The Human Omega

by J. L. Wilder

  She heard the buckle on Axe’s belt clink in the darkness.

  “Yes, please,” she whispered. She writhed under his hands and lips, struggling to shed her own jeans once he settled his naked flesh against her.

  Axe broke the zipper on her jeans in his haste to remove the pants. He got them pushed down far enough to bare the entrance to her body and could wait no longer. The column of turgid flesh pressed against her, seeking entry. She whimpered and twisted her body, trying to give him entry. When he slid against her opening, she convulsed against him, screaming with pleasure. He found his way in and pressed the full length of himself as deep into her body as he could.

  Kiedra’s pleasure-muddled brain shut down everything but the sensation of his body in and on her. She closed her eyes and rode the wave of sensation until something primitive deep in her psyche screamed, “Danger!”

  Hawk stood over them, fury suffusing his face with hectic color. He drew back his foot to kicked Axe and pushed him into the fire pit. Kiedra cast about for a weapon to stop him, knowing even a scream wouldn’t be fast enough to save them. Her hand found the knife Axe had driven into the ground. She jerked it from the dirt, twisted her body from under Axe’s, and threw the blade.

  Time slowed to a crawl, giving her time to see every rotation of the blade as it made its way to the man standing over them. His foot began it’s forward journey, making Kiedra brace for the impact. The firelight glinted off the blade as the final rotation came to an abrupt halt in the left side of Hawk’s chest. The motorcycle boot dented her side. Ribs cracked before they snapped, but Axe kept them from rolling into the flames.

  Axe was on his feet, Kiedra cradled in his arms, before Hawk fell to his knees. His hands clutched at the knife. His mouth flapped open and closed like a trout on the shore of the fishing hole. Axe was looking for a safe place to lay Kiedra down when Roland appeared behind his son.

  “I wish I knew where you got this streak of dishonor,” Roland said. “Surely, your mother and I taught you better than this.”

  Hawk let out a bitter laugh. “Why do you care? I’m a ghost, right?” He curled his body over the knife and jerked it out.

  Roland’s hands scrambled to cover the gush of blood that rushed out of the wound.

  “No, boy. Don’t you dare think you can leave. We have unfinished business.”

  Axe and Kiedra stared down at Hawk and Roland, frozen with the horror of what was happening. Bronson came forward, a blanket clutched in his hands.

  “Give her to me, Alpha,” he said to Axe.

  Axe nodded and allowed Bronson to take Kiedra from his arms. She cried out, pain washing all the color from her face. Bronson covered her with the blanket and took her to the edge of the clearing.

  Axe knelt beside Roland and Hawk. He gently took Roland’s hands away from the bleeding wound on his son’s chest.

  “Let me do this,” Axe said.

  Roland stood, holding his bloody hands away from his body. Hawk tried to push Axe away.

  “Let me die,” Hawk demanded. “I’m dead to you anyway. Abjured. Never seen by the Pack again.”

  “You’re not dead until your Alpha says you are,” Axe said. “And I say you live.”

  Axe lay his hands on the wound. The blood flow slowed and then stopped. Hawk fought to push Axe away the whole time. When the wound was closed, Axe stood up, leaving Hawk to lay on the ground by the fire.

  “You heard?”

  The Pack responded as one voice, “Yes, Alpha.”

  The council members gathered beside Roland. Brian spoke for them all.

  “The Alpha stands here.” Brian held out both hands, indicating Roland and Axe. “From the past to the present, the Pack continues.”

  “The Pack continues.”

  Kiedra sat up in the hospital bed. Flowers filled the room with color and the scent of spring despite the snow falling outside the window. Axe stood at the bedside, his hand on her shoulder.

  Kiedra stared into the wide blue eyes regarding her with such deep contemplation. The baby blinked slowly, keeping her eyes locked with Kiedra’s

  “What if...what if she’s like me?”

  “You mean perfect? Because I’m up for that until she’s a teenager and I have to keep a shotgun on the porch for all the boys she’s going to draw in.”

  Kiedra slapped his arm with her free hand. “You know what I mean.”

