Page 10

They formed a circle around him and forced him through the forest, the three leaders at the front. All Bryan could think about was events of his dreams and the three hooded Alphas that had haunted him every night. There was no doubt in his mind that was the same voice, but how could that be possible? How could someone he dreamed be real?

The forest terrain began to change. It became less wild and dense, and there were soon signs of settlement. A dirt pathway wound through the trees until they reached a small village lit by candle lanterns hanging from the branches. The houses were made from raw timber, stripped of bark and lashed together with fiber cording. In the center of the village stood a large circular structure, with smoke curling out from a hole in the middle of its roof. On the very outskirts of the village, standing like two looming guardians on either side of the path, were two massive trees. Bryan stared up at them in stunned awe as they passed between them. The trees were draped in ragged strips of a blood-red cloth, just like the ones from his dreams.

The head Alphas entered the main building ahead of the group, leaving the rest outside. One of the two remaining head Alphas was a man who wore a blue stone necklace and had an intricate tattoo that climbed up across his side from beneath the waistline of his woven trousers. The other wore a green necklace.

"Shift," he commanded, but Bryan refused. He was frightened, and being in wolf form was always safer than his human form. "Shift," the man repeated. "Or I will force you."

Still, Bryan didn't shift. He didn't know how he expected to force him. There was a weapon that could make a shifter transform back to their human form, but these people didn't seem like they'd have such an advanced tool—after all, de-shifting rods were rare and had barely made their way out to the western continent.

Suddenly, the man thrust his hand out and grabbed Bryan's skull, his palm covering both of his eyes. Before he could react, there was a swift and blinding flash. A burning sensation shot through his entire body, as if for that instant his blood had been replaced by molten lava. He shrieked and writhed on the ground, shaking violently. Gasping for breath, he looked down and saw that he was back in his human form.

"How...?"

The two lead Alphas hauled him to his feet and threw him through the building's fur-draped entrance. He stumbled and fell, rolling across the ground. There was a fire smoldering in a pit in the center of the floor, surrounded by hide and fur rugs that covered the bare earth floor. Looking up at the walls, Bryan saw they were constructed of massive tree trunks that had been propped and jointed with equally massive crossbeams. Everything was draped in that red fabric. The flickering firelight cast shadows around the room and caused the crimson streamers to glow like splashes of blood. The lead Alpha sat in a wooden throne raised up on a mound of earth on the far side of the chamber, and mounted above him was a huge direwolf skull. Bryan glimpsed the monstrosity through the dancing flames and felt life drain from his body.

"No," he whispered.

In his human form, the main Alpha was just as massive as he had been as a wolf, the sculpted angles of his imposing body draped with fur and leather. The red gem necklace hung around his neck over a bandolier that sheathed a curved blade. His skin was covered in long scars, including one that slashed across the side of his neck down to his chest. He looked at Bryan with piercing eyes.

"I am Gan," he said. "Shaman of the Uridimm. These are my high priests, Munok and Nugai."

The two Alphas circled around the room and joined Gan, sitting on either side of him. Munok was the Alpha with the blue necklace who'd forced Bryan's shift. Nugai seemed to always wear a thin smile on his thin lips. His narrowed eyes glared at Bryan with soft amusement.

"And you are Bryan Turner," Munok said.

"How do you know my name?" Bryan asked.

"Come before us," Nugai said, pointing to the furs spread out in front of them. From their raised perch, the Alphas towered over him like gods—or demons.

"We've been waiting for you for a long time," Gan said, rising to his feet. The dire wolf skull loomed behind him as he walked down the mound to where Bryan kneeled. He reached out and stroked his hand through Bryan's hair and brought his face close to his neck. "I know why you've come."

Bryan was overtaken by the Alpha's presence. He could taste his scent with every breath. He had an energy, an aura. Bryan had never experienced anything like it before. And there was something else, a kindling deep inside, like a tiny flame growing brighter with each second.

What was this feeling?

