The Omega Objection

by G. L. Carriger

  “If you’re lucky,” Mana snapped back, on instinct.

  Lovejoy was fast out of his clothing and into his fur.

  Isaac was looking at them with mixed fear and confusion.

  Tank stayed in human form. He was intimidating enough in either guise, and someone needed to talk.

  “Stay here, please,” he said to the Omega and the kitsune. There was no real power to his request. He had no rank to back it up and they were both greater than he could ever be. But maybe they would let him try.

  “Like hell,” said the Omega, standing.

  “Isaac,” he growled, attempting reason, “you haven’t fought alongside us before. You should stay safe. You’re important. Please.” You haven’t tried to fight at all. You’re so new to being a true werewolf. To being comfortable in fur. You’re Omega.

  Isaac’s jaw went firm. “I’m the reason they’re here.”

  “Yeah. Well, who are they, then?”

  “My former pack.”

  * * *

  Isaac knew it was an unfair bombshell to drop.

  Tank looked hurt. Lovejoy whined in near physical pain. They didn’t like the idea that he’d once belonged to some other pack, or worse, that some other pack once belonged to him. Yet it was the truth, in its awful way.

  Isaac was ashamed to have brought this down on them. Humiliated by being caught, not once but several times. Ashamed that once a pack that trapped him had managed to keep him long enough to file paperwork, and now had managed to track him here.

  He rushed to explain. “I didn’t join them willingly, and I managed to avoid the Alpha biting me. You know that old adage? An unwilling bite won’t stick. But they weren’t the first to lock me up after I left the cult. Force my agreement. And they kept me the longest.”

  Tank winced, understanding at last. “They caged you, didn’t they?”

  Isaac inclined his head. “No other way I would have stayed.”

  “Fuck. I’m so sorry.”

  “Not your fault.”

  “No, but I won’t let it happen now. Please stay in the house.”

  “No, I’m coming.”

  Tank sighed. Then led the way out the door and through the yard toward the driveway. Isaac silently agreed that they were most likely to come from that direction. It was too close to sunset for them to have traveled very far as wolves, so they would be using human transport. Human roads.

  The bile was hot and acrid at the back of Isaac’s throat. He couldn’t be taken again. He didn’t think he’d survive captivity now that he was a whole werewolf. Before, he’d managed to suppress his frantic wolf and just be miserable and human. He no longer had that option.

  “How many in this pack?” Tank asked.

  “Eight.” Isaac remembered each and every one of them. The way they smelled. The way they looked and acted – ashamed of their need for him, vicious in the execution of it. Pitiable if he had met them in another form, brutal because of what he was. “They will have ridden, I think. Motorcycles. Probably stopped at the bottom of the hill and shifted.”

  Tank nodded.

  Suddenly there they were, all eight of the Rocky Mountain Pack. They were mean and harsh-looking, slovenly and ill-kempt, with shifty eyes and patchy pelts.

  Their Alpha was typical of the breed, or what Isaac had always thought was typical until he met Alec – big and brash and angry. There was no peaceable leadership from Skulls. He ordered, and if his order wasn’t instantly followed, then his fist did.

  He’d only one enforcer now. Isaac had accidentally-on-purpose killed the other one. Or he assumed that’s what had happened. He’d left the shack in flames and his once-guard locked into the cage that had been Isaac’s home for nearly a year. The man’s screams woke him up sometimes at night. Freedom always cost more than Isaac wanted to pay.

  Isaac made introductions, because someone had to say something. “That big rangy one in the middle is Skulls, Alpha of the Rocky Mountain Pack. I can’t really ID the others I only saw them in the dark inside and in human form. They never fully introduced themselves.”

  “Skulls, no last name?” wondered Tank.

  Isaac shrugged and suggested, “Skulls Douchypants-Asshat the First?”

  Judd appeared then, out of the shadows.

  Isaac had never before been so glad to see an enforcer. As a wolf, Judd was almost solid black with bright orange eyes. Very Halloween. Size for size he matched Skulls, which was reassuring. Not that size mattered much when rank came into play.

