The Omega Queen

Twenty-Four

Erin stared as the she-wolf spun around and marched off. She rubbed her head, wondering what that was all about. Exactly what did the other’s cryptic warning mean? Did she intend to be her mate’s Luna? But that…

‘Do not listen to her,’ Eir insisted.

‘But could it be true? Did you smell her? I know her scent. I smelled it on Alex when we first met.’

‘But that was only a trace,’ Eir said. ‘No more than you would have by brushing against someone in the hallway. Besides, if Mate was unfaithful, we would know. We would have felt it.’

Erin bit her lip. She supposed that much was true. Her mother told her how one would feel intense pain if their mate was unfaithful no matter the distance between them. It didn’t matter if they were marked either, as long as the initial connection was made.

‘But they must have had relations in the past, don’t you think?’

‘…It’s possible,’ her wolf reluctantly agreed.

She didn’t like to dwell on their mate’s previous partners. It was clear by his scent he was no virgin, but that wasn’t surprising. Even her sister was no stranger to flirtation. Erin recalled how her sister’s scent changed after one particular school dance, prompting their mother’s lecture about mates.

‘But it’s not like he’s the only one,’ Eir said. ‘She’s been with several others.’

‘Well, that is also true.’

The other she-wolf was certainly generous with her gifts. Erin looked down at her rather flat chest in comparison. She had always been on the slimmer side, so she didn’t think she could blame her seemingly underdeveloped attributes on her captivity. Would her mate even find her attractive after he tasted far more generous fruits?

‘Our Mate loves us,’ Eir admonished, though Erin thought her wolf had lost some of its conviction.

“All right, that’s taken care of,” Cahira announced her return. “Thank you for being patient, dear. Erin? What’s wrong?”

She shook her head and moved toward the door. Erin didn’t want to be there anymore. She wanted to go somewhere quiet to think through her disappointment and doubt.

Cahira watched her with a worried gaze. The day had been going so well. More wolves were approaching Erin, wanting to learn sign language. Some had even mentioned looking at Youtube for lessons. The pack was taking the initiative to get to know their future Luna even if they didn’t yet know who she was. It made Cahira wonder if it was due to Erin’s inherit Luna aura, or if it was her apparent omega status that was drawing them in.

But something had happened in the short time she had turned her back. Her mind sought her link to Kaison. They had just left him a few minutes ago, so she was confident he was not in the middle of an examination.

“Luna?” Kaison answered immediately.

“I need you to check your security cameras in the lobby,” Cahira said.

“Am I looking for anything specific?”

“Yes. I’m not sure what happened, but Erin had some sort of confrontation just now that completely changed her mood.”

“That sounds…vague.”

“I know, but you have access to the hospital’s security cameras so you can see what happened. I’m going to do what I can do to help raise her mood.”

“All right. I’ll look into it.”

“Thank you.”

Cahira closed the link and hurried to catch up with Erin, who waited outside. The young she-wolf’s pensive mood hadn’t lifted. There had to be some way to draw her out of whatever whirlpool her thoughts had taken her. Suddenly, a thought occurred to her.

Catching up, she tapped Erin’s shoulder to draw her attention and said, “You’ve been a big help to me with everything. But we’re always following my suggestions. Do you have any recipes we could try tonight? I’d love to learn something new.”

Erin blinked at her suggestion, then nodded. She took out her notebook and wrote down an answer before handing it over. Cahira accepted it and read the response.

“Fried Bread Taco? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that.”

Erin wrote down a new response with a smile.

“It was your favorite growing up?” Cahira said. “I’m assuming we're not just going to dip bread in frying oil, right?”

Erin snorted a laugh and shook her head.

“Well, it sounds like we have some shopping to do.”

Erin nodded and let Cahira lead the way. It was the same recipe she had taught Laverne, and it had become a big hit, so she was confident everyone would enjoy it.

‘And let’s make something for dessert,’ Eir suggested. ‘Mate hasn’t tasted our baking yet.’

‘You think that will make him want to stay with us?’

‘Well, it couldn’t hurt.’

* * *

Alexander tossed aside the latest proposal from the Council. He swore they must think he ruled half-asleep. How else did they think this call to institute a tax to cover their expenses made sense? The Wolf Council was not an official entity. Its members were volunteers and had no authority to make decisions or pass laws and this had caused some issues in the past.

Humans mistakenly thought they were some kind of legislative branch and occasionally approached them first, not realizing Alexander was the only authority capable of making any sort of alliance or treaties. Anyone who tried to approach through the Council first was at an immediate disadvantage, since Alexander was less likely to listen to anything they had to say.

This whole tax proposal idea had to be something they learned from humans. Alexander shook his head. No pack would adhere to something like that. He called himself the King and was acknowledged as the strongest alpha, but there were limits to what one could expect other alphas to tolerate.

“Knock, knock,” Kaison poked his head into the office. “Got a minute or am I interrupting?”

“No, please interrupt,” Alexander said. “It’ll keep me from driving to the Council and beheading the lot of them.”

Kaison chuckled, “That bad, huh?”

Alexander sighed.

“Well, you have troubles closer to home to worry about,” Kaison said as he took a seat.

“What does that mean?”

Kaison held out a thumb drive without explanation. With a frown, Alexander inserted it into his computer and opened the video saved on it. He watched as his mother and Erin made their way to the hospital exit only to pause as Cahira turned to discuss something with the nurses.

“What am I looking at?” Alexander asked.

“Keep watching,” Kaison warned.

His gamma’s meaning quickly became clear when Carmen suddenly marched into the lobby and rushed toward Erin. She clutched the other’s hair before sneering in her face.

A growl ripped out of him as her enraged wolf surged forward. Alexander looked at Kaison as he struggled not to shift, and his claws sank into his desk before demanding, “What the hell was that?”

“I’d say that was your mistress confronting your mate,” Kaison calmly answered. “Your mother asked me to look at the cameras when she noticed Erin had become pensive and withdrawn. That’s what I found.”

Alexander stood as he fought his wolf’s fury. He couldn’t just rampage through the halls of the packhouse. It would cause a panic.

“You have no one but yourself to blame,” Kaison cautioned. “We warned you about that she-wolf not understanding her place.”

“f**k!” Alexander snarled.

Before Kaison could reply, an alert suddenly buzzed through the pack’s link, ‘ROGUES!’