“Leave off the big guy for the moment,” she insisted.
She turned to Skulls, who was lurk-creeping back up the hill toward them. “Back the fuck off, this is official business now.” She flashed her badge. “SBI, motherfucker.”
The berserker reappeared, obviously having gone off to change from bear back to man.
He was a behemoth Viking type, all blond Norse goodness. Isaac already liked his men big and this one was a particularly fine specimen. Except his eyes were blue, not chocolate, and he had that solitary warrior thing going that bear shifters seemed to cultivate. He’d a hard core without an ounce of bend to him. Not Isaac’s type in the slightest, as it turned out. Not special like Tank was special.
The woman was intriguing, Alpha to the bones, striking rather than beautiful, with a hooked nose and fierce brows. She moved like the world was irrelevant. He liked her, but wasn’t certain if that was the Omega in him or actual appeal.
It sucks to be a werewolf sometimes.
“You led us a merry dance.” She steered Isaac into the overgrown yard, eventually finding a bench with a view of the driveway. “Sit.”
Isaac sat and cocked his head. “How long you been tracking me?”
The bear grumbled. “SBI has been after you since that shit with your father’s cult. We knew Dominance Mercer had an unregistered Omega with him. Of course, we thought you were female, most Omegas are. And we had no idea you were his own fucking kid. Made it hard to find you without those piddling details.
“My partner and I got the case a few years ago when old skull and cross-buckets there tipped us off registering a male Omega as part of his pack. No record of who you were, and SBI keeps close tabs on Omegas. We know every single one in the country. You weren’t on record. His DURPS report put you at the right age to be part of the Mercer Massacre.” Agent Lenis looked irritated. “But then he fucked it up and you were in the wind again.”
Isaac nodded. “What do you need me for?”
She tugged on her ear, uncomfortable. “Well, that wasn’t why we tracked you. We knew you never had an Alpha, so government figured you needed us or, more precisely, me.”
Isaac understood. “You were sent to bite me?” He blinked. “You knew I needed it?”
“You were spliced out and scentless.” She shrugged as if it were painfully obvious. “Of course you needed it. We are all a bit awed that you lasted as long as you did. Normally Omegas are bitten at puberty, Alphas can’t resist. If not, all the shifters around start acting emotion-drunk and desperate.”
Isaac grinned. “Well, I was a bartender for shifters, hard to tell the difference.”
“But they came and found you, didn’t they? Everywhere you went.”
Isaac nodded. “That going to stop now?”
She wrinkled her nose. “It’ll tone down, but it’s likely everyone will still want to overshare. We’ve no record of an Omega lasting as long as you did without a maker bite, so it’s likely you developed a reliance on your Omega empathy. Overdeveloped the skill as a survival mechanism. Normally the effect rebounds just to pack after maker bite, but with you, who can say?”
“I might still be the best shifter-shrink-bartender in town?” Isaac knew he needed some kind of guidance. “So, what’s expected of me now? Legally, I mean.”
“You have options. You’re properly bitten, so no longer in serious danger. You smell like a pack, no scent of your own, of course, but good to the nose. Werewolf Alphas won’t go nuts around you anymore. I’m afraid, from what we know, you really can’t be a loner. Pack scent would eventually evaporate and the cycle of Alpha aggression would resume. Frankly, no werewolf does very well alone, but Omegas just suck at it. I want it clearly known, however, that if neither of these packs works for you, we’ll help get you settled wherever you like. So long as it is with some kind of pack. Mine, the government, would be delighted to have you.”
Isaac breathed out long and slow. “I have a choice?”
She crossed her arms and nodded.
The berserker rumbled, “You better believe you have a choice. No goddamn Alpha gonna steal away your free will just because of old-fashioned shifter protocols.”
“Oh my god, you are such a fucking bear.” His partner glared at him. “But yes, he’s right. Although, legally speaking, both packs do have a claim on you, you still get to pick. We just gotta make sure you’re not doing so under duress. Speaking of, is Mr Depeine your mate?”
“Does that qualify as duress? It’s like a minute old, this thing between us. But yes, I think so. I hope so. And that’s the best thing happening to me right now, not the worst.”
