5. Mystery Omega
Mystery Omega
Blake
A lpha, that delivery driver is back at the main gate and still smelling like a beta. What’s the plan? Deke’s voice came over the link.
Why are you at the gate? Thought you were trailing the exile?
He recognized me, so I swapped with another wolf.
Right. Bring this omega up.
Deke had been furious that one of our gatekeepers had allowed a random omega in after admitting to using magic to change his scent.
In truth, my biggest concern hadn’t been my safety or that of the pack; a single omega couldn’t do that much harm.
It was more that one of my pack might not be taking no for an answer.
I’d have believed it during my father’s reign, but those days were supposed to be long gone.
The guy had said there was an ex bothering him and he didn’t want to be near my compound as an omega, so my mind started drawing conclusions.
We’d worked hard to make things better over the years after getting rid of my father.
The Sweetwater pack had been a mess and hardly improved under my Uncle Jonah, Deke’s father.
He’d taken over the pack after they killed my father for his actions.
As my mother’s brother, my Uncle Jonah was still grieving her loss and was in no fit state to lead a pack, certainly not one as troubled as this one had been.
While I’d tried my hardest, I was suffering, having lost both parents in quick succession, and was only seventeen, ?far from the age of maturity.
The council had ruled that I needed to wait until I was twenty-one to take over fully.
Under their rules, alphas could run packs and omegas could mate at that age, as we were seen as mature.
Naturally, I disagreed. I’d been mature at seventeen.
After a short time, where I lost myself in my thoughts, Deke led a guy into the room. His head was down, so I could only see rich nut-brown curls around his face and a slender frame. The poor guy looked ill. He was trembling, sweating, and his clothes hung off him.
Even his scent was… wrong. He smelt of beta and something underlying… that was sweet and addictive. I leaned forward to get more of it, wanting to snatch the man up. I’d never felt this draw before, but something was off that I wanted to understand.
He stood before me, his eyes, a stunning shade of golden brown, finally met mine, and then he collapsed.
Everyone in the room moved at once, Deke to ?catch him, the man falling through his fingers.
Chase and Axel scurried from the room to get some help.
I moved to the man’s side, even though this could be a trick to lure me from the relative safety of my desk.
Usually, I was more focused and controlled, but this guy had gotten under my skin in the seconds he’d been in front of me.
“He’s just fainted,” Deke said, checking his pulse and breathing, “though he’s not breathing right and has a fever.
I’m also worried about how hard he hit his head when he landed.
” Deke had a point. The rug covering the hardwood flooring was hardly plush.
I’d been meaning to replace it, but it matched the room and I had other priorities.
Like the guy who’d just passed out on my floor and could have sustained a head injury.
“I called the gate to get his contact info and Axel is calling the hospital,” Chase said, hurrying back into the room. His phone buzzed and he left the room, already making a call.
I couldn’t do anything but watch as everyone moved around me, talking and making a plan.
I stayed kneeling on the floor by his head, smoothing his curls from his too-pale face, and examined the dark circles around those beautiful eyes that were hidden from my gaze.
The feel of his hair on my fingers had me pausing.
I imagined that when he was healthy; it felt like silk.
Now his hair lacked luster and was slightly coarse.
Just who was this person and why was I reacting this way? Even my wolf was sitting up, paying attention to every breath he took. The more I paid attention to his chest’s rise and fall, the more concerned I became. It was too fast, too shallow to be right.
Everything was happening too slowly for me to take, so I scooped him into my arms and stood, heading for the door.
“He needs a doctor now. We’re taking him to the hospital.
” My wolf made a noise of contentment at the man in my arms, followed by one of confusion.
He didn’t smell like ours, so why did he feel so right?
It was a struggle to hand him over to another’s care. Even in the car, I’d stayed holding him, needing to be touching him in some way, while Chase drove us with Axel in the passenger seat. I’d barely had enough of a thought to remind Deke to look after the pack in my absence.
Kade. His name lingered while my brothers informed the doctors what had happened. I laid him carefully on the offered stretcher and wanted to follow as they took him away. My eyes followed him until he went out of sight.