  Lovejoy moved to stand closer to Isaac. Lovejoy was a handsome wolf, not particularly big, with symmetrical gray markings of varying shades. His eyes were as blue in his wolf form as they were in his human.

  Mana seemed to have sensibly vanished off somewhere. This wasn’t her fight.

  So the San Andreas Pack had three fighters. Isaac didn’t count himself. It was a pitiful number against a full pack of eight.

  Some of my pack might die today, because of me. These nice, warm, queer, weird werewolves with more love than sense, they’re at risk, because of me.

  I should have run. Why didn’t I run? I could have drawn them away from my pack.

  The enemy pack was all in fur, and none of them seemed inclined to transform to parlay.

  “You’re in our territory.” Tank stated the obvious. “Protocol dictates you designate a voice, as you clearly have not brought an arbitrator. Have you a claim to this territory?”

  It was the Alpha who shifted.

  Skulls was a large man with an impressive beard and bulging muscles. He’d thought it weak to need an Omega, to want to bite him and keep him. Yet he couldn’t resist the urge. And since Skulls hadn’t the brains to handle an identity crisis over his own power, he’d taken it out on Isaac. Kept him naked and chained and touch-starved and alone, because if Isaac wouldn’t yield to his bite, then obviously Isaac was the problem.

  Isaac hated the man.

  Skulls glared at Tank. “We ain’t interested in your pansy-ass territory, grunt. We just want our Omega. We have us a prior claim.”

  “Oh, yeah?” Tank didn’t flinch under the Alpha’s regard. “I’m thinking it’s our Alpha who bit him, so he stays with us. He chose us. You don’t get to keep a pack mate just because you want to. Lupine protocol doesn’t work that way.”

  Isaac didn’t know the law. It was one of the reasons he always ran. His own ignorance of pack ways worked against him.

  “Prior claim is prior claim. But if one of you wants to fight me for him…”

  Judd stepped forward.

  Tank said, “No. It’s my fight.”

  Judd whined in distress.

  “I need to do it, Judd, he’s my mate.”

  Isaac couldn’t bear it. That Tank would find his courage now, find his purpose and stand up for himself. Because of Isaac. In a battle he couldn’t possibly win. Yet if Isaac begged Tank not to fight, his mate would feel diminished and rejected by Isaac’s lack of confidence.

  Skulls looked disgusted. “Males can’t mate each other, and even if they could, Omegas should fuck Alphas or enforcers, not lowly grunts with no rank or function. You aren’t good enough for him.”

  Tank shrugged. “He chose me. I’m his, so I must be enough.”

  Isaac felt himself flush with pleasure. He is mine, and if that helps him understand his worth, I’m doing something good by being with him. The rightness of it made everything else around him all the more terrifying.

  What kind of dominant lets himself be captured not once but several times? He wasn’t strong enough to keep himself safe, let alone protect a mate. He didn’t deserve Tank or Tank’s submission, but apparently, he did need Tank to stand up for him and to fight. It was messed up.

  “You think you’re in control?” Skulls clearly didn’t understand anything, this wasn’t about control. The Alpha turned his steel gaze onto Isaac. “COME HERE, BOY.”

  Isaac swayed forward involuntarily, then
flinched and dug in his heels.

  It was harder to resist VOICE now that his wolf was unified with his human. Skulls’ savage power was formed specifically to pull on pack obligations and werewolf tether. But it also worked against Skulls, because Isaac was tethered to a different Alpha. The threads that bound him to Alec were new, weak, and tangled, but they were there. Even though Alec was absent, Isaac trusted him in a way he never could trust Skulls, and that strengthened the bond.

  At VOICE, all the wolves around moved toward Skulls, even Tank and Lovejoy and Judd.

  Judd growled, fierce, trying to resist.

  Tank said, “You can’t use VOICE on wolves not of your pack. Are you mad?”

  “He is my pack!”

  “That can only be settled by arbitration.”

  “Or combat,” insisted Skulls.

  Tank looked resigned but ready.