She looked annoyed. “He’s hardly worthy.”
“Fuck off.” Isaac stood prepared to walk away.
“Whoa, there. Okay, perhaps he has hidden gifts.”
“Damn straight. Or, not so straight.” Isaac looked at the bear shifter. “Why do wolves have to make everything about rank?”
“I know, right?”
“Fine.” Lenis gave a funny little bow. “Forgive me my judgey Alpha nature. Can we get back to what we’re going to do with you, Mr Lone Omega?”
“I’m not alone. I have a pack now.” Isaac kind of liked saying that.
“And they didn’t coerce you? At all?”
“They didn’t. They took huge steps not to. Alec starved himself to prove it.”
Lenis sniffed. “I’m sure it was all very noble. And the previous Rocky claim was unwanted and unwarranted?”
“Entirely.”
“I need to formally remind you that a claim must be acknowledged by both parties, and the proper paperwork filed with your local DURPS. If you say it was coercion, then Alpha Frederiksen can’t hold you and neither can Alpha Skulls. We aren’t savages. No matter what anyone thinks.”
“Fine. Yes. I understand. But can I stay here, with the San Andreas Pack?”
She looked at him, thoughtful. “Is that what you really want?”
“Yes, it is.” In saying those words, as if they were a vow, Isaac felt some kind of settling in his own mind. It was as if his acknowledgement was casting out tethers of its own, knitting him to this place and these people.
“It’s a powerful pack, what with the Magistar and everything.” Lenis looked concerned. “You’re sure you aren’t being unduly persuaded?”
Isaac winced. He would have to explain himself. He’d been running, and apparently, they’d been chasing, for a decade. He couldn’t stop running without suspicion.
“I love my job here. I like this area and I’ve even made my own friends outside of pack, human friends. I know this pack seems weird and overwhelming, but they’re kind. And fuck, I need that. I would like to try staying still for a change.”
Alpha Lenis looked at him. He thought there was a little disappointment in her face. Perhaps she really had wanted an Omega of her own. “Okay, then, you stay. Follow my lead with the Rocky Mountain Pack, alright? It’ll be a delicate business extracting you. It has to be done with no possibility of reprisal.”
Isaac nodded. It was a big thing for her to ask of him, that he trust a strange government Alpha, but he liked her. And for once he decided he’d trust his instincts.
“And for fuck’s sake, get your official local papers in order. You know how bureaucracy works, nothing means anything until the forms are filled out.” Agent Lenis sounded annoyed with life.
Isaac remembered that Max had connections at DURPS. “I don’t think we’ll have too many problems there.”
“Well, do it right away, okay?”
“Okay, Alpha.”
Her big berserker partner was grinning at them.
“What’s your name, by the way, bear dude?” wondered Isaac.
“Faste, Agent Faste.”
“Cool. Nice, uh, you know, tossing back there.”
“Thanks, man.”
“You don’t really enjoy it, though, do you, fighting?”
“Na
w, but when you’re big and have my upbringing, you learn to toss with the best of them. My old man used to say…” He petered off. “Dude. Wow. That’s insane. I just wanna talk to you about everything.”
Isaac winced. “Sorry. Omega-thingy.”
“Don’t take this wrong, but that shit’s creepy.”
“Enough chit-chat, boys.”
“Oh, when you’re talking, it’s okay?” Faste joshed her.
Agent Lenis stood and led them back to the driveway, where a pseudo- standoff was in play.
The Rocky Pack was sitting and glaring at Alec and Judd. Max was slouched on the steps leading up to his apartment eating a bag of gummy wolf candy, biting the heads off with relish and staring hard at Skulls. Bryan was checking the enemy pack’s wounds, although not healing any of them. Some had burns from Max, while others had bites and scratches from Judd, Lovejoy, Mana, and Isaac.
Isaac was weirdly proud. He’d fought as a wolf and as an Omega. And he’d done damage, even though he’d no idea what he was doing. He was also ashamed – it was not in him to hurt others like that. Administer discipline for mutual satisfaction in bed, sure, but not in battle.
