The Omega's Heart (Wilde Creek Four) (15 page)

They were both panting for breath. She sagged
against him, loosening her tight grip on his waist.

He slowly lowered her and held her until he
was certain she wasn’t going to fall, and then he turned and gave
her a gentle push under the spray. “The water’s almost ice cold.
You first, and then I’ll finish.”

At the moment he said “ice cold,” the water
hit her back and it felt like little icicles peppering her skin.
She was determined to get clean as fast as possible, to rid herself
of any trace of the people who had touched her. He squeezed shampoo
into her hand and she washed her hair while he efficiently lathered
her skin.

When she was rinsed off, she said, “I can
wash you.”

He pulled the curtain back and said, “If you
touch me, we’re going to freeze to death in here. I’ll just be a
minute.”

He winked at her as she stepped out of the
shower. She grabbed a towel and rubbed at her skin with jerky
motions. She was shivering, her teeth chattering from the cold
water. She couldn’t remember when she’d ever been so cold; she was
chilled to the bone. Jeremiah turned the water off as she was
rubbing her hair with the towel.

He reached for his towel as he got out and
smiled. “I’m officially cold.”

“Me, too.”

“Go climb under the covers, I’ll be right
in,” he encouraged her as he rubbed his skin briskly.

She picked up a hair elastic from the
counter, wound her hair into a loose knot on her head, and secured
it. She would love to have a hair dryer, but at least it wasn’t
sitting wet on her neck. She pulled the covers back and slipped
into bed. The sheets weren’t as soft as Jeremiah’s had been, and
the pillows were lumpy, but when he walked into the room and joined
her, it was suddenly the most comfortable bed she’d ever been
in.

She could already feel herself warming up,
thanks to her higher body temperature, and her shivers eased even
further when Jeremiah pulled her against his body and covered them
with the blankets. They lay in silence for a long moment, and then
he kissed her forehead.

“Do you want to talk about what happened?”
His voice was low. Not pushy, just sweet.

She rested her cheek on his bicep and looked
at him. “He wasn’t my biological father. If Stacy knew, I don’t
know why she wouldn’t have told me.”

“Maybe she was threatened.”

“He killed my mom, and he killed Stacy, who
turns out wasn’t even my biological grandma. Her death hurt worse
than his, though. I don’t even feel like mourning him. He would’ve
killed you. He tried to trade me away for a virgin he could screw.
I… can’t even tell you how disillusioned I feel right now.”

Jeremiah’s hand began to stroke up and down
her back, and she closed her eyes and relaxed into his touch.

“He was a bastard. I don’t know what his
motives were for keeping you when you weren’t his real child, and
we’ll never know, but I’m not sorry he’s gone. I’m not sorry that I
took care of the threat against you.”

“I’m not sorry he’s gone, either.”

In the darkness, she told him about her
childhood. It was easier now to see that he’d kept her at arm’s
length her entire life because he really wasn’t her father. He’d
kept her around until it benefited him to use her. He most likely
wouldn’t have cared if the male he’d given her to hurt her. It was
hard to feel grief for his death, or the deaths of any other males
who’d been part of the kidnapping.

“I’m so glad I wandered into your yard on the
full moon,” she said, stroking her fingers through the soft hair at
the side of his head.

“Me too, Honey.”

They kissed gently, and he continued to
stroke her back, seeming to know she needed to be comforted so she
could relax. She hadn’t thought it would stress her out to talk
about her past, but as he slowly worked the tension from her, she
knew it had. That was just one more thing that made Jeremiah
unique. They’d only been together a few days, but he was already in
tune with her needs. Her feelings for him were deepening by the
hour. Being mates didn’t come with instant love, but she knew it
would only be a matter of time before she was head over heels for
him. He was an honorable male. At first he’d tried to keep her away
because he didn’t want to burden her with his
non
status,
but once they mated, he wasn’t going to let her go, that much was
clear. And she felt the same way. It didn’t matter to her that he
could shift now. She liked him for the male he was inside, not what
he could or couldn’t shift into.

