Jarret growled at Gus. I wasn’t following their conversation, but something unpleasant must have just been communicated in their wolf forms.
Anton swung around to stare at them and then shrugged at me. Whatever was going on, Anton wasn’t that concerned about it. Maybe Jarret and Gus fought a lot. Perhaps this was some level of normal for them.
“Ready?” I looked between Anton and Rainer.
“We are.” Rainer spoke as Anton nodded, taking my hand and placing it over his heart. I felt the strong beat for just a second. If life was moments, and our future never guaranteed, then I was going to appreciate every single second that I got to feel their hearts beat.
“How do you want to handle it?” Rainer looked over the group. “This is your call, up until the point that I have to challenge him.”
My call. It always was because I was the only Omega born, so it was always going to be me. “Do you think that I’ll resent it when I have other Omegas around? Like I’ll be like, hey I’d really like this to be a forever solo gig?”
Anton threw his head back. He clearly found that funny. With a tug, he dragged me to him, and I got his implication perfectly the way I always did with Anton. If I ever found myself craving to do this alone, he would see to it that I was seriously distracted.
In the best possible way.
It was funny, really. I was going to go into a battle with an enemy so powerful, he’d destroyed the lives of countless werewolves, hurt my family and those I loved, while also managing to trap me in my own head under his control. But I was perfectly calm.
Was that a good sign or a bad one?
I supposed only time would tell.
With no choice, I dropped Anton’s hand. Despite my rather Zen feeling about this, I couldn’t go beat Ross while Anton held my hand in solidarity. I was going to have to do this somewhat alone.
Even though a crowd surrounded me.
I bit down on my lip. I should really say something, only it didn’t feel like I was the one who should speak right now. Werewolves surrounded me. I needed to be one, too. So I let the wolf into my eyes.
Most of the time when I did that, I didn’t really see things differently than I did in my human form. This was different.
They weren’t just random wolves. They were mine. I jolted at the thought. I’d known it, but now, I could feel what pack meant to me. It went beyond Rainer, Preston, Jarret, and Anton. They were my mates. That was a separate category. But pack meant more than just family. It was existence. It was where I was meant to place myself in an ever-shifting world. They were mine.
It was different than they were Rainer’s. If he cared for their physical selves, I was in charge of their emotional lives. I wouldn’t let them become Loups. They’d never be lost to madness, not with me in their pack.
I’d learned from generations of Omegas, and I knew one thing and one thing only—I wasn’t going to take myself from these souls who had come with me. I wouldn’t live in a house where no one knew if I lived or died, showing up only if someone needed me. I was going to fill my days with them.
By my side, I’d have Rainer and his strength, leadership. Preston, and his sense of humor and ability to see through any situation to the core. Jarret and his deep-seated empathy and fast, sharp mind. Anton and the way he seemed to see everything, know things before anyone else.
I was the luckiest Omega ever with them.
But I intended to live a full life surrounded by whatever our pack looked like. We couldn’t be taken over by an Alpha Loup if we didn’t isolate ourselves into the position where no one spoke so no one realized what was happening.
I wasn’t going to be separate from; I was going to be in the mix of all of it. I wouldn’t die with no one noticing.
Of course, I could be taken down in just a few minutes and then my grand thoughts would be for nothing.
“We’re wolves. We aren’t meant to cower. We aren’t meant to be locked in cages at the will of one Alpha.”
I itched to shift but held myself as I was for a few moments more.
“The first thing we are asked to do when we are adult werewolves is to swear allegiance to our Alpha.” I’d never done that, and it seemed like something we should do quickly when this was over. What little I understood about customs, I’d gleaned that much over the years. “And that man took that from us. Sure, he took a lot more than that, but let’s start with the fundamental disruption of our choice. None of us picked that man to control us. None of us decided to give him the power over our lives that he has taken without permission.” My skin burned. I wanted the shift, and I wanted it now. But I would be more effective against Ross if I didn’t give in. Fighting was not my role today. “Today, we take it back. “
They howled, and I smiled. It looked like they were on my side. I wasn’t surprised. I could count on them.
