Page 89 of The Omega

“And why not?” Dorian provoked him. “What skeletons does Volk Pack have in their closets that you’re so eager to hide?”

“You want to act like a child, fine. But take it somewhere else.” Atlas folded his arms over his chest.

Dorian curled his hand into a fist and raised it in the air. “I’ve had it up to here with…” He tore his attention away long enough to realize I was walking. “Wait, where are you going?”

“Back to my nest.” I shrugged, fighting the tears that burned behind my eyes.

“Opal…” Atlas pleaded as he jogged to catch up. “We weren’t fighting.”

“Really?” I sniffed. “Then what do you call it?”

“Working things out.” Dorian captured my hand as he walked beside me while I balanced on the imaginary line between their territories. “Please don’t be angry.”

“I’m not.” I sighed, stopping in my tracks. Where I stood, I was neither a part of Volk nor Bailey Pack, and if that wasn’t poetic irony, I didn’t know what was.

I like poetry.

I smiled at my own beast and then bestowed that smile on my boys who were waiting for me to speak.

“Dorian needs to go to his meeting.” I pressed up onto my tiptoes to kiss his rough cheek. “And I need to meet Volk Pack.” I took Atlas’s hand. “And the two of you need to stop pissing on each other’s feet long enough to make this work.”

*

Gray clouds tinted the morning. I tried hard to push them away as Atlas and I walked in silence down the dirt road. Being with him helped to quiet my racing thoughts and his hand in mine was a steady anchor to the real world. I hated myself for not being able to enjoy it fully.

The road crested a hill and dipped into a valley. The sight of what lay below stole my breath away. Open sky and fat white clouds parted to let the morning sun shine through. A large ranch and fences took up the back of the valley, overlooking a few roads lined with the cutest log cabins and a giant red barn.

Up in front of us was a main strip of not more than fifteen or so businesses and boutiques with western-themed architecture on a cobblestone street. Just a cute little town hidden in the oasis of the mountains.

I held tighter to Atlas’s hand as I asked, “This is it?”

A boyish smile lit up his face and he watched his feet as we walked. “Do you like it?”

“I love it,” I gushed. “It’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen. This is like something from a fairy tale.”

“Welcome home, Luna.”

Atlas swept me off my feet despite my laughing protests, carrying me toward the town.

He called you Luna. My wolf preened.

I didn’t bother to remind her that we still weren’t technically the Luna yet.

If I thought Volk Pack would be quiet like Atlas, I was dead wrong. Children’s laughter and women’s voices grew louder the closer we got to the main strip. And then, there were wolf shifter pups everywhere.

Atlas had to set me down to accommodate all the pups that wanted to climb on him. A quiet sort of pride and longing filled me as he tossed pups into the air, intercepting the few that tried to bulldoze me over. It was chaos. The good kind. Filled with giggles and love. Little girls told me how pretty I was and a team of boys stuck out their tongues until Atlas sent them scurrying. I couldn’t help but laugh.

They sure raised them big here.

I glanced at Atlas’s broad shoulders and back, appreciating that fact.

“Alright, run along now.” Atlas tried to shoo the pups away with a growl.

They ignored him as a group of girls grabbed my hands, dragging me from my mate.

“I knew it.” I turned to look at him over my shoulder.

“Knew what?” He hurried to catch up.