The Runaway Omega: M/M Wolf Shifter Mpreg Paranormal Romance

by Apollo Surge

  “You do?”

  “Yeah,” Wes replied. “Maybe you can teach me one day?”

  Joseph smiled at him, though the smile didn’t reach his eyes this time. “Sure,” he said. “That sounds good.”

  Wes could feel his expression cool. He didn’t want to think about the fact that this was temporary even if that was reality. Every time that he thought about it, he felt a stab in his stomach.

  “So,” Joseph said, standing up. “Would you like some coffee?”

  Wes nodded. “What time is it? There were no clocks in my room.”

  Joseph sighed. “You don’t have a phone?”

  Wes shook his head. “No,” he said. “Never have.”

  Joseph seemed to think about that for a second. Wes didn’t know what the look on his face meant, and he wasn’t sure if it was pity or something else, but whatever it was, he was absolutely certain that he didn’t like it.

  He poured Wes a coffee, walked over to where he was, and put it in his hand. Wes felt his fingertips brush against his own and it made him shudder. It made him weak at the knees and he had to take in a sharp breath to stop himself from saying or doing anything that he might regret.

  Joseph pulled away from him quickly enough that he didn’t have time to make a fool out of himself.

  He leaned against the counter before he spoke, and Wes couldn’t help but stare at the way that his clothes were clinging to his body, He could see muscles and lines from which he probably should have been averting his gaze, but he couldn’t help himself.

  There was something magnetic about Joseph. Joseph seemed to know the effect that he was having on Wes, because he cleared his throat and turned his face slightly away.

  His cheeks were red, or they seemed red, but that could have easily been Wes’ imagination.

  His imagination was leading him into some very dark places that were making his cock hard again. He couldn’t afford to be hard around Joseph, so he also turned, and he tried to concentrate by drowning his feelings in his coffee.

  Joseph didn’t say anything for a while.

  When they were both finished with the coffee, Joseph broke the silence. “I was thinking that today we could go to town and get some stuff.”

  “Town,” Wes said, his heart beating fast in his chest.

  It might have been because he knew that his pack was there that he was nervous, but they would never dare do anything during the daylight.

  “Yes, town,” Joseph said once again. “Because I need to go shopping, and I don’t know, maybe we could stop for brunch.”

  Wes licked his lips. “You want to go for brunch with me?”

  “Could be fun,” Joseph said. “And I mean, we’re already going to be there. We need to go get you some clothes, because I'm guessing that you only have the stuff on your back.”

  “I have a few other pairs of underwear, but yeah… not much else.”

  “I thought so,” Joseph said. “And my stuff doesn’t really fit you, does it?”

  Wes smiled, despite himself. “I like wearing your clothes.”

  Joseph blanched at that and Wes was worried that he had overstepped his boundaries.

  Of course he had made everything awkward, Wes thought, his heart in his throat.

  After all, that was who he was, and it was easy to see that this arrangement wouldn’t last. Joseph was far too good for him. He cared too much about him. He gave him too much credit. Wes didn’t even know what he was doing. He was trying to get away from his pack but other than the actual escape, he hadn’t given it that much thought, and that had come to bite him in the ass.

  Though in a way, he supposed that he had been lucky. If Wes had ended up at another alpha’s house... He didn't even want to think about that. The idea made him sick to his stomach.

  When he opened his eyes and managed to look at Joseph again, he noticed that Joseph was staring at him and smiling, though he hadn’t quite regained his coloring.

  “You can't,” Joseph said, his smile wavering only a little bit. “Look, the pig is already better dressed than I am. You can’t take my clothes too.”

  “Will you knit me a sweater?”

  Joseph rolled his eyes, but he threw his head back and laughed. Wes loved the way that his laugh sounded—deep, rich and masculine. Like mahogany.

  “Maybe for your birthday,” Joseph said. “But come on, let’s be serious. We need to shop for a wardrobe for you.”

