8. Lessons #2
My heart clenched at his words because they were true.
Surely, if Kade felt the same draw that I did, he would have been in touch.
Since I didn’t have a number for Kade, I’d had to resort to calling Mercury Delivers.
I’d left my number with Dakota when he’d called to say that Kade had left the hospital and had apologized for all the hassle at the pack-house.
He’d been quick to smooth over any offense caused by Kade entering the territory under a magical disguise.
I’d brushed his concerns off, more worried about Kade than anything else.
Getting information about Kade out of Dakota had been like pulling blood from a stone, and I’d tried several times over the last week.
Eventually, Dakota had bitten out that Kade would be on leave for a couple of weeks and would not be returning to the Sweetwater route for his safety. Then he’d hung up on me.
I’d checked out Dakota Flemming’s family in the pack list, but they were part of a small bear pack that had been allowed to form out of Sweetwater.
Ours wasn’t the only pack in Sweetwater, just the largest and responsible for all the smaller packs in the area.
I could use my authority over him, but that would turn me into something like my father.
The Northarbor packs, the birds and the cats, shared responsibility for all the shifters in the city.
I was glad I didn’t have to deal with pack politics like territory battles.
I had enough to deal with my own shifters.
“So we’ve decided the best way to get over someone is to get on someone else,” Axel said.
“But a heat club? Heatwave too, so close to the pack?” I could admit to feeling curious about what it would feel like to be with an omega, to be with anyone, but I wasn’t sure that a heat club was the place to go.
“Look,” Chase piped up, still leaning against my desk and observing me, “the omegas there only want to get their heats out of the way so that makes them perfect.” He shrugged.
“They aren’t social climbers wanting to mate an alpha for prestige.
You take a contraceptive before you can get in, so you can’t end up a daddy unless you make a real connection with whoever you pair up with and see each other outside the club. ”
“We’ll be there too,” Axel chimed in.
“What? No!” I spluttered. “There’s no way I’m doing that with you two there.”
They laughed for a long time. Chase doubled over with it and tears in his eyes. The twins would look at each other and then crack up again until, finally, Axel sobered. “No, not in the room, just until you get chosen.”
“Chosen?”
“The omega has all the power, dear brother, so the omega picks their alpha unless there isn’t one they want. Then maybe a beta or two will step in with some handy toys.” Chase looked delighted at the prospect.
“What if there aren’t any omegas?”
Axel scoffed, “there are always omegas. Did you know Northarbor doesn’t have a heat club?”
“Seriously?” I heard the surprise in my tone.
“Yeah, this is the closest one unless you go to Greenbriar, I think. It’s a pretty extensive area to only have one club, so they are always busy,” said Chase.
“Heatwave has a stellar reputation for safety, too. So we think it would be the best way for you to get this omega out of your head. They have approved you already. Seems you have a perfect omega-friendly reputation.” Axel sounded fond and proud of me.
“I do?” I felt stunned at how quickly they’d sorted this and embarrassed about the whole situation. How many alpha wolf pack leaders had to get their brothers to help them lose their virginity?
“You really do, a couple of the unmated omegas of the pack use the club and spoke up on your behalf. They seem to think you walk on water or something,” Axel was grinning now.
Often he was seen as the stoic twin, but he was only withdrawn with people he didn’t know well.
As we rebuilt the pack into something that we could be proud of, he came out of that shell.
I often thought that he had taken a lot of our dad’s shame on himself.
He and Chase had been of age to take on the pack when Dad had been killed, yet the council denied their application, citing their designations as the reason.
No alpha wants to follow a beta pack leader, they’d reminded us.
“So we’re going then?” Chase asked.
I gave it another thought. For years I’d carried around the anxiety about people finding out about it, and my brothers had treated me well over it.
I couldn’t hang around the pack-house and hope that someone would come to me.
The one person who had caught my eye hadn’t been back.
Hadn’t called and likely hadn’t given me a second thought.
The thought of going to Heatwave and taking an omega through their heat had me on edge the whole afternoon.
