by Hawke Oakley
Charlie and the now roused Casey took their spots at the solid cherry table. I pulled out a pan, butter, and a fresh slab of venison I’d hunted earlier that week. After slathering the meat with spices, I threw it in the pan along with some frozen vegetables. Soon the kitchen filled with the scent of warm cooking.
“Daddy, I’m hungry,” Casey said, tugging on her father’s sleeve.
“I know, dear,” he said gently. “Look, Flint is making us dinner. Make sure to thank him.”
“No need,” I grunted, flipping the meat over. “I’m just doing what anyone would do.”
“That’s not true,” Charlie commented. “The alphas in Scarlet Ridge were…” He trailed off and I understood why; he didn’t want to say too much in front of Casey. “Not so nice.”
“You’re right,” I grunted. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to dismiss your feelings.”
Charlie smiled. “Not at all.”
I set down the plates - seasoned venison pan-seared steak with sauteed vegetables on the side. I had a feeling they were both extremely hungry, but were too polite - or scared - to bring it up. My feeling was confirmed when Casey immediately perked up and started wolfing down her food. Even Charlie put aside his good manners for a moment as he shoveled the steak into his mouth. As they ate, I glanced at Charlie’s body. He was thin, and his face was a bit gaunt. The situation in Scarlet Ridge pack must have been worse than I thought.
“Do you want more?” I asked with a grin as Charlie finished.
Charlie shot me a pleading glance. “If you don’t mind,” he said politely.
“‘Course not,” I said.
After seconds were completed, Charlie and Casey finally looked sated. Casey was exhausted; her eyelids kept fluttering and she looked like she was about to fall asleep in her chair.
“I think it’s time for bed,” Charlie murmured as he scooped her up.
“If you need anything, at any time, just let me know,” I told Charlie. “I work from home, and I don’t need to wake up early, so don’t worry about waking me up in the middle of the night if you need me.”
Charlie’s gaze softened and he smiled at me. “Thank you so much, Flint. You have no idea how much this all means to me.”
Our eyes met for a moment that lasted slightly too long. I felt heat rush into my face and I quickly turned away. “Don’t worry about it. It’s the least I can do. Goodnight, Charlie.”
“Goodnight, Flint.” He swallowed thickly, like he was emotional, before closing the door.
As I headed for my own bedroom, I thought about what I’d just gotten myself into. I had an omega from a neighboring pack in my home, plus his young daughter. Normally I was a guy who liked his privacy and didn’t like going out of my way if I didn’t have to - so what happened? Why did I feel myself magnetically drawn to Charlie while I was hunting in the woods in the first place?
3
Charlie
When I woke up, sunlight was already streaming through the windows. Casey was still fast asleep beside me. The soft, clean mattress had been heavenly; I slept like a brick the entire night and for the first time in a while, I woke up actually feeling refreshed.
I got up, stretched, and roused Casey. She began to mumble but then her eyes snapped open. I knew she smelled the same scent I did - fresh blueberry pancakes.
“Morning,” Flint said as we entered the kitchen. On the table was a stack of pancakes. Casey gasped and immediately darted over to the table, where Flint had already set out a plate and cutlery for her. She giggled and began pouring maple syrup all over her pancakes before I could even sigh and thank Flint for breakfast.
“You really like to go out of your way for us, don’t you?” I said to him.
He flipped a fresh pancake with a grunt. “Not especially. I’m just doing what any good man would do. Now go have a seat before your pancakes get cold.”
I didn’t object. I couldn’t remember the last time I ate pancakes - especially not fresh blueberry pancakes cooked by a hot alpha.
I noticed the thought that just crossed my mind and shook my head. It was so not the time for thinking about such a topic.
As Casey was already halfway through her third pancake, Flint and I sat down to eat. The pancakes were heavenly - fluffy, buttery and pleasantly tart from the blueberries.
“I’m surprised you’re not a chef instead of a carpenter,” I commented to Flint.
He shrugged. “You learn a thing or two in the kitchen when you live on your own.”
