Omega Reimagined volume 2

by Tanya Chris

  “A mate. I have a mate here.”

  “I understand there’s been a ceremony.”

  “There’s been a commitment. Even if I wanted to go back to Southern Pack territory—and holy hell, I do not—I wouldn’t go without Macy, and she’d be all the escort I needed.”

  “Macy?”

  “Yeah, Macy. Shaved head? Prosthetic leg?”

  “Yes, I know who— Wait. She’s got a prosthetic leg?”

  Carmen dropped her feet to the ground and leaned over the desk, beckoning me forward until our heads met in the middle of it. “She got caught in a trap,” she whispered to me. “Had to chew off her own leg.” She leaned back with a satisfied smirk. “Still think I need an alpha?”

  Everyone had heard stories about wolves who’d had to sacrifice a limb in order to escape a trap, but no one wanted to be the one who had to do it, because we all secretly doubted we’d have the fortitude. Props to Macy. Nevertheless. She wasn’t an alpha, and she was female.

  “She can’t give you pups,” I tried.

  “I don’t want pups.”

  “Everyone wants pups,” I said, despite the fact that I didn’t. Carmen raised a perfectly arched eyebrow at me as if she knew I was lying. “She can’t give you a knot.”

  “I don’t want a knot.”

  “Of course you want a knot.” Not wanting pups I could believe, but not wanting a knot? Come on. “The greatest possible sexual pleasure on earth, and you’re not interested? You don’t want someone big enough to throw you down and strong enough to make you take it? Being tied to your partner, cloaked in pheromones? His claim on your neck? None of that?”

  Carmen leaned back in her chair. She spun herself a little to the right, then a little to the left, her lips pursed like she was considering my question hard. “You want an alpha pretty bad, huh?”

  “This isn’t about me.”

  “Yes, it is. I mean, wow. I’ve never heard alphas sold so passionately. I’m still not interested, but you do you, boo. Just, maybe stop trying to get me to live your dream for you.”

  “It’s not my dream.” I got to my feet, desperate to stop her.

  “Sit down.” She waved at the chair I’d risen from. “I won’t tell anyone. I know what it’s like to have to keep your true desires secret. I grew up like that too—hiding who I was, pretending I was what everyone thought I should be, trying to figure how to make myself right. It’s the worst.”

  I sat because I didn’t know what else to do. Last night an alpha had fucked me, and this morning an omega had seen through me like my shields were as solid as spider webs. Everything was topsy-turvy. I couldn’t get my stomach to settle or my heartrate to come down.

  “I don’t…” I trailed off because I couldn’t remember was I was supposed to be denying.

  “There’s nothing wrong with it, you know. Just because I don’t want an alpha doesn’t mean you can’t want one. I could introduce you to some.”

  This was getting ridiculous. “I know plenty of alphas.”

  “Yeah, but I’m not talking about a conservative stuck-on-himself alphahole like what they’ve got in the Southern Pack.” She stuck her tongue out to indicate her distaste. “Sometimes I think if I’d been born in Northern Pack territory, maybe I could’ve gone for an alpha, but nah. Even the good alphas are still alphas, you know?” She laughed. “Of course you know. You’re practically drooling.”

  I was definitely not drooling. I was confused, not turned on. I shut my mouth.

  “My total lack of interest in alphas aside,” Carmen went on, “there are some great ones around here. Have you met the sheriff?”

  “Not yet.”

  “Hot,” she assured me. “Southern Pack coloring with Northern Pack attitude. You could let him do you.”

  “I’m not letting anyone do me,” I lied. Because I already had.

  “Or do you prefer the lighter coloring? Macy is gor-orgeous, don’t you think?”

  Yeah, no. Macy was admirable and formidable, but not at all attractive. To me. I started to get a sense of what Carmen was trying to say. She thought Macy was attractive. I thought—

  “Judge Tarek.”

  “Excuse me?” I jolted upright.

  “He’s another hottie. Hair as long as mine, except it’s this magic silver-white color to die for.”

  “I’ve met him.”

  “And?”

  “And his hair is… unique.”

