The Omega Objection

by G. L. Carriger

  Isaac lunged for Tank.

  “NO. STAY BACK.” That was Skulls’ command VOICE.

  Isaac was in wolf form and weak with fear. The power of VOICE froze him in his tracks. He couldn’t even move his vocal cords to whine. All the other wolves froze as well. VOICE could be indiscriminate in its application. Skulls was particularly strong with it now, having just won a bloody fight. Victory resonated, making him that much more Alpha.

  “You’re mine now and should tend to me above all others, Omega.” Skulls looked as if he might transform to third form and bite Isaac just to prove his point. Lay his mark over Alec’s – carve away Isaac’s neatly healing scar with his teeth, inject him with his own saliva and pack smell.

  Isaac was ready to risk it. Risk his new home. Risk everything. Tank lay so still.

  “What the hell is going on?” A new voice now, familiar, with the familiar scent of belonging. But also failure, because he hadn’t done as he promised. He hadn’t provided safety, not for Tank.

  Alpha. My Alpha. Alec.

  Alec Frederiksen was still in his lab coat. He looked worn and grim and tetchy. He smelled of chemicals and concern.

  He pushed through the circle of frozen lesser wolves without care. He ran his hand over Isaac’s back even as he moved to bend over Tank.

  “Oh no.” His voice was thick and sad. His hands shook as if he did not know where to touch or even if he should.

  His hazel gaze moved to Skulls. “Couldn’t pick on someone your own size?”

  Skulls sneered at him.

  Alec, Isaac suspected, would always fight with his mouth first.

  “Aren’t you a big bad Alpha? Such a great victory to win against an unranked wolf.” Alec straightened, tone cool. “So, Alpha in my territory, have you always been a bully?”

  The female Alpha was there then too, puffed up, pressing in between the two males. “Gentlemen!”

  “You couldn’t stop this?” Alec turned on her.

  Isaac had never seen eyes so cold.

  “I didn’t get here in time.”

  “Fuck you, Trapper.” Alec bent back over Tank, insulting in that he presented the back of his neck to both the other Alphas. I’m stronger than you, he was saying. I can protect myself. Vulnerability is irrelevant. You two are not even worth my attention.

  He pressed his face into Tank’s bloody fur. “Shift, sweetie, please. Shift now, it’ll help.”

  He’s not dead, realized Isaac. So relieved he began shaking. Still unable to move, but trembling was involuntary, Skulls couldn’t command that.

  Tank wasn’t out of danger. If he didn’t shift, he wouldn’t begin to heal. Even then, would it work with such a gaping wound in his belly?

  “SHIFT, TANK,” ordered Alec.

  Tank’s wolf form shimmered and contorted. He didn’t even writhe or wince or react to the agony. Isaac supposed he must already be in too much pain to notice any more.

  But then there he lay, Isaac’s gentle man mountain, torn open and very still. Naked, blood-covered, and lying in the driveway.

  Isaac needed to go to him. He threw everything he had against Skulls’ VOICE. A command rarely lasted so long, but Skulls had been backed up by blood and adrenaline. All Isaac managed to squeeze out was a keening whine.

  Alec finally noticed that all the rest of the wolves were frozen in place. “You’re an asshole,” he said to Skulls. “Let him go.”

  “No.” The Rocky Mountain Alpha was proud of his ability. “He’s mine now.”

  “Isaac Mercer is a member of my pack. I bit him to second shift. He is my Omega.”

  Great, thought Isaac, here we go again. Everyone bickering over me and no one asking me what I want.

  “You bit him?” that was the female Alpha.

  Alec glared at her. “Yes, I bit him, Agent Lenis! What did you expect me to do? He was all wrong, scentless and fractured. Someone had to do something to fix him.”

  “Did you have his permission?”

  “Of course I did!”

  The female Alpha pointed at Isaac. “That’s him, the white wolf?”

  Alec nodded then returned to Skulls. “Let Isaac go, you asshole. His mate is hurt.”

  My mate is dying!

  “You aren’t keeping him against his will?” The female Alpha could not seem to let that go.

  Alec threw his hands up into the air. “I didn’t do anything to Isaac but bite him when he asked, so he could stop being all were-schizophrenic.” He glared at the two other Alphas. “You know it is possible to control your baser fucking Alpha instincts, you shitheads.”