I realized that earlier he’d called the room Casey and I were staying in a spare room, and I didn’t see any other indication that someone else lived here. Part of me burned with curiosity, desperately wanting to know if Flint had someone in his life or not, but I knew it probably wasn’t an appropriate question to ask.
Suddenly Casey looked up at Flint with her fork in her hand and asked bluntly, “Do you have an omega like daddy?”
“Casey!” I said, mortified.
But instead of getting offended Flint merely chuckled. “No, little one. I live on my own.”
A wave of mixed emotions washed over me. Why did I feel relieved that Flint didn’t have a mate? Anyway, it had nothing to do with me. Right now I should be focused on finding a safe, long-term situation for Casey and I, not getting the hots for some alpha I just met. I knew it was probably just my hormones, since my heat was coming up soon. Just get through this, Charlie!
“Hey, Flint?” I asked a bit nervously. “Does Indigo Mountain pack have some kind of top alpha? Do I need his permission to live here?”
But Flint stared at me in confusion. “Top alpha? What does that mean?”
“In Scarlet Ridge pack, we had alphas, betas and omegas - the usual. But there was also an alpha who controlled everything in the pack - the top alpha. He took over the role by challenging the previous top alpha in combat,” I explained. “Basically every major decision in the pack has to go through him first..”
Flint frowned. “That’s just barbaric. We don’t have anything of that sort here in Indigo Mountain, thank the Moon.”
“I see…”
“That sounds awful, though,” Flint muttered. “I can’t imagine living under someone like that and having no freedom.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” I said with a sigh. “It’s always been like that, but it got worse when Gunner took over. It’s been - “
“Daddy, I’m done!” Casey announced.
I’d almost forgotten she was there. Thankfully I didn’t go too in-depth in the adult conversation, and she seemed too enamored with the pancakes to notice anyway.
“Good for you,” I told her. “Can you be a good girl and go put your plate in the sink?”
“Okay!”
“No need for that,” Flint said. Before Casey could even jump off the chair, Flint picked the plate up for her and set it in the sink. “You’re guests here. You don’t need to do anything like that.”
Casey threw her arms up in the air. “Yay!”
I sighed but I was still smiling. “You’re going to ruin her good manners,” I told Flint.
He grinned. “She’s still a pup. She has plenty of time to learn manners, especially now that you’re not living under some tyrant.”
His words hit me in the core. For some reason, up until this point my mind hadn’t truly settled on the fact that we were safe now. No more schedules, no more strict rules, no more Gunner.
“So I really don’t have to do anything?” I asked. “I can just… walk into town and live my life normally?”
“Of course,” Flint grunted.
“That’s so… normal,” I said with a laugh.
“Sure is.” He stood up. “If you don’t mind, let me show you around. I’d like to introduce you to the pack.” In a voice only I could hear, he murmured, “No offense, Charlie, but you still have that Scarlet Ridge scent on you, so I need everyone to understand that you’re not one of them anymore.”
“I totally understand,” I
said, sighing. “I hope it doesn’t take too long for it to wear off.”
“Don’t worry. Even underneath the Scarlet Ridge stench, you have a nice natural scent. I’m sure it won’t take long.”
Am I hearing things correctly? Did he just say I have a nice scent?
Flint was already walking off to get dressed, so he didn’t see the blush creeping onto my face, which was totally fine by me.
I forced myself not to read too much into that comment. Casey and I popped back into the bedroom to get ready for the day when I realized we really did only have the clothes on our backs from our escape. I was just thinking about what to do when Flint knocked gently on the door.
“Come in,” I told him.
He peeked inside, holding out a fistful of clothes. “Figured you might need something to wear. Might be a bit big on you, though. Especially the pup.”
“Thank you,” I said, taking the green plaid shirt and jeans. They were definitely too big on me, but I wasn’t complaining; clean, comfortable clothes that smelled like Flint were all I could ask for right now.
“Just throw the dirty stuff on the floor,” he told us. “That’s what Jericho does all the time anyway. We’ll deal with the laundry later.”
