She'd seen this kind of nervous behavior before in pack animals around the world. In her experience, it never led to anything good, and it was almost always triggered by some creature outside the group.
Right now, this keenly developed awareness was telling her that some force had invaded the Boundarylands with the intention of riling up these alphas and causing them to panic. The more she heard, the more certain she became.
She searched for Gray in the crowd and, not finding him, blurted out his name. Instantly, she saw him rise from a table of young alphas, nearly knocking over his chair in his hurry to reach her.
"You okay?" He settled his hand protectively on her shoulder.
"Yes—I didn't mean for you to rush over here. But I need to talk to you about something."
Gray stopped listening as soon as he'd established that she was fine. He was already looking past her, scanning the crowd. "Sure, on the way home. I still have a little more business here."
"But Gray, it's—"
But he had already turned away. "We'll leave soon, I promise," he said, disappearing back into the crowd.
Fuck that, Olivia thought, her blood starting to boil. She was used to being dismissed and ignored. The same black-tie crowd society that loved to buy her work and give her awards gave her the cold shoulder the second she said anything that contradicted their world view, treating her like one of the catering staff.
But that didn't mean Olivia had learned to keep her mouth closed. Her words had landed her in hot water a few times when a donor's ego got bruised, but keeping her integrity was worth it.
Of course, there were quite a few differences between those wealthy donors and these hulking alphas—differences that went beyond the way they dressed and the spirits they drank.
The worst thing that could happen to her at those galas was to walk away with a less-than-glowing review, but if these alphas didn't like what she had to say, Olivia might not walk away at all.
Still, if this really was her life now—if she was destined to live out her days in the wilds of the Boundarylands—then that made this her home too. Which meant she had as much stake in it as anyone else.
"Hey," she said to the closest alphas, a group of three tossing back shots. "I have an idea about what might be going on here."
But she only managed to get their attention for a second before they went back to their own conversation, ignoring her completely.
So that's how it was, Olivia fumed. Well, not for long.
Before she could rethink her decision, she slammed the rest of her beer for courage and climbed up on her bar stool, the only way she could think of to get the attention of a crowd whose members averaged seven and a half feet tall.
"Everyone shut up," she yelled. "My name is Olivia, and I know what the betas are trying to do."
What the fuck did she think she was doing?
Gray plowed through the crowd, knocking alphas out of the way. He'd seen that determined look in his hellcat's eyes often enough to know it would be pointless to demand that she climb down from the barstool. Instead, he grabbed her and pulled her down himself.
"What the hell are you doing, Gray?" a voice from the back of the room called. "She said she knows what's going on, so let her talk."
"She's exhausted, brothers," Gray explained. They should have been able to figure that out for themselves, but if he had to spell it out, he would. "She's just been through her first heat, and she doesn't know what she's talking about."
"The hell I don't," Olivia snapped, struggling to free herself. Looking down at her face, Gray saw that she wasn't about to be stopped, and there was a new confidence in her scent.
"This isn't the time or place," he muttered in a low voice, though in a group of alphas there was no such thing as a private conversation.
"You're wrong." She dismissed him with a wave of her hand. "When else am I going to be able to talk to everyone? Or are you planning on inviting them back for tea and cookies?"
"You sure that one's an omega?" an alpha at the bar jeered. Gray looked up to see Knox, a pain in the ass who liked sowing the seeds of chaos. "Cause it sounds like you've found yourself the world's first female alpha."
Gray growled at both Knox and Olivia. The warning he'd brought tonight—the need to communicate the seriousness of the threat to every alpha present—was too important to be hijacked by some drunken idiot.
"She's all omega." Gray raised his voice, knowing he had the power to silence the crowd—for now. And he was determined to settle the matter before it got further out of hand. "I should know."
Olivia's cheeks turned pink, and Gray barely had time to regret embarrassing her before realizing he'd also pissed her off.
"And I'm an omega who, until seven days ago, lived in the beta world." Anger seemed to have only increased Olivia's confidence, and her voice rang out loud and clear. The alphas across the room strained to catch a glimpse as she continued speaking. "I watched the news. I read articles. I followed politics. I know what's going on out there. And now that I've listened to you all sniping at each other, I think I know what's going on in here."
"So, tell us." Ryder lifted his glass from down the bar, encouraging her.
"For the past year or so, there's been a lot of buzz about women disappearing into the Boundarylands and refusing to come home."
"Yeah, because they found mates," Gray said impatiently.
"Maybe, but there've been nine in the Pacific Northwest Boundarylands alone," Olivia said, addressing the entire room. "And another dozen in the Southeast. That's more than in the last entire century."
"But that could be explained by an increase in travel over the border," Ryder said, as alphas stepped aside to let him move closer. "I haven't heard any hard numbers, but everyone here knows it's more than doubled in the last few years."
Olivia nodded at the young alpha. "I agree. But the spike in numbers has beta society nervous. And scared people—beta men especially—only care about gut feelings, not reasoned arguments."
"And why is that our problem?" someone asked.
"You have to understand," Olivia continued. "This is a big deal out there. It's reached into all levels of society—rich, poor, even a senator. No one is immune, and that makes them terrified."
