Page 10 of Lost Wolf (Exiled Omegas #2)

Ten

Luke

My mate gives me a sleepy blink, a contented—I hope—smile on his face. He hums again, rubbing his cheek against the underside of my arm as I carefully rinse the shampoo from his hair. The desire to kiss him hasn’t gone anywhere, but I’m not an idiot and I know now is not the time.

As adorable as my mate is all wet with his hair sticking up and as affectionate as he’s being now that his fear seems to have receded, that’s a comfort thing, a touch starved shifter needing closeness.

Not sex.

Especially when he’s still half lost in his wolf and I don’t even know his name.

Once all the shampoo is out of his hair, I grab some conditioner and run that through the tangled strands as carefully as possible. There are a couple snarls that I can’t get loose and will probably have to be cut out, but at least his hair is clean now.

Next, I pick up a washcloth and run it over his shoulders, down his arms, and across his chest. Dirt washes away revealing a lot of soft, pale skin. I can count almost every rib, but he’s not entirely emaciated, nothing eating regularly won’t take care of.

I hesitate before moving my hands any lower. He’s not having any negative reactions to my touch at the moment, but I don't want to cross any boundaries until I know his story. The last thing I want to do is take advantage of him.

Fated mate or not, consent is crucial.

I clear my throat. “I'll leave the rest of the washing to you, okay?”

He leans back to look at my face, his brows pulling together with confusion as he makes the humming noise again and cocks his head to the side in a distinctly canine manner.

“Unless… you don’t mind?”

He simply blinks at me and makes no move to take the washcloth. I suppose that will have to be answer enough. I wash his lower body quickly, my movements perfunctory, ignoring the fact that his cock chubs up a little and he makes a pleased noise at my touch.

When I’ve run the washcloth over everywhere I can reach, I pull the plug and rise to my feet, grabbing a towel off the rack beside the tub. He stands and I give him my hand to help him step out.

Water drips from his hair, collecting at his collarbone and running in rivulets down his body. I rub the towel briskly over his head, then dry off the rest of him before wrapping the massive towel around his shoulders.

He leans into my side as I lead him back into the bedroom and over to the bed. He’s half stumbling, probably from exhaustion, so, even though he just woke up, I help him lie down and tuck him under the blankets. He gives me a sleepy smile and his eyes fall closed almost as soon as his head hits the pillow.

I sit down beside him and stare at him for a few minutes, studying his features and counting his breaths. His chest rises and falls under the blanket, and I feel a sense of rightness. Despite the crazy circumstances, this is where I’m meant to be. I gently stoke my thumb over his cheek and his nose twitches.

I wasn’t looking for a fated mate—or any mate really—but I’m glad I found him.

Even if this might make things super complicated.

My wolf doesn't want to leave his side, terrified that as soon as he's out of my sight he'll disappear, but I have to go down and talk to Macy to fill her in on what's going on.

And try to strategize about what the hell to do next.

Sure, the Sweet Water pack knows I've kept in touch with Keir, and no one has said anything nasty, but that's a whole different story from bringing home my own male fated mate. The older members in particular aren't going to be very accepting, and I don't want my mate to have to deal with that kind of nonsense after whatever ordeal he's been through.

But I can’t exactly leave him here to go deal with my pack either.

There's no way he's ready for me to claim him—hell, I'm not ready—and until we complete the bond, we need to stay together if we want to avoid suffering the effects of the mating frenzy.

I sigh, massaging my forehead with one hand. Maybe Macy will have some ideas on the best way to go about this.

I brush my mate's hair away from his face and gently stroke his cheek. “I'll be right downstairs,” I say. “I won’t go far.”

I get to my feet and return the wet towel to the bathroom, hanging it up on a rack. My heart about stops when I return to the bedroom and the bed appears empty. Where could he have possibly gone in that short amount of time?

I catch sight of the tip of a furry ear peeking out from under the blanket and let out a sigh of relief, placing a hand on my chest as if to prevent my heart from exploding. He’s back in wolf form which is odd, but he’s here and he’s safe.

I take a few deeps breaths and sit down on the edge of the bed. Gently, I tug the blanket down to check on him. Now that he’s clean, his white fur has regained a bit of its shine even though it’s patchy in some places.

A familiar scent I can’t quite place hits my nose, and I lean closer, trying to get a better whiff. Shock rockets through me and I almost fall backward. Now that the heavy chemical smell, of wherever he’d been, has been washed away, there’s no mistaking it even with a human nose…

My fated mate is an omega .

