The alpha finally awakens and he’s an asshole

(4).

When Alpha meets Omega

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Chapter 4: The alpha finally awakens and he's an asshole 

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“So tell me exactly what happened out there,” Erik finally speaks and he sounds so tired.

Carlos swallows but Jorge rubs his shoulder reassuringly for a moment, gentle ushering Carlos to speak. His throat is dry but he swallows and sits straight.

“W-well I was going to the meadows, Jorge asked if I could pick marigolds while I was there. I was just. . . walking when I found him. The wolf. I saw something ahead of me and went over to it. He was. . .he was hurt real bad, bleeding out and covered in dirt and mud. I just couldn’t leave him like that.”

There’s a pause and Jorge nudges him to continue.

“But then Gavin came out of nowhere and saw too. . . he didn’t want to do anything at first, but I convinced him to carry the wolf back so we could help him. Please don’t blame Gavin, i-it’s all on me. I couldn’t leave the wolf there to just die. I know I can help him get back on his feet. I didn’t know it was a bad idea, I’m sorry. . . “

The alpha sighs, pinches the bridge of his nose. “I can appreciate your compassion for others, Carlos, but I don’t think you understand the implications of bringing an outsider into the pack. It could be a trick, he could have volunteered to be injured just so that one of us would find him and bring him right into the heart of our village. Or if his pack comes looking for him, it wouldn’t be the first time that wolves have jumped to the wrong conclusions, and they might think we captured him, attack us without stopping to ask questions. You should have come back and let me handle it because now it’s my problem, you might have just endangered my pack—”

“Erik,” Jorge murmurs, just loud enough that they can all hear him. It borderlines a warning tone and Carlos has never heard an omega speak to an alpha like that.

But Erik just pauses and takes a deep breath, rolling back his shoulders to try and ease some of the tension out of them. “Did he try to attack you? This wolf?”

Carlos wrings his fingers together. “Yes and no. . .”

When Erik frowns and opens his mouth, Carlos beats him to it, no matter how disrespectful that might be.

“B-But he tried to leave. He growled and moved, but his leg was broken so. . . he didn’t go anywhere. I know he’s not faking it, because he was scared. I saw it in his eyes. He let me touch him but he didn’t attack me. He was just afraid and I don’t think a wolf who volunteered to die —in the middle of a valley— would act like that.”

Jorge nods in agreement. “As I said yesterday, most of his superficial wounds are defensive and there was blood and tissue in his mouth. Whoever this alpha is, he fought his attackers. He’s no decoy. You should be glad that members of your pack are so compassionate, Erik. Wouldn’t you want someone else to do the same for one of us?”

Erik bristles, eying his mate for a long moment before turning his gaze back towards Carlos. “You can go, Carlos.”

Carlos can sense the tension that lingers in the air and he stands from the couch, sending a silent “thank you” to Jorge before he shuffles out of the living room.

Erik and Jorge are quiet until the front door shuts and Erik’s eyes fall on his mate.

“You were out of line,” he warns. “I don’t mind your opinions in private but challenging me in front of another omega—”

“Quit acting all high and mighty, Erik,” Jorge chides. “I was not challenging you and we are in private, we’re in our own home. You needed to open your eyes to the whole story and I merely added on with my observations. You’re acting like a wolf with a broken leg who was almost dead yesterday is going to kill everyone in this pack.”

“It’s my job to keep this pack safe. I have to treat outsiders as a threat. This wolf isn’t some pet that Carlos dragged home to fix up, this is something that could have serious consequences, Jorge, and if you don’t understand that. . .”

“Then what? Are you going to treat me as a threat too, just like you are treating Carlos and that wolf?”

Jorge is the only wolf in the entire world that can speak to Erik like this and not have the alpha wrestle him into submission, but even Erik’s patience has a limit and his eyes flash gold. It’s gone in a split second, and the alpha stands. “Keep me updated on the outsider,” he says instead of answering the question. “I want him shifted back as soon as possible so we can get some answers.”

Jorge retreats from his spot and brushes past the alpha on his way. “I’ll do my best,” is his murmured reply before he’s out the door in a matter of seconds, leaving Erik alone in their quiet cabin to hopefully dwell on his actions.

<<>>

A couple of weeks pass before Erik gets his wish.

In that time, Carlos has spent just about every day with the wolf in the infirmary, checking his bandages and reapplying any pastes and bringing the wolf food to keep his strength up.

It’s boring being alone, and Carlos truly believes that the wolf must be feeling lonely, and he even talks to the wolf here and there though he doesn’t get much of a response.

The wolf needs to be bathed occasionally, but Carlos isn’t allowed to move him anywhere, so he just takes a wet washcloth over his silver fur to clean off anything that’s there. He feels like he’s taking care of a pet, like a dog or something, because he does a lot for the wolf in terms of feeding, bathing, and spending time with him.

Tensions between Erik and Jorge linger over the issue, but as long as they don’t talk about it together they’re fine. Other wolves are curious, have seemed to really forget all about the outsider because he’s been hidden away for weeks, and Carlos is content with just sitting in the infirmary reading books in the wolf’s company.

One day when Carlos dozes off, book clutched against his chest, the moment the pack has been waiting for finally happens.

The omega stirs when he hears a low grunt from the floor. He sits up slowly, the book dropping to the ground from his place on a cot, and he rubs his eyes before focusing them on the wolf—

Wait.

Carlos blinks a couple more times when he sees a human hand reaching blindly for a blanket on top of the nearest cot. He peers over and lets out an audible gasp when he sees that the outsider, no longer a wolf, wraps himself up in the blanket and move the once-broken leg to shift around.

Just like his fur, the outsider’s hair is silver and fluffy, skin pale with an almost milky hue. He’s short, can only be a couple of centimeters taller than the omega, thin as Gavin had described when he had picked him up like nothing only a few weeks ago.

Carlos scrambles from the cot and he startles the outsider for a second, head whipping around to the noise, but when their eyes lock, desperate sensations of need and want twist in the pit of the omega’s stomach hard . He’s never felt a pull like this, struggling to hold his wolf at bay.

“You—” the stranger spits, blanket firmly in place around his naked waist, recoiling from Carlos like he’d been burned. It’s clear from the pinched expression on his heart-shaped face that whatever is happening to Carlos is happening to him. “G-Get out!”

Carlos blinks out of the stupor. “W-what, no, I’m not—”

“Get. Out. Omega ,” the silver alpha snarls, voice raspy from disuse. It sends shivers up Carlos’s spine.

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TBC