The Omega's Heart (Wilde Creek Four) (10 page)

Brynn stood from where she’d been sitting on
Acksel’s lap and crossed to Honey, giving her a big hug. She
whispered in Honey’s ear, but Jeremiah could hear her anyway. “I’m
so happy you found your mate. I wished so hard for that last
night.”

“Aren’t you supposed to wish on falling
stars, not full moons?” Acksel asked.

“Stop eavesdropping on my whispered
conversations, Alpha,” Brynn said, grousing. “I can’t have any
privacy with all these sharp-hearing wolves hanging around.”

Honey smiled in understanding.

“Well, I’m sure that you want to get back to
your own house,” Brynn said, “so let’s deal with this. I’m tired as
hell.” She punctuated her words with a yawn as she joined Acksel
where he now stood near the fireplace.

He cracked his neck. “We need to call Honey’s
father and explain that she’s now mated.” He looked pointedly at
her. “If he wants proof of your mating, we can make arrangements to
meet him somewhere.”

“I don’t know what he’s going to say,” Honey
said.

Brynn elbowed Acksel and he said, “Oh, right.
Honey Williams, as the mate of my pack member, Jeremiah Kincaid,
you are hereby made an official member of the Wilde Creek Pack.
Unofficially.”

“What?” Honey asked.

Brynn giggled. “It can’t be official-official
until you join during the next full moon, but it’s ‘technically’
official. We recognize that you and Jeremiah are mates and that
brings you under the protection of the pack. It’s a good
thing.”

Honey blinked rapidly and Jeremiah could feel
the slight tremble that ran through her body. He hugged her a
little closer as she said, “Thank you.”

Brynn nodded with a smile. Acksel handed his
phone to Honey and she dialed her dad’s number. Jeremiah pressed
the speaker button, and the ring tone filled the quiet room. It
rang three times before a gruff voice said, “Williams.”

Honey swallowed audibly and said, “Dad.”

There was a long pause and he said, “You
better be calling to tell me you’re on the way back to Wyling
River, little girl.”

The implied threat hung in the air. Jeremiah
wanted to tell her dad to go to hell and hang up, but he knew that
wasn’t the right way to proceed. Jeremiah gave her a little nudge
and she said, “Actually, Dad, I met my mate last night while I was
out hunting. We’ve marked each other and I’ve been accepted into
his pack.”

He roared his displeasure and Honey dropped
the phone in fright. Jeremiah snatched it before it hit the ground
and handed it to Acksel, whose face was grim.

“Alpha Williams, this is Alpha Moore. What
Honey said is true. I’ve seen their marks and can assure you that
they are mates, and I’ve accepted her as a member of my pack.”

“She is my daughter and I will not allow her
to change her pack. I forbid her from mating.”

Acksel’s brows rose. “You can’t forbid
biology, Alpha Williams. They are mates and that’s all there is to
it. If you wish to see evidence of their mating, we can arrange to
meet you halfway between our packs in neutral territory.”

“Her mating to your wolf is invalid. She is
already mated to another male.”

Honey gasped and shook her head
violently.

“She denies that,” Acksel said.

“I don’t give a damn what she admits or
denies, my word is law. She is promised in mating to an alpha from
another pack. An important alliance rests on that mating and I will
not offer my approval of this one.”

Acksel’s frown deepened. “She doesn’t need
your approval to mate with her true mate.”

Honey’s father snarled angrily. “Send her
home immediately or I will rain hell down on your pack.”

Acksel growled, and so did every other male
in the room. “Honey is part of my pack now, mated to one of my
members. Our laws state you cannot force her to leave her true
mate. I declare her
esconari
.”

Jeremiah frowned.
Esconari
meant
‘protected’. It was like going into a church and claiming
sanctuary. It also meant that Acksel thought she needed more
protection than simply being a mated member of the pack.

The silence on the phone was unnerving. A
minute passed before her father said, “If she isn’t home on
Wednesday, there will be hell to pay.”

“Don’t threaten my pack,” Acksel snarled the
words.

“It’s not a threat, it’s a promise.
Honey?”

Her voice squeaked when she spoke. “Yes?”