Casey was drowning in the white graphic tee I’d given her. It looked more like a dress than a t-shirt.
“Look, daddy! It’s me!” she said, pointing at the wolf on the front of the shirt.
“It is you,” I agreed with a smile. “Flint knew exactly what you’d want to wear.”
She nodded seriously. “He’s smart.”
Flint, who had his back turned to us and was waiting in the doorway, let out a small chuckle. “That’s the best compliment anyone’s ever given me.”
When we were dressed - me wearing my best Flint impression and Casey in her white-wolf “dress” - Flint led us down the path that snaked down from his front porch. I gazed in awe of my surroundings. The pine and birch forest surrounding his cabin looked completely different in the daylight - rich, beautiful and lush. There was a timeless, magical quality in the air.
“This is such an amazing place to live,” I commented. “You’re so lucky.”
Flint opened his mouth for a second, then closed it before saying, “I guess I am.”
“Where are we going, Mr. Flint?” Casey asked. We held hands as we descended the trail and she swung them back and forth.
“Just Flint is fine,” he said in a gentle tone. “We’re heading into town to meet up with my hunting party. I’m going to introduce you to them properly.”
“Oh, yeah,” I said. “That’s what you were doing last night, wasn’t it?”
Flint nodded. “Yes. We do a biweekly hunt to provide for the pack’s community kitchen. Every family is allowed to take as much food as they need. Its especially useful for new alpha and omega couples with growing families, so we like to keep it well-stocked.”
“Look! There’s a butterfly!” Casey laughed, shifted to her wolf form and began chasing it down the trail. She didn’t go too far so I was fine with her having some fun.
“That’s incredible,” I said, turning back to Flint. “We didn’t have anything like that at Scarlet Ridge. You kind of just ate what the government handed out - which wasn’t really much for an omega like me.”
Flint stopped suddenly. “What does you being an omega have to do with it?” he growled. He sounded intensely angry but I knew it wasn’t directed at me.
“We’re… not exactly as privileged as betas or alphas,” I admitted. “To be honest, if you’re an omega in Scarlet Ridge, you’re a lower class citizen only good for one thing - pumping out more alphas.”
The gravity of my words sank in and Flint’s face contorted with fury. “I cannot believe that,” he growled. “That’s no way to treat anybody, omega or otherwise.”
“I agree,” I said sadly. “But that’s just the way life is there.”
Flint ran a hand roughly through his hair and sighed. “I’m sorry you had to go through that. You didn’t deserve it.”
I felt my throat tightening up. “Thank you. But as much as I hated it, there was one good thing to come out of it.”
My gaze found my daughter, who was a few yards ahead of us romping in the dirt and having the time of her life chasing bugs.
“Casey,” Flint finished.
I nodded. “Yes.”
Flint turned to me with a furrowed brow. “Her father is…?”
“I don’t know him,” I admitted. “It was an artificial insemination process. He could be anybody. Gunner’s plan was to build an alpha army, so he orchestrated every breeding in a precise way. He’s probably the only person who knows who Casey’s other father is.”
“I’m sorry,” Flint murmured.
I merely shrugged. “Thank you.”
“The alpha army thing concerns me, though,” Flint said with a frown. “What is that all about?”
“Gunner wants to expand his territory, as if he doesn’t have enough,” I mumbled. “He thinks he needs an army of slavering underlings to do it.”
Flint’s expression was worried. “I don’t like that. Scarlet Ridge isn’t too far from us. That sounds like something we should discuss with the rest of the pack.” His gaze softened. “Would you mind telling them about Gunner’s plan?”
“Of course,” I said.
Casey ran up to us, changed to human form and shoved a daisy towards Flint. It was freshly picked with dirt still dangling off the roots. “Here, Mr. Flint!”
“For me?” he asked, taking the flower. “Thank you.”
Casey beamed. “Make sure to put it in water later,” she told him.
He nodded seriously. “Of course.”
After about half an hour, we reached a wooden lodge with a metal sign hanging from the door that said Hunters Guild. It was an old building, but with solid architecture that made it look more historic than dated. The inside was like a chalet, with high ceilings and exposed wooden beams.