And I’m really not sure how to feel about that, especially after what happened to Keir in Sweet Water. Things are different now, sure, but that doesn’t mean the old prejudices have been completely eliminated. Randall is dead, Malachi is gone, and John is… whatever, but that knowledge doesn’t lessen my fears.

Or my determination to protect my mate. I’ll burn Sweet Water pack to the ground before I let any of them hurt him.

Hopefully I can avoid that, though.

Reluctantly, I pull on some pants and leave the small, sleeping wolf to head downstairs, following the sound of voices into the kitchen. The space is large and modern with a small breakfast nook where Doc and Macy are sitting with cups of coffee on the table in front of them.

“Care to explain what that was about earlier?” asks Macy, eying me warily. For good reason. I don’t think I’ve ever growled at her like that.

“Sorry,” I say, collapsing into one of the chairs and resting my head in my hands. “It was pure instinct.”

“What do you mean?”

I sigh. “He's my fated mate.”

Doc blinks at me, a stunned look coming over his face, and Macy's jaw drops.

“Seriously?” she asks. “How… what…?” She trails off, shaking her head. “I'm not sure what to say.”

“Neither am I.” I blow out a breath. “I helped him get cleaned up but he's asleep again. Whatever happened to him, he's not talking, and he's not healing as fast as he should be.”

“I could examine him if—”

I cut Doc off with a low growl and he instantly drops his head, baring his neck in submission.

“Down boy,” says Macy. “There's no need for that. We're all friends here.” She glances at Doc. “Well, sort of.” She looks back to me. “What do you want to do?”

“Sleep for a week,” I reply in a dry voice. “And ignore the fact that I have to do anything at all.”

Macy chuckles. “Well, that's not going to work. I assume he's going home with us, right?”

“Yeah. Of course.” Eventually .

“Alpha,” says Doc, his voice hesitant. I motion for him to continue. “Given everything that happened before, might I suggest that you call the triumvirate and report that you've found your fated mate. Though we don't know who he is, we know he's not from this pack and notifying the triumvirate might prevent any issues from cropping up later.”

He has a good point. The first week of Keir and Julien's mating was a mess of legal battles and actual battles. Calling the triumvirate might not completely prevent my mate's pack—whoever they are—from taking an issue with our mating, but having them on our side early would be a good thing.

But…

“He’s also an omega,” I say, shooting Macy a wry smile. “I’m not so sure I want anyone to know about that yet, not even the triumvirate.”

“Are you sure?” asks Macy. “How do you know?”

“I helped him take a bath which washed away all those chemicals covering his scent, and once he shifted back into his wolf form, there was no mistaking that he’s an omega.”

Doc frowns. “He shifted back into a wolf? Without help?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“With how he was unable to shift before, it should have been the same for shifting back.” He pauses. “Did he have any trouble holding his human form that you could tell?”

“No… but he wasn’t acting very human either,” I say, tuning to him. “How much do you know about shifters who’ve gone feral?”

“Not very much.” He shrugs. “If he was stuck as a wolf for more than a day or two, he might take a while to come back to himself. Then again, he could snap out of it tomorrow. There’s really no way to predict what might happen, especially given the circumstances and his obvious history of captivity.”

I sigh again. “I guess there’s not much we can do at this point but wait and see then.”

“And the triumvirate?” asks Macy. “Do you think we should call them now or wait?”

“Definitely wait,” I say. “Until he can tell us more about what happened to him and where he’s been, I don’t think we should be calling anyone just yet.”

Macy and Doc both nod in agreement.

“And now that we have that much figured out, I’m going to go back upstairs,” I say. “We definitely need answers about the mysteries surrounding my new mate, but we’re not going to get them right now, so I’m going to join my mate in a nap.”

“I’ll be here,” says Macy.

I pat her shoulder as I walk by. “Thanks, Mace.”

She smirks at me. “No problem, Alpha.”

My feet operate almost on autopilot as I head back to my mate’s bedside. I take a minute to run my hand softly over his fur, before stepping away from the bed. The last thing I want is for him to wake up scared again, but I won’t get any rest in that stupid chair, so I shed my pants and shift instead.

I pad across the floor, climb up onto the bed, and nose my way under the blankets next to my mate. Curling around the smaller wolf, I bury my nose in the scruff of his neck and let his soft, comforting scent surround me as I drift off to sleep.