He raised his eyebrows at Ben again, who nodded even though he remained clueless. “But, I knew after my first run with the pack that I wasn’t cut out for it. Don’t get me wrong. I appreciated living in the pack. My alpha-sire was a stand-up guy who took care of everyone. We were just so isolated up in the redwood forest. Beautiful and boring. I loved the occasional trips down to the human town. I dreamed of seeing even more.”
The beta waved his fork at Ben. “Keep eating.”
“Yes, sir.” He shoveled more food into his mouth, yet kept his attention on the shifter across from him. He’d never known any that liked being among humans. Kurt had only done so because it was a way of making money—Ben’s mouth was most lucrative in the cities.
Taking the last bite, the beta sat back with a sigh and grabbed his mug again. “I tried, then I had a hard talk with my parents and left. I traveled for a few years across the country, satisfying my wandering itch, until I landed here. My feet are happy being planted in one place now, and Portland has a lot to offer.
“I learned how to do web design so I can make a living without having to interact with humans on a daily basis. I got a fake I.D., because that’s a thing in this world. I bought a car, so I can go to the woods and run when the urge hits me. I pay taxes, another human thing. I even have a retirement fund.” With a shrug, he drank more coffee.
Ben had been living among the shifters’ ape-cousins for long enough that most of what the beta said made sense. It didn’t matter anyway. He lived with this man now. Ben’s fate was entwined with his. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad staying in one place. A clean place. One where there was ample food and only one beta to please instead of random human men who loved his youth and looks and what Kurt had taught him to do with his mouth. Except until the beta claimed him, he wouldn’t know for sure that it was better.
The beta stood. “Are you finished?”
Looking down at his plate, Ben was surprised to find that he was. His stomach felt comfortably full. “Yes, sir.” He stood, as well, and gathered up his dirty dishes.
“Here, give those to me.” The beta intercepted him and tried to take them out of Ben’s hands.
Ben held fast, his heartbeat picking up. “Please, sir, I need to clean up.”
“No you don’t.” The beta tugged, winning the battle with ease. “You cooked, so I do the dishes. That’s the way it works around here.”
“It didn’t work that way last night.” Ben blurted out the observation in a massive brain failure. He shrunk away, expecting a blow for his insolence.
“That’s right, it didn’t. You needed a shower more than anything, so I cooked and cleaned.” The beta’s tone was gentle. “Our division of labor starts now. And, given that you are clearly a superior cook, I’m happy to be stuck with the chore of washing. Go hang out in the living room. Watch TV if you want,” he added, turning away.
TV? Really, sit on his ass while the beta worked? This was all too much. Nothing made sense. Ben had thought he’d learned the rules. Now he felt untethered. Not sure of what to do no matter what the beta said. The guy’s kindness couldn’t be trusted. That was not how the world worked. Ben knew that now. He wasn’t that barely grown pup sold by his sire anymore. He could handle the cruel truth of the world. Uncertainty hurt worse than anything else these days.
He made an aborted attempt at snagging the beta’s arm. “Please, sir.”
“What?” he asked, looking over his shoulder.
Ben swallowed past the rising gorge. “Please tell me.”
Now the beta had stopped what he was doing and once again came over to cup the back of Ben’s neck. “Easy now. You’re going to make yourself sick. What do you want to ask me? It’s fine. Nothing is going to make me mad.”
Oh, yeah? Try this. “Please,” he said for the third time, his voice dropping into a near whisper. “When are you going to mount me?”
Chapter Three
Daniel’s brain short-circuited at the question. He stood open-mouthed, trying to formulate a reply. But, that was proving impossible. Every ounce of blood was heading south and filling his dick into a rod so hard that it pressed painfully against the fly of his jeans. Words failed him, but images popped up inside his mind of taking this omega, covering him, and sinking balls deep inside tight heat. His normally civilized wolf stood on all fours and howled with unbridled need.
