The Omega's Heart (Wilde Creek Four) Read online

  A wolf trotted from the woods into the yard and stared at him. He’d never seen her before, and he wondered if it was the female who’d been staying at the garage after her car broke down. He’d heard Acksel and the ranked males discussing her. He hadn’t seen her until this moment, and he had the almost uncontrollable urge to go to her.

  He opened his mouth to speak, but couldn’t find any words to say. Things like don’t go and please come here flitted through his mind, but all he could manage was a soft growl that to him sounded pleading. He’d never been so drawn to someone before, and he was afraid to move for fear that he’d spook her and she’d run.

  Before he could muster the nerve to speak, she began to shift, and he sat, mesmerized, as the pretty wolf transformed into a beautiful woman.

  * * * * *

  Honey trotted next to Mia as they wove their way through the woods. Around them, wolves passed by, intent on finding their own prey. Since Honey didn’t know the woods, she let Mia lead. It was nice hunting in different woods. Although she’d gone to college, she had always come home for the full moon to hunt in her pack’s territory.

  Mia stopped moving, and Honey mimicked her. Mia lifted her muzzle into the air and sniffed loudly, and Honey cocked her head and listened. She couldn’t hear anything but the occasional sound of a twig snapping or leaves rustling as pack members hunted.

  Mia gave a low bark and leapt forward, racing through the dark woods toward prey. Honey followed, wanting to stay with Mia so she didn’t get in trouble with the alpha. Even though at this point it probably wouldn’t matter, since she was leaving anyway.

  As she ran, she thought about her future. She wanted to run away and hide, but she knew that eventually her father would find her. Or rather, Shred would. If her father said he’d approve of whatever tactics Shred needed to use to subdue her, she had no doubt that she’d wind up back home badly injured. Shaking away her dark thoughts, she focused on following Mia and decided not to think about what lay ahead for her in two days’ time.

  A sweet scent crossed Honey’s path, and she paused and inhaled again. It was the scent from inside the alphas’ home. She took a few steps and inhaled again, and that was all it took for her wolf’s instincts to take over. She didn’t know what she was scenting, but she knew she had to find the source.

  Changing course, she followed it, moving as fast as she could through the trees and brush, her nose leading the way. Her heart began to pound as the trail grew stronger, and she found herself stepping from the woods and standing in the backyard of a home.

  The aroma was intense. She took a few steps forward and noticed someone sitting on a deck at the back of the house. Everything in her body went still as she stared at him, and a rightness settled over her that she couldn’t explain in any other way than to say she just knew she was in the presence of her mate. The one male on earth meant to be hers.

  Without conscious thought she shifted and strode forward, her body trembling, but not from the cold. The man, who had been sitting motionless on the deck, suddenly bolted into the house. Before she could call for him, he returned, a coat in one hand. He met her on the snow-covered grass and wrapped the thick coat around her.

  He was taller than her, broad-shouldered and muscular, and the sweet scent of him saturated the air between them.

  “Who are you?” he asked hoarsely.

  She reached out, her hands grasping his waist and feeling his hot flesh under her palms.

  “Honey,” she purred her name and stepped closer, pressing the front of her body against his. He only wore jeans, and the press of her body against his made her wolf howl.

  His hands tightened on her shoulders where he held the coat on her. “I’m Jeremiah. What are you doing here?”

  She leaned forward and pressed her mouth to his chest, her teeth grazing his skin as her tongue flicked out to taste him. She moaned, unable to stop herself. Her nails dug into his skin as she looked up at him.

  “I followed your scent. I smelled you in the alphas’ house, too.” She inhaled again and her mind spun. “Why aren’t you hunting?”

  He stiffened. “I’m non.”

  “Non what?” She nuzzled his chest, rubbing her cheek against his firm pec.

  He gripped her shoulders firmly and pushed her to arms’ length. “A non-shifting wolf. You need to go back to the pack, you don’t belong here.”

  “I don’t belong here?” She couldn’t stop the hurt from filling her voice as her eyes stung and her mouth went salty.

