Page 5 of In the Mouth of the Wolf (Of Wolves and Kings #1)

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S he was everything Camden had crudely yet emphatically described – beautiful, enticing, intelligent, and funny. Her long, wavy, strawberry blonde hair framed her heart-shaped face perfectly, and I wanted nothing more than to kiss each of the freckles that dusted her blushed cheeks.

Her round, hazel eyes darted around the room nervously, and I hated that her first introduction to her people had left her drowning in alpha pheromones. It was oppressive even for me, so I couldn’t imagine how she was dealing with all of this. She hadn’t been exposed to this world before and had no practice in handling shifter males.

I shuddered to think what would have happened to her if I had arrived just a few minutes later – the first omega in the Chippewa Valley in a century, bonded to that loser against her will.

She might not have wanted it, but until she was bonded, she needed protection. And if I wanted it to be me and my pack mates, then I had to keep my anger and desire in check before I scared her off like Camden almost had.

I’d be trading words and possibly fists with that idiot later, because this angel in front of me could possibly be ours, if we worked carefully. Sure, she was engaged, but her fiancé was a human and, if Elias was correct, being around this many alphas could trigger her first heat after a lifetime of hormone suppressants. She would quickly realize that marriage with a human couldn’t satisfy her, nor could a human husband protect her on his own.

I allowed myself a moment or two to picture what Marlowe would look like naked, and then dismissed the images. I couldn’t be like the alphas of long ago, taking advantage of a female in the throes of a heat. I was better than that.

My pack was better than that.

Well, everyone but maybe Camden was better than that.

Sometimes I regretted that I’d let him talk us all into bonding right before we graduated high school, and I was now forever tied to that moron just because fifteen years ago, the four of us had played football and liked getting drunk together on the weekends.

Although I supposed we’d all actually turned out alright.

Elias had gone to law school and opened his own firm in Chicago, serving shifter clients all over the upper Midwest.

Camden had taken over Wolfcrest Construction with James Linden after his own father had died two years ago. Although now that James had passed away, he might be running it with Marlowe. If we could convince her not to write us all off, that is.

Nolan was the youngest mayor in Maiingan Hollow’s history. His progressive policies were helping to revitalize our local economy, and it still shocked me every time I came back to visit and saw our once dilapidated downtown, now a bustling hub of commerce and community.

And then there was me. After getting my Ph.D. from Northwestern in Biomedical Sciences, I had taken a tenured position at the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire. Half the staff there were shifters or humans who knew about our world, and it was nice to not have to hide myself all the time.

It also gave me the chance to do my own research on our people. In addition to omegas, the ability to shift into our wolf form had disappeared over the last century, and recently we’d seen an uptick in a fatal disease we called Shifter Repression Syndrome. The genes responsible for transformation were still present in our bodies and were partially active, causing physical distress whenever we tried and failed to change. As a result, the energy and biological systems once used for shifting were being constantly triggered, and since they couldn’t complete the process, it led to a gradual shut down of our vital organs and bodily functions, ultimately ending in death.

I had been utterly useless as I watched my own father wither away from the disease five years ago, and I suspected it might be what had taken James Linden as well.

But tonight, I was out of my lab, and my job was to “woo” the beautiful omega sitting in front of me. The beautiful, engaged omega. The beautiful, engaged omega who didn’t know what she was, why she was special, or that our world existed.

No pressure at all.

She devoured the burrito in front of her and eyed the fish tacos I had ordered longingly.

“Do you want one?” I asked.

She blushed, clearly struggling internally with the hunger building inside her. As her perfume deepened, I began to worry that Elias might be right about the hormone suppressants. Her first heat could start here and she’d have no idea what was happening. Would we have the willpower to help her through it without falling into a rut? It was already hard enough just sharing a meal with her.

The scientist in me was curious to observe the changes in her biologically and behaviorally during a heat, something only omegas experienced. But the alpha in me wanted to fuck her until she collapsed on my knot in orgasmic delirium.

Thank the Moon for this table covering the very obvious erection in my pants right now.

Perhaps I could ask my sister, a beta who lived in Maiingan Hollow with her husband and kids, to help find a female-led safe space for her. Those types of places had existed many years ago when omegas were still a part of our communities. But with how rare she was, once her scent or the word of her got out, every alpha in the state would come looking. She wouldn’t be safe even with an army of females guarding her.

“Are you sure you aren’t going to eat it?” she asked shyly.

I smiled, sliding her the rest of my plate. “I had a big lunch. Don’t worry about me,” I said. A low vibration rumbled through my chest, the alpha in me pleased that I had provided for this little omega. I was surprised she could hear anything over the sound of the TV blasting the college game, but her head tilted and she eyed me warily.

“What’s that sound?”

Decision time. Do I deny she’d heard anything, keeping up with her delusion that she was a normal human and shifters didn’t exist? Or do I take a risk, slowly getting her used to the idea that we were most definitely a different species altogether.

“Me,” I replied, deciding to ease her in. “I’m purring.”

She burst out laughing, covering her mouth before any food came flying out. I gave her my water as she started choking.

Some people would consider laughing so hard you spit out your dinner to be undignified, but all I saw was an adorable female I wanted to scoop up in my arms and spend all night with, finding different ways to make her smile like that over and over.

“I’m sorry,” she said, residual giggles escaping from her chest as she blotted the corners of her eyes. “Did you say you were purring? Like a cat?”

