The Alpha 6: Protect. Procreate. Prevail., page 11
Is their scent just as strong for you guys? I asked. Or is it just me?
Oh, hell yeah, Benji replied. It literally smells like I’ve just opened a Snickers bar, and I’m taking a bite. But I’d much rather it was a Butterfinger.
Shit, I love Snickers, Nikita laughed. Ten times better than a Milky Way in my opinion.
I’ll never say no to a Kit Kat, Arielle added.
Nah, it’s a 3 Musketeers for me, all the way, Blair said. What about you, Eva?
Y’know what? I’d have to go for a packet of Skittles, Eva replied. I’m not the biggest lover of chocolate.
Skittles are amazing, Arielle said. Jesse? What about you?
Reese’s or M&M’s, no doubt about it, I chuckled.
Actually, I haven’t had a Twix in a while, Benji muttered silently. That would probably be a close second for me. I remember when the decent houses would give me a full-sized Twix on Halloween, and it felt like I had won the lottery.
The others continued to talk about Halloween and their different costumes over the years, but a change in the wind caused me to stop and block out their minds for a second.
Something had changed, but I couldn’t tell what it was.
Jesse? Blair asked. Are you okay?
Yeah… I nodded. I dunno, I just feel like something’s changed.
I stared up at the sky and around through the trees like that was going to give me the answers, but it didn’t help in the slightest.
The scents in the air were just as strong, and I could practically taste the caramel and peanuts on my tongue, but there was another scent added in with that. One that I couldn’t quite place.
Can you smell that? I asked.
Smell what? Benji queried. All I can smell is a fucking vending machine.
It’s like… honeysuckle and… lavender? I wasn’t even sure if those were the correct notes, that’s how faint they were.
Damn.
It smelled amazing, and my mouth was starting to water.
But then, all of a sudden, it hit me like a damn freight train racing down the track at a hundred miles an hour.
The wolves have an omega with them, I growled before I took off through the forest.
Chapter 7
It had been a while since I’d last encountered such a strong, intoxicating omega scent. It was like the first day when I met Nikita, when I barged through the silent library like a damn bull in a China shop. It was different with Arielle and Blair, because I’d had to get past their fucking alphas first, but this omega came without an alpha scent anywhere near her, and nothing was going to stop me from getting to her.
And claiming her over and over.
Jesse, slow down, Benji called out from somewhere behind me. Damn, bro, we can’t keep up with you!
My speed had increased dramatically, and I knew we all had to stay together, but my lust and need had taken over, and I couldn’t slow down no matter how hard I tried.
I had the urge and desire to see this lone omega, to take in those sweet notes of honeysuckle and lavender, and to prove to her that I was going to provide her with the utmost protection.
My heart felt like it was going to burst from my chest, and I barely took note of the branches that scraped through my fur. It was like I had tunnel vision: I focused on my destination and nothing else around me.
I can smell her now, too, Aunt Eva said. It’s incredibly faint, but I can tell the difference between the two.
But it was no longer faint to me.
The closer I got to these wandering wolves, and the more I focused on those two scents, the more my mouth began to salivate. It was almost like smelling someone’s recent shower when I walked into the bathroom, compared to sticking my nose straight into the bottle of shower gel.
Why couldn’t Jesse smell her before? Nikita asked.
Maybe she was taking suppressors? Arielle suggested. She would have blended in with the rest of the betas that way.
Yeah, but why would she stop taking them now? Blair queried. Unless she wanted someone to find her…
I didn’t know the answer to their questions, nor did I give it much thought. All I cared about was getting to this omega, and I would have crossed the entire country if that’s what it took.
It could be that it’s not just your own scent that changed as you grew stronger, Jesse, Eva thought. Perhaps you can pick up on someone else’s easier, too.
I hadn’t thought about that, and I didn’t even know if it was possible, but Aunt Eva usually held the answer for everything. We’d found out that anosmiacs no longer worked as well on me, and I’d been able to smell Nikita even with her suppressors when we’d first met.
Do you think that’s possible? I asked. It would explain why I could smell Nikita that first time.
Anything is possible, Jesse, she said with a sweet tone. You’re growing stronger every single day, and you’ve gone through so many different changes, so I wouldn’t write it off just yet.
Either that, or she wasn’t here yesterday, Benji added. Which could mean this gang of wanderers, rogues, or whoever the fuck they are, has now increased in size.
But I still don’t think it’s smart for a lone omega to run around without some sort of additional protection, Nikita replied. I never stopped taking my suppressors before I met Jesse, and I wasn’t racing through a damn forest.
Yeah, you’re probably right, Benji scoffed.
There was so much for me to think about, and I knew we all had to sit down and talk about this later, but that wasn’t going to happen until after I had located my new prize.
Perhaps Benji was right, and maybe the group had increased overnight, but I had a feeling Aunt Eva was on to something. Apparently my strength grew as my unborn child formed inside Nikita’s womb, so these changes could have been happening overnight without me even realizing.
