Brian's Freedom

by Fel Fern

  Slumping against the couch, A.J. closed his eyes, unable to handle the dark and silence of the apartment. In the past, he’d cooled off by changing to wolf form and running in the woods. A.J. could still run on two legs, but that was different.

  Ending his relationship with Kyle was for the best. Despite Kyle cheating on him, Kyle deserved better than a flawed shifter unable to shift, much less protect, anyone.

  Chapter Two

  Brian Wells jumped at the sound of his vibrating phone. Uncurling from his second-hand couch, he glanced at the number and name flashing on the screen. It was his mother again. That wasn’t much of a surprise, but what did he expect?

  With reluctance, he picked up the phone. “Hello, Mom.”

  Brian stared at the flickering TV screen while his mother rattled on. Sometimes he thought she just liked hearing herself speak.

  Six months ago, he’d been kidnapped, along with a group of shifters, by human scientists eager to take them apart and study what made a werewolf tick. A month ago, the Darkfall Mountain Pack attacked the facility where Brian and the other captives were kept, freeing them.

  Most returned to their friends and families. Brian tried. He went back to his hometown of Northfield, tried to reconnect with his friends and family, but it felt like his old self had died the day he’d been taken, and a ghost had replaced him. The man in the mirror looked and spoke like his old self, but living behind bars had stolen any spark of life in him.

  At twenty-three, he’d finally found a stable job as a manager at a major restaurant chain. Factor in the world’s most understanding and wonderful boyfriend and his own apartment, and life had been perfect—until the incident.

  Over the past four weeks, Brian had tried to return to the regularly scheduled programming of his life. Everyone was so sickeningly supportive at first, but Brian’s boss eventually laid him off.

  His friends stopped talking to him, and his family kept their distance. The worst blow had been from Brad. One day, Brian found the apartment they’d shared empty of his belongings, and Brad’s spare key on the kitchen table. Brad didn’t even leave a note or answer any of Brian’s texts and calls.

  Knowing it was partly his fault for being unresponsive, Brian let Brad go. Without a stable job, he couldn’t afford the pricey apartment, either. He moved into a tiny studio in the bad part of town, but after what he’d gone through, he wasn’t worried about the high crime rate in the city. Almost nothing could harm a shifter. Jonathan, his best friend and the only living soul who’d stubbornly stood by his side, called Brian suicidal.

  “How are you really doing, son?”

  The genuine concern in his mother’s voice made Brian blink. “I’m doing okay. I’ve been seeing a therapist, and I’ve been working part-time from home.”

  A lie. Brian refused to see a therapist. They had nothing to talk about and it was a waste of money. Right now, working part-time as a data entry clerk from home wouldn’t cut it, and it would horrify him to ask for money from his parents. He didn’t need anyone’s pity.

  “That’s not enough, Brian.”

  “What else do you want me to do?”

  “I know you need time, but you need to get out there. Meet your friends for drinks. Socialize. Find a mate.”

  Brian clenched his jaw and silently counted to ten in his head. She didn’t understand. No one did. How could he go out, pretend everything was normal, when he carried the scars from his captivity both inside and out? Brad could barely stand seeing him without his shirt on. Finding a mate? That was certainly laughable. Brian might be a male Omega capable of getting pregnant, but who would accept flawed goods?

  Ending the call, Brian ignored the phone when it vibrated again. He stared at his bare arms instead. By now, the old needle marks had faded, but he could still see them in his head. Hell, at night, Brian had nightmares of his steel cage and the scientists and guards with their cold and merciless eyes. They hadn’t seen him and the other shifters as humans, treating them as animals.

  Brian closed his eyes. Maybe his mother had a point. Going out and being around other people might help him forget about his pain, even for a little while. He dialed Jonathan’s number. His best friend picked up on the second ring.

  “Jon,” Brian hesitated. “A few days ago you asked me if I wanted to get a drink. Does that offer still stand?”

  Jon let out a whoop. “I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”

  Stunned, Brian rubbed his sweaty palms. Was he really doing this? It wasn’t too late to ring up Jon and tell him he made a mistake. After all, Brian wasn’t ready, not by a long shot. Could he really be around so many people again? After his kidnapping, he’d developed social anxiety, but that didn’t come as much of a surprise.