  Skulls pressed. “You will fight for him? Good, an easy win for me.”

  Isaac broke and turned to plead with Tank. “I’ll just go with them.”

  Tank looked down at him, chocolate eyes soft.

  Isaac leaned in close to whisper. “You can’t win.” Tank was massive and no doubt a strong fighter, but he hadn’t a drop of Alpha in him.

  Tank was calm and resigned, and he smelled of brandy and lost celebrations. “I don’t have to win. I just have to hold out until Alec gets home.”

  Isaac felt his face tighten and tingle. “Better if Max came home.” Max would have no care for pack protocols and would simply end whomever got in his way without remorse. Max was a damn the consequences kind of dude.

  Tank twitched a smile. “He can’t do anything until Bryan gets home too. Familiar, remember?”

  “Somehow, I feel Max is effective even without his power.”

  Tank chuckled and began stripping. “You’re probably right. He can flay you with his words alone.” His movements were jerky. His laugh had no humor to it.

  “Tank, are you angry?” Isaac hated how timid he sounded. He had questioned Tank’s ability to fight, and therefore his newfound self-confidence.

  “He caged you.” Isaac hadn’t thought his lover capable of sounding so cold. “I’m going to enjoy this.”

  “I didn’t think you could get angry.”

  “I try not to. Isn’t good in a man my size. Scares people.”

  “You’re adorable. Please don’t die.”

  “Also, not something you get when you’re a man my size.”

  “What, death?”

  “No, adorability.”

  Isaac’s eyes burned. “I don’t want you to fight but I understand why you must.”

  Chocolate eyes were on him, full of hope. “Yeah?”

  “You are worthy of love, of your place in pack, but you don’t know it. If this is a way to prove it to yourself, then I support you.” What Isaac couldn’t say, what he couldn’t even imagine, was that if Alec didn’t get home soon, then Tank would end up dying as a delaying tactic. Even werewolves could die from blood loss. Isaac could only hope that Mana was off making urgent phone calls to the rest of their pack.

  “I thought you couldn’t read me like you could the others.” Tank was gloriously naked.

  “Sometimes I don’t need to be an Omega to know what’s in someone’s head.”

  “I’ll be fine, Isaac. Just promise me, you’ll stick around to make certain?”

  He still thinks I’m gonna run away from this pack. “I’m staying, baby. Don’t worry. It’s just I’d rather you were whole and undamaged to properly appreciate me.”

  “I’ll do my best.” Tank transformed so that the end of his sentence turned into a growl.

  Skulls also shifted back into fur.

  The wolves formed a loose ring. Isaac, hesitating only a moment, also shifted. It was easier than it had been the night before and it hurt less. He still didn’t love it, but he thought he might learn not to resent it – given time and practice.

  Lovejoy pressed against his left side and Judd took his right. It was small comfort, three of them against the seven enemy wolves ranged on the opposite side of the ring.

  Tank and Skulls took the middle, circling each other with slow deliberation.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Sum of All Bears

  It’s a weird thing, thought Tank, the knowledge that you’re probably gonna die. He was oddly at peace with it. He couldn’t think of a better cause than Isaac’s safety and well-being. It was the best kind of reason. And he would do it proving himself, proving he had value to his pack. Fighting for something meaningful.

  Tank circled and postured as a delaying tactic until Skulls couldn’t stand it any longer and charged.

  Tank actually managed to dodge him a few times. But there was a lot of Tank and he wasn’t fast, just big. Soon enough Skulls got teeth into him and then the fight was on.

  Tank had fought challenges in the past. There was something about a big dude that made little angry ones want to prove themselves. He’d seen that kind of thing with a Great Dane and a dachshund. He wasn’t human enough to just walk away from idiocy, so he ended up fighting the occasional dachshund.

  Tank wasn’t instantly defeated, he always sparred with enforcers when he had the chance. They always won, of course, because they were innately more vicious, but he had some practice above his rank. He’d never gone up against an Alpha, though, and it was a whole different game.

