Getting Close to the Omega (12 page)

subtle effect, rather than something that an Alpha who is all

brawn and no brain can appreciate. A cherished Omega gives

the pack someone to protect. You are a pack of gay wolves.

None of you are likely to have children, and there are no

females in this pack. So Dean became the heart that allowed

all of the Alpha power here to be diverted into protecting

someone physically weaker, rather than all of you fighting for

dominance between yourselves.”

“But when I met Dean there was only me and Griff. We weren’t

even a pack as such.”

Shawn ran his fingers through Kane’s hair and Kane moved

into the touch. He had always loved Shawn’s hands. “Now,

your pack has ten members, and Dean is sorely needed. Once

he mates with Matthew, he will become so much more than he

is right now. The only reason he has trouble with other people

is because he is worried about being sexually abused again.

Once Matthew claims him, he will be immune to all Alpha

power, and he won’t have any trouble dealing with other

people because he will be confident in Matthew’s love and

ability to protect him.”

“I’ve protected him. I’ve been doing it for years. We all have,”

Kane burst out. “He doesn’t need Matthew.”

“Yes, you have protected and cherished him so that he is

nothing like he was before. And that’s a good thing. But he

needs his own mate, before he can be all that he is supposed

to be. And you have no right to try and take that away from

him.”

Shawn seemed pretty determined on that one point, but then

something else his mate had said, bothered Kane again. “What

do you mean, he will be immune to all Alpha power? If he

mates with Matthew, it will only be Matthew’s power he will be

immune too, like Troy is to Anton’s.”

Shaking his head, Shawn said, “No lover. That is one of the

reasons that Alphas in history wouldn’t allow Omegas to find

and claim their true mates. Once mated, whether to an Alpha

or not, Dean will be totally immune to all Alpha power – yours’,

mine, Griffs’, Antons’, Damiens’, your dads’, any Alpha.

There’s a good chance that Diablo won’t have much effect on

him either.”

Kane sat back and looked at Shawn closely. He knew his mate

wouldn’t lie to him, but he couldn’t understand the point of

having an Omega wolf, who, whether male or female, was

always smaller and weaker physically than any other wolf in

the pack. He took Dean in because he saw a man, a wolf shifter

that was in trouble and needed the support of other wolves. His

Omega status didn’t mean anything because they weren’t

technically a pack at the time. Kane genuinely liked Dean, and

the guy was a great cook, which had been really handy before

he had met Shawn. But Kane had never seen Dean as an asset,

not in terms of pack resources, and frankly, if the man wasn’t

able to be controlled by Alpha power after he had been

claimed, then…no, Kane didn’t get it and the confusion must

have shown on his face.

Shawn held up his hands as if in defeat. “Fine Kane. Don’t

listen. Don’t try to understand. Promise me one thing. At

dinner tonight, with the rest of the pack, tell them what you did

and that you are considering banishing Dean and Matthew for

going against your position as Alpha. Let your pack members

have some say in this.”

“I’d do that anyway,” Kane protested. “I don’t make decisions

that impact the pack without talking to them first.”

“Good,” said Shawn. “Now, if you’ll excuse me,
Alpha
,” placing

extra emphasis on the title, “I have somewhere else I would far

rather be.”

Before Kane could even work out what that meant, Shawn

shimmered and disappeared. When Kane tried to get him

through their mind link, he found that his mate had blocked

him.

“Well, fuck,” he yelled out, his voice resounding through the

empty house. “Who the hell is going to cook dinner?” No one

answered him, and for the first time since he met Shawn, Kane

felt truly alone.

Later that night, when everyone, except Dean and Matthew,

were sitting down and eating the dinner that Kane had ended

up cooking, Kane brought up what had happened to Dean. He

had already noticed that the mood around the table was edgier

than normal, and put that down to his paranoia and worries

about Kylan.

Shawn had come back just before six, but for the first time

since they had mated, he sat at the foot of the table, rather

than in his seat next to Kane. He refused to talk to Kane or

even look at him, and Kane was devastated inside. So when he

did bring up the topic of Dean and Matthew, he wasn’t very

polite about it.

“Dean questioned my authority as Alpha this afternoon, after

you all left,” he started bluntly. “I am considering banishing

him and Matthew from the pack for his insubordination. Your

thoughts please.”

Griff, his closest friend and cousin, put down his fork and

stared at Kane, an incredulous look on his face. “You have got

to be fucking kidding me,” he said. “Since when did you

become such an asshole?”

“You can’t banish Dean,” Troy called out, from his seat next to

Anton. “He belongs to us, he’s like the little brother we all

wished we had. What did he say that would upset you so much

you would actually banish him?”

“I told him he shouldn’t mate with Matthew. He has a lot of

issues and I didn’t want to see him hurt,” Kane said, a little

unsure of his position, but sticking to it.

“You’ve got no right to do that, Alpha,” Jax said in his gravelly

voice. “If the boy’s found his true mate then he should be

encouraged, not told he shouldn’t be claimed. A true mate will

never hurt his intended. You can’t banish him or his mate, for

sticking up for his rights.”

