The Human Omega

by J. L. Wilder

  “Then I’ll take another Omega and we can be done with this ridiculous mess,” Hawk shouted.

  As one, every pair of eyes in the clearing locked on Hawk. Several low growls rolled through the darkness as some Pack members expressed their displeasure with this plan.

  Hawk glared at the Pack. “Who dares growl at their Alpha? Do you want to stand up? Be considered? Come and face me!”

  He realized what he’d said half a heartbeat after the words left his lips. Hawk held up his hands to stop the sudden forward movement among the Pack.

  “Wait. That’s not an invitation for an open challenge. I misspoke.” He turned to face the council. “There’s no precedent for an open challenge, right? We don’t do that. Right?”

  Kiedra watched the pulse shudder and thump at the base of Hawk’s neck. She knew that if she could see it’s frantic movement from where she stood, the Pack could hear it’s rabbit-fast thuds. More and more restless rustling came from the gathered Pack members. They sensed weakness, something wolves feed on.

  The council members stood up and Roland crossed to conference with them. After several tense, whispered exchanges, the council ranged out to a line, facing the Pack.

  “He’s right. There’s no precedent for an open challenge. The Whiteridge Clan has never faced anything like this before.” Charlie scowled at Hawk. “We have agreed that as the winner of the Contest, Hawk should be permitted the opportunity to choose an Omega that he could mate with for the good of the Pack.”

  Leslie squealed and rushed out of the knot of people standing closest to Hawk. She wrapped herself around him, clinging like a spider monkey to his back.

  Hawk shook her off, stepping away. “What the hell is wrong with you, Les?”

  “You promised! You swore it was going to be me the first time. Are you a man of your word or not, Hawk?” Leslie demanded.

  Hawk’s mouth opened and closed a few times before he realized how well and truly trapped he was. He couldn’t admit to not keeping his word. Not in front of the entire Pack. That meant he couldn’t choose someone other than Leslie, no matter who he’d had in mind.

  As Hawk opened his mouth to agree with Leslie, Kiedra felt Axe come to stand at her side. He squeezed her hand before he stepped in front of her.

  “The question of Hawk’s integrity is something I have to address with the council and the Pack.”

  “What do you mean?” Brian asked.

  “I mean I am accusing him of cheating during the Contest.”

  “You’ve lost your damn mind, Axe,” Hawk spat. “I didn’t cheat.”

  Brian held his hand up for silence and stood between Hawk and Axe. He glanced at and dismissed Hawk before focusing on Axe.

  “Son, I know you’re disappointed and you and Kiki have had a hell of a week, but is this something you’re sure you want to do?”

  Axe nodded. “I’m positive. The Pack deserves better than him for Alpha. He tried to deceive the Pack once already by choosing an Omega based on greed rather than bonding. If he was willing to throw away generations of tradition and the magic that is part of who we are, why wouldn’t he cheat to put himself in the position where he could claim Kiedra for her money?”

  A whisper ran around the Greensward. Roland stood and addressed the Pack.

  “You’ve heard the accusation. Is there anyone who can be a witness for either the accuser or the accused?”

  Another rumble of whispered conversation moved through the gathered Pack members, but no one stepped forward. Kiedra caught movement out of the corner of her vision and turned to see Thorn and Decker standing together in heated conversation with their mother. Mrs. Powell shook her head again and again, but it was obvious neither of the twins were listening to her objections.

  Roland nodded once. “If there are no witnesses, the matter must be decided by combat.”

  Hawk’s eyes bulged from his head. “Dad, you can’t be serious,” he began. “I already beat him once.”

  “Then it should be no problem for you to beat him again,” Roland said. His voice lay heavy on the night air. Kiedra wanted to go to him, to give him comfort, but she knew that was the last thing he wanted. He was standing for his Pack, maybe for the last time in his life. She had to let him do so on his own no matter how much she knew Roland needed support and help.

  Hawk shook his head and stomped his boot-clad foot. “I won’t do it. You and the council have done everything you could to stop me from taking my rightful place as Alpha and I’ve had enough.” He turned his back on the council and his father to address the Pack.