  “Not in the Hinterlands where he’s from. It’s north of here,” she clarified when I only cocked my head. “They all have that super fair coloring. Sometimes they look a little washed out, but Tarek carries it well. Do you think his hair is nicer than mine?” She ran a strand of red between her fingers. It slid like a hank of silk thread—thick and lustrous and obviously well cared for. Still, the answer was yes. Tarek’s hair was nicer than hers.

  “You do, don’t you?” She laughed, pleased with herself. “You want to wrap it around you like a blanket and smell it and rub it all over you and—”

  “That’s enough.” I rose to loom over the desk. This couldn’t be allowed to continue, this mocking, this fucking mind-reading. “If you refuse to come back to Rio Verde with me voluntarily, you can expect there to be consequences.”

  Carmen got to her feet too, not at all cowed. “If I so much as raised my voice, there’d be three wolves in here ripping you limb from limb. You think you’re important because you’re big, but you’re not important. You’re just another alpha who’s not going to get what he wants.” She brushed past me like I was no more substantial than a bundle of willow branches.

  On the other side of the office door stood the three wolves Carmen had referred to. Ryker’s hackles weren’t up, but Gage had a firm grasp on his arm, as if prepared to hold him back, and Macy was out from behind her counter, standing tall like she was thinking about using her prosthetic leg to kick my ass.

  I summoned what dignity I had left and pushed between them to exit the building with no idea where I was going except away. Away from Tarek and Carmen. Away from Macy and Ryker and Gage. Away from omegas who smelled like betas and betas who scared me and alphas who wanted to cuddle and laws that allowed an omega to mate with just any old wolf, without even getting permission from their guardian first. Away from the whole twisted town that was determined to prevent me from doing my job.

  I slowed to a stop somewhere in the middle of market square because this was my job. I’d let Carmen distract me with her dangerous guesswork, but she was going to learn that I couldn’t be put off that easily. She thought she could taunt me with a good looking alpha sheriff? I’d see her bluff.

  One good looking alpha sheriff coming right up.

  Chapter 8

  So, Carmen wasn’t wrong. The sheriff was a hottie. And though I didn’t think he was pure Southern Pack, he had enough of our coloring that I figured we shared certain cultural understandings. As I went through my purpose in being there, assuring him I had Carmen’s father’s permission to take custody of her, I imagined him leaping up from behind his desk to offer me immediate assistance.

  Instead, he gave me a frown that was growing too familiar. Why did everyone here frown at me like that? I’d always considered myself charming, at least when I was on the job, and I’d started by flattering his jail, even though it was a single-cell, rinky-dink sort of thing. Sheriff Quoitrel had liked my flattery well enough—gave me a full-toothed smile that had me hoping for a peep of fang. But as soon as I told him why I was there, it was right back to this.

  “Do you have an Order of Deportation?”

  “Do I need one?” I asked with a wink in my voice. We were packmates, after all. Help a brother out.

  “Yes.”

  “Well, I would have one”—except fucking Tarek—“but the judge had some preconceived notions about my intentions toward Carmen. That they were harmful in some way.”

  “I mean, you’re a bounty hunter.” He wore a full-on Wild West sheriff’s ensemble, like he’d ordered
it off the side of a cereal box. It suited him—not going to lie–but a guy dressed like that had no room to be taking a poke at anyone else’s job.

  “I prefer the term retrieval specialist.”

  “An omega isn’t property.”

  “Actually, according to Southern Pack law—”

  “But this is the Northern Pack, and according to our laws, omegas aren’t property. So there’s nothing for you to retrieve.”

  “You’re Southern Pack,” I pointed out.

  “Nope. My father was born there, but he’s one of the lucky omegas who managed to escape without someone like you hunting him down. I was raised in the Central Pack, where my mom’s from.”

  Central Pack. That explained it. Bunch of lawless renegades there.

  “Anything else I can help you with, Alpha Donovan?”

  “Look, your own personal viewpoint aside, you’ve got a responsibility to uphold order.”