“Your mother was a whore and you’re clearly
walking in her footsteps. You can try to defy me and stay in that
pissant little town, but you’ll be sorry. Everyone who helps you
now has a target on their back, and when their blood runs, it’ll be
on your hands.”

The call disconnected and Honey sagged
against him. Jeremiah held her tighter, worry streaking through
him. Her father was a nutcase. What alpha didn’t respect a true
mating? It was fate that brought Honey into his backyard during the
full moon.

“Your dad is an asshole,” Brynn said,
scowling. “Who the hell does he think he is, threatening us? And
screw him anyway, you’re mated and he can’t give you away to
someone else when you’ve already been claimed.”

Acksel looked down at Brynn and smiled. “My
fierce mate.”

Brynn grinned.

“I don’t want anyone to be hurt because of
me. Ren took out the tracker on my car; I should just leave
town.”

Jeremiah growled. Acksel shook his head.
“Don’t be foolish, Honey. The safest place for you is with your
mate. I’m not happy about this situation, but no one threatens my
pack or tries to pull a female away from her mate for their own
purposes.”

He rubbed his chin in thought and Ren said,
“I’ll call Sam and have him set up a patrol around Jeremiah’s
house; we can ramp up the patrols around town, too. I brought
Honey’s things from the garage, but we can keep her car there until
things settle down with her old pack.”

Acksel nodded his approval. “Go home and take
care of your mate, Jeremiah.”

Jeremiah and Honey thanked the pack for their
help and they went to the sliding door to get their shoes and
coats. Ren joined them and set her bag and a quilt on the counter
next to the back door. “I’m glad you’re staying, Honey. Your pack
sounds like they’re stuck back in the bad old days.”

Jeremiah had a feeling that if he’d been born
into her pack, he’d have been kicked out when it was proven he was
a
non
. Or maybe even killed.

Honey smiled weakly. “Thank you for
everything, Ren.”

Jeremiah grabbed her things and opened the
back door. She stepped out into the cold and inhaled slowly, the
steam from her breath fogging in front of her as she exhaled.
Without a word they walked away from the alphas’ home and to his
house.
Their
house. The woods closed around them, and he
realized she was seeing them in the daylight for the first
time.

“I had high hopes for myself when I was
younger, before I discovered I couldn’t shift. I was going to be
really high-ranked, the best fighter, tracker, and hunter. Then the
full moon of my sixteenth birthday came and nothing happened. All
day I’d felt flushed and anxious, and I could feel my wolf pacing
in my mind, ready to let go. My mom assured me that the next month
I’d shift for sure. But I didn’t. Another month went by, and then
another. My dad first accused my mom of cheating on him with a
human, but I look just like him, so it was obvious he was just
being an asshole and trying to distance himself from my
non-shifting abilities. He took off the next full moon when I stood
outside of the alphas’ house and waited and waited for a shift that
never came. He joined up with another pack and told my mom to come,
but she stuck it out until I graduated high school and turned
eighteen. Then she left, too.

“There was a part of me that kept hoping I’d
shift. The old alpha took me aside on my nineteenth birthday and
told me that I was just fooling myself and it was best to accept
what I truly was – a
non
.”

They stepped from the woods into the backyard
of their home. She turned to face him. “How could your mom
leave?”

“I don’t know. She’s not a bad person, but I
was an adult and had a job and security in the pack. She missed my
dad.”

She cocked her head. “Our kids might not be
able to shift.”

A little bit of dread pooled in his stomach.
“I don’t know. Anything’s possible.”

“I don’t care.”

“You don’t?”

She shook her head. “Fully shifted wolves
aren’t so great. You heard my dad. I just hope I don’t pass on any
of his asshole genes to our kids.”

He chuckled and hugged her. She settled
against him easily, as if they’d been together for years and not
for less than a day. It was a bit surreal.

“I’m sorry that my family is threatening you
and your pack.”

“I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I
know that I’m going to do everything in my power to keep you safe.
Maybe your father was bluffing and hoping to scare you into coming
home.”

She peered up at him, her brown eyes glinting
with happiness. “He can’t. I’m already home.”

