“Then let’s give it to the Pack,” Lycan said. “If they can trade it to a dragon, it can offset my stay here, and the Pack resources used on me.”
“Are you sure?” Van asked. But, Lycan was already nodding decisively, his slim hands making quick work of tucking it in his pocket to deal with later. Now that he had a plan, he wanted the thing gone.
“I will never wear that again,” he said. Caine had promised to find him suitable work once he was healed and he didn’t want to owe any more than he already did to this Pack. They had given him food, clothing, shelter, and medical care. “Witches aren’t cheap.”
“Perfect match to your eyes, though, the emerald,” Trav said with a smile.
“That was the idea, I think,” Lycan said.
It was as close as he had come to talking about what had happened to him before he came to this pack, but he felt everyone knew some of it, seeing him in the shape he was in when he arrived. He had told Luke what he could, and he assumed that got shared with Alpha or the Legate. He had shared some with Caine, also, who he felt didn’t judge him as broken for what had happened. At most he could share impressions and feelings. Memories stayed inaccessible.
“The diamond, then,” Trav said. “It’s clear, a sign of hope for the future.”
Lycan nodded with a large smile, and Trav handed him a diamond stud.
Lycan wrapped his hand around it softly before putting it in his ear, liking the weight of it, grounding him. The diamond stud had been a gift from Trav and Van for good luck with the coven tonight, and he had yet to wear it, saving it for that day.
While Trav and Van gifted it to him, it had actually been Seath who picked it out for him. That made his chest burn. He found that out by overhearing a conversation between Min in the kitchens, and Seath himself. The words had drifted to him down a hallway, almost as if they had been carried to his ear, just so that he would know.
He looked in the mirror and smiled, liking the effect. Not only that, but it was the gift from a friend—freely given and despite its expense, he had accepted in the nature it was intended. A friend had given it to him, Seath had picked it out, and now those friends enjoyed seeing him wear it, and he hoped he did their generosity well. He would make sure to tell anyone who commented on it where it came from. In his own heart he would keep the knowledge of who picked it out for him. Knowing it was Seath felt much different than wearing the emerald.
Lycan ran a hand down the dark denim of his jeans. They sat low on his hips, but tight, and he had a soft, dark green tee on above it and some tennis shoes Van said shared his name. He liked picking it out more than he would have thought. It seemed reclaiming in a way to choose what he wanted to wear rather than be dressed-up for someone’s pleasure.
Van finished with his hair and he looked at how he had tied it back, whisps coming back into his face. It was soft and clean, shiny under the light.
Lycan didn’t think of himself as vain, but people stared when he went out. He was the curious omega who had arrived half-dead and with no scent. So, he wanted to look presentable. The Pack had rescued him. It seemed only honorable to look his best in response. If he didn’t look his best, it might say something he didn’t intend about Seath, and he didn’t want that.
For the first time when he checked himself, the mirror reflected a normal twenty-something. No scars, no bruising, no sunken cheeks.Normal. At least on the outside.
“Look at that muscle, Lycan,” Trav said, patting his biceps.
Lycan smiled. He would always be smaller, but the lean muscle from the gym at the Pack House and the regular meals had filled out the shirt that now caught across his chest and arms. More than anything, Lycan wanted to be physically healthy enough for his wolf, if his wolf ever fully presented itself. It was there, but faint. For some reason, it never wanted to come back as strongly as it had been in those first few meetings with Seath.
He knew it was a long shot, but Luke and Caine had both been clear that the healthier his body was, the more ready he would be for what was coming with the witches.
If anything can be done, he reminded himself, trying not to get his hopes up.
So, he had trained hard, slept well, ate well, and kept himself in shape in order so he could be ready for the coven. He was as ready as anyone would be to have witches delve into their mind. Thankfully, he had friends who were determined to distract him first.
“You are beautiful, Lycan. A package of all the best omega features,” Van said softly, and they clasped hands as the good friends they had become. “Puck wants to come with us today, is that alright?”
Lycan’s breath caught but he nodded. Puck and Van were fated mates, a concept Lycan knew. It wasn’t that though, it was that Puck was an Alpha. He was so Alpha he constructed houses, even human ones. He was big and intimidating and even though he doted on Van, who was smaller than even Lycan, Lycan had to work not to agree to Puck’s every request. He had gotten better with Caine and his omega friends at rebuilding his real personality, but Alphas were still hard to trust with anything other than agreement.
“Remember, what are we working on today, Little Wolf?” Caine’s icy voice asked, still full of humor somehow. He had managed to slip quietly into the room. Lycan wondered what it would take for Caine to make an entrance and not slide in quietly.
“I will tell someone ‘no’ today, Caine,” Lycan replied dutifully, but rolling his eyes slightly.
It had been long weeks of recovery, and Caine was working hard to bring out the man inside of Lycan. He laughed at the eyeroll, delighted to see it. The Little Wolf might prove to be even more of a handful than Caine himself. Most definitely would be for Seath, if Caine’s instincts were correct.
“You will tellan Alpha‘no’ today,” Caine clarified and watched as Lycan swallowed hard, but nodded. “And I will be right beside you when you do.”
Caine liked to give him these strange assignments, but Lycan could tell he meant well by them. Caine was convinced he could figure out where Lycan was from, and maybe even who he really was.
But not today.
Soon, they were off, the still skittish omega, the vampire, the empath omega, and the fated Alpha-omega pair. They walked from the Pack House to the nearby town of Lupine on wide sidewalks that ran parallel to a bike and running path, Lycan adjusting to the noise and chaos of busy town life, although the Pack House was always full of energy, too.
Lycan did not like just arriving in town via a vehicle like the large dark SUV’s the pack kept around the Pack House. He enjoyed easing into it on foot. Additionally, he loved the slightly salty smell of the ocean. Luckily, shifters liked walking much more than riding in vehicles, preferring them only for long distances, and footpaths were everywhere.
