by Paige Tyler
“Probably true,” he agreed. “Still, I wish I’d done better.”
“Ditto.” She smiled. “Losing control and slinging you across the room wasn’t my finest moment, either.”
“Don’t forget stealing my truck.” He grinned. “That ended up getting me called into my boss’s office because someone in the neighborhood saw me run after you completely naked.”
She clapped her hands over her mouth with a laugh. Jumping up, she joined him on his end of the couch, curling her legs under her and staring at him with big, wide eyes. “You’re kidding, right? Did someone really see you?”
“They did. Fortunately, one of Gage’s friends on the force intercepted by a friend of my boss, and they dealt with it themselves without anything going on paper. Still, having to explain to my commander why I was chasing after you naked wasn’t fun. Not that I’m blaming you for anything that happened. It wasn’t your fault. Some of it comes from you going through your change so fast. The rest is part of you being an omega.”
“What do you mean, going through the change so fast?” she asked, still smiling. “And what’s an omega?”
“Okay, Werewolf 101 time.” This was why they were sitting on the couch at three o’clock in the morning and not buried in a tangle of arms, legs, and sheets. “The period of time between the traumatic event that triggers the change and the first tangible evidence of that change—claws, fangs, and glowing eyes—is usually three or four weeks. But in your case, you did it in about three days. The speed of your change almost certainly made everything a lot rougher on you than it normally would be. And in my defense, it also forced me to tell you what was happening a lot sooner than I wanted to.”
Her heart beat faster. “This just got real—fast. But let’s start there. Why is my change happening faster than it should?”
“A lot of rules are changing for werewolves lately,” he explained. “From what we can tell, it’s because our pack has been discovered by hunters—people who kill werewolves like us because they hate us for what we are. We first became aware of their existence back in June, but they didn’t come at us directly until a month ago. We dealt with them, but it was costly. They know how to hurt us.”
“Those inmates who broke out of Coffield,” she said.
He lifted a brow. “How’d you know?”
“Your heart only beat hard like it is now a few times,” she said. “When we were fighting on the roof of that gangbanger apartment, when we were making out the other night, and when you talked about those men escaping from prison. The first two obviously aren’t in play now, so that leaves the men from the prison break.”
It was his turn to sit and stare. Damn, she was good.
“Yeah. There’s a chance they left the country, but it’s also possible they stayed around to take another shot at us. Regardless, from the moment we first heard of these hunters, strange stuff started happening to the Pack.”
“Like what?”
“Some new abilities for one thing,” he said. “But the biggest difference is finding our mates when we’d always been on our own before.”
“And new werewolves going through a three-week process in three days,” she added slowly. “It makes sense, I guess. Like animals in the wild learning how to run within hours of their birth so they don’t get eaten by predators.”
Brooks hadn’t thought of it that way, but the analogy was a good one. “We’ve pretty much come to the same conclusion. Sorry it makes it tougher for you, though.”
“It’s not your fault,” she said, waving off his concern. “What about the omega thing? Does that have something to do with the hunters, too?”
He hesitated. This part was going to be more complicated. “No, being an omega has nothing to do with hunters. It’s strictly a werewolf thing.”
Selena sat there waiting patiently.
“There are three kinds of werewolves that we know of.” Man, he hoped he didn’t screw this up by saying something wrong and messing up everything. “There are alphas, which are big, strong, aggressive werewolves. They can take a lot of damage and heal very quickly, and they’re generally in control of their inner wolf half all the time.”
“You’re an alpha,” Selena announced.
He nodded. “Yeah, I’m an alpha. Along with nearly every one of my SWAT teammates.”
“Your pack!” She grinned, her face lighting up. “Cooper and the other guys who helped rescue me. They’re all werewolves. And nobody knows?”
Brooks returned her smile, forcing himself to stay on topic. “The second kind of werewolf is the beta. They’re smaller and not as strong as an alpha. In fact, they’re not aggressive at all. They don’t heal as fast as alphas, but in return, they have zero control issues and a strong instinct to bond with other betas. It helps them form tight, supportive packs.”
She considered that. “Okay. So, alphas, betas…and omegas are obviously the third type of werewolf. I’m an omega. What are my defining characteristics?”
His heart started to thud hard as hell at the question.
Selena frowned, obviously picking up on it. “What is it? Is there something wrong with being an omega?”
Brooks shook his head, taking a deep breath at the same time, both to control his heartbeat and make sure Selena didn’t take what he was about to say the wrong way. “There’s absolutely nothing wrong with being an omega. I’m only talking in generalities, okay? And for every rule in the werewolf world, there’s an exception. Like a few months ago, a beta ended up turning into an alpha because her pack was threatened. Just yesterday, I learned that one of the alphas in my SWAT pack is actually an omega, too. So, nothing I’m talking about is etched in stone, all right?”
Her heart pounded as hard as his now. “Jayden, you’re starting to scare me again, and I don’t think either of us wants me to be scared. What is it about omegas that you don’t want me to know? Is being an omega why I freaked out so badly the other morning?”
