by J. L. Wilder
“Where have you been, Cait?”
“What the hell are you doing here?” she asked. “You’re not supposed to be over here.”
“Oh, I know that,” he said. “You had me barred from campus, didn’t you? Or rather, your boyfriend did.”
Cait felt dizzy. He knows.
“I followed you,” he said. “After the social the other night. I let him think I was going home, but then I turned and followed the two of you into the woods. I saw you undress for him, Cait. I saw you take his clothes off.”
Cait felt frozen with fear. There was no way he could know these details unless he was telling the truth. He had been there. He had seen them.
“You were in his class just now,” Bart said. “You’re not the only one who knows how to break into a computer system, you know. I checked your schedule. That’s why you’re late coming home. You were with him.”
“I...we were talking...”
“Bullshit, Cait; don’t try to lie to me. I saw you. I know what you’ve been doing.”
Cait felt as if she were drowning. So we got found out, after all, she thought. But not because I confided in Sarah. In the end, the fault lay with both of us.
The only thing she could think to do was to beg.
“Please, Bart,” she said. “You and I...it’s never been right. It’s never been a match. I know I’ve never made you happy, and you deserve to be happy. There are so many other girls here, and they all want to meet an alpha. You could find someone great. Someone who appreciates you.”
“You want me to let you go back to him?” Bart laughed. “You must be joking. Do you know what that would do to my reputation? I’m not about to be the alpha who let his omega get stolen out from under him by some old man.”
“I’m not going back to him,” she said. He doesn’t want me anymore.
“Damn right, you’re not,” Bart agreed. “You’re coming home. We’re both going home. School was a mistake. I’ve already called your father, and he’ll be here in a few hours to pick us up.”
“You did what?”
“And until he gets here,” Bart added, “you and I are going to stay right here in this room. I’ve already sent your roommate away, so no one will be along to bother us.”
Cait backed up, reaching for the door behind her.
He stepped toward her. “You aren’t going anywhere,” he said.
“Bart, please. I’m not right for you. You know I’m not. You don’t even like me.”
“What does that have to do with anything? You’re my omega. I don’t have to like you. I have to mate with you. We have to grow our pack together. You can’t tell me that’s not important to you.” He softened his voice. “Cait, you’ll be such a good mother. It’s in your nature. Don’t you want to have babies?”
More than anything.
The thought surprised her. She had never had any particular interest in babies or motherhood before. In fact, it had always seemed like a chore, something her father and her pack were trying to push on her against her will.
But now she was pregnant, and everything felt different.
It must be because her pregnancy had come from Grant, who, despite everything, she still loved desperately. She couldn’t hate this baby that was half his. Half him.
Bart strode over to her and took her hands in his. “We don’t have to treat each other this way, Cait,” he said quietly. “We can be good to each other. Wouldn’t that be better? You don’t have to fight me all the time. I know you. I’ve known you all your life. You’ll be happier if you just relax and accept the inevitable.”
“You don’t want me to be happy,” Cait said. “You’ve never wanted me to be happy.”
“Sure I do,” he protested. “A happy omega means a happy alpha. Everyone knows that. What good is it to me for you to be unhappy?”
He leaned into her, invading her space.
“I want you to want me,” he said.
She felt sick. His breath stank, and his hands were sweaty on hers, but she didn’t dare pull away. She knew he wouldn’t hesitate to hit her. No one was coming to intervene, and her father wouldn’t be there for hours.
“Take my clothes off, Cait,” he said. “Like you did with your professor. This school has made you slutty. Let me see what you’ve learned.”
She looked away and shook her head.
His face darkened. “You’d better do as you’re told,” he said. “There’s no big strong boyfriend to interrupt us this time. It’s just you and me.” He pulled her hands forward and placed them on his chest. “Go on,” he said. “We’ll start easy. Take my shirt off.”
“No,” she whispered.
“No?” he asked. “You sure that’s your answer?”
Let him hit me. There were worse things he could do.
She nodded.
“Fine,” he bit out angrily. “I’ll do you then.” He dropped her hands, grabbed her shirt, and tore it from her body.
Cait screamed in shock and horror.
Bart chuckled. “Scream all you want,” he said. “Nobody’s coming to help you.”
Cait fumbled behind her.
Her hands found the doorknob.
Go!
She thrust it open and set off at a dead sprint down the hallway and to the stairwell. She took the stairs three at a time, racing down as fast as she could, praying that she wouldn’t trip.
She could hear Bart right behind her, his footsteps pounding. “Fucking bitch!” he yelled. “Get back here, Cait! Your father’s going to hear about this!”
But that wouldn’t change anything. Whatever her father might have in store to punish her for her actions wouldn’t be any worse because she had refused Bart this one last time. She reached the ground floor and pushed through the door and back out onto the campus lawn.
It had begun to rain, and Cait was wearing nothing but her jeans and a bra. Still, she knew that as long as she was outside, she was relatively safe. He wouldn’t attack her. Not where anyone walking by could see them.