  “I am the Alpha, made so by Contest and tradition. The Pack needs this matter to be settled. I will choose my Omega and we will end this, now.”

  He held his hand out to Leslie, who ran to his side to wrap her arms around his waist. She clung to him like a burr and cast proprietary looks at the women who had stood by her side in the first group of possible Omegas.

  “The Alpha has spoken,” Leslie declared. “This ends now. I will be his mate, his wife, and his Omega. The next generation of Pack will come from us.”

  Leslie turned her hard gaze to Kiedra, who read the warning in her look. “If anyone has reason to object, this is your last chance.”

  Axe glared at Hawk. “You know my objection.” He looked to the council members. “Will it be dismissed without consideration?”

  “They have no say,” Hawk exclaimed.

  “The hell we don’t,” Olivia said. She stood and joined Roland. Heather, Brian and Charlie did the same. They stood as one as members of the Pack moved to stand with them.

  The first to move were the other contestants. Damien, Thorn, and the Powell twins stood, arms crossed over their chests. Other Pack members took their places, choosing either to stand with Hawk or with the council. Only Hawk’s cronies, men and women he’d been getting drunk with most of his life, stood with him. The rest of the Pack chose the council, and by default, Axe.

  Kiedra grasped Axe’s hand, pulling on it to get his attention.

  “Are you certain? You don’t have to do this anymore.”

  Axe kissed her, brushing her hair out of her face. “I’m positive. We need the strongest Alpha to keep the Pack healthy.” He cocked a thumb toward Hawk. “He’s not what the Pack needs.”

  “What happens if he loses?” Kiedra asked.

  Heather spoke for the council. “The loser will be abjured.”

  “Hell no,” Hawk said, shaking his head. “I’m not doing this.”

  “That’s your choice.” Roland’s deep voice seemed to echo in the clearing. “You can accept Axe’s challenge and prove you’re worthy to be Alpha, or you can decline the challenge and be the lowest of the Pack.”

  “No. I don’t have to do this. I won the Contest. I am Alpha.”

  Roland grasped Hawks shoulders, pulling him in close and leaning down to speak softly in his son’s ear.

  “You’re not Alpha if I don’t step down. You made this mess, now you’re going to live with the consequences.” Roland released the younger man and addressed the Pack.

  “Am I your Alpha?” he bellowed.

  The Pack chorused their answer with only a few who refused to speak up. “Yes, Alpha!”

  “Then I say the challenge has been issued. Axe has made the accusation that Hawk cheated when he competed in the Contest. What say you, Hawk?”

  Hawk crossed his arms over his chest, hugging himself and shaking his head. “I didn’t cheat.”

  Roland nodded. “Then the accuser and the accused will engage in combat. The winner will be the next Alpha. The loser will be abjured, become invisible to the Pack. Agreed?”

  “Agreed, Alpha,” Axe said.

  Hawk threw up his hands, “Whatever. This is ridiculous. Nothing I say makes any difference.”

  Axe extended his hand to Hawk. “I want what’s best for the Pack, Hawk. How about you?”

  Hawk glared at Axe’s hand before turning away. He crossed through his supporters to an area on the edg
e of the clearing. Axe sighed and dropped his hand.

  “Human forms only,” Roland declared. “If you change, you lose. Even a partial change will end the fight.”

  The Pack spread out around the clearing. Someone threw more wood on the fire. In the flare of light, Kiedra saw the look in Hawk’s eyes. The fury made her breath catch in her chest.

  “What is it?” Axe asked.

  “He’s going to try to kill you.”

  Axe looked across the clearing to where Hawk stood in the center of his supporters. Leslie stripped Hawk’s leather jacket from his shoulders before leaning in to whisper something to her champion. Hawk’s predatory smile sent chills down Kiedra’s spine. She wanted to do something, say something, to make Axe let this go, but she knew nothing would change his mind.

  Had she not spent a week talking about the good of the Pack and what honor was due to the pack, Axe might not have been so gung-ho to do the right thing now. If he died... She shook her head. That wasn’t an outcome she was willing to entertain.

  “He won’t lay a hand on me this time,” Axe boasted. He cupped Kiedra’s face. “Don’t worry, babe. Before the night is through, this will be done, and you’ll be able to wear that beautiful dress when we’re ready to get married.”

