My father had never understood my appreciation for the boys. Well, I called them that, but they were only six years my junior. I’d forever been protecting them, shielding them from his awareness, because I knew he didn’t like their father, but since when was that a child’s fault?
It had become second nature to watch over them, to put them in a position that was untouchable, where only I had a say in what they did.
Yet, though I trusted them, though I knew they weren’t lying about their involvement with the attack on the she-wolf, that their scent was embroiled in hers set me on edge.
It wasn’t uncommon, exactly, for an omega to have more than one mate. The more powerful she was, the more grounding she needed, but powerful omegas were few and far between. Where better to ground a strong omega, however, than in several powerful males who could not only protect her physically, but could shield her emotionally?
I’d just never imagined that I’d be like that.
That my omega would need several mates, that I wouldn’t be good enough to be everything she needed.
Was that why I’d sent the twins away?
Was that why I was taking her to the woods and keeping her to myself?
Because my wolf already knew what I wasn’t willing to accept?
It was a night for feeling like I was walking on broken glass. My blood was pouring from several wounds on my feet, every part of me torn to emotional shreds from what had happened, and this wasn’t helping.
Overhead, the moon called to me, demanding I shift, and I knew why.
The Mother was guiding me.
Showing me the way.
Because I had no choice but to heed her call, just as any shifter had no choice, I placed my omega on the ground in a dense pile of leaves which was near one of the cache of clothes I had stored around the woods. The crunchy, crispy crackling filled the air as her weight shifted onto them, and she twitched, her eyes opening as she stared at me in a daze.
I saw her confusion, felt her fear, but also sensed her acceptance.
The she-wolf—if not the woman herself—knew what I was to her, and she was accepting of my care.
I cast a look around the area, discerning that there were no eyes to watch, no animals who might think she was prey, but mostly, I just saw my land. It was pack land, to be sure, but it was legally the alpha’s, and no one ever argued with that.
The endless sea of trees was all I truly looked upon, and in the air, now that it was getting late, there was a chill. A nip that had my breath gusting in front of me.
I didn’t feel the cold, didn’t wince at it, but I had to wonder if she did.
Normally, I’d just shift and get on with my business—be that hunting or play. But tonight, I reached into the cache, grabbed one of my jackets, and pressed it around her. When she was swaddled, her eyes opened once more, revealing gems that bathed me in their luminescence.
There was feeling there, affection. Already.
I didn’t understand it, but neither did I have the heart to question it.
She was everything I needed, and arguing against that would have been stupid.
Swallowing down the sudden surge of emotion that had overtaken me, I shifted, allowing my wolf to take control again.
My beast held pure dominion over me as I moved closer to her, scenting her once more. I’d had too many questions before, too many things to ask the twins about where this she-wolf who didn’t scent of my pack had come from.
Now?
She was here, she was mine, and I had the time. All the time in the world.
As I ran my muzzle along hers, I scented the twins once more, but beneath that, there was an earthiness that was beyond unusual.
It should have been repellent, but it wasn’t. How could the scent of freshly tilled earth, damp from the morning’s dew, be repugnant? How could the scent of fire being whipped away into the air be disgusting?
She was, as we all were, an elemental being, but I’d never scented it as richly as I did in her. She was petrichor in the flesh.
With a soughing huff, I grabbed my jacket with my teeth, rearranging it better. I understood her needs more now in this form, even if I didn’t have the thumbs to make