Page 39 of Shifting Years (Whispering Hills #5)

Alistair

A moon without love or honor hangs over the Las Vegas desert.

A full moon is a chance for a mated shifter to embrace The Other's freedom.

Normally my thin and short shape twists, and I'd bathe under the silver moonlight.

Black and brown hair would turn into a magnificent wolf with the same color pelt.

Other shifters might change tonight, but I won't. The invisible shadow men only I can see tell me as much. Constrictor vines with thorns tighten around my tiny wrists, thinking I'm about to escape. I won't... can't. I'm an Omega, and we don't do that, especially with three Alphas behind me.

Calvin's the older man with black and grey hair and a face close to George Clooney. Humans say he's fifty, but he's decades beyond. In my early twenties, I'm just a pup to him.

"Go on Alistair, git. No need to drag it out." People say he has a Washington accent. I don't think I'll see more of that state or anything.

With a shove, desert sand shifted under my boot. Another Alpha's hands on a mated Omega is a death sentence, even if it's our pack's leader. I'd stumble and call out to Hank, my Alpha, and the pack leader's son if I thought he'd help.

Some packs have smart wolves, others have a reputation for finding soulmates. This one is popular and with a good pelt, as my grandma used to say. They have the power to make most people like them, but it's purely physical.

Hank has long blond hair, dark blue eyes and is built like a bodybuilder.

He looks like Thor from those Marvel movies, but he's very much not.

That one's a hero. His brother, also an Alpha, is Zack.

A hair shorter than his six-foot-three brother and a near-dead ringer for Chris Evans from the Captain America movies.

Their power, plus a bit of magical surgery, means they get celebrity likability. In our, their pack, it's key.

There was talk of them changing my face more, but my death sight stopped that. Taking me out into the desert was the easier choice.

Calvin's slow voice drew out. "Enough Alistair." More chills shuddered over me, not because it's so bone-numbing cold. It's my place to obey.

Hank's hair blew back while he stared. Mates sometimes know what the other is thinking, but nothing came. He's a simple man who hates music, art and wouldn't allow me to study. He's not dumb but easily led and satisfied. Beer, violence, and sex makes him happy.

"We're mated," I said, betraying my earlier thoughts. I had to try. There's no more of a sacred bond between shifters than mating, because it means we're one and watch out for one another—usually.

He's simple, but there's an animal cleverness to his brain, which is appropriate considering our canine nature. His voice is close to his celebrity double with a slight Australian twang, even if we're from Washington state. "Only technically, little man."

His baritone still makes my heart race. We're bonded, but not in our hearts. Still, my body doesn't understand the difference. There's a pull I can't deny.

Calvin's voice is smooth in the murky night. "Don't worry about it, Hank. There ain't no shame in finding a mate once one's gone."

"What about killing an Omega?"

Calvin licked his lips with a sneer. "You had to tell everyone lies and get the pack all riled up. Besides, if you did your part, we wouldn't have to do this. It ain't my son's fault there's no litter."

He might be right. I've had doctors say there's no reason I can't carry, but maybe my power stopped it. Omegas are life, but I see death. I made the mistake of admitting what I saw with all three: dark shadow men flying around them but invisible to other wolves.

Mentions of their death haunted them enough for this final desert trip.

Zack is the smarter and quieter brother, but the scornful cruelty shared by the other two is there as if my existence defiled his family. The expressions make them far less attractive, even with their country handsome looks.

"Sure you don't want to write a note?" Calvin doesn't ask, so this sounds like a statement.

I fought my Omega instincts. "And make it easier for you all?"

In some packs, that gets a backhand from him or my mate. He faced his sons. "See? A proper Omega would listen." He spat on the ground and missed my shoes by less than an inch. "Suit yourself. Just a formality."

He pointed at the thick green and red vines around my wrists and held out his hand.

In response, they tightened more. "I wouldn't go trying to gnaw them, but the option's there so you go out faster.

.. easier. Special hybrid with red wolfsbane and grown in the ground with blood and cursed silver, instead of the normal kind. I wouldn't go shifting into your wolf."

"This is how you kill me?"

"No, the desert will." He turned to his sons. "Pay attention to tonight. One day you'll have to take care of unpleasant business. Zack? What's the lesson here? Why do all this?"