  The berserker barked a laugh at that. Isaac had almost forgotten about the bear shifter.

  “You’re not helping, Faste,” snapped the female Alpha at her partner.

  Skulls said, “He’s my pack. I fought and won the claim.”

  “Who cares? He was already bitten and a member of mine. By his own choice. Fuck off.” Alec paused and looked at the female Alpha, “Legally?”

  The woman wrinkled her rather prominent nose. “It’s complicated.”

  Alec glared. “Isaac is a person! He has rights beyond being just a fucking Omega. Why don’t we ask him what he wants?”

  Thank you! thought Isaac.

  The trapper shook her head. “He might be under your influence. How can he possibly be thinking clearly, if you bit him?”

  Alec threw his hands into the air. “Great, so instead you do what? Take away all his agency and treat him like a child? No wonder he’s running! You let him stand there under this asshole’s VOICE as though Isaac’s will is irrelevant. His mate is dying. Fuck this shit.” Alec turned on Skulls. He looked almost slight, facing up to the massive hairy naked Rocky Mountain Alpha. “LET. HIM GO, YOU… PUTZ!”

  He didn’t really stick the landing. Isaac heard the berserker snort to suppress a laugh. And, of course, Alec’s VOICE wasn’t any good on another Alpha. Still Isaac appreciated the effort.

  The female Alpha tried to be reasonable. “Technically, Rocky Mountain did have a prior claim, but they never provided proof of maker bite. They might have been waiting for him to decide and you stole him away, as they claim, or they kept the Omega against his will. Which isn’t allowed. For now, their claim stands. They petitioned DURPS. San Andreas hasn’t filed any paperwork on Mr Mercer.”

  “Because it just happened! And Isaac ran away from them! He hates them.” Alec was getting frustrated.

  “So you say,” said the female Alpha.

  “If this douche nozzle—” Alec gestured at Skulls “—lets Isaac free of VOICE, then he can tell you himself.” Alec whirled on the other Alpha. “Drop the control, you fucker.

  And all this time Tank lay right there, bleeding, and Isaac was almost close to him. He whined, or tried to.

  Clearly frustrated beyond reason, Alec ripped off his lab coat and lunged at Skulls, transforming midair in a rather spectacular demonstration of Alpha ability. Skulls transformed too, although he was still bloodied and wounded. Tank hadn’t gone quietly.

  The two Alphas became a snapping mess of teeth and fur and claws, so much faster and more furious than anything Isaac had ever seen. Clearly, Skulls had merely toyed with Tank. It really had been no kind of challenge.

  The female Alpha began yelling at them to stop in an exasperated voice.

  Still it was enough of a distraction for Skulls’ control to be broken. His VOICE command dropped, all the wolves were released, which was probably Alec’s intent.

  Isaac was free. He bounded to Tank.

  But so did the Rocky wolves. They were coming to herd Isaac away, or intent on finishing off Tank, hard to tell which.

  Lovejoy and Judd were quick to flank Isaac.

  Everything became crazy and pain-filled and chaotic.

  Teeth snapped. Claws flashed. Muzzles wet with blood, eyes turned dark and fierce.

  Isaac had no idea what he was doing. His only goals were to protect hi
s mate and to keep himself from being dragged away. He was trying to do what was necessary, but he was an Omega, he wasn’t naturally very good at fighting.

  A huge grunting snorting roar rent the air and a massive bear waded into their midst. He indiscriminately bashed and grabbed wolves. He hurled them hard onto the paved driveway. He tossed them into the street or against the garage door, denting it.

  Wolves let out pain-filled yips.

  Alec and Skulls didn’t seem to notice, too intent on each other and too fast for a bear to catch. The Alphas tumbled together in a vicious embrace.

  Isaac thought it was going to end with everyone dead or at least mortally wounded. And it was all his fault.

  Lovejoy, next to him, whined and collapsed, partly on top of Tank’s body.

  Off to the side, someone screamed – a woman, high-pitched and broken-sounding.

  Judd closed ranks with Isaac. It was just the two of them left, nose to tail fighting both sides, standing over the fallen forms of their pack mates.