"You make us sound like a disease," Gray objected.
Olivia shook her head. "I'm just telling you what's said beyond the boundary line. Before I came here, everything I heard suggested that this place was hell on Earth. I would have done anything to avoid it. Why do you think they had to threaten my family to make me come here?"
"She's not even making sense," Knox sneered, talking to the room at large. "Gray tells us she was sent here because the beta government knew she'd become an omega. Now she's saying that they're doing everything to keep women like her from turning."
Gray started to answer the asswipe himself, but Olivia stopped him with a hand on his arm.
"That's exactly why they had to send me," she told Knox. "They must have discovered how to detect dormant omega markers in beta blood, but they needed a subject to test it on. And trust me, no woman out there would have volunteered for the job."
"Are you suggesting that now that they have proof the test works, they'll give it to every beta woman out there?" Ryder asked.
"Yes, and then they'll make sure those that test positive never get within a thousand miles of the border," Olivia confirmed.
The room was silent, absorbing what she'd said. It made sense—but it didn't answer all the open questions.
"If that's their plan," Gray asked her, "why bother with the scent-blockers? Why cut off our gas? Why interrupt trade at all?"
"Simple." Olivia's expression turned troubled. "Revenge. Betas live their whole lives knowing how fragile they are in comparison to alphas. They like to believe they're superior, that they'll always dominate the entire world, but the existence of alphas is a constant reminder that they're deluding themselves. Throw in the disappearance of beta women, spread a f
ew rumors that you're stealing mates, and suddenly there's a groundswell of support for destroying you."
Ryder's face hardened. "So, knowing that they can never overpower us, they start cutting off our supplies, hoping that the winter will kill us."
"Not just the winter," Knox cut in, dropping his cocky tone. "They know that desperation will make us turn on each other. It's fucking brilliant, man."
"Yeah, I heard somebody talking about raiding the lowlands tonight," the alpha next to him agreed. "They won't even have to bother coming in and killing us themselves if we do their dirty work for them."
Shit.
As much as Gray hated to admit it, Knox and his friend were right. The speculation and conspiracy theories flying around the bar meant they were playing right into the beta's hands. They'd lit the fuse of unrest, and if no one stopped them, they'd coax it into a raging fire that could take them all down.
And Gray had been unknowingly throwing fuel on that fire.
He never would have known it if Olivia hadn't had found the backbone to stand up to him.
This omega was a hellcat, that was for certain—and she'd just proved to be a firebrand as well.
Gray could not have been prouder that she was his alone.
Chapter Fifteen
"It was a pleasure having you in the roadhouse tonight, Olivia."
Olivia turned to see who was speaking as Gray tightened his grip on her arm. When she saw that the cocky alpha called Knox was waiting for them out on the porch to see them off, she looked questioningly up at her alpha. There didn't seem to be much love lost between the two.
"Thank you," she said, figuring she ought to at least acknowledge the compliment. "I had a nice time."
Knox winked. "I hope that stuffy old man you've taken on will bring you back again. You liven the place up."
Olivia couldn't help smiling, realizing Knox meant no harm. He was just the type who led with his charm because he could—handsome, direct, and clearly a joker, he probably gave Gray a hard time precisely because other alphas looked up to him.
Gray grunted and pulled her closer, leaving his arm possessively wrapped around her waist. "Back off, Knox. I don't want to fight you for looking at my omega that way."
Strangely, Olivia wasn't annoyed by his posturing. If anything, his protectiveness made her heat up with a sense of pride.
The other alpha chuckled and leaned his hip against the rail, only adding to his wolfish charm. "What way is that, Gray? Like I might want to take her to the back of my truck and show her what it's like to be with an alpha who still remembers what it means to be wild?"
"You bastard, I'll—"
Knox held up his hands in mock surrender as Gray's face turned crimson with rage. "No need to get violent. I was just asking a question. I take it back."
"The hell you were." Gray scowled as he led Olivia down the steps to the parking lot. "You ask it again, and I'll rip your throat out. Got it?"
"Got it," Knox said with an exaggerated nod that made it clear that he wasn't put off by Gray's warning. "Though if you were serious about staking your claim on this omega, you should return that bite she gave you. As long as you don't, there will always be a bastard like me around, ready to finish what you won't."
Gray stopped in his tracks and spun around, tension coming off him in waves. "What the hell are you talking about, Knox? Weren't you listening? I told everyone she just finished her heat. She hasn't had time to initiate a claiming bite yet."
"You're kidding me, right?" The other alpha smirked, unfazed by Gray's scowl. "What the fuck is that mark on your hand then, oh wise one?"
"What—this?" Gray held up his palm, looking at the scar there as if he'd never seen it before. To be fair, it was new, the marks still red from when Olivia had bitten him out of desperation—when she thought she was about to be murdered. "This isn't anything."
"Oh, really?" Knox folded his arms. "So there's no particular reason why it scarred instead of healing clean? It doesn't have anything to do with why you risked bringing your brand new omega down to the bar on a night you knew it would be packed?"
