Omega's Second Chance (Hells Wolves MC Book 4)

by J. L. Wilder

  “I don’t think so. Our brothers did it. You’re no better than they are, surely? Swear your allegiance to me, Hawk, and you can remain a member of our pack. We can all move forward together.”

  Hawk shook his head. “You’ve earned no allegiance. You stole my omega. You stole my pack.”

  “They were never yours,” Weston said. “They don’t belong to anyone but themselves.”

  “But you’re willing to assert dominion over them?”

  “I never set out to be alpha. All I wanted was to love Charity.”

  “I don’t owe you anything,” Hawk said. “I’ve spent the past six years fighting to keep you under control. You were always the most difficult of the pack. I should have known you’d destroy us someday.”

  Weston took a deep breath. He had known, if he was honest with himself, that this conversation would go this way. But still, he had hoped for a miracle. “If you won’t submit to my authority,” he said, “you’ll have to leave.”

  Hawk looked up at him. There was defiance in his eyes, but there was also, Weston saw, a twinge of fear.

  “You can’t make me leave,” he said.

  “Can’t I?”

  “The moment you kick me out, you lose your power over me,” Hawk said. “You’ll break the bonds, and then I’ll be able to do anything I want. I’ll be able to fight you. I can take the pack back from you. You’re a good fighter, Weston, but who’s to say I won’t get lucky next time?”

  “You won’t get near me next time,” Weston said.

  “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “The others are loyal to me now, Hawk,” Weston said. “They’re not going to let an outsider attack their alpha. Do you really think you’ll get lucky enough that it’ll get you through Gino and Rick and Robbie and me?”

  Hawk gnashed his teeth in frustration.

  “So, leave,” Weston said. It was an order. He could feel the weight of his words as they left him, could feel the impact they would have on Hawk, as clearly as if he were throwing stones. “Leave this cabin and leave this family. Leave the state of Montana, in fact. And never darken our door again. I don’t ever want to see you here.”

  “They’ll leave you,” Hawk hissed. He was already on his feet, already moving toward the exit. Weston was stunned by the strength of his own command. Even as Hawk continued to argue, he was being compelled to obey. “They have no loyalty at all. You proved that.”

  “No,” Weston said. “They will be loyal to me. Because I’ll be loyal to them. Because I care for them, Hawk, and I care for their happiness and wellbeing in a way you never did. Go now. Goodbye.”

  And Hawk couldn’t resist any longer. He stormed out the front door. A few moments later Weston heard the roar of his bike as it sprang to life. He stood in the kitchen and listened as the bike’s engine receded into the distance.

  Hawk was gone. The threat was over.

  He collapsed into a chair, feeling as though he could sleep for a week, relieved and shaky.

  Charity appeared in the kitchen doorway. “He’s gone?”

  “He just left.”

  “Can I come in?”

  “Please.”

  She came and sat in the chair beside his. “You did well,” she said. “I know that was hard for you, sending him away like that. You’re a peacemaker by nature.”

  “Am I?” Being a leader was still so new to Weston that he felt as if he hardly knew himself. “I don’t feel like I’ve done anything to promote peace lately.”

  “You let Gino and Rick stay,” she pointed out. “And then there’s me.”

  “What about you?”

  “You forgave me for leaving,” she said. “That couldn’t have been easy for you, but you did it.”

  He nodded. “I couldn’t do anything else, not once I had you back in my life.”

  “That’s what I’m talking about,” she said. “If you see a way to make peace with someone you care about, you’ll choose it every time. You’d have let Hawk stay if there was any way to do it that would have been safe for us.”

  “I would have,” he agreed.

  She kissed him. “I’m so proud of you.”

  The rest of the pack made their way into the kitchen and took seats at the table, all but Gino, who went to the refrigerator and began fetching cans of beer. He brought these to the table and began to hand them out.

  “None for me,” Weston said.

  Robbie raised his eyebrows but said nothing.