“This place is amazing,” I said in awe.
“It is,” Flint agreed, glancing around. “It’s actually what inspired me to become a carpenter when I was a pup.”
I smiled. “That’s really cute.”
He grumbled and blushed.
“Hey, Flint!” someone called from across a table. I vaguely recognized his voice, but not his appearance.
“Hey, Jericho,” Flint replied as we sat down with him.
So that’s his human form, I thought. He was a handsome man, with unruly windswept blond hair that was tossed to the side as if he’d just been running. He grinned at us.
“Charlie, right?” he asked.
“Yes.”
As Casey clambered onto the bench-style table, Jericho smiled at her. “And this little pup was… Casey, if I recall?”
“Yep!” she said. “But I don’t know you!”
Jericho chuckled and outstretched a hand. “Name’s Jericho.”
Casey frowned. “I’m not supposed to talk to strangers.”
I was embarrassed, but Flint, Jericho, and the other alphas at the table just laughed.
“He’s not a stranger, honey. You met him last night, remember? He was just in his wolf form then,” I explained to her.
“Ohh,” Casey said, nodding. “Okay.”
“No worries, pretty omega,” Jericho said with a lopsided grin. “You’ve got a smart pup there.”
I blushed at being called a pretty omega. From the corner of my eye, I didn’t miss the glare Flint shot at him either. Jericho just held up his hands sheepishly.
“Anyway,” Flint said firmly. I noticed that the other alphas around the table paid attention when he spoke. He had an authoritative tone to his voice without being rude or condescending. “I want to discuss a couple things with you all. First, for anyone who wasn’t part of the hunt last night, or wasn’t paying attention, we have a couple newcomers to Indigo Mountain pack.”
Flint gestured to Casey and I.
“This is Charl
ie, an omega who escaped from Scarlet Ridge pack.”
Murmurs spread instantly among the few alphas I didn’t recognize. There were four of them in total sprawled around the long table. Aside from Flint, I only knew Jericho and David by name. I tried not to notice the way David’s mouth was set tightly as he listened to Flint’s speech.
“It was brave and risky of him to escape. I know none of us are fond of Scarlet Ridge as neighbors, but from what Charlie’s told me as an insider, it’s much worse than we thought,” Flint continued with a frown. “Omegas are treated like inferior citizens and only as breeding stock. They don’t even have a right to choose their own mate - the pack has something called a top alpha, who oversees all the decisions.”
Angry growls rose among the alphas. As an omega, I was more passive about taking orders; but to an alpha, it was innately wrong. I can’t imagine how much this information must be making their blood boil.
“That brings me to my other point,” Flint said, turning to glance at me. “Charlie also told me about something their so-called top alpha is planning - an alpha army.”
“That sounds stupid,” David muttered. “If its an army, of course its going to be alphas. Omegas don’t join the army.”
I wasn’t exactly shocked that he said it; only that he said it out loud. But Flint wasn’t having any of it. His face twisted into a snarl and he snapped at David, “Keep your stupid comments to yourself. Do you really think that’s the issue here?”
As other alphas turned to look at David, he sank back with a furrowed brow and a frown. He probably wasn’t happy about being shut down like that; I hope he didn’t have any hard feelings towards Flint. But the vibe I got from the lodge was that this hunting party of alphas was a tight-knit group, like a band of brothers. I didn’t think they wouldn’t be torn apart so easily.
“What’s this alpha army all about?” asked a man with brown hair.
“Sounds like a load of crap to me, Ken,” Jericho muttered.
“I don’t know,” Flint admitted. He turned to me. “Let’s ask the expert.”
Suddenly the gaze of every alpha in the room was on me. In any other situation I would have been intensely uncomfortable; but I didn’t feel anything like that here. I trusted Flint, and that meant I trusted his hunting guild. Besides, these alphas weren’t anything like the ones in Scarlet Ridge; the fact that they already listened to what I had to say put them on an entirely different level.