not,” he said. “But the truth is, Lily...I’m afraid of you.”

  She blinked. That was the last thing she had expected to hear him say. “Why would you be afraid of me?” she asked. “You’re twice my size. You’re my alpha. What could I possibly do to you?”

  Victor shook his head. “I’m not afraid you’re going to hurt me,” he said. “Not physically, anyway. I’m afraid you’re going to turn me into somebody I don’t recognize.” He closed his eyes. “I’m afraid that being with you will mean losing myself.”

  She understood. “You mean, you’re afraid I’m going to turn you into somebody your father wouldn’t recognize,” she said quietly.

  “Have you ever lost a parent?” he asked.

  “No,” she said. “I can’t imagine what it must feel like.”

  “I grew up knowing that I would step into his shoes when the time came,” Victor said. “That I would become the alpha of the Vancouver Wolf Pack. I studied everything he did, knowing that someday I would need to be just like him. I thought I was ready. But he would never have done this. He would never have allowed himself to be taken in by a member of the Arctic Wolf Pack. He’d rather have died. And I can’t help wondering...”

  “Would he rather have seen you dead?”

  Victor shuddered.

  “He wouldn’t,” Lily said.

  “You can’t know that,” Victor told her.

  “I may not have lost a parent,” Lily said. “But I have four wonderful parents. And if there’s one thing I know, it’s that no parent worth anything would throw away their child. Your father...” She shook her head. “I didn’t know him, Victor, but I feel like I know a lot about him. I know he was a man who could be cruel to his omegas.”

  “How do you know that?” Victor asked her.

  “Because I’m living in the room that was designed for your mother,” she said. “You don’t build a room with no windows and a lock on the outside for someone you respect.”

  Victor looked down.

  “But I also know that your father was a good parent to his son,” Lily said. “You were obviously raised by someone who cared about you and wanted to see you do well in life.”

  “So which was he?” Victor asked despairingly. “Was he a good man, whose legacy I should honor? Or was he a bad man, and someone I can disregard?”

  Lily moved closer to him and rested a hand on his arm.

  “You don’t have to choose,” she said. “You don’t have to remember him as just a good man or just a bad man. You can accept that he did bad things, and that there were times he was wrong, and you can still respect and love him for the ways in which he was good to you. He can be a bad mate to your mother and a good father to you. He can be both.”

  Victor glanced at her. “Where do you come up with these things?” he asked her. “How can you know so much about a man you’ve never met?”

  “My mother always taught me that the most important thing an omega could do—besides taking good care of her body—was to be empathetic,” Lily said. “It’s one of the most valuable skills we have. We’re caretakers by nature. Our alphas are the muscle of the pack, but it’s our job to be the heart.”

  He sighed. “Your mother sounds like she’s just as smart as you are,” he said. “I judged you too swiftly, Lily. I shouldn’t have believed the things my father told me about the Arctic Wolves.”

  “It’s normal to believe what your parents tell you about the world,” Lily said. “I can’t fault you for that. I just hope you can see me for what I really am. Because I want you to like me, Victor.”

  “I do,” he said. “I think you know that. I didn’t want to like you, but I do. I wanted to resist you. But I couldn’t.”

  “You have resisted me,” she said. “That’s all you’ve done. I’ve been waiting for you to notice me, to want me...”

  “Do you think I haven’t wanted you?” he breathed.

  She felt something within her release at the sound of the words she had been waiting so long to hear. “Have you?”

  “More than anything,” he said. “I’ve been driven mad with it, Lily. I’ve wanted you so much, I can hardly stand it.”

  “Then take me,” she whispered. “I’m not going anywhere, Victor. I want to be yours.”

  He leaned closer to her. She could see that he was on the verge of giving in. And yet, even now, he hesitated.

  “It doesn’t change who you are,” she told him, moving closer, so close that she could feel his breath on her cheek. “It doesn’t mean giving up yourself. It’s all right to grow. The person you were will always be a part of the person you become.”

  His hand hovered at her waist, uncertain—

  And then he was grabbing her, crushing her to him, his lips on hers, and Lily felt as though she had finally found water in a long and murderous desert.

  At that moment, it didn’t matter that she had found happiness and satisfaction with both Pax and Donovan. Pax and Donovan alone could never have been enough. From the moment Victor had first imprinted on her, she had wanted him, longed for him. She had needed him.

  Now, at long last, that need was being satisfied.

  He lifted her in his arms and settled her astride his lap. She could feel how hard he was already. She rocked her hips against him, slowly at first, then faster and more frantically as her need grew.

  He broke the kiss and gasped, “I need to be inside you, Lily. Now.”

  She couldn’t manage anything more than a nod.

  His hands fumbled between them, releasing the button of his pants and shoving them down over his hips to free his cock. She felt dizzy at the sight. He was thicker than Pax or Donovan, and the idea of having him inside her was overwhelming. It would be more intense, she was sure, than anything she had ever felt.

  She reached for the hem of her dress, meaning to pull it over her head, but Victor was already grabbing her bare hi
ps beneath the hem and pulling her back to him. He drew her against his body and guided her back into a rocking motion, urging her to grind herself on his cock, getting himself wet.

  She rocked harder, her orgasm approaching, her body beginning to twitch with pleasure.

  He stopped her, stilled her with his hands. “Don’t move,” he murmured.

  A moan escaped her. “Victor...”

  “Stay still.”

  “I’m so close,” she whimpered.

  He met her eyes. “You want to come, baby?”

  She nodded, weak with need, hardly able to believe that the man doing this to her was Victor. After all they had been through together, after all the ups and downs, that he could have her so completely at his mercy...

  It’s amazing.

  He eased her off his lap, and she moaned unhappily at the loss of contact as he guided her onto her knees. Then he rose up onto his knees too, and they were face to face, only inches apart from one another.

  He looked into her eyes.

  “I want to watch you,” he breathed. “I want to see what you look like when you come.”

  He moved his hand up slowly, fingers trailing over her thigh, lifting her skirt like a curtain. He didn’t watch what he was doing. His attention was fixed on her face.

  Lily swallowed hard.

  He slipped a finger inside her, withdrew it slowly, and added a second on the next thrust.

  Lily’s hips bucked involuntarily.

  He turned his hand slightly so that he could use his thumb to stroke her as his fingers fucked her, and suddenly the sensation was more than she could stand. She rocked her hips furiously against his hand, crying out as her orgasm washed over her.

  Victor caught her in his arms and eased her down on the ground. He moved over her and began to press his cock slowly into her. Lily relaxed her body and did her best to accommodate him. He was so thick...

  Finally, after a long, slow thrust, he had seated himself fully within her. They lay still for several moments, wrapped up in one another, adjusting to the new sensations.