  Wes took a deep breath. He could feel himself wavering. He didn’t want to go to town, though of course he wanted to be around Joseph. He also didn’t want to stay there alone. It didn’t feel right staying in Joseph’s house without him after Joseph had walked in on him using it as his hiding spot.

  It wasn’t his house and he wanted to show Joseph that he knew that. Still, he couldn’t help but shift his weight between his feet and look down at the floor as Joseph looked at him.

  Joseph approached him, slightly, and Wes could smell his presence. He could feel it everywhere in his body. He could feel it pulsating to his fingertips, to the ends of his toes, to the top of his head. He could feel it in his tongue, coating his mouth like sweet, tangy, caramel coffee.

  Joseph curled a finger and tilted Wes’ face up. “What is it?”

  “It’s nothing.”

  “You can tell me anything,” Joseph said. “While you’re here, you need to feel comfortable talking to me, Wes.”

  Wes tried to swallow down the knot in his throat.

  “Wes.”

  “I don’t want to.”

  “It’s okay,” Joseph said. “You’re safe here. I promise.”

  Wes shuddered, but he felt that Joseph was grounding him by touching his face, and he didn’t want to pull away from him. “I’m just a little worried, I guess.”

  “What are you worried about?”

  “Honestly? I’m worried about my pack.”

  Joseph got close to him, tilted his face up, and their gazes met for a second. Joseph’s eyes were fire when Wes looked at him, and he was sure that whatever he said then would be the truth, and that Wes better believe him.

  “I will never let them hurt you,” Joseph said. “I will never let anyone hurt you again.”

  Wes nodded, but he felt the question leave his lips before he could stop it. “Why?”

  Joseph removed his hands at that point, and Wes wasn’t sure why, though he suddenly felt a little adrift.

  Joseph cleared his throat and then looked away from him. “I, uh…”

  He let the sentence hang in the air.

  “We should go,” he said. “Before traffic gets bad.”

  Wes nodded. “Sure,” he replied. “Just give me a minute. I’ll go get dressed and then we can go.”

  Chapter Six

  Joseph wasn’t sure what had gotten into him when he had held Wes’ face and looked deep into his eyes. He had never felt quite as protective as he had right then. He didn’t need to touch Wes to make his point. That hadn’t been necessary. Yet he had felt so compelled, it would have almost been wrong to stop himself from doing it.

  He didn’t think that he would have been able to. Wes was sitting in the passenger seat of the wagon, looking out the window and grinning. His eyes were closed and his hair was swaying in the wind. He needed a haircut, probably, but Joseph was simply enjoying looking at him.

  He liked the way that Wes looked when he was relaxed. His eyes were half-closed and his face looked like it wasn’t tense. Joseph realized that it was the first time that he had ever seen Wes like this, without any worry lining his face. It was the first time that it occurred to Joseph that Wes was actually really young and that it was clear that he had no idea what he was doing.

  He couldn’t help but smile. He wanted to reach out and thread his fingers through Wes’ hair, tell him that he needed a haircut, bring his face close to his own and kiss the top of his head. But he wasn’t going to do that. He wanted to give Wes a choice, and he wouldn’t have been able to do that if he felt like he was
being pursued by the man who was giving him a place to stay, who was allowing him to stay away from his pack.

  After all, he wouldn’t have felt comfortable turning him down, and he was already trying to escape an oppressive alpha who felt like he was entitled to his body. Joseph knew that he wasn’t entitled to anything.

  Every time Wes laughed when he was near him, or that he spoke, or that their gazes met and neither one of them looked away, it felt like a privilege to him.

  The day had been incredible, too, even though Joseph had spent way too much money, far more than he had anticipated. He didn’t mind that Wes didn’t have a job, and really, he would have needed to hire an outside contractor to do the work that needed to be finished anyway because other than knitting, Joseph wasn’t any good with his hands.

  He was clumsy for a wolf. He was good at making things easy to understand, concepts, which was the reason why he had gone into copywriting and then marketing.

