Getting Close to the Omega (22 page)

my pack and I will never leave them.

Out of the corner of his eye, Matthew saw Shawn make his

move, but instead of targeting Kyron, Shawn waggled his

fingers at Dean. All of a sudden Dean was encased in a clear

bubble. Dean moved forward, still surrounded with the bubble,

and went and knelt down by Kyron. Matthew didn’t know if he

could touch him while Shawn had his mate protected in that

way, but he stood close.

“You need to shift Kyron,” Dean said, his voice firm and low.

“You have to fight this. You are not part of the pack that has

targeted us. The hold they have on you is only as strong as you

allow. Shift Kyron, shift and let your wolf come through. Kane

can make you shift if that will help. Please Kyron.”

“His wolf is dead.” The female voice was contemptuous now.

“You need to come home little Omega. Come and take your

place with the one true Alpha.”

“Your wolf’s not dead Kyron. I see it there. My wolf can feel

him,” Dean said softly, ignoring the female voice. “Your wolf is

upset with you because you were not living true to your nature,

Kyron, but he’s not dead. Come on Kyron, please. Fight this

living death. Let your wolf come through.”

“He’s too close to death to shift,” the female voice said

scornfully. “How else would I be able to get through, if his wolf

spirit was protecting him? His wolf has deserted him and so he

should because the man is a liar and thinks above his station.

You can’t win little Omega. Come to us, and all will be well.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Dean said firmly. “I have a mate, I

have an Alpha, and I have friends. I won’t leave them.”

“Then we’ll come and kill every one of your pack, so you have

no choice but to return to us.”

“We have friends too. Friends who love Dean and who know

how important it is that he stays where he is. You won’t take

him from us,” said Kane coming to stand beside Matthew, who

didn’t dare touch Dean because of the bubble he was encased

in.

Anton, Jax, Griff and Diablo came to join them, and behind

Kane, Matthew saw Shawn urging Troy and Josh to shift. They

must be going to…Matthew stood ready.

“No pack can take on the might of the one true Alpha,” the

female voice laughed.

“We can,” Kane said firmly. Turning his gaze to Kyron, Kane let

out his Alpha power so it swamped the sick wolf. “Shift Kyron,

shift and shake this she-bitch free.”

Kyron writhed and struggled on the floor, but it was clear that

he couldn’t shift. The magic was blocking Kane’s power. Griff,

joined in with Kane, flexing his Alpha nature at Kyron. “Shift

Kyron, shift.”

One by one the Alpha’s of the Cloverleah pack all joined in,

their Alpha power rocking the room, fighting the power that

held Kyron in its grasp. Anton, Jax, Shawn, even Diablo added

his own brand of power. Matthew was the last to join in. He

didn’t like Kyron, he hated the thought of a whole fucking pack

coming after his mate, and in his opinion death was too good

for the fucking shifter who had put his mate in this position.

But Kane nudged him, and Dean begged him with his eyes, so

Matthew let his own Alpha power loose at Kyron.

Kyron screamed, a long mournful scream, as though he was

being torn apart, but slowly as the men stood and chanted,

their power all focused on the hapless wolf shifter, Matthew

could slowly see the ragged wolf emerge. It had to be a painful

shift – it usually was, if a shifter was forced to shift by an

Alpha. This was worse for Kyron because whatever power was

holding him in its grasp was trying to kill the wolf even as his

shift was being forced upon him. If Kyron had been an Alpha

wolf, it might not have worked, not with whatever other power

had him in its thrall. But Kyron was a Beta wolf and couldn’t –

no matter how he tried – ignore the will of the Alphas.

Finally, after what seemed an eternity, filled with Kyron’s

screams and the chants from the men around him, Kyron’s sick

wolf emerged. As soon as he was in wolf form, Kyron lunged

for Dean, his jaws snapping as he tried to reach him. Dean

reached out, complete with bubble and smacked the wolf on

the side of the head.

“Cut that out,” Dean said curtly. “Have some manners.” Then

ignoring Kyron’s snarls completely Dean turned to Shawn and

said, “Is it gone?”

Stepping forward, Shawn ran his hands over Kyron’s cowering

form. “Yes,” he said, “but this poor wolf is going to take some

healing.”

“So can you?” Dean indicated the bubble around him. Shawn

smiled and flicked his fingers, and Dean went flying into

Matthew’s arms. Matthew hugged him close, and then stepped

back, checking his mate over to make sure that he wasn’t hurt.

Apart from some wicked bruise marks on his arm, Dean

seemed to be okay, and Matthew’s wolf was appeased,

although he still wanted to kill Kyron.

Looking over Dean’s head at the pathetic wolf, Matthew let his

wolf shine through his eyes, and growled low. Shawn looked up

in exasperation, and simply said, “Matthew.”

“What?” Said Matthew, not even trying to hide the

exasperation in his voice. “This sick fucker has tried to take my

mate three times now. Three fucking times. And now he’s

brought Dean to the attention of his ex-home pack, if that bitch

voice is to be believed. Why are you trying to help heal this

fucker, when he should be dead?”

“I totally agree with you,” Kane said, “And I’m sure every other

man here does too, with the exception of Dean and Shawn,

perhaps. Dean, because he is too kind hearted for his own

good, and Shawn because he is a Shifter Guardian, and he

looks after all shifters. But what we need to do, and I’m really

sorry to have to do this to you Dean, but we need to know

more about your home pack. I need to know if I’m going to

have to call in some reinforcements.”