Breath rushed out as if he’d been punched in the gut, and he couldn’t hold back a more human growl. Ben jerked and cringed for a second before standing straighter, as though he were trying to be brave. His fingers worked the sides of the baggy sweats he wore, a clear sign of the fear he felt. It didn’t seem to bother Daniel’s wolf. If anything, it agitated him more, causing him to pace under his skin and driving him mad.
He reached for Ben, clasping his upper arm and pulling him into a tight embrace. It was stupidity of the highest level, yet he held the omega close and breathed in his sweet scent. Fine tremors ran through the boy’s body, but he didn’t try to pull away or hold himself stiff. Instead, he melted against him and pressed his face into Daniel’s chest.
“Please, sir, be gentle with me.” The omega sniffled. “I’ve only ever been mounted by Gamma Kurt, and I’m not very good at it.”
“That’s impossible.” Daniel gave his response without thought. “You’re an omega. By your very nature, you’re the perfect bed mate.”
He didn’t know where those words came from. He’d heard it said, he supposed, because he’d never been with an omega. No one would have let a young shifter, even a beta and the alpha’s pup, have access to such a precious prize. There’d been a male omega in his pack of similar age, and the other boys had avoided him like they had most of the girls. Right then, Daniel realized the boy must have been lonely. Plus, he’d ended up going into heat early and mated off to one of the senior gammas who’d lost his first mate. How unfair was that to lose your pup hood and your chance at having fun before being tied down to a mate and pups of your own?
Daniel’s wolf howled out his frustration. He wanted action, not introspection from Daniel. Too bad he wasn’t going to get his way. Daniel’s dick might be throbbing in earnest, yet that didn’t change the right course of action, either. With a quick, reassuring stroke down Ben’s back, Daniel let go and steadied the omega.
“I’m not going to do that.” He shut his wolf down with extreme prejudice and ignored his sulking. This was about Ben.
The boy stared at the floor, different emotions flicking across his pretty face. “I don’t understand, sir.”
Daniel sighed. “Yeah, I know, and I’m sorry. I really am a terrible beta.”
“No, sir! You’ve been wonderful.” Ben jerked back his head, as if surprised by his own words.
Before the boy could apologize for doing nothing wrong, Daniel jumped in. “That’s sweet of you so say. But, if you feel that way simply because I’ve taken care of you, then I’m sorry your experiences have made that seem noteworthy. You’re an omega, and that means no matter what my rank, taking care of you is my duty.”
Ben didn’t seem convinced, yet he said, “Yes, sir,” anyway.
“And, I’m not going to mount you. Ever. I didn’t take you away from that gamma only to use you myself.”
“I’ll try to please you, sir.” Once again, stress was vibrating off the boy.
Daniel wrapped his hand around the back of the boy’s neck. It seemed like that was the only thing to do—again. “I’m sure you would, except I don’t require any services from you. You’re my guest for the foreseeable future. Do you understand?”
Ben nodded, his head bobbing up and down with jerky movement. The boy didn’t get it. At all. This whole thing was turning really tricky.
“Look, I need a few hours to get some work done.” He also wanted time to think about what to do with Ben, although that was something he didn’t want to burden the boy with. “I’ll take my laptop into the bedroom, so you can have the TV. How does that sound?”
�
�Whatever you say, Beta. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to distract you.”
“No apology necessary. Do you know how to work the remote?” he asked, steering the boy over to the couch.
“Yes, sir.”
“Great.” He pushed Ben down in the middle of the sofa and handed over the device. “Here. Take it easy. Relax. There’s nothing you need to do or worry about. I’ll be right down the hall if you want me for anything. Don’t hesitate to knock on my door for any reason. Understand?”
Ben stared at his lap. “Yes, sir.”
Daniel suppressed another sigh. He was getting sick of hearing those two words and didn’t believe them, either. Reaching down, he ran his palm across the omega’s head. Then, he grabbed his laptop and files to head into the bedroom. He had one project that needed finishing up. After that, he could afford to take some time off while he resituated Ben.
The problem was where.
