Page 21 of Lost Wolf (Exiled Omegas #2)
Twenty-One
Ollie
Even though I’m exhausted—and my body quite satiated—my sleep is restless, and I spend most of the night fighting specters from my past. Whether the completed mating bond helped break more memories free or the humans’ drugs finally fully left my system, I’m not sure.
Whatever happened, the barrage of images is almost painful.
And still not very helpful.
The memories are out of order, disconnected in a way that makes it impossible for me to truly understand them, but at least they’re there.
I see my mother again, this time laughing and dancing. But then she’s covered in blood, her eyes empty as she lies on a bed in a dark room. More faces flash through my mind, but the pieces don’t all fit together well enough for me to identify them except to know that I should be able to.
A man with a stern frown and dark hair.
A woman with a cold twist to her lips.
And last, another man, older than the first, sneering with derision.
It’s the face of the last man—clearly an alpha—that sends a shudder down my spine. I might not remember his name, but the feeling he evokes in me is enough to know if I never have to see him again, that would probably be a good thing.
But his hard eyes continue to haunt my dreams, following me as I trip through disjointed and indecipherable memories until I feel his gaze like a burning blade of light concentrated between my shoulders.
Sometime later, my mind surfaces into a light doze. I know I'm still mostly asleep, still half-dreaming, but the waking world is closer, and I can feel the warmth of Luke next to me. I curl closer to his side and drift back off, this time getting lost in more pleasant things, like the comforting thrum of the connection between me and my mate.
Not much later, the alarm on Luke’s cell phone startles me out of my doze and I jolt in his arms. He reaches over to the nightstand and does something to make the noise stop, then slides his hand down my side to rest at my waist before running his nose over the back of my neck. The mating bite is a bit sore, but the sensation of Luke nuzzling it sends a shiver of pleasure down my spine, and I arch my back, rubbing my ass against my mate’s very obvious morning wood.
He makes a pleased rumble and presses a series of soft kisses along my shoulder. “Good morning, mate .”
I slowly turn over and press my mouth against his, morning breath be damned. The kiss quickly turns heated, and I sling my leg over his hip, grinding myself against him. Luke’s hands move down to cup my ass, urging me closer. Lungs burning, I break the kiss, resting my forehead against his, panting for breath.
Luke cups my cheek, bringing my mouth back to his, and kisses me slowly, hungrily, his tongue tangling with mine as our movements become jerkier and more uncoordinated. The rest of the world fades away as I lose myself in chasing my orgasm in the delicious friction of his body. My body goes rigid, and I let out a low moan, biting down on Luke’s lower lip as I come. Luke follows me over the edge, his muscles tensing as he groans out his release.
The jarring alarm chooses that second to go off again, leaving us no time to enjoy the afterglow.
Luke blows out an exasperated breath. “Fucking cell phones…”
I giggle, burying my face against Luke’s bare chest as he reaches over and picks up his phone, bringing it closer to his face as he squints at the screen. He taps at the screen, then tosses the thing back onto the nightstand, wrapping his arms around my waist and burrowing his face into the crook of my shoulder.
“Can we just stay here all day?” I ask.
He laughs. “Unfortunately, I think we have to get up. We need to shower and hit the road if we want to get there by this evening. Unless you’ve changed your mind and want to wait a few more days?”
“No.” I sigh. “I’m not exactly looking forward to the visit itself, but I would actually like to see my brother.”
Luke pulls me closer, ignoring the squishy wetness between us. “Whatever happens, I’m there for you.”
“Thanks,” I whisper.
He kisses my forehead. “Anything for you.”
We drag ourselves out of bed and into the shower, quickly washing away the evidence of our morning activities. Luke wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me closer until I rest my cheek on his chest as the water streams down around us. I nuzzle my face against Luke’s skin, humming with contentment as I breathe in his now familiar scent.
We stand there until our fingers wrinkle and the water goes from hot to lukewarm, then Luke wraps me up in a towel, drying me off just like he did when I was still a little lost in my wolf.
There’s a pile of clothes waiting on the bed when we get out of the bathroom that weren’t there when we went in. I grab the T-shirt off the top of the stack and hold it up. Based on the size, I’m assuming the clothes belong to Keir and will fit me much better than Luke’s do. Luke grumbles half-heartedly about wanting me to smell like him, not his cousin, but he can’t deny I need something that fits.
Once dressed, we head downstairs and find Keir alone in the kitchen. His hair is sticking up in all directions and he’s wearing nothing but a pair of pajama pants and a drowsy expression.
“Thought you guys might want some breakfast.” He stares blearily into a cabinet for a moment before pulling out a box of cereal and dropping it on the table. He grabs a gallon of milk out of the fridge and plops it down next to the cereal. “It’s too early for cooking. Not that I’m any good at it.”
“This is fine,” says Luke. He glances at Keir wry smile. “It’s not like we didn’t practically live on this sugary junk when we were kids.”
Keir’s lips curl upward. “True enough.” A mischievous glint enters his eyes. “Congratulations on completing the mating bond, by the way. Did you have fun last night… and this morning?”
Fire burns behind my cheeks and I turn to hide my face against Luke’s arm .
Keir claps me on the shoulder, letting out a soft chuckle. “No need to be embarrassed. We’re shifters, so we’ve all been there at least once.”