He stood straight as if he were going into battle. Appropriate considering his 'Captain America' look. "If a judge or truth seeker investigates, we can say we didn't kill him with no lie."

Calvin slapped his side. "Excellent."

"Or a witch," said Hank.

Calvin jerked his head and frowned while Zack had an equally unhappy expression. "Son, don't you ever say that word. Don't ever think it."

There are things even wolves fear. A single human?

Never. All humanity? Well, sure. We can't stand up to billions of people.

Those Calvin mentioned and who I don't dare mention?

They were technically human but believe so absolutely they rewrote reality.

With the right amount of Belief, a human can do anything.

It made sense since their stories created us and others.

Calvin's slow voice took me out of my daydream. "Hank? Any lesson you take from this? Anything at all? One thought in that brain?"

"Uh..., don't take care of business near our home?"

"And why?"

"Because others might smell him, oh, and us around his body."

Calvin nodded with satisfaction. "We're close to a major city and in the desert. There aren't any shifters around, but yes. It's always best to consider what might happen."

Even if they spoke as if I was dead already, I had one chance. "Don't you want to say anything?" Hank and I would never be a real Alpha and Omega pairing, but maybe I'd bring out something. He had to be a wolf where it counted.

He breathed in deep. "You're right."

My eyebrows rose.

He lowered his shoulders and faced his father and brother.

"Pa, Zack? I'm sorry for the trouble I caused.

I wasn't... choosy enough. He's attractive and a decent piece of ass, but that's it.

I should have considered the long term and had a more obedient wolf that didn't spread rumors.

You all shouldn't be out here cleaning up my mess. "

Calvin gestured for his son to stay quiet. "Ain't a problem, and it happens. You're blood, and family watches out for family."

Zack pointed to a distant light beam belonging to a pyramid-shaped casino. Wolves don't like cities much, but a few days were fine. "We'll have some fun in Vegas and get out before it wears on us."

"Playing tourist after you kill me?"

"We didn't want this," shouted Calvin. "It's your fault. You seduced my son and stuck to your lies when others asked what you saw." He sucked in a breath while controlling his anger. "Even then, I could have forgiven a lying whore wolf if you got him a pup."

"You sure he's not carrying?" Hank sniffed me.

Taking out an Omega is reprehensible, but harming a child gets wolves killed. We tell ourselves about honor, but rules don't always get followed. Still, I never heard of somebody who'd hurt a pup or pregnant Omega.

Calvin pulled a purple flower from under his jacket and forced it under my nose. "Another lesson, sons. Always be prepared. Be a wolf, but a man too. Act, but think."

This might have saved me. A little one inside me meant I wouldn't die, but they would grow up with Hank as a father.

For a second, it glowed purple, then turned black.

"Nope," said Calvin. "Although it might be from his ghoulish power. Let's go with no. I don't want to be in the cold all night."

Zack might look like Captain America, but he couldn't be more different inside. Under the moonlight, he reached behind and produced two giant Super Soaker water guns. They were comically oversized, and the kind parents give out, so the kids stay outside longer.

He didn't give one to Hank, and it was a twisted kindness. No Alpha should have to kill their Omega, but he'll watch.

Calvin and Zack emptied the guns while laughing, and the convulsing shakes came.

"Desert's hot during the day," said Calvin. "Now? It's eighteen Fahrenheit. Unusual, but not unwanted. Someone's lucky or not."

I know enough about hypothermia to understand I won't make it.

A human dies in an hour or two, depending on the temperature.

We wolves burn hotter, but not enough to save me.

I think freezing isn't the 'how' exactly.

They want the experience to be so miserable, I'll bite into the poisoned vines and finish their problem.

If anyone investigates, they can honestly say they didn't kill me.

A truth seeker might not discover what happened if they don't phrase the questions right.

It would cast light on what they did, like the narrow beam in the distance. Wolves don't like the city long, but Vegas is a community of entertainers. Thousands of singers. I would have liked to have seen it.

Calvin turned to his two sons, looking vaguely like cinema heroes, but with none of the goodness within. "Let's go. We don't want our scent to linger." He walked away, then paused in mid-step. "For what it's worth, I'd rather we didn't have to do this, but I have a pack to consider."

He strolled away with the last words I'd ever hear. "Let the wolf die in peace."

Overhead, silver light beamed down, lighting up water droplets over my goosebumps.

It's a death moon and a moon for me.

***