He nodded. “Omegas are a lot like alphas. They’re big, strong, and fast. They can take as much damage as an alpha and heal just as quickly. But they generally have aggression issues and tend to lose control when exposed to strong emotions, like anger or fear. It can take a real effort on their part to bond with other werewolves.”
She didn’t say anything for a long time. He wished he knew what she was thinking, but unfortunately, werewolves couldn’t read minds.
Brooks took her hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I’m not saying that it’s going to be like that for you. Like I said, there’s an omega in the Pack who doesn’t have any of those issues because he figured out how to overcome them. If it’s okay with you, I’d like to introduce you to him, so he can teach you how to stay in control. Would you be okay with something like that?”
He spoke the words so softly, he wasn’t sure Selena could even hear him over the thundering of his heart. Hers was still beating nearly as hard. He wasn’t sure what that meant.
All at once, Selena climbed onto his lap. Brooks shifted on the couch, making it easier for her to straddle his thighs. She tugged his head down, resting her forehead against his.
“Jayden, I know you’re freaking out right now, but there’s nothing you just told me about omegas that I didn’t already know about myself,” she said softly. “I’m fine meeting your teammate and talking to him. But when it comes to learning how to be in control, I’d rather learn that from you. Because at the end of the day, you’re the man I care about, the man I trust.”
Brooks opened his mouth to tell Selena there wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for her, but she kissed him. Not a crazy kiss from an omega. A warm, inviting kiss from the woman he loved.
* * *
Jayden’s tongue slowly played with hers, his hands resting lazily on her hips as they made out on the couch. Selena could tell he was trying to keep things chill. Like that was possible with a guy as hot as he was. As her fingertips tingled and electricity zipped through her body, she had the urge to nip, bite
, and claw.
To rip both their clothes off.
To take and be taken.
She knew now that was the omega inside her. There was a certain amount of power—and relief—knowing where that intense desire came from. Maybe now, she could control the wolf inside her a little better.
Moreover, Jayden had poured his heart out to her, revealing his darkest fear that the omega would take over and leave him with the creature who’d nearly clawed him to shreds, thrown him across the room, then run away like a wild animal. Leave him with a werewolf that had no interest in bonding with anyone—even him. It had been humbling to be gifted with that much honesty, and Selena promised herself the gesture wouldn’t be wasted. If that promise meant going slowly and carefully when they made love, she was fine with that.
So, when Jayden pulled back to gaze at her, she forced herself not to complain, even if there was a part inside that wanted to growl and snatch his mouth back down on hers.
“I’m okay,” she said softly, lifting her hands. “See…no claws.”
His sensuous mouth curved. “I wasn’t stopping because I was worried about your claws coming out. I wanted to ask if you still wanted to go to the wedding tomorrow. I understand if you don’t, but there’ll be a lot of other werewolves there I’d like you to meet, including the omega I mentioned—Carter.”
She caught her lower lip between her teeth, hesitating. “Do they all know about me? That I’m an omega, and that I attacked you? Your teammates, I mean.”
He nodded. “We’re a pack. It’s almost impossible to keep secrets from each other, so we usually don’t try. So yes, they know what happened, and yes, they’ll likely rib the both of us about the whole thing, but they don’t care that you’re an omega, and they certainly won’t treat you differently because of it. Everyone in the Pack has had to deal with tough issues at some point in their lives, either as a result of the trauma they went through to become a werewolf or because of the problems they faced when they found their mates. In one way or another, they’ve all been where you are, so you won’t catch them throwing rocks. In fact, you’re going to find more than a few of them willing to help you out with what you’re going through.”
She considered his words for a moment before taking a deep breath and nodding. “Okay, I’ll go. But you’re going to stick close, right? Because getting nervous probably isn’t good for me, and something tells me this is going to be a completely new experience.”
He slipped a finger under her chin, tipping her face up and kissing her so gently, it almost brought tears to her eyes. “I won’t leave your side for a second,” he murmured against her lips. “Promise.”
That was good enough for her. Of course, with everything going on, she hadn’t given even a second thought to what she’d wear tomorrow. On a teacher’s salary, it wasn’t like she had a closet full of fancy dresses and shoes to choose from. She only had a few to work with, and without knowing the bride’s color scheme, it was going to be tricky.
But then Jayden slipped his hand in her hair and captured her mouth in another kiss, his tongue easing inside to play. Her body immediately responded, and she forgot about dresses, shoes, and how she was ever going to get her hair done in time for a wedding the next day. Instead, she focused on how good it felt to kiss him. She could gladly do this for the rest of the night…what was left of it. And from the hard-on in Jayden’s jeans, he was thinking the exact same thing.
Caressing his bearded jaw, she opened her eyes ever so slightly and saw him looking at her with a smolder that took her breath away. But the thing that captured her attention even more than the passion in his eyes was the glow there. The gold was impossible to miss. Until she realized she had missed it before—lots of times—when she’d assumed it was nothing more than the reflection of a nearby light. How could she have possibly thought something so remarkable was simply a funny bounce of the light?
