The Unicorn's Dearest Omega

by Marilyn Black

  Halfway through the song, a guy with a DiCaprio haircut came in, and we all paused. His face was so familiar.

  Tommy tensed up.

  He had his wallet ready and kept his attention on the menu. And then he said, "Hey, are you selling..."

  Tommy backed away.

  I looked to him and then backed to the man.

  "What do you want here?"

  Then he looked at me, and his eyes were a cold blue. "I'm just here to check on Tommy."

  Slowly, I shut the register and forced my unicorn to stay contained. "And what the Hell do you want with him?

  "Look, it's-- it's not what you think. I'm not here with Jonathan."

  He said that, but he didn't hold himself well. Scott and I went from behind the counter and pushed him out the front door. Thankfully, we didn't have any patrons inside at the moment and Tommy could handle the window.

  Outside, the ground was still very wet, and we passed through a puddle without care. The air was very cool and crisp, perhaps 50°F. All the evergreens swayed in the near-constant breeze, and the sky was overcast and grey. This was a Pacific autumn, the equivalent of living in a clamfish. And we were about to break this pearl-faced jerk's ass if he didn't explain himself.

  He had his hands up and said, "Hold on! Hold on!"

  Scott was about to handle him himself when he said, "You'd better take yourself back to wherever you came from."

  "I'm not trying to take Tommy back! I was checking on him because I knew Jonny was abusing him!"

  "Then why did you bring Jonathan here in the first place? We saw you."

  The man was another Grover wolf named Jason, and his answer was a contentious one: "I knew where Tommy was this whole time. But I didn't want to tell Jonny until he threatened me at knifepoint. That's why I haven't been back."

  I still scruffed his neck, though his story did sound legitimate. Still, he was one of them and I had no reason to trust him, so I pushed him to the ground and had him in a wrestling hold, his torso and arms between my legs. "Scott, watch Tommy! I got this." He ran back inside, and since he didn't immediately run back out, I figured that Tommy was indeed safe. "How can I know you're not just leading Jonathan here?"

  "I wouldn't do that! My whole intention from the start was so that this wouldn't happen. Listen!" He started getting desperate. "Just listen! Jonathan's not popular even with his own family. If something happened to him, they wouldn't investigate it."

  "Bullshit! That's not how wolf clans operate. Even if they hate their own, they're not going to tolerate such a thing."

  "You don't know," he said a few times more. "When I say he's completely fallen out of favor, I mean it. He has no support. He can't get the other Grover wolves behind him. He only kept me around by force."

  Slowly, I started to dismount him and let him get back up. However, I still had an advantageous hold on him, and plus I had revealed my horn-- if he made any sudden moves, I'd be able to literally skullfuck him with it.

  To my surprise, he didn't immediately dart off. All I had done, I saw, was scruffle up his dorky hairdo.

  "Where's Jonathan now?"

  "He's not in town. That's what I'm saying. He's been trying to get back into his father's good graces, but it's not going well at all."

  "I said where is he?"

  He raised his hands up and said, "In Vancouver! He's in Vancouver, where the head of the Grover clan lives. He'll probably be back in two weeks unless they kill him. Unless they kill him for you."

  I pushed him back inside and sat him down at a table by the window. Tommy watched every motion, even as he handed four cups to someone by the drive-thru.

  "How can we be sure we can trust you?" I pulled from my pocket a switchblade and pressed it against his crotch. If there was one thing males in general didn't like, it was castration. I knew Tommy wouldn't be against it, considering this was one of the faces he associated with his torture.

  He looked to Tommy with the most victimized face. "Tommy, boy, listen! I'm not with Jonathan! He was trying to take me down too, just like he tried with you!" I grabbed his face and slammed it onto the table.

  Tommy put his foot down and screamed, "Then why would you stay with him like that and do what he said?"

  Once more, I felt the urge to simply stab him and get it over with. However, a greater desire to simply get information out of him abounded.

