2. Nate #3
I hadn’t been. Not really. Not consciously. But now that he’s told me I can’t, it’s all I can think about. I want the sweet-smelling omega. I want to keep him safe, keep him away from the others, keep him for myself.
“Think about what?” Kato asks, twisting to look at me.
“Nothing,” I mutter, wanting everyone to stop paying so much damn attention to me. I’m never doing a good deed ever again. No more rescuing hurt omegas. It’s already proving troublesome, and we haven’t even been permitted into the village yet.
“It better be nothing,” Declan says.
“It is,” I reply, swallowing my pride. “I assure you.”
Declan needles me with his eyes but accepts when I bare my throat to him. “Fine,” he says. “He’s allowed entry for now. He can stay at your place, seeing as it’s become the home for strays. But a hint of trouble and he’s gone—you understand?”
“Yes,” I spit, before reluctantly adding, “Alpha.”
Under his breath, Kato hisses a complaint about being called a stray before collecting himself. “Uh, yes from me too, Uncle Declan.”
I walk past Declan’s posse with the omega still secure in my arms, glaring at any of them who dare look too closely. Their nostrils flare as we pass. There’s definitely something in the omega’s scent that isn’t only calling to Kato and me.
With one last glare, Declan turns his back on me and stalks away, the other alphas following. Unexpectedly, Eden makes a noise of irritation and follows us instead of his mate.
He peers at the omega as he falls into step beside me. “He definitely needs a professional.”
“Will you go get Niall for us?” I ask.
“Of course.” He’s silent for a few moments, the only sound the soft exhalations of the hurt omega. Then: “It’s good of you to help him.”
I’m not quite sure what to say to that. It’s rare that I speak to Eden—doubly so when Declan isn’t in earshot. So I just say, “It’s what anyone would do,” and hope to leave it at that.
“Not everyone, though,” Eden says softly. “You’re a good alpha, Nathan.”
“I was the one who sniffed him out in the first place,” Kato whines.
“I mean, you did well too,” Eden offers unconvincingly. It’s always awkward between them, despite their somewhat familial relation. Doesn’t help that Eden is about a decade Kato’s junior. I check on the omega again, thinking he must be around Eden’s age.
Too young to be out there alone. No wolf should be alone, but especially not an omega like him.
Eden peels off before we reach my place, sprinting away as fast as his little legs will carry him. Kato watches after him as his shoes slap on the cobblestones, a frown drawing his dark brows together.
“What is it?” I ask as I continue towards the last house in the row of quaint cottages.
He walks backwards until he’s caught up to me. “Declan isn’t great to him, is he?”
I give him a look. “It’s not my place to comment.”
“But—”
“Kato, let’s focus on the omega currently passed out in my arms, all right? One issue at a time.”
He harrumphs like a bad-tempered teenager but stays quiet for the few minutes it takes to reach my house.
I’m usually glad it’s on the outskirts—far enough from the village centre that I don’t have to deal with many passersby or noisy neighbours—but walking this far on my bad leg is going to cost me.
I should have let Kato carry the omega some of the way. As usual, my unwillingness to cede control has screwed me over.
At least Kato has the good sense to get ahead of me and open the front door.
He’s been living with me for a while now, and as I step inside I realise how much our scents have intermingled.
My home no longer smells only of me. It’s the first time since I was a teenager that anyone else has been here for longer than a few hours—I hadn’t noticed until now how his woodsmoke and honey scent has baked itself into the walls.
“We can put him in my room,” Kato says casually, even though I know it’s not casual at all.
“Nope. Mine,” I respond, not leaving space for further discussion as I head through to the back of the cottage to my bedroom. My old one was upstairs, but this one is the master. After my parents moved out, it took me months before I dared enter it.
For years afterwards, it didn’t feel like anyone else had ever lived here. Since Kato arrived, though, it’s been full of noise and mess and constant yapping.
Full of life again, I suppose. Not that I’ve told him that, though. Can’t. If he knew how much it means to me, he might also figure out how much he means to me.
And that would be an unmitigated disaster.
“Why do you get to make all the decisions?” Kato asks.
I don’t answer. He knows why, knows he likes it when I make decisions for him, likes when I give him something to focus his energy on, likes when I act like his alpha.
No, I don’t say any of that. Instead, I shove the duvet back and gently lay the omega down on my bed, tucking him in.
The sight of him there—so small in the oversized king—makes my heart skip a beat. Kato sucks in a breath, and I glance at him out of the corner of my eye. I don’t think he even realises he’s made a noise, because when he catches me looking he scowls at me.
“What?” he hisses.
I contemplate ignoring him again, but I don’t think that’ll do either of us any favours.
“You like him,” I say slowly. It’s not an accusation.
I know Kato likes him. Just as I know Kato’s barely paid any of the omegas in the pack a lick of attention.
He’s been more focused on me than anyone else, which makes my stomach flip and my wolf preen.
Stupid stomach. Stupid wolf. I can’t let myself go there.
Not again.
Kato presses his lips together so tightly they go white at the edges.
“Kato,” I say cajolingly. “It’s…fine.”
It’s not. But who the fuck am I to stake a claim?
Whatever Kato did to get himself sent here doesn’t matter.
He’s an alpha capable of protecting this omega—unlike me.
He won’t tire after a walk or need to rest after physical chores.
Kato’s full of frenetic energy and never seems to switch off. Ever.
“I thought you liked him,” Kato says, breaking his silence.
I shrug noncommittally.
Kato opens his mouth to speak again, but we both hear the sound of footsteps approaching outside.
Eden was quick. Judging by their number, he brought more than just Niall.
A quick sniff tells me it’s Adrian. I should have expected him, given he’s rarely apart from Niall and loves sticking his nose into every situation.
We’re friends, but Declan doesn’t like unmated alphas like me spending time with unmated omegas like Adrian.
Not that either of us has ever looked at each other that way.
Doesn’t matter to Declan, though. His word is law.
When an insistent knock sounds at the door, it signals our time alone with our—the omega is up. I lean down and fuss with the collar of my shirt where it’s tangled around his neck. A pretence, of course. Really, I just want one more excuse to touch him.
I feel like I’m going to need many, many more excuses, because I don’t want this to be the last time I get to feel his soft skin under my fingers. I brush my fingers along his pulse point, subtly scenting him.
It’s bad. He’s unconscious. He can’t tell me no, but I do it regardless.
When I pull my hand back, Kato is riveted on my fingers. I cough pointedly and he looks up, meeting my eyes. He quirks a brow at me, and his earlier words echo in my mind.
I thought you liked him.
Yeah. We’re both fucked.