  That, and the ability to do it wherever in the world he chose. That was important too. More important than anything else.

  They got to a stop sign and Wes opened his eyes, the little smile disappearing from his face. “Are we home?”

  Joseph felt the word stab him in the stomach. He hadn’t expected Wes to mention home like that. The word felt sweet in his mouth, sugary, and for some reason that Joseph couldn’t quite think up, it had brought tears to his eyes.

  Wes looked at him, cocking his head and frowning. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah,” Joseph said. “Fine. Just, uh, still getting used to how cold it is up here.”

  “It’s so cold,” Wes said, hugging himself. “I’m looking forward to shifting tonight. It’s so much cozier.”

  Joseph laughed. It was true that being a wolf was warmer, because of the fur and the fact that they could run further. There was also the meat consumption. Their bodies as wolves were more used to the cold than their bodies as humans.

  Joseph continued looking at the road ahead. He didn’t want to think about the fact that they would be shifting soon. They had discussed some boundaries but Joseph couldn’t help but still be a little worried. After all, he was able to resist the omega’s scent when they were in human form, but he wasn’t sure that he was going to be able to resist it when they were wolves.

  “We need to talk about that,” Joseph said as he pressed down on the gas.

  Wes nodded. “I figured.”

  “Listen,” Joseph said. “I know that tonight is going to be… different. I trained myself to ignore Devin, but—”

  “I’ll go into the woods.”

  “And your pack?”

  Wes closed his eyes. “I would never want to hurt your pig,” he said.

  “Yeah, but you don’t have to hurt yourself at my pig’s expense,” he replied. “We just need to come up with a plan. There is a basement in the cabin.”

  “A basement?”

  “I know,” Joseph said, shaking his head. “I know that it’s not ideal.”

  Wes sighed. “It’s okay.”

  Joseph watched him. “Really?”

  “I mean, I get it,” he said. “If I go out into the woods and my pack finds me…”

  Joseph chewed on his lower lip. “What about the woodlands on the southside?”

  “The ones past the lake?”

  Joseph nodded. “They don’t normally go that far, I take it.”

  “They don’t,” Wes replied. “But if they want to find me, and I’m by myself, I’m going to be shit out of luck.”

  Joseph nodded. He knew that Wes wouldn’t be fast enough to run away from them. omegas weren’t faster than alphas and they were almost never stronger. If Wes got caught by his alpha—whose name Joseph realized Wes hadn’t told him—then he didn’t think that he was going to be able to go back to Joseph’s house.

  He didn’t want that.

  The last thing that he wanted to worry about was Wes having to leave. He didn’t want to think about what was going to happen to Wes when he returned to his original pack.

  After all, there was a reason that Joseph had offered to let him stay. He had definitely meant that Wes could stay with him and he hadn’t regretted it for a minute. If that meant that he would have to defend him from his alpha, then he supposed that was on him.

  He would just have to make sure that he didn’t fall into the trap of wanting to mate with him. He wasn’t in heat yet—neither of them were—but the problem was that he liked Wes a lot and he could feel himself being drawn to him. But this was the reason he had trained so hard.

  He hadn’t decided that he would learn to stop himself from listening to his wolf instincts just to shoot down the first opportunity to do that. He needed to trust himself, but that was difficult around someone like Wes.

  He took a deep breath before he spoke. “You’re right,” he said. “That’s not good. If they find you, you won’t be able to—”

  “I know,” Wes said. “I don’t want to think about it. But shifting in a basement?”

  Joseph bit his lower lip nervously. “I know,” he said. “It would be cruel.”

  “But if it’s what you feel that I have to do,” Wes said, looking down at his lap.

  Joseph looked at him for a second, at his shining eyes, at the way that his shoulders were slumping forward. He couldn’t help himself, though he knew that he should have.

  Wes looked up at him and smiled, though his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Okay,” he said. “Then we'll go together.”

  “To which woods?”

  “The ones across the lake,” Joseph replied. “So that we’re not accidentally ending up in their territory.”

