There was a brief stand-off, the nurse, hands on hips, staring them down. But it was three against one and, though she did well for a human, she was no match for the will of three shifters.
“If you’ll step outside a moment, I’ll get him ready to be moved.”
His mother stayed while his father and brother stepped outside. He was grateful his mother averted her eyes while the nurse took out the catheter, then took out his IV cannula and detached him from the machines monitoring him.
“The doctor is getting your discharge letter ready, and a prescription for antibiotics and pain relief.”
His mother took some clothes from a bag but, when she made no move to help him dress, the nurse took over, easing the t-shirt over his head and settling it around his bandages, then helping him step into a pair of sweatpants.
“Those bandages will need frequent changing. The staples and stitches will need to come out in a week. Your doctor can do that.”
She glanced at his mother, waiting for her nod of acknowledgment before continuing.
“If you start bleeding again, if you develop any trouble breathing, if there are any signs of infection, you need to go straight to your local hospital.”
His brother wheeled in a chair, helping Matthew sit into it, then wheeled him out into the corridor. His father stood there, arms folded, not even glancing his way. The doctor stood next to him, twisting his hands nervously around an envelope he held.
“As I said, we really feel it would be best for Matthew to spend a few more days here. He needs time to recover. We also found some irregularities in his test results that really should be followed up.
His father snatched the envelope from the doctor’s hands. “Our own doctor is perfectly capable of tending to Matthew’s needs. We’ll take him home now. He needs to be with family.”
His father’s tone brooked no refusal and the doctor paled.
“Of course. Well, I’ve documented everything in the discharge letter. Make sure he follows up those blood results.”
Matthew’s father didn’t answer, just walked away towards the elevator. Matthew’s chair jerked forward, his brother steering them after his father, his mother walking beside them. There was silence in the elevator as they descended. His brother knelt next to him, taking a syringe from his pocket.
“What is that?” he asked.
“More pain relief, to get you through the journey. The hospital stuff will wear off soon.” A small pinch of pain followed.
He tried to think of a way out of this situation. But if Zack had really abandoned him to his fate, what else was there for him now? His family wasn't going to just let him walk away. He couldn’t right now even if he tried. Resigned, he sat back in his chair with a wince, watched as the world wheeled by. It took on a familiar fuzziness as the drugs kicked in.
Just outside the hospital entrance, his father stopped abruptly, turning and looking at Matthew for the first time.
“Make a choice. The life out there, where your fate hangs in the balance from moment to moment or the life we chose for you.” His father pointed to the distance. Matthew looked, his head swimming. For a moment, he thought he saw Zack, and sat forward, ready to call out, but his vision blurred and the image disappeared, Zack’s scent nowhere to be found. His Alpha was gone. He’d never really been his Alpha.
Matthew hung his head. “I just want to go home.”
Chapter Nineteen
They’d upped Matthew’s pain relief after discovering he seemed to be a fast metabolizer. Just another question mark to add to all the others. It meant Matthew slept through his transfer from ICU to the general surgical ward.
Zack stepped outside while they moved him, calling Sebastian with an update. He walked around the side of the building, away from all the noise and activity. He kept his conversation short and to the point. Matthew would be okay. Zack would take him out of the hospital tomorrow.
He had a sense of being watched moments before he caught the scent of shifter on the wind. Retracing his steps, he came face to face with two unfamiliar wolves.
“Zachariah Brown?”
He didn’t answer.
“Who are you?”
“We’re Matthew’s family. The people you took him from.”
“I didn’t take him. He ran off his own accord.”
“And nearly died.”
“That was your fault, not mine. Who sends a rogue tracker who can’t control himself after an Omega?”
“I’m not here to debate with you,” the older of the two replied. “I’m here to bring my son home.”
“Matthew is coming with me.”
“You? A rogue? What can you offer him? Not a Pack, not a home. Not safety or stability for his children.”
“A true bond,” Zack countered.
They laughed.
“Your head is just as full of nonsense as Matthew’s. And no wonder with your reputation. No, Zachariah. Matthew is to bond with Bear Lake’s Alpha. Someone who can offer him all the things he truly needs, not what he thinks he does.”
“I’m not just going to walk away,” he countered.
“Oh, don’t worry,” a third voice called and he looked up to see three more shifters approaching. “We’ll gladly help with that. We should be grateful to you, Zack. It was your old Pack who told us Matthew was with you, who helped us track you down.”
Derek. Derek had done this. Betrayed him all over again, gotten Matthew injured. He couldn’t deny that there was some truth in what Matthew’s family were saying. But he wanted the choice to be Matthew’s.
“Let’s ask him. Ask Matthew what he wants to do.”
Matt’s father stepped forward. “Matthew will do what’s best for the family.”
“Ask him,” Zack persisted.
Bear Lake’s shifters escorted him around to the hospital entrance while Matthew’s family went inside. They wouldn’t let him follow.
“Boy needs time with his family after what he’s been through, you can wait here with us.”
The wait was interminable but what Zack couldn’t understand was why they were even entertaining his insistence on seeing Matthew.
“It’s too soon to take him from the hospital,” he tried to argue to no avail.