He looked down at his hands and wondered at the strength in them.
Agent Faste said, “Alpha Skulls. The government recognizes your claim.”
The Rocky Mountain Alpha stood up and smirked.
The berserker turned to look at Alec. “Alpha Frederiksen, the government recognizes your bite. You are commended on your self-control in the face of temptation, and we’re pleased no damage was done to an unwilling Omega. Your claim is also recognized.”
Alec walked over to stand near Isaac.
Isaac was terrified. This was not what he’d been led to expect.
Alec opened his mouth but the bear shifter put up his hand.
“Wait. Let me finish. After due discussion we have determined that the Rocky Mountain claim was filed in error. Prior consent was not obtained from the Omega in question. The claim will be recorded as kidnapping cover-up and marked illegal in the territory of record. The government may decide to file criminal charges as a result.” He looked viciously pleased as he said that and Skulls looked a hell of a lot less smug.
The bear shifter continued. “Accordingly, the Rocky Mountain Pack’s presence in San Andreas territory is also illegal. Alpha Frederiksen may file a motion for removal, or he may challenge to defend his border. Given that there has already been bloodshed, we are shortening the grace period to one hour.”
Alec looked thoughtful.
Agent Lenis spoke then, Alpha confidence in her tone. “We have determined Omega Mercer capable of making his own decision and uncorrupted by his circumstances.”
Someone, Isaac thought it might be Mana, snorted rudely at that.
The female Alpha looked at Isaac. Her eyes were for him alone. “So make your decision, Omega. Rocky Mountain Pack or San Andreas?”
Isaac didn’t even pause. “San Andreas.”
She nodded, a tiny smile teasing her lips. “Alpha Skulls, you are dismissed.”
“Wait. What?”
Agent Faste explained as if to a bratty child. “SBI has the power to act as adjudicator in cases of shifter-on-shifter conflict. You and yours should go now. Without the Omega.”
“Fuck that noise!” Skulls really had no subtlety.
Agent Lenis kept her expression bland, even as she bared her teeth. “You are in the territory of another pack with no valid claim and no broker for safe transit. You have an hour to get out.” She turned ostentatiously to look at Alec.
Alec’s grin was feral. “Alpha Skulls?”
The Rocky Mountain Alpha looked at him, dazed and frustrated and angry, as everything he wanted slid seamlessly though his paws.
Alec growled. “Get. Off. My. Fucking. Land.”
“I’ll kick your goddamn ass.”
Alec was not the kind of Alpha who felt he had anything to prove. He only gestured with his chin.
“I don’t think you formally met my family, did you? My brother and Beta, Bryan. My brother-in-law, his mate Max, our Magistar. Ever met a werewolf familiar before?”
Max stood, lazily chewing a gummy, and stepped forward. Bryan joined him, prepared to shift.
Skulls looked at them a long moment. Then he looked at Isaac.
Isaac said, “No. You can’t keep me, and you never will.”
Bryan shifted.
Max buried one hand in his familiar’s thick cream-colored fur. He dropped the bag of candy and raised his other hand up.
Coolant smell filled the air, quintessence eddied around them. Max’s open hand filled with blue flames.
“Shoo fly,” said Max.
The Rocky Mountain Pack fled.
“Well, shit. I didn’t even get to throw it at them.” Max let his blue flame spiral up into the night where it cracked out of existence, the energy returning to its liminal state. “And I spilled my gummies. Isaac, you owe me gummies.”
“Done,” said Isaac.
Bryan shifted back to human and smiled softly. He would be pleased, sensed Isaac, that they had not had to hurt anyone again.
Mana said, “It’s just all go go go with you lot, isn’t it?”
“Werewolves,” said Agent Faste, as if that explained everything.
“Agents? Would you like to come inside for tea?” asked Bryan.
“Come on, Max,” said Alec, “I’ve got more gummies in the kitchen.”
“Yeah!” said Max.
Isaac went to Tank. His lover’s eyes were unexpectedly sad and confused.
“Thank you for staying. For choosing us.” Tank spoke carefully, as if the words hurt.