  “Ah, shit,” he grumbled. Cupping her cheek with his big hand, he tilted her head until she was looking at him. “I’m not worthy of a beautiful she-wolf like you. I’m a defective freak of nature. You better run back to your escort before someone realizes you’re gone and comes looking for you.”

  She felt like someone had just upended a bucket of ice water over her head. She was in the presence of her mate and he didn’t want her. Wasn’t that just the icing on the fucked-up cake of her life? Maybe he’d heard that she was bad news. He’d be right, of course, but that didn’t make it any easier.

  He growled softly, his thumb stroking a tear from her cheek.

  She went on her toes and nuzzled under his chin. “Don’t send me away.”

  “I’m non.”

  “I don’t care. You’re mine.” She slipped her hands from his hips up his back, feeling the flex of his muscles under her fingers. He didn’t push her away again, but he didn’t draw her closer, either. He stared down at her, his face a mixture of arousal and wariness.

  “I can’t be yours, Honey. I’m a genetic failure, do you understand? I can’t shift. I can’t protect you. I can’t do any of the things that full wolves should be able to do.”

  Her nails abraded his back as she stroked down and back up again. “I. Don’t. Care.”

  He fisted her hair and her head tipped back with a soft groan as he bent and pressed his nose against her throat. He inhaled slowly and growled, the sound so soft it was almost a purr.

  “Mine,” he snarled the word softly and pressed his lips to her throat.

  Relief filled her. “Jeremiah,” she whispered.

  He nipped her neck and swung her up into his arms; she looped her arms around his neck as he carried her into the house. He kicked the door shut and looked down at her as his hands flexed on her skin. “I want to tell you to leave.”

  “Why?” She lifted her hand and stroked his throat.

  “Because of what I am. I don’t want you to regret me. Stop me now, Honey. Tell me to take you back to the alphas before we go too far.”

  She frowned as she stared up at him. “I don’t want to go. Don’t send me away, please.”

  He groaned and lowered his mouth, pressing his lips to hers. Instantly her body flooded with heat as he licked across the seam of her mouth and she opened, their tongues sliding together. She pulled herself closer to him, sliding one hand into his hair and feeling the soft prickle of the shorter hair on the sides. He tasted decadent, sweet and dark, like the scent of him that had called to her.

  He began to walk, their kiss continuing as he strode through his house; he lifted from her mouth for only long enough to push open a door and step inside. Carrying her to his bed, he laid her down, holding her hand as he tugged open a drawer on the nightstand and rummaged inside. He flicked a lighter and a small flame erupted, which he touched to the top of a candle inside a frosted glass globe. The flickering light illuminated the room enough for Honey to see that there wasn’t much to it. The only furniture was the bed and nightstand, a chair in the corner, and a tall dresser. She didn’t see any pictures on the walls or framed photos on the dresser. It seemed pretty devoid of anything personal.

  Jeremiah squeezed her hand and looked down at her. She could see that he looked torn about her being there; not because of who she was but who he was. He’d been honest from the get-go, and guilt flooded her. She needed to be honest, too.

  She sat up, keeping hold of his hand, and willed her ne
rves away. She’d found her mate. It meant she could stay in Wilde Creek and her father couldn’t make her come home. But she didn’t want Jeremiah to think she was using him.

  “Your alpha ordered me to leave by dawn, because my father wants me home on Wednesday.”

  He snarled so loudly that it sent chills down her spine. “Mine.”

  Tears stung her eyes again, as the possessive tone of his voice told her that he wasn’t going to let her go. Tugging on his hand, she said, “I don’t want you to get into trouble with your alpha, but there’s a problem. My dad is my alpha. He threatened to send his beta after me if I didn’t get a cell and call him every hour so he could track my journey. I thought I could run away from him and he’d let me go; I even thought I could just take off from here at dawn and go a different way and hide forever, but I’d be stupid to do that.”

  He frowned. “Why does your father want you home?”

  “I don’t know for sure, but my gut tells me that he’s arranged a mate for me.”

