Page 1 of An Omega for Christmas

Chapter One

The shop looked magical. Twinkling strings of lights and festive wreaths dusted with glitter, added sparkle and joy everywhere you looked. The tree in the corner was laden with bright, kitsch baubles and ornaments, festooned with tinsel and berry colored lights, and around the base, fancy wrapped boxes and ribbon tied bags were starting to pile up, all donated by customers and destined for the local children's hospital.

Matthew put his feet up on the chair opposite and picked up his cinnamon mocha latte, clinking it against his boss Wendy's mug of Christmas spice hot chocolate.

"We did it!" Wendy said, lounging back in her seat.

"If by did it you mean recreate Santa's Grotto, then we've excelled ourselves," Matthew said drily, looking round at the completely over the top decorations.

"Oh, don't you mock me, you love Christmas just as much as I do. And besides, it'll help bring in more presents for the charity."

"I don't think we need anything to help with that. The customers have been really generous so far." Matthew drained his mug and stood up, stretching out his spine. "I'd better head home. My bitch of a boss has me coming in early tomorrow."

"Oh, really." A sly smile slid across Wendy's face. "Maybe you'll thank your bitch of a boss when a certain someone comes in and you don't miss him because you've been swapped from the late shift."

Matthew rolled his eyes, a blush searing his cheekbones, knowing that Wendy meant Grey Lawson, the new Alpha of the Delta Mountain Pack, a neighboring pack who the local Red River Pack had forged an uneasy alliance with since Grey had come into power. Matthew hadn't been able to stop thinking about Grey ever since he'd first caught his strong Alpha scent, never mind that the Alpha was also extremely easy on the eye.

"You know, it's Christmas, it wouldn't hurt you to have a bit of fun. Not everyone is like Kelvin, you know."

Matthew sighed, wanting to believe that Wendy was right, but as an omega, he was wary of Alphas using him without offering him any commitment, especially after the way Kelvin had treated him. Kelvin Patrick, Alpha of the Red River Pack, had made him feel dirty and like a freak and he didn't want to ever feel like that again. "It's not that easy."

"Oh, honey, it's as easy as you want it to be," Wendy said, pulling Matthew into a hug and rubbing soothing circles on his back. Matthew rested his head on his boss's shoulder for a moment, breathing in her comforting scent of cinnamon and coffee before struggling out of her strong hold, which was yet another reminder of his omega status. He was the weakest member of the food chain where shifters were concerned. Most shifters saw omegas as being good for only one thing - breeding - and Matthew knew that he wasn't even good for that.

"See you tomorrow." He grabbed his coat and backpack and hurried out of the shop before Wendy could say any more. He knew she meant well, but Wendy was married to Brad, a shifter from the Red River pack, and she had been accepted by Kelvin, their Alpha. Matthew, on the other hand, had been used and rejected by Kelvin when he hadn't lived up to the Alpha'sexpectations. Now, Matthew was living in the town of River Mountain, a neutral town between pack territories. He was a lone vulnerable omega, leered at by the male shifters, and pitied by the females, with the knowledge that the Alpha who he had thought was destined to be his mate had rejected him and was now mated to a powerful female shifter.

As he walked back to the little apartment that Kelvin had allowed him to rent on the outskirts of town, Matthew wondered what he was still doing in River Mountain when there was nothing there for him. The reality was, he had nowhere else to go, no family and no friends to turn to, other than Wendy, and even the bright lights and the cheer of Christmas in the pretty little town couldn't ward off the sadness he felt. He'd never wanted to be alone, but he'd felt lonely and unwanted all his life, a burden to everyone, and at Christmas, the pain felt more intense than ever.

****

It had been too long since he'd shifted. Pack politics and the stress of dealing with Kelvin Patrick, the Red River Pack Alpha who was proving difficult in negotiations over pack territory, meant that Grey Lawson never seemed to have a minute to himself since he'd taken over as Alpha of the Delta Mountain Pack. He was determined to change that now, though, with Christmas just around the corner. Not that the holiday season was without its own stresses. He still had all his presents to buy, and Meredith, his pack's head Beta, was constantly nagging at him with her constant questions about whether he was going to be bringing a date to the pack's Christmas Eve party.

Grey sighed, irritated at the never ending pressure on him to find a suitable mate. It wasn't that he didn't want to mate;more that he didn't want to mate anyone who the pack deemed suitable. Stripping off his clothes, he stepped out into the falling darkness, the cold air immediately hitting him and sending a delicious shiver over his skin as he went through the business of shifting into his large, majestic black wolf. Grey felt every ache and pain from shifting as he padded through the forest that bordered along the trail that ran by his cabin. The air was cold and frosty, with the scent of promised snow, and Grey stopped and sniffed, enjoying the cold, fresh air after being cooped up in his office for so long. He felt incredibly lonely, despite being surrounded by his pack and wondered whether he had made the right decision to split from Jon. Things had been difficult between them for a while before he'd decided it wasn't working between them. He didn't blame Jon for the failure of the relationship. Jon was an Alpha, too, and their packs had made it clear that they would never accept them as a pair. Grey's pack, in particular, had been vehemently against the union, so he'd always known that they could never be together, not realistically. It didn't stop him feeling depressed though, as he thought about being close to someone, especially at Christmas, when everyone seemed to be going around in cozy couples, and all the movies and TV shows depicted the perfect family Christmas. He whined to himself as he turned and headed home, winding his strong, black body through the trees, his tail out straight behind him as he sniffed his surroundings, ears pricked and bright amber eyes alert to any danger or threat. He knew that whatever he ran into he would be able to handle, he was an Alpha, after all, but he still felt devastatingly alone and strangely vulnerable and it was a feeling he didn't want to get used to.

