Getting Close to the Omega (15 page)

bite was that it only left a permanent scar if the pair were true

mates. Otherwise there would be shifters mated to their hook

ups and one-night stands all over the place. A lot of shifters

liked to bite during sex. The lifetime bond and permanent scar

only applied to fated mates.

“Mates are faithful to each other, are they not?” Said the dark

haired man, so close now, that Dean could feel his breath on

his cheek. “Are you so invested in your cause, you would give

up the right to take any man that takes your fancy?”

“Dean is submissive. It’s the nature of an Omega. He won’t be

able to stop me from banging anyone I choose,” Kylan said

with a scoff.

“Once claimed,” Dean rasped out, finding his voice at last. He

was so thirsty, and his throat was dry, but he was damned if

he was going to hang in his chains and be a bystander while

these men discussed claiming him as though a mating with

Kylan was a given. “A shifter can never get a hard on for

another. It’s the Fate’s way of ensuring fidelity among mated

pairs.”

The blond laughed. “The little wolf speaks. I was wondering if

that was even possible. What else do you know about mates,

Omega?”

“Enough to know that everything coming out of Kylan’s mouth

is a lie,” Dean said, figuring that his situation couldn’t get any

worse.

“Who’s Kylan?” The blond and the dark haired man both looked

at Kylan now, distrust over their faces.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” said Dean, not feeling sorry at all. “That’s the

name that wolf gave us when he was trying to infiltrate the

pack. I forgot. Kylan doesn’t exist. But this man here certainly

seems to have the same knack now that he had back then, for

making people believe in his hair-brained schemes. First it was

the army. Now it seems to be you two.”

“Shut your mouth, Omega, before I shut it for you,” Kylan

snarled.

“Why should I, Kylan? Are you going to kill me? Claim me? Ha,

that’s a fucking laugh. I already know who my fated mate is

and it wouldn’t matter how often you fucking bit me, I wouldn’t

be yours.”

“So these powers are tied in with your mate,” Blondie asked, a

lilt in his voice and an arched eyebrow indicating curiosity

rather than any malice.

“My powers are mine,” Dean said firmly. “And there is one last

thing that Kylan, or whatever the fuck his name is, should have

told you. I
am
the heart of the Cloverleah pack. He didn’t lie

about that. But what that means is that every man in that pack

will protect me with their life. They won’t stop until they find

me. Did Kylan explain that not only does the Cloverleah pack

have five Alphas, it also has the biggest cat shifter you have

ever seen, and a Shifter Guardian? You guys are toast. You just

don’t know it yet.”

“And Kylan? What do you call him in your little pack

hierarchy?” It was the blond asking the questions again.

“A lying scum of a beta wolf, who doesn’t have the power to

lead his own pack, no matter who he ropes into his fucked up

plans,” Dean snapped back.

“Hmmm, I like your spirit, Omega,” the blond said, looking

over at his dark haired companion. Dean would swear the two

of them were speaking telepathically, and he wondered if they

were mated. Whatever it was they were saying, it would seem

that after a few moments they had come to a decision.

“We are taking the Omega for ourselves, Kyron,” the blond

said, while the dark haired one waved his hands at the

manacles holding Dean against the wall. As they dropped from

his skin, he fell to the floor, grasping his shoulders as pain

flashed through him.

“You can’t. We have a deal,” Kylan, or perhaps that should be

Kyron, said. “I get the Omega. You help me take over the

Cloverleah pack, and we use the Shifter Guardian and the

Omega to rule the other wolf packs. That was the deal.”

“You can’t
use
Shawn,” Dean gasped as he rubbed his

shoulders. Damn, they were sore. “You really are a fucking

idiot Kylan, Kyron or whatever your name is. Shawn is mated.

He can’t be forced to do anything, and you haven’t seen what

he can do when he gets pissed off.”

“He will do what I say, if he thinks Kane’s precious life is on the

line,” Kyron snapped back.

Dean laughed. He couldn’t help it. He knew it was inappropriate

given that he was in a lot of pain and likely to be feeling a lot

more in a matter of minutes, if Kyron had his way. He was

naked, thirsty, hungry, and he really needed to pee, but all he

could do in that moment was laugh. So he did. And maybe it

was true that laughter was contagious because even the two

ethereal beauties looked amused.

Struggling to his feet, Dean forced himself to stand up and face

Kyron as best he could. For the first time in a long time, he

wasn’t worried about being naked, or even what would happen

to him when the two strangers ‘took’ him. He was going to tear

Kyron’s plan to shreds and discredit him with these magic

makers if it was the last thing he did.

“Now that they are mated, Kane and Shawn are immortal,

Kyron. You can’t kill either one of them, because if you did,

the other one just brings the dead one back to life. I’ve seen

it. I’ve seen Shawn die and Kane bought him back to life.

Without the power of life and death over them, you have

nothing. Without Alpha power of your own you can never lead a

pack. No one will follow you. An Alpha is only ever as strong as

the pack that chooses to follow him. You really should have

done your homework before you started fucking with people’s

lives.”

Then Dean looked at his would-be captors. “And you two

should have too. I don’t know what your part in this scheme is,

or even what you are, or what your end goal is. But know this.

Kyron/Kylan will never get the Cloverleah pack, or any other

pack. He is just an Alpha wannabe that will never be anything

more than he is. Our nature is built into us from birth. No

amount of scheming, kidnapping, magic or anything else will

stop him from being anything more than a beta wolf with no

heart.”

