Getting Close to the Omega (3 page)

hundred years, could give him a throbbing cock and set his

heart thumping madly, all in a split second.

But there had been a tinge of fear in Dean’s scent as well, and

Matthew forced himself to put aside his need to get to know

the other man better, and focused instead on getting to know

the other members of his new pack. Not an easy thing to do

when his cock was threatening the seams of his jeans. But if

Dean was timid, or scared of him for whatever reason, then

Matthew knew he had to move slowly. He guessed that Kane

had caught the smell of his aroused state, so he purposefully

didn’t look at Dean again for the rest of the meal, although it

was so hard not to. Even as he kept up conversation with the

other men, he noticed that Dean barely spoke and in fact was

the only man at the table that didn’t try and engage him in any

way.

As he went to leave the table, after what was a delicious meal,

and friendly company, Kane pulled him aside for a moment,

while everyone else went into the living room, or off to their

respective homes.

“Dean is important to us,” the Alpha said bluntly. “We don’t

treat our Omega like some other packs do. In this pack he

commands as much respect as anyone else. Are we clear on

that?”

Inside, Matthew heaved a huge sigh of relief. In many packs

the Omega was used as a sexual convenience, often abused

and treated like crap, purely and simply because of their inbuilt

submissive nature. Over his many years visiting and travelling

around other packs, he had seen many sad and cruel cases,

where Omega’s were starved for food and affection, kept in

prison like conditions, in many cases not even allowed to mate,

even if they did find their true mate.

On the outside, however, he kept a neutral mask on his face.

“I would never hurt Dean,” he said letting his tone reflect his

sincerity. “Your Omega has nothing to fear from me.”

Kane looked at him for the longest moment, as if trying to

gauge the truth of his words. But Matthew was being totally

honest. Dean was his mate and he would never hurt the man,

no matter what Dean may or may not do.

Finally Kane nodded. “That’s good to hear. I had planned to

pair you up with Dean, given the threat against our pack. I

have insisted that all of our men double up. However, given

your obvious attraction for Dean I’m not sure…Maybe it might

be better for both of you if I pair him with Jax instead.”

Fuck No! Matthew’s wolf screamed at him and it was at times

like this that Matthew almost resented his Alpha nature. He had

spent decades without a pack, but after challenging Damien for

the Alpha position of his pack so many times, more for fun than

anything else, he had come to long for the stability that being

in a pack could give him and his wolf.

It was Scott, Damien’s mate that had suggested he come to

the Cloverleah pack – telling Matthew about the threat the

pack was under. For some reason Matthew felt compelled to

come and offer his assistance, even though he knew he

wouldn’t be leading the pack. But to listen to another man, his

new Alpha, consider the idea of placing his unclaimed mate

with another, single man, was testing his control to the limits.

Realizing he had no choice, Matthew leaned towards Kane and

said as quietly as he could. “Dean is my mate. My true mate.

There will be no point in pairing him with anyone else but me.”

A range of expressions flickered across Kane’s face so fast,

Matthew couldn’t work out what they meant. But just as

quickly, Kane smiled, and said through tight lips, “I should

congratulate you, but to be honest, I don’t envy your position.

Dean has only been with me for about five years, and his back

story is not a pretty one. I can only advise patience, my friend

– lots and lots of patience, if you decide to pursue him.”

Now Matthew was puzzled. “Why wouldn’t I want to be with

my true mate? I have waited a century to meet him.”

Kane’s eyebrows rose, and he said, “Fuck, you look good for an

old guy.” Then he smiled to show he was joking. “Look, Dean

doesn’t do well with new people. He is naturally shy and quiet.

He has got a story to tell, and maybe someday he will trust you

enough to share it with you. But in the meantime I am asking

you, as your new Alpha, and as a potential friend, that you

take things slow. No matter how hard it is, try and let Dean set

the pace of how things go between you. It’s really important

that he doesn’t feel manipulated into doing something he’s not

comfortable with.”

Matthew knew there was a wealth of hidden depths behind

Kane’s words, but he was astute enough to see that the man in

front of him wasn’t going to break Dean’s confidence. Taking a

deep breath, he said in a firm voice, “Would it be easier for you

and Dean if I left the pack?”

“No,” Kane quickly replied, almost yelling. “No,” he repeated in

a quieter voice. “I need someone strong who can be by Dean’s

side. Kylan, the man who has it in for this pack, had an

interest in Dean, probably because of his Omega status. They

are exceeding rare, and not many packs have one. All of the

men here agree that Dean is one of the many reasons that

Kylan is targeting us.”

Then his eyes narrowed and he glared at Matthew. “Unless you

are telling me that you aren’t man enough to protect your

mate, and would rather leave him when our pack is in danger.

If that’s the case, leave now and let me look after Dean like I

have been doing all these years.”

Matthew bristled under the insult and he fought down his wolf

for the second time that evening. Pound for pound he knew he

could take Kane, and probably the Alpha position of this little

pack. But Matthew was an old wolf, and he wasn’t stupid. He

had paid attention to how the pack members acted at dinner.

