by L. C. Davis
"Yeah," Yuri murmured, unconsciously leaning against the alpha's shoulder. By the time the warmth of Benjamin's side made him realize what he was doing, he couldn't work up the will to pull away. Benjamin draped an arm around his shoulder and Yuri found himself relaxing despite his best efforts to remain aloof. "I can't imagine you not belonging anywhere, though."
Benjamin laughed softly. "You'd be surprised."
When Yuri looked up at him, hoping for an explanation, the alpha sighed. "I'm sort of cursed when it comes to omegas. At least, I thought I was until I met you."
"I changed that belief?" Yuri asked dubiously.
"Believe it or not," Benjamin said with a lopsided smile.
"How many omegas were there before me?" Guilt needled its way into Yuri's heart, coiling and pricking like a vine. He knew he had no right to ask, but suddenly it was all he could think about.
"Three."
The casual answer threw Yuri off-guard. "Three?"
"I told you I was cursed."
"What happened?"
"Well, first there was Jenny," he murmured. "She was my childhood sweetheart, but a mate bond with another alpha changed all that. Then there was Cameron, a Council omega who was claimed by the Alpha who started out trying to find a mate for him," he said with a laugh, shaking his head.
"And the third?"
"Jesse. Pretty much the same story as Cameron, only he found his destined mate in the middle of the woods after getting thrown through a windshield in a freak car accident."
Yuri blinked. "Okay, maybe you really are cursed."
"I don't think so anymore," Benjamin said, weaving his fingers with Yuri's. "I think I'm just stubborn enough that the Spirits knew I had to experience the wrong thing a few times before I'd be able to appreciate the right one."
"You don't mean that." Yuri felt another pang of guilt as Benjamin spoke. "I'm the worst of all."
"You're definitely the most elusive," he said, tucking a strand of hair behind Yuri's ear. "But nothing worth fighting for is ever easy."
Yuri gazed at him in quiet confusion, shaking his head. "I'm not who you think I am, Benjamin." Not in any of the ways.
"What do you think I think you are?"
Yuri hesitated. If there was ever a time to tell Benjamin the truth, this was it. This was the right time and Benjamin was the right alpha, if ever there was one, but Yuri was the wrong omega. That fact had once propelled him to flee Benjamin for entirely different reasons. It had been a matter of self-preservation then, of getting free of the alpha's control before he could be disappointed and turn on Yuri like all the rest. Now that he knew Benjamin's character and that revealing the truth would yield only disappointment rather than violence, the stakes seemed higher than ever.
"Nothing," he murmured, resting his cheek against Benjamin's shoulder. He decided to content himself with enjoying that moment for as long as it lasted, resting in the knowledge that it would never come to anything more. It couldn't. Not just because Yuri knew he wasn't good enough, but because Benjamin was too good to hurt him any more than he already had.
Chapter 22
BENJAMIN
Benjamin looked out over his pack, gathered to celebrate his coronation as Alpha, even though the change had been made official more than a week earlier. Cold Water wolves held their auspicious dates near and dear, and none was more sacred than the harvest moon. As proud and honored as he was to accept the faith his pack had placed in him, Benjamin couldn't help but feel a twinge of pain. In all his imaginings of that moment, his mate had been at his side, sharing in the time-honored tradition.
He reminded himself that the party was less about him and more about unifying the pack as a whole. Lita had taken the news of Heinrich's less than optimistic prognosis as well as Benjamin had hoped and better than their mother had expected. The rest of the pack had given a mixture of reactions, but a somber cloud had been hanging over their land ever since, tainting the mundane joys of day-to-day life. It was a good excuse to give them something else to focus on. His official induction as an Alpha into the Council of Mountain Packs would come much later, but that night was a celebration of family and packmates only, with one notable exception.
