My Mate is Here

Julian

I’ve been in this goddess-forsaken pack for less than five minutes, and I was already ready to leave. I get why Duncan wanted us to come along, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep my cool if the level of disrespect we’re being shown already is the norm. Alpha James has completely ignored both Lucian and me, Amelia can’t stop eye-fucking Duncan, and the new luna hasn’t been introduced to any of us.

I glance around the front of the packhouse, trying to at least make some use of this farce of a welcome, and notice that everyone else here has eyes cast down. Not out of respect, but out of fear. You can tell the difference if you look for it. Most omegas are naturally submissive—they keep their eyes downcast but their heads up. They won’t necessarily look you in the eye, especially if you’re a stranger to them or their pack and they don’t know how you’ll respond to eye contact. These omegas don’t even have their faces lifted. It’s as if they’re so afraid to be mistaken for making eye contact that they simply look directly at the ground and don’t come close to picking up their heads. It’s turning my stomach. No pack member should be that cowed in their own home.

I tune back in to the conversation as Alpha James introduces the head omega, Louise, and directs her to get us settled. We start to move, and as I get closer to Louise, Nemo starts wagging his tail in my head. ‘What’s with you?’ I asked him.

‘Mate! Mate is here. I can smell her on the omega. Our mate is in this pack!’ he exclaims.

I inhale sharply, pulling in a lungful of air. Sure enough, the most wonderful scent is clinging to Louise. It’s clearly not her own scent; it’s subtle and sort of lingering around her. She’s been around the person in the last hour or so.

‘What is it? What’s wrong?’ Duncan linked me.

‘My mate is here somewhere. I can smell her on this omega.’ I replied, shock clear in my tone. While I was joking with Lucian about finding our mates, I didn’t think it would actually happen, much less that I would find my mate as we were basically just walking into the pack.

‘Okay, we’ll figure out who it is—if it’s a pack member or maybe someone she’s already directed to their rooms. We’ve got some time,’ he replied. ‘Notice how subdued this omega is, though? I get being respectful, but she acts as if she’s scared to lift her eyes. At least in front of Alpha James.’

‘I saw. Man, I can’t wait to be done with this weekend. I already want to grab my mate and go home,’ I answered. Under the excitement of knowing my mate was here somewhere was a deep unease about this place.

‘Yeah, yeah, Casanova. We need to find her first.’ he laughed. Louise glanced up at him, finally making eye contact. “Sorry, ma’am. My Beta here thinks it’s a good time for jokes,” he said lightly. She smiled; little laugh lines crinkling around her eyes.

“Oh, no worries, Alpha Duncan. Laughter is good for the soul, and we take all the pleasant moments we can around here.” She turned to me, smile still in place. “Beta Julian—“

“Wait, you know my name? Alpha James never introduced the rest of us.” I was confused. It’s unusual for omegas to know the names of guests to a pack, ranked or not.

“Of course! As the head omega, it’s my job to make sure we offer the best hospitality, and the best way to do that is to be aware of the leadership that is joining us,” she responded. “I made a point of looking at all the RSVPs and pack leadership when I was helping Luna Claire with the planning. She’s so new, and still learning, you see, and I know the Royal Pack specifically requested that we expand the invitation list for this ball. Now, I’m going to have my daughter come and show you to your room on the alpha floor, Alpha Duncan, while I take Beta Julian, Gamma Lucian, and your warriors to their rooms. Just one moment.” She turned and looked down the hall. Nemo started prancing in my head again.

As a slender she-wolf came around the corner in the hallway, she called out, “Kayla! There you are!” relief clear in her voice. The she-wolf looked up at her name, a small smile on her face, and then she froze. She was beautiful. Her bright red hair stopped in a short curly bob, the perfect complement to her creamy skin and heart-shaped face. I couldn’t see what color her eyes were yet. The rest of her was a perfect package of sleek and curvy. All of her curves were in the right places, and my fingers twitched with the urge to grab her hips and pull her to me. Her scent almost knocked me down when it finally hit me. She smelled of fresh snickerdoodles—warm vanilla and cinnamon sugar.

“Mate,” I uttered, still staring at her.

“Mate,” she responded. She looked over at Louise, clearly upset. Her eyes were huge, and the smile had fallen from her face. I wonder what’s upset her so? Is she disappointed in me as her mate?

“Mom?” she said.

I looked over at Louise, who was standing wide-eyed, mouth agape. I saw her give herself a small shake, and her smile came back, wider than it had been before. “Well, then, let me introduce you to my daughter, Kayla Rayne. Kayla, this lovely young man is Beta Julian Everhart from Crescent Moon Pack. It’s okay, sweetheart. They’re a good pack.”

What? Why would she need to…oh. Oh, hell no. My mate isn’t staying in this pack a minute longer than she has to. Her mother would only respond like that if something is wrong with how they treat omegas. Queen Gwen was right to send us in.

“Kayla? That’s a beautiful name,” I said, as I stepped closer to her. “I’m Julian.” I reached for her hand, and she slowly placed hers in mine.

“Julian.” She blushed, then looked away a bit shyly. Taking a deep breath, she whispered, “Are you sure you want me? I’m just an omega.”