I also wondered if I reacted so strongly to the omega’s scent because she and I were the same species of shifter. This was the first time I had ever come across more werewolves in general, and perhaps the connection between us was what caused her scent to create a thick wall around me.
Either way, I put those thoughts to the back of my mind as I continued to run, and the wall of scents that formed around me told me I was getting incredibly close.
I could actually taste the caramel, peanuts, honeysuckle, and lavender in the air, and it felt like falling snowflakes as it dropped onto my tongue. The calming notes dissolved over my tastebuds, and my tunnel vision became tighter and more direct with those small, teasing tastes.
It was like this new omega was calling me over with a curl of her finger and a coy smile spread across her lips, and she twirled a lock of hair around one finger as she waited patiently for me to arrive.
I wish I knew what the omega looked like, or the color of her eyes as they sparkled in the sun. I also wanted to know her name, and the word I’d scream out as I claimed her as my own. But all of that was going to have to wait until the very second I found her.
Fortunately, that time quickly arrived, and I skidded to a halt as I spotted the wandering wolves in the distance.
There, I said as I nodded my head in the wolves’ direction. Do you all see them?
The wandering rogues were well camouflaged against the dark ground, and they were curled up together in the middle of a deserted stretch of land. I couldn’t tell how many there were, or where one body ended and another began, but from the size of the bundle, I knew there had to be at least ten of them or more.
Are they sleeping? Nikita asked.
It looks like it, but you would think someone would be looking out for danger, I replied. They may not be completely alone, and they could have their own guards hiding somewhere, so we need to take that into consideration and double-check that the wandering rogues don’t come with an added threat before we head over there.
Fucking hell, they must come with a serious set of wolf balls if they’re sleeping without any guards, Benji laughed silently.
They might be so used to this way of life that they no longer feel the need to have a lookout, Aunt Eva suggested. But we don’t know that for certain, so what do you think we should do, Jesse?
Well, we’ll proceed with caution, but I think we should slowly approach, try to show them we don’t mean any harm, and then ask them why they’re here and where they’re going, I replied. And once all that is done, I’ll focus on the omega…
Oooh, yes, yes, yes! Arielle shook her coyote head in excitement. I cannot wait to have another sister!
I never imagined I’d have three best friends around me day and night, Nikita said in the same tone. Think of all the things we could do together!
Oh, my goodness! Benji squealed sarcastically. We can stay up late, do our nails, and talk about boys while we drink hot cocoa!
Boys? Blair asked in disgust. We only ever talk about Jesse. But Benji, please, feel free to join us the next time we have a slumber party.
Okay, I chuckled. Can we please get this over and done with before I spontaneously combust?
Sorry, bro… Benji dropped his wolfy head like a child who had just been told off. I got a little bit too excited about getting a manicure.
Don’t worry, I’ll get my polishes out when we get home, Blair snickered.
I held back my laughter as best I could, because the last thing I needed was to scare the wolves away before we even got to them. But then, once our joking had come to an end, we slowly began to creep toward the pile of sleeping betas. I checked the air around us, and I focused on the tiniest scent on every leaf we passed, but the scent hadn’t changed. I couldn’t pick up on the notes of authority like I would if there was an alpha present, or even a beta captain, so I knew it was just those wolves, and we didn’t have anything more to worry about.
However, like we had suspected, one of the wolves had been looking out, so as soon as my group and I left the trees, the entire bundle were alerted, and they all stood up to face us.
I could hear the growls that rumbled in their throats, and I spotted their glistening, white teeth as they curled their upper lips. There were fifteen wolves in total, and all of them stood in a defensive pose as we slowly creeped closer.
It was the strangest thing to watch this pack of werewolves stand at attention. I saw Benji and Aunt Eva in their wolf forms nearly every day, but it was different to see an entirely new group. These wolves were monstrous, at least three times the size of a generic big dog, and they dropped their heads closer to the ground as they watched us with their piercing reddish-orange eyes.
Their broad shoulders were tight and bulged over the crowns of their heads while their hackles were raised, and I noticed how the muscles in their front legs contracted as their curled claws broke through the soft earth. Some of the wolves had their bushy tails tucked between their legs, whereas others had their tails outstretched behind them or slightly arched over their backs. And that just told me how scared, agitated, and angry they were.
But watching these wolves made me realize it almost felt like something had been missing in my life this whole time. Now I knew what it felt like for the mountain lions and coyotes to be around each other all the time, among their own kind, and it felt completely different being around members of my own species.
Werewolves had been missing from my pack since the second I’d shifted in the Mini-Mart.
I wanted to tell them we weren’t there to fight or kill them. I knew I could have shifted into my hybrid form in order to talk, but that transformation could have set off a different reaction. I also needed to get to the omega before I exploded, and if the protective betas thought we were going to harm them, they could have sprinted away before I managed to say my piece.
There was no way for me to know if the omega was a part of that particular group, or if she was somewhere else around me, but her scent was so strong that I knew she was near. I had a feeling I needed to get past this wall of betas first, and I prayed that it wasn’t going to be too difficult or challenging.
