Bullied Arranged Omega (Rose Falls Wolves #2)

Chapter 1 - Miles

The late afternoon sun is already sinking behind the tree line. A cold, hazy mist rolls in through the trees, and the air is crisp with damp forest scents. Snow is already coating the ground, and the once bright green of the forest is muted but bright in a white glare.

I take a deep breath and close my eyes for a moment, standing in the meadow close to the trail that leads toward the thick, knotted old trees and rocky outcrops.

I’m still savoring every moment since Jace and I got back from Black Ops training.

The desert was brutal. It was dry, hot, and unforgiving.

Home is a soft landing after that place.

Even with the politics the elders constantly exhaust us with and the daily battles we face trying to keep this pack safe and growing stronger, I’d choose home over the desert any day.

Although, man, that was a brilliant adventure.

Don’t get me wrong, the pack is still a heavy burden of responsibility and endless obligations. But I love it here. I wouldn’t change anything.

I wouldn’t even change the fact that I am an Alpha in a Beta position.

My personality doesn’t want to lead the whole pack. I would choose to work under Jace any day. He’s an amazing leader. He was born for it. Or bred for it, however you want to view it.

I’ll work hard, endlessly, to keep Rose Falls safe. But the Alpha role is better suited to Jace.

The idea of being forced into marriage with one of the omegas and to have the expectation of creating a future Alpha… No thanks. I’ll choose my own path.

I shift, standing barefoot on the frost-covered ground in my jeans and army-style jacket, with no shirt on underneath.

I hate bringing too many clothes when I know we’re shifting for a run.

Seems annoying to have to deal with the hassle.

The cold is biting at my skin. Where the hell is Jace?

Surely, I wasn’t that far ahead of him. Maybe I shouldn’t have let my wolf, Mudder, jump into the river this afternoon.

Soon it’s going to be completely frozen solid.

It’s the last week of being able to break the icy surface and splash around in there.

Most Betas would kill for a chance to be an Alpha. It confuses people when I tell them I’m happy exactly where I am. Not everything in life is about status. I can have Alpha blood in my veins without wanting an Alpha title. It’s more freeing being a Beta.

Jace, the Alpha, is my best friend. He has been since the day I moved into the pack house and started training as his Beta. We were kids. But our futures were already decided.

He smirks as he walks toward me, coming out of the tree line wearing blue jeans and shrugging a jacket onto his shoulders.

“How did you get out so fast?” He asks, shaking his head.

“A magician never reveals his secrets,” I tease.

He scoffs, “You went right through the river, didn’t you?”

I grin and shrug.

I did. He knows Mudder will never miss an opportunity to leap into a crystal-clear pool of glistening water. No matter how cold.

“That was a good run,” Jace says, standing next to me and glancing back at the trees. “Winter is definitely getting closer,” he muses.

“Getting closer? Dude, there’s snow on the ground.

I reckon it’s safe to say that winter is here early this year.

Can you believe it’s already the end of October?

It feels like just yesterday we got back from Black Ops,” I remark.

“You’ll look at the town being covered in Christmas decorations soon. ”

His brows raise as he nods, pondering being home in the same way I often ponder it. It’s a different world.

“I’m starving,” I say, pulling him from his thoughts.

“Same, Mira is cooking up a storm. Come and eat with us,” he says, gesturing for me to follow him toward their home on the compound grounds.

“She won’t mind?” I ask, “I’ve been there almost every day this week for dinner.”

“You’re making up for lost time with your sister,” he smiles.

Jace and Mira, my little sister, are fated mates. They got married not too long after we got home. At first, it was weird, but then, as Mira and I began to resolve the issues of our past, and I could see how in love they were, it became a normal thing to see the two of them together.

My best friend and my sister. And their firstborn. I’m an excellent uncle. One of those uncles you call when you’re in trouble and you don’t want your parents to find out. That’s me.

Jace and I jog the entire way to their place. A large cottage with a custom-designed workshop behind it for Mira to work in. She’s head of the tech department, and so freaking smart it scares me sometimes.

“Mira?” Jace calls as we walk inside.

“Kitchen,” She shouts back.

“We’re home,” he says, walking into the kitchen that smells of roast and gravy.

“Damn, that smells good,” I take a deep breath in. My nephew is sleeping in a cot near the kitchen window. It’s closed, and he’s tucked beneath a fluffy grey blanket.

“Hey, guys, talk softer, or you’ll wake my boy up!” I scold them, heading over to the cot.

Mira’s already having an extra plate out for me. I grin when I spot it.

“Pfft,” Mira scoffs, laughing. “A tornado couldn’t wake that little guy. He sleeps like his father.

“Do you guys want to set the table? I’m almost done here,” she says.

Jace steps behind her and pulls her against his chest, hugging her and nuzzling his face into her neck. “Hey, beautiful,” he purrs.

I scrunch my nose, leave my nephew to sleep, and grab the plates to rush out of the kitchen. Yeah, yeah, it’s cool and all they they’re so in love, but it doesn’t mean I have to watch it all the time.

I hear giggling from the kitchen.

Taking my time, I set the plates out on the table at our usual seats.

Mira and I didn’t always get along. Actually, that’s not a fair way to put it at all. It wasn’t her fault in any way. I left my little sister to the wolves, so to speak.

When we were young, our parents died, and while I got taken into the pack house because of my Alpha blood, Mira got sent to live with our aunt and the other omegas.

She was an outcast. A nerd. And she was badly bullied.

I witnessed it so many times, and I never did a damn thing to stop it or protect her.

I didn’t even try. Every time I think about it, it makes me sick to my stomach.

