Page 7

IRIAN

I was getting fed up with this guy continually putting food on my plate.

What the fuck was wrong with him? Couldn’t he take a hint? If I’d wanted something, I would’ve served myself. Honestly! I really wanted to tell him to mind his own fucking business, but I couldn’t. We were the guests of the Pack Alpha, who just happened to be this guy’s dad , so I had to make nice. I knew how to do it, it wasn’t the first time I’d been out with my parents and had to pretend to be interested in the people around me. I could make conversation and smile pleasantly through my gritted teeth , when really all I wanted was to be sitting in that vacant seat next to Tal.

Tal, who was gonna include me in his friendship group, and had made me feel like I belonged.

Tal, who kept glaring at this guy sitting next to me. What was his name? Mark? Mel? Something like that. I hadn’t paid attention when we were introduced, firstly because I was unhappy about being forced to change seats, and secondly, what the hell?

Though I refused to show it, I was annoyed and humiliated. How dare my mother compel me in public like that? It was embarrassing, especially in front of Tal’s friends who were all older than me. Made me look weak . I was already at a disadvantage being an omega, I didn’t need anything more added to that.

Lunch dragged on. Eventually Marvin, or Mel, or whoever he was, gave up putting food on my plate (thank the Goddess!) which I was grateful for as it was getting hard to come up with polite or semi-polite reasons to refuse it. At the rate I’d been going, there would have been nothing I liked eating.

And the truth was, I loved venison, of course I did, so I was not happy at all that I didn’t get to eat any. Still, I was not having some guy feed me – what the almighty fuck? Who did he think he was – my mother?

I glanced across at Tal and caught his intense gaze. For some reason that I wouldn’t investigate now, knowing he was keeping a watchful eye over me made me feel better, calmer somehow. I gave a little twitch of my lips which I hoped Tal recognized as a smile, then dropped my eyes to my plate again as the warmth rushed into my cheeks.

I felt my mother’s sharp eyes resting on me and reluctantly I turned and made conversation with Mal to avoid a confrontation with her.

We’d barely finished Christmas pudding, when the screeching of chairs dragging over the concrete floor alerted me to Tal and his friends getting up from the table. My heart sank, thinking I was about to be left behind, but Tal strode over, his footsteps ringing confidently on the hard floor.

“Hey, Irian. Are you done? The guys and I are gonna head outside. Wanna come with?” he asked in a loud voice.

Thank fuck, I was outta there!

I got to my feet before anyone could say anything to stop me.

“Sure. Thanks for lunch,” I added, bowing my head respectfully to Alpha and the Alpha Mate. I even gave Mack a smile, though it was kind of through gritted teeth.

I was beside Tal so fast, his eyes flared wide and the eyebrows came up.

“Hey, I’m sorry about that. I hope it wasn’t too tiresome,” he murmured as we walked outside together.

“Nah. It was okay. What’s with that guy though? He kept putting food on my plate. Weird, huh?”

“Yeah,” Tal said gruffly. He looked like he was going to say something more, but we’d caught up with his buddies by then, and it seemed the moment had passed.

“Hey, Irian,” Dar stepped up to us, “Gonna hang with us this arvo?”

My eyes darted quickly to Tal, but he looked relaxed now, so I replied, “Yeah, sounds good. What do you guys do after Christmas lunch?”

Dar shrugged. “Just walk round. Keep an eye on the pups. Nothing special.”

“Ah, okay. Sure. Thanks.”

Dar huffed softly but smiled.

“Tal, when are you going on camp?” Tal turned to the tall blond guy who’d called out to him from across the group. I thought his name was Yuri, though I wasn’t entirely sure.

“Haven’t booked it yet,” Tal admitted. He glanced at me, then said, “Probably after the holidays.”

“Cool. I might go with you. My parents are hassling me to go but I’d rather go with someone I know.”

“What camp are you going on?” I was genuinely curious. I never went on camps, even school camps. But this couldn’t be a school camp if they had a choice of when they went.