When he reached his cabin, he dropped to the frozen ground and focused his energy into shifting back to his human form in a bone popping, squishing, painful series of movements. Hegasped in a breath, mentally telling himself that he would have to shift more often if he didn't want to go through this hell again. He rose to his feet, magnificent and naked, his muscular body still rippling with the energy of the shift, his skin pale and luminescent in the glow of the moon and clear night. He stretched, enjoying the cold breeze on his overheated flesh. He sniffed, his inner wolf squirming inside him. His skin prickled and his body reacted to the power running through him as his beast fought for control. He moaned a little as his cock swelled and throbbed and he threw back his head and pumped his erection, knowing he needed to find some release soon. Shifting wasn't the only thing he had been neglecting recently.

His thoughts drifted to the little omega who worked in the coffee shop in River Mountain. Grey had caught his scent the first time he'd visited, when he was picking up a take-out latte before his meeting. The scent had almost driven him out of his mind, his body reacting instantly to the presence of the omega, and when Grey had caught sight of Matthew, with his shy hazel eyes, and messy mop of brown hair, the omega had tugged at his heartstrings as well as his libido. But Grey had also picked up on the scent of Kelvin Patrick, the Alpha he was negotiating with, and even though Matthew's scent had signaled him out as a compatible mate, Grey had resolved not to approach the omega until he knew for sure that he wasn't involved with Kelvin. There was no sense antagonizing the obnoxious Alpha of the Red River Pack if he didn't have to. Still, that hadn't stopped Grey fantasizing what it would feel like to touch and stroke Matthew's smooth skin, and what the omega's wide sensual mouth would taste like.

As the breeze strengthened into a cold, howling wind, Grey became fully aware that he was standing there naked, hotlyaroused and fully erect. He looked around wildly. The snow that had threatened for days began to fall in a magical flurry of white frozen crystals that sparkled and scattered on the dirt that surrounded his cabin. Frustration rose within him, mingled with the sense of loneliness that he couldn't seem to shake. Turning with a sigh, he stepped inside his warm cabin and closed the door on the night.

Chapter Two

"Don't look now, but Mr Drop Dead Gorgeous has just walked in," Wendy said in what she obviously thought was a quiet whisper only for Matthew's ears but was in fact loud enough for most of the line forming at the register to hear.

Matthew attempted to glance casually over at the door, but he couldn't stop the blush that flushed his cheeks when he saw who Wendy was referring to. There was Grey Lawson, Alpha of the Delta Mountain Pack, and object of Matthew's fantasies for the past few months, his very presence and scent filling the small coffee house, making Matthew's hand tremble on the jug as he frothed up the milk for his next order.

"You two would make such a cute couple," Wendy said, handing over an order to a customer and turning her attention to the next order in the long line.

"I'm pretty sure that the Alpha of the Delta Mountain Pack already has a mate lined up." Matthew's voice was tight as he tried to get on with his work, wishing Wendy would shut the hell up and get on with hers before he died a hideous death of embarrassment.

"Who said anything about mates?" Wendy placed plastic lids on her next batch of cups. "It doesn't always have to be serious, does it? And he's always flirty as hell with you, you know, in that awkward way that some would consider adorable."

A grin spread across Matthew's face but he rolled his eyes at Wendy. He froze when he heard Grey's deep voice as the Alphagave Ellie, who was working the register, his order. He chanced a look and immediately collided with Grey's dark, golden gaze and a bolt of pure lust shot through Matthew. He bit his lip and turned away, picking up a crate of empty milk cartons and took them into the back of the shop.

Leaning against the wall, he took a moment to compose himself, breathing in deeply and trying to think about anything other than Grey Lawson. What Wendy didn't understand was that it wasn't just Grey's presence that affected Matthew, although that in itself was understandable, since Grey was off the charts gorgeous, but it was the Alpha's scent that really drove him crazy, making him hard and desperate in an instant and making him want to drop to his knees in front of the Alpha every time he saw him and beg him to fuck him.

Every omega knew how dangerous it was when an Alpha's scent was compatible with their own, especially when the Alpha was as powerful as Grey was. It meant that Matthew knew it was unlikely he would be able to just have a casual fling with Grey and he knew that he couldn't offer the Alpha anything more. Matthew had to keep a strong hold on his desire for the Alpha, no matter how natural it was for him to want to give himself to Grey. Grey would expect more from Matthew, far more than he was able to give him, and he knew from past, bitter experience that not being able to give an Alpha what he wanted led to the kind of pain that had nearly killed him when Kelvin had dumped him last year.

Stepping back out into the steamy warmth of the coffee shop, Matthew was only too aware of the presence of Grey. He could feel the Alpha in every movement, the prickle of his skin and the need running through him made him feel wide open and achingfor every little bit of attention Grey threw his way. Matthew bit his lip again, the pain anchoring him in the moment, and moved out onto the shop floor, trying to keep his focus on clearing the tables. He turned around with his heavy tray, nearly dropping it when Wendy moved quickly into his path. She had a devilish look in her eyes that made Matthew's heart pound in his chest as she reached out and took the tray from him.