  Another creature joined them, worming her way through the battle – small and white and puffy-tailed, sharp-toothed and impossibly vicious. Coming in and down and under, she fought very smart, going for eyes and noses, almost catlike in her intensity. Ridiculous that a fox would even be in a wolf fight.

  Isaac thought there was no way they could win. There were just too many of them. Even with the berserker playing wolf toss, the odds were not in their favor.

  Isaac flagged.

  The whole world flashed and he thought at first it was him, that he’d hit his head, but it was real. The evening was suffused with brightness, yellow and sharp and pure. The flash became a rainfall of light. Above them, heat exploded, and a voice that was all knives and arrogance said, “Now, now, now, fluffies. What’s all this?”

  Quintessence shifted and collected in the air. The awful cloying sweet chemical smell of mage-work surrounded them. So much of it. More than Isaac had thought to feel in his lifetime. Magistar’s power – rare and immense and utterly terrifying.

  Isaac smelled urine as some of the enemy pack pissed themselves in fear.

  They all shrank away from it, trying to sink into the ground because quintessence was everywhere. Wolf tails curled hard against bodies, ears flattened.

  “Which is which?” said Max, apparently to Bryan. Although Bryan would be in wolf form, so Max was carrying on a one-sided conversation with his familiar.

  The Magistar continued, “They all just look like a bunch of blood-covered fur to me. How am I supposed to tell bad wolf from good wolf? I suppose that one is Alec. I’ll just take care of his little issue first, shall I?”

  There came a high-pitched yip, the smell of curling flame-singed fur. Skulls flew through the air, head over tail, into the street and down the hill.

  “Alec, really, what possessed you? You hate fighting.” Max sounded peevish. As if this were all a minor annoyance.

  Isaac shivered under the flow of quintessence, afraid to move, the heat pressing on him. They were trapped in some poisonous bubble of Max’s making, where any move would burn.

  Max’s voice continued. It was getting closer. “The white one is Isaac, isn’t it? Hello Isaac. And is that Mana? Darling, I didn’t know you fought. Isn’t it totally beneath you? You’ll break a nail. Lovely tail.”

  Then the wolves Isaac had been facing off against were lifted and pushed away by super-heated yellow dust. More singed fur scented the air. The wolves whined.

  “And our two trapper friends. Big bear dude. Lady badass.”

  “Holy shit.” The female Alpha was the only one to remain in human form. “That is so cool. I’ve never seen a Magistar really go to town before.”

  “Well, you wouldn’t need to if you’d kept control of the situation, Agent.” Max really could be an asshole.

  Isaac wanted to scream at him. Because Tank and Lovejoy were hurt.

  Enough of Max swanning about and bragging with his power. Fix the pack first! Everything else is irrelevant when the pack is not well.

  Isaac threw his head back and howled.

  He wasn’t even sure it would work. How well sound would carry through quintessence. If Max even cared that much.

  “Quite right,” said Max to Isaac.

  * * *

  Tank awoke to the smell of quintessence clawing at his nostrils, acrid sweetness all around him. He sneezed.

  That hurt. A lot.

  “Hey, baby.” Isaac. His head was in Isaac’s lap and his mate was petting him. He wanted those long fingers threading through his hair.

  “Can’t do that. Too much blood in it.”

  “I said that out loud?”

  The voice of his Beta came then, deep and comforting. “He’s fix-drunk, Isaac. I used quite a bit on him.”

  Tank coughed.

  Isaac said, “You okay, Bryan?”

  Bryan sounded amused and a little charmed. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “You went from familiar duties to a savage healing? It’s not too much for you?”

  Bryan’s voice was gruff. “It’s not too much. I’m fine. Thank you for your care, Omega.”

  Tank drifted. The voices were speaking to each other and not him. Bryan was Beta calm. Isaac was still petting him. Things must be fine.

  “You’ll do Lovejoy now?” Is that Mana? She sounded serious and worried and not flippant at all. Weird.

  “He’ll be okay. I think he just likes you fussing over him.”

  Bryan’s tone suggested Lovejoy wasn’t all that okay. He’s trying to make Mana feel better. I must be worse off, though, because otherwise Bryan would have fixed Lovejoy first.

  Tank rasped out, “I was hurt?”

  “Yes, baby, you were bad.” Isaac’s voice was shredded.

