The Omega's Heart (Wilde Creek Four)

by R. E. Butler

  Honey smiled in understanding. “It’s heaven considering I slept in my car the last couple of days.”

  Kammie’s eyes widened. “You slept in your car? That’s awful.”

  Adam cleared his throat. “We should get going, Kam.”

  “Oh, right.” She smiled brightly. “We’re getting ready for the full moon tomorrow and that means making sure the outside of the alphas’ house is tidy, even with all the snow.”

  “Thank you for bringing the groceries, I appreciate it. Can I pay you for them?” She looked at her purse on the floor next to the couch, wondering just how much money she had left.

  “No, of course not. Alpha Brynn said to take good care of you because you’re a guest. I wasn’t sure what kinds of things you liked, but I always crave meat around the full moon, so I brought steak and eggs and some things for later.”

  Kammie and Adam left and Honey closed the door, wandering into the kitchen to peek into the bags. On top of the restaurant sack were two cups of coffee and packets of sugar and creamer.

  “Oh bless you, Kammie,” Honey said, pulling the carrier out and quickly fixing the coffee. After eating, she re-read Stacy’s diary because it helped her feel closer to her grandmother, even though each entry filled her with sadness.

  Monday came far too quickly for Honey’s liking. After spending Sunday morning reading, she’d been invited to spend the afternoon with Brynn and Mia at Mia’s home in town. The females were sweet and friendly, and they made Honey yearn to find a place to live where she could have friends like them. The pack females hadn’t cared much about her. They were either afraid of her father or interested in bedding him. The only real friends she had were Trixie and Heidi, who she hadn’t been able to contact because she hadn’t bought a throw-away phone yet. Brynn and Mia’s kindness was going to make leaving the pack that much more difficult Tuesday. She was already half in love with the quaint town.

  A loud knock came just after nine a.m., and she was thankful she was already showered and dressed when she opened the door to find Ren standing on the metal landing.

  “I thought you’d like to go out to breakfast on your last day?”

  “Sure, let me grab my coat.”

  She tugged her coat on as she followed Ren down the steps. “Your car is fixed, by the way. I parked it outside under the awning with the keys under the driver’s side mat.”

  “Thank you so much, Ren. How much do I owe you?” She knew she didn’t have enough money on hand to pay for his work, but she could send a check to him.

  “Nothing,” he said, opening the door to a black pickup.

  She climbed in and he shut the door, joining her a moment later as he sat behind the wheel.

  She considered arguing about paying for his services, but decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth. “Thank you, Ren, for everything. You didn’t have to be so kind, but I appreciate it.”

  He glanced at her with a half-smile. “We’ve all been in a place where we could use a friendly face or some good luck after a string of bad. You didn’t do anything too crazy to your car, so it was easy enough to fix, and the apartment was sitting empty anyway.”

  “Did you used to live there?” He was a big guy. She couldn’t picture him using the small shower, let alone sleeping on the couch.

  “No, the old owner built it after he and his wife split. I have a place in town.”

  He pulled into the parking lot of Luna’s, which he said was owned by pack members. He escorted her inside and they sat down at a small booth. Two young wolf males hurried over, one handing them menus and the other bringing water glasses and coffee cups. They didn’t look more than fifteen or sixteen. Ren was the beta of the pack, and that told her that the young wolves were trying to impress him.

  A middle-aged woman came over. “Hello Ren, it’s nice to see you.”

  He smiled. “Thanks, Paula. This is Honey, she’s going to be hunting with us tonight. Paula owns the restaurant with her husband.”

  After shaking Paula’s hand, Honey said, “It’s nice to meet you.”

  “You, too. How do you like Wilde Creek?”

  “It’s great,” she said in all sincerity.

  Paula took their orders and gathered their menus, and Honey fixed her coffee with milk and sugar. She stared into the coffee, watching the dark and light colors swirl together as she stirred.

  “That coffee sure has your attention,” Ren mused.

  She looked up and smiled. “Sorry.”

  “It’s okay.”

