by L. C. Davis
Caleb’s eyes widened. “How did you know?”
“It’s kind of obvious. Two people don’t look at each other like that without something stronger than pheromones between them.”
“It doesn’t matter now,” he sighed. “Whether I love him or not, I’m Alec’s mate. I made a promise to him.”
“You promised to be with Alec until death do you part,” she murmured. “You promised to be faithful to him and love him, and you did that. But he’s gone, and you and Dustin have to find a way to live the rest of your lives without him. Maybe the timing isn’t right now, but I can’t think of two people whose broken edges fit together better than yours do.”
“I can’t, either,” Caleb admitted. “But there are more reasons it can’t work besides it being wrong.”
Ariel sighed. “You sound like you’re both reading off the same script.”
“You talked about this with Dustin?” Caleb asked, unable to help feeling slightly betrayed.
“No, but Zander did. He’s had about as much luck with that stubborn mule as I’ve had with mine.”
Caleb smiled a little. Talking with Ariel always made him feel better. He’d forgotten how nice it was to have a friend, even if the best case scenario resulted in her returning to her true mate’s pack. “I’ll get dressed and come downstairs. As long as Noreen’s not here…”
“Nope. The bitch is out for the weekend, thank the Spirits,” she said, rolling her eyes.
“Ariel,” Caleb scolded halfheartedly. He pulled on a clean shirt and glanced in the mirror to make sure he looked presentable enough. He didn’t want to admit he was worried about looking like a mess in front of Dustin.
The omegas were just starting to get out the supplies to make dinner when Caleb heard the sound of panicked cattle from all the way across the pasture. He rushed to the window and searched the meadow for any sign of Dustin, but when he couldn’t see a thing, he ran outside for a better look.
Ariel was close behind him, but he didn’t stop running even when she called after him. Something was wrong, he could feel it. He caught sight of the cattle further down the hillside and the way they were all standing around staring at something only confirmed his worst fear. He finally caught sight of Dustin’s horse rearing back and whinnying nervously at something on the edge of the woods. Dustin was lying on the ground, unconscious with his head less than a foot away from the spot the panicked horse’s hoof had just stamped.
“Easy!” Caleb cried, holding out his hands as he approached the golden-brown beast. The horse snorted and thrashed his head. The movement caused his loose reins to snap hard against his side, sending him into an even greater fit.
Caleb was no expert on horses. Alec had taken him to the trails a few times for a fun date since it reminded him of home, but while Caleb knew enough to manage the docile ponies the stables rented out to casual enthusiasts, he had never dealt with such a large horse, or one that was close to terror.
“Caleb!” Ariel cried. “Be careful.”
“Shhh,” he soothed, reaching out to stroke the horse’s neck. He had no idea if what he was doing was right or wrong, all he knew was that he had to draw the beast away from Dustin. “It’s alright, Bismuth. Easy does it.”
The horse had stopped rising up on its powerful haunches, but it was still looking at Caleb from the corner of its eyes, casting nervous glances over at the forest. Caleb knew Dustin was as good at taming animals as he was dealing with his packmates, so whatever had spooked the reliable work horse might still be a threat to all of them.
Bismuth finally let Caleb close enough to grasp the reins. He pulled down gently, forcing the horse to look down at its own shoulder, taking away its ability to see whatever had frightened it so in the forest and forcing it to walk away from Dustin. Once he felt sure the unconscious Alpha was out of harm’s way, Caleb called back to Ariel, “Go get Zander! Tell him to bring the doctor!”
Without hesitation, Ariel took off running into town. Caleb led Bismuth over to the post and tied his reins securely to the wood before he knelt down next to Dustin. Between things he’d heard from Alec and his first-aid training at the halfway house, he knew enough not to move the Alpha in case his back or neck had been broken. Dustin was still breathing steadily, and his pulse wasn’t concerning, but when Caleb lifted his eyelids, his pupils didn’t respond to the light.
“Please, Dustin,” he breathed, stroking the Alpha’s stubbly jaw. “Please, just hang on. I can’t lose you, too.”