So much so that I had to get out of the house for a bit.
I thought about shifting, but my wolf wanted to rest after our long runs the last couple of days.
We had raced through the woods in our territory with our pack under the moon howling our thanks to The Luna for our alter forms. I’d played with the young pups and let them climb me and become covered in the pack’s scent.
I went to the one place that soothed me if a run wasn’t possible—the omega houses.
After they killed my father, the council stepped in and many forced matings of omegas were dissolved.
This, unfortunately, left a lot of omegas dependent on the pack for basic things such as food and housing.
Many of them had pups or were pregnant with nowhere to go.
Their old packs wouldn’t take them back, seeing them as damaged.
One of my first tasks after Dad was gone was to create a program to help them.
They worked in the brewery in various roles or at the pack school.
Anywhere I could get them jobs and I helped arrange childcare.
It wasn’t perfect, but it helped give them back some pride and independence.
Surprisingly few had left the pack after I’d taken over.
Some had even picked new mates for themselves and pups had been born into happy matings.
The omega houses weren’t the prettiest buildings, but all were safe and functional.
We’d slowly been upgrading them and I’d sat down with the omegas at the start and taken them through the realities of the packs’ finances.
Some of the women had helped me see things I was missing and had been instrumental in helping us recover.
It hadn’t made me popular with some of the old guard but I hardly cared about that.
There had been plenty of betas that had been living under the heels of the alphas that were willing to support my fairer regime.
“It’s Alpha Blake!” came the shouts of some of the young children as they ran around the houses. The women had made a community garden and playground to help support themselves and occupy the children.
I soon found myself surrounded by a gaggle of little shifters, not all were wolves.
There was at least one fox and a bear. My dad had been open to having other shifters in the pack, but hadn’t approved mixed matings, like having to stick with like, though usually, the alpha dictated the alter type.
The kids clung to me as I tried to make my way to Georgia’s house until the woman herself shouted at them from the window of her house.
“Alpha Blake, I’ve just made some tea. Want some?” Georgia asked with a pleasant smile.
“Please, I need some advice,” I replied.
Seated around her kitchen table, I allowed my worries to fall off me.
Georgia wouldn’t lead me wrong. She was a bit of a mystery but had been close with my mother, and I had many fond memories of her as I grew up.
Whenever I felt like I needed motherly advice, she was the person I came to since my mom had been taken from me.
I hoped my mom would be proud of my friendship with Georgia.
I looked to her for advice, as if she was my surrogate mother and I loved her dearly.
Like my mom, Georgia was a beautiful lady despite all she had been through.
A smattering of fine lines adorned her face, a sign of her hard life prematurely aging her, her wolf alter unable to heal the damage of years of abuse.
Georgia’s hazel eyes were warm and kind despite it all.
She wore her blonde hair long and braided down her back since it was still thick and held few grays.
Georgia was fierce but kind. Like most of the omegas I’d known over the years, she was empathetic and held several battle scars.
Her forced mating with one of my father’s enforcers had ended when he had mouthed off to the wrong man, my dad, and was killed in a challenge.
Few packs still held challenges to the death, but they were legal and the council didn’t intervene.
They had left Georgia unmated and alone since she had no children of her own.
Instead, she fostered the children that had no omega parents.
“Now,” she said, placing a chamomile tea in front of me, “tell me what’s got your wolf all in a pickle. I can feel his distress.”
I sighed because I did and didn’t want to be talking about Kade. Even the thought of him had the moment we met replaying in my mind. “I met someone, but he hasn’t been in touch. I just can’t get him out of my head.”
“Is he your mate?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think so. Our alters didn’t recognize each other. His scent had been changed, and he was sick.”
“So he could just be recovering and not know you want to see him again?”
“It’s possible, but it’s been over a week now. My brothers think I need to let this go. They want to take me to Heatwave.” I felt my cheeks heat at the admission.
Georgia smirked at me, “taking you to get rid of that v-card finally?”