  "I'm--" he choked, "I'm sorry about all that! I swear on my soul, that was not my intention or my belief. I never wanted to harm you or anyone else..."

  Scott folded his arms and said, "So in other words, you were just following orders?" That by itself nearly sealed his fate. There was no excuse for him to not do something, regardless of if he was forced to behave a certain way.

  "I was the reason you were able to leave, Tommy! The door was open, and Jonny was away, remember? I did that!"

  "You..." Tommy stepped back. "Oh my god, I just can't..." I stormed upstairs.

  I let go of Jason and ran after him, immediately scared of what he'd do. Jason was left alone with Scott.

  Tommy

  Oh. My. God.

  Jason did it? Jason left the door open? Jason sent Jonathan away? That sounded like so much bullshit and I couldn't handle hearing it. This whole time, I wondered what divine power caused everything to align in the perfect way. If those little 'oversights' hadn't happened, I'd never have gotten away. I'd never have felt the warm embrace of Neil's chunky arms. I'd never have felt the power of his horn. All because the doors were left open and Jonathan was inexplicably away from home.

  And here Jason came along, saying that he was the one who did it. My gosh, I couldn't believe that this was his defense. Okay, so Jason wasn't the one who actually abused me, but he was always by Jonathan's side. He was always there, keeping a lookout to make sure I didn't run away. Wherever Jonathan went, Jason was with him to keep me on the leash. And now he tells me that he didn't want to do any of that? Honey, why would you hurt someone for no reason and if you didn't want to do it? That made no sense.

  I threw myself onto my old bed and let myself go in the pillow. Was that an overreaction? Of course, it was, but I was in heat and all my emotions were set to 11. Don't tell me what I can and can't cry about.

  One of the men who made my life a living hell just fucking told me that he didn't mean to do it. I wanted to tell him 'apology not accepted,' but I couldn't find the strength. Doing one good deed didn't change what he had done.

  But that one good deed was the one that changed my life for the better. If he hadn't done it when he did, I'd probably have never found Neil or maybe Jonathan would've found me.

  I was torn. Completely torn. I couldn't forgive him, even if he had helped me so dearly. But what if what he said was true and he also lived in fear of Jonathan? He was looking for a chance to escape too.

  Gosh. Sometimes I wish life was like a romance novel or cartoon. In those, good and evil are clearly defined and you don't have to deal with all the tangled-up BS. You do good, you're good. You do evil, you're evil. And the morally gray people are obvious and always act morally gray.

  Maybe that could describe Jason, I thought. It's possible to be evil but do good things just as it's possible to be good and do evil things. If what Jason said was true and it wasn't just a case of 'I realized I hurt you and decided to change', then he was the latter. But Jonathan, oh no. Jonathan was straight up evil, even by real life standards.

  Neil came to me and comforted me, holding me in his arms and keeping our hearts close. And he asked me if I wanted him to do something to Jason, and I had to say, "No. Just throw him out. I need time to think."

  We let Jason go, and he walked on down the street, not even getting in his car. He was trembling, though I didn't know for sure if that was because it was cold or because the two Alphas of the shop had roughed him up enough. And I definitely did feel schadenfreude in seeing him on the receiving end for once. And part of me felt that was enough, just this one retaliation. Once he had gone
through this walk of shame, then I'd listen to him.

  However, he didn't come back that day. By the time Michael had been dropped off, I already went to school and was in my mathematics class, a pager in my pocket waiting to get a message from Neil about whether Jason had returned.

  For all I knew after that, Jason was dead.

  I was happy that I was able to return to classes without much fear of Jonathan taking me away, but Jason's sudden interest in my fate caused me to worry a bit more just in case he was interested in doing evil.

  Eventually, Jason returned and we had our words in the beginning. However, as he had not come back with Jonathan, I decided to swallow my reservations. We were fine with him trying to make amends. If anything, that's what I wanted from him in particular-- amends. Something to prove that he was telling the truth about wanting the best for me.