  The pounding on his door made Brian jump. How did fifteen minutes pass by without Brian knowing it?

  His wolf uncurled inside him, but didn’t scent danger.

  “Brian, it’s me.”

  Brian opened the door to let Jon in. Jon frowned at his sweats and shirt. “Dude, you aren’t ready yet.”

  He ran a hand through his shaggy brown hair. “Jon, I think I’ve changed my mind.”

  Jon wagged a threatening finger at him. “No, you don’t. Get showered and dressed. I won’t leave until you do.”

  Brian stared at Jon for a couple of moments. He didn’t doubt Jon meant every word. They’d known each other since kindergarten, and Brian knew how stubborn the werepanther could be.

  “Fine, but don’t complain when I’m awful company.” Brian took a shower and found a decent pair of jeans and a shirt.

  Seeing him, Jon sighed. “That will do, I guess.”

  They headed downstairs and took Jon’s car. Sliding in, Brian buckled his seat belt with shaking hands. Before he could tell Jon this was a bad idea again, Jon started the engine. They passed by familiar residential neighborhoods and Northfield’s town center.

  “Wait, where are you taking me?” Brian couldn’t keep the nervousness out of his voice. He trusted Jon with his life, but going out of town for one evening was a little too much.

  “To the safest place on earth, Darkfall.” Jon gave him a wink. “I’ve booked us a weekend at the local inn.”

  “The safest? Jon, the local wolf pack residing there isn’t fond of outsiders.”

  “You owe your freedom to the Darkfall Mountain pack. How bad can they be?”

  “I guess.” Brian bit his lip. “When did you have time to book an inn?”

  “A good friend owes me a favor.”

  Jon had a point. Brian and his fellow prisoners had been shoved into a transport convoy one late evening four months ago without explanation. The reason soon became clear. The pack wanted the humans dead. Brian remembered how terrified he’d been. He’d never seen any pack mobilize like that, like a deadly and trained military force. Brian thought they wanted everyone dead, but each pack member had treated each captive with nothing but kindness.

  Surrounded by woods and mountains, Darkfall was only a few hours’ drive from Northfield. As they passed the “Welcome to Darkfall Mountain” sign, Brian relaxed in his seat. Nothing would happen to him here. Jon was right. At the moment, Darkfall was the safest place on earth.

  Jon headed to the outskirts of town and pulled up to a lone bar on the side of the road.

  “Merry and the Seven Wolves?” Brian skeptically asked.

  “Best fish and chips and craft beer in town.”

  Taking Jon’s word for it, Brian opened the car door and followed his best friend. Country music and conversation assaulted Brian’s ears the moment they walked in. Brian rubbed his palms over his jeans. No one was looking at him, he reminded himself. No one gave a fuck he was here.

  Brian was a nobody, just one of the crowd. Reciting the words in his head didn’t calm Brian down one bit, because a few guys and some women gave him once-overs. They probably scented what he was. Most unmated, male Omegas gave off a unique scent, Brian had been told. Keeping his eye on the bar, Brian s
tiffened when he felt someone brush a hand over his arm.

  “Looking for some company tonight, little Omega? Let me buy you a drink.” The burly guy must have stood at six-foot plus and was practically twice his size. He sported a beer belly and badly done ink.

  “Sorry, not interested,” Brian mumbled. Where the hell was Jon?

  Telling the same thing to another guy who could literally rip him in half took most of his energy. Brian wanted a drink, no, several bottles so he could get hammered. While alcohol didn’t work well on shifters, Brian could still get drunk. A large hand closed on his wrist again. Brian tugged, but the guy who hit on him earlier didn’t let go.

  “Who the fuck do you think you are, little Omega?” the man said, sneering.

  “Let go of me. I said ‘no’.”

  Panic welled inside Brian. Jesus, this wasn’t a good start to the evening. He should have just stayed in his tiny apartment, ordered his favorite Chinese take-out, and stayed up all night binge-watching Suits.