  “Promise me you’ll come back to me tonight,” she begged.

  Axe pulled his shirt over his head and handed it to Kiedra. His grin twisted something in her gut. He was looking forward to the fight. She shook her head and stepped away from him.

  His hand shot out to grab her wrist. “I promise. I promise I’ll always come home to you, Kiki.”

  Kiedra tugged her arm back, but Axe held fast. “Just don’t die, okay?”

  “Not a chance.”

  Axe went to stand in the clearing. Roland joined him and the two men waited for Hawk to work up the nerve to step up.

  HAWK and Axe faced each other in the clearing. Roland stood between them, a hand on each young man.

  “Remember, human forms only. No partial changes. You fight until one of you loses consciousness, changes, or surrenders.”

  Both young men nodded. Roland backed up to the edge of the clearing where Kiedra stood with the council members.

  “May the best man be victorious,” Roland said.

  Axe and Hawk dropped all pretense of polite behavior and circled each other from fighting stances. Hawk’s eyes burned with murderous intent. His fist shot out, but Axe easily dodged and swept Hawk’s legs out from under him while he was off balance.

  Axe followed Hawk to the ground. They grappled for a few moments before Hawk sprang to his feet and put some distance between himself and his adversary. Axe took his time getting to his feet. He brushed the dirt from his pants before beckoning to Hawk.

  “This will just take longer if you run from me,” Axe said. “You know what happened every time we fought like that when we were kids. What makes you think this will be any different?”

  “Go to hell, Axe!” Hawk spat into the dirt and then rushed his opponent.

  Axe let out a stifled “Oof,” when Hawk drove his head into Axe’s gut. Rather than going down, though, Axe bent forward, grabbed Hawk around the waist and lifted him up over his head before dropping him on his back in the dirt.

  Hawk lay gasping in the dirt, the air forced out of his lungs by the impact with the ground. Axe didn’t press his advantage.

  “Do you yield?” he asked.

  Hawk shook his head, still unable to draw enough breath to speak. Axe shrugged and dropped his full weight into Hawk’s belly. The strangled sound from Hawk’s throat made Kiedra want to vomit. She looked away.

  “He’s trying to end it fast and clean,” Thorn said. “It’s the right thing to do.”

  “I know, but....”

  Decker winced and Kiedra looked back to see Axe grinding his elbow into Hawk’s belly.

  “It looks worse that it really is. At least he won’t have any broken bones if he gives up soon,” Decker said.

  “Give up, yet?” Axe asked.

  Hawk shook his head again. Kiedra watched Axe resign himself to having to truly hurt his childhood nemesis. She was so focused on Axe, she nearly missed Hawk’s movement.

  The knife flashed in the firelight just before it disappeared into Axe’s chest. Kiedra screamed. Axe looked down with the handle protruding from his body. He blinked several times, trying to make sense of it. He reached for the handle, but Roland was quicker and blocked Axe from pulling the knife out.

  “Don’t do it, son,” Roland said.

  The Pack erupted with howls. Angry exclamations echoed through the clearing. Several Pack members stepped into the clearing, but Roland waved them back.

  “It’s not done. Don’t interfere.”

  Axe sat hard on his ass in the dirt. His eyes, hot, burning orbs in the darkness, locked with Hawk’s.

  “You stabbed me.”

  Hawk struggled to his hands and knees. He stayed there, head hanging between his shoulders, until he could draw more than a quarter of a breath.

  “Damn right,” he said.

  Hawk got to his feet, wobbling in place for a moment before he reached for Axe’s hair. He twisted his fist into the other man’s scalp and dragged him to his feet. Blood rolled down Axe’s chest to splash in the dirt beside the fire.

  Thorn caught Kiedra’s hand when she moved forward.

  “You can’t help him. None of us can.”

  “But...he’s got a knife in his chest! This is done. He needs to go to the hospital.”

  Thorn shook his head. “We’re tougher than that. Hawk shouldn’t have brought a weapon into this, but Axe will be all right. He just needs to get his head back in the game.”