  Jeremiah didn’t growl so much as roar his displeasure. Considering he’d tried to push her away a few minutes earlier, she smiled in spite of the circumstances. Cupping his face, she said, “I don’t want to go. I’m scared to stay, though. My father’s beta is a nutcase.”

  Jeremiah pushed her to her back and settled on top of her. “We’re mates.”

  “I know. I followed your scent through the woods and it’s all I can do not to rub myself all over you.”

  He snorted and grinned. “Maybe later. First, be mine, Honey. Be my mate even though I’m not worthy of you. I swear I’ll do everything in my power to protect you and keep you safe. If we’re mated, your father can’t take you away — it’s against the laws.”

  She wiggled under him, and the rough seam of denim made her skin ache. “I don’t want you to think I’m using you to avoid going home.”

  He moved, slipping into the cradle of her hips until the fly of his jeans pressed against her pussy. She moaned when he flexed his hips. He did it again. And again. Her stomach tightened, and her nails dug into his back as she gripped him.

  “You’re going to make me come,” she said breathlessly.

  He stopped flexing his hips and stared down at her. “You’re not using me. You can’t stop your body’s reaction to finding your mate.”

  “You tried to push me away before,” she pointed out, wrapping her legs around his waist.

  “I didn’t want you to think I’d kept anything from you. My non status is enough to make anyone walk away. I wouldn’t have blamed you if you did.”

  “I don’t want to walk away, but I don’t want you to get hurt, either.”

  His brow furrowed as he traced his fingertip down the side of her face. The gentle touch made goosebumps appear on her skin. “I don’t know if every wolf who finds their mate feels like this, but the thought of you leaving me is making my wolf go nuts. Whatever happens tonight, we’re mates, and that means we can’t be separated. I don’t care what your father or Acksel thinks; that’s a basic mating law.”

  Warmth spread through her. Silently, she congratulated her wolf on finding such an honorable mate.

  “I should call the alphas’ house and tell them that you’re here with me, but I don’t want to do anything but be right here with you.”

  Her heart fluttered at his declaration. She stroked her hands down his back to the waistband of his jeans, pushing on them a little. He grinned down at her.

  “Want something, she-wolf?”

  “You. Naked.”

  He slipped away from her, standing between her legs. His fingers rested on the button of his jeans for a moment as he looked down at her. Then he unfastened the button and slid the zipper down before shoving them down his legs. He straightened slowly, his body tensing as she took in every mouth-watering inch of him. He had a gorgeous body, and she was tempted once more to rub herself all over him.

  The hesitation she’d seen before, probably born from years of other wolves telling him he wasn’t worth anything, was gone, and she was glad. She didn’t know what it was like to be a non-shifting wolf, but she didn’t mind that he couldn’t shift. He was hers and she was his. Nothing had ever felt so right.

  His fingers rubbed her ankles, his touch firm and warm. He pushed gently and she bent her knees; then he spread her legs apart, baring her body for him. He climbed onto the bed slowly, his fingers tracing small patterns up her calves, around her knees, and over her thighs, until her whole body trembled. Brushing the back of his knuckles over the top of her pussy, he caressed her bare sex with the gentlest of touches.

  She whimpered and he chuckled, bending as he wedged his broad shoulders between her legs and touched his tongue to her clit. He stroked his tongue around her clit and looked up the length of her body, meeting her gaze. She wanted to say something profound or sexy right then, but she couldn’t think past how turned on she was and how right it felt to be with him, skin to skin.

  He lowered his gaze back to the apex of her thighs. His hands slid under her, cupping her ass and lifting her off the bed. Her knees went over his shoulders as he buried his face in her pussy with a soft groan; his tongue pushed inside her and he growled. The vibrations felt so good that her legs clenched his head and her hands fisted the blanket under her.

  He rumbled again, delving his tongue into her depths. Then he licked the length of her pussy, swirling his tongue around her clit, before closing his lips around the firm bud. Their eyes met just a heartbeat before he sucked on her clit, teasing it with his tongue, and her eyes rolled back in her head. Her stomach clenched and the center of her body turned to molten lava as he drew her close to the edge of pleasure. Spots formed before her eyes, and her knuckles cracked as she clenched the blanket tightly. Her back bowed as she came and he held her closely, drawing her climax out as she screamed her pleasure. He lowered her to the bed gently, pressing a tender kiss to her throbbing clit before he moved up her body.