  Wes’ eyes widened as he took in that information. “I don’t know, Joseph,” he replied. “That sounds dangerous for you.”

  “You think I’m intimidating now? You should see me at night,” Joseph winked at him. He hoped that he was coming across more secure than he felt, because this entire thing was throwing him for a loop. He wasn’t sure how he was supposed to feel or why he was suddenly okay with putting all of his hard work at risk.

  But Wes needed help and Joseph… well, he wouldn’t have been okay with turning him down. He didn’t think so, anyway.

  Wes was watching him when Joseph caught him from the corner of his eye.

  He turned slightly, just so that he could give him a reassuring smile, but Wes was frowning, a deep worry line creasing his forehead. “Are you sure?”

  Joseph nodded. “Yes, because at least I can try to protect you then.”

  Wes continued saying nothing, which made Joseph feel like he needed to justify himself.

  “Look, Wes, I would not feel okay with letting you go and shift by yourself, especially knowing that your pack might find you and drag you back with them. After all, there’s a good reason that you’re here, right?”

  Joseph could see that Wes was biting the inside of his cheek thoughtfully. “Yes, but they might not.”

  “I know. But they might, too.”

  “But we can’t know that.”

  Joseph nodded. “You’re right. There’s no way to know that, but there are ways to mitigate risk.”

  Wes nodded. “I guess that’s true.”

  “And look, Wes,” he said, his shaky voice a dead giveaway that he cared about this way more than he was supposed to. “If I never saw you again, I would never forgive myself.”

  Wes’ expression softened and then he smiled at Joseph. “What about...”

  Joseph chuckled slightly, shaking his head. “The other thing?”

  When Wes spoke, his voice was so quiet that Joseph had to strain to hear him. “Yeah, the other thing.” Joseph cleared his throat. He was trying to convince himself as much as he was trying to convince Wes, but there was no need for Wes to know that he wasn’t nearly as sure of himself as he sounded.

  “Well, I've been training for long enough that I think I should be okay, but if I'm not, I'll make sure not to spend the night at home.”

 
“That makes sense,” Wes said. “Though the last thing I want to do is drive you away from your home.”

  Joseph pinched the bridge of his nose. “It’s just until we find a more permanent solution for you. For the time being, this makes sense, right?”

  “Right,” Wes said.

  “Just make sure that you feed Devin when I’m gone? That fucker can hold grudges like the best of them.”

  Wes giggled. “Okay, got it. Feed the pig.”

  Joseph glared at him. “And he’s not food.”

  “I know that.”

  “Do you know that at night?”

  Wes opened his mouth in mock surprise. “I promise you,” he said. “I’ll keep my dirty paws off your pet pig.”

  ***

  Before either one of them knew it, it was nighttime. They had spent so much time chatting, talking about whatever, and just enjoying each other’s company, that Joseph had been surprised at how quickly night had fallen.

  The days weren’t that short yet, and in theory, they should have both been prepared for it to happen. Luckily, as it got dark, they still had some time to get ready.

  They didn’t turn immediately once night fell, because that would have been torture, but closer to midnight.

  It was a guarantee that the humans would have already gone to bed and that the animals in the forest would be up and about, doing whatever they needed to do, so that the wolves could catch some prey.

  Not that this was going to be a hunting trip. It was going to be an exploratory one, at least for Joseph, though he supposed that Wes might already know the terrain pretty well.

  He looked at Wes, who was leaning against the car and looking up at the stars, his arms crossed over his chest. He couldn’t see him that well with his human eyes, but he could smell him, and he liked the fact that he was close. It made him feel good, like maybe this would all be okay, like maybe going out together wasn’t such a bad idea.

  Of course he still felt a draw to him, but there was something so pleasant about him too that he just wanted to make him feel good, and he thought that even his wolf form would know that it would be better to leave him undisturbed.

  He caught his reflection in the backseat’s window and smiled at all the layers that he was wearing. He needed to start doing certain things to make the shifting process easier.