Gray frowned as he examined the mark. Suddenly, he didn't look so sure anymore.
Olivia didn't know much about claiming bites, only what she'd learned back in grade school. They were the alpha-omega equivalent of beta marriage, but that was about all she could remember.
Her heart started pounding at the thought that she could have somehow initiated the bond without even knowing it. It would be a disaster…wouldn't it? So why didn't she feel more panic?
"It can't be," Gray mumbled, almost to himself. "She hadn't gone through her first heat when she bit me."
Knox shrugged. "Why the hell would that matter? Was she an omega?"
"Yes..."
"Was she in a heightened emotional state?"
Gray nodded, the blood draining from his face at the understatement.
"Well, then, there you go. You're a claimed man, great one." Knox seemed genuinely pleased. "Gotta admit, it feels good knowing something you didn't."
Gray stared down at his hand for another second before abruptly dropping it. "You're still an ass, Knox."
"True," Knox's voice trailed after them as Gray led her to his truck. "But now I'm the ass who set you straight."
"Are you going to sulk all the way home?"
Gray shot his omega a glance and sat up straighter in the driver's seat. For the past fifteen minutes, he'd been absorbed in his own thoughts, heading down the Central Road on autopilot.
He'd been replaying every moment since Olivia's arrival, trying to figure out if Knox had just been fucking with him or if he really had missed the single most significant event of his life.
But he definitely hadn't been sulking. He was an alpha, for fuck's sake. He didn't know how to sulk. "I was thinking."
"Thinking and frowning while staring out a window," Olivia said. "That's the definition of sulking. Is this about what Knox said about the bite? Because—"
"It's nothing," Gray snapped, sounding angrier than he meant to. He quickly reached over and gave her knee a squeeze, hoping his touch would communicate what he couldn't. He wasn't angry at her. It was everything else in the world that was pissing him off. In fact, she was the only good thing to come out of this situation.
Back up, he thought to himself. Gray tried to pinpoint the moment he'd gone from thinking about her as an intruder and a threat…to the brightest thing in his life.
Right around the time she'd bit his hand.
"Fuck," he swore under his breath.
"I knew it was the bite," she said calmly. "If it's bothering you that much, we can pull over, and you can bite me back. I mean, it sounds painful, but—"
"That's not how it works," Gray cut her off tersely. "Like Knox said, emotions have to be running hot."
"You seem pretty pissed off right now. Just saying…"
Gray took his eyes off the road to gape at Olivia. He'd never heard any omega talk to her alpha like that. Omegas were supposed to be submissive in the presence of their alphas.
But Olivia apparently hadn't got the memo. What's more, Gray was glad.
She'd found the courage to do the right thing when no one else would, stepping up to take care of business, just like she'd been doing every second that she'd been with him.
Just as she had probably been doing for her entire life.
After all, it couldn't have been easy being a woman in the beta world, living among men so insecure that they would rather round up and test all their women than lose a single one to her true nature.
His Olivia hadn't just lived in that world; she'd found a way to thrive in it. She'd created her own path, and it had led her straight to where she was meant to be…with him.
"I'm not pissed," he said, as calmly as he could. "I'm just…thinking, like I said."
"Sulking," she corrected him.
Gray's hands tightened on the steering wheel. As much as he'd like to sit around having this point
less argument with her, he had more immediate concerns. Problems that had come to his doorstep first but now threatened to spread out into the community. Problems he'd be expected to help solve.
Gray liked his life quiet. He appreciated stillness and calm—in his truck, in his home, in his work. When his community was experiencing any kind of threat, he retreated into the peace of his own home to think things over for a few days before taking his conclusions and plans back to the pack.
He'd never had to deal with anyone interrupting his process, either by questioning and pushing him, or teasing and tempting him.
But maybe that just what he needed—someone to light a fire under his ass and make him see things a new way.
The uplands had faced plenty of problems before, but nothing on this scale. Maybe having someone to discuss these weighty matters with—especially someone as smart as Olivia—wasn't such a bad thing after all.
Gray sighed, knowing there was only one way to find out. "I'm not admitting to sulking. But I will say that this is the first time in a long time that I…can't figure out what to do next."
He sensed a subtle shift, an easing, in Olivia as she relaxed into the seat next to him. Obviously, she had been waiting for him to reach this conclusion and was ready for the conversation. "I take it we're not talking about the bite anymore."
"No, the betas. Between the scent blockers and their plans to throw this whole damn settlement into chaos and starve us out this winter, I'm worried this might be more than I can handle on my own."
Olivia burst into laughter unexpectedly, lightening the atmosphere in the truck like the sun melting the ice from the puddles on cold autumn mornings. "Of course you can't do it all by yourself. Whatever made you think you have to?"
Gray wondered how to explain how he had evolved into the leader around here. How it wasn't anything official—no one had ever elected him to the position or even acknowledged it except by giving him shit—but it had happened nonetheless, and it came with responsibilities. When there were hard decisions to be made, Gray couldn't let his brothers down.
Gray: The Boundarylands Omegaverse: M/F Alpha Omega Romance Page 10