Dustin groaned in his sleep and his eyes fluttered, but he didn’t wake up. He tried to roll over in his sleep, but Caleb held him where he was. He could already see Zander running toward them on the horizon and a car keeping up alongside him.
The car reached them before Zander did and a man Caleb could only hope was the doctor rushed over to them. “What happened?” the Alpha asked, setting a thick black bag down next to Dustin.
“I don’t know. We heard the cows from the house and when I got here, Dustin was on the ground. I think he fell off the horse, but I don’t know if it kicked him,” he said, stepping back to give the doctor room as Zander came over to join them.
“You managed to get Bismuth tied up?” Zander asked in disbelief.
Caleb nodded, looking back at the doctor as the man examined Dustin. “Is anything broken?”
“I won’t be able to tell without taking him back to the clinic, but you did the right thing by not moving him,” he said, shining a light in Dustin’s eyes. “He definitely has a concussion, at the very least.”
Caleb watched helplessly as the doctor and Zander loaded Dustin into the back of the car. He insisted on going with them, and neither Alpha made a move to stop him. Once they arrived, the doctor and his nurse took Dustin into a room for X-rays and a better examination while Zander waited with Caleb and Ariel in the lobby.
“You did good,” Zander said, resting a hand on Caleb’s shoulder. “If it wasn’t for you, that horse would’ve killed him.”
“Please tell me he’s going to be alright,” Caleb pleaded. He wanted it to be true, but he’d happily settle for a lie. Anything to keep the possibility of losing another Alpha he loved at bay.
Ariel pulled her arms around Caleb and held him tightly. The clinic door flew open and she jolted as Noreen stormed into the room.
“You,” she cried, looking straight at Caleb with hatred burning her cold blue eyes. “What have you done?”
Zander put himself between Caleb and Ariel and the older omega immediately. “Calm down, Mrs. Andrews,” he said in a tone that was respectful but unquestionably authoritative. Noreen’s bluster diminished in an instant. “Bismuth threw Dustin and if Caleb hadn’t found him, he’d be dead.”
Noreen seemed to be having a hard time processing the younger Alpha’s words. She gave up and stalked down the hall. “Where is he? Where’s my son?”
A nurse stopped her at the end of the hall. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but you can’t —“
“Let go of me,” she snapped, breaking free of the beta’s grasp.
Zander went to subdue her as the doctor came out and looked them all over. He seemed to assess the situation in a few seconds and his gaze settled patiently on Noreen. “Dustin is stable,” he said quietly, addressing her first, then the others. “He’s still unconscious, but I expect him to wake up in the next few days.”
“Days?” Noreen cried. “He’s in a coma?”
“Technically, yes. Considering the strength of the impact from the fall, that’s probably a good thing. It’ll give his body time to heal and knowing him, he’d be fighting to get home in time to do the evening chores if he was awake right now.”
“What are you going to do?” Noreen demanded. “You have to do something.”
“We’re keeping him sedated so he doesn’t hurt himself trying to move if the does wake up,” the doctor continued. “If he was human, we’d be thinking about surgery to reduce the swelling on his brain, but he isn’t. The best thing we can do right now
without risking more damage is to give his body time to heal itself.”
“Oh, God,” Noreen sobbed, turning away from him. She stormed off but only made it to the waiting room before she collapsed in a chair.
Zander and Ariel watched her warily. The Alpha seemed about to approach her when Caleb said softly, “I’ll try.”
He knew Noreen was more likely to deck him than to take any comfort from him, but he had to try. He couldn’t hate her the way she hated him. After all, she was important to the only two men he’d ever loved.
“Noreen?” he asked warily, taking the seat next to her.
“What?” she snapped.
Caleb took a box of tissues off the table nearby and offered it to her. She seemed offended by the gesture, but she finally took a handful of tissues and dried her runny mascara. “I know you’re scared. So am I,” he said quietly. “But Dustin is the strongest person I know. He will pull through this.”
The other omega watched him and for the first time, the look in her eyes wasn’t quite as toxic. She seemed about to say something when the front door opened and Blake rushed in, stopping in front of them. “What happened?” he demanded, looking around the room. “Where’s Dustin?”