“Then what’s to stop us from killing you?” Blondie asked, not

threatening as such. In fact, Dean thought he just looked

curious.

“I don’t think you could, or would,” Dean said. If what Shawn

had told him was true, and Dean had no reason to doubt his

Alpha Mate, then Dean already had his powers. They were just

too subtle for anyone to notice. That didn’t mean those powers

didn’t work. Dean was trusting like fuck that they did.

Thinking back on his past, Dean had often wondered why his

ex-Alpha hadn’t killed him. The abusive man often threatened

him, especially when Dean had been less than totally

compliant. Dean hadn’t even shifted when the abuse had

started, and while he had been beaten frequently, and even

mauled one time, which was how he got the scar on his arm,

the Alpha never carried through on his threat to kill him.

“You’re right,” the dark haired one whispered in his ear, “and

we aren’t letting you go until we understand why.”

“You’re not taking him anywhere,” Kyron snarled, his face and

hands indicating he was ready to shift. The blond tilted his

head, his curiosity shining through his violet eyes once again.

He didn’t seem worried that he was about to face a bigger than

life wolf, he appeared interested in the process of shifting.

Dean watched too – Kyron’s shift was unbearably slow and it

looked painful. Everyone in the Cloverleah pack shifted into

their animal forms quickly and with no pain. It was as simple

as being a man one minute, and in the next their animal spirit

had taken over. Dean wondered what was so wrong with

Kyron, that he couldn’t even control his shift properly.

“Is it always so painful,” the dark haired one asked in Dean’s

ear. Dean had been so engrossed in watching Kyron change, he

had actually forgotten the other two men were in the room. He

shook his head in answer to the question, wincing as Kyron let

out a howl. Finally, after five long minutes Kyron’s mangy

looking wolf appeared and Dean edged back against the wall,

as the wolf came towards him.

“My God, what is wrong with you?” Dean whispered. He

couldn’t help himself. He had seen Kylan, as he was then, at a

pack run when he first came to the pack. Back then Kylan was

a large, light colored wolf, full of health and vitality. The wolf

threatening him now had clumps of fur missing, his teeth were

in a permanent snarl, his teeth dripping with saliva and if Dean

didn’t know better he would have said the poor animal was

rabid.

Unfortunately, Kyron, as he was now, didn’t appreciate Dean’s

concern. He leapt forward, as though determined to rip out

Dean’s throat. The two ethereal beings, stepped in front of

Dean and put up their hands. Kyron got knocked back as

though stunned by some immovable force. He fell to the floor

with a thud, but he was trying desperately to get back up.

“Time to go,” the blond said, grabbing hold of Dean’s arm. His,

whatever he was, grabbed hold of the other one and once

again, Dean was surrounded by wind and darkness. Fuck, this

plays hell with my equilibrium, he thought with a drunken sigh

as once again, he passed out.

“There must be some way of finding him,” Matthew roared. He

had been trying to keep his cool since arriving back at Dean’s

house and finding his little mate had totally disappeared. He

had traced Dean’s scent to the forest and called Kane who had

arrived shimmer style with Shawn at a ring of black stones,

where the smell of lemongrass and coconut simply vanished.

Matthew had paced around the circle a dozen times, but was

reluctant to actually step in it. He didn’t know why, but his wolf

could sense danger and he knew that Dean wouldn’t have gone

off on his own. The fact that there was absolutely no other

scents in the house, or on the porch, could only mean that

Kylan had his mate.

“Don’t touch it,” Shawn’s voice sounded behind him. “It’s a Fae

circle and there is no telling where you might end up, if you

step into it.”

“A Fae circle?” Matthew had seen and heard about a lot of

things in the paranormal world in the last century, but this was

something totally new to him. He had heard about the Fae.

They were incredibly beautiful creatures, who mated in a triad.

He had even enjoyed a threesome with one delightful pair at

one point in his many travels. But the Fae were wickedly fickle

and often hard to control unless they were mated. For

Matthew, once was more than enough.

“Yes,” said Shawn, stepping around the circle carefully. “A

circle like this is controlled by whoever cast it. It acts like a

portal and it is usually programmed with just one destination.

However, if this one has been left unguarded, like it appears to

be, then you could end up anywhere, or nowhere, if you get

caught in it.”

“Were there any other scents at the house?” Kane said, giving

the circle a wide berth.

“No,” said Matthew, grinding his teeth in frustration. “I got

home. I was gone less than half an hour. The kitchen looked

like Dean had been cooking dinner. The back door was open

and then it was like Dean was picked up, because past the door

I could only catch his smell on the wind. But there were no

other scents in the area.”

“We need to go back to the house,” Shawn said, grabbing both

Kane and Matthew’s arm. Seconds later they were on the back

porch of Dean’s house. Shawn immediately started looking

around on the ground by the back door, and Matthew saw him

bend down and run his fingers in what looked like some dust

on the wooden boards.

“Zombie dust,” Shawn said. “This would explain why Dean

didn’t fight, or run. Someone, and I presume it’s Kylan given

the total lack of scent, has used this dust to control Dean and

take him. This would explain why I can’t pick up on Dean’s

scent either.”

“What would the dust do to him?” Said Matthew, worried sick