by James Wolfe
Omega’s Child
James Wolfe
Contents
Copyright
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Epilogue
FREE Fates Mates Excerpt
14. Daniel
15. Alexander
16. Daniel
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Copyright
Copyright © 2017 by James Wolfe
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
1
I walked to the meeting at our leader’s house unsure of what to expect. I had never been asked to attend such a high level meeting before.
I worked for the alpha of my tribe, as his assistant. Which generally included me doing menial tasks around our village in order to keep things running smoothly and effectively.
Which I didn't mind. In fact, I enjoyed my job. It was easy enough and I felt like I was a vital part of keeping my tribe going effectively. And although our alpha leader, Jameson, was strict, he was also fair and made it clear when he appreciated my work.
But on this particular day, I was more than a little uncomfortable. Because from the rumors spreading around the village, this was an incredibly important meeting. One that I’d rather not fuck up.
I couldn’t be sure if the rumors were true, though. I hadn’t heard anything straight from Jameson himself, other than that he wanted me here. But people were saying Jameson was meeting with Cole, the leader of the Turanu tribe, in order to make a trade deal.
And if that was the case, I knew exactly what the trade was for. We’d had a very disappointing crop this summer and no doubt, Jameson wanted to secure us some more food for the winter in case we didn’t have enough to sustain ourselves.
The Turanu would definitely be able to provide it because their village was on the other side of the country, where it was always sunny and they were able to grow food all year long, especially with the help of green houses. But we had harsh, unrelenting winters and that was not an option for us. So if we ran out of food, we ran out.
What I didn’t know was what Jameson planned to trade for that food, but I knew it couldn’t be much. Maybe he wasn’t even sure yet. Perhaps he was coming to Cole on his knees, willing to beg him to help in return for a future favor.
I hoped that wasn’t the case because it would be humiliating for Jameson and our tribe in general but it wouldn’t surprise me. He got more and more worried by the day, I could see it. He was asking me to check crop inventory on a near daily basis which wasn’t at all usual during the growing season.
And while, of course, I really wanted us to get the food we needed I did not want to be in this meeting for several reasons.
The first was that tensions were quite high between our tribes. Not just us and the Turanu, it was all the different tribes. We had a few allies (none that lived in one of the regions that had flourishing crops) and for the most part, though, we kept things civil, things always felt like they could spin off into war quite easily.
That hadn’t happened in hundreds of years, of course, but with situations like this things only got more tense. If Cole actually said no and was willing to risk us starving over the winter, that would certainly devolve things. Really, anything could devolve the situation.
And I didn’t want to be one of those things. I didn’t want to have any involvement because I didn’t want to have any responsibility in things going wrong.
Which brought me to my second reason, which was that I simply did not like Cole much. I said tensions were high and we didn’t much care for other tribes. Well, that included myself. I wasn’t a fan of the Turanu and Cole had quite the reputation for being a prick. He was as alpha as they came and never hesitated to intimidate other tribal leaders.
Because this was such a delicate situation of course I would be hiding my disdain for him but that was part of the problem, I wasn’t sure just how well I was going to be able to hide it. I usually wasn’t able to hide my feelings that easily… I was one of those people where you could just read my feelings on my face.
I suppose that was one of the many things that made me an omega. It wasn’t the case with the alphas, they were always stern-faced and stoic. I was always jealous of them for that.
But unlike some omegas I knew, I didn’t have much of a problem with being one. On the contrary, I was proud of who I was. I may not have had the untenable strength that came with being an alpha but I didn’t want it.
I enjoyed being someone who was nurturing, kind, able to decipher the emotional needs of others. It was what made me a great assistant to Jameson and a vital person in our village. Alphas may have gotten a lot of the glory but I believed omegas were just as important to the functioning of the village. After all, who would the alphas mate with if not for us?
When I reached Jameson’s house, I took a deep breath and knocked on the door while I prepared myself for what I was about to walk into. I was hoping the rumors were just that: rumors with no basis in reality. I had my fingers crossed that Cole would not be there when I walked inside and that this meeting wouldn’t be as serious as I presumed it to be.
I was very wrong.
“Taylor.” Jameson nodded to me as I opened the door. “Come in.”
I stepped in nervously, already able to see that Cole was sitting down in one of Jameson’s living room chairs.
I had never actually seen him before, only heard rumors about him, but he was exactly as I imagined. Dark hair, angled face, the perfectly muscular body that most alphas had. And his facial expression was as serious and as intimidating as I’d ever seen. My first instinct was to break eye contact with him because he truly was quite scary.
But I did not. I didn’t want to embarrass Jameson or my tribe by showing fear of him.
