Chapter Eight

TRISTAN

“So. How was it?” I ask Dominic. He’s giving me a report on Billie’s first day here…in the room next to mine.

I can sense her next door, smell her. My inner Wolf is so restless he wants to climb the walls. I'm right there with him.

“Raven and Fleming both flirted with her, and her main reaction according to Raven was shy surprise. I don’t think she's used to a lot of male attention aside from her waitressing at the Gaelic Wolf, which she probably resents as a part of the job. I think it was a novelty for her, and she seemed flattered,” my second lieutenant tells me.

“She'll have to get used to male attention from more than one source as our Omega,” I respond. “I may have strict rules regarding sex with her, but I won't restrict anyone's instincts to flirt with her or show physical affection. It will still be her place as our Omega to fulfill that role, just not sexually.”

It's a tricky situation. On the one hand, the pull towards her as my fated mate gets stronger every second. On the other, we need to protect her from Spader trying to make a claim on her, and the fastest way to do that is to claim her ourselves as our Omega, the female human or wolf who is the weakest in the pack (or gang) and the lowest in the hierarchy. 

Omegas are meant to be a softening, bonding influence on a pack. Something weaker than us, something beautiful and fragile, to take care of, protect, and discipline when necessary. Omegas sometimes play a sexually submissive role in a pack, being free use, but not Billie. I was keeping a tight control on who she gave herself to, who was allowed to take her.

So far, that was one person. Me.

Of course, she doesn't know any of this yet. As a progressive gang and future pack, the Underground puts an emphasis on consent. We're seducing her into accepting this role, our protection. 

The boys will be lovebombing her with gifts disguised as the usual scholarship student benefits, as well as playing her confidants. I'll be awakening her natural submissiveness to me as her future alpha and mate. Hormones and instincts will do half my job for me. For the rest I'll be relying on charisma and sheer force of will. Displays of power—and restraint—to prove myself to her.

She will be afraid at first. Many human females, when they find themselves being claimed by a werewolf as his mate, become skittish and shy, even feral. They try to fight their instincts, their hormones, and their desires, which turns into a power struggle with the werewolves courting them. 

“Billie is feisty,” I say to Dominic. “She'll want to snap at me, try to take control. It won't be brute force that wins her, but patience as she succumbs to her own nature.”

“That was my feeling, too. Force will get you a beer in the lap, like Spader.”

The lunar goddess gave her to me as my one true love, and she'll have to accept that reality eventually if she wants to be true to herself–and I can see she does. She's the most genuine human I've ever met.

But still, we'll have that period where she struggles to accept me and our fates.

She is human, and wasn't raised on wolf beliefs and customs. She won't understand at first what’s happening to her, and she'll be prone to thinking the worst, like any neglected thing like her would be. 

“We all have to tread carefully,” I tell Dom. “We can't risk spooking her, she's in too much danger from Spader. We have to keep her safe by any means necessary.” I can smell her scent everywhere, that ripe peach smell. The Wolf inside me is pacing like a caged animal, which he is. He wants to claim her, mark her as our territory, and raise her up as a queen. 

But patience is how we will win her.

Just like with any little feral stray, patience and restraint are the keys to unlocking her trust. Patience, restraint, and little gifts to show her she'll be provided for now.

She has been living in poverty most of her life. We’re billionaires–most wolf shifters come from extremely well-off old money packs, and the six of us were given control of our trust funds when we entered college. There’s so much I want to show her, so many things I want to give her that she’s never had.

Through my heightened senses and our bond, I can sense her contentment from next door. She feels safe, clean, and well-fed from the containers of food I had put in her mini-fridge for her first night. I made sure she had a whole suite of small appliances–coffee pot, microwave, and toaster–for her comfort, and pre-made meals with fruits and vegetables delivered. I'm concerned for her nutrition; both her job and her major burn a lot of calories and I know she’s been mostly eating leftovers from the Gaelic Wolf–bar food, not fresh whole foods.

Speaking of the bar–

“Did she say anything about her work plans?”

“Yes, she told Raven her last shift would be tomorrow night.”

“Good. I'll be there in case Spader shows, but he'll probably still be healing if he wants to keep playing football.”

“Fleming is taking her out the next day to buy new clothes so she won’t feel so uncomfortable around the rich students. She doesn't know yet, he's going to talk her into it, act like she'd be doing him a favor as a costuming drama major. It's a solid plan.”

“Perfect.” Our Omega deserves the best, and once we've made her safe and happy, her true light will shine through even brighter.

She's our future queen, but first she must learn to fly. She isn't ready yet, and making her our Omega will keep her safe and give her solid ground while my little Kitten becomes her fullest self.

“There’s one more wrinkle I haven’t discussed with everyone yet,” I tell my future Beta. “It took me a couple days to be sure, but I'm positive she has the shifter gene. Which makes her a hybrid. Not quite human after all.”

Hybrids couldn't shapeshift, but carriers of the wolf shifter gene could turn into a werewolf if bitten correctly, and females go into heat.

“She would know, wouldn't she, with her heat?”

“I don’t think so. My Wolf senses the gene, and the feeling I get is that she’s been so out of tune with her own needs for her whole life, and so alone, that she didn't have anyone to ask about it, and just assumed it was bad hormones. It wouldn’t get too strong until she met someone she wanted to mate with, anyway, and our Billie is a virgin.”

“You realize this means you'll have an Omega in heat in a house full of male werewolves who are already attracted to her?” Dom looks me straight in the eyes. “If this goes sideways, it could break the Underground. She’s your future mate, but she’s going to be our Omega first. Things will get touchy unless you loosen some restrictions around her heat.”

“I'll think about lifting the sexual embargo, but only during her heat and at her pleasure. If she's suffering, I want all of us working to make her all better.” We'll be all over her. She won't know what hit her.