"Gonna sue you all until I own the feed store," she whispered, head lolling.
I smiled down at her. "After this, maybe we'll just gift you an entire store. Do you run that rescue all by yourself?"
"Grandpa used to help me, before he passed."
Ah, inheritance. I'd been lucky in that way, inheriting enough from my grandparents to start the company. Yet, it hadn't been a sure bet. And a structure that took so much to run and lived on donations? Her little pet sanctuary was probably constantly on the verge of bankruptcy. Most of them were. We got so many emails and letters, begging for donations to help the animals.
"We sponsor a few agencies, you know," I told her. "We could sponsor yours, too. Make sure you never have a need for anything again, whether it be a set of kennels or just a supply of food."
She didn't respond, she only looked up at me as if she were looking for some reassurance that she wasn't crazy. It didn't feel right to just drop her in bed and go back to my sandwich. I fell into bed with her, drawing her close against me and leaning my shoulders against the headboard, my shoes still on my feet.
"You're experiencing what every turned werewolf does," I said, running my fingers through her hair. It was messy from the transformation, but still soft as silk.
Her expression broke, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. "You guys made me a monster."
"I'm afraid my son made you a werewolf, not us," I sighed. "He's just a puppy. He should have known better."
"What was a child doing out in the cold by himself?"
There was a hint of heat under her words. A protective omega, fierce around the pups. My heart sang but I told it to shut up. We weren't going to get entangled with her. Keeping a professional distance was for the best. "He's an alpha- you know, alpha, omega, that sort of thing from dealing with your dogs, yes?"
"Dogs don't work like that. It's archaic theory from someone who found out that wolves didn't work like that, exactly, either."
I rolled my eyes. "Werewolves work like that."
"Werewolves are bullshit."
That surprised a laugh out of me. "You were just chewing on your own tail in a dark hidey-hole and you say that."
"Well, they are," she said, her voice uncertain. "Maybe I'm just having some kind of fever dream. Or maybe I went crazy. I don't know. People can't be wolves. Werewolves aren't real."
I decided to try something on her. I rolled her over onto her back, pinning her down. My weight forced her into the mattress and I stared down into those lovely eyes. She looked away in an instant, baring her throat to me; all that creamy expanse just begging for my teeth to-
Holding my breath, I rolled us back to the side. "Still think it's not real? Do you normally flash your throat at anyone who's posturing at you?"
She was absolutely silent, a frown creasing her brow. I went back to stroking her hair, trying to quiet her. Yet the roll had seemed to do just as much as talking had. The poor thing. It was hard enough being an alpha, but I'd have never wished being an omega on someone with little information about our world. The things she was feeling, the instincts telling her that I was safe and to go snuggle down in the scent of my pup's room? I had no doubt it was overwhelming, confusing, and incredibly unsatisfactory.
Most omega women went into heat on their first mandatory transformation, the first night of the full moon after their bite. Those born as omegas would go into heat upon sexual maturity, usually around the age of twenty or so. But Sadie was in for a rough time if we didn't get some ground rules put in place, and we only had a few weeks in which to do it.
"Listen to me. You are a werewolf. We remain hidden because of what you see in movies and television shows. The wolf always gets the sour end of it. What my son did is illegal in our community. It's why Gabe tried to give you pills that would kill your inner wolf. You'd be as human as anyone else, but it seems there's been a mix up somewhere. You were given medication to help you transform. And we can't have that happening."
I said it all in my softest voice, trying to lull some sense of comfort into her. While omegas were drawn to alphas, it wasn't just the brutal force of protection. It was the ease we gave them. It was the ease that happened to us when we had something worth taking care of. An alpha's sense of self was intricately intertwined with how happy his omega was.
I reminded myself time and again that she wasn't my omega, just an omega. My wolf didn't care. There was an omega, period, end of story, and she was lost, confused, and upset.
"Maybe if I have a little time to think about it," she said. "It's just so much to take in. First, I'm taking care of a puppy and next thing I know, I'm being recruited to have paws at night."
"Not all nights," I corrected automatically. "Usually just the three peak full moon nights. Less, if there're storms in the area. It's the moonlight itself, Her guiding light, that gives us our true forms." I paused, then added, "And those pills."
She blinked up at me and yawned, covering her mouth. Color rose in her cheeks. She warmed against me, even through the