  When had he come back, you ask? That was the only thing that was suspect to us at first: we heard him knocking at the door at around 1 AM. He was cold and shivering and looked very pathetic. So pathetic that I felt a certain little need inside of me to just let him in to help him out.

  Neil was the one who said, "This man abused you."

  And I said, "I know." At the very least, I had gotten my revenge. He wasn't wanted by anyone else. And since he wasn't an active asshole like Jonathan, I was willing to at least tolerate him. See where he'd go with his newfound lease on life. If he'd do anything with it.

  He was trembling still when he asked, "Can I at least sleep at the lodge in the back? Behind the shop."

  Neil said, "No." And Jason, being a Beta, couldn't go against him. It was beyond him on a biological level-- Betas and Omegas were hardwired to obey Alphas, especially when they used their most forceful words and tones. If Neil was even slightly wavering in his belief that Jason didn't deserve any redemption, he would've added more words. He would have said something like, "You don't belong here." But the finality of saying "No" betrayed my own hospitality.

  And I said to him, "I know what he's done. I know that he has a lot to prove. But, if you let me watch him to make sure he doesn't act out, why not let him stay?"

  Neil looked shocked, even slightly offended at my suggestion. And yeah, I get why. This man, Jason, was someone with a black stain on his reputation and history. That's fine. Some people don't get second chances. But it wasn't just about Jason.

  You see, the thing about Alphas is that, while they can be very loving and show that love with aggressive and rough actions, those same actions can also lead them down a dark path. I don't know how the Grovers went so wrong, but I was willing to bet that their fall into pure sadism started with an Alpha who was never restrained. You know, someone who was never told "No" or to not do something. And once things started spiraling out of control, he became tyrannical and spread those tyrannical beliefs to his children. Once upon a time, most Alphas were harsh, but even in those older days, they always had honor and subtle gentleness. The Grovers were the ones that failed.

  I didn't want Neil to become like that. He wasn't like that to me at that moment, but it wouldn't take much for them to go down that route. All it would take was just one bad move, one bad day, or one really bad hombre like Jason's relative.

  And if I didn't force Neil back, just to get him to open his heart, who knew what he'd become in ten- or fifteen-years’ time? It was better that I be his heart and soul now than spend my time trying and failing to pull him back from the edge tomorrow.

  And he relented.

  "Fine. But I'm going to give you a gun. If he so much as sneezes out of time, I want you to pay him back for what he did to you in whatever ways you see fit."

  I shook my head. "No, don't say that." I said that despite still feeling apprehensive.

  The thing about wolves was that they weren't really tricksters. Jason wasn't going to keep up a charade for long if it was out of his personality. They weren't like fox shifters or the more exotic monkey shifters, where they could really manipulate your opinion of events and get you to distrust yourself with a few good words. No, wolf shifters liked being blunt. The tactical shit wasn't their shtick. And in fact, that was the reason why Jonathan and I didn't have a longer honeymoon and probably why my soul knew better than to allow me to be impregnated by him. If he could keep his intentions hidden for any longer than a couple months, he probably would've managed to keep me around or make me believe that it was all my fault.

  I had heard horror stories about nonshifters who suffered abuse. The pattern was always the same: their abusers would start out as such nice people. They'd never push their loved ones too far, and when they did, it was always as a joke. There wouldn't be tears or infighting too soon because that would just cause doubts.

  It would almost always begin with gaslighting. Making the abused believe that they were being foolish for thinking something was off about their abuser. They'd soon believe that they themselves were actually the abuser for thinking and saying such things, and if things really got bad, they'd be beaten. And because that seed of love had still been planted and sprouted into a tree, then no matter how wilted and dead that tree actually was, it was nearly impossible to uproot that love without an external force.

  We shifters tended to have it easier, especially my kind who got involved with arrogant wolf shifters. Jonathan didn't know how to go through the gaslighting phase very well, so I was able to figure out quickly that things were unwell. And, I guess, without Jason to save my ass that day, I'd be locked in my old room getting abused. It's not that there was nothing or that there was no period where things started going downhill. It was just accelerated compared to the nonshifter experience.