  Tank was there, inside the wolf’s head, but when it came to battle, he went on instinct. Enforcers were enforcers because they had the best instincts, but Alphas fought smart. It’s like Alphas managed to keep all parts of themselves – wolf and man – in balance at all times. Their brains were some weird melding that made outward shape irrelevant. That was what made them Alpha and it was what made them dangerous in a fight.

  Tank could only be wolf in a fight. He reared up when confronted, he lashed out when in pain, he looked for weakness and attacked, but he had no crafty tricks to call upon. He could not strategize or plan ahead.

  Skulls was different. He was fast and strong and vicious, but very thoughtful about it. He got his teeth into Tank and though Tank shook him off, again and again and again, every time Tank lost a little more blood.

  Tank managed one or two of his own bites, and with a bit of leverage he even heaved the Alpha over to the edge of the circle, where all the wolves snapped at Skulls to force him back to the center.

  But that was the best Tank could do. The rest of the fight was him learning to take it, protecting his most vulnerable parts as much as he could. He had to lower his massive head to keep his neck protected, which limited his vision. Not that he could follow how fast Skulls moved. He had to flatten his tail down to keep his balls safe. All that while also keeping an eye to the white wolf who watched, trying to keep Isaac safe too.

  Then Skulls did something crafty and unexpected and utterly human. He slid down under Tank and twisted, wedging himself onto his back. Instead of going for Tank’s throat, the Alpha raked Tank’s underbelly with his claws, deep and harsh.

  Tank felt the blood gush, hot and wet, and wondered if he might be losing his insides. He didn’t feel himself fall, although he knew he must have. He hoped he had won them enough time. The challenge had gone so quickly he was horribly afraid he’d failed everyone. He was dizzy. His sight telescoped inward and his ears were filled with his own pulse, sea-song and rushing. He lost himself into washed blackness, imagining he heard Isaac’s voice, calling to him.

  * * *

  Isaac suspected he was howling, frozen with eyes riveted on Tank’s collapsed form. He’d never seen so much blood before. Did people really have that much inside them? Tank’s dark fur was matted with it. It stained the driveway. It stained the air with a scent like shaved copper and salt gravy.

  Isaac jerked forward, desperate to get to his lover.

  Judd got his teeth around the ruff of Isaac’s neck and yanked him back. Lovejoy body-checked
Isaac, forcing him to stay outside the circle, even as he whimpered and keened for his injured friend.

  A female voice said, “You cannot break the challenge circle, white wolf, or your pack mate’s life is forfeit.”

  Isaac thought, What difference does it make, if he’s already dead? At least let me die fighting too.

  Skulls looked up, displayed fangs dripping with Tank’s blood, and growled at the intruder. Then he bent and lunged, placing his teeth around Tank’s throat, going in for the kill.

  “STOP.” The woman was Alpha and strong with it. VOICE command would not work on another Alpha, but it was startling enough for Skulls to be confused and back off Tank’s neck.

  “You haven’t a kill-right, intruder,” said a different voice, a man’s. With this voice came the smell of mulch in the deep forest, of a cold country and sweet warm honey, something bigger than wolf – bear.

  The wolves in the circle all reacted to a predator in their midst, something larger and meaner than them.

  The currents shifted.

  Skulls shifted into human form, looking triumphant and covered in gore. “I win.”

  Tank wasn’t moving.

  Isaac couldn’t stop straining to get to him.

  The female voice said, “You’re the Alpha of the Rocky Mountain Pack?”

  Skulls inclined his head.

  Isaac barely registered when the female Alpha came into view. She was power and patience and could’ve been comfort except that she did not smell of home. She had a shiny badge in her hand. Her hair was black and iron-straight. She seemed annoyed.

  Isaac could only think of her as a distraction. He sank to his belly, wrenched hard away from his pack mates, and tried again to get to Tank.

  Judd’s hold on the scruff of his neck tightened.

  Isaac whimpered in misery and frustration.

  Just let me go to him.

  The new Alpha looked at Skulls as if he was something under her boot. “Agreed, I pronounce you winner. The circle is no longer sacred.”

  Judd let go of Isaac.