  She caught his hips with her legs. His cock pressed into her pussy and they both groaned. He felt like heaven. He slipped his arms under her back and cradled her close as they lay motionless, his cock deep inside her, their bodies wed tightly together.

  “You feel so good, Honey,” he said hoarsely.

  “Jeremiah,” she moaned, tilting her hips to take him deeper inside.

  They both groaned.

  Flexing his hips, he slipped from her body slowly. He raised his head, and they looked at each other as he pushed back in. Even though she wanted to close her eyes and just feel what they were doing, she didn’t want to miss anything, so she forced herself to keep them open. She cupped his cheek, her thumb stroking the swell of his bottom lip. He bared his teeth and nipped her. Grinning, she tightened her legs around his waist and began to meet his slow strokes, lifting her hips and grinding her clit against him.

  Pleasure bloomed inside her again as she met his hips with her own; her stomach clenched and her body flooded with heat. His hands curled around her shoulders and he began to pull her against him, driving her down as he thrust up. He snarled and swiveled his hips as he drove into her, and her whole body shuddered as he rocked against a spot that made her vision blur.

  Growling with pleasure, he stroked over that spot again and again, until her climax struck and she screamed his name. He shouted as he came, his cock spasming inside her, and the hot flood of his come made her sigh in happiness.

  Panting hard, he nuzzled her throat, his voice hoarse when he whispered, “Please?”

  She tilted her head and buried her fingers into his hair, encouraging him to mark her. “I’m yours.”

  He snarled softly and sank his teeth into her neck. She hissed as his fangs imbedded into her flesh, shivering as her wolf howled in happiness at finding their mate. He released her neck, stroking his tongue over the mark, and then rolled to his back. She rose up over him as he turned his head, baring his throat to her. The males in her father’s pack didn’t allow the females to mark them. Stacy told he
r that the males believed it was a submissive gesture, to bare their throats to a female, and no male wanted to be seen as submissive to anyone but the alpha. As she gazed down at Jeremiah’s throat, she realized those males were wrong. It didn’t make Jeremiah weak to give his throat to her, it made her strong. He didn’t know her, but he trusted her, and he valued her mark on his neck as much as she did his on hers.

  Her fangs elongated and she sank them into his throat. He growled, his arms wrapping around her tightly. Extracting her fangs, she licked the marks, tasting his blood on her tongue.

  Jeremiah cupped her face and their eyes met. “I’m yours, Honey. Better, worse, hell or high water. Whatever’s going on with your old pack and your family, we’re mates, and that means I accept your problems as my own. I know I’m not worthy of you, but I’m going to do my damnedest to keep you safe and take care of you.”

  Tears stung her eyes at his sweet declaration.

  “I’m not worthy of you either, Jeremiah, but I’m going to try to be the best mate for you.”

  His mouth curved up in a half-smile. “I think we’re off to a good start.”

  She dropped her head to his shoulder with a chuckle and then yawned.

  “In the morning we’ll go get your things and talk to the alphas.”

  She was worried about what the dawn would bring, but at least she wouldn’t face things alone. She didn’t know how it was possible to feel so connected to a total stranger, but she did. Her wolf was basking in the afterglow of finding her perfect mate, and Honey had finally found some peace.

  “I’m glad I followed your scent.”

  “Me, too, sweetheart.”

  * * * * *

  Mia missed the rabbit by an inch, its furry little butt darting right out of reach. Huffing in annoyance, she sat on her haunches and looked for Honey, wondering if she’d had any better luck. Mia was not the best hunter. Her wolf had good instincts, but Mia had never cared much for practicing or training like the males did when they were younger. She’d never taken down a deer or anything bigger than a rabbit, although once she’d lunged and caught a bird in flight. She’d been pretty impressed with herself, but it wasn’t worth the kill. Freaking feathers everywhere.