  “If she’s like you, she’ll be kind, caring, and stubborn. She’ll put the needs of the Pack ahead of her own happiness—at least until I can teach her that she doesn’t have to. She’ll be the leader and mate for the next Alpha that the Pack needs.”

  She nodded, but a tiny part of her feared for her daughter. If she couldn’t change—if she had no wolf form—Sylvia was going to have a hard time of it. An Alpha’s daughter who couldn’t change at the full moon had never happened in the Pack’s history. Then again, the Pack had never had a human Omega before, either, and that had worked out pretty well.

  Roland knocked on the open door. “Can I come in?”

  “Of course!” Kiedra motioned for him to come closer when he stopped at the foot of the bed. “Don’t you want to see Sylvia?”

  “Sylvia? That’s what you named her?” Roland’s eyes shone in the harsh overhead light.

  “Mamma was so important to me and to the Pack, how could we not honor her this way?”

  Roland edged forward. Axe took the baby from Kiedra’s arms so he could hand her to Roland.

  “Grandpa definitely needs to hold the newest Pack member before anyone else does.” Axe lay Sylvia in Roland’s outstretched arms, holding the baby until the older man pulled her close, cradling her with his hands and body.

  It took only one look for Roland to fall under the baby’s spell. She regarded her grandfather with the same solemn seriousness with which she’d regarded her mother.

  “She looks like her grandmother,” Roland said without looking away from the baby.

  “I think she’ll have Axe’s eyes when she’s older,” Kiedra said.

  “Can great-Uncle Hawk hold her too?” Hawk said from the doorway. He held an enormous teddy bear in one arm and flowers with balloons tied to the vase in the other.

  Hawk crossed to the bed where he set the vase on the table next to it before leaning down to kiss Kiedra’s cheek.

  “Kiki, you’re still glowing. I thought that quit once you had the baby,” he teased.

  Axe took the teddy bear from Hawk. The two men clasped hands and slapped each other on the back.

  “Good to see you,” Axe said. He accepted the cigar Hawk slipped him, tucking it into his pocket.

  “I saw that!” Kiedra laughed. “You better not smoke that in the house.”

  “Hell no,” Hawk said with a grin. “Only at the bar, right?”

  “Only at the bar.” Axe nodded.

  Hawk looked at Sylvia who still lay quiet in her great-grandfather’s arms.

  “Well, if nothing else, you two sure made a pretty baby.”

  “She’s more than pretty,” Leslie said. She crossed the room to give Kiedra and Axe hugs before crowding Roland so she could see Sylvia too. “She’s gorgeous. Can I hold her?” Leslie turned, bringing her pregnant belly into view. She shot Kiedra a pleading look.

  Kiedra smiled and nodded. “If you can pry her out of great-grandpa’s hands.”

  Roland reluctantly handed the baby to Leslie who immediately cuddled the infant close.

  “I can’t wait until our little monster is born,” she said. Hawk put his arm around Leslie’s shoulders, pulling her close.

  “We don’t know it’ll be a monster, you know,” he joked.

  “Have you met us?” Leslie asked.

  The laughter in response to Leslie’s quip was loud enough to startle Sylvia, who screwed up her face and let out a howl. The sound echoed in the sparsely furnished room. Kiedra’s eyes went wide.

  “Was that...?”

  “Hell yeah!” Axe grinned. “And you were worried.”r />
  Axe kissed Kiedra. What started as a chaste peck, built into a scorcher so quickly and burned so hot, neither of them noticed they were alone in the room until the silence grew loud enough to catch their attention.

  “Excellent, they’ve given us privacy to start on the next Pack member.”

  Kiedra closed her eyes and let Axe’s kiss wash her away on a wave of love.

  Preview of Omega’s Bears: Hell’s Bears MC

  All my life, I’ve felt I should be stronger. All my life, I’ve felt I should be powerful. But all my life, I’ve been nothing.

  This isn’t even my motorcycle. I don’t have a bike of my own. I always rode on the back of someone else’s. I got used to the feeling of wrapping my arms around a thick waist as the wind whipped my hair back from my neck. I got used to squeezing the sides of the bike seat with my thighs and pressing my face into the person in front of me—Berto, usually—to keep my cheeks warm.