After the three of us eat, Luke grabs his bag and tosses some snacks in the cooler we brought from Smyrna, and twenty minutes later, everything is loaded up in the SUV and we’re ready to leave. Julien’s roused himself and wandered downstairs to see us off. He and Luke shake hands while Keir gives me a big hug.
“Keep in touch,” he says. “We omegas need to stick together.”
“We can start a club,” I say.
“I’m holding you to that,” he replies, winking at me before turning to Luke. He pulls Luke into a tight hug, whispering something in his ear that I can’t make out. Their embrace continues for a few more seconds, then Keir lets go and smiles at Luke. “Take care of yourself.”
“Thanks. I will.”
Luke puts his arm around my shoulders and leads me outside to the SUV, taking the time to make sure I’m settled before getting behind the wheel. On our way out, he stops at a gas station to fill up and then gets on the highway, his attention focused on the road ahead. His brow is creased and there’s a tension to him that wasn’t there earlier.
I reach across the center console and take his hand, giving it a quick squeeze. He glances at me from the corner of his eye and smiles, though the expression is strained.
The drive is quiet, the flatness of Wisconsin slowly shifting to more rolling hills as we cross from Indiana into Kentucky. Eventually, we move from the interstate onto back roads as the area around us becomes less and less populated. Nothing looks familiar to me yet, but there’s something about the way the wide-open spaces intersperse with mountains in the distance that feels like home to me.
Not at all in the same way Luke does, though.
As we crest the top of another hill, I reach across and place my hand on Luke’s thigh. He glances at me, shooting me a soft smile and drops one of his hands away from the steering wheel to place it atop mine.
“You doing okay?” he asks, his gaze darting to the road and back to me.
“Yeah,” I reply. “I’m glad you’re with me for this.”
“Me too.” He pats my hand and returns his full attention to driving.
Maybe thirty minutes later, the sound of Luke’s ring tone over the car’s speakers shatters the quiet. Luke glances at the dashboard screen where the caller ID shows up as “Unidentified Caller.” His brows draw together, but he clicks the button on the steering wheel to answer the call.
“This is Alpha Anderson,” he says, his voice formal.
“Hello, Alpha,” says a female voice. “This is Miranda Yang.”
Some of the tension drains from Luke’s shoulders. “Hello, Yang. What can I do for you? I take you’re one of the praetorians the triumvirate sent to Smyrna? Are you there now?”
“Not exactly,” she says. “According to Matisse’s estimate, we’re probably about thirty minutes behind you.”
Luke goes silent for a second. “I don’t understand.”
She blows out a breath. “We need to talk about Rockcastle. I’m going to send you the address of a gas station that shouldn’t be too far from where you are now. We’ll meet you there.”
Before either of us can ask who “we” is, the call cuts out, a casualty of the numerous dead spots out here in the middle of nowhere. Thankfully, her text with the address manages to come through and Luke reroutes the GPS to take us there.
Yang’s time estimate ends up being a little off and it’s almost an hour before she catches up to us at the gas station. A dark blue mid-sized crossover with tinted windows pulls in to the nearly empty parking lot and takes the spot next to our SUV.
A female beta steps out from the driver’s side, walking around to meet Luke as he gets out of the SUV. The woman is on the shorter side, her shiny dark hair hanging loose around her shoulders.
Luke holds his hand out to her, and she reaches forward to take it, giving it a firm shake before motioning me over. “Ollie, this is Miranda Yang. She’s one of the praetorians who helped Keir out in Chicago.”
“Hello,” I say, giving her a little wave.
“And this is Ollie,” he says to Yang. “My fated mate and, well, the catalyst for all this.”
Yang’s dark brown eyes study me. “He’s a male omega like Keir, right?” Luke nods. “Seems like those are the catalysts for a lot of crap.” She cracks a smile, her eyes warm. “Nice to meet you, Ollie. I wish it were under better circumstances.”
“Nice to meet you, too,” I say, returning her smile.
The passenger side door of the vehicle opens and another beta gets out, this one an older male.
“Smith?” Luke shakes the male’s hand. “You’re both here?”
“Not just us,” says Yang, gesturing toward the back of the sedan as Macy exits the vehicle. “Your second insisted on coming along.”
Macy walks over to Luke and pokes him in the chest. “I know you were not planning on walking into the territory of a hostile pack without me.”
He gives her a guilty grin. “We don’t actually know they’re hostile.”
“Yeah, sure. Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt,” she replies in a deadpan voice. “How much was Remy Matisse actually able to tell you about the Rockcastle pack?”
“Not much beyond the fact that they’re fairly isolated,” says Luke, eyes darting to Yang and Smith. “Why? Is there something else we should know about?”
Yang makes a face I can’t read. “Yeah.” She sighs. “To start off with, the last time anyone from the triumvirate had direct interaction with the Rockcastle pack was almost twenty years ago when Rockcastle absorbed a smaller pack, and there was some question about whether that was… voluntary.”
“And what else?” Luke asks. “There’s no way you two made the effort to come all the way out here because Rockcastle might have illegally taken over a smaller pack twenty years ago.”
“You’re right,” says Smith, speaking up for the first time. “We’re here because, after a preliminary investigation in Smyrna, we have reason to believe the Rockcastle pack has ties to the human lab Ollie was kept at.”