“Let’s go get him. What I need from you is the ability to get to Ross. He’s well protected. These Loups we had here will not be the last, and the ones to come will be violent. Try not to kill them, but do so if you have to.” Decisions like these couldn’t be easy, and it wasn’t for me to say that. I’d always regret the need, and maybe today could end without their deaths. “Rainer and I have to get to Ross. As soon as we have Ross, those Loups will stop fighting. Our missing family members will be freed. This nightmare will be over.”
More howls met my announcement. I smiled. “So follow me.”
It turned out I knew exactly where he was. I looked over my shoulder. Not only could I feel his glare as though he were there with me, but I’d seen his dock in my head endlessly. When he’d created his fake environment, he’d put me right on his very real dock, albeit the one I’d been on had been in his mind. But there it was. Just close enough, he could see us if he wanted to.
And I was sure he wanted to. I stepped away from the group toward the edge of the lake. It was practically dried up. Was that normal for the area? Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t. It had been nice and full in his mind’s creation of this spot. Now, if he tried to throw me into it, I wasn’t going to get particularly wet. It would be more like slipping into a puddle. It might have been uncomfortable, but I wasn’t going to drown.
What did that tell me? I smiled. He was a lot tougher when he got to make the rules in his land of make believe than when he was out here with the rest of us.
I pointed at the house. “He’s there. And if you see any humans, remember he controls them, too. He’s a bully, and he shoves his mind against those he can beat up and makes their life hell. But he’s just an Alpha who has gotten out of whack. We pick our Alphas. We haven’t picked him.”
And if I truly did decide to be an Omega, if I really did in some unconscious state sign up for this life, then I was going to make sure I was the best damned Omega for this strange, unpredictable time. So help me, I’d tear apart the world before I let this fucker hurt one more werewolf on my watch. I was the Omega for this time, I’d be whatever it took to protect us.
They were all mine. In the best possible way.
Chapter 9
I’d predicted he’d send wolves after us, and I was right. Much as I wanted to shift, I stood in my human form with Rainer in his and watched as our wolves fought the Loups Ross controlled. I itched to fight so much that I had to clench my jaw hard to keep from doing it, and I was rapidly giving myself a headache.
It was a quiet walk, and I found myself scanning for humans, just as the Loups seemed to appear around us. My hands were already burning, but I suspected that the more powerful I became, the less that mattered. I was always ready to handle a Loup. I didn’t need my hands to alert me to their presence.
Jarret growled and lunged forward, taking down the first Loup in his way. He grabbed on to the scruff of his neck, and I winced, thinking how disgusting that must taste. Some things were better when I was in my full-on wolf form. I wouldn’t consider that sort of thing if I could shift.
Rainer lifted an eyebrow at me as more and more sick werewol
ves charged out of the house. It was amazing that his neighbors hadn’t caught Ross with that many Loups hanging around. Or maybe they were all under his control.
“Ready?”
I nodded but a thought had dawned on me, and I needed to deal with that, too. “Anton,” I called out to him, and he swung around, letting the Loup he’d been dealing with go. Preston immediately grabbed the sick wolf and dragged him toward the water. Was he going to drown him? I flinched. I couldn’t deal with that. I had to trust them to know what they were doing.
Anton strode over to me quickly, and I bent over to stroke the fur under his chin. “They’ll have guns. He didn’t have them shoot at us very much, but the humans who will be next will have guns. Take proper precautions. I won’t have anyone hurt, and I can’t fix anyone until after I’m done with Ross.”
He nodded once and then head butted me. I laughed. This was such a serious time. Nothing should have been funny, except that it was.
They’d all follow Anton’s lead. He didn’t have to talk when he was a wolf, they could all understand him perfectly, like I could all the time. There was something beautiful about our lives. If the humans could understand without terror, they’d envy us our connection. In so many ways, they lived lonelier lives.