Zane was in attendance and he hadn't left Lita's side all evening. Benjamin's doubts as to the bond they claimed to have were growing threadbare the more he saw the young couple interact. If there was any rivaling the adoration in Lita's gaze whenever she looked at Zane, it was to be found in his. To his credit, Zane had acted quickly on the "suggestions" Benjamin had given him. The alpha had chosen not to re-enroll in college for the spring semester, but he had gotten a seasoned foreman in the pack to take him under his wing. Manual labor certainly wasn't the worst way to whip a young alpha into shape, and Benjamin knew Edgar would be a good steadying influence on Zane.
"I know you take your chaperone duties seriously, but I think you can blink." The mischief in Sue's tone matched the glimmer in her eyes. Benjamin gave her a halfhearted smile.
"Don't want him to get too comfortable."
Sue scoffed. "Between you and your father, there's no danger of that."
"Where is he?" Benjamin asked, scanning the crowd for the hundredth time that night. His father had been missing ever since the ceremony.
"He wasn't feeling well, so I sent him off to bed," Sue said, her brows knitting with concern. "Those meds are rough."
Benjamin gave her hand a squeeze, at a loss for words that would be any more of a comfort.
"So," Sue said, putting on a smile that probably would have convinced every other wolf in attendance, but not her son. "Lita didn't do a bad job on the party planning, did she?"
"Not at all. Give her a few years and the Red River Pack just might rival our hoedowns and shindigs," he teased.
Sue laughed, taking a sip of her mojito. She watched her son for a moment, her eyes taking on that keen edge that had always made it impossible for him to get away with anything. "I'm sorry Yuri isn't here. Did you ask him to come?"
Benjamin shrugged. "Didn't feel like the right time. It would have put too much pressure on him."
Sue nodded and Benjamin decided to be grateful she didn't feel the need to voice her opposition. He already knew how his parents felt about his laid-back strategy when it came to wooing his omega, but they had raised him to make his own decisions and never punished him for doing so. It was a privilege he hoped to pass on to his own children one day.
"Does he know about your father's illness?"
"No," Benjamin murmured. "And it has to stay that way for now. He's finally letting his guard down a little. Him running into my arms because of guilt is just as bad as him running away out of fear."
Sue sighed. "I know you want to see the best in people, Benjamin, but maybe it's time to consider the possibility that Yuri did you both a favor. If he can't see how special you are --"
"Mom," he warned. "I love you, but you don't understand all the dynamics at play here."
"Maybe not, and you're old enough that you don't have to explain them to me, but it might help me understand."
Benjamin thought about it for a moment before glancing to make sure they hadn't acquired any eavesdroppers. "Yuri has been through a lot. It's not in what he says, but in the way he reacts to things. I saw it in his eyes the day those bastards brought him here," he muttered, his fists clenching at the memory of Wayne and the way he had manhandled Yuri. "I screwed up by pushing things too fast before, and this is the price I have to pay."
"Is it worth it?" she asked softly. "Is he worth it?"
"Absolutely." The certainty in Benjamin's own voice took him by surprise.
Sue watched him closely, frowning. "That's strange."
"What is?"
"You've never had that look in your eyes before," she mused. "Not even with Jenny. You were heartbroken, I know, but it was different. The way you feel about Yuri is different."
"It is," he confessed. After a moment's consideration, he added, "He's my mate."
Benjamin nodded somberly.
"Oh, Ben..." she breathed, squeezing his arm. "I always hoped you'd find that. I mean, I know what your father and I have always said, about building a bond over time, but --"
"But it was just a way to console me," he said dryly. "I know."
"Are you sure?"
"I can't say for sure what the others felt," he murmured. "It wasn't the dramatic fireworks I expected to feel when I met my mate. Looking back, I think maybe I was too enraged at the way I saw him being treated to see him as anything other than an omega I needed to protect, but I know that what I feel for him is real and it's stronger than anything I've ever felt before. Strong enough that I know I can do this the right way, no matter how long it takes."
Sue hugged Benjamin suddenly and tightly, nearly knocking the breath out of him despite her slight frame. It was a reminder of the strength that had allowed her to pull a heavy bookcase off of Lita when she had knocked it over on herself as a rambunctious toddler. "I'm so proud of you, Benjamin. You've always known what you wanted. I know the Spirits will honor you for it."
