“Ye-s.” His voice was soft and melodic. It made me want to hum.
“Do you understand what I have to do?”
“Yes,” his said more firmly, though his chin wobbled. So afraid, my little omega. But so brave.
He rolled off my lap and presented to me, on knees and elbows, facing away, his whole body shaking, either from fear or the heat, I didn’t know. My wolf urged me to get on with it, the lure of the pheromones calling to my wild nature. But no, that was not good enough formyomega. So I pulled him back into my lap. The wide eyes looked up at me questioningly, a deep frown furrowing his brow. Then I couldn’t see any of that anymore, because my mouth found his.
My lips moved against his, caressing. I licked at the corner of his mouth and along the seam of his lips, but I didn’t press. He didn’t respond at first, and then slowly, with a little shudder, his lips began to move with mine.
My pulse skittered with excitement and delight.
I let my tongue gently probe, and he opened for me, allowing my tongue to slip inside, licking and exploring. My tongue stroked his, and tentatively he slid his tongue along mine.
He was magic. This scrawny, frightened omega was magic, and he was going to be mine. Hewasmine, I knew it already, even if he didn’t. And I was going to take care of him, protect him. The possessiveness rocked me - I swear I wasn’t normally like this.
The shudder that shook his thin body and the whimper accompanying it, dragged me from my pheromone induced haze. Tenderly, I turned him over, so he was again kneeling infront of me. I kissed his shoulders and nuzzled at the nape of his neck. He trembled. I kissed and licked my way down his back. He seemed to be enjoying it, but then another spasm shook him and he groaned, and a sob wracked him.
There would be other chances to pleasure him, I thought, right now he needed relief. This was new to me, but nature knew what to do.
I slipped the reins and let my wolf guide me.
Chapter 02
TOSCA
As soon as I’d felt my heat coming on, I’d left the pack. I didn’t know a lot about what to expect – this was my first heat, after all - but I’d seen what had happened to the other omegas when they’d had theirs. Or at least, I’d seen the state they were in when they eventually came back to the omega house. It was heartbreaking, and a little bit terrifying. They were distressed, cried a lot, and steadfastly refused to talk about what had happened to them. Except for my best friend, Owen.
Owen was large for an omega, and he presented a tough exterior, but he’d befriended me from the moment I got here, and I knew the truth of it – he hid a sensitive soul behind a hard shell. Owen had experienced several heats by the time I joined the pack, and he was realistic but stoic about it.
“It’s shitty,” he’d told me. “But it’s three or four days every three months, so I can put up with that.” He’d explained a bit about the physical manifestations, and how it was necessary to have an alpha help the omega through it and that it could even shorten the duration, or if there was no other choice, a beta would do, though they weren’t as effective. We only had one alpha in ourpack, plus his friends from time to time, so for our omegas it was usually betas, which meant the heat dragged on for longer.
When I’d pressed him for more information, he’d shrugged. “Just don’t resist them,” he’d said, “that makes it worse. If you’re lucky they might assign one of the kinder betas to take care of you.” He’d sighed, then added, “But some of them like to share. And if Alpha gets involved, well, he’s… not the best. But like I said, it’s only three days. Endure it and then forget about it.”
It hadn’t been reassuring, and the last time he’d come back from a heat, he’d been paler and quieter than normal. I inferred from that, that he’d had a rougher time than usual and we didn’t speak about it, but I noted that Alpha’s friends had been here at the time and I wondered if that had something to do with it. Owen didn’t leave our shared room for several days after that time.
I was younger and smaller than most of the pack omegas, and that was probably why I hadn’t had a heat yet, but I wanted to put it off as long as I could, so I barely ate, letting my body weight drop. I knew that some biologic functions wouldn’t happen if I was significantly underweight, and I hoped this was one of them. I was also trying to make myself as unattractive as possible to the betas and alphas of the pack, so I would also avoid any non-heat unpleasantness. It wasn’t just during an omega’s heat that they demanded the omegas submit to them.
When the betas or Alpha or any of his mates felt like having an omega, they just came and got one from the omega compound, didn’t matter if they were in heat or not. I’d noticed the plumper, meatier omegas were selected more often and I was doing everything I could tonotfit that profile. I huddled in a corner of the compound when they came, making myself as small, pathetic and undesirable as possible, and if Owen was around,he often sat his large self down in front of me, concealing me. So far, I’d been lucky. Never selected, never in heat.
But it was only a matter of time, and now here it was. My first heat.
When I detected the first early signs of impending heat, I’d crawled away under cover of darkness, desperately hoping none of the betas would see me. But they’d become very slack since the pack had moved further into the mountains and weren’t mounting any patrols. Maybe they figured there was nobody else out here, so deep into the wilderness. Whatever the reason, it had worked in my favor. No-one saw me slink away, no-one came after me. Chances are, they wouldn’t even notice I was gone – I really was that insignificant. I would eventually have to go back – I couldn’t survive out here alone – but I was used to eating so little that I knew I could wait out here for three or four days…
The first of the pangs hit as I made my way down the mountainside. The shock of the spasm as it hit me forced me to the cold ground. It felt like a knife had sliced through my belly, and I lay there gasping, face and belly pressed to the cold earth, while I waited until the worst had passed.
I dragged myself to my feet and continued on. I had to reach my cave before the heat progressed to the point where I couldn’t walk. Even in wolf form I wouldn’t survive a heat outside without shelter. I’d be an easy prey. I knew where I had to go, just had to force myself a little further. I’d prepared for this in advance, knowing I’d have to deal with it someday. Some time back, I’d found an unoccupied cave and hidden some basic supplies there in anticipation of the day I would need the refuge.
That first night wasn’t too bad. I made it to the cave and huddling on my makeshift bed – a few hessian grain bags that I’d rescued from being thrown out – passed a restless night, sweating and writhing in pain, but still able to endure it. If that was as bad as it got, I thought, I’d be fine.
But the next day was worse. I was burning up from the insides out, the sweat dripping from me, and the slick! Oh Goddess, there was so much slick gushing from me that my mat was soaked beneath me. I’d already gone through my drinking water supplies – I’d vastly underestimated my needs - and my head was throbbing. My tongue felt like parchment, and kept sticking to the roof of my mouth. Shudders rocked my body, my insides cramped, my hole ached and dripped. My head spun. I felt so sick. That night I didn’t sleep at all.
By the next morning, I would have sold my soul to stop the agony. My head was screaming at me as if someone had driven a stake through it and my entire body ached. Spasms rocked me with very little respite, and something was stabbing me with sharp strikes to my insides. I whimpered and moaned, and in between the worst of the spasms, I sobbed. I was covered in snot, sweat and slick. I felt disgusting and I didn’t care anymore.
I lay, panting and whimpering, in the gloomy cave. Beads of sweat ran down my neck. I was certain I was going to die.
“Hey.” An unexpected voice – a deep, rumbly voice – startled me. A strong, virile scent hit me.
Alpha!