  The silence stretched between them for a moment and then he said, “The pack meets at the alphas’ house before we hunt. Is it that way with your pack?”

  She shook her head. “We don’t meet at my dad’s house, we meet in a clearing in the middle of our hunting territory. Wyling River is about the same size as Wilde Creek, and from what Brynn told me, our packs are similar in size, too. But I take it from Brynn’s stories that your alpha is nothing like my father.”

  “Alphas have to be hard to keep things under control. Some take it further than necessary, though.”

  “That sounds like my dad.”

  “But you still ran.”

  “He wouldn’t have let me leave if I asked, and no one in the pack would stand up for me. I panicked. I felt like something was going to happen to me and it wasn’t going to be anything fun like a surprise birthday party.”

  Their food arrived and silence followed as they began to eat. The ham and cheese omelet was perfect, stuffed full of thick chunks of ham and plenty of cheddar. She smeared grape jelly on a triangle of toast and took a bite. She watched Ren as he ate. He was handsome, and obviously a nice guy since he was taking her out to breakfast. Of course, he might also be trying to hook up with her, since it was the full moon; most wolves took a ride on the horny-train on the day of the full moon, interested in hooking up with unmated pack members. Her father had never let anyone in her pack get close to her. She was forbidden from dating or even casually hooking up with pack members. It had taken going away to college before she’d had the freedom to date and hook up with males. She’d only been with three males, two from the college’s wolf fraternity and one human. None of the males had made her wolf stand up and take notice, so she hadn’t pursued a more serious relationship with any of them.

  “I’m sorry for your situation, Honey,” Ren said.

  “Me, too,” she said.

  And she really was sorry. She wished she hadn’t grown up with a distant father. She wasn’t sorry that she’d come to Wilde Creek, though. The pack members that she met gave her hope that things could be different for her if she just found a new place to live, far away from her father and the life she knew.

  It was tempting to flirt with Ren. He was handsome and kind. But it wasn’t fair for her to play with him when she was leaving in the morning; it would just make it that much harder to go. She wanted to ask Brynn to let her stay, to seek sanctuary within Wilde Creek and hide forever from her father. It wasn’t fair for her to do that, either, though — she would be bringing hell to Wilde Creek if she stayed. If Brynn or Mia or one of the other sweet wolves she’d met was hurt because of her, she’d never get over it.

  It was best if she just left town and moved on. Eventually she’d find a place to stay where she could be safe from her father finding her, and start the next chapter of her life. It would be a lonely life, but at least it would be her own, and no one would be making choices for her.

  Chapter 5

  Monday afternoon, Jeremiah finished splitting firewood for Acksel, stacking the logs against the wall. He was sweating despite the cold temperatures. He walked from the porch, picked up the axe where he’d left it on a stump, and carried it into the small shed. Sitting down on an overturned bucket, he sharpened the blade so it would be ready to be used again, and then put it away. He closed the shed and stared at the alphas’ house. Inside, Brynn and Acksel were spending the day of the full moon together. Jeremiah wasn’t a voyeur by any stretch, but he’d
been splitting wood for several hours and with his enhanced hearing it had been hard to avoid overhearing their pleasure. More than anything, it had bummed him out. The last time he’d taken a woman to bed, she’d been human and had thought he was a shifter. It had been on her ‘bucket list’ to have sex with a shifter, something he hadn’t learned until after they had sex and she asked him to shift so she could see him. She’d been furious that he couldn’t shift and stormed out of his house, calling him a liar and an asshole. That had been… a while ago.

  He was never going to have a she-wolf as a mate, he knew that much. She-wolves wanted to be with powerful males. Jeremiah might be able to fight in his human form with the best of them, but he’d never be able to hunt or protect a female or cubs in his wolf form. Leaving Wilde Creek was looking like his best option. He could forget about his wolf side until he found a woman that liked him for who he was on the inside, and then he’d explain that he wasn’t a true shifter. Someday, when they had kids, he’d have to watch and make sure that if they did happen to shift when they were teenagers, he taught them what he could about hunting and being wolves. His knowledge only went so far, though. And with his fucked-up DNA, who knew whether his kids would even ever shift?