Bart burst through the door, his lip curled away from his teeth in a menacing snarl, and ran straight at her, his eyes fixed on her. “You’re going to regret this for the rest of your life!” he yelled. “You’re going to regret giving that bastard what should have been mine! I should have been the first to have you! I should have been the only one to ever touch you! You’ll pay for that, I swear on my life!”
Panicked, Cait turned and fled.
She didn’t see the approaching figure, racing through the rain, until he was almost on top of her, and when she did, it was as if a fist of horror had been shoved through her chest.
Grant!
He ran at her, pausing only to push her aside. His hands weren’t gentle as they had always been in the past, and he sent her sprawling onto the grass. She scrambled to her hands and knees and looked up just in time to see him leap into the air, directly at Bart, hands first.
No.
Claws first.
He shifted so fast she could hardly keep track of what she was seeing. By the time he landed, he was already his wolf self, a snarl ripping from his body, the full weight of him bearing down on Bart’s chest.
My God, he’s huge.
She had seen him in wolf form before, of course, the day they’d tracked the wild wolf pack through the forest, but this was different. Seeing him like this while she was her human self, she was acutely aware of just how big he was, just how strong his muscles were.
Bart hadn’t even managed to shift in time. He howled for help, beating at the wolf’s massive body with his fists, trying to drive it off of him.
But Grant clearly wasn’t going anywhere. He snapped his teeth threateningly, menacing Bart.
He’s not trying to kill him, Cait realized suddenly. If Grant had been trying to kill Bart, he would have done it already. He had every advantage right now. But he hadn’t.
She remembered what Grant had said in the tent, the way he had spoken of his anger. How tempted he had been to do Bart harm at th
e social.
Cait got to her feet and hurried toward them, unable to clarify even to herself what she was thinking. She only knew that she had to get Grant out of the situation before he did something he would regret for the rest of his life.
Bart brought his knees up to his chest and kicked out suddenly, driving Grant off his body. In a flash, he had shifted himself and had turned to face his adversary.
“Cait!” Georgette came running across the grass. She grabbed Cait by the arm and pulled her away, and Cait realized that a crowd of omegas had stopped what they were doing to watch the fight. Georgette shrugged off her jacket and wrapped it around Cait’s shoulders. “What’s going on?” she asked.
Cait pulled free and started back toward the fight. “I have to help,” she said.
“No, you don’t!” Georgette grabbed her and towed her away. “What the hell are you thinking? Sarah, help me!”
Sarah took hold of Cait’s other arm. Together, her two friends were much stronger than she was, and no amount of struggling could free Cait from their grasp.
“Why are they fighting?” Georgette asked. “Who is that guy, anyway?”
“That’s the guy Cait danced with at the social,” Sarah said. She turned to Cait. “Does he know?”
“Yes,” Cait whispered.
“Know what?” Georgette demanded.
But their conversation was interrupted by a howl of pain. Bart had managed to sink his teeth into Grant’s shoulder.
Cait lurched in her friends’ arms.
“What are you doing?” Georgette shrieked. “You can’t go over there! They’ll kill you!”
They won’t. They don’t want me dead. Neither of them wants to see me dead.
But they would definitely kill each other.
Grant shook Bart off. Blood flowed freely from the wound at his shoulder, but he continued to circle, not even allowing himself to limp.
Bart sprang at him again.
This time, Grant was ready. He ducked to one side, and Cait watched as Bart sailed past him and landed sprawled in the dirt.
He shouldn’t have done that. Bart scrambled up, snarling, obviously humiliated, and ran at Grant again.
Grant lunged at the same time and locked his teeth around Bart’s throat.
There was a growl, loud and fearsome.
A whimper of surrender.
And then the two wolves separated and stepped back from each other.
Grant waited, his body crouched low, clearly prepared to launch himself at Bart if the situation called for it.
Bart stood motionless, blood from the wound at his throat matting his fur.
Then he turned and walked away. Toward the highway, off campus.
Remembering what he had said about doubling back to watch her with Grant, Cait yanked herself free of her friends’ hold and ran toward the road to watch him go.
Grant stepped in front of her and issued a low warning growl, clearly signaling her to get back.
“I want to make sure he’s really gone,” she said. “Last time you told him to leave, he didn’t leave. He told me.”
The wolf dipped his head, turned, and trotted toward the highway to watch Bart go. Cait hung back.
After several minutes, he turned back to her and nodded.
“You’re hurt,” she said.
He came to her side and pressed his nose into her hand. Then he jerked his head to the right and began to walk off in that direction.
Cait understood that he meant for her to follow.
“Wait a minute,” Georgette said, running over. “Cait—what’s going on? Are you okay? Maybe you should come back up to the dorm with us.”
Sarah took Georgette’s arm and pulled her away gently. “She’s okay,” she said. “She knows what she’s doing. Right, Cait?”
Cait had no idea what she was doing anymore. The only thing she knew for sure was that she wanted to be with Grant.
“I’m all right,” she told her friends and followed him away.
Chapter Seventeen
GRANT
Grant waited until they had reached his cabin before shifting back. He opened the front door and ushered Cait inside. “Go wait for me in the kitchen,” he said.
“You’re bleeding,” she protested.