  “What happened?”

  Isaac snorted in apparent disgust. “What didn’t happen? Short version? You lost that dumb challenge.”

  Tank was crushed. He’d known he couldn’t win but he’d hoped. I did my very best and still failed. The first thing I try to do to prove myself, to help Isaac, and I lost. Couldn’t even manage a noble death.

  Isaac was still explaining. “A couple of trappers showed up, one of them is a bear. Then Alec arrived, unhappy about everything. So he attacked Skulls. Then everyone attacked everyone else. Then Max came in with his hand of God bullshit. I’m your all powerful Magistar, bow before me! Blah blah blah.”

  Max’s amused voice, “I wasn’t that bad.”

  Judd’s low grumble, “You kinda were.”

  “Well, it worked didn’t it?” Max getting defensive.

  Isaac continued, “And now Bryan is healing everyone.”

  Tank wheezed out, “Don’t let him do too much.”

  Isaac shifted under him, picking up on the worry. “I take it he’s prone to over-extending himself, in order to help people?”

  Tank gave a small dip of his head. That hurt. Everything hurt. But he didn’t feel the black numbness of total blood loss anymore, so Bryan had pulled him back from the worst of it.

  “Caregiver syndrome.” Without moving, Isaac took on the role of keeping Bryan from self-sacrifice. As any Omega should. “Bryan, don’t bother with the other pack.”

  “But they’re wounded too.”

  “Leave the fuckers, hon,” said Max. “You’ll undo all my hard work.” Not helping.

  Isaac pushed, “They’re not in any real danger.”

  “But we did this.” Bryan couldn’t hide from guilt the way Max did.

  “They deserved it,” insisted Max. “Interlopers.”

  Isaac sighed in exasperation. “They’ll be fine and better off suffering if it keeps them quiet and out of the way while we sort this all out.”

  “Okay.” Bryan reappeared, looming over Tank.

  Tank breathed in relief. Isaac knew how best to convince their Beta. Reasoning by virtue of the safety of the pack. The possibility of peace. These were Bryan�
�s motivators. Isaac had realized this, without even moving from his position as Tank’s pillow.

  Isaac added, “Why don’t you keep an eye on Alec, stop it from happening again.”

  “Good idea.” Bryan went off to be Beta to his Alpha.

  Tank gave Isaac a hesitant smile. “I worry about him a bit.”

  Max was looming over them then, bright blue eyes visible, even in the dusky evening. “You worry, Tank? Christ. How on earth would this lot get along without you? Did it never occur to you that you too are a necessary part of this pack? How could you risk yourself like that?”

  Tank closed his eyes.

  “Oh, for fuck’s sake,” said Max.

  Isaac growled. “Stop, Max. Let him recover. You’ll never be able to understand Tank. You have too much ego, and he doesn’t have enough. Besides, it’s my fault. I brought them down on us.”

  Tank was sad for the guilt in Isaac’s voice but happy for the use of the word us.

  “Well, if you put it like that. Sorry, Tank. I guess you now see what my solution is to any problem?”

  Judd said, sounding a little shaky. “You only have one setting, Max.”

  “Maximum?” joked Isaac.

  Tank loved him.

  “Oh, now who’s a funny boy?” Max snarked back.

  Tank opened his eyes in time to see Alec walking over to them, furious. Tank felt so guilty. How could he possibly have thought himself capable of fighting an Alpha challenge?

  “Fuck, you guys!” said Alec, succinctly. “What the hell? And I thought the micro-organisms were difficult today, I gotta come home to this?”

  “Sorry, Alpha,” said Bryan and Judd in tandem.

  “Sorry, Alpha,” whispered Tank, his voice still giving him issues.

  “Uh. Sorry, Alpha?” said Isaac, hopefully.

  “My bad,” said Max, grinning.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Unclaimed Proper Tea

  “You must come with us,” insisted the female Alpha. Agent Lenis, Isaac remembered Alec calling her.

  Now that his senses were less clouded by fright and fight, Isaac examined her closely. She had that Alpha air about her, but he wasn’t intimidated, as he might have been a week ago. Isaac knew that he smelled like pack now, and when her nostrils flared he knew she realized it. Not available for keeping, his scent would say to her.