  As Thorn’s words faded on the wind that had picked up in the forest, Hawk raised a fist and drove it into Axe’s gut. Axe doubled over, but the pain seemed to snap him out of the confusion the knife had brought on.

  Axe stayed low and brought first one fist and then the other into play. He rabbit-punched Hawk’s belly and then his face when the other man released his hair and he could stand up.

  The men separated and circled each other in front of the fire.

  “Coward,” Axe spat. He looked at the knife still protruding from his chest. He wrapped his right hand around the handle and pulled it out. Blood spurted from the wound before the flesh knitted itself together. He flipped the blade so it landed point-down, buried to the hilt in the dirt beside the fire pit.

  Hawk’s eyes locked on the blade. It was obvious he was calculating how to reach it again before Axe got the upper hand again. Axe followed Hawk’s gaze. His eyes narrowed.

  “If you can’t fight without it, go for it.” Axe took two steps away from the blade.

  Hawk watched his opponent before his focus returned to the blade. In the moment Hawk’s attention wavered from Axe, the fight was decided. Axe rushed his opponent, grabbed him around the waist, lifted and threw Hawk to the ground. Before Hawk could blink, Axe had straddled him and was pounding his face into a bloody mess.

  Blood flew from Axe’s fists to sizzle in the fire that burned beside the combatants. Hawk tried to protect himself, but Axe was beyond reason. The fury he felt finally broke over him and he threw back his head to howl into the night.

  Axe’s lone howl was joined, one by one, by the Pack members, until the forest echoed with them. Axe lowered his head to see that Hawk was unconscious. He pushed himself up and off the unconscious man to stand over him, panting with exertion.

  “It’s finished,” the council members said in unison.

  Axe gave no indication that he’d heard them. He stared at Hawk, blood dripping from his fists. Finally, he lifted his gaze from the man on the ground. He searched until he found Kiedra standing beside Thorn, who still held her wrist.

  Axe held his hand out to Kiedra. Thorn dropped her wrist and she ran to Axe.

  “Told you,” he whispered when he bent to wrap his arms around her.

  “Shut up and kiss me,” she de
manded.

  Axe shut up and kissed her. And kissed her. And kissed her. Finally, Roland cleared his throat. Axe and Kiedra broke apart slowly, each wearing a similar sheepish look.

  “There’s still ceremony to be observed,” Roland said with a smile.

  Axe stood up straighter, a crooked grin making him look much younger than he was. “Of course, Alpha.”

  “I’m no longer Alpha.” Roland clapped Axe on the shoulder. “You are. Declare your Omega and make her so with the Pack as witness here in the Greensward.”

  Kiedra’s eyes went wide. “Here? With everyone still here?”

  “That’s if I pick you,” Axe said. Kiedra stomped on his foot. He yelped and hopped on one foot before kneeling before her. He held up one hand and Kiedra lay hers in his.

  “Kiedra Marianne Foster, I declare you are not only my Omega, but my one and only love. The Pack is ours to care for, if you’ll have me.”

  She fell to her knees and wrapped her arms around Axe. She caught a movement from where Roland stood and then saw the Pack turn their backs to the clearing.

  “That’s as private as we can have right now,” Axe whispered. He laid his lips against her neck, licking at the pulse that thundered there. “I wish it was just us, but it’s only this time.”

  She nodded. “I know.”

  Her head fell back, and a startled moan slid between her lips. His teeth settled on the pulse in her neck, worrying at it until she couldn’t breathe.

  “Axe...”

  “Follow me, Kiki.”

  She forced her eyes to focus on his face. She nodded. “Wherever you lead, I will follow.”

  Dimly, she registered that the Pack reacted to her words, but she had no idea why, nor did she care any longer. Axe’s hands were on her body, pushing the t-shirt up past her breasts so he could bite at the soft flesh there. Her nails dug furrows into his back as he shifted her to lie flat on her back beside the fire.

  The flames should have been the hottest thing in the clearing, but she was certain Axe’s lips and tongue burned even hotter. She expected to find burned trails on her flesh when she worked up the nerve to look. Rather than concern herself with damage she couldn’t stop, she decided thinking was overrated and let herself be overwhelmed by the sensations that ran rampant through her body.