“Ah… it’s alpha camp.” Tal’s cheeks turned a cute pink as he admitted, “It’s to teach us to be good alphas and all the shit that’s specific to being an alpha. Physiology, psychology, all that crap.”

“Mmm. I didn’t know you guys had to actually learn all that. Omegas don’t go on camp.”

“That’s because omegas just need to do what they’re fucking told!” Ooh, that voice was familiar. Luke . Luke had already made it clear he didn’t want me hanging around, but I wasn’t the sort of omega to just take his bullshit attitude.

My chest expanded with a mighty breath, but before I could start my tirade, Tal deftly interceded. “You’ve got some very outdated opinions, Luke. Maybe you need to go to camp sooner rather than later. Things aren’t like that anymore.”

“Oh yeah, says who?”

“Goddess, Luke,” another one of the guys chimed in, “Everyone knows omegas have rights these days. Just ‘cause your family lives in the dark ages.”

Luke pushed him backwards. “Shut the fuck up, Kal. What would you know about it? Your parents are always away.”

“Guys, calm down,” Tal intervened, one hand pressing on each guy’s chest, keeping them apart even as they strained to get to each other. “It’s Christmas. Let’s not fight. And,” he added, “Alpha has guests, we don’t want to embarrass him.”

That last seemed to do the trick. Kal and Luke pulled away from each other, glowering, and moved back into their respective subgroups. An uneasy peace was restored by the time we reached the big tree in the center of the yard, and the guys stood or lounged around at the base of the tree, talking. Phew, adolescent alphas entering majority were unstable as hell. I knew I was safe with Tal there, but even so I watched the group warily.

They did a lot of talking.

For a long time.

I got restless.

I got bored.

Across the courtyard, I saw the younger pups running around. They seemed to be having a lot more fun than these adolescents who were lounging around acting disinterested. Guess they were too cool to have fun. I didn’t really want to leave Tal, but he was deep in a conversation with one of his mates about… something. I had tuned out a while ago.

I hesitated.

Fuck it. I was an independent omega. I was gonna do what I wanted.

And I wanted to join that game the young ones were playing. They were having so much fun. I slipped away from the guys and wheedled my way into the game. It was easy to do. The young pups were pretty happy to have one of the older guys paying them some attention. Even if I was only a few years older, it still counted. Very soon, I was laughing and running and throwing badly aimed balls at fleeing pups as we played this crazy game of hide-and-squeak… a variation on the old hide-and-seek but involving throwing a ball to hit your target.

A pup darted out of his hiding place and scampered across the playing field. I threw the ball and missed him (might have been on purpose, might not, I’m not saying), and as the ball hit the ground and rolled to a stop, Tal came charging across the yard, picked it up and launched it at the pup.

“OW!” yelled the pup, who copped it fair in the ass cheek.

I blinked in surprise. What I saw – what I didn’t expect – was Tal and his friends had joined the game. Suddenly everyone was playing together, there was no more of the divide by age or attitude. Everyone was laughing and shouting and having fun. The young ones were thrilled to have the older boys, who they admired so much, joining in their game, and the adolescents – the ‘too cool to have fun’ gang – were having the time of their lives.

We were running around, noisy and wild, when I saw a sedate group walking past us. It was my parents, accompanied by the Alpha and his family, including Mer, Mar, whatever his name was. From the sour look on his face, Mer/Mar didn’t look to be having the best time, and I wasn’t the sort to hold a grudge, so I ran up to him.

“Wanna join us?” I asked, my face prickly with heat, sweat dimpled on my forehead. I probably didn’t look the best with my hair plastered flat to my head and the patches of sweat staining my t-shirt, but I could feel the wide grin splitting my face.

He looked me up and down, and just about then I heard someone – Tal, from the scent of him – come to a sliding halt right behind me.

Yes, it was Tal. The warm, husky, musky scent of him flooded my nostrils and I unconsciously leaned back into him.

“Nah, running around is for kids,” Mer/Mar said, and walked away.