Munok and Nugai descended from their thrones. Munok knelt in front of Bryan and leaned in close, bringing his palms to the Omega's temples. Bryan gasped. It felt as if a jolt of static electricity had passed through his head. "What are you doing?" he asked, his voice trailing off as all strength sapped from his body. He felt like he was floating. Behind Munok, the dire wolf skull seemed to move, watching them as the flames made shadows dance across its grinning visage.

Nugai took Bryan's hand and turned it over, palm up. Then he drew a gleaming blade from his belt and held it up towards the skull. "Uri, grant this union."

Munok closed his eyes and began to murmur a strange, droning chant. His hands, still pressed to Bryan's head, felt like they were glowing with heat.

"Wait," Bryan said, but his voice was slurred and slow. "What are you..." He tensed as cold steel bit his palm. He looked down and saw the blade in Nugai's hand and the pearl of blood that grew from the wound. Nugai placed a small stone bowl beneath his hand and collected the drops that fell, and then placed the bowl inside the skull's jaws.

Munok's chant grew louder. Gan moved behind Bryan, his huge hands slipping around his neck. They explored down to his chest and slipped beneath his shirt, and then in one explosive motion, ripped the garment down the center. It fell from his shoulders to the floor.

The chant was reaching a guttural crescendo, the Alpha's voice echoing about the room, filling the space and Bryan's head. The Omega's eyes rolled back. It felt like fingers were reaching into his mind, plucking through his thoughts. He had no power to resist or fight back, but also had no desire to. The fingers grasped at some invisible strand running through Bryan's being that had been anchored there when Josef Zamgarg had first mated him. They pulled it taut, and suddenly a shrill alarm penetrated through his entire body, sending goosebumps erupting across his skin. Gan locked his arms around his body, holding him as he began to writhe and shake, screaming as the piercing wail became too much to bear.

Then, in an instant, the strand snapped. Everything stopped and Bryan slumped. Munok withdrew his hands and nodded to Gan. "It is done. The bond has been severed."

Nugai threw a handful of something across the fire, which exploded into a glitter of sparks that twisted upwards to the hole in the roof. The place filled with the thick smell of incense.

"Under the blessing of Uri, you’ve finally been brought to us," Gan said. Bryan began to see trails of light and color, and the Alpha's voice reverberated endlessly in his mind. The three Alphas stood and removed their garments, dropping them to the floor. Bryan looked up at them with bleary eyes as the world continued to tremble madly around him. His heart pounded wildly. He should've been afraid, but all he could feel was that flame inside himself building and growing. His eyes moved across their naked bodies, watching the firelight dance across every curve and ripple of muscle, every scar and vein. Their cocks stood erect, impossibly prodigious in their size.

A strange hum began from somewhere deep within Bryan's gut, like a vibration from a plucked wire. He felt its pulsing ripples traveling through him, tugging on his heart and putting a strange ache into his crotch. He squirmed as heat built between his legs like a furnace, charging his body with a hunger he'd never experienced before in his waking life. Heneededthem. He needed to know the taste of their cocks, and he needed them to satisfy this impossible ache that had settled down below and throbbed through his loins. He needed to be filled. He needed to be taken.

He should've been frightened. His dreams had become a reality, but this felt far from a nightmare. When Gan flipped him over onto his stomach, he didn't resist or protest. He lifted his hips so that the Direling Alphas could strip him naked. Gan's huge palms pressed against his ass cheeks, spreading them open. An electric jolt of pleasure shot through his body as something warm teased his entrance. Gan was tasting him, swirling his tongue around his hole. Bryan pushed his face into the soft fur and clutched at it with his fists. Every inch of his skin tingled with heightened sensitivity, and having the Alpha's tongue exploring him was driving him to a fit of ecstasy.

Then he felt another set of lips on his skin. It was Munok, tasting his ass cheek and kissing upwards across his lower back. Bryan's cock pressed hard against the fur, the hardest it'd ever been in his life. His hole was dying to be filled, the heat inside of him blazing wildly.