"Thanks, mom," he said, smiling as he pulled away to take her hand in his. A lively jazz number filtered through the speakers as the other wolves filled the dancefloor. It was one of his father's favorite songs, and Benjamin couldn't let it pass. "So, since we're both going stag tonight, may I have this dance?"
She giggled and let him twirl her onto the floor. For a few moments, she was the lively, youthful woman who had always been a light in the pack's darkest times. Benjamin could feel the darkness edging in again as surely as the storm broiling over the crest of the mountains, but for that night, surrounded by the pack he had longed to lead ever since he could remember, there was only music and dancing.
Chapter 23
YURI
"Are you alright in there?" Angel's voice was muffled through the bathroom door, but Yuri couldn't stop retching long enough to answer him. Once he was certain his stomach was empty of everything except for bile, he rinsed his mouth thoroughly and propped the door open.
"I'm fine," he said in a raspy voice.
Angel frowned, pushing his way into the room. "You are not fine. I know fine and you're about a thousand miles south of the last exit for Fine."
"I'll be fine," Yuri corrected, resting a hand against his stomach as he leaned on the sink. "Could you do me a favor and tell Cindy I don't think I should come to the nursery?"
"She'll be fine, Nina is already feeling better."
Yuri nodded, feeling another wave of nausea coming on.
"How long have you been sick?" Angel asked warily.
"I don't know. It's been on and off all week, but this morning was really bad."
Angel eyed him with increasing suspicion, but Yuri was too focused on fending off another wave of nausea to care.
"Okay, that's it. We're going to the infirmary," Angel announced, grabbing Yuri by the arm to drag him down the hall.
"It's just a stomach bug," Yuri protested.
"Then the doctors can give you something to help with the nausea," said Angel. There was no arguing with him, Yuri had come to realize. Mitchell had ceased to be quite as intimidating as his reputation warranted--especially since he was frequently seen being led around the compound at the whim of toddlers--but Angel was unstoppable once he got an idea into his head.
The infirmary was quieter than usual, which came as a relief. It was no time before Yuri had been seen, poked and prodded in nearly every way imaginable. It was a good thing he didn't have White Coat Syndrome, he decided, because the doctor was about as austere as they came. What she lacked in bedside manner, she at least made up for in professionalism. The Central Unit hospital had a reputation for staffing some of the most brilliant shifter doctors in the world, many of whom it was rumored Mitchell had taken as prisoners of war. The fact that they now stayed of their own volition was a testament either to their strangeness or to the quality of life the pack provided.
Then again, maybe they just liked having a steady stream of subjects.Yuri rubbed his arm as the doctor removed the needle from his blood test and announced that she would call him when they knew what was wrong with him. In the meantime, she had given him an IV to rehydrate him and some anti-nausea medications to take home with him along with strict instructions to wash his hands regularly and avoid sneezing on anything.
"I told you it wasn't a big deal," Yuri grumbled, following Angel out of the infirmary.
"We'll see. Come on, you can come with me to pick up the twins."
"Aren't you worried I'll get them sick?"
Angel cocked an eyebrow. "If it's on the floor for more than two seconds, they eat it, and yet neither one of them has ever gotten so much as a cold. Besides, it's not catching."
Yuri frowned. "How do you know what it is if the doctor wasn't sure?"
"Never mind," Angel said in a singsong, coming to a stop in front of Mitchell's office. The moment he opened the door, the twins flew to him, making a marginally successful attempt to climb his legs.
"Daddy!" Winnie cried, squishing Angel's face in her hands. "Guess what!"
"What?" he laughed, reaching down to ruffle the blond hair of the boy clinging to his side.
"Papa said I'm the boss of everyone and they have to do what I say," Winnie announced with great pride.
Angel cocked an eyebrow, looking at his weary mate as he rose from his desk. "Is that so?"
