2. Nate
NATE
I’m so used to Kato’s unique brand of rebellious cheek that when he first caught the omega’s scent I thought he was pulling my leg.
I couldn’t have been more wrong. Should’ve trusted his hunter’s nose.
I stand—as steadily as I can when this omega’s scent has me so completely off-balance—and cradle the bruised and bloody omega to my chest. He looks as breakable as cracked glass, and my big arms seem too clumsy for such a precious little thing.
I try not to think too hard about why the omega is missing his clothing.
Everything on our person shifts with us, so there’s no reason for him to be without—unless he was naked when he shifted.
Kato’s eyes glow when I meet his gaze—his wolf bleeding through again. Whatever this omega is giving off, it’s affecting us both. Our emotions are on a hair trigger, our wolves ready to battle it out over this tiny, broken omega.
I already know I’d be willing to fight Kato for him. The desire is a wild thing, swirling inside me like a stormy sea, rising and falling as I battle my instincts.
I turn slightly away from Kato, baring my teeth at him. “Calm down,” I say.
Kato gives me a stupefied look. “Me? Me calm down? You’re the one growling at me.”
I stare pointedly at his hands, where his sharp claws are out on full display.
He glances down and they slowly retract, as though taking considerable effort.
Regrettably, I know how he feels. I shove my wolf down inside me, push him into the little box where I keep him when my anger eddies too close to the surface and I’m in danger of it spilling over.
I’ve never had to force my wolf away over an omega before, though.
It’s not that I don’t like omegas. Despite what the rest of the pack may say, I’m as much of an alpha as the others, regardless of where my interests lie.
I’ve even been attracted to a few omegas before, but not like this.
Never so fast. Never so all-consuming. Never so covetously.
It crashes into me like a tidal wave. I want this omega.
And judging by the way Kato’s gaze is riveted on him, so does he.
It should make me madder, to know that the first omega I’ve ever wanted this way is also desired by someone else.
And the rage is there, of course, but it’s not an inferno—more of a low, simmering burn.
It’s far too close to the other type of craving I’ve been having lately, so I shove that thought away as fast as it arrives.
With a careful hand, I brush sweat-damp hair away from the omega’s perfect face. He’s too precious to leave here. I wouldn’t do that to anyone hurt like this—but especially not this omega.
Without saying another word, I begin the walk back to the village, not letting Kato take the lead. He jogs to catch up, matching my stride as closely as he can. I’d run, but the omega seems one hard shake away from shattering entirely.
He’s so small in my arms. So small, and yet the scent he gives off consumes me—envelops me in a way little else ever has. It’s coming off him in uneven waves, and I can see how Kato is affected too, what with the way he’s stumbling as he walks, constantly turning to stare at the omega.
A threadbare whimper has us both stopping in our tracks. Kato is beside me in the blink of an eye, his hand going to the omega’s forehead.
“He’s burning up. Bad,” he says, meeting my eyes for a scant second before focusing back on the omega.
“Fuck,” I mutter. It can’t be his heat, surely? No omega would run out into the middle of bumfuck nowhere to have their heat.
Not unless they had no other option.
“Will Declan let us keep him?” Kato asks, concern bleeding from his words.
“I’m not privy to Declan’s thought process.”
Kato glares at me. “Helpful as ever.”
I grunt, because that’s all I can think of to say in response. So eloquent, Nathan.
The omega shifts in my arms, all sharp elbows and cut-glass angles. He’s not like the well-fed omegas of our pack, plump and rosy with excess. No, this omega hasn’t seen a good meal in weeks, if not longer. The jut of his cheekbones tells me as much.
His skin is warming against mine, my flannel shirt helping with that as well as covering his modesty. He was so curled in on himself on the grass that I thankfully saw little of his body, and what I did see was covered in dirt and grime. Who knows what he really looks like under it all.
The omega’s pale lashes flutter, as if he knows I’m studying him. His eyes don’t open, however, even though I’m desperate to see them. His hair is such an uncommon colour that I can’t help but imagine that his eyes must be too.
“Let’s keep walking,” I tell Kato, mentally kicking myself for such saccharine thoughts.
It won’t matter what colour his bloody eyes are if Declan turns him away the second we arrive back in the village.
We don’t get runaways coming all the way up here, and our pack alpha doesn’t like outsiders. This might all be for naught.
