Page 11 of The Feisty Omega
“Rude,” I snapped. “He’s my friend. He stays.”
Luke scowled. “He’s too young to be hanging around with us. Don’t want some kid getting in the way.”
“Leave it,” Dar warned Luke, coming up behind him. Apparently, he’d been listening to our exchange and decided to intervene before it got out of hand.
Luke growled and glared at Irian, who moved a little closer to me.
“Just don’t get in the way,” Luke snarled, maneuvering in front of Irian, all hostile alpha vibes and intimidation. “We don’t like babies slowing us down.”
I didnotlike the way he was behaving. I’d said Irian was my friend, so the least Luke could do was be civil, and if he couldn’t do that, he could shut the fuck up.
I stepped directly in between them, drawing myself up, chest out, glaring directly into Luke’s ugly face. I was gonna punch the living daylights out of this aggressive shithead. My hands clenched at my sides. I’d beaten the crap out of Luke before, though it was a long time prior and we’d become friends since, but I was gonna do it again right here, right now. My lip curled. A formidable rage swept through me and Luke must have sensed it from the way his eyes widened. His nostrils flared.
He was seconds from wearing my fist when a gentle touch on my arm snagged my attention. The soft warmth of Irian’s palm slithered over my forearm, subtle and calming. His fingers skated over the coarse hairs. I felt his body heat, smelled his sweet omega scent, as he leaned towards me and murmured in a voice so low that I should have had to strain to hear, yet didn’t.
“It’s okay. Let it go.”
I drew in a deep breath. Irian was all sweetness and light. It was hard to be angry around him, especially when he exuded such a calming energy. I let out the breath I’d been holding and some of the tension eased from my muscles. I was still alert and ready to get into it, but I was no longer on the point of slugging my obnoxious friend in the face anymore. But it was puzzling. Once my temper started to blow, usually nothing stopped it. Except for this surprise omega, apparently.
Luke stepped back. He was staring at me, frowning. He knew me well enough to know this wasn’t normal behavior for me.Yeah, right at you buddy, I don’t know what’s happening either.
Whether it was because seconds ago I’d been about to fight him, or because suddenly I wasn’t, I didn’t know, but Luke gave me a curious, wary look, and moved away. I didn’t think Irian would have any more trouble with him, but I’d be keeping a close eye on things just in case.
Dar moved in closer and began an interrogation of Irian, but his demeanor was relaxed and he was smiling, and he was asking questions I hadn’t thought to ask yet.
“Where are you from?”
“Um, the city,” replied Irian. “We live in a high-rise not far from the centre of town.”
Dar frowned. “What about your pack?”
The sunlight glinted on Irian’s short hair, causing golden waves to wash over the sides as he shook his head, and scrunched his button nose. “We don’t have one. Not one that we live with anyway. My parents both work and their jobs are in the city, so it’s easier not to have to commute.”
The smile vanished from Dar’s face as he took this in. “That’s really tough,” he said at last. “I can’t imagine living without all these guys around.” He made a gesture that included our gang of alphas but somehow also included the whole pack.
Irian shrugged. “I don’t really know any different. We’ve lived this way for as long as I can remember. And I have friends from school that I hang out with when I’m not studying. So, it’s not like I’m alone or anything.”
“But are they shifters or humans?”
“Humans. I only have contact with shifters when we visit my grandparents in the country.”
Dar nodded to himself. Then he brightened, put his arm around Irian and pulled him in for a sideways hug. “Good thing you’ve got us then,” he grinned.
I wasn’t sure I liked Dar touching my Christmas present, but Iwaspleased that he seemed to have accepted Irian as one of us. Irian didn’t seem to mind, and I wasn’t the sort of alpha to tell an omega what they should do. There were enough alphas doing that already.
We walked around aimlessly, talking and laughing. Irian seemed to have a way with people and before long he’d made friends with the guys. He was still a little quiet around Luke, and I saw Luke giving him the side-eye, but he didn’t actually say anything. Irian might have been several years younger in actual age, but he was mature for his years. Maybe that was a result of the kind of life he’d led. I’d have hated to be without my pack. In a pack there were always so many people to share responsibilities that you never had to do things alone. Irian sounded like he’d probably learned to be independent quite young.
Eventually, the loud clanging of a bell rang out across the courtyard, calling us to lunch. As we approached the dining hall, Irian slid into place beside me. The aroma of roasted meats teased our nostrils as we approached, and the saliva started accumulating in my mouth. I noticed a couple of the others licking their lips, flashes of canines showing, and I grinned. We were never closer to our wolves than at mealtimes.
My friends and I entered the hall after everyone else, trying to maintain the appearance of vague disinterest and superiority that we had trained the rest of the pack to expect from us. But Irian was way too excited. He was bouncing around on the balls of his feet, eyes wide and sparkling and a big grin plumping his face, his cheeks all round and rosy with excitement. I couldn’t hold out against his enthusiasm and allowed a small grin to slide across my face.
The hall was decorated with an abundance of shiny ornaments strung around the room. There was tinsel looped between the girders and multi-colored fairy lights twinkling everywhere. Someone had brought the white wolf statue from our house and turned it on as a joke, and the howling carols created a jarring background to the actual Christmas carols playing through the sound system. All that and the ceaseless excited chatter of the kids was too much for my ears. Fortunately, someone else must have been suffering too because suddenly, thankfully, the mechanical wolf fell silent.
As was customary, a long table had been put together extending the length of the hall. It was covered in a brilliant red tablecloth and green napkins. Shining silver flatware marked out the seating. There were jugs of what looked like lemonade, juice and water distributed along the table, along with platters of steaming barbecued meats: mountains of beef, lamb, chicken and best of all, venison, sending out all sorts of happy aromas that had our nostrils quivering in anticipation. I was pleased to see potatoes, lots of potatoes, which were the only vegetable I was ever happy to see. Shifters were serious meat-eaters obviously and no-one here had a human mate, so we didn’t have to cater for vegetarians.
The young kids were running around a bit crazy, but as soon as Alpha let out a deep growl, they quickly settled into their seats. The Pack Alpha was never to be disrespected. Even us adolescents fell into line when he insisted, though there might have been a lot of concealed eye-rolling that went on. I figured he probably knew we did it, since he had been our age once, but as long as he didn’t see it… we could get away with it.
Once the room quietened, Alpha and his family seated themselves at the head of the table. There was Alpha, the Alpha Mate, his alpha daughter and his alpha son, Mar. Although Mar was around the same age as us – he was less than a year older than I was – he didn’t hang out with us. Or should I say, we didn’t hang out with him. He’d always been a bit of a bully, and lately he’d added to his list of personal characteristics an extra one, that of entitled asshole. The thing was, he’d become Pack Alpha when his dad eventually stepped down, and didn’t he let us know it! He always behaved so superior and entitled when he was around us, though I’d noticed how he kowtowed to his dad.