"I said nothing of the kind," Mitchell grumbled, rubbing his eyes as he walked over to kiss Angel's cheek and lift their son into his arms. "I told her one day, if she trains hard and proves herself worthy, she'll be Alpha when I'm dead."
"You know that's not any better, right?" Angel sighed.
"I don't want papa to die," the boy whimpered, burying his face in his father's shoulder.
Angel shot Mitchell a withering look. "Tyr, sweetie, no one is dying. But I'm glad to know that I leave you alone with your father for one afternoon and you've gained a concept of mortality."
Mitchell cleared his throat, suddenly interested in their visitor. "Hello again, Yuri. Good to see you. I trust everyone in my pack has been hospitable?"
"Yes, very," Yuri said, stifling a giggle.
"You're welcome to join us for dinner," Mitchell said, eying his angry mate like he was a cobra about to strike. "More than welcome."
"Thanks, but I'm not feeling very well, so I think I'm just going to go lay down," Yuri said, resisting the urge to apologize since that probably wouldn't do anything to quell Angel's wrath.
"Wait," called Angel, struggling to hold onto Winnie, who was crawling over him like a jungle gym. "Wasn't Benjamin coming to see you tonight?"
"I won't be asleep that long," Yuri murmured. He didn't feel up to a date by any means, even if seeing Benjamin had become the highlight of his week, but he knew exactly what to say to Benjamin to make sure the evening didn't last. It was the hardest thing he had ever had to do, but he knew he had put it off long enough. As he returned to his room and crawled back under the covers, the idea of sleeping for a hundred years seemed preferable. He didn't bother to set an alarm since there were still three whole hours before Benjamin was due to arrive and Yuri had never been able to nap for longer than a few minutes. What was intended to be a power nap stretched on well into the evening.
Chapter 24
BENJAMIN
"Is he alright?" Benjamin asked, looking past Angel. The omega was blocking the doorway and Benjamin knew that gently moving him aside to make his way up those stairs was the surest way to warrant a beatdown from the betas who guarded the dormitory. There was a strict policy against alphas being anywhere other than the common areas.
"He's fine," Angel said in a knowing tone. "He's already been seen by our doctor. It's not an emergency, but he should really rest."
Benjamin hesitated, warring with his common sense and his protective instinct. Both were focused on the goal of en
suring Yuri's wellbeing, but they didn't always agree on the best method of doing so, which had made his once simple life a tangle of confusing thoughts and contradictory impulses.
"I'll call you if anything changes," Angel promised, gently pushing Benjamin out the door. There were few alphas who could have managed the task, but Angel was proof that omegas were capable of feats no alpha could aspire to.
And with that, the omega shut the door in his face. With an evening to kill and nowhere in particular to be, Benjamin decided to take the scenic route home. His betas had insisted on giving him the morning off from his routine tasks, and there were no fires to put out at the moment, so he decided to take his father's advice and develop the habit of delegating early on.
The closer Benjamin got to the Cold Water Pack lands, the stronger the sense of foreboding that had started out as barely a glimmer became. He dialed his mother's number, then Lita's, and the fact that neither of them answered confirmed his instincts. He peeled into the lot outside his parents' home only to find the driveway occupied by a car he barely recognized as Thomas'.
The beta was there in the living room to greet him and from the somber look in the man's eyes, he could tell something was wrong. "What happened?" he demanded, looking towards the stairs. "Where are my parents? Lita?"
"They're at the hospital," Thomas said, resting his hands on Benjamin's shoulders, his gaze calm and earnest. "Your father took a bad turn. They think it might have been a stroke."
"A stroke?" Benjamin frowned. "How?"
"The doc thinks it was the meds, but they don't know. They got him stable in the ambulance last I heard and they were on the way to the hospital," said Thomas. Benjamin had never been more grateful for the beta's tendency to speak plainly and avoid mincing words the way alphas and omegas so often did for entirely different reasons. "They left about twenty minutes ago. I called but couldn't get a signal."
Benjamin cursed himself for deciding to take the more rural route home and tried his mother's number again, fumbling for his keys.