“Go,” he insisted. “I’ll join you in a minute.”
Reluctantly, she obeyed.
Grant went to his bedroom, grabbed a pair of flannel pants, and pulled them on. He found the first aid kit he kept in his adjoining bathroom and grabbed that too. Cait was going to have to clean him up. He hoped she had a strong stomach.
She was waiting in the kitchen as he’d asked, sitting at the table. When she saw him, she jumped to her feet and helped him to a chair. She took the first aid kit from his hands without being asked and undid the latch. “Let me look at this,” she said.
Her fingers carefully probed the bite wound on his shoulder. “It’s not too deep,” she said. “I think if we wrap it up and disinfect it, you should be all right.”
She pulled out a bottle of disinfectant, soaked a rag, and carefully wiped away the blood and dirt. Grant gritted his teeth against the pain. When she was finished, she found a roll of bandages and wrapped them around his shoulder. “That ought to do it,” she said. “But those will need to be changed in a few hours.”
He couldn’t help smiling up at her.
“What the hell are you smiling about?” she demanded. “Has it escaped your notice that everything’s a disaster right now?”
“I’m proud of you,” he explained. “You’re coming into your own as an omega, Cait. Caring for others is a primary omega trait, and you’re doing it naturally. I didn’t even have to ask you for help.”
“Don’t get all emotional about it,” she said. “I don’t think I would have done it if it hadn’t been you.”
“Because I’m your alpha,” he explained. “I’m your pack. It’s reasonable that I would bring things out in you that others can’t. You should be at your most omega self with me. That’s why you submit to me and you fight against people like him.”
She laughed dryly. “I wouldn’t say I’m the one who fights him,” she pointed out. “What the hell was that out there? You’re out of your mind if you think nobody’s going to have questions about that.”
“He was attacking you,” Grant said. “I couldn’t allow that. You know I couldn’t. I swore to you that I would never allow anyone to hurt you again.”
Cait sighed. “Grant...he knew about us. And he told my father. He says my father’s on his way to pick me up right now. They’re going to take me home. And I can only imagine they’ll be complaining to the school about you. I thought you should hear it from me. If you want to leave here, you’d better go now.”
“Cait, I’m not letting them take you,” Grant said.
“What are you talking about?” she asked. “You said it wasn’t going to work out between us.”
“I didn’t say that at all!” he burst out. “I said things would need to change for us to make it work, that’s all. And you lost your damn mind at me!”
Cait looked ready to argue, but then she hesitated.
“Is that really what you said?” she asked.
“Yes,” Grant insisted. “I never dreamed of ending things with you. You've got to know that. It would kill me to do that. I’ve imprinted on you, Cait, and that’s not something you can just quit.”
Cait sank into a chair and buried her head in her hands.
“My emotions have been so out of control,” she murmured. “It’s hormones. It’s got to be. I feel like I’m losing my grip.”
“What are you talking about?” Grant asked her.
She looked up at him, her eyes brimming with tears. “Grant, I’m pregnant.”
He felt as if he’d been hit by a boulder. “Pregnant?” he whispered.
She nodded. “I meant to tell you today after class, but...well, I thought you were breaking up with me.”
“God.” He got
to his feet, went to her, and pulled her out of her chair and into his arms. “Of course I wasn’t breaking up with you, Cait. Oh, honey, no wonder you panicked. You thought I was abandoning you while you were pregnant? I’d never do that.”
“I don’t want you to stay with me just because of that,” she said.
“No,” he assured her. “I have a million reasons for staying with you. You’re my omega, Cait.” He rested a hand on her belly, where their litter was growing. “This is our pack. Yours and mine.”
She leaned against his chest. “Do you promise?” she asked.
“Of course,” he said. “Forever.”
She shuddered, exhaling. “Forever.”
He sat her back down. “Did Bart hurt you?” he asked.
“No,” she said. “Not for a lack of trying, though.”
“Tell me what happened.”
“He was waiting in my room when I got back from class,” she said. “He had seen us together outside the tent, and he came to make sure I would never see you again. He tore my shirt off—he would have done worse. He threatened to.”
Grant heard himself growl as rage surged within him.
“Don’t shift,” Cait said. “Not indoors.”
He nodded. It was all he could manage. His teeth were clenched in anger. The thought of Bart holding Cait in her room—the image of his hands on her body—
At that moment, Grant wished he had torn Bart’s throat out when he’d had the chance.
Cait was talking. He forced himself to focus on her voice. Her hands were on his wrists, thumbs tracing slow circles. “Cool off,” she said quietly. “Keep it together. You can’t shift right now. We just cleaned up your shoulder. You need to stay human at least until the bleeding stops, so the bandage doesn’t rip off. Okay?”
“Okay,” he managed.
She slid her hand down to his and gripped tightly. “What are we going to do?” she asked. “My father is still coming. He’s still planning on taking me away.”
“I’m not going to let that happen,” Grant said.
“But you can’t stop him,” Cait said. “Not without fighting again. And I don’t want you to fight. It was awful.”
He got to his feet. “Come with me,” he said and led her to his bedroom.