It’s really fucked up that I would let that happen to my little sister.

It’s one of the reasons why I never want a mate. If I can be that cruel and cold toward my own sister, how could I ever protect or care for a mate?

I clearly have no heart.

Not everyone in this world is made for love. My time is better spent protecting the pack and helping Jace.

The pack’s future is already looking better with Jace in charge, but he needs all the help he can get to reach the goals he has. Our goals.

It took a lot to get everyone on board after we got home from Black Ops. His ideas were too futuristic and outlandish, especially to the elders. They weren’t interested in abandoning the old ways. But times have changed, and so should we.

Now that pretty much everyone is aligned, and the pack is running smoothly, we can improve more and more. The elders still protest here and there and make life more challenging, but overall, we’re headed in the right direction.

There is a lot to do, and that is what I’m dedicating my time and energy to. Not to finding a mate.

Jace walks in and places cutlery at each plate, then pulls a chair out for Mira, who comes in a few moments behind him, carrying an oven dish of steaming food.

I wait until Mira is sitting before I take my seat.

“You’ve outdone yourself again, Mira,” I say, excited to tuck into the delicious food. She’s a brilliant cook. She’s a brilliant mother, too. And clearly a brilliant wife.

Jace is lucky to have her.

“How did the meeting go this morning with the elders?” Mira asks, scooping a big spoon of mashed potato onto Jace’s plate. He groans and glances at me. I wasn’t at this morning’s meeting. The look in his eyes is odd. It sets my intuition spiking.

“It was long and uh, argumentative,” he sighs.

“About what?” I ask before Mira can.

“The elders have some grand ideas that I’m trying to talk them out of.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” I ask, confused, why he hasn’t spoken to me about this yet.

“Because if I can talk them out of it, then there is nothing to discuss or worry about,” Jace shrugs, biting into a thick slice of roast lamb.

I stare at him through narrowed eyes. I can smell that he’s hiding something from me, and I want to know what it is.

“I hope you can sort it out without too much drama,” Mira remarks, unaware of my heightened curiosity and agitation.

It shouldn’t agitate me. Jace goes to plenty of meetings without me. The especially boring ones that I manage to make an excuse for so that I can go and be useful somewhere else. Talking about finances for hours on end does not interest me in the least.

I’m about to ask Jace if it was a budget meeting when his phone buzzes. He tugs it out of his back pocket and throws Mira an apologetic smile. No phones at the table. Even I know the rules. I grin at the glare she throws him. A clear warning.

He sheepishly mouths two seconds and scrolls to the message.

Mira turns to me. “How was your run?”

“Great. The lake is freezing over. The kids will be skating on it soon enough. For now, the surface is too thin. It’s still easy to break through it,” I tell her.

“I was in the forest this morning. The air is so clear and crisp. It’s amazing…”

A loud groan from Jace has us both turning toward him in surprise.

“What is it?” Mira asks, worried.

“It’s something I need to discuss with Miles,” Jace sighs, pushing his hand through his hair.

“I can go get Logan ready for his bath,” she says, immediately standing up.

I stare, dumbfounded, as she walks away, and my head spins with what could be going on.

For some reason, the way Jace is pulling his face is making me very uncomfortable.

“What is it? This isn’t just random pack business, is it?” I demand.

“Miles, the elders have this stupid idea, and I have been trying so fucking hard to talk them out of it for days now…”

“Days?” I stammer.

He nods.

“Spit it out, man, what is going on?” I blurt out. “We’ve been through enough together that we can handle anything.”

Jace chuckles nervously. “This isn’t the same as the other things we’ve handled,” he muses.

I roll my eyes impatiently.

“Come on, man….”

He nods. “The elders are pushing to have a high-ranking male from this pack marry one of the omegas in an arranged marriage.”

“What the hell? That doesn’t make sense. It goes against the Rose Falls values we’re trying to implement. The omegas have a say in who they want to marry. That’s so archaic,” I huff.

“It gets worse,” Jace says, scrunching his face.

“No.”

The word is out of my mouth immediately. I can practically read his mind even though he isn’t speaking to me telepathically.

“Miles, I know. Ok. I know, and I am still adamant that this shouldn’t happen at all, and especially not to you. But the bottom line is that your name has been dropped a number of times in the meetings, and after the message the elders just sent me now, I thought it was better to warn you.”

“I don’t get it. What’s the point of forcing me into an arranged marriage?” I huff bitterly.

“The old ways are tough for the elders to let go of. We’ve been pushing them constantly, and they’ve changed a lot and accepted a lot of new things, but there are certain things that they don’t view the same way we do,” Jace says.

“Like forcing two people to get married?” I scoff.

He nods.

My thoughts flood with panic. Surely this isn’t actually going to happen. Jace will fight it, and he is the Alpha of this pack, so he won’t let it happen. Right?

“Jace…”

“I know, Miles. I tried to explain it to them nicely, but it didn’t help, and I won’t let them go through with it. I wish it wasn’t going to cause such heavy drama, though,” he murmurs.

I nod, relieved. “It’s against everything we’re building,” I say.

He sighs and nods again. “It is.”

After dinner, I head home to my place. I was staying at the pack house when I first came home, but after Jace moved out, there was no reason for me to stay anymore, and I got a place of my own on the grounds of our compound.

Walking through the meadow toward my cottage, I have trepidation flowing through my veins.

There is deep anger and a sense of betrayal that the pack elders would try to force me into something like that.

I have to keep reminding myself that Jace won’t let it happen, so I shouldn’t waste time thinking about it, but it’s difficult.

The idea of being forced into marriage terrifies me.