Finally, the doors slid open and a wheelchair-bound Matthew was pushed out. Zack tried to walk forward, to greet him, but the shifters held him back.
Matthew’s father spoke, his words carrying clearly in the still air.
“Well, Matthew. Make a choice. The life out here, with rogues, or the life of safety we chose for you.”
Matthew looked up, look right at Zack. For a moment, Zack thought he was going to speak to him but then he looked down at his lap. “I just want to go home.”
And then they were turning, moving away towards the parking lot.
One of the shifters patted him on the shoulder.
“Face it, Zack, it was never going to be you. Kid practically had his throat torn out because he followed you.”
He tried to shrug off their grips.
“What? You think Bear Lake is just going to let you walk away?”
Zack knew they weren’t, but he was tired and wasn’t spoiling for another fight.
He walked with them away from the hospital and out of sight, preparing to defend himself. Three against one were not odds he liked.
“This place is getting pretty crowded,” a familiar voice commented.
Zack couldn’t hide a laugh as Bear Lake’s shifters turned.
Graham stood leaning against a car. “Gentleman. Zack and I have some business to attend to so what’s say we let bygones be bygones and pick things up another day.”
One of the shifters took a step towards Graham and Zack knew they had no option but to fight.
Fifteen minutes later, they were on the road, both of them sporting new bruises.
“James got your message. Thought it was gonna be the two of you, though,” Graham said.
“Matthew had a change of heart. I guess this
wasn’t the life he wanted for himself.”
“It’s not the life any of us wanted but it’s the one we’ve got,” Graham replied, reaching out a hand to turn up the radio. Zack was glad for the music as it drowned out the downward spiral of his thoughts.
It wasn’t the homecoming he’d ever expected. The first few days were a blur, waking in his own room, head swimming with pain and drugs.
On the third day, he woke to his mother sitting next to his bedside, doing needlework. Coughing, he reached with shaking hands for the glass by his bedside. She watched him but didn’t help.
“Mother-” The door opened, his father’s imposing figure standing there.
His mother put down her needlework and stood as his father made his way to Matthew’s bedside.
“Mother, Father, I’m so sorry-”
“Enough,” his father barked. “I don’t want to hear another word from you. We know, Matthew. You mated with that rogue, who didn’t even have the decency to form a bond with you, and got yourself into the most shameful condition. If you weren’t an Omega, you would be no son of mine.”
Matthew sat up, struggling to follow his father’s words.
“Bear Lake have agreed to honor our arrangement. You will remain here until the child is born, then you’ll go to them, to fulfill your duty.”
“Child?” What were they talking about?
“The rogue you lay with. Didn’t you even consider the consequences of your actions?”
“I was in heat-”
“A weak excuse after you ran from your family, from your responsibilities. We raised you better than that Matthew. But I underestimated your sinful Omega nature.”
“But Zack-”
“I will not have that rogue’s name uttered under my roof. We are lucky Bear Lake are willing to look past your indiscretions. The child will be raised here, on the outskirts of our Pack. You and they will never meet once they’re born.”
His father turned, gesturing Matthew’s mother to precede him out of the room. The conversation was over. Well, less conversation, more reading of the sentence for his crimes, which, in his family’s eyes, were great. How had they known he was pregnant when he hadn't had any idea?
Looking down at his still bandaged body, he tried to imagine what lay within. A baby? His. Zack's. What had they done?
His sister Cara came to see him later and filled in the blanks. About how the human doctor had sent on the results of some tests. They had highlighted a test result for follow-up for fear it meant something sinister because he was male. Looked at with the knowledge he was an Omega, it had clearly indicated he was pregnant.
Cara described the next two days. How his parents had spent hours talking with the Pack’s doctor and with Morgan, his father’s adviser. And then they contacted Bear Lake. All the arrangements had been made before he’d fully woken.
“I thought you were going to find your Alpha, to bond,” Cara said, unable to keep the accusing tone from her voice.
“I… I tried. I wanted to. But it all happened so fast. I went into heat as soon as Zack and I met. He’d been exiled from his Pack. He didn’t want a bond, didn’t know what I was, what mating with me meant. I didn’t even know I could get pregnant without a bond.”
She brushed a soothing hand across his forehead.
“Neither did I. Oh, Mattie, I’m sorry.”
“So am I. But there’s nothing to be done now. I can’t go back out there. Zack doesn’t want me and I can’t keep myself safe. I can’t keep this baby safe. At least here, they’ll be raised among Pack.”
Cara held his hand tightly as the tears fell.
Chapter Twenty
Six months later
Another raid, another group of traumatized kids. Zack hated this. Their fearful and angry stares, sizing up their rescuers because they didn’t trust that this wasn’t a trip from frying pan to fire. Apart from scrapes and bruises, the only injury was to one of their own, a nasty bite wound to the forearm. Zack bandaged it tightly, then sent the Warrior on his way. They were ready to move out.
A motorbike pulled up.
“Damn, seems like I missed all the action,” Andrew said, climbing off. The youths watched him with uncertainty.