  “Didn’t you hear him? He said no, so fuck off, Hansen,” another voice said, gruff and deep.

  Brian shifted his gaze to his mysterious savior. He swallowed. This guy could give the other a run for his money. Unlike Hansen, Brian’s mysterious savior was made of pure muscle. Brian’s gaze raked him from top to bottom.

  Powerful and muscular legs supported a narrow waist, and taut muscle lined his upper body. This man all but screamed predator, but Brian’s gaze found the fluttering left sleeve where his arm should have been. He looked up, seeing a roguishly handsome face nicked with old scars, a broken nose, and hard, steel-gray eyes that made him shiver.

  His one-armed savior was clearly dangerous. Instinct should have told Brian to run, but all he wanted to do was rake his fingers over the other man’s thick brown hair. Brian wondered what it would be like, to be taken by those tempting but cruel lips, or to be held by him in an embrace.

  “What are you going to do about it, cripple?” Hansen sneered. “I’m no longer fucking afraid of you, A.J. No one is.”

  A.J. Finally, Brian had a name.

  He gasped when Hansen jerked him close and he nearly stumbled. His face burned with shame. The entire bar had grown silent, probably watching their little show, and Brian didn’t like that.

  Since his captivity, he’d developed social anxiety and all he wanted to do was crawl under a rock and never come back out, but he couldn’t let A.J. fight this battle for him, either. A.J. might look like he could take care of himself, but one arm placed him at a disadvantage, especially if Hansen chose to shift.

  What could a weak Omega like him do?

  * * * *

  Jarvis Paine, for-hire human mercenary, had been watching his target tirelessly for weeks. He was one of the go-to guys hired by Alpine Industries, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, for jobs like these. His CV included blackmail, harassment, kidnapping, and assassinations, but the last two were more expensive. Jarvis prided himself on being a professional. He thought this job would be easy to pull, but he’d been sorely mistaken.

  Two months ago, one of Alpine Industries’ secretly funded, experimental labs had been attacked by a vicious local wolf pack. Jarvis’ job was simple—round up what specimens he could, but acquiring Brian Wells had been his number one priority. Jarvis’s employers wanted this particular Omega badly and had promised to pay twice his usual fee.

  The only problem? Since acquiring his newfound freedom, Brian never left his house. He did everything online these days, including ordering his groceries. Jarvis could hardly believe his ears when he overhead Brian on the landline Jarvis had bugged, telling his friend he was willing to go out for a drink.

  “Perfect,” Jarvis hissed under his breath.

  Extracting himself from the apartment unit he rented to spy on Brian’s apartment building across from his, Jarvis gave the small and ugly space the finger. Finally, he could get the hell out of there and cash in his check. Who knew bringing in animals would take so much work?

  The higher-ups at the multi-billion-dollar company made the mistake of getting cocky. They became arrogant and certain no supernatural group would discover they’d been taking paranormals and experimenting new drugs on them.

  Alpine Industries made the grievous mistake of setting up shop on the fringes of Darkfall Mountain, a territory that belonged to a particularly bloodthirsty but effective group of werewolves. Not that Jarvis was complaining, but that meant more clean-up work for him.

  He headed down the stairs. Jarvis had his usual duffel, equipped with his basic gear, slung over one shoulder. He slid into his car, waiting. Brian’s friend arrived in record time. Seeing the friend kill the engine and head upstairs, Jarvis cracked his knuckles in anticipation. Once the two turned into a dark alleyway or corner, he’d come up from behind the friend’s car and stage some kind of accident.

  From there, it would be easy to grab Brian, kill the friend, and stash the Omega in his trunk. Jarvis had captured all sorts of dangerous paranormals for Alpine Industries, but he foresaw no difficulty with Brian.

  What could a weak Omega do? One shot of the tranquilizer dart, potent enough to render a huge stallion unconscious, would kick all the fight out of Brian.

  Brian and his friend got into the car. Jarvis frowned when they drove past the Northfield town center. He had to make his move now or never, but the pair started entering Darkfall Mountain territory.

  “Fuck,” Jarvis hissed under his breath.