I chose you, not just pack. Isaac wanted to say. Don’t thank me for this. Look at what I did. Look at you, injured defending me. That’s my fault, I brought this on you. Instead he flinched and nodded. “Let’s get you inside, baby.”
* * *
Of course, Tank was so weak he had to be helped into the house. He couldn’t even do that right. Isaac was at his shoulders and Judd at his feet. Tank hated it. He’d gone from feeling useless to feeling worthless.
Bryan carried Lovejoy. Mana actually looked quite worried. Tank had always thought she didn’t allow herself the luxury of concern. But then again, he vaguely remembered her actually fighting alongside them at one point. A white fox, vicious and oddly powerful for all her size.
She’d managed to shift from fox to human without anyone the wiser and was back to being fully clothed and entirely made up in a way that Isaac suspected had something to do with savage mage-craft because no one could just shift into false eyelashes like that. No one.
Tank found himself on the big couch and he looked around at the rest of his pack. He lost his self-pity briefly for concern. Worried that he couldn’t quite remember who’d been there, and who’d fought, and who just wasn’t home yet.
“Where’s Colin?”
“He’s at school, thank fuck.” Judd had come through their ordeal none the worse for wear and quietly pleased with a battle in the manner of most enforcers. Tank envied him his confidence.
“Kevin?”
“He wasn’t here, Tank, remember? He’s working tonight.” That was Isaac’s voice.
Isaac was kneeling next to him. Isaac who’d chosen to stay with the pack, but who’d seen him fail them all. Isaac who was beautiful and special and Omega and too good for him and too close and it hurt a lot in a way that made Tank wish for more physical pain from his wounds, so they might distract him.
Tank didn’t want to think about Isaac, so he kept worrying about his pack. “Is Alec okay? Did he have to fight that asshole? And Bryan, is Bryan here? Oh, wait. Bryan was healing us. He didn’t do too much, did he?”
Isaac again, his voice clogged, “Everyone is fine, baby. Lovejoy took a few hits but he’s on the couch next to you. You’re the worst off. Everyone else is fine.”
Tank shut his
eyes.
Isaac was petting him now, just one finger down the side of his face, but that hurt too. He flinched away.
“Can I get you anything?” Isaac said.
Tank wanted to ask him to leave, but Isaac had chosen the pack, so he was staying. He needed to stay somewhere, to belong somewhere. Tank wasn’t good enough to be part of that deal. Isaac should find someone better. Stronger.
“Let him rest, honey. Come sit by me.” Thank you, Mana.
Tank got brave and cracked his lids in time to see Isaac reluctantly go sit on the other couch with Lovejoy, where Mana perched elegantly on the arm, keeping a careful eye on her lover.
Tank suspected she was tense because the two trappers had joined them. She wasn’t the type to relax around strangers.
The trappers looked uncomfortable.
Bryan was attempting to make them feel welcome with tea. “Chamomile with honey for the bear.”
“Thank you,” rumbled Agent Faste.
“And pu-erh for the lady, after my own heart.”
Agent Lenis took her stinky beverage with an inclination of the head.
Bryan disappeared again, returning to distribute mint tea to his brother, who sat in one of the armchairs, and a glass of some cloudy liquid to Mana, which Tank supposed was kombucha. Kitsune had a weird love of the foul stuff.
Bryan looked at the Omega. “Isaac?”
“Nothing for me, thanks. But Tank and Lovejoy? Should they have broth or something?”
“Broth?”
“You know, like wholesome bone broth full of nutrients to help them heal.”
Bryan chuckled. “I’ll get them milk if it’ll make you feel better.”
“Can I have the gin?” asked Lovejoy.
“Milk,” said Bryan firmly.
Tank knew better than to protest. If Isaac and Bryan wanted him to drink milk, he’d drink the whole gallon.
Alec cleared his throat. “So that’s it. Isaac stays with us?”
“Omegas can’t be loners. You see what kind of shit happens,” said Agent Lenis. “So long as you can guarantee that if he chooses to leave, he’ll go to another pack, then our work here is done. Just, please, register him with DURPS immediately.”
The Omega Objection Page 26