Initially he had been surprised that Kane was the Alpha, given

that Griff was bigger, conversation suggested that Diablo was a

powerful cat. Both Jax and Anton had military training and

Kane’s own mate was a Shifter Guardian.

The fact that there was so much Alpha power at the table, and

yet everyone got on so well, and were even, if Matthew

thought about it carefully, really close, Matthew knew that

even if he did challenge Kane, it was unlikely that he would

have a pack to lead. The men in this pack wouldn’t follow

anyone else but Kane.

So he pulled in his wolf, and his temper, and simply said, “My

offer to leave was to give Dean some breathing room. A

chance to come to terms with having a mate. I certainly didn’t

plan on going very far, or staying away permanently. I have

been alone for a long time, and I won’t pass up the opportunity

to get to know, and claim the young man now. Consider him

well protected.”

This time Kane smiled for real. “Then I wish you all the luck in

the world,” he said and Matthew knew the Alpha was being

genuinely honest this time. If he ignored the silent
you’re

going to need it,
then that was because it was in his nature to

face any challenge head on. As he went up to the room he had

been given in the pack house, Matthew wondered if Dean was

asleep, or if he was thinking of Matthew, as much as he knew

he would be thinking about his sexy little Omega.

Three days later, Dean was struggling and he knew that

something had to give. Probably his sanity, he thought

ruefully, as he looked around the room he had been holed up in

since the dinner party three nights before. The room was

pleasant enough. Everywhere in Kane’s house was comfortable

and designed for wolf shifters in mind. So the wooden floors

strewn with rugs, the plush covers on the bed and the amazing

shower in the bathroom, were all par for the course, in Dean’s

eyes. He liked it at the pack house, but when he was feeling as

anxious as he was, he preferred his own place. Still that wasn’t

going to happen any time soon so plopping down on the bed,

he tried to make some logical sense of his emotions. They all

seemed to center around Matthew – surprise, surprise – but he

had to make some decisions.

He knew who his mate was, but he didn’t know anything about

him except that the man was an Alpha, and probably a lot

older than everyone else in the pack. He had that air of

mystery about him that suggested he had seen things, Dean

had only dreamed about.

Matthew wanted him, sexually – that was obvious from that

first intense look they shared. Just thinking about the intensity

in Matthew’s eyes and the hunger in them, made Dean’s body

shiver and his wolf itch to go out and find their other half and

submit, belly up.

And. Yep. Nothing.

Sighing, Dean rubbed over his messy hair. That was the

problem with logical thinking. Only facts could be included. His

problems were more the emotive kind. Fear, shame, fear,

worry, fear, excitement and yes, that cursed feeling of having

his cock hard all the freaking time, because his mate was

sharing the same house. His unclaimed mate. Dean felt like he

could fly into a million pieces without any provocation

whatsoever, and quite frankly he was struggling not to.

So for three days Dean did what he always did when he was

troubled, worried, or had something to work out in his head.

He drew pictures. He designed motifs to go on cars and bikes.

He drafted out elaborate paintings in his head, and on paper.

But at the end of three days that had just caused Dean another

major problem. He had run out of art supplies.

Normally that wouldn’t be a problem. Dean had transport and

money and the small art supply shop in Cloverleah was well

stocked. So all Dean had to do was sneak out of the house, and

head into town. But. Dean let out another big sigh, Kane had

told everyone that until the matter with Kylan was sorted,

everyone had to go about their daily lives in pairs.

Kylan had been a new pack member, who had come to

Cloverleah for Griff and Diablo’s mating ceremony. He had

been one of the men who had challenged Griff for the right to

mate with Diablo, and lost. But after the challenge he had

petitioned to join the pack, and he had been accepted without

question.

There didn’t seem to be any problem with the man, beyond the

fact he was far too nosy for his own good, until Troy’s mate

Anton had been detained by the United States Army. All of a

sudden, without any prior warning, the pack learned that Kylan

had actually sold out the whole pack, including their shifter

status, to a fanatical General who wanted to use Anton, and

then the rest of the pack, as his own personal army. It had

taken some sneaky scheming from Anton and his friend to get

the problem sorted. Unfortunately, in the aftermath of an

amazing explosion, Kylan disappeared and Troy found out,

through his own computer hacking skills, that the man, as he

appeared to the Cloverleah pack, didn’t exist at all.

Because Kylan seemed to have such a hard on for the

Cloverleah pack, Kane had basically put them all on lock down.

Custom Rides was closed until further notice. All available

hands were working through Griff and Diablo’s security

company trying to find leads on who Kylan really was and why

he had targeted the Cloverleah pack. And Kane had given

explicit instructions that no one from the Cloverleah pack was

to go anywhere alone. No matter who they were.

That wasn’t any problem for the mated pairs – Kane and

Shawn, Griff and Diablo, Troy and Anton. They liked being

together. Hell, they hated being apart. Josh had joined Jax in

Scott’s old house, and they were apparently spending their

days training and working with Griff and the others trying to

find out more about Kylan. Dean wasn’t needed for that sort of

thing – he was an artist at heart, the Omega of the pack and

nobody expected him to train.

That’s why Matthew had been assigned to him. Because he was

an Omega, Kane wanted Dean protected by an Alpha. Matthew