“But I―”
“I also get to decide because I’m in charge. I brought you into this, and you’re going to do as I say.”
Terry moved away from the tent. Though if he listened long enough, he thought he could make out some of the meaning of what was being said, but mostly, he just got angry vibes.
He carefully toed his way out of his hiding place within the drooping branches of the pine tree, and he moved toward the next
tent.
There were other sounds and smells coming from within that he wanted to investigate. Some of it smelled like gasoline, and some smelled like his friends. The rest smelled like sex.
There was a light on inside the tent, maybe that was where the gas scent was coming from, so he could make out the dark forms of the two men within. The one was letting out guttural moans and grunts, thrusting his hips wildly as he lay on his back and held the other man’s head down between his legs.
Neither of those two possessed the scents of the wolves Terry was
Mated to the Wild Omega 73
searching for, though the one man between the other’s legs didn’t have the scent of a human at all. He was something else.
Something shifted behind him, and Terry spun around.
The arrowhead shape of a wolf head peeked out from within the exact hiding place Terry had once occupied.
It was his mate. He looked angry.
Terry crouched, though he did not curl his tail between his legs. His friends! He could smell them! They were here!
He tried to tell his mate this with a small whine, but his mate
stepped forward, eyes sharp, lips pulled back to reveal his teeth, while
the hair on the back of his head stood on end.
He didn’t growl, but it was a command for silence if Terry ever
heard one.
Looking at him pointedly, his mate turned and walked back in the bushes, looking over his shoulder at him once more before vanishing into the darkness.
This time Terry’s tail did curl, and he followed his mate as he was silently commanded.
He had an easier time of it following him back to their den than when Terry had first left it.
This was because the trail Terry had made when he first came was now just a little wider since his mate had followed him on it, and now he and Terry were keeping to the same path as they went back. It still made the muscles in Terry’s body ache.
He tried to get up behind his mate, whining for his attention, trying to tell him what was happening, but the growls coming from his mate were not to be argued with.
Finally, they made it back to the large structure where they had made their den. Terry would prefer to sleep outside, cuddling for warmth with his mate curled around him, but it was so much warmer
inside the odd and angular cave that he didn’t offer any protest when
he followed his mate inside.
Then his mate made the shift to two feet, and though he looked
74 Marcy Jacks
ridiculous without any fur on him, his face squashed in, and his claws and tail gone, that sense of deep anger remained.
“Terry, I know you can hear me in there. You scared the shit out of me,” he said, in that familiar language Terry could barely understand. “You can’t ever do that again. Do you understand? They could’ve killed you if they’d realized you were there.”
That other naked wolf on two legs appeared next, cold air blowing through the open entrance to the cave as he let himself in. The gushing wind and snow was then gone as he shut the mouth of their den.
The other naked wolf―a man, Terry realized, recalling that
word’s meaning―rubbed his hands together for warmth.
“Scented the two of you coming back.” Then the man sniffed the
air. “He’s still in wolf form?”
“Yeah, still a little on the wild side, too, from what I can tell. He
walked right into the hunter’s camp, Nick. There’s wolf tracks leading straight here from them.”
The other man hissed in a breath. “Maybe we’ll be better to leave an hour or two before dawn instead of right at first light.”
“Better make it two hours,” his mate―Morgan―said. “I don’t
think I’ll be getting much more sleep tonight.
“Try and get something. I’ll keep a better watch out for his scent, make sure he doesn’t try to leave again.”
Morgan nodded, and with another one of those looks at Terry, he walked toward the stairs leading up. “Come on. We’re going back to bed.”
That had not been a command. His mate sounded tired, and with
some fear, Terry hesitated before following him.
Finally, Morgan looked down at him from halfway up the stairs.
“Come.”
That Terry had to obey.
He trotted up the stairs, the route to him somewhat familiar, and he moved toward another hole in the wall that led to a smaller den
Mated to the Wild Omega 75
with a large nest. He jumped in, sniffed, circled, and then settled, waiting for his mate to come and punish him.
When Morgan appeared in the doorway, Terry’s tail thumped hopefully, but he still lowered his head onto his paws.
Morgan sighed at the sight of him, resting his forehead on the back of his hand, which was also gripping the door frame. “This is why I would never make a good leading alpha. I can’t take disobedient omegas out in front of everyone and dominate them for punishment. Even though you do deserve it right now.”
His voice was hard toward the end of that sentence, and with a
jerk, Terry realized that he understood every word. The tone, the meaning, all of it.
His human side was coming back, right in time to be shamed by his mate for being so completely and utterly stupid.
He was right. Terry would deserve it.
Now that he had control of his mind back, Terry made the shift back