“How could you even think of doing that?” Fuck it all, now Troy

was upset and when Troy was upset, Anton glared at him like

he would cheerfully take him out where he sat. The problem

was, Kane thought to himself, Anton could do it and then

probably sit down and finish his meal. He started to get edgy

and for the first time since he formed the Cloverleah pack, he

knew he was in danger of being challenged.

“You had no right to do that, Kane, and you know it,” Griff said.

“It was bad enough when you got at Diablo after we had

claimed each other, but the thought that you would banish

little Dean – a man who makes more money for you than any

of the rest of us put together, I might add. Fuck it, I’m

disappointed in you, cousin. Really disappointed.”

“I don’t think anyone here appreciates the danger Dean would

be in if he mated Matthew. He could get badly hurt if Matthew

won’t accept it when he says no to any sex,” Kane said, trying

to claim the higher ground.

“And your response to that is to kick him out of the pack, and

leave him to fend for himself, with just Matthew as back up?

That doesn’t sound like something you would do, Kane.”

Diablo’s voice always sounded like velvety chocolate, but the

big cat was not a happy man either.

“He questioned my authority. He yelled at me and said I wasn’t

supportive of anyone in my pack getting mates…”

“He’s fucking right,” Griff yelled. “I don’t know what your

problem is when we find mates, but instead of being fucking

supportive, you turn around and try to make it about you and

what you think is the best for the pack. You’ve been wrong

every time so far, so what makes this time any different?”

“The Alpha is worried that when Matthew claims Dean, as an

Omega, Dean will no longer be able to be influenced by any

Alpha power. He will also come into his own powers, ones that

have rarely been seen in a pack for decades,” Shawn said

quietly from his spot at the end of the table.

“What sort of powers?” Troy asked. Kane noticed he was

curious rather than worried. Ha, but he’s just a beta wolf, he

thought, he doesn’t understand…

“He will be able to heal with a simple touch of his hand. He will

be able to calm the emotions in a room by walking into it.

When he speaks, he will bring peace, kindness and

understanding to any volatile situation. In times gone past, a

mated Omega could stop a full on pack war, simply by their

presence. Their influence doesn’t just stop at wolf shifters. He

will have the same impact on humans or any other type of

paranormal,” Jax said quietly, as though he had lived through

such a situation. Not for the first time, Kane wondered just how

old Jax was.

“He will also be in high demand by the bigger packs we are

linked to. Damien would take him in a heartbeat, as would

Arthur, Claude – fuck any pack with a decent Alpha would see

the benefits of having an Omega at their side. Matthew could

negotiate for a position with virtually any pack anywhere, with

Dean by his side,” Shawn said. “Hell, he could form his own

pack because wolves will follow him – all because he is Dean’s

true mate.”

“And you want to banish him?” Griff was looking at Kane like

he had turned into a purple alien.

“I’m discussing the situation with you all before I make my

decision,” Kane snapped, but inside he was starting to see that

yet again he had fucked up big time. He should have spent

more time talking to Shawn about what a claimed Omega could

do instead of trying to stop Dean from realizing his potential.

“Fine,” said Troy. “Then as a pack we should vote on it. I vote

Dean’s mating with Matthew be accepted and encouraged and

that he stay with our pack as our Omega.”

“Second it,” everyone at the table, except Kane, agreed.

Josh sat quietly for a moment, and then said, “Respectfully

Alpha, I haven’t been here very long. But if you decide to

banish Dean then I will ask to be released from this pack and

I’ll take Dean and Matthew back to Damien. I know Matthew

didn’t want to be part of such a big pack, but I think with what

Shawn and Jax have said, that Damien would be the best Alpha

to align Dean with, if you don’t want them here.”

“I can take him back to Claude’s,” Anton said quickly. “Claude

would love to have him and Matthew both.”

“I could get in touch with Uncle Arthur, he would probably want

to be consulted as well,” Griff said. “His pack should be given

the chance to have an Omega.”

The men started talking over the top of each other, and Kane

could see the discussion was getting heated really quickly. He

yelled out for everyone to stop, but no one was listening to him

and through it all he felt Shawn’s impassive gaze on him,

watching to see what he could do. Kane stood up and pushed

out his Alpha power, but no one except Troy and Josh would

pay attention to him.

Realizing he had no choice, Kane looked at Shawn and

mouthed, “Help,
please
.” Without a word, Shawn lifted his

hands and a stasis field covered the table, everyone except

Kane frozen in time.

“They can’t hear us,” Shawn said in answer to Kane’s unspoken

question. “This is what happens, Kane, when you get a room

full of power and strength, and you take away the heart of the

pack. In another five minutes these men, who have all got

along just fine up until now, will be fighting. Without Dean,

your pack will splinter up and disappear. This male only pack

needs an Omega, and the Fates obviously thought you could

care for one, or you would never have met Dean on that fateful

day.”

Kane looked around the table at his frozen men. He had never

seen an outburst like this one, and even excluding the newer

members like Josh, this degree of dissent was unusual.

Everyone in his pack got along with each other – always. But

now he didn’t have a clue how to fix this. It was like Dean was

worth his weight in gold and everyone wanted a piece of him.

He didn’t know what to say, and his eyes were pleading when

they met Shawn’s.

“You either have to fix this, or fix things with Dean and

Matthew.”