  He recalled the stories of how these Darkfall monsters tore apart the scientists and guards working for Alpine Industries. Remembering the rumors surrounding the mysterious pack didn’t help one bit. According to gossip, they didn’t tolerate outsiders, especially dangerous humans toting serious ammunition.

  Jarvis had a feeling he might never get his opportunity. Gritting his teeth, he tailed Brian and his friend from a safe distance. Sooner or later, he’d get the Omega. Jarvis was nothing but a professional.

  Chapter Three

  A.J. couldn’t process what just happened. One moment he was nursing a beer at the bar, trying to drown all his sorrows and maybe forget about Kyle for one night, and the next?

  The most amazing scent wafted through his nostrils. His wolf, usually quiet since the accident, woke up and paid attention. A.J. swung on his stool, eyes narrowing when he traced the origin of that intriguing smell.

  A lean young man with blond hair and hazel eyes in his early twenties self-consciously tried to pull up the hood of his jacket, as if he wanted to disappear. No reason to hide, in A.J.’s opinion, because unlike his missing arm, the sexy stranger, the male Omega, was any dominant wolf’s wet dream.

  A.J. sniffed again, wanted to get close, but the Omega looked frightened to be there. What the hell was he doing in a place like this? Shifters came here for one reason—to get hammered and hook up with a stranger.

  A.J. told himself to ignore the gorgeous Omega and focus on his drink, but he lost it the moment Todd Hansen, resident town drunk and lone werebear, hit on what was his.

  Wait just a darn second. A.J. couldn’t have possibly referred to the Omega as his, but he had. What the hell? A.J. was in no state to claim anyone, let alone offer them protection.

  Still, A.J.’s body moved of its own accord. His wolf wanted to crawl out from under his skin and sink fangs into the annoying werebear, who didn’t back off the moment the young Omega said “no.” Something about the handsome, young stranger looked familiar. Had A.J. seen him before?

  He was pretty sure the Omega wasn’t from Darkfall Mountain, though. The next thing A.J. knew, he was confronting Hansen. He didn’t like it at all when Hansen grabbed the Omega’s arm in a bruising grip. A.J. decided to rip the werebear a new one, but the Omega suddenly stomped on Hansen’s left foot. Hansen howled.

  “Come back here, you fucking twink.”

  To A.J.’s shock and amusement, the Omega ran up to him and hid behind him, using him as a human shield. A.J. froze when the stran
ger leaned his head against the curve of his back, and held onto him like he could offer him salvation.

  His mind took him back several weeks ago, when the pack attacked the human scientists and guards. A.J. and his pack brothers stopped one military convoy carrying prisoners, and one skinny young man had clung to him, just like this, and he smelled the same, too. That shifter might have smelled like blood and fear, but underneath it all was a distinctive and wonderful scent.

  Oh, hell. Was it possible this was the same skinny captive he’d saved?

  A.J. needed to tackle one problem at a time.

  Hansen took a threatening step toward him, baring his canines.

  “Give me the Omega so I can teach the fucking runt some manners, A.J. I’ll forgive you for being an interfering cripple.”

  Hansen was all growl and no action. A.J. knew exactly what the werebear did during the day. Hansen sold cookware at the kitchen store in the mall, and probably had his share of bar fights, but the werebear had conveniently forgotten who A.J. was. A.J. had taken down plenty of monsters and real threats in his life. He wasn’t afraid of Hansen, but the werebear might not back off. Hansen needed to be taught a lesson.

  “I’m so sorry,” the Omega whispered behind him, voice full of fear.

  Hearing the terror in the Omega’s voice enraged A.J. If the Omega was the same prisoner the pack freed weeks ago, then he might be reliving bad memories of abuse during his time behind bars.

  “Stay here,” A.J. said. He moved, relying on his supernatural speed and reflexes. Hansen wasn’t able to react. In moments, A.J. wrapped his good arm around Hansen’s neck in a choke hold.

  Hansen gasped, his eyes widening with fear when A.J. tightened his grip.

  “A.J., relax,” a voice interrupted. Jared, one of his pack members, appeared in his line of sight.