  “Really?” Gino asked.

  “No, go ahead,” Charity said. “We’re celebrating, and it’s only one beer. It’s not a big deal.”

  “You got him to go sober?” Rick asked.

  “Not strictly,” Charity said.

  “Big change.”

  Weston glanced at Charity questioningly, unsure of whether she wanted to reveal the rest of their news. Charity inclined her head slightly.

  Weston nodded. “The truth is,” he said, “we’re going to be parents.”

  Norma gasped and clapped a hand to her mouth.

  “What?” Lita shrieked. She turned to Charity. “You’re pregnant? Really?”

  Charity nodded.

  “That’s amazing!” Lita jumped up, ran around the table, and flung her arms around her sister. “We’re going to have a new litter! I’m going to be an aunt!”

  Gino let out a booming laugh. “You don’t waste any time, do you, Weston?”

  “We were on the road,” Weston said. “We took what we could get.”

  “Well, forget the beers,” Norma said. “This calls for champagne.” She stood and went to the cupboard. “And what can I get for you to drink, Charity?”

  “Some juice would be great,” Charity said.

  Norma brought the drinks to the table. They all raised their glasses, toasting to the good times that were still to come and the fact that they were all together once again.

  BY THE FIFTH MONTH of her pregnancy, Weston couldn’t believe the changes in Charity’s body. If he hadn’t known better, he would have thought she was nearing the end of her term. She had gotten so big that she had trouble standing and sitting without assistance, although once she’d gotten upright, she was able to move around without much trouble.

  But Weston didn’t like to see her out of bed, even though he knew she was strong. He worried for her health. “Come back to bed,” he said, finding her out in the garden with Robbie.

  She groaned good-naturedly. “Don’t make me,” she said. “I just got out here. It’s such a nice day. I feel like a zombie. I haven’t seen the sun in weeks.”

  He hated to disappoint her. “All right,” he agreed and went to the garage to fetch a lawn chair that reclined. He set it down beside the garden. “At least sit down,” he said.

  “You’re so overprotective,” she said, but she was only pretending to argue. Weston knew her well enough to know that she appreciated the fact that he’d found a middle ground. Robbie jumped to his feet, abandoning the weed he’d been working on extracting from the dirt, and helped Weston lower her into the chair.

  “How long have you been out here?” he asked.

  “Just a few hours. I was telling Robbie about working in a restaurant. He says he’d like to get a job.”

  Weston blinked. “Would you really?” The pack was hard at work on rebuilding the financial losses incurred by Hawk’s spending habits, but most of their income came from odd jobs. Gino had found work repairing motorcycles, and Rick was installing security systems in private homes.

  But if Robbie took a steady job, that would really improve their situation. That would mean that money would be regularly coming in. Weston had been deeply reluctant to ask any of his packmates for such a commitment, but if Robbie was willing...

  “I thought I’d make a decent bartender,” Robbie said. “They’ve got to be friendly and sociable, and they’ve got to be strong enough to fend off drunk people who are making bad decisions. At least, that’s what Charity tells me.”

&nb
sp; “My friend Kate was a bartender,” Charity said. “She got hired for those qualities. Robbie would be perfect.”

  “Well,” said Weston. “I can’t deny that that would help us out.”

  “Would you be all right with it? If I tried to find a job?”

  “Of course,” Weston said. “I’m surprised you need to ask.”

  “Well, I’m still not used to having a reasonable person as my alpha,” Robbie said. “Hawk wouldn’t have wanted me to do it.”

  That was probably true, Weston thought. But those days were long over. “I think it’s a great idea,” he told his friend. “I hope it works out.”

  Robbie grinned. “Thanks, boss.”

  “I’ve asked you not to call me that.”

  “Right you are, boss.”

  “You’re never going to stop teasing me, are you?”

  “Is it an order?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Then no, I wouldn’t count on it.”

