Page 3 of Unable Omega (One Wild Alpha #3)

Rob

Dinner was going to have to wait. Of course. When did anything go wrong other than at dinnertime?

I didn’t even know why I bothered to try to make something nice when half the time it was going to be cold or burned. Although we didn’t often have a perimeter breach, there were other issues that came up, and one or another of them seemed to always happen at mealtime.

I should just buy cases of frozen dinners and they could microwave their own.

I raced down the drive along with all the others, knowing I’d never make them eat premade meals.

These males and their mates were putting their lives on the line in order to protect others, and the least I could do was ensure they had the best food I could manage.

“He’s down here!” Locke called from only a short distance down the drive. “Everyone fan out.”

I nearly ran into his back before I could bring myself to a halt, fanning my arms and probably looking hilarious—if anyone had been behind me or facing me to see it.

But when I got my feet under me, I knew nobody would have laughed for any reason.

Facing us, was a huge bear that looked as if it had been lost in the forest with no idea how to care for itself for months.

Sure, I had picked up some twigs and branches and things, but this fellow?

Nearly as tall as me in bear form, he towered over all of us in our human skins.

His eyes were wild, his bared fangs fierce, and claws raised as if ready to attack.

I tapped Locke on the shoulder. “I’ve got this.

” He and most of the others who were there had little ones at home, and a feral shifter—because this was not a natural bear—could be an unpredictable nightmare.

Or, worse, could have been sent somehow.

We’d wondered if the white coats would have the ability to “program” some of those in their experiments. Rumors had flown, and some of those who had come through here had large gaps in their memories that could easily indicate such attempts to control a shifter.

A bear this size on their team? Acting under their orders?

What mayhem could they cause. I studied the animal quickly, taking his measure and wondering what exactly I’d be facing before stepping back to allow my beast to take control.

No time to undress, I mentally wrote off yet another pair of shorts, shoes, and the T-shirt I’d pulled over my head before cooking.

Shreds littered the ground around me as my bones shifted and muscles lengthened.

Long, sharp fangs sprouted from my jaws and fur from my skin.

Everything changed, and in half the time it normally did, my bear reacting to the incursion on our lands.

We had omegas and babes to protect as well as our mission to save others.

The other bear dropped to all fours and moved forward as the others stepped back and out of the way.

I held my ground, firmly planted, and let him approach me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the other men speaking, no doubt making their plans for what they would do if I was unable to subdue the strangers.

As it should be. But I hoped to do better than that.

I turned slowly as the bear paced around me, never letting him get behind me.

I knew better than giving him that advantage.

The low rumble I heard did not come from him, as I first thought, but from me, from us.

My bear was letting him know who was in charge.

Not of the whole place. Locke might not want to admit he was the alpha here, but the rest of us knew he was. But of this encounter?

I rose onto my hind legs and roared.

The other bear hesitated for a moment, huffing, and I thought he might accept my dominance, but then he was up on his hind legs as well, a fierce snarl emerging from his snout.

He was tall, but he was not in good shape.

However long he’d been in the woods, he had not taken advantage of the bounty of the season.

Why?

Because he was running—the obvious answer.

Someone was on his tail, and I had no doubt who that might be.

I growled, staring him down, showing my fangs, and cutting through the air with my claws.

I needed to speak to him, to tell him he was safe, but in this state, I couldn’t talk, and he might or might not even understand if someone else tried.

His eyes did not suggest a calm state of mind, and a bear could be dangerous, even to another bear.

We were toe to toe, only a few feet between us, gazes locked, and I tried to somehow tell him to shift. Locke called from behind us, “Shift. Do it now,” but the other bear either didn’t want to or couldn’t. Or was afraid to maybe. Did he think we’d hurt him?

If he came from that place, he might well be afraid of anyone who approached him.

The tortures they came up with, in the name of science?

What did they hope to accomplish? We would never hurt him, but why would he know that?

Unless someone told him we were here. I continued to hold his gaze, our staring contest accompanied by shuffling feet from around us as the others put their plan into effect.

They would be recognizing the fact that this bear made no move to shift, and I felt helpless.

If he attacked, I would respond, but that was not my goal.

“We’re going to have to tranquilize him.” Locke’s voice brushed my ear, just loud enough for me to hear but not the others. So that was the plan, as I’d known on some level it would have to be. Locke was letting me know I’d have to step back and get out of the way so I wouldn’t be accidentally hit.

What a mess that would be!

But I sent one more message with my eyes. Shift! Do it now.

Locke lifted the gun, pointed it, aimed. And then…a fraction of a second before he’d have been tranquilized, the bear disappeared, replaced by the man.

An omega.

Mate, my bear said, completely unruffled by it all. Ours.

I didn’t reply, but I didn’t have to. It was preposterous to think my omega mate had just casually strolled up the driveway and into my life.

Those things only happened in fairy tales.

I’d long accepted that Fate didn’t have a true mate for me lined up.

I had my friends and my work, and that was more than I’d ever expected anyway.

My bear must just be engaging in wishful thinking. He was as lonely as I was—maybe more.

As the others moved in, I faded back and took over my body again, shivering as the cool night air wrapped around my vulnerable human skin. Someone tossed me a pair of sweats, and I gratefully dressed, looking around to see if there was another set for the intruder.

I didn’t know who had brought them out, or maybe gone back for them, because I had no sense of what time had passed. But I did manage to get the shaky omega dressed in sweatpants and a hoodie before leading him back to the buildings.

My bear was adamant that we take him back to our rooms, but I wasn’t ready to do anything like that, just because my beast was overreacting.

I assisted the omega to a small vacant cabin and, because my bear was about to rebel, took the first shift watching over him.

He looked a lot better with his matted fur gone but still so tired.