“Hello.” I nodded slowly to him in a way that was respectful but not fearful.
He nodded back, not uttering a word, which was only more intimidating.
“I’m sure you’re wondering why I asked you here today,” Jameson said.
I nodded to him. “I was, sir.”
“Well, I’ve been speaking to Cole for several weeks now over the telephone and he has agreed to visit our village in order to communicate with me. He would like to visit the village, explore our tribe while he’s here, and I’d like you to be the one to show him around.”
I tried to control it but I felt my eyebrows rise. “Me?” I asked.
This was highly unusual. We rarely had leaders from other tribes visit but when they did, they didn’t communicate with regular village goers. Leaders only spoke to leaders, and it was always other alpha leaders that gave tours of the village. It was highly unorthodox for me to have such direct interaction with Cole.
“I know you expected me to do this myself, but Cole would like to see the village without being a spectacle. If I show him around, it won’t take long for people to figure out who he is and be on their best behavior. He would like to see how things usually run without anyone paying him extra attention.”
That was bizarre; from his reputation I would have expected that Cole would love being a spectacle and having all eyes on him.
“Right, not a problem,”
I said with a smile, being sure not to add that the whole village was expecting Cole to be here and would be on high alert for anyone new.
Although it was so odd for another tribal leader to be with me that maybe they really wouldn’t assume it was Cole. Maybe they’d think I was showing around his assisstant or something, someone from Cole’s tribe that he brought with him but who had much less importance than Cole himself.
“Excellent. Well, I’ll leave you two to it then,” Jameson said as he reached out to shake Cole’s hand. “And I will be seeing you later.”
Cole nodded. “Thank you for your hospitality,” he said seriously, before directing his attention to me. “Let’s go.” It was a demand but he didn’t say it in a particularly demanding voice.
“Right, follow me,” I said as I opened the door for him.
This was so much worse than I was expecting. It was bad enough to be in a meeting with both of them, but to be alone with Cole?! To be responsible for showing him around the village by myself? So I would be the one solely responsible for not offending him?
I mean, I was glad that Jameson had so much faith in me but I did not have this much faith in myself. This was a waking nightmare. I could feel my heart pounding as I locked Jameson’s door behind us.
“I suppose we’ll start in the town square?” I suggested.
He nodded solemnly as I led the way.
This was anxiety inducing. I had no idea what I was going to say. I knew that his help was vital to the survival of my tribe and it felt out of my league to show him around like this. He should have stuck with the higher-ups. Someone more eloquent than me.
It was a heavy thing to weigh on my shoulders, entertaining the man who would decide whether or not my tribe would have enough food for the winter.
We arrived at the town square shortly—it was a small village—and as we did I pointed out to him each shop and what its purpose was. I picked my words very, very carefully but oddly, he seemed to look unhappy as we went along. It was making my anxiety rise, being unsure of what exactly I was doing to displease him. But, suddenly, he put it into words for me.
“And this is our bakery, where we—” I began.
“A bakery?” He cut me off. “Do you not think that’s a little frivolous?”
“Frivolous?” I repeated back.
“At a time when your village is worried about having enough provisions, having people work in places like a bakery strikes me as frivolous.”
“You don’t have any bakeries in your village?”
“No,” he said coldly. “Which is probably why I am being asked for provisions by your leader.”
God, he was so smug. It was so important that I not make an ass out of myself with him but I wanted to get really snarky with him.
I loved the bakery, and I loved some of our other shops that offered home decor non-essentials. Neither shop required a lot of man power; it wasn’t as if we were wasting vital resources. The men who ran these shops would never be happy out in field work.
And our lack of provisions had little to do with man power and a lot to do with our growing seasons. Was he not going to acknowledge he had more time to grow food in his climate than we did?
Not to mention the fact that if there were no shops to attend for pleasure in this village, it would not be one I cared to live in. No, a bakery was not vital, but it livened up our feasts and celebrations. It was a great place to go to get a slice of pie with a friend on a cool day. It brought joy to our village.
I had a feeling that joy was not something that Cole cared about.
“Well, only two people run the bakery,” I offered. “Jameson finds it important to make sure that spirits are up in order for things to run efficiently.”
I shouldn’t have said it. I shouldn’t have been arguing at all, let alone boasting about Jameson. There was always a lot of tension between leaders of different tribes, though there were no longer wars like there once was. But that didn’t mean they weren’t still always trying to prove they were better than one another.
But Jameson wouldn’t be doing that right now—he wouldn’t be in competition with someone who we needed help from. We all needed his help. He’d be disappointed to see me respond this way.
“Jameson requires good spirits because he does not have enough authority,” Cole said bluntly.