  Weston held out a hand to Charity. “Why don’t you come on a walk with me?” he asked her. “If you want to be outside. Are you up for moving around a little bit?”

  “Definitely,” she said. “I don’t get nearly enough exercise. The babies are going stir crazy.” She took his hand and brought it to her stomach so he could feel the tumbling. “They never settle down. Maybe we can wear them out a bit.”

  “Does it really work like that?” Robbie asked. “Do they get tired when you do?”

  “Nah, probably not,” Charity said. “If they did, they’d be tired a lot more often. But I could use a walk right now either way.” She let Weston help her back out of the chair. “See you at dinner, Robbie.”

  “See ya. Thanks for the advice!”

  Weston wrapped an arm around her back and guided her into the woods. “Where are we going?” she asked.

  “You haven’t guessed?”

  She looked up at him. “To the clearing?”

  “Of course.”

  “I actually haven’t been there since I’ve been back,” she said. “Isn’t that strange?”

  “I’ve been wanting to take you for months, but things kept coming up. I’d be busy, or I’d forget about it...and the time just got away from me. But today seems like the perfect day to go.”

  “Does it still look like it did when we were younger?”

  He smiled. “See for yourself.”

  They emerged into a natural clearing in the middle of the woods. Charity let out a little gasp. “It’s exactly the way I remembered it.”

  “Do you remember the day we first found it?”

  She nodded. “We were fifteen. We were trying to get out of chores, isn’t that right?”

  Weston nodded. “Karl was giving people cleaning assignments, and we were dodging the work. We snuck out of the house and came here before we could be given jobs.”

  “And we stayed all day,” she remembered. “Even when we started to get hungry, we stayed.”

  “Do you want to sit down?”

  She shook her head. “Standing’s more comfortable.”

  That was no problem. Weston stepped close behind her, bringing his body flush against hers, and wrapped his arms around to cup her swollen breasts. They spilled out of his hands now, unable to be contained. She let out a satisfied sigh and melted against him. “Did you bring me out here for sex?”

  “Seemed appropriate,” he said. “Since this is where we had our first kiss, I thought we were due for a rendezvous here.”

  “Hmm. I think you’re wearing too many clothes, if that’s what you had in mind.”

  “I think we both are.” He slid his hands down and unfastened her pants, sliding them carefully down over her hips and allowing them to pool in the dirt at her feet. Charity stepped out of them and kicked them away, then turned in his arms and loosened his belt as he slipped his hands beneath the hem of her shirt.

  When they were both naked, they let their hands explore each other. The sun on their shoulders was relaxing and encouraged a leisurely pace. Weston slid two fingers inside Charity as she brought a hand down to cup his length. They stroked together, rocking their hips, bringing each other close to orgasm.

  “You’re driving me insane,” he moaned. “You’re so hot like this, Charity. You’re so beautiful.”

  They let go of each other, hips bucking toward each other with loss, and he turned her toward one of the trees in the clearing. Charity braced her hands against the bark as Weston entered her and fucked her slowly, big hands sliding up to massage her breasts and skating back down to feel the delicious new width of her hips.

  He hunched over her, pressing his chest flush against her back and cradling her breasts in his hands, thumbs working her sensitive nipples. She cried out and circled her hips desperately as he thrust into her, trying to create more friction between them. “Weston,” she moaned.

  “Come for me, Charity, baby. Let me see you.”

  She came on a sob, pushing back against him with such force that her hands left the tree. He caught her in his arms, pulled her upright, and fucked into her furiously, intent on prolonging her orgasm, chasing his own.

  Her orgasm seemed to go on forever, wracking her body with tremors until she couldn’t stand upright. Even then, he could feel her coming, convulsing around him as he thrust into her. The feeling was so amazing that it sent him over the edge, and he came into her with a yell of primal pleasure.

  He sank to his knees, spent and exhausted, bringing her down with him to lie on the grass.

