Chapter 2
Opal
We should stay home until it’s time to go meet our mates.
You know there’s a chance we won’t find anyone this season.
Stop being such a downer.
I didn’t want to argue with her. She still had so much hope for the future. It wasn’t fair of me to take that away with my jaded logic.
And I didn’t blame the camera guys for running off as fast as they could. I planned to do the same.
They were cute, though. My wolf sighed.
Cute, but not wolf enough to satisfy.
I’d been with plenty of humans over the years and—no offense to the species as a whole—they were missing the depth my body biologically craved. I needed knots. Multiple of them, if possible. Especially when the lonely ache grew like it was doing now.
We need our mates, my wolf reminded me, getting that dreamy, romantic vibe about her again.
Not that it was ever too far away.
She was an Omega through and through.
We’re both Omega.
I didn’t need the reminder.
But unlike the other Omegas, I had to fend for myself. They stayed in groups and took care of each other until they were surrounded by their own mates. A lone Omega was unheard of.
I was basically a freak of nature.
It didn’t help that I was tucked back into these woods. I needed to get out of here if I was going to have any sort of life that wouldn’t revolve around me constantly talking to my own wolf alone in the shack I grew up in.
I took a step onto the porch and my wolf cringed, curling up deeper within my mind.
Like I said, I didn’t blame the cameramen for their quick escape. They hadn’t mentioned anything, but anyone with a pulse could sense it. There were predators all up and down these hills. Not just wolves or other shifters—humans too.
You had to be tough to survive out here, where all manner of creatures came to hide and carve a life in the Appalachian woods. Cops didn’t bother this far out. We policed our own and had our own set of rules.
There was no cell service this deep in the holler. True, I’d once had a landline, among other services like running water, but it’d gotten shut off when I first went to the show.
At this point, it was pride and embarrassment that kept me from restarting the utilities.
I’d have to go into town the next hill over and talk to Sam, who’d call her mama, and then she and Mrs. Vicki would show up here with a casserole dish of soup beans laced with prying questions I wasn’t in the mood to answer.
And the judgement.
Goddess, I hated that more than anything else.
I didn’t need power anyway. I’d grown up without it most days when Mom didn’t pay the bills.
It was just like camping, and my wolf didn’t mind getting a little dirty. Her shiny all black coat was low-maintenance and easy to clean. For being an Omega, she wasn’t a prissy thing.
But I still don’t want to go into town, she said as I took another step off the porch.
You were okay when we came through last time.
Then again, it’d only been for supplies as we swung by Krammer’s Grocery and Liquor, but we’d managed to avoid running into any trouble or whispers from loose lips that had nothing better to do than talk.
I looked around the yard as if those whispers could find me all the way out here.
It still smelled like the Alpha where he’d marked the edge of the property, making the cabin safe for an Omega. Leaving this perimeter exposed us to all sorts of critters who made these woods home and, I was sorry to say, town held the worst of them.
Don’t get me wrong, most of the locals were decent folk just trying to live their lives without the government breathing down their necks, but a certain type of lawlessness was drawn to the shelter of these hills.
And my wolf was small. Skittish. An Omega not biologically designed to be alone out here by herself. Hence the Alpha’s markings.
But the scent was fading, so he’d be back soon.
I wanted to be gone before then.
I was only okay going to town because I thought there’d be a Hallmark movie chance we’d meet a new baker with his team of hot pastry chefs who’d never heard of us before when we went to town last time.
I stopped dead in my tracks. You do know that wouldn’t happen in real life.
Well, it could.
I had to get us out of here. She was losing her mind—more than usual. The romantic notions were getting stronger and she paced more restlessly within. Mating season was drawing on us, heightening my already heightened senses and desires.
Frost nipped my fingers and nose as I hurried across the yard to where the tarp covered the old Chevy truck.
You’re not seriously going to do this, she whined.
I have to. It’s not like I wanted to do it either.
But I needed to make the phone call.
I hated driving in the dark. It was either go now or wait until midday tomorrow because of the time difference. And I didn’t know how much time I had until the show sent for me.
Okay. New plan. We can stay home and our mates will come find us instead. Maybe a snowstorm will bring them in.
I kept an eye over my shoulder as I folded the tarp in a hurry. No more smut novels for you.
You wouldn’t. She gasped.