And that makes me feel sick to my stomach. I’ve held the tiny omega in my arms for a matter of minutes, but the notion of ever letting him go seems antithetical to my every desire. It makes no sense. I don’t do this. Most omega scents do nothing for me. Too cloying, too overbearing. All wrong.
But this omega’s snowdrop scent, growing stronger by the minute as I tread carefully over the uneven ground, makes me want to bathe in it.
I always found the behaviour of alphas during their omegas’ heats dramatic and ridiculous, but I’m starting to understand.
It’s worse when the omega starts whimpering again, the high-pitched breathy noises cutting right into my soul in a way that’s too familiar, too close, too soon.
When he burrows closer against my chest, it sends my heart rate into overdrive. That anyone would see me as a source of comfort boggles my mind. I’ve never been that for anyone—I especially don’t know how to be one for this hurt omega.
Also, Kato’s walking far too close to me. At least, that’s what I should think, right? His shirt keeps flapping against my arm. Dude does not understand the concept of personal space.
And yet, I’m not telling him to move away. I don’t want him to move further away.
As if hearing my thoughts, Kato reaches out and grabs one of the omega’s limp feet where it’s dangling over my arm. He grips the omega’s ankle gently—like he needs the contact, needs to know the omega isn’t going to drift away in a cloud of smoke.
I know how he feels. The omega is so frail in my arms that I worry the next step I take will jostle him so much that he’ll break beyond repair.
But with Kato’s comforting touch, the omega seems to rally. He’s no longer whimpering, at least. Which is a good thing, because I was seconds away from fucking nuzzling into him. I don’t nuzzle.
Kato’s tattooed fingers look big and dangerous against the omega’s stick-thin ankle. One twist of his wrist and Kato could break bone. But he’s gentle. Surprisingly so. I’ve watched him do many things; softness isn’t something I expect of him.
It’s breaking down the barriers I’ve erected and kept fortified since he arrived here. I shore them up in my mind. Needing some physical space as well as mental, I nudge Kato away without disturbing the omega. “You’re getting in my way.”
Hurt flashes in Kato’s eyes. It chips away at my barrier once more, but I stay strong. For a whole few seconds Kato does as I asked, but then he’s back, touching the omega’s toes. As if that’s any better.
“Kato,” I say, desperately grasping for some calm. “You’re gonna trip me up.”
“But—”
I give him a hard look and he presses his mouth into a flat line. It makes me feel worse, of course.
Pushing him away always does.
We walk in silence, the birds—chirping far too perkily for my mood—providing the soundtrack on our way back to the village.
I rarely look at the landscape these days, but with Kato beside me I wonder what he thinks of my home.
It’s sometimes beautiful, sometimes barren.
Depends on the time of year. Right now, the fields are full of crops.
We walk past the carrots, all in their neat little rows, planted by the beta farmers.
I have a lot to say about Declan, but he keeps those betas whipped into shape.
Not one carrot is out of line. The earth between has been worn down by multiple shifters’ tracks, prints—both wolf and human—visible on the path.
I wish we hadn’t gone so far, now. My leg is starting to ache, the way it always does when I’m stressed. And how could I not be, when there’s a hurt omega in my arms and an unhappy Kato beside me?
But I don’t make it obvious. Maybe there’s a slight heaviness to my tread that someone like Declan would sniff out immediately, but Kato isn’t like his uncle. As much as he enjoys testing my patience, he’s not the sort to home in on others’ weaknesses.
Kato keeps glancing at me out of the corner of his eye.
It’s driving me up the wall, the way I can’t not notice him.
I turn my head, trying to hide my reaction, school my features, shove down my interest. Because most shifters I know consider my tastes an unnatural attraction.
Declan certainly does. My leg twinges, as if to remind me of the last time he made his opinion on the matter known—almost twenty years ago now.
Whilst no physical scars remain from that day, I can’t claim it didn’t leave a permanent mark on me.
Kato shuffles his feet. I can feel his gaze on me like a brand. “What?” I ask. He seems to know how to push all my buttons with the accuracy of a sharpshooter, so there’s little point in continuing to ignore him.
“I want to touch him again,” Kato says quietly. “I need to, Nate. Fuck, I feel like I’m crawling out of my skin. Just a touch, and then we can keep walking.”
He sounds genuinely wretched. “Fine,” I grunt, stopping beside one of the stone walls lining the path and leaning against it, giving my leg a much-needed break.