  Most of all, I got used to the feeling of being a passenger. Of not being in control of where we were going or even whether we stayed upright.

  That isn’t the case tonight.

  I don’t think the fact that I’m an omega was a surprise to anyone. It certainly wasn’t to me. Even when I was a small child, I was quiet, submissive, tame. A follower. Always at the back of the pack. From the moment I was old enough to understand what an omega was, I saw myself in the description. Not that it mattered very much in our clan. Everyone was kind and respectful. No one treated me like I had any less worth. And because no one ever imprinted on me, I was able to live like the betas most of the time.

  But what’s happened now is wrong. This is not what’s supposed to happen. When a clan is wiped out, it’s not supposed to be an omega who’s left alive; alone to face the world. That isn’t supposed to happen. We’re not equipped for this. It’s too dangerous. It’s too terrifying.

  I can’t believe the clan is gone. Everyone is gone. Berto, Sam, Manny, Val, Dani...they were my best friends, and we thought we’d be together forever. And everybody else too. Leo, our alpha, who managed the clan carefully and fairly. Alessa, Leo’s mate and wife, who was as good as a mother to the rest of us. They were my family. They were all I had in the world.

  My life as an omega could have been terrifying. It could have been horrible, abusive, and violent. But I’ve been one of the lucky ones. I’ve been part of a clan that loved me.

  Now, that’s gone.

  So, I’m ripping North as fast as I can on the motorcycle that used to belong to Berto. He won’t be needing it anymore. I’ll never ride passenger on the back of this bike with my arms around Berto’s waist again. The wolves have seen to that.

  It shouldn’t have happened. I should have been stronger.

  Being a shifter is a powerful thing, even if I am an omega. I shifted, for the first time, at the age of twelve, but I knew it was coming long before then. My parents were both shifters, and I’d grown up seeing them in bear form. Back then, my father was the leader of the clan, but when he and Mom died in a car accident two weeks after my seventeenth birthday, Leo took over. From that day on, he treated me like a daughter. I feel awful that, when the wolves came, I wasn’t able to protect him. Now, he’s gone too. Everyone I love is gone.

  I pull in at a gas station to pick up some food before I stop for the night. Going in here alone is nerve wracking. I’ve done my best to disguise myself, covering up the tattoo that all members of our clan got, and I’m not in heat, so there’s no doubt, being out alone is safer for me right now than it could be. But I’m still all alone in an unfamiliar place. I’m lightweight, slightly built. And I’ve never been taught how to fight or defend myself. It was always the job of the rest of the clan to fight for me, and for each other. I had other responsibilities.

  The bell over the door rings as I step in, and the woman behind the counter looks up. I feel better. It’s a woman. There’s security in that. I load up my arms with bottles of water and granola bars, and take them to the counter to pay.

  She rings me up, trying not to be obvious about the fact that she’s looking me up and down, but I notice. “What’s your name, hon?” she asks as she puts my purchases in a bag.

  “Camile. Cami.” Immediately, I could kick myself. Why did I tell her? I should have lied, but that’s another thing I’ve never learned how to do.

  “You out here all alone tonight, Cami?”

  “My dad’s waiting at the hotel,” I mumble. Maybe she’s just trying to be helpful, but I can’t take the chance.

  She looks at me for a long time. I’m sure she knows I’m lying. She doesn’t call me on it, though. “Twenty-two dollars and thirty-seven cents.”

  I hand over the money—all cash, all taken from the wallets of my clan. I didn’t like doing it, but if I hadn’t, someone else would have. And I can’t afford to be traceable right now. The wolves must know I’m still alive. I’m sure they’re already out looking for me.

  I take the bag of supplies and head out of the store, looking over my shoulder with every step, in case I’m being followed. I wonder if I’ll ever be able to walk around without worrying that I’m being followed again. Just in case the woman at the gas station took note of me, I drive past two exits on the highway before pulling off at a motel. I’m taking another risk by stopping for the night and I know it, but I also know that I can’t drive all the way from Montana to Alaska without any sleep. I’ll get a few hours and leave early in the morning. That should be fine.