  He glanced over the yard. In a few hours the pack would arrive. They’d shift and hunt together. The woods would be pitch black by then, the wolves all going on instinct to find animals in the cold darkness. Jeremiah would be expected to help the omegas assigned to duty that night at the alphas’ house to make dinner and serve Acksel, Brynn, and some of the highly ranked males. There were some mates now – not just Brynn but Malachi’s mate Nila and Eveny’s mate Luke – who would be included in the dinner even though they were human. Jeremiah would be like a waiter at a restaurant, a lackey who refilled drinks and washed dishes.

  His thoughts flitted to Adam, who was also miserable. But at least Adam could shift. They might both be omegas, but in spite of his burn injuries, Jeremiah thought Adam had more things going for him.

  As he looked back to the house, a knot of unhappiness settled in his gut. He didn’t want to spend the evening cooking and cleaning, he just wanted to be alone. Walking to the house, he pulled open the sliding glass door and entered the kitchen. Kammie, an omega and a sweet girl, was arranging strips of dough on top of an apple mixture in a pie plate.

  “Hi,” she said, looking up.

  He smiled at her and reached over, brushing flour off her cheek.

  “Hi Kam. The pie looks good.”

  “I’ve been practicing making crusts. Paula said if I get good enough, she’ll let me work there a few days a week making pies for their customers.”

  “Sounds like a good idea. You could open a bakery.” He thought she made excellent baked goods. He was more a main dish cooker. His baking skills involved opening cans of cinnamon rolls and placing them on cookie sheets.

  “Oh sure,” she snorted, “let me run to the bank and make a withdrawal of a few hundred grand.”

  He chuckled. “Are the alphas out of their room yet?”

  “I am. Brynn’s napping. What’s up?” Acksel asked, striding into the kitchen.

  “I’m not feeling that great. I thought I’d just head home and leave Adam to handle the dinner stuff.”

  Acksel’s brow rose. “Are you ill? I thought you didn’t get sick.”

  It was true. Even though he couldn’t shift, he still had all the bonuses of being a shifter, including the inability to catch human illnesses like the common cold. He didn’t want to outright lie, but the thought of standing around all night and watching everyone hunt when he couldn’t was just not sitting right.

  “I’m just feeling off,” he answered, careful to maintain respectful eye contact with his alpha.

  Acksel eyed him for a long moment and then said, “As long as Adam doesn’t mind carrying the workload.”

  “I’ll be here, Alpha Acksel. If he needs help I’ll step in,” Kammie offered.

  Jeremiah smiled at her in thanks. There were certainly plenty of other omegas in the pack that Jeremiah could call and ask to take his place, but Brynn was particular about who was actually inside their home and that meant he couldn’t ask just anyone.

  Acksel opened the fridge, grabbed a bottled water and a covered plate, and headed into the family room. Jeremiah felt Kammie’s eyes on his back and he turned to face her.

  Her voice was low enough that it wouldn’t carry into the other room. “Are you leaving? Is this the first step?”

  “Step?”

  “Well, you can’t just take off, right? I mean you have to really leave, like be banished, and that means you have to talk to the big dog.” Her head nodded toward where Acksel was. “Are you trying to distance yourself from your duties first?”

  “No, I’m not planning that right now. I don’t know where I’m going to go. I haven’t started packing or scouted any areas to live yet.”

  Her pretty brown eyes gazed up at him. “You don’t have to go. Maybe you’ll find your mate soon and then you’ll have a good reason to stay.”

  He snorted. “That’s a nice thought, Kam, but if it hasn’t happened yet, what makes you think it will anytime soon?”

  “I don’t know, Jer. Maybe I read too many romance novels, or maybe I like you and I want you to stick around.”

  “I like you too, Kam.”

  She smiled sadly. “We’re not mates, though.”

  It would be easier if they were, maybe. She didn’t seem to care that he couldn’t shift. In the long run, though, it didn’t matter. She’d stated it simply enough — they weren’t mates.