Following his scent on the full moon was the
smartest thing she’d ever done. She snuggled a little closer to
Jeremiah and drifted off to sleep, safe in her mate’s arms.

Chapter 12

Friday evening, Jeremiah drove Honey to the
alphas’ home. Aside from leaving that morning to shop for clothes,
they hadn’t left the apartment. It was small and noisy during the
day when the mechanics that Ren employed were working below, but as
long as Honey was in his arms, he didn’t care where they were.

“Tomorrow we can go see the house. Acksel
thought there were things that could be salvaged, but none of the
furniture is going to be any good,” he said as she reached for his
hand and squeezed it.

“What’s going to happen to the house?”

“We have two options after it’s demolished;
we can sell the lot to the pack or we can rebuild.”

“Why would the pack want the lot?”

“It’s close to the alphas’ home and borders
our hunting territory. Acksel wouldn’t want anyone outside of the
pack to build a home there, so they would most likely plant trees
on the lot and eventually it would become part of the woods.”

She hummed in her throat and said nothing for
a few moments. “What do you want to do?”

“I just want you to be happy, Honey,” he
said. It was the truth. He didn’t care about the house or the land;
he only cared that she was sleeping next to him every night.

“I’m happy,” she said.

“I know, but I mean I want you to be happy
with where we spend the rest of our lives. We’ll have to live in a
rental home regardless of whether we sell or build, since they
can’t begin construction on the home until the ground thaws in the
spring.”

“Is there a construction company in
town?”

“Yes. Acksel’s sister, Eveny, works in the
office there, and several pack members work there as well.”

She was quiet again. Jeremiah didn’t know
what she was thinking about, but it made his wolf tense that she
wasn’t talking. He stopped his truck in front of Acksel’s home,
thankful that Ren had arranged for it to be delivered to the garage
on Thursday afternoon so he and Honey could come and go as they
wished.

He turned in his seat to face her, and she
looked at him. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know about what?”

“Where we should live. That was your home,
and now it’s gone. Part of me wants to rebuild it, but part of me
doesn’t ever want to see a house standing on it again. Does that
make sense?”

He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and
brushed his thumb over her cheek. “Yeah. I don’t know what’s best
either. In the end, though, it’s just a building. Wherever you are
is home for me.”

She smiled. “You say the sweetest
things.”

Grinning, he said, “It’s easy to say sweet
things when I have such an amazing mate.”

“Stop it. You’re going to make me want to
take my clothes off.”

He kissed her and chuckled. “I’m not sure the
alphas would appreciate me making you scream my name in front of
their house.”

“Let’s table the house talk for later and go
see what’s up.”

He agreed. He got out of the truck and moved
to her side, opening the door and helping her out. The sidewalk had
been recently salted, so it wasn’t icy, but he still worried she
might fall, so he held her elbow tightly and they moved slowly up
the sidewalk to the porch.

Brynn opened the door before they got to the
top step. “I’m so glad to see you guys alive and in one piece!”

Jeremiah pulled the door closed as they
stepped inside and helped Honey off with her coat. Brynn hugged her
and gave Jeremiah a friendly smile.

“Come sit down. Dinner’s ready.”

Jeremiah sat next to Honey at the kitchen
table, with Acksel and Brynn across from them. They ate a simple
meal of roast chicken, mashed potatoes, and corn bread. While they
ate, Brynn and Honey talked about the wedding and the upcoming full
moon.

“You can join the pack officially and declare
each other as mates, it’ll be a two-fer,” Brynn said.

“Speaking of the full moon,” Acksel said,
leaning back in his chair, “I can hold rank fights two days after
and you can take your place among the protectors.”

Jeremiah froze, a forkful of mashed potatoes
halfway between the plate and his mouth. “Rank fights?”

Acksel’s brow rose. “You shifted. It might
not be a traditional wolf shift, but you’re not a
non
anymore. On the full moon, you and Honey can come hunt with me and
the other high-ranked males. The pack will see you in your shift
and know that things have changed. For the rank fights, I thought
you could fight for ninth or tenth rank. It’s higher than the
lowest protector ranks, but not so high that pack members will balk
at you moving up so fast. If you find you’re ready to move up in a
few months, then we’ll revisit the issue, but I think you’ll be
happy in the top ten. Some responsibility with the pack, but not so
much as to overwhelm you, especially when you’ve got a new
mate.”

