Page 38 of Claimed

“After seeing the way Magnus, now an alpha wolf shifter, protected his love, the much weaker Rosemary, Talia knew that what these new beings needed was a reason. A reason to exist. So she gave all supernaturals one of three designations to help calm the mass hysteria and killings: alphas, betas, or omegas.”

Gage flips the page and glances up to make sure we’re all following before he continues reading as I try to absorb that information. I’m not a beta.

“She created alphas from the most dominant, strong, and fierce supernaturals, while omegas were created in Rosemary’s image, weak, sweet, docile, and with muted senses, along with the gift of having multiple fated mates to give them a better chance at survival. She believed that the stronger supernaturals, seeing their weaker, fated mate in trouble, would stop the fighting and tend to their mate instead. Beta designations were assigned to everyone else. They were the ones caught in the middle of the war, not fighting back and just trying to survive.

“Talia’s plan worked better than she expected. When an alpha met their fated mate, they no longer took out their rage on the humans. Instead, their focus shifted entirely to protecting their omega, choosing to seek out a sheltered life away from humans where they would be safe.

“Sometimes, if an omega met all their fated mates within a few minutes, it was signified with a jolt of light and a flash of power. This, along with the seemingly abrupt change in the alpha's focus from killing to protecting, was misconstrued as mind control. It drove everyone with an omega mate into hiding from both the supernatural and human communities.”

Gage sets the book down and lifts his head, his eyes meeting mine. “It all fits perfectly. The bolt of light, the muted senses, multiple mates.”

“How did the entire supernatural world just forget there was a third designation?” Hunter asks in disbelief. “I mean, it seems obvious now that it’s a designation, not an entirely different species.” I have to agree with his skepticism. It seems so unlikely.

“Yeah, I feel stupid for never questioning it,” Gage says with a small frown. “All three are letters of the Greek alphabet. I thought it was just a coincidence.” He glances at Hunter as he continues. “But I don’t think people forgot. It’s more like they never knew. Only the ones who had met their omega mate would know. That’s why we’ve never heard this version before.”

“But what does this all mean?” Chase asks as he looks between us.

“It means we have to protect her,” Maddox says, his hand still on my back. “There will be many people out there who still think omegas have mind control. For all we know, people in this town think that too.”

“Do you think Erica, the witch, is an omega?” Hunter asks.

“It’s possible,” Gage says with a nod. “Not sure how we would know either way.”

“Do you think that’s why Cherry was taken?” Bain asks. When I look at him, I find him staring at me, a worried look on his face. “Did they somehow know she was omega, and that’s why they targeted her?”

Was I targeted? I still have no idea why they took me instead of my family. That question has plagued me for years. I don’t realize I’m whining until Maddox cups my face. “It’s okay, sweetheart. Shh. We’ve got you. You know we aren’t going to let them get to you again.”

I cut off my whine as I drag in his scent, letting it flow through me and calm me down.

“I think it's time for bed,” he says before placing a kiss on the tip of my nose.

Everyone except Gage heads down the hall to my bedroom, and although I would love to shift, to be held in my human form in their strong arms, the revelation that I'm an omega has me unsure what I would say to them right now, and I welcome the chance to stew in my thoughts.

I'm not even really sure what it means, except for the fact that I'm weaker than the average female wolf shifter, not that I hadn't already felt that way. But it also seems that I was literally created for them to take care of me, and being a burden like that doesn't sit well. I want to add to their lives, not take away from them. I worry that they'll now see me as an obligation to take care of instead of just being their fated mate. This definitely complicates things. I just hope that we can work through it all.

As the four of them settle around me in my bed while I'm stuck in my wolf form, their strong hands all find a way to touch me, and I cling to that shred of hope that we can work through anything. As long as we have each other.

Chapter 15

Hunter

Ibury my nose in the back of her neck and inhale her sweet cherry vanilla scent. There's always that faint hint of smoke there that drives my wolf wild.

I press myself a little closer and let my hand move around her waist, feeling her soft skin beneath my fingers as I press my hard cock between the back of her thighs. Her scent grows stronger, and I moan, letting my hand slide up to cup her breast. It fills my hand perfectly, and when I gently squeeze it, her ass starts to wiggle against me, making me groan. I find her nipple, already hard, and roll it between my thumb and forefinger, and she gasps.

“Hunter!” Chase whispers loudly, and my eyes fly open, finding his wide eyes staring down at me from where he’s lying on the other side of our mate.

My eyes move to Cherry. Her red hair fans across the pillow, letting me see her beautiful profile. A long neck with those heart marks curling around behind her back. There’s a cute pink tinge to her cheeks, and her wide, blue eyes are staring up at me in shock.

She’s human.

“You're human!” I say out loud as I stare into her beautiful human eyes.

“I’m human,” she repeats, followed by a giggle that goes straight to my cock. Unable to resist, I let my eyes trail down to where I’m gently pinching her nipple, the pink tip begging for me to reach over and lick. But I fight the urge, desperate to get a look at the rest of her.

Her body lies tight against mine. I might be wearing boxers, but I know she can feel my cock hardening between her thighs. Her leg is thrown back over mine, as if she couldn’t help but open herself up for me. My eyes find the red hair between her thighs, and I groan as I ache to touch her there.

“You shifted,” Chase says, clearly taking in her body like I had been. Of course he’s in front and not quite plastered to her like I am, so he has a more unobscured view. She nods, and slowly he reaches out and trails a finger down her face, then her neck, before letting it move over the breast I’m not holding. She gasps when he trails it over her nipple, her body jerking against mine.