“Always good to have a pair of strong, healing hands around, huh?” the Alpha asked, his hands sliding upwards as he stood until they rested on Matt’s shoulders. He helped him turn around.
Matt looked up as he turned, holding Zack’s gaze. He could see the arousal in Zack’s eyes and knew it was reflected in his own. He wasn’t in heat but he still wanted the Alpha. Wanted to feel those hands on his body, feel Zack inside him.
Zack stepped forward, bringing his head close to Matt’s. Their lips met and Matt pushed closer, wrapping his arms around Zack as the Alpha’s hand pressed against the back of his head. Zack deepened the kiss, pushing his tongue into Matt’s mouth as his hands slid lower.
The Alpha pulled back with a sigh, resting his forehead against Matt’s.
“This isn’t fair. On either of us. You’ve made your intentions clear and so have I.” He pressed another hungry kiss to Matt’s lips and Matt relished the contact as his skin tingled.
“I can’t promise you anything. If we do this now, it will just be sex, not bonding and we won’t even have your heat as an excuse.”
“I don’t mind,” Matt whispered, pressing closer and feeling Zack grow hard against him.
“I do,” Zack replied, with one last slow kiss to Matt’s lips before he pulled away with reluctance.
“You could change your mind. We’d be good together.”
Zack choked back a laugh. “An exile and a runaway, a real-life fairytale. Those don’t end well, Mattie, trust me.”
He pushed past Matt, getting out of the shower and reaching for a towel to dry off. Matt leaned against the shower door, watching him.
It wasn’t fair. The Alpha was everything Matt wanted and Matt was sure he could be everything Zack wanted. Couldn't they give it a chance?
Zack tightened the towel around his waist and looked up, dark eyes meeting Matt’s. “God, you have that kicked puppy look down pat. I am right, though, even if you don’t agree. You don’t want sex, you want a bond. I’d be taking advantage of you. And that’s not who I am.”
He walked out, leaving Matt alone. Sighing, his lower lip trembling, he turned his face back into the spray of water, letting it wash away his tears.
Chapter Ten
Zack went out after the rogue, followed his trail for a few miles until he was certain the rogue wasn’t doubling back. He returned to the house to find Matthew cooking in the kitchen.
“He’s gone. I doubt he’ll be back, but just to be on the safe side, you’ll want to be thinking about moving on in a few days.”
Matthew nodded in acknowledgment but kept his eyes on the pot of pasta he was cooking. Zack knew there was nothing he could say that would make this right. He couldn't give Matt what he wanted.
Things remained tense between them for the next day. Zack contrived to spend as much of his time as possible out of doors, checking for any trace of the rogue and getting through his work-list. There weren’t many new jobs on the list, most of the holiday traveling having petered out.
He was cursing himself for having let things with Matthew go so far the previous evening. Sure, his adrenaline had been pumping after the fight with the rogue and afterward the urge to keep Matthew close had been impossible to resist.
But he felt like he’d shattered the Omega’s dreams all over again when he’d pulled away, admitting that sex was all he had on his mind when he knew that Matt still hoped for a bond. He was nowhere near ready for the commitment, not to mention the kind of trouble bonding a runaway Pack Omega would bring.
Stomping through the snow, he made his way back to the cabin. He’d driven out to stock up on groceries, seeing as two of them eating had depleted his supplies quicker than expected. He knew the second he came within sight of the cabin that something was amiss but the scent carried on the wind wasn’t that of the rogue, it was entirely too familiar. Derek.
Matt was coming to terms with his second rejection at Zack’s hands in only a matter of days. He’d thought, when the Alpha hadn’t been able to keep his hands off him, that maybe things had changed. But tricking Zack into bonding wasn’t going to work either. He wanted Zack to bond with him because that’s what the Alpha truly wanted. And now Zack didn’t trust himself when it came to Matt, avoiding him as much as possible.
There were footsteps in the snow. It was too early for Zack to be back. Matt was on his feet and moving to the window. If it was the rogue, he’d run.