“He’s in there. They won’t let me see him,” Noreen choked out, standing to greet her ex-husband. “They said he’s in a coma.”
Blake pulled his arms around Noreen and the gesture seemed to surprise even her. Caleb slipped away to give them some privacy. He had once thought that the Andrews’ were the only family that even tragedy couldn’t bring together, but it seemed that the Spirits were intent on trying.
Chapter 15
DUSTIN
Dustin opened his eyes for the first time in days only to find the omega who was always the primary subject of his dreams standing next to his bedside. He couldn’t help but smile as he reached out to take Caleb’s hand. The omega was always so soft and warm and the scent of him was better than freshly baked cookies, spring rain and new car smell combined.
“Hey.” Dustin’s voice sounded raspy and it made his head throb.
Caleb held a cup to his lips and Dustin drank until the water was gone. The omega murmured something about not making himself sick.
Reality set in with another throb of pain in his head and Dustin tried to sit up only to have someone push him back down. Had Caleb always been that strong, or was he just infuriatingly weak all of a sudden?
He remembered. The thing that had spooked Bismuth and the cattle was a jet black wolf on the edge of the woods. He’d never seen his horse so scared. He’d never lost control of an animal before, or at least, not since he’d learned to ride properly. He remembered trying to lead Bismuth away from the herd so he wouldn’t start a stampede, only to get thrown, hitting his head hard on the way down. He couldn’t remember anything else, other than the pleasant dreams between that awful moment and waking up to find Caleb in the room.
“A wolf,” he murmured. He needed to warn Caleb, but his words were slurred and he couldn’t quite put his thoughts the way he wanted them to come out. “Tell Zander they’re back…”
“Who?” Caleb’s voice was soft and worried, his hand wrapped securely around Dustin’s. “Tell Zander who’s back? Dustin? Dustin!”
“It’s alright.” Dr. Lake’s voice seemed to be disembodied. All Dustin could see again was white, but he was aware that his eyes had fallen shut. “Let him rest. It’s probably just a hallucination.”
No… No, it wasn’t. It was real and Caleb and the pack were in danger. He had to tell them, he had to defend his pack and his mate, but the more he fought, the further he slipped away.
Chapter 16
CALEB
Seeing Dustin’s eyes open for the first time in days had filled Caleb’s heart with relief, but the Alpha was out again almost as soon as he’d woken up. The doctor insisted that Caleb couldn’t take Dustin’s words too seriously, since he was barely conscious at the time, but the omega couldn’t get them out of his head.
“What do you think it means?” he asked Zander worriedly. They were standing in the living room of the farmhouse, and Ariel hadn’t stopped looking out the window the entire time. Caleb could tell the omega was as far off as Dustin was.
“I don’t know, but I’ve got a team out searching the woods and I’m gonna go back out myself,” the Alpha said, standing to look through the curtains. “You okay, Ariel?”
She nodded and gave him a weak smile. “Just nervous, that’s all. I can’t help but feel like something’s wrong. Well, more wrong.”
“It’ll be okay,” Zander promised. “Whatever it is, we’ll deal with it.”
That was what Caleb admired most about the Alpha. While most were immediately dismissive of an omega’s concerns and fears, Zander managed to be reassuring without condescension. Caleb could understand why Dustin trusted him so much.
“Are you two gonna be alright while I go search the woods?” asked Zander.
“We’ll be fine,” Caleb promised.
“Be careful,” Ariel called. Once the Alpha left, she turned to Caleb and asked, “He’s single, right?”
“Yes, but you’ve got a two-Alpha problem yourself, so don’t go getting any ideas.”
Ariel rolled her eyes. “I wasn’t asking for me. He’s just the type of Alpha I’ve always hoped my brother would end up with.”
“Ah,” Caleb said knowingly. “Well, he’s certainly a catch. From what Alec told me, he’s not really a one-omega kind of guy, though.”
“Of course he’s not,” she sighed. “Matchmaking can’t be easy.”