Chapter 9

Tuesday passed quickly. Jeremiah opened his
home to her so easily that it was like he’d been waiting for her
forever. She didn’t really think he had, though. He’d been thinking
seriously about leaving the pack and town and starting over
somewhere. “Going human,” he’d called it. She was glad she’d found
him before he left town. If things hadn’t worked out exactly the
way they had, they would never have met.

Jeremiah’s arms slipped around her waist as
she stood looking out the bedroom window. “What are you thinking
about so seriously?” His voice was deep and husky and made things
low in her body clench in anticipation.

She leaned her head back against his chest
and rested her hands on top of his. “Timing.”

“Hmm?” He nuzzled the side of her face and
her spine tingled.

“If you’d left the pack or if I had waited
another full moon, we might never have met.”

He stilled for a moment and then hugged her
tightly. “Timing is everything,” he murmured, kissing her ear and
then turning her slowly to face him. “Speaking of timing, we need
to talk about a couple things.”

He led her to the bed and they sat for hours,
talking about the future. Everything hinged on whether or not her
father would do something to force her to go back to Wyling River.
She didn’t think her father would just throw up his hands and leave
her alone, but Jeremiah wanted to plan for their future, and she
liked his optimism.

“I called my mom today to tell her that I’m
mated now. She wants to meet you.”

Honey scooted back until she was leaning
against the headboard. “You don’t sound really thrilled with the
idea.”

He stretched out by her feet, rubbing her
calf with one hand. “I guess I’m not. I’m not welcome in their home
because of my dad, so we’d have to meet somewhere else. When we
have kids, how am I supposed to explain that I’m not allowed to go
into my own dad’s house?”

His fingers bit into her calf for a moment
and then he seemed to realize it and relaxed.

“When our kids are old enough to shift… if
they don’t, then they won’t be allowed in their house either, will
they?”

“Probably not. You could go and meet him,
though. I’m sure my dad wouldn’t mind a fully shifting daughter of
an alpha coming for a visit.”

She shook her head. “Out of the question. I
don’t go where you aren’t welcome.”

He snorted. “That’s a lot of places,
babe.”

“What?”

“You forget that I’m an omega. I don’t get
treated well by a lot of pack members. I’m a second-class citizen,
even among the omegas. A non-shifting wolf is a freak of nature,
something to be ignored or feared, not welcomed.”

“There are people in your pack who don’t want
you around?”

He shrugged, his face darkening as he tried
unsuccessfully to hide how much it bothered him. She crawled to
him, snuggling against him and resting her head on his shoulder. He
covered her with his body, holding her close and tucking his head
against her neck. “Can we change the subject?”

She kissed his throat with a sigh. “Back to
your mom?”

He snarled a little. “Yeah.”

“Okay. I want to meet your mom, so maybe we
can have lunch with her somewhere. But if she wants to be part of
our lives, part of our kids’ lives, then she has to make more of an
effort. She might automatically get the title of grandma, but she
can’t exclude you and expect me to go along with it.”

His hands tightened where they rested on her
back. “Where have you been all my life?”

She smiled and hugged her arms around him a
little tighter. “Too far away.”

She was thinking about tugging off his shirt
and exploring his amazing chest a little bit when there was a knock
at the front door.

He sighed and lifted his head. “We can ignore
that.”

“Let’s not be rude. It would be different if
we were wearing fewer clothes, but since we’re fully dressed, let’s
go see who’s at the door.”

He grinned sinfully. “I can get you naked in
two seconds.”

“Don’t you dare rip my shirt!”

He laughed and slipped off the bed, pulling
her with him and setting her on her feet. “We need to go shopping.
You don’t have much, and you sure as hell aren’t going back to
Wyling River to collect your things.”

She opened her mouth to tell him he didn’t
have to do that, but he pressed his lips to hers and pulled her
against him tightly. “Don’t say I don’t have to, Honey,” he
whispered against her lips. “It’s what mates do.”

He licked her bottom lip slowly, and the
wicked thoughts that traipsed through her mind would have made a
biker blush. His eyes darkened and she felt the ridge of his
erection press against her.