“Zack, it’s Derek,” a voice called. Matthew’s heart went cold. Zack’s ex? Here?
He went to the door, opening it slowly as the man approached. There were a few seconds for him to get a good look at the approaching stranger. Derek was taller than him but shorter than the average Beta. He had straight, short dark hair that contrasted his light blue eyes, eyes that were cold as they took in Matthew’s presence.
“Hello.” He looked Matthew up and down, clearly unimpressed by what he saw. “And you are…”
“Zack isn’t here.”
“But he lives here, right?”
Matthew nodded.
“And he’ll be back…”
“Later,” Matt replied tersely, folding his arms.
“Well, he won’t mind if I come in and wait,” the other wolf said, pushing past Matthew and into the cabin.
Matthew followed him inside, shutting the door.
The expression of distaste on Derek’s face extended past Matthew to the cabin as he took in the small living room and peered into the kitchen.
He turned to survey Matt again before remarking under his breath. “Figures Zack would have taken in a stray.”
“I’m not a stray,” Matthew said, narrowing his eyes. “And if the furnishings aren’t to your taste, you can wait for Zack outside.”
Derek laughed, a twisted sound. “Big words for a child.” His nostrils flared. “And an Omega child at that? Tell me, you’re not angling after Zack, are you? You’re no match for him, boy.”
He bristled at the words, hating how his cheeks burned.
“I’m not a child. And you’re not welcome here.”
“I’ll wait to hear that from Zack himself, if you don’t mind,” Derek said, taking a seat on the couch and crossing his legs. “Are you going to offer me refreshments or do I have to go rummaging through that dingy kitchen?”
When Matt glared at him, he tutted. “You might want to show more respect to the son of a Pack Alpha. A word in my father’s ear and every Pack and Enforcer across the country will be hunting you.”
At Derek’s threat, Matthew turned away to hide his expression, walking to the window to look and listen out for Zack’s return.
“You’re not bonded, are you?” Derek commented, in a tone that suggested disinterest. “That’s unusual, or so I’m told. Omegas are still so rare these days.”
Something in Derek’s voice set a sense of unease growing inside Matt. He turned to see an oddly calculating look on the wolf’s face that was quickly replaced with a bland politeness.
A sound from outside caught his attention and Matthew’s shoulders sagged in relief when he caught sight of Zack hurrying towards the cabin.
“Why don’t you step out and give us some privacy,” Derek said from behind him, his oily voice sending a shiver across Matthew’s skin.
Matthew walked to the door, meeting Zack just outside.
“You have a visitor,” he said, as he walked past him, not pausing even as the heard the Alpha call his name.
A moment later, he heard Derek’s voice. “Zack. It’s been far too long.”
Matthew knew he should just keep walking. Run, get away, find somewhere else to be, but he couldn’t keep himself from slowing to a stop just within earshot. Zack and Derek were unlikely to be paying attention to how far away he was, they’d be too wrapped up in each other.
He missed their first few words over the thumping of his heart.
“What are you doing here, Derek? How did you even find me?”
“You weren’t easy to find, Zack, b
ut I have connections. As for why I’m here. I would have thought that was obvious… I miss you.”
“Why now, after all this time?” The doubt in Zack’s voice was clear.
“I had to wait, didn’t I? Too soon and I’d draw suspicion. They’ve been watching me closely since you left. It’s only now that I’m safely mated that they’ve taken their attention elsewhere.”
“You’re mated?”
“Yeah. To one of the Alpha’s daughters from Foxdale. You remember Molly, right?”
“Right. Are you… are you two happy?”
Derek made a sound of exasperation.
“Happy? I’ve done my duty, as my family demanded. It was the only way to get them off my back without losing everything.”
“Except me,” Zack pointed out and the hurt in his voice was so raw that it tugged at Matt’s heart.
“Do you think that’s what I wanted? But what kind of a life would we have had out here? Look at where you’re living. The company you’re keeping. You can’t tell me this is living.”