Caleb smiled. At least she seemed to be feeling better. They’d no sooner gotten back to the regular evening chores than Caleb heard a frantic knock at the door. His heart always stopped beating when someone showed up at the house. He knew Dustin was in stable condition, but Noreen got huffy when he lingered in the hospital too much and the doctor had insisted that what Dustin needed most was rest, so all he could do was wait for someone else to bring him news and hope it was good.
Rather than Zander or Dr. Garner, an Alpha Caleb didn’t recognize was standing at the door in a pressed uniform. Caleb recognized it as the uniform from the Federation’s police force and his heart sank in his chest. There were only a few reasons police showed up at your door in the middle of the country, and it was never anything good.
“Ariel Gonzales?”
Caleb shook his head. “What do you want with her?”
“Caleb, who—”Ariel stopped at the door and her eyes filled with terror. “You can’t be here,” she hissed. “My lawyer—”
“Your lawyer neglected to inform us you were pregnant,” the Alpha said coldly, holding up a piece of paper. “I have a warrant from the Federation to return you to the Smith household immediately.”
“No,” she cried, backing away with a hand pressed to her stomach. “No, it’s not their baby!”
Two more officers came into the foyer. Caleb’s heart raced as he struggled to come up with a way to get them out. Fighting was out of the question, and even if they could escape, he knew they wouldn’t be able to outrun them for long.
“You can’t do this,” he said firmly. “She claimed sanctuary. She’s part of our pack, and taking her violates your code.”
“We have written permission from the Federation to claim an omega,” the officer said firmly. “This is a matter of stolen property, at this point. And unless she can prove that child doesn’t belong to the Smiths, there’s nothing you or her lawyer can do about it.”
Ariel was crying. Caleb felt the walls closing in. He was between her and the Federation officers for the moment, and he would fight to defend her to his last, but he knew it wouldn’t be enough. “You’re trespassing. At least speak to our Alpha instead of bullying a pregnant omega.”
“Word has it, your Alpha is indisposed at the moment,” the first officer said in a tone that made it clear that was exactly why they’d chosen to come when they had.
Then it
hit Caleb. The Smiths must have been spying on them. Either that or Noreen had betrayed her promise and told them that Ariel was pregnant. It wouldn’t serve her to do so when Caleb was the one she wanted gone and they had made some semblance of peace since Dustin’s accident, so he didn’t want to believe that was what had happened.
“You,” he seethed, looking the guard in the eye. “You were the wolf in the woods. The one that spooked Dustin’s horse and almost got him killed.”
The Alpha smirked. “Prove it. The word of a sullied omega like you against a Federation officer? It won’t even be a contest. And yes, we did look into your past.”
Caleb clenched his jaw, holding a sobbing Ariel in his arms. He knew he had to act. There was no time to hesitate, and as much as it destroyed him to think about what he was going to do, he told himself it was for the best. Or at least, it was the best for everyone else.
“Take me instead.”
For a moment, the Alpha didn’t respond. He seemed to think Caleb was bluffing. Ariel froze in Caleb’s arms, looking up at him in confusion.
“What?” she whimpered. “Caleb, no.”
“Your warrant just says you have to take an omega back to the Smiths to fulfill Ariel’s contract. I read it,” Caleb said firmly. “The Smiths don’t want her, and something tells me they’re not interested in raising another Alpha’s baby. Save yourself the time and the humiliation of being stripped of your rank when this all comes crashing down around you—and trust me, when Dustin wakes up, it will—by taking me instead. I’ll go without a fight.”
The officer hesitated, looking to the other Alpha and beta who were with him.
“He’s right, sir,” the beta said. “We just have to return with an omega. Futurus can sort out the rest.”
The first Alpha grunted in acknowledgment. “Fine. But I want his hands bound in case he tries anything. This one does have a record, after all,” he said, looking Caleb over in disgust.
“No!” Ariel cried, clinging to Caleb as the others pulled him away. The beta officer pushed her gently, keeping her at bay while his partner cuffed Caleb’s hands behind his back. “Caleb, don’t do this! You don’t have to do this, we’ll find another way.”