  “Maybe I won’t actually get a mate since I can’t shift. I might just have to find someone the old-fashioned way.”

  “Internet dating?” she quipped.

  He tweaked her side and she giggled, hopping out of reach.

  “You deserve a really strong male anyway, Kammie.”

  She glanced at his chest with an arched brow. “You’re really strong.”

  He snorted and leaned down, brushing a kiss to her cheek. “You’re sweet. I might be strong in my human form, but I’m at a disadvantage against a shifting wolf. A she-wolf needs to know that her mate can protect her in both forms. I’m only half a man.”

  Her sad smile returned and she squeezed his bicep with her small hand. “Someday we’ll both find mates who don’t think our faults make us non-mating material. I promise.”

  He liked her enthusiasm, but he didn’t believe her. Still, he wasn’t going to rain on her parade. Kammie had some issues with the scars on her body, left by her nutcase uncle, who’d tried to beat her to death more than once. She never shifted with the other wolves, always hiding in the trees and shifting alone. The she-wolves gave her a hard time for hiding herself. Saying goodbye, he headed outside and called Adam to let him know that Kammie was going to pitch in for the evening if he needed the help, and then he went home. He didn’t have plans, but maybe starting to pack was a good idea.

  Chapter 6

  Monday afternoon, the wall phone rang shrilly and Honey went to answer it. “Hi, it’s Mia. I wanted to invite you to dinner at the alphas’ home.”

  “Oh, are you sure that’s okay?”

  “Yes, Brynn asked me to call you. She would call herself, but Acksel keeps her pretty busy the day of the full moon, if you know what I mean.”

  Honey chuckled. “Sure, what time?”

  “I’ll pick you up about five. We’ll have a light dinner and then head out for the hunt. Ren said your car was fixed?”

  “Yeah, I apparently didn’t do too much damage when I was pulling wires.”

  “Well I guess that’s good news and bad news. I’m going to be sorry to see you leave.”

  “Thanks, Mia, I’m going to be sad to leave, too.”

  She was used to just walking out of her father’s house, stripping, shifting, and going hunting with the males that her father chose to accompany her. Other females went hunting in groups, but Honey had never had that luxury. F
or whatever reason, he wanted her watched over when she was in her shift. Then again, he’d always seemed to be watching her. She’d never paid much attention to it, but after reading Stacy’s diary, Honey was beginning to see her father in a new light. Stacy wrote about her worry that he would betray Honey and that he would use her for his own gain, but she never said how that would happen. It made her glad she wasn’t still living at home.

  When Honey and Mia arrived at the alphas’ home, she hung up her jacket and sniffed the air. “Wow, something smells good.”

  “The omegas probably cooked a feast,” Mia said.

  Brynn came to them and greeted them both with big hugs. “I’m so glad you could join us. How was your day today?”

  “Good, thanks,” Honey answered as Brynn led them into the family room, where males and females were milling around. She made the introductions. “You know my mate and Ren, of course; this is Nila and her mate Malachi; Eveny, Acksel’s sister, and her mate Luke; Sam our theto; Dade my future father-in-law; and Hollis, one of our elders.”

  Honey greeted the people in turn and then joined Mia and Brynn on the couch. She sniffed the air again, finding a delicious scent that made her whole body light up. It was sweet and spicy, like brown sugar and cinnamon mixed together. Looking over the trays of food on the coffee table, though, she couldn’t figure out where the scent was coming from. Maybe there were desserts in the kitchen. Honey helped herself to a sandwich and listened to Mia and Brynn discuss the pack while everyone ate.

  When they were done eating, Honey wanted to ask about the sweet smell she still couldn’t identify, but Acksel said, “It’s time to call your father, Honey.”

  All thoughts of the delicious smell fled as dread pooled in her stomach. Her father would not be happy to get a call from her. A normal father might be happy to hear that their only child was safe and being looked out for; her father was anything but normal.

  Acksel handed her his cell and she took it, glancing around the room as everyone stepped back to give them the illusion of privacy, which was silly considering all the wolves had excellent hearing.