“What?! Of course I want you! You’re not just anything. You are my perfect mate, and we were made for each other. The Goddess doesn’t make mistakes,” I reassured her. “Do you not want me?” I asked reluctantly. I wouldn’t force myself on her, no matter how much I wanted her.

“Of course I want you! Who wouldn’t?” she giggled. “But you’re a beta, and…” she trailed off, looking at her mother.

I glanced over at Louise, who had tears in her eyes and a smile on her face. “How about we show you to your rooms, and then you can talk?” Louise suggested. I sensed she had something she wanted to say but wanted to get out of the open before doing so.

“Yes, let’s do that,” Duncan agreed. I quickly grabbed Kayla’s hand, and we followed them through the packhouse.

 

***

 

 

After the warriors settled, Kayla pointed out the rooms on the third floor for Lucian and me. She looked at Duncan then.

“Alpha Duncan, if you could follow me, I’ll show you to your suite on the Alpha floor,” she stated.

‘You and Lucian come with us. We clearly need to find out what she knows, and you’re not going to want to leave her side anyway,’ Duncan smirked a little. ‘Congratulations, by the way.’ He sounded a little wistful. I know that he’s not in a hurry to find his, but there’s always a little bit of envy in the joy when someone close to you finds their fated mate.

I grabbed Kayla’s hand again, and she looked up at me before casting her eyes back down. “Beta Julian, are you sure you want everyone here to see you holding my hand?” she asked tentatively.

“Let them all know you’re mine, kitten. I’ll shout it from the rooftops. Unless you would rather we hold off until we can get you out of this pack?” I asked, realizing that some of her reluctance might stem from how omegas are treated here.

“It’s just…well, let’s get Alpha Duncan settled, shall we?” she said, again giving me the impression that she had something she needed to say but was afraid to come out with it. I let her decide about holding my hand on the way to Duncan’s room, and I was a little disappointed when she dropped mine and took a position in front of the group. I glanced at Duncan, who frowned at the interaction, as if he was trying to puzzle out what was going on.

Luckily, it didn’t take long for us to get to his room. Once we were inside his suite, Kayla came back over to me and grabbed my hand again.

“I’m sorry, Beta Julian,” she started.

“Just Julian. You’re my mate,” I interrupted.

She gave me a small smile. “Julian. It’s not that I don’t want to claim you or show you off, but here…omegas who mate with ranked wolves aren’t treated well. If it’s a wolf within the pack, then usually they’re rejected immediately. If it’s a guest, like you, then suddenly they’re assigned to tasks that keep them away from their mate for the entire visit, and the Alpha pressures them to reject them. Since most of the pack visitors are allied packs, they have the same philosophies about us. There are very few times that an omega mates with a ranked wolf and actually gets to leave the pack with their mate,” she whispered.

Duncan, Lucian, and I all growled low. “That’s barbaric. The alpha has no right to interfere in a Goddess-given mate bond,” Duncan exclaimed.

She looked over at him sadly. “He would tell you that he’s not interfering. He just conveniently has “negative information” about the character of the omega to share with the person if they look like they’re actually considering accepting the bond, or suddenly that omega has been assigned to the alpha’s children’s rooms and something will go missing, which conveniently gets blamed on the omega. Then he’ll put the omega in the dungeon with the promise to let them go once they’ve served their punishment, and the mate never comes back.”

I looked at Duncan, rage simmering in my stomach. His eyes were black with anger. I could see him arguing with Conn. Nemo took that moment to speak up. ‘No one is taking our mate from us,’ he growled. ‘I know. We won’t allow it. We’ll leave tonight with her if we have to,’ I reassured him.

I pulled Kayla into me and buried my face in her neck. She was about eight inches shorter than me, so I had to lean down a bit, and I took advantage of the opportunity to wrap my arms around her. Taking a deep breath of her scent to calm myself down, I asked her, “How would you like to handle things, then? I want you; I won’t be giving you up, and if they try any kind of shenanigans, I will rain hell down on all of them,” I said roughly. She giggled a bit when I said “shenanigans,” and her little giggle was a beautiful sound.

“I think it’s best if we keep things as neutral as possible while we’re in public areas. This floor’s rooms are all soundproof, but the warrior floor that you’re on is older, and not as many of those rooms are. There’s also a lot more activity on that floor. I’ll get my things packed and be ready to leave with you when you all go, if that’s all right?” she asked.

“If that’s what you want, that’s what we’ll do,” I told her.

“Kayla, I’m happy to have you join our pack as our beta female. Congratulations, sincerely. We’ll have a chance to truly celebrate you joining us when we get back to the pack. Unfortunately, right now, our group has a lot to accomplish while we’re here, and I can already see that the Moon Goddess paired you with Julian for a reason. Can you tell us any more about how omegas are treated here? Or is that something that you are willing to get into when we get back to Crescent Moon? You see, we did not come here just for the mating ball. Luna Queen Gwen specifically asked us to come and check out the pack,” Duncan asked her, and I was surprised that he told her that. I know she’s my mate, but she’s still technically bound to Alpha James and Blood Moon.

“Alpha Duncan, I’m happy to tell you anything once we leave the pack. My mother said she was going to get a message to the Luna Queen. Thank the Goddess that she managed to do it,” she replied, shocking us all.