My alpha stirs restlessly. Something in Orion's voice sounded strained. For my typically reserved second-in-command to be that close to losing control, it's concerning.
I drive the UTV along the dirt road and park beside Orion's four-wheeler. Walking the length of the in-house jail—a long red building with cells on one side and a meeting hall on the other—I throw open the heavy door and stride inside, my patience wearing thin.
I make it one step before my entire world shifts.
Confusion at first. I'm disoriented by this unfamiliar scent slamming into me like a freight train, sending electrical currents through my body. Jasmine flowers, with the sugary scent of dogwood blossoms—not gentle, not just sweet, but intoxicating. And honey. Succulent, dripping, thick, viscous honey. Like thesky opened up and baptized me in my favorite essence. My alpha fuckinghowls, urging me forward, to move faster, and a guttural growl tears from my throat.
I'm so close to the scent I can taste it.
Then it hits me—something else underneath.
Something impossible.
I'm hurtling toward her now, slamming open the door. The scent detonates in my brain, on my tongue, down my throat.
But the blood and vomit slicing through is all wrong. The contradiction is so visceral, my wolf roars with pure, unfiltered rage.
Because she's not just any wolf.
She's anomega.
One of the precious few. To be protected. Cared for. Loved. Cherished.
And she's lumped in a bloody mess inmyjail cell.
I can barely contain my raging wolf, but the moment I step closer, her eyes shoot up at me, and I'm struck with shock.
She's not just any wolf, and she's not just any omega.
She's mymate. In a bloodyfuckingmess on the jail floor. I let out a deep, soul-shaking roar, so full of power that the windows rattle.
Everything moves in slow motion.
Her eyes blaze with terror. One eye, actually, because the other is swollen shut. Pink foam bubbles from between her lips. Orion shifts, then the tiny wolf crumples to the ground. I shove Orion aside before reaching for my moon-goddess-blessed mate. He tries to hold me back, but the beast inside me drowns everything in thunderous roars. My fingers tremble as they brush her bloodied face, my vision bleeding red at the edges.
"Mate, my mate," I chant, while I catalog every wound. Each mark a death sentence for whoever caused it. I try not to panic. I never fucking panic. "She's an omega. Anomega!What the fuckhappened here? Where's Doc? Someone answer me! Now!" My alpha bark explodes through the room like a shockwave, every wolf falling to their knees in submission. Even my second falters before fighting back to his feet, then glowers at me.
"Be careful with her," he snaps.
"Tell me what happened! And where is the fucking doctor!"
"Doc is on his way, he should be here any minute." Orion's voice is steady. He attempts to pull the omega away from me, but my wolf snaps. "We're pack, Gray. Remember that. She's ours, not yours."
Everything hits me all at once. I have a mate. I have a fucking mate, and she's right here, and she's an omega, and she's fucking bleeding out. The room spins violently while my alpha claws for control, demanding I pick up the tiny wolf and take her away from this filthy place at once.
Orion turns toward the enforcers.
"What.Happened," he snarls, his dominance shaking the two enforcers where they stand. It's then that I realizetheyare responsible for this beautiful shifter beaten bloody.
I glance back down at her. She's breathing, but it's shaky. There's a hitch in her breath, her lungs rattling. She's a shifter. She will live. But the two shifters at my back may not.
I rise to my full height and turn. The air between us crackles with power. The scent of fear fills the room as Andrea and Stance drop their gazes, necks bared in submission.
"You found the rogue shifter," I say, my voice deceptively soft. "And discovered an omega in her place."
"It's not possible. How could an omega just be wandering around on her own? It has to be a trick. She's a witch—"
Andrea's accusation dies in her throat as my hand closes around her windpipe. Her feet leave the ground. I hurl her across the room, her body slamming into the wall, cracking the stone from impact.