  “Yep, and that’s exactly what I do. The omegas here can count on me to protect them. Trust me when I say they don’t need you.”

  He puffed up his chest, stretching the tan fabric beneath his gold-painted star almost to the point of tearing it. I still preferred Tarek’s snow-white pecs gleaming in the candlelight, but I had to admit Carmen hadn’t steered me wrong. She’d been right about how hot the sheriff was, and she’d been right to assume he’d be on her side.

  I left before the situation got too heated. I’d never been so frustrated by a job. The more I thought about how fucking happy Carmen was here—how she could just have what she wanted and no one would tell her no, how they all just said go, Carmen—the more pissed I got. This wasn’t how the world worked.

  I was barreling through the market square full-steam, on my way to who-knew-where, when one of the biggest alphas I’d ever seen stepped into my path and halted my progress with a hand to my chest.

  “Alpha Donovan, I presume.”

  I had no idea who I was facing, but the robe gave me a hint. Royalty. Head Alpha Marta had two sons, and this must be one of them.

  “Your Excellency.” I made a slight bow, uninterested in getting myself into trouble now. All I wanted to do was get out this fucking town.

  He beamed a beneficent smile. “I heard we had an emissary from the Southern Pack in town. I’m sure you were planning to stop by the palace to pay your respects.”

  I hadn’t made a courtesy call on Head Alpha Marta because we were eager for her to go away already. Her reputation was fierce, but she’d outlived her prime, and the chaos into which the Northern Pack had descended was an example of exactly what happened when a head alpha was allowed to mellow into the role. They got soft.

  “I’m more of an errand boy than an emissary, Prince…”

  “Devin,” he supplied. “Crown Prince Devin.”

  “Of course.” So this was the guy we were waiting on to take over the throne and restore order. “I’m sorry I didn’t make an official call. I’m just here to fetch a runaway omega.” The maddening, insubordinate twerp of a thing.

  “I hope we’ve been cooperative.”

  “Not at all,” I muttered.

  Prince Devin made a tsking sound. He flung his robe dramatically over one shoulder to better reveal his magnificent physique which was unadorned beneath the ermine-edged cloth. This was an alpha, all right. Pheromones rolled off him like spray from a waterfall, and his lips curled in a perpetual sneer, showing off a strong pair of canines that I was sure would descend into wickedly sharp fangs. He was about my age, in the prime of his life, and he’d kept himself lean and hard. It made absolutely no sense that he wasn’t head alpha yet.

  What also made no sense was my complete lack of attraction to him. Thank the moon for it, because otherwise I’d be throwing off arousal like scattershot, but Prince Devin was everything I normally went for: authoritative, big, and emitting an unmistakable vibe of cruelty that made me think of Tarek and how he’d looked when I’d left him last night, which hadn’t been cruel at all.

  “Your judge didn’t even bother to read my suit,” I complained, because the more I thought about Tarek—the more I wished I’d stayed in his bed last night—the angrier I got. “If your pack won’t honor extradition papers—”

  “I know, I know.” Prince Devin frowned, but it was a different frown than the one everyone else gave me. He didn’t seem mad at me, despite my disrespectful outburst which I’d been on the verge of ending with a threat. It was the truth though. The Southern Pack was fed up with the Northern Pack.

  “Where are you staying?” Prince Devin asked.

  I gave him the name of the B&B where I’d left my things, then realized I wouldn’t be there long enough to bother. “Actually, I’m on my way back home.”

  “But you haven’t gotten what you came for. Give me a chance to make it right.”

  “You could do that?”

  “I’m the crown prince, aren’t I?” He spread his arms wide, showing off his stunningly defined pecs. “It’s my job to ensure inter-pack relations remain friendly. No one wants a war, after all.”

  No, no one did. That was the only reason we hadn’t sent a delegation up here to demand more definite action before now. Well, that and Head Alpha Marta’s reputation. We presumed she was too old to defend her title, but no one was eager to find out personally.

  “It’s unconscionable that your suit wasn’t even entertained,” Prince Devin said in a low drawl, smooth enough that it ought to have sent shivers down my spine. “Which judge was it?”