Maybe I would. Truth be told, I was getting tired of waiting and hoping for an Omega love story that probably couldn’t happen for me. With my luck, I’d end up like her.
Don’t say that.
Sorry. I climbed into the driver’s seat and slammed the door shut, adjusting the dusty pillow under my butt so I could see over the steering wheel.
My wolf harrumphed as she rested her snout onto her dainty paws, going along for the ride. We’ll find our mates. We have to. Or they’ll find us.
I was glad she still had hope despite, well, everything. But one of us had to be sensible.
“Come on, old girl. Time to get it together.” I turned the key in the ignition, praying the rust bucket would start.
After a few misfires, she finally warmed up. I drove down the dirt driveway, following the tracks the show camera crew left behind.
One hand stayed on the wheel as I used the other to check my phone. I normally didn’t get service until I got closer to town, but I was an expert at false hope.
Nothing yet.
I dropped the phone and cried out as I slammed on the brakes.
A dark, grizzly wolf stood on the road.
Glowing bright blue eyes stared at me through the windshield as his voice filled my head. “Pull over, Opal.”
My wolf whined, baring her neck. Alpha.
He didn’t have to tell me twice. Not that I would’ve disobeyed him anyway, even if I wasn’t a good little Omega.
Alpha Journey Morganton wasn’t the kind of male you’d say no to.
He was big and old and weatherbeaten. The tip of one ear was missing and so was a tuft of hair across his scarred shoulder that never grew in right.
Wolfsbane and magic had accompanied half the challengers he’d faced in his long years as Alpha; cheap shots he’d thwarted, but they still stopped him from healing right.
He was a mean and tough Alpha like anyone who took care of these hills would be.
And he also had a soft spot for me.
I knew I was his burden. A little runt he hadn’t wanted. But he’d made the mistake of falling for my mom despite her situation, so he still looked out for me.
Plus, he’d saved my hide more times than I could remember. I had no intention of disobeying him.
It didn’t mean I wanted to be in his debt, though.
I cranked the window down as he shifted, letting in the cold air as I checked my phone. Still no signal.
“Where’re you headed, kiddo?” Alpha Journey rested his hairy forearms on the open window.
“I’ve got to make a call.” I motioned to the phone I’d dropped onto the seat.
“You didn’t get service set up at your place.” Alpha Journey leaned back. Worry furrowed his bushy eyebrows as he looked the truck over.
I internally cringed, hoping he wouldn’t see that I needed air in the tires or that the check oil light was on. It would be a whole thing.
But I was great at distraction.
“No, sir.” I smiled with all my teeth. “I won’t be here for much longer, so I didn’t want to go through all the trouble.”
Journey sighed as he scratched his beard. “Speaking of trouble, those hot-shot TV people ruffled a few feathers when they stopped off at the diner this morning. Maybe it isn’t a good idea for you to go into town just yet until the talk settles.”
I kept smiling as I nodded, feeling a stone sink into my stomach. You would’ve thought I’d be used to it by now. All the rumors and the colorful adjectives the pack called me. Slut. Freak. Gold Digger. Goody Two-Paws.
I’d heard it all, but I’d been able to sneak by for the most part. Being the littlest wolf in the pack had its perks, but going to the show had been the turning point that I didn’t think I’d be able to come back from.
When I was here, at least I was one of them. Morganton Pack might’ve been mean, but it was still pack. They took care of their own. Alpha Journey’s nephew was welcomed home with his mate, but as a female, I’d be joining my mate’s pack.
I was never supposed to come back here. But I might as well be the outsider now. Not that anyone was fighting for me to stay.
Except Alpha Journey, of course.
He didn’t deserve this fate.
“You’ve been marking up these woods since they left?” I still smiled even as I felt the tears burning behind my eyes.
“Just doing my job. Running patrols,” he hummed as his tough exterior cracked just a bit.
“You know that you don’t have to worry about me.” I was wasting breath when I said it, but it still had to be said.
“I ain’t worried.” Journey stunk like an outhouse when he lied. “What did those human boys want, anyway?”
I sighed as I rested my head back against the seat. “I had to record an interview for them to air on the show before I make my grand re-entrance.” I left out the part where I was terrified they were going to get me killed. He’d put a stop to the whole thing if he knew the truth.
“You think you’ll find what you’re looking for this time?” There was an old pain in his voice that I only picked up on because I knew him.