I placed my elbows on the table and folded my hands in front of my face, watching as her eyes focused on my forearms. What was it with females and forearms? Not that I would dare complain. If she liked them, I’d let her look at them as long as she wanted.

“You could say like a cat, if that helps you make sense of it. But purring is a behavior found in alphas. It’s a sound we make when we’re content, or when we want to comfort someone.”

She set the taco down and wiped her hands on a napkin. “I’ll bite - let’s say this whole ‘shifter’ thing is real. Why were you purring?”

I reached over, wiping a drop of salsa off her lip. “I am content. You were hungry and I fed you. Providing for you makes me happy.”

Her tongue dipped to where my finger had just been. Her nervousness enhanced her scent, and I closed my eyes as waves of pistachio and honey washed over me. What I wouldn’t give to lick that sweet perfume off her delicate skin.

“Why would providing for me make you happy?”

I smiled. “Because you’re an omega, and I instinctively want to take care of you.”

She straightened up, and I worried I might have said too much. Marlowe was engaged – did she really need another alpha coming onto her?

Instead of running away, she grabbed a chip and shoved it into her mouth, her mind working as she chewed. “What does that mean? I still don’t understand.”

I nearly purred again. She was curious, and I loved that she was asking questions. “Shifters are born in one of three biological classes. Alphas, who are typically male, make up about twenty percent of the population. We tend to be physically large and have a unique anatomical trait that makes it difficult for us to live outside of shifter communities. Betas represent the majority of us at seventy-five percent and are male and female. Visually, they are almost indistinguishable from humans these days but still retain some of our wilder instincts. Omegas like yourself are usually female, smaller in stature, and only come in at about five percent.”

I kept an eye on the other patrons at the restaurant. Out of the eight or so guests, two were alphas, three were betas, and the rest were humans. Shifters had settled pretty seamlessly into the Chippewa Valley a hundred and fifty years or so ago. The dense, isolated forests and cold temperatures suited our hot-blooded animal forms.

Even though we no longer ran through the wild, we still appreciated the weather. At least alphas and betas did. Omegas, physically, were much smaller, and would depend upon their packs to keep them warm during the long, dark, winter nights.

“Okay,” she said, “Aside from their rarity, why are omegas so…”

Her hands moved as she struggled to find the word.

“Coveted?” I suggested.

She nodded. “Sure, let’s say that. So, in this make-believe world of shifters, what makes omegas coveted?”

“Shifters have a natural inclination towards pack-forming, and the males are also aggressive to a fault. Having a pack ensures a system that can rein in deviant behavior that endangers our society. But historically, the heart of the pack, especially for alphas, was the omega – the one who balances the pack with her calm demeanor.”

She rolled her eyes. “So, omegas are just demure little sex toys that men can fuck their aggression out with before they go crazy and shoot up an office building?”

I coughed, a blush now creeping on my cheeks. “That’s one way to put it, I guess. We’re biologically wired to desire each other. From scent to sound, my body reacts to yours more than it does with beta females or human women. Imagine you’ve spent your whole life eating salads, and then suddenly someone places a steak in front of you. That’s kind of what it’s like for an alpha when they come near an omega.”

Marlowe gave me a calculating gaze. I hadn’t chased her off yet, which seemed to be a good sign. “But if there are so few omegas, does that mean most shifters just spend their lives eating salad?”

I needed to choose my words carefully. Our old customs were so different from the human ones she was raised in. So different from what shifters were even doing now. “Omegas typically choose a whole pack to bond and mate with.”

She went quiet, and I watched her intently as she absorbed all of the information. “You mean, one woman with several men? Aren’t there any problems with that? Jealousies, favoritism, that sort of thing?”

“Sometimes,” I admitted. “Although my pack and I have no experience with an omega, so I can’t give you any firsthand accounts. But generally speaking, we understand that should our pack be blessed with one, we will need to share. And there are several times a year when males are… thankful that they have packmates who can help.”

She had finished all of the chips and the rest of my tacos, and now started to pick at the errant shreds of lettuce that remained on the plate. “Are you still hungry?” I asked.

“No,” she sighed, shaking her head. “I just feel like I could really use a drink.”

I gave her a knowing nod. “I understand. Even if you don’t quite believe me yet, this day must have been very stressful for you. Have you given yourself time and space to grieve the death of your father?”

While she gathered her thoughts, I flagged down the waitress and ordered two frozen margaritas. Her eyes widened. “How did you know that’s what I wanted?”

I purred. “It was a lucky guess.”

We remained in comfortable silence until they arrived. She finally found the words after a few sips of her drink. “My dad was as good as dead the day he walked out on us. Grief isn’t quite the right word for what I’m feeling right now.”

I wanted desperately to heal her ache, help her uncover the reasons why she had been raised in secret as a human. To help her process these complicated feelings and bring her peace. But I kept my distance for now. I would need to wait until she made it clear she was open to my advances.

“Anyway, what were you saying before, about alphas needing help sometimes with an omega?”

“Ah, yes, about that…”

The bell above the door rang, and I cursed under my breath as Camden stomped in. He shook the snow off his coat, his eyes scanning the room. They widened and a smile grew on his face as he headed over.

Marlowe noticed my gaze and turned around to see what had taken my attention. “That mother fucker…” she whispered.

I growled. “My thoughts exactly.”

“Marlowe, Professor! Fancy seeing you here!”