The wolves were freaking out, there was no doubt about that from the way they stood, but the fact we were a mixed group probably terrified them even more. My pack was the only one made up of different species, and the wolves could have easily taken the wrong end of the stick before I had the chance to talk and explain myself.
Then all of a sudden, one of the wolves began to charge at us, and the fourteen betas behind him instantly followed in his steps.
Do not fight back, I said firmly. They’ll realize we’re not here to kill them when we don’t retaliate.
I sunk my claws deep into the ground as I solidified my stance, and then as the first wolf ran at me, he rammed his shoulder into my front legs and snapped his jaws like a snarling dog.
The wolf continued to slam his body into mine, but from the occasional yelp he let out, I knew I was doing more damage just standing there than he was ramming me.
My group had copied my position, and they stood there and allowed the wolves to throw themselves against us. But one thing I noticed was how wild and almost untrained these wolves appeared to be. Their movements were sporadic, and it looked like they hadn’t sorted out a plan before they attacked. They aimed for their opponents, and that was it.
It could have been because they didn’t have an alpha around them to direct their motions, so the betas just did whatever they thought they had to do, but it still felt strange and herky-jerky.
How long had they been roaming around for?
Would a shifter even become a beta in the first place if they didn’t have an alpha to follow for guidance? Benji had, but there had been an alpha around when he was born.
They were all questions I wanted to get an answer to, but first I needed to have the fucking wolves listen to me.
However, because their pack was more than double the size of my little group, the wolves started to change up their tactics when they noticed we weren’t going to budge. They snapped their jaws harder and harsher, they lunged at our throats and sides, and soon we had to start moving around in order to stop them from tagging us.
Nikita swung her head to the left to stop a wolf from grabbing onto her neck, and then she batted a second wolf away with a flick of her paw. Aunt Eva spun around in a circle to try and confuse the rogues, and Arielle leaped and sprinted in order to lose the wolves who had aimed for her tail.
Any shifter would have known we weren’t into the fight, given the fact that we didn’t even try to hurt them, but these wolves continued to pounce, and it was starting to really piss me off. The irritation, mixed with the need to find this lone omega, fizzled through my blood like a firecracker, and all I wanted was for the wolves to have an alpha who would have told them to stand back.
But they didn’t appear to have that, so I realized I had to be the one to take control. I had to show them who was boss, and there was only one way to do that.
This was the first time I had ever fought against wolves, but our howls were our biggest means of communication, whether we were part of the same pack or not. I’d learned from Aunt Eva that the deeper the wolf’s howl, the more important they are, and it meant they sat higher up in the ladder of rankings.
With that in mind, I arched my back, created a powerful howl in my throat, and then allowed it to tremble through my maw as it echoed and crackled through the evening air.
The smooth, melodic sound was no different than any other howl I had performed in the past, yet this particular call had an effect I’d never experienced before.
The rogues instantly fell to the ground, and they covered their faces with two paws as they whimpered and cried out in pain. Their large, furry bodies trembled, and some of them kicked away at the ground with their back legs, almost like that was going to soothe their pain.
What the fuck? Blair asked.
I couldn’t tell what the wolves were doing, or why they found my howl so painful, but the fact that no one else experienced the same effects meant it was clearly only these rogues who found it difficult to hear my cry.
Maybe they’re used to being punished? I thought. It could be that an alpha’s howl triggers some sort of PTSD?
Perhaps, Aunt Eva replied. But I’ve never seen anything like this.
The side effects appeared to last for a good two minutes after my howl had ended, and I watched as some of the wolves peeked behind their paws as if they were trying to see if the coast was clear.
But as the wolves slowly stood up, I suddenly noticed that the honeysuckle and lavender scent of the omega had disappeared. She had either scarpered as soon as the “fight” broke out, or she had taken her blockers and had managed to hide somewhere.
Regardless of that, I needed to find her, and I wasn’t going to allow these wolves to leave before they told me where she was.
I took a few steps back to allow me the space to shift, and then I crouched down slightly as I allowed my hybrid form to take over. I twisted my back from side to side as it expanded, and I shook out my head as my snout returned to my face.
Some of the wolves scurried back in fear, and their eyes widened as they took in my terrifying form, but if they’d had an alpha in the past, then it shouldn’t have been the first time they’d ever encountered a hybrid.
“Where is the omega?” I demanded in a deep, powerful tone.
The wolves looked at each other like they were silently conversing, but none of them made a single noise in an attempt to answer me.
“Look, we’re not here to fight or hurt any of you,” I continued. “I’m willing to save you or protect you from whoever you’re running from. But in order for me to do that, you need to tell me where the omega is.”
All of a sudden, one of the fifteen wolves turned his head to look over at where they had been sleeping, and then he looked back at me. He repeated that move a couple more times, and I started to understand he wanted to return to that spot.
“Do you want to go over there?” I asked with an arm pointed in that direction.
The wolf nodded his large, gray head.