  Checking into the motel goes without a hitch. I lock the door to my room and throw the deadbolt, then draw the curtains across the window that faces out onto the street. I have to take every precaution. I wish I could afford to stay somewhere a little nicer, but because all I have is the cash I took from my clan’s wallets, I’m on a tight budget. I need to make this money last as long as I can.

  Not that the room is horrible, exactly. It’s warm, at least, and there’s a bathroom with plumbing that works, and little motel shampoo bottles and soaps, so I can clean myself up from the road. There’s even a TV, although I can’t imagine wanting to watch anything right now. It would relax me, but I don’t want to relax. I want to be sharp.

  There’s something uncomfortable about this place, all the same. The carpet is damp in places—I learn quickly where the trouble spots are and how to sidestep them. The blanket on the bed is thin and stiff, and I know it will be uncomfortable to sleep under. The pillows are flat. And I’m not confident the water glasses in the bathroom have been changed since the last tenant checked out. But that’s all right. It’s one night. I don’t have to use them.

  There are worse things out there.

  The thing is, the wolves are almost definitely following me.

  Inter-clan rivalries are decades old, and I’ve been warned against wolf shifters all my life. But once we knew for sure that I was an omega, the caution ratcheted up to a whole new level. I never understood why, though, until a week ago. Other bears would want me, of course, but what was it about me that drove the wolves wild? I assumed they were just trying to prevent the clan from growing, knowing that, if anyone imprinted on me, I would be able to produce a litter and swell our numbers.

  But last week, Leo came home in a state of high anxiety and told us what he’d learned. “They’re trying to cross-breed,” he said, pacing back and forth in front of us, his hands rubbing at the sides of his jeans the way they did when he was under pressure. “They want Cami, so they can breed with her.”

  Of course, everyone was outraged, but I was terrified. Berto stayed up all night with me, calming me, assuring me that nothing like that would happen as long as he was alive.

  They’ll know I wasn’t there when they slaughtered my clan. They’ll know they missed me. And they won’t have given up on their plan. But now, I have no one to protect me. I’m alone in the world, and I have no ability to fight them off. Running is the only option left.

  I have to hope I got away quickly enough that they lost the trail. I have
to hope that if they are following me, they won’t pick up on signs, like Berto’s bike, which I did my best to conceal by parking it behind the motel instead of where it could be seen from the street. But my odds of getting out of this are feeling pretty low.

  I bathe quickly over the sink, using soap and a washcloth, mostly because I’m afraid to get in the shower. My hearing is sharp, and I’ll know, right away, if anyone makes noise outside the room, but if I’m in the shower, that will muffle any noise there might be. I can’t take the risk. Once clean, I gather up my clothes from the day, place them in the motel garbage can, pull out the bag, and tie it in a knot. I stuff the bag of dirty laundry down to the bottom of my backpack. I’ll have to wait until everything I own is dirty before I can consider spending money on laundry.

  I want to leave the lights on, but I know I can’t. I can’t give anyone driving by any reason to notice or think twice about my motel room. As soon as I flick the switch and turn them off, though, the room becomes ten times more ominous. I feel shaky and afraid. I make my way slowly from the wall over to the bed and crawl in, my eyes darting from corner to corner. There are no wolves in here. I would smell them if there were. But I can’t shake the specter from my mind.

  I have to sleep but sleep eludes me. When I close my eyes, I see the big old three-story house that was our den. I relive the moment I walked inside after my evening run. I was only allowed to run in the woods behind our house. That was the only place it was safe to go alone. As long as I was there, I was protected, because no one could get by my clan.

  I knew, as soon as I walked into the house, that something was wrong. I smelled it. Wolf and something worse. And then I saw the bodies, piled in the living room. Leo, Manny, Val, Alessa, Dani, Sam...and Berto....

  They were my brothers and sisters. My mother and father.

  I wanted to stay. I wanted to give in to the horror, to fall to the floor and scream with the pain. But the wolves would already be in the forest looking for me. It was sheer luck that I’d made it back without running into them. I had to go. I had to go quickly. So, I ran to my room and threw a few things in a bag, forcing myself not to feel the overwhelming emotions inside. I took the keys to Berto’s bike. I ran. I’ve been running ever since.