“Ready?” Rainer asked again.
“I am.”
I was sure of it.
I walked ahead of Rainer, swerving out of the way of wolves fighting to subdue Loups. I darted left, getting swiped at by a Loup twice my size. I rubbed at the wound for a second as it stung, seeing my own blood on my fingertips. It all came down to blood, always. To DNA. The ways that we were the same, the ways that we were different. Somehow, it brought on our psychic connection.
Ross understood that. He used it against us, took Anton as a baby. Maybe others, too. I’d know soon. He wouldn’t exploit our strengths and make them weaknesses again. If nothing else, he’d exposed us to humans. The scientists who’d directed us. He’d taken the wolves he’d controlled and sent them on missions to increase his financial worth.
That was so repulsive to me that it created a bad taste in my mouth—the same as what Jarret must be tasting having bit into the Loup.
He would pay. As wolves, we didn’t have judges or juries. We were all each other’s peers. And I was the Omega.
I wasn’t offering him forgiveness.
I stepped through the door.
Gunshots rang out behind me, and I almost turned around. Rainer put his hand on my shoulder. “Don’t. Trust them to handle themselves.”
They were wolves who hadn’t been wolves again for long, if they ever had been before. Maybe some things were natural. I nodded. I couldn’t be everywhere. I had my role. They needed to play theirs.
The house was a mess. Things were strewn everywhere, and the smell of Loup was everywhere. Acrid. It made my nose burn to match my hands.
“The Omega is always a strong woman. But she’s never alone.”
One of the Omegas in my mind whispered in my ear. I didn’t know which one. The floor creaked as I stepped over things to get out of the way of the overturned furniture, frayed rugs, and broken glass. It could have been the Loups who did this, but I had a feeling it was just one all on his own.
On the outside, Ross looked like a put together man, but the inside had madness. Centralized, focused madness. His external environment matched his inner turmoil. I felt all sorts of smart for thinking that. Of course, it could also be that he’d had some kind of fit and thrown his shit around. I wasn’t a psychiatrist. Just an Omega trying to figure things out.
I made it to the backdoor and paused. “Rainer, this could go one of two ways.”
“No.” His tone told me he was resolute, and his scent was hard, focused, like he held only determination in that moment. It was a spicy scent, like cinnamon. “There’s only one way that it goes.”
I put my hand on the backdoor’s knob. I couldn’t see outside. Ross had closed the blinds. Yet, I knew exactly what I’d be walking into. I didn’t need my eyes to see. I had hundreds of Omegas to clear my view.
“Rainer, what do I smell like to you?”
He tilted his head. “Like heaven. The same way you always do.”
I should roll my eyes. I’d asked a question, wanting to know if I gave off the cinnamon focus, too, and he’d handed me poor cheese, but since I loved it and believed he thought that, I grinned at him instead.
I opened the door and stepped outside. Ross stood at the end of the dock. The lake looked different, and that wasn’t the only other change. Five Loups flanked him. I had Rainer behind me. I guessed we’d both decided not to come alone.
Tug. I heard several Omegas speak, and I nodded, appreciating the help. I would have done it anyway. Yanking and pulling at connections was something I knew how to do now, but I’d never say no to someone confirming my play. Even if those people were dead Omegas who existed in my self-conscious.
Five at once was a lot to do in terms of tugging, so I raised my hand to give myself a visual. Was it possible to just shift one body part? I stared at my hand and fed my wolf energy. I wanted my claws. Even if I were metaphorically striking and not actually using the claws, I wanted the strength my wolf could give my hand without actually shifting the rest of my body.
My hand obeyed my command and shifted into a paw. It was slightly bizarre to see my hand like that. I might have to experiment with the ability at another time. I had human eyes seeing part of my wolf body. The dichotomy of all of this was a little bit bizarre. But such was life.