“Scott and Damien would come, and bring enforcers,” Troy

said.

“Claude would too, if you asked him,” Anton said.

“I have a few shifters I can call,” Jax chimed in.

“Or I could leave. I don’t want to see any of you get hurt. That

would kill me,” Dean said quietly against Matthew’s chest.

Matthew’s heart broke at the pain in his little mate’s voice. So

strong, so capable and still the man didn’t believe that his life

was worth fighting for. Matthew looked to Kane for support –

he didn’t have a clue what to say.

“Not going to happen, Dean,” Kane said firmly. “You might not

see it, but you are far too important to this pack, for us to let

you go. Besides,” he said in a softer voice. “We all love you.

We all want you to stay. That is not negotiable and I don’t want

to hear that suggestion from you again.”

“What did the freaky bitch mean, that Dean was the only one?”

Troy asked, now shifted back and dressed, curled up in Anton’s

arms.

Kane and Shawn shared a long look and then Shawn said, “I’m

not sure, but it sounds like Dean might be the only Omega wolf

shifter in existence. I know that the Fates did stop allowing

them to be born for quite a few decades, but I have to be

honest, when I learned about Dean, I assumed that there were

others as well. Now it sounds like that might not be the case.

I’ll have to check with the spirits, but I would say that is

probably what she meant.”

Matthew closed his eyes as a wave of pain went through him.

Part of it came from Dean, but he held his own pain as well.

He had spent so much of his younger life, trying to save

Omega wolves, and hating the way they were treated. When

he could no longer find them, he assumed they had all died and

were being protected by the Fates. But to think that Dean was

the only one of his kind, was so sad.

“Okay,” said Kane, back in Alpha mode, and giving orders

again. “How about we give Matthew and Dean a bit of privacy.

Shawn and I have to deal with Kyron. The rest of you hang

around the house and we will meet back in the living room in

an hour – Dean I’m sorry, but I have to know what we are up

against. I know you’ve never talked about your ex-pack, but

you need to share what you know now, because any detail, big

or small, could help us.”

Dean nodded, a stricken look on his face, as the other men all

filed out of the room. Except for Jax, who picked up a piece of

paper from the floor. He studied the piece of paper for a long

while, and then said to Dean, “What’s this?”

Matthew looked over and saw a picture of two incredibly

beautiful men. They looked otherworldly and Matthew

assumed this was the savior Fae. Fucking fantastic, he

thought, they had to be walking sex Gods as well as magical.

Dean smacked his chest, but he was looking at Jax. Jax was

staring at a smaller picture of what looked like a triad symbol,

with two runes and a wolf’s head inside.

“That’s Aelfric, the blond, and Fafnir, the dark haired Fae. The

symbol is what I remember of the mating mark that Fafnir had

showed me. He said all members of his mating triad would

have it, just with the elements in different places. I thought…I

drew it because…” Dean trailed off and looked embarrassed.

Matthew grinned at his mate – damn he was so kindhearted

and only wanted the best for everyone. “You wanted to show

the picture to other wolf shifters and see if you can find these

princes their mate. Am I right?”

“They’ve been looking for three hundred years,” Dean said, his

eyes pleading for Matthew’s understanding. “Until they met

me, no wolf shifter would ever go near them. I just thought, if

I sent the picture to the packs we know, that maybe someone

would recognize the mark and come forward. Then I could…you

know.” Dean broke off again.

“You could summon the princes and let them know,” Jax said

shortly, although Matthew didn’t think the man was trying to

be unkind. It was just his normal tone of voice.

Dean nodded his head quickly, and Jax actually smiled. “The

Alpha is right,” Jax said, “You are too kind hearted. But I will

help you. I have contacts with a lot of packs. If you let me

have the picture, I will circulate it and see if we can’t find this

wolf these two Fae are after.”

When Dean smiled the sun came out in Matthew’s world, and

his little mate was smiling bigtime at Jax’s offer to help. “Thank

you Jax,” Dean said. “I thought you guys would think I was

being silly, but I am just trying to help. They can’t claim each

other until they meet their third, and three hundred years is

such a long time.”

“I know,” said Jax, “and I will do what I can to help the princes

find their mate – just for you, okay.” He nodded to Matthew

and left the room, closing the door behind him and still holding

the piece of paper.

Dean’s arms around his waist were so tight that Matthew

wondered what was wrong. But then it hit him. Dean had

clearly never told anyone about his home pack, and now he

was going to have to – to protect his new pack. Even as that

thought ran through his mind, Dean said softly, “I need to tell

you first.”

Picking Dean up, Matthew strode over to the bed and with one

hand, carefully cleared a space amongst what appeared to be a

lot of drawings of him. There were other designs, and pictures

as well, but Matthew was the prominent subject.

“I thought about you a lot those three days I was in my room,”

Dean offered.

“You make me look really good,” Matthew said, and truthfully

he was impressed. His mate had real artistic talent. But they

had a more important thing to talk about, and not a lot of time

to do it. Settling himself on the bed, with Dean curled up in his

arms, Matthew laid his head back against the headboard and

prayed he had the strength to listen to his mate’s story.

Dean sat for the longest time, simply enjoying being close to

his mate. Matthew was so strong, so confident and self-assured

that he worried that his mate would think he was weak

because he had been subject to so much abuse. That maybe it

was his fault…NO! He’d been down that road before and he was

well past that now. Abuse was never the fault of the victim. It