“It’s better than living a lie.”
“You don’t really mean that.”
“Don’t tell me what I mean, Derek,” Zack argued. “You lost that right months ago.”
“You’re right, I’m sorry,” Derek’s voice was contrite. “I came here to apologise for wronging you. And to see if there was anything still between us. There hasn’t been a day that’s gone by that I haven’t thought about you. Wondered how you were doing, if you were okay. Wondered if you still love me as much as I love you.”
“So you come here now, when you already have a mate, when you’ve started a family in the Pack while I’m trapped here, never able to go home.”
Derek’s reply was softer, hard to hear.
“You know that’s never what I wanted for us. But we have to make the best of the reality of our lives now. I came here hoping we could rekindle things. I’ve got permission from my father to study for part of the year, something to benefit the Pack business. I’ll be keeping an apartment outside of Pack territory. Molly will be staying home, with the Pack. You could live there with me. We’ll have to be careful but we’d be together.”
Matthew sank slowly to the ground as he listened. He could imagine how tempting an offer that would be for Zack. The emotion in his voice made it clear his feelings for Derek still ran deep.
“Of course. Maybe I’ve got things wrong. Maybe you’ve moved on. I mean, you’re living with another man and all,” Derek said.
Matthew lifted his head, waiting with bated breath for Zack’s reply.
“It’s not like that. He’s only been here a few days. I found him half-dead in the snow.”
“You always were a good samaritan. But you know the wilds are no place for an Omega. It isn’t safe. Unless you plan to bond with him, and even then, you’d be unsafe outside of the protection afforded by a Pack.”
“No, we’re not bonding. Him staying here is just a temporary thing, while he gets back on his feet.”
“You know, we could help him and help both of us at the same time.”
That sense of unease in Matthew’s chest grew as he recalled the look in Derek’s eyes when he had realised Matt was unbonded.
“An unbonded Omega, well, he’s something no Pack would sneer at. If you brought him to my father, for safekeeping, to find him a suitable mate, that would go a long way towards repairing things. He’d restore your family’s secondary Alpha lineage, you’d get to go home. We’d still have to be discrete, of course, and you’d have to bond as well to keep up the pretense, but we could be together, long-term, not just for a few years while I complete some study. You’d be back to your family, you’d be among Pack. And that Omega out there, he’d be safe in the hands of our Pack.”
Matthew had heard enough. He didn’t believe a word from Derek’s lips. If his own family were willing to hand him off in return for a good trade deal, what would strangers do with him?
He took off into the forest.
Chapter Eleven
Meeting Derek again was like someone shoving an ice pick through his heart. Hearing his voice, his familiar scent accosting him, it brought back all those feelings that he had buried under anger and betrayal.
Derek’s offer was what he’d wished for since his exile; companionship, the chance to avoid the loneliness he’d been saddled with.
But Zack had had months to analyze their relationship, their every interaction and Derek’s choices. For the first time in years, he’d seen them in a fresher light. So, when Derek proposed handing over Matthew in exchange for Zack’s return to the Pack, it confirmed the selfish, manipulative streak in Derek that Zack’s months of introspection had highlighted.
Derek was never the one to take the risks or make the hard choices. It had always been Zack. Zack who’d arrange their meetings, Zack who’d leave first, ensure no-one was around to see them before texting Derek that the coast was clear. It was he who’d taken more and more chances at Derek’s behest until they were caught.
And, when it came down to it, it was he who’d put their relationship above the good of his family, right to the end, while Derek had given him up at the first hurdle and let Zack take the fall for their joint decisions. It was no surprise that he’d be willing to use an innocent wolf like Matthew for his own ends. It wasn’t about him really, Zack had begun to realize. Derek was bored with his new life, his new mate. He wanted the convenience of having Zack to hand, either in an apartment outside the Pack or back in the Pack, where they wouldn’t be so closely watched once they were both mated. And Zack would again be at Derek’s beck and call, to assuage his boredom.