It was extremely frustrating to hear someone talk about Jameson this way. I truly admired him, we all did, and I didn’t appreciate any criticism about him. Especially when there was nothing to criticize. We all loved the way he led us. I would hate to be under Cole’s thumb with the way he seemed to crack the whip.
I kept my mouth shut, though. I didn’t argue. If he wanted to talk shit on Jameson, fine, as long as he offered up the provisions we might need for winter.
“Do you have pumpkin pie?” he asked suddenly.
It seemed so out of nowhere after he had just criticized the bakery that this took me by surprise.
“At the bakery, you mean?” I asked him.
“Yes.”
“Yes,” I said. “They have pumpkin pie all October.”
“I would like some.’
This annoyed me even more. So first he’d criticize the bakery, then he was going to ask to go inside and get some pie? Seriously? So did he like it or didn’t he? This was ridiculous.
I kept an obedient smile on my face. “Of course, follow me,” I said cheerfully as I walked up to the shop, trying to keep frustration out of my tone.
I really shouldn’t have been surprised by his behavior. He was an alpha. Not just any alpha, but an alpha leader. This was how they usually behaved. They were cocky, arrogant, they never bit their tongue. Even Jameson was this way, he just was a little more charismatic than Cole and had a different leadership style that made him more likeable. But he was certainly just as self-assured as Cole was.
And this was exactly why I hadn’t found my own alpha.
For an omega, this was the ultimate goal. To find an alpha you match well with, fall in love with him, then have kids and build a life with him. Alphas were the leaders and protectors of their family and tribes while the omegas were the carers of their family.
I didn’t mind being an omega, like many other omegas I knew. In fact, as a child, I actually wanted to end up being an omega. I knew I wasn’t bold and cocky like most alphas. I didn’t relish the idea of going out in the fields or being protectors of the tribe.
I liked the idea of having kids, of being a good father, making sure my family was happy. It might seem less glamorous than being an alpha but that was what would truly make my soul content. I always wanted a family, particularly because I’d lost my own fathers at a young age and spent my childhood being cared for by various village families.
But now that I was of age to find my mate, I had no interest. I knew everyone in the village and all the alphas really disgusted me. I liked Jameson (who already had a mate, I might add) for being a little less rough around the edges but I didn’t know any other alphas like him.
This attitude simply didn’t appeal to me. The bluntness, the forcefulness, that wasn’t the kind of man I would like to raise kids with. That was not the kind of man I could fall in love with.
I appreciated omega traits so much more. I needed kindness, concern, and a nurturing nature. Sometimes I wished I’d be able to mate with an omega, but it didn’t work like that. Only alphas and omegas could make children. There had never been a couple made of two alphas or two omegas.
So, I was stuck. I’d had several propositions for courtship but only by asshole men. I’d be able to put up with an alpha like Jameson, someone who had all the regular alpha traits but also genuinely cared and tried to put his best foot forward. That was what I wanted for my family but those alphas were few and far between.
So I was still single and I preferred that over being with someone I did not truly love. But it still wasn’t easy. I still really wanted a family and the reality was that most men met their mate by my age,
25. A lot of men who hadn’t met their mate by now stayed single for the rest of their life. And while there wasn’t necessarily anything wrong with that, I wanted to have kids. I wanted children badly. I was desperate to carry a child.
2
When we walked into the bakery, Cole immediately took a seat at the nearest table. That wasn’t really how it worked—you had to order your dessert then take it to a table to eat. There were no servers here, we weren’t that frivolous. This wasn't the human world. You still had to feed yourself.
But he was an alpha leader being wooed, so I supposed he felt like I could serve him. I almost sighed in frustration but I held back and went to the counter to grab him a piece of pumpkin pie.
Joshua was working the counter and at first he smiled at me and seemed prepared to start a casual conversation, but when he saw Cole sitting at one of the tables his demeanor changed completely and there was no small talk between us.
Probably for the best—the more formal we were the more he was going to think Jameson had a strict hold on us and our behavior.
“What would you like?” Joshua asked.
“A slice of pumpkin pie,” I told him.
He nodded. “Whipped cream?”
Oh, shit, I had no idea. I considered going back to Cole’s table to ask him but, honestly, it was too demeaning.
“Just put it on the side,” I suggested. He could eat it if he wanted it or leave it and I didn’t have to go over and kiss his ass to find out.
He did and I carried it over to him.
“Here you are,” I said as I nodded respectfully.
He did not nod in return, generally considered a sign of disrespect, but I ignored it as I sat down across from him while he started eating.
“You don’t have a slice of pie,” he commented.
This was a weird thing to say… did he want me to?
“No, I do not,” I responded.