  I hesitated, suddenly not sure I was angry enough at Tarek to get him in trouble. “I don’t really recall,” I hedged.

  “No matter. It’s easy enough to find out.” Prince Devin clapped me on the shoulder—so hard I had to brace myself to avoid staggering. He was really very large. And strong. And handsome. And nope, not so much as a twitch of my dick or a flutter in my pulse. “Give me a couple of days to set up a hearing with my mother. I’ll send word to your lodgings.”

  As I watched Prince Devin stroll away, I felt a wave of satisfaction. Carmen was going to find out she couldn’t fuck with me, and I would deliver the goods to my client. Drag the insubordinate brat back to Rio Verde whether she liked it or not. Back to where she belonged. In her father’s house, under his custody, away from her friends and her brother and the beta she called mate…

  Put like that, my mission didn’t sound so noble. I was angry, frustrated, and a little scared by what had happened since my arrival in North Leland, but I wasn’t illogical. Carmen seemed both happy and thoroughly entrenched in the life she’d built here. I couldn’t argue that I’d be rescuing her when it would be a lot closer to kidnapping—exactly what I’d told Tarek I wouldn’t do. Whether I had the head alpha’s permission or not.

  If it were my decision to make—

  But it wasn’t my decision to make. It was her father’s. He’d paid me to bring her back, and if there was still a chance I could do that, then I owed it to him to stick around and try.

  The possibility that I might see Tarek again had nothing to do with it.

  Chapter 9

  Tarek found me in the market square. I wasn’t intentionally lurking around outside the courthouse. I just didn’t have anywhere else to be. The fact that his scent spilled out every time the door opened was more of a torture than an enticement.

  “I thought you’d be gone by now.”

  I couldn’t tell him about Prince Devin and the hearing. I kind of wished I hadn’t agreed to it now. More than once as I’d strolled past the palace, making another restless circuit of the town square, I’d considered going inside to seek Prince Devin out and tell him I’d changed my mind. Tarek would approve of that. So would the sheriff and Ryker and Macy. Basically everyone.

  Except Prince Devin—the giant, royal alpha whose opinion must surely mean more to me than any of the others. Prince Devin would be head alpha someday, and then all would be put back the way it ought to be and I wouldn’t feel like I was being torn in two. Unfort
unately, Prince Devin was not the one whose opinion mattered most to me. That would be this wolf right here. The one frowning at me again.

  “Still working on Carmen,” I told him.

  “Really? I’d have expected her to be pretty fucking clear.”

  “She’s an omega. She doesn’t know her own mind.”

  Tarek gave me an unimpressed look, and I didn’t blame him for it. If ever anyone knew their own mind, Carmen did.

  “Well, I’m glad you’re here,” he said. “No matter how misguided your reason for it is. It’s good to see you again.”

  I shrugged. I couldn’t go as far as to say it was good to see him. It was true, but I couldn’t say it.

  “Perhaps you’d have dinner with me again?” He was different today. More solemn, less domineering. All the winky I-know-what-you-want attitude was gone. But he wasn’t any less attractive without it. Just more raw, as if he’d slipped out of a mask he’d been wearing and the face beneath it was even more handsome for being real.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Not at the restaurant. With some friends of mine. They’d be interested to meet you, and maybe it would help you to meet them.”

  “Help me how?”

  “You’re angry.”

  I shrugged. I didn’t know how to be anything except angry and aroused, and the two were dangerously close. Already, I was half hard just from standing outside his place of business, catching stray whiffs of him the way I imagined other alphas did outside the omega hostel.

  “I’d have handled things differently last night if I’d understood better,” he said.

  “Understood what?” I was an alpha being fucked by another alpha. He’d known that.

  “How conflicted you were about it.” He ran his hand lightly up my forearm. A caress, not a threat.

  I yanked my arm away. “Who wouldn’t be?”

  “Come to dinner with me. Meet my friends.” He grinned a wolfish grin, all teeth. “But first, how about a run? You’re so wound up. You need something to take the edge off, and I have a feeling you’re not going to let me fuck you.”