The Omega Wolf and His Alpha Unicorns (Omegas of Animals: SD #17)

Chapter One

Bram

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I didn’t pull it out to see who it was. I didn’t need to. My father had given me a five-minute warning to be at the alpha house dressed in my “best clothes.” That was six minutes ago. I would’ve been there on time if it wasn’t for the stupid dress code.

Best clothes always meant powerful guests, and the last time this happened, our pack alpha forced us all to shift as a show of his strength.

Not the first time he’d pulled such a dick move, and I needed to get a new outfit.

The one I wore was from back in high school, and the stupid pants buttons and the shirt pulled in all the wrong ways.

I was going to hear about it later.

My father hadn’t mentioned who was coming, but there were five cars, each in a price range I’d never dream of. Crap. They were definitely going to notice my ill-fitting clothing. At least the neighboring pack would have let it slide. This one? I had no idea.

Running as fast as I could without ripping my seams, I skidded to a stop when the pack enforcers stood in front of me. “I’m late.”

“We know, Bram. Your father is trying to buy you time, so wait out here for someone to come get you.” Delta Jay walked inside, shutting the doors on me.

If we didn’t have visitors, I’d have knocked or yelled at him. But we did, so I waited like a good little wolf. This was a first, and my wolf didn’t like it. It unsettled him, which, in turn, had the same effect on me.

I stood there, cussing the stupid soundproof doors under my breath. Nothing about this was normal, and the remaining enforcers’ sly stares said I played a part in that. And not just by being late, either.

The only reason I, a beta’s son, ever went to the political bullshit was because our pack alpha and his mate had never birthed a pup. To some packs, it made his authority look weak. I wasn’t sure how dragging his betas’ pups into things countered that, but apparently it did.

Five minutes became ten became twenty. Just when I thought they might have forgotten me, Delta Jay opened the double doors and escorted me inside. I didn’t recognize the outsiders, but I could feel their power. It would be impossible not to. The air was heavy with it.

“Alpha Trevor, this is Beta Ryan’s son, Bram. I’m sure you will find him acceptable,” Alpha Stuart said.

What the actual fuck? Why do I need to be acceptable? I wasn’t in line for any position. No one would ever take an omega seriously.

Alpha Trevor approached me and grabbed my chin, pushing my head from side to side and grunting.

Then he went back to someone standing beside another alpha who resembled him.

Perhaps his brother. They held each other’s gaze for a solid thirty seconds, gave a single nod, then the other wolf stalked over to me.

My wolf wanted to take our fur and get out of there, but the knowledge that if we took off, we’d have an entire room full of alphas shifting and chasing our furry self, kept me on two feet.

The second wolf circled me, scenting the air but never being quite as bold as Alpha Trevor when it came to touching me. Or maybe my scent disgusted him. His emotionless expression made it impossible to tell. If I couldn’t sense his wolf, I’d have wondered if he were a fancy-schmancy robot.

He walked back to my pack alpha, whispered something I couldn’t make out, and the next thing I knew, the enforcers whisked me back to my family cabin where two suitcases waited by the door.

“Will you please tell me what’s going on?”

“Nothing yet.” The enforcer cleared up absolutely nothing. “Sit and wait.”

I attempted to see what was in the suitcases, but was thwarted twice. Pack politics had never been my thing but in that moment, I wished past me had paid more attention to them.

When my father arrived, the sun was setting. He dismissed the enforcers then sat beside me—such a dad thing to do, and so out of place considering the day’s formality. “Alpha Stuart has decided to name me his successor.”

“That’s great, Father. You have worked so hard for that.”

“It is, but it means I need to prove myself to other packs. I’m not an heir. I’m not going to challenge for the position. This path requires support from outside the pack.” He put his hand on my shoulder.

“Are you mad my clothes were too small?” I didn’t understand where this conversation was going.

“Nolan will provide you with new clothing.”

I reared back. “Who?”

Then my father told me he’d arranged a mate for me.

Not just any mate, either, but the creepy alpha who’d kept sniffing me.

Silly me thought these were modern times, but nope.

I must’ve jumped timelines and ended up in the days of old when mates were picked by families and love and Fate played no part in it.

“Yeah, no. I’m not gonna do that.”

“I wasn’t asking. I’ve given you a life of privilege, and it’s time for you to do your part.”

“And if I refuse?” Because I 100 percent was going to.

I wasn’t ready to mate anyone and had no desire to live in a strange pack.

None of this fit with my plans to finish college online, one class at a time, fall in love with an alpha who treated me like an equal, and rear a cabin full of pups.

Not that my father once asked me what I wanted for my future.

I’d always assumed it was because he was so busy being beta of the pack as a single parent, my dad was a victim of a hunting accident when I was still a baby.

“Then, instead of carrying your suitcases to the alpha house to meet your new mate, you can take them with you as you leave the pack lands and never return.” He got up and headed to the door.

“I’ll give you twenty minutes to be at the alpha house.

” His voice held confidence that I would go along with the plan. Wrong.

I scribbled a short goodbye and grabbed a stash of cash my grandfather gave to me right before my first shift. He’d said no omega should ever feel trapped and to hold on to it and tell no one about it.

“Thanks, Grandpa.”

I climbed in my beater of a car and crossed my fingers it would make it to my new home. That was as far as my planning went. Where that new home was and what I might do there were completely unknown, but it had to be better than mating a creepy old stranger so my father could gain pack clout.