We’d been waiting for news when an enormous man ran into the waiting room, “where’s Kade?
” he sounded frantic, “is he okay?” he looked utterly stricken and my heart sank.
This man must have an important place in Kade’s life.
Then I questioned why it hurt to think of Kade belonging to anyone that wasn’t me.
My wolf sulked in the corner of my mind.
“Kade is in with the doctors. They are running tests, so if you have any medical information they should know we should call one through,” Chase said, ever the voice of reason. “How do you know Kade?”
“I’m… uh... his friend, and his boss, Dakota. My information was at the gate and someone called me?” The admission that he was only a friend cost Dakota something, and he visibly wilted in front of us.
“That was me you spoke to.” Chase raised his hand like he was in school, eliciting a laugh from Axel. I cracked a smile, but my focus was still on the room where they’d taken Kade.
“Do you know what’s wrong with him?” I managed to ask.
Dakota sized me up and became defensive. “I warned him that using magic was a bad idea.”
“He used what? A potion? A spell or poultice?” Axel asked. I knew he’d make sure that the doctors knew that magic had been involved. It could hamper some treatments.
“Yeah, he used magic to hide that he’s an omega. I’m sure he told someone that. He got a potion from Northarbor.”
“He did say he’d masked his scent but didn’t say how. I bet the hospital will want some of that potion for testing.”
Dakota’s concern for Kade shone through and he started explaining, “he’s not been right for a while. He told me he’s on blockers, tried to spin me a line that he’s only been using them for a while, but...” Dakota trailed off.
“But what?” my tone was short.
“He… uh… hasn’t been having heats, for a while now. I don’t know how long it’s been.”
Shit .
Axel stood. “I’ll take that info to the nurse’s station.” Then he left the three of us, Dakota, still standing, in the too-small room. The air quickly became stifling with tension.
“So you’re the alpha, then?” Dakota asked me, his eyes boring into mine.
“I am. I didn’t mean for Kade to come to any harm,” my wolf howled at the idea of anyone, especially us, harming Kade, “but I had to investigate why a wolf in my territory that should be an omega is suddenly smelling like a beta, especially one that is unbonded.”
The bear, I was sure that was what he was, thought little of my reasoning, clearly looking for someone to blame for Kade’s condition.
“I imagine the stress just got to him,” Chase tried to reason. “If he’s been hiding from an ex.”
Dakota scoffed.
“Is there a problem?” I asked coolly.
“There’s no ex.” He gave a humorless chuckle.
“Well, not a recent one based around here.” He explained, “Kade’s like a ghost. It seems like he’s got all these friends, but he barely socializes.
He certainly hasn’t had a boyfriend, let alone an ex, since I’ve known him.
” I heard the possessiveness in his tone, as did Chase, who rolled his eyes from behind the big man.
“How long have you known him?” I asked, curious about their relationship. I did not doubt that Dakota wanted to be something more to Kade, but were they actually friends?
“Two years, give or take. Ever since he started working for Mercury. He’s a great worker, never late, never taking a sick day. Just turns up and does his job. Everything about how he runs his life is designed to avoid notice.”
“But Kade attracts attention,” I said simply.
Dakota made an approving sound. “Got my attention the second I met him, but I’ve never noticed the scent of anyone else on him for any length of time.
So if there’s an ex, this is someone from his past, but I get the feeling that there’s more to this whole thing.
Something spooked Kade about working in Sweetwater. ”
My mind returned to the rogue alpha I’d let into my pack. He’d been looking for an omega. Could he have been looking for Kade? I didn’t owe the alpha anything, and my gut told me he wasn’t to be trusted. I felt my brothers agree with where my thoughts were going. “So Kade lives alone?”
“Yeah, just him. He’s got a house near to our depot, halfway between here in Northarbor and Sweetwater.
” Dakota confirmed my thinking. Maybe Rincoln was his dad, but Kade had gone to great lengths to go undetected.
He did not want to be found by someone, likely this alpha that had come looking for someone like him.