I didn’t have time for these kinds of musings. Ross’ Loups ran at me. This time, I could physically see their tether to him like they were ropes. That was interesting. Was that because of the Omegas, or because I’d partially shifted? I had no idea, not really. With my shifted hand, I cut through the air, severing those ropes that tied them to him.
Power surged through me. Yes, I was made to do this. It was my birthright. The Loups staggered backwards, one of them falling into the lake. I wanted to heal them. That was my job, but it wasn’t time yet.
I wouldn’t be an Omega left to be slaughtered because I was constantly selfless and all-giving. That wasn’t real. No one could be that all the time. If they claimed they could, they were lying.
Rainer stayed silent. He couldn’t like this. In the past, he’d been very clear that he didn’t want me fighting. But we had no choice here, and there wasn’t anyone to do this but me. I was bleeding. I didn’t care. I just kept walking toward him. Step by step. One after another. Sometimes that was all we had in life, the next right step.
“How nice to see you. In the flesh.” I looked Ross up and down. He’d portrayed himself in the visions accurately. This was exactly what he’d looked like before. In his day, before the madness, he’d probably been an impressive Alpha.
He growled, his eyes turning wolf. They were red-rimmed, Loup eyes. If I’d any question—and I hadn’t—there would have been an answer then. He was a mad Loup, and he had to be handled.
I’d never helped an Alpha Loup, and I had to assume that this was going to be a lot more complicated. I had generations of knowledge to call from, but I didn’t know if any of them had ever done this. Surely, someone had. Maybe it would come to me when I needed it. Maybe I was all on my own.
Only, I knew better than that. I had four tethers to my heart that Ross had fucked with when he’d taken them away from me. It was my fault I’d temporarily lost my marks, but it was his fault that happened to begin with.
He’d fucked with our lives.
“Things have been hard for you.” I was practically right in front of him then. So close, I could have stroked my hand down his cheek if I wanted to. But I didn’t. The last thing I wanted to do was to touch that Loup. It wasn’t his fault he got sick and lost his way. It was his fault he’d taken it out on the rest of us.
We weren’t responsible for the pain in his life, and he could have reached out for help instead of destroying those who helped hi
m. The Omegas were all dead except for me.
For them, I did what I had to do.
I wrapped my arms around him. He struggled, but I held on. Rainer was with me. If need be, he would subdue him without being asked to so I could finish what had to be done. And if something went wrong, I had no doubt that Preston, Anton, and Jarret would somehow know through our connection and come.
I closed my eyes and pushed my energy into him. It was positively mind boggling, but in order for Rainer to beat him in an Alpha challenge, I had to make him a true Alpha again. I had to heal him to finally be rid of him.
Hold on and don’t let go. One of the Omegas spoke in my head. Something she had done in her lifetime when she’d had to grab on to a Loup she’d taken care of. Yes, she and I shared the uncomfortable experience.
But this was mine alone. My mind traveled as I pressed energy into him. It had never happened before. He was an Alpha and hundreds of years old. Things were bound to be different. Our minds melded together until I could see what he saw.
He stood in the forest. I could see him not through his own eyes, but as though I was there with him. How was that possible?
Memory is energy… It’s stored. The Earth remembers.
One of the other Omegas apparently understood this. I sighed. It was beyond my ability to grasp. I just had to ride through and hope that I came out the other side. I’d study the hows and whys later. I’d go to school until any of it made sense. It didn’t matter now. I could see him.
Maybe he was fifteen. Maybe he was younger. It was hard to tell. Wolves grew fast and strong earlier. We were made for strength, and the males were brawny a lot earlier than their human counterparts. But I just had the feeling he was fifteen. Like that was a memory carried somewhere that I’d picked up on.
He was only alone for a second. Soon, he was surrounded by a lot of other teenagers and younger wolves. His eyes stayed detached, like he wasn’t really looking at them. Then, his gaze changed, and his features scrunched up for a second before he seemed to still himself and smile at the others.
Caught: A Paranormal Romance (The Swamp Book 3) Page 10