“Andrew, it’s been a while,”
The other man shook Zack’s hand and clapped him on the shoulder.
“Yeah, busy times,” he said, then lowered his voice. “Sebastian, from Glenoak, has been trying to get a hold of you. Says it’s important.”
“Yeah, I heard.” The Alpha had first tried to contact him over a month ago. Zack had ignored the message, intent on doing everything he could to forget the past. Work helped, taking his mind off all that had happened, all he’d had and lost. The people he worked with were good people. Sometimes a little ropey and prone to acting from the heart as much as the head, but they meant well and wanted the best for their young charges.
“So, what? You’re just going to ignore him? He’s not going away. He’s fast becoming one of the strongest Alphas of this generation.”
“Good for him,” Zack replied shortly, packing away his kit.
“James puts a lot of weight on Fenrir’s Warriors having a good relationship with Glenoak. He sent me here personally to ask you to contact Sebastian and hear him out.”
Zack turned to leave but Andrew stopped him with a hand to the shoulder. “I know the past is painful. We all know that. Running from it isn’t the solution. Because sometimes it’s keeping pace right behind you.”
Andrew pulled a cell phone from his pocket and pushed it into Zack’s hand.
“I’m sticking around for a few days. James feels you could use a helping hand. There were twice as many wolves here as we were expecting.”
There was evidence they’d planned to move most of them on elsewhere but where and why, no one was too sure. The few handlers they’d captured alive weren’t talking.
“Make the call, Zack. Today,” Andrew said, then made his way over to the car where they were loading the first group.
Zack cursed, shoving the phone into his pocket.
They got the youths settled in the safe house in the early hours of the morning. Zack went to the kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee, knowing he’d have to make that call sooner rather than later. He waited until eight am, knowing Sebastian was probably an early riser.
Wandering outside, he put some distance between himself and the house before he made the call, not wanting to be overheard.
The phone rang and Zack had to fight down the instinct to hang up. It answered on the third ring.
“Hello?”
“Sebastian, it’s Zack, Zack Brown.”
There was a pause.
“Zack, it’s good to hear from you.” There was no mention of the multiple messages Zack knew Seb had left for him.
“I hear you’ve been trying to reach me.”
Another pause, then a voice in the background.
“Just a moment, Zack,” Seb said, then everything muffled as if Seb had covered the speaker with his hand. Zack could still make out what was being said. “Yes, Ro, it’s Zack. Finally. Give us a few minutes, please.”
Seb came back on the line. “Sorry, Zack. Yes, I’d been hoping to talk to you. Have you had any contact with Matthew?”
What kind of a question was that?
“No, of course not. He must be mated to Bear Lake’s Alpha by now.”
“Hmm.” Seb didn’t sound too surprised by his response. “You might be interested to hear that, as yet, that hasn’t happened. He’s still at home.”
“Well, good for him. His family must be reconsidering the arrangement.”
“Oh, no. It’s still going ahead. Sometime in the New Year.”
That made no sense to Zack. Matt had had a triggered heat in December. And he should have had another heat by now. How and why would they be waiting?
“Well, I haven’t heard from him and I don’t know anything about it.” Why was Sebastian dragging this up now?
/>
“Do you still think about him?”
“I try my best not to.”
“But do you?” Sebastian persisted.
“Sure, I guess.” It was hard to avoid, the Omega was always on his mind.
“Do you dream about him?” Okay, this was getting weirdly personal.
“Seb, what exactly are you getting at?”
“We’ve been trying to work out why Matt wouldn’t be in Bear Lake already. Adam has been doing some research into Omega bonding rituals and we think you may have a problem.”
“There’s no problem, Seb. We never bonded. We just had sex.”
“Sex while Matthew was in heat.”
“But there was no bond bite.”
There was a pause before Seb continued.
“A bite may not be entirely necessary. Adam has been reading some old Pack records. The bite seems to have been incorporated into bonding rituals later and is seen to increase the potency of the bond rather than be essential to its formation.”
Zack couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“There is no bond, Seb. Matt and I would have known if there had been.”
“Are you sure?” the Alpha persisted. “With a triggered heat between two wolves with no prior connection and no bond bite, it might be hard to distinguish a weak bond from the kind of feelings you might have at the start of a relationship.”
“There’s no bond,” Zack retorted, unable to work out why the Alpha was so persistent.
“So, you haven’t been dreaming about Matthew? You’re not listening for his heartbeat or scenting for him? You’ve been able to sleep with other people, form other relationships?”
He’d had offers but had had no interest. Of course, he’d put that down to needing all his energy for work and not wanting to get into anything after Derek, and Matthew. But there was always the voice in his head, the one pointing out that, no matter who he set his eyes on, they weren’t the green-eyed Omega he was looking for.
“What’s the point to all this, Sebastian?”
The Alpha huffed in frustration but reined it in before replying.
“Bear Lake’s Alpha still intends to bond with Matthew. The only reason I can see for such a delay is that they are aware he’s already formed a bond so they can’t proceed unless they break that bond. And the only way for them to do that…”
The Alpha's Wish: Lost Omegas Book Three: A M/M Shifter Romance Page 10