The thorny issue threatened to consume his thoughts for the next few hours while he tried to work. He was jonesing for more coffee, too, but didn’t want to go out and face Ben’s earnest, fearful face without a game plan. It was cowardly, but he’d made a habit of avoiding duty his whole life.
The project he was working took even less time than he thought. After sending it off to the client for review, he focused on the problem at hand. The Internet wasn’t much of a tool for his kind, it being a human invention. Although many packs were adapting to modern technology, they still remained off the grid. It wasn’t as if he could just search for good packs to dump an omega on.
And, he wouldn’t leave Ben with any one unless he was sure they’d treat the boy right. His own would, of course, but a cross-country journey was out of the question. Not only would it expose the omega to more danger, it would probably cause Daniel to lose his mind spending so much time with someone off limits.
No, he needed a closer solution. There was one chat site he’d stumbled upon that was member only and run by shifters. He wasn’t the only one of his generation to try to move into the human world. He mostly lurked, and he vaguely remembered some chatter about a local pack. Logging in, he scrolled down the message board topics until he’d found what he was looking for.
He smiled broadly as he read the thread. Bingo! It was mostly hearsay, so maybe there was nothing to it. A shifter version of an urban legend. He had to try it. If it was true, it wouldn’t take much to investigate. Ben deserved a better chance than he’d get living with him. Given that he doubted his resolve would last more than another day and night in this small apartment, it was imperative to give this lead a shot no matter how unlikely it was.
“Please, Rogue Pack,” he muttered softly. “Please be real.”
****
Ben huddled against the door of the passenger’s seat, watching the view out of his side window. They’d been traveling for hours and now sped past thick forest. He didn’t know where they were headed. The beta hadn’t told him, and he hadn’t asked because he wasn’t stupid. At least he wasn’t forced to walk the long distance, his belly was full, and he was comfortably warm in the heated SUV. The new clothing the beta had bought him the previous afternoon felt good against his skin.
Everything still confused him. The journey to an unknown destination was actually familiar to him. Kurt had dragged him many miles from home. Sometimes Ben hadn’t remembered where he was when he woke up. It was all the other things that threw him even though they were nice things. He rubbed his palm along the top of his thigh. While new, the jeans he wore had been softened so much that it felt as if he’d had them for years instead of hours.
The beta had bought him all kinds of things—from a heavy fall jacket to sturdy work boots. It had cost a lot of money, too. Ben understood human money only in terms of the fifty dollars Kurt had charged for Ben to wrap his lips around strange dicks. By that measurement, the beta had spent a lot on Ben. And, all of it was packed away in a duffle bag that he’d also purchased.
Ben would have been worried about the meaning of having to bring his belongings along for the trip, except the beta had packed a bag for himself, as well. Whatever was going on, apparently they were going to do it together. That eased Ben’s mind. In only a couple of days, he’d already become dependent on the guy. The idea that he might be sold off to someone else terrified him. Part of him thought he could get away with asking questions. The beta hadn’t lost his temper once.
He hadn’t mounted him, either. Ben should have been grateful for that respite, except he didn’t know where that left him. Omegas were born to be bred. If a dominant shifter didn’t want him for fucking, what good was he? The little bit of housework he’d managed to do was nothing. Any sigma could wash dishes and sweep floors. It was on the pallet that omegas proved their worth. If the beta didn’t want him, then the only thing left was to sell him off.
Ben shivered at the thought.
The beta glanced over. “Are you cold? Shall I crank up the heat?”
“Um, no, sir. Sorry, I’m fine.”
“Hmm. You’re not lying to me about that, are you?”
“No, sir!” The answer came out more forcefully than he’d intended, but he was telling the truth, and he didn’t want a beating for something he wasn’t doing.
“Okay.” The beta pulled over to the side of the narrow road and for one terrifying second, Ben thought he was going to get that beating anyway. “Hmm,” the beta said again and looked around the vehicle.
Ben couldn’t imagine what he was looking for. There was just woods and more woods all around them. The beta tapped his fingers on the steering wheel before pulling out again. The way he swiveled his head from side-to-side, he was clearly trying to find something. Around the next bend, an even narrower dirt lane opened up on the right hand side of the road.