Selena pulled back, gazing at him in awe and fascination. “Your eyes are gold. Do all werewolf’s eyes glow like that? Do mine?”
He chuckled. “Werewolf eyes only glow when they’re really riled up, like with anger, fear, or arousal. When it happens, male werewolves’ eyes turn gold, while female werewolves’ turn green.”
She tried to imagine what she looked like with eyes that were a different color but couldn’t. “Do I look strange with green eyes?”
“Actually, yours don’t turn green.”
“They don’t?”
He shook his head. “When we were dancing at that club a couple nights ago, I noticed something that almost looked like a blue-white lightning dancing around in the depth of your eyes, but I thought it was the strobe lights. It wasn’t until you freaked out the other morning that I saw your real color. When you’re on the edge, your eyes turn vivid blue.”
Selena didn’t know how she could be excited and bummed at the same time, but she was. It was cool that her eyes turned blue. In fact, it sounded kind of sexy. But finding out it only happened when she was on the verge of going psychotic kind of ruined the moment.
“Is the blue unique to me?” she asked. “Or is it the in color with all the crazy werewolves this season?”
“Stop that.” He scowled at her. “You’re not crazy. You’re a brand-new omega who’s just learning how to control her abilities. Cut yourself some slack, okay?”
Face coloring, she nodded. “Okay. Sorry to wallow like that. So, only omegas have blue eyes?”
“According to Carter, yeah. I’ve only seen it one other time in my life, so it’s got to be rare. Which is a good thing. If other omegas out there are controlling themselves, you can, too.”
She supposed she could see his point. “But if I stay in control, you’ll never get to see my eyes glow when we make love. That kind of sucks.”
He shrugged. “I wouldn’t be so sure of that.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that it might be okay to let your control slip a little, as long as we’re in a carefully controlled environment, so you don’t go too far.”
“Carefully controlled environment?” she repeated, confusion making her scrunch up her brow. “Like where?”
Grinning, Jayden leaned forward to kiss her again. “Like here in my place for example. When it’s just the two of us moving slowly like this and being careful.”
A rush of heat spun through her as she suddenly realized what he was talking about. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? Isn’t that what made me freak out before?”
“No. You freaked when you thought you’d hurt me. If we take precautions and keep your claws and fangs away from any place they shouldn’t be, I think we’ll be okay.”
She kissed him again, liking the sound of that plan—a lot. But then she remembered something he’d said earlier, and she pulled back to look at him. “You said you’ve only seen a werewolf with blue eyes one other time in your life. When was that?”
The cringing face he made right then spoke volumes, and she suddenly decided maybe she didn’t want to know about this other omega. “Hey, if this isn’t something you’re comfortable talking about, that’s okay. I didn’t mean to pry.”
“You’re not prying,” he said. “But the story doesn’t exactly paint a very flattering picture of omegas. I’m not sure it’s something you need to hear right now.”
She smiled. “Jayden, I’m an omega. The word doesn’t define me, but I can’t hide from it either. It’s a big part of who I am now. And if I’m ever going to learn how to control it, I’m going to have to own it. That means learning everything I can about being an omega—the good and the bad. If this is a story that involves you and an omega, I want to hear it.”
He gazed at her with what could only be called wonder on his face. “You’re amazing, you know that?”
She grinned. “Yeah, I know. Now, stop stalling and tell the story.”
Jayden was silent for a long time, as if collecting his thoughts. “It was right before I left Gulfport,” he finally said, his voice soft
, his eyes taking on a distant look. “I was on patrol that night when I got a call on the radio about a suspicious person at one of the local high schools. Volleyball practice was just finishing up, so there were still kids hanging around. I was on the scene less than a minute after the call, but a big guy with a knife had already sliced up a couple of the students and a teacher by then. One of the students thought she could lure him away from her classmates because she was a fast runner, but the guy caught her. By the time I got to her, she was bleeding really badly. I didn’t see the psycho with the knife, so I picked her up and ran like hell.”
He swallowed hard, like he was reliving the memory. “The guy came out of the darkness growling and swinging a machete. I couldn’t protect the girl and myself at the same time, so I protected her. The guy cut me.”
“The scar from the machete on your side?” Selena murmured, even though she knew that had to be it. “The one that wraps all the way around your back?”
“Yeah. I was sure I was done for. I had to keep fighting so he wouldn’t hurt the girl. That’s when I saw the fangs and glowing blue eyes. I had no idea what the hell it meant at the time. I just thought I was hallucinating from blood loss. I definitely didn’t think I was fighting a werewolf.”
The wolf inside Selena stirred restlessly, wanting to kill the omega who had hurt her mate. Her mate . The words made her feel warm all over. “What happened?”
“I killed the guy, then lay there on the ground and watched his fangs retract while the paramedics did everything they could to keep me from joining him. I would have died if I hadn’t turned into a werewolf.” Jayden shrugged. “A few weeks later, Gage showed up and recruited me for his SWAT team.”
“How did he know you were a werewolf?” she asked.
Jayden’s mouth edged up. “He’s good at reading news stories and finding people who just went through their change.”