But how far would Derek really be willing to go? Zack wanted to find out.
“I don’t think Matthew is going to come with us willingly.”
Derek, clearly encouraged by Zack’s contemplation of his offer, stepped forward, letting his hand rest on Zack’s arm.
“You rescued him, he’s grateful and trusting. I’m sure, with a little persuasion from your side, he’ll agree to come with us.”
“I don’t think so. He just escaped an arranged mating; he won’t want to walk right into another.”
He rested his hand on top of Derek’s, savouring the close contact even as his stomach churned waiting for Derek’s response.
“Well, he’s no match for the two of us, is he? If we have to be more than persuasive, well, it’s for his own good. Wild zones like this are no place for an unbonded Omega.”
“You want to take him to your father by force?”
“I’m sure Matthew will be quick to see the futility of trying to fight us. He’ll come quietly.”
“And so will I, right?”
Derek seemed surprised by the change in Zack’s tone.
“That’s what you want, isn’t it? Me, at your beck and call. The convenience of having me somewhere close by for when you get bored and want to release some tension. This is nothing to do with you trying to make up for what you’d done. This is just you being your usual selfish self and to hell with the consequences for anyone else.”
“Zack, please.” Derek stepped towards him as Zack moved back.
“Your father isn’t going to be kind to Matthew. He’s not going to give him the choice of who he wants to mate. You and I both know what he’s like.”
“Why do you care so much?” Derek’s face twisted, an ugly expression. “You just met him. He’s nothing to you. I am. I’m your true love. Who cares what happens to him? What’s an Omega for these days except to be mated and bonded by whoever can pay the most? Do you think anyone else is going to go out of their way to champion his welfare? He’ll be taken care of, wherever he ends up. Omega are valuable, seeing as they’re still so rare.”
Zack took another step back, putting more distance between them.
“You were.”
Derek paused, frowning.
“You were my true love. Now you’re just the Pack Alpha’s coward son who betrayed me, betrayed m
y family. Any love I had for you died months ago. All that’s left is an echo.”
“You can’t mean that, Zack. I came all the way here for you.”
“No, you came here for you, at your convenience. Where were you all those months I was alone?”
“Zack, please.” Derek reached for him again and Zack slapped his hand away.
“Get out. Go and don’t come back. You’re not welcome. And keep your mouth closed about Matthew. He’s not your concern.”
Speaking of Matthew, where was he? How much had he overheard?
He pushed past Derek, ignoring whatever the other wolf was saying, and made for the door. Outside, he jogged through the snow following Matthew’s footprints and scent.
Here. He’d stopped here, the footprints deeper. The tracks leading on were shallower, the stride longer. Matthew had run.
It was easy to put the pieces together. Matt had stopped, listened to their conversation, then run when he’d heard Derek’s plan. Had he stayed long enough to hear Zack’s response? Unlikely, as Zack couldn’t hear him in the distance. He’d had time to cover some ground. And there was still a risk the rogue was out there somewhere. Damn. Matthew was running headlong towards a bad ending worthy of a fairytale.
Zack raced off after him, distantly noting Derek was calling his name. But it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered at that moment except finding Matthew and keeping him safe.
Only a few minutes after he’d run from the cabin and Matthew was lost. Unlike the familiarity of Pack lands, these woods were a maze he couldn’t navigate. Was this the way he and Zack had gone the day before? He didn’t think so. He needed to find a road, find transport, and get very far away. He could hitchhike, couldn’t he? An oblivious human might take pity on him and get him to the nearest town. And from there… well, he’d just have to work things out as he went.
A sound ahead of him slowed his pace. It wasn’t human. A blur streaked through the trees, loping towards him. Wolf. It stopped a few feet in front of him, letting out a low growl.
Matthew backed away, watching the wolf carefully. He was a shifter but his scent didn’t match the rogue's.
The Alpha's Wish: Lost Omegas Book Three: A M/M Shifter Romance Page 5