“Ah!” The beta swerved into it and as slow as he was taking it, the path was still a bumpy ride. “Shit, this can’t be it,” he muttered to himself more than to Ben.
Ben wasn’t sure what he meant by that, then it didn’t matter because they both spotted the large, red shifter wolf rising into view up in the tree line. The sight sent a shock of fear through him and startled his wolf awake within him. He shrunk back instinctively, although there was nowhere to go.
“Easy now. You’re not in any danger.”
Ben wanted to believe him. His wolf seemed to, settling down again. He had acclimated to Ben’s new situation faster and easier than his human half had, mostly because the beta’s wolf never menaced his omega one the way Kurt’s had. But, sudden movement to his right showed that another shifter with thick black fur flanked them. A howl sounded from the woods, then another—a chorus around them. He whimpered and now his wolf whined. They were heading into a strange pack’s territory and that couldn’t bode well.
“We’ll be fine. They won’t attack me unless I provoke them. Which I won’t,” the beta added with a firm nod. “They won’t harm you no matter what, regardless.”
Ben didn’t find that reassuring because the beta didn’t understand that there were many ways to hurt an omega. He wanted to scream at him to turn around and run. It wasn’t his decision, however, and soon they entered a clearing. One longhouse dominated the area with a few smaller houses surrounding it. Everything looked so new, yet it was clearly pack lands for some kind of shifters.
The beta pulled his vehicle to the side, not getting close to the living quarters, and shut off his engine. “We’re going to sit here and wait to be vetted.”
“Yes, sir.”
He tried to be brave, yet couldn’t stop the trembling. The beta put his hand on Ben’s knee and pressed down. “Easy. You’re safe. I promise.”
Ben opened his mouth to give the obligatory acquiescence. Before he could utter a word, a white omega, barely out of pup hood, streaked by the front of the SUV. He raced under the porch to the longhouse. His reason for doing so became apparent a few seconds later when a magnificent and equally white gamma broke from the tree line and headed straight for him.
“What the fuck!” The beta was out of the SUV in a flash. He shifted on the fly, shredding his clothing and leaving a trail of it in his wake.
Ben could only stare in surprise at the massive wolf the beta turned into, his thick coat a beautiful, rare brindle color. Stunned by the sight, he forgot his fear and leaned forward to watch out of the windshield. The beta leaped between the porch and the white wolf, snapping and snarling a warning for the gamma to stay back. The gamma was not intimidated. He planted his four paws in the ground and gave as good as he got.
The posturing by the two powerful shifters didn’t abate with the arrival of others. The red and black wolves from the perimeter came bounding into the clearing. They backed the white wolf, so that now the beta—his beta, Daniel—squared off against three. And, all of this was for what? His gaze darted to the porch and the little omega still cowering under it. Daniel was risking his life in protection of an omega he didn’t know, the same way he’d done for Ben.
Needing to do something to help, Ben overrode his fear and that of his wolf by hopping out of the truck. He took a step forward, although he didn’t have a clear plan of what he intended to do. Then he stopped and leaned against the side of the SUV when a huge alpha in human form ran out of the longhouse. The scary man leaped down the stairs into the middle of the fray, putting himself between Daniel and the others.
“Knock it the fuck off, right now!”
The order, issued at the level of a roar, had the effect of instantly causing everyone to freeze. Ben flinched and hunched in on himself. With a whine, his wolf slunk down into his subconscious where he always hid when scared.
The alpha’s eyes flashed in fury as he took in the scene. When his gaze landed on Ben, however, the man banked his emotions and softened his expression. Then he was back to angry while he focused on Daniel. The beta stood his ground, not flinching, yet not challenging the dominant shifter, either.
“Change.” The alpha issued the order in a curt tone that encompassed both Daniel and the white gamma. “You, too, Loki,” he added with a snap of his fingers at the omega.
Omega in the Middle (The Rogue Pack Book 5) Page 4