  Two months was all that separated me eloping to be with him and him trying to do terrible things to me. Even though I had known him for so much longer, I thought that July day that he was actually the guy for me. And Jason was there, helping me get attached to him.

  Once I got to see Jason pull up an air mattress and throw himself down, I realized that his actions back then may not have been in cahoots with his relative but in fact because he was already being pushed around and had no power.

  After all, Betas can't easily disobey Alphas. Especially not a blood relative.

  Once I returned to Neil, I actually started feeling sorry for Jason. Though again, I didn't feel too sorry. No matter how much he may have gone through, I still remembered him mostly as being the man who worked with Jonathan.

  I wrapped my arm around Neil in bed and told him, "We'll see how this goes. We'll see."

  Even though he was awake, he said nothing. And I hoped he didn't bang up Jason too badly. I won't say Jason did nothing to deserve it, but it would've felt like I was lying to him if Neil took it upon himself to, quote unquote, "Pay me back."

  The next week passed by without much different despite our new resident. It was very strange and awkward in the beginning having Jason around the shop. We had grown so used to trash talking the Grovers that having a Grover in our presence made Neil and Scott agitated.

  The most I could do before I headed to my classes was tell them to knock it off. My initial outburst when Jason arrived was still fresh on their minds. They didn't think of him through my attempt at kindness and understanding-- they thought of him through the ranging twinkie cat putting his foot down in an emotional appeal to get him away.

  It didn't affect my educational performance much, but I did spend more and more of my classes thinking about him, concerned that he may have made a mistake in trying to stay near us.

  What was his own schedule like? He had indeed crashed in the abandoned shed behind the shop, and for the most part, he was not discussed and dealt with. Rather, they kept him in there all day, and I was the one who brought him pastries and drinks just so he didn't starve. He seemed grateful enough.

  On Thursday, he found an acoustic guitar in there, and when I came to him to give him a day-old donut, he was playing Pearl Jam's "Thin Air".

  And he looked up at me and asked, "How are
you able to function knowing what Jonathan did to you?"

  Perhaps with a bit too much snark, I said, "Sweety, I got myself a new man. One who actually loves me. And he's twenty times the Alpha your old cousin will ever be."

  He looked visibly shaken by my words, so I stooped down to his level and said with a deliberately softer voice, "Besides, what did he do to YOU?"

  And he looked away. "I don't want to say. It's not as bad as what happened to you. It's..."

  I pat his shoulder. "You don't want to say. I understand. As much as I run it through my head myself, I don't like talking about it either."

  "But you still have someone who loves you."

  Neil. Yeah. When he said that, I heard a twang in his throat that made me feel that much worse for him.

  Jason's tragedy was that he was bound by the Grover family. And once Jonathan had completely collapsed, he'd have literally no one. It was unlikely that he'd find a mate. As a Beta, he was also stuck between the might of an Alpha and the pregnancy joys of an Omega. I ran my hand over my belly.

  And I said to him, "You aren't as weak as you think."

  He looked up.

  I smiled.

  "It's really a damn shame that we all get to bond because of Jonathan. But if that has to be the catalyst..."

  He looked back down. "Jonathan never wanted you for your love. It's always been so he can present an heir to his father. And I suppose he thought impregnating a cat Omega was the easiest route."

  I blinked, not expecting this sudden burst of information. He set down his guitar, and I said, "What do you mean? That's why he wanted me?"

  Slowly he nodded. "All this time, it was just so he could keep his place in the clan. But when you didn't become pregnant, he... he freaked out. He was already violent and controlling before then, but once you repeatedly failed to bear him a child or even be fertilized properly, he..." He threw his head to the side. "He became a nightmare. A nightmare I couldn't wake up from. And I couldn't believe a man could be that angry."