  They lay there, gasping and trying to recover themselves, for several long minutes. Their fingers entwined. Weston clung to Charity’s hand as if it were the only thing anchoring him to the earth and stared at the clouds floating by overhead.

  “You,” he said when his breathing had recovered enough to allow speech, “are some woman, Charity.”

  “It’s not me,” she said. “It’s the two of us. It’s what we do together that’s so amazing.”

  “You think so?”

  “I don’t think it would ever be this good with someone else,” she said. “Not for either of us.”

  “Then I guess it’s a good thing we found each other,” Weston said, turning his head to smile at her.

  “No,” she said, “it’s a good thing we found our way back.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  CHARITY

  In the seventh month of her pregnancy, Charity had been confined to bed, too big to move around under her own steam. Since then, Weston had brought their meals to the bedroom and had eaten with her, sometimes carrying the TV in so they could watch something together, other times catching her up on the gossip around the house.

  “Robbie’s started seeing a girl he met at the bar,” he said now, massaging Charity’s ankles. At nine months pregnant, she dealt with swollen feet and ankles almost all the time and was always eager for a massage. Weston had so far been only too happy to comply.

  “A girl he met at the bar?” Charity asked, sitting up a little and propping herself on her elbows. “Like, a human girl?”

  “I think so,” Weston said. “Wild, right?”

  “I could never have dated a human,” Charity marveled, remembering how inadequate all the men on her online dating profile and seemed when she’d been living on her own. “I guess she must be something special.”

  “I guess.”

  “But how are they going to have any kind of future together?”

  “Well,” Weston said, “eventually, if he’s serious about her, he’ll have to bring her here to meet us. We’d have to let her in on who we really are.”

  “You’d do that?”

  “It’s exactly what Hawk wouldn’t have done,” Weston said. “He’d never have allowed a human to join the pack. But if Robbie loves her, if she makes him happy, she can become part of our family, maybe.”

  “You really are openminded,” Charity marveled.

  “You think so? I try to be.”

  “It’s what makes you suc
h a great leader. Such a great alpha.”

  “Mmm.” he crawled up the bed to lie beside her, moving their lunch trays out of the way. “I can’t get over the fact that I’m the alpha of the Hell’s Wolves.”

  “Even after nine months of holding the position?’

  “Even now. It still surprises me every time I wake up in the morning. It still surprises me every time I give an order, and someone obeys it.” He pulled her carefully into his arms, moving slowly so as not to jostle the babies or shift her into an uncomfortable position. “I grew up watching Karl lead the Hell’s Wolves. I was always so proud to be a member of this pack. I never dreamed that one day I’d be leading it myself.”

  “I know what you mean,” she said. “I never imagined that one day I’d be the pack omega. That I’d be responsible for bringing the next generation into the world. It’s a huge responsibility.”

  “I can’t imagine anyone better for the job,” he said, caressing her swollen belly tenderly. “You’ll be a wonderful mother, Charity. They’ll be lucky to have you.”

  “I just hope they get here soon,” she murmured. “I’ve enjoyed being pregnant, but I’m definitely ready for what comes next.”

  “They’ll come when they’re ready.”

  “Hurry up and get ready then,” she said to her belly, mock scolding. “Everyone’s waiting on you. It’s not polite to keep your family waiting.”

  Weston chuckled. “They just want to make a dramatic entrance. Just like their mother.”

  “What are you talking about! I don’t make dramatic entrances!”

  “What do you call being kidnapped into the pack after a six-year absence?”

  “That was not my entrance, Weston. That was out of my hands and you know it.”

  “Okay, then how about running away on the back of my bike and coming back and knocking on the front door once Hawk had everyone in the country looking for us?”

  “That wasn’t my idea either! You’re zero for two.”

  “Okay, okay.” He kissed her gently on the cheek. “You win. Don’t get excited.”

  “Help me roll over? My back hurts.”

  He wrapped his arms around her and gently rolled her up onto her side. “Better?”