He sat there, staring at Acksel in shock.
Honey put pressure on his wrist and he lowered his fork to the
plate.

“I don’t know what to say, Acksel. I’m
surprised. I know you said that things could be different for me
within the pack, but I didn’t know you meant so vastly different.
What will happen to the omegas? I do a lot of work around town, and
I’m the only one who focuses on the retirees.”

“There are some young wolves that will be
shifting in the next few months, and I can hold off on rank fights
so they can pick up the slack. There are some omegas who could be
doing more, and there’s Honey of course. She’s an omega.”

Jeremiah couldn’t stop the snarl. “You want
my mate to take over my job?”

Acksel stared calmly at Jeremiah. “Females
are omegas; this is nothing new.”

Honey squeezed Jeremiah’s shoulder with one
hand and began to rub his back with the other. He recognized it as
her attempt to calm him down, and it was working; just her touch
made his temper fade. Not that he wasn’t still pissed off about the
insinuation that Honey would be taking his place, because he sure
as hell was, but he didn’t feel the need to leap over the table and
punch his alpha.

“Can he have some time to think about it?”
Honey asked.

Acksel nodded. Brynn said, “She’s obviously
not going to take over everything, Jeremiah. It’s not like we’d ask
her to use the snow blowers or chop wood. Kammie can take her under
her wing and show her the ropes. It’ll be great.”

He looked at his mate. In her old pack, she’d
been set apart from the other females and never had to serve the
way that the omegas in the Wilde Creek pack did. She’d never had to
clean someone’s home or run errands for a highly ranked male. She
hadn’t had a happy childhood, but she’d been protected in many
ways. He didn’t want her to suddenly have to change everything
she’d known. He couldn’t abide her working while he lounged around
with the other protectors. Sure, he would be patrolling and
guarding as Sam, the head of the protectors, ordered, so he
wouldn’t be doing nothing, but the omegas worked hard to keep the
pack running.

The conversation grew strained as they
finished eating. Jeremiah wasn’t happy, and he couldn’t make
himself appear content when he was anything but.

Honey pushed her chair back and said, “Thank
you so much for dinner. Jeremiah and I should get going.”

Brynn gave Acksel a dirty look and said, “I’m
sorry if we’ve upset you, it certainly wasn’t our intention. I
thought you’d be happy to hear that you don’t have to schlep around
town anymore.”

He glanced at his alpha female, but said
nothing as he stood. He nodded at his alphas and led Honey to the
front door, where they donned their coats. He knew he was acting a
like an ass, but he couldn’t articulate what was bothering him
because he wasn’t entirely sure himself. He opened the door for
Honey and stepped onto the porch next to her, pulling the door shut
behind them. The brisk night wind helped to cool his temper some,
and he took a slow inhale of the cold air.

Honey took his hand and they walked down to
his truck. He opened the door for her, trudged around to his side,
and climbed in the driver’s seat. When they arrived at the garage,
he turned off the engine and rested his forehead on the steering
wheel.

“What’s troubling you?”

He growled out a sigh. “I don’t know.”

“Didn’t you want this your whole life? To be
part of the protectors, hunting on the full moons, a ranked member
of the pack?”

He turned to look at her. She was smiling
softly in concern. “I did until I met you. Now I don’t care. I
don’t want you to have to pick up my slack just because the alphas
decided that I’m enough of a shifter to fight for rank.”

“You feel guilty?”

“A little.”

“I’m always going to be an omega. I’m sure
there are packs with ranked females, but Wilde Creek isn’t going to
change its stripes anytime soon. Even though Stacy wasn’t really my
grandma, she was still my family, and I know that I’ll enjoy
helping out the retirees in your place. Someone should look after
them, anyway, and you’ve done a great job. But you get to start
over, to have the rank and respect you always wanted.”