Then I spotted a figure on the porch.
“Gatlin!” I roared, shifting to my Manix Beast form as I raced back to Luisa, lifting her out of her highchair and into my arms.
Gatlin, Finlo and Seven all appeared nearly instantly. I couldn’t find Naja or Raiden, but I assumed they were still further in the house. I held Luisa safe in my arms, and now that the panic had lessened, I realized it was Wilkie and his primary Beta.
Fucking Wilkie.
I realized the baby was stiff in my arms and I drew back to look at her. “Sorry, Little Bit. It’s just me, but kind of fluffy. Like a mouse, see?” I twitched my ears, and she lifted a tentative hand to stroke the soft fur on my face. She still looked a little pale and her face was scrunched in consternation, but she didn’t cry or freak out the way you’d expect a child to react to what was essentially a monster holding her. Maybe she still knew it was me?
“Take the baby to the back,” Finlo rumbled, already fully shifted too. I did what I was told, my scaled arms around Luisa protectively. As I made it to the door of Raiden’s room, it was pulled open and Raiden dragged me inside. Naja grabbed Luisa, her face pale.
“It’s okay, Omega. I’m sorry for scaring you. It’s just Wilkie. I just acted instinctively.” I held out my hand to her. “I’m sorry.”
She grabbed it and squeezed. “Better to be too careful, right?”
Raiden nodded, but his face went really red. Uh oh. “Fucking Wilkie. I’m going to tear him another asshole.”
He slammed out of the room, and for once, I was torn. Well, not really. Raiden could handle himself, and I didn’t think Wilkie’s Pack were actually a threat. They were showboaters and assholes, but wouldn’t act out in violence. Well, probably not until my hot-headed Omega started throwing punches. Then it would be a brawl. I could talk him down, but I couldn’t leave Naja and Luisa either on the off chance I was wrong. That Wilkie’s Pack was more desperate than I thought. Without the pheromones of the heat, I liked to think that most of my kind would be civilized. But you could never be sure.
I opened the door and I could already hear the snarls. Naja put her hand between my shoulder blades. “Are they a threat to Luisa?”
I shook my head. Wilkie was a dick, but he was an old school dick, which meant he wholeheartedly believed that hurting a child should have the punishment of death. Manix were do or die when it came to that. But they also considered you eligible for the Legion Force—our army—at fourteen, so it was a bit of a grey area. But a girl, and a toddler at that? There was nowhere on earth she would be safer than in Manix territory.
Naja shifted Luisa onto her hip. The baby, despite the drama of being whisked away, didn’t seem as perturbed as last time, like she already knew we would keep her safe.
Naja waved a hand at the door. “Well, let’s go shut this shit down then?” She pushed me through the door and marched down the hall. The Goddess had apparently blessed me with two fiery Omegas. Lucky me.
At the end of the hall was a cacophony of growls and snarls, and I pushed her slightly behind me. I wasn’t much of a fighter but I was still shifted. When we strode into the room, all snarling and conversation stopped.
Wilkie scented the air, and I knew what he was sensing. The lack of heat. There was only one way that happened, and it was when the female Omega’s body had completed its physiological purpose and handed off her eggs.
Wilkie was old school; he knew what the lack of heat meant. His eyes whipped between Finlo and Raiden—he always refused to acknowledge Gatlin as Alpha due to his mixed heritage—then back to Naja.
“You did it? It worked?”
Raiden looked at him, wild-eyed. “That’s none of your fucking business. Leave.”
I looked at Wilkie’s Betas, because Wilkie only ever had Betas. I understood their forlorn look of longing. They didn’t have a male Omega, although Raiden’s sister, who was part of their Pack, was a Beta. She provided the softness to their hard edges. Gatlin hated her, but I saw her for what she was. Sad. She knew she was a substitute for what the Pack really wanted. Wilkie had always made that known in no uncertain terms. The man was an asshole.
Stephan, Wilkie’s second in command, murmured softly in his ear, “We should go.”
Wilkie gave Naja a hard-eyed glare. “With her, we could attract another Omega male. I could have a litter of cubs. Pass on my genetics to the next generation.”
Ew.
Naja, bless her heart, screwed up her nose. “Ew. Unlikely, asshole.”
Apparently, it was now too much for Gatlin because he roared, his fangs bared and his chest heaving. “Get out!”
I implored Stephan with my eyes to do the right thing. He was a nice guy when he wasn’t under Wilkie’s thumb. He’d cleaned me up that first week after I’d arrived in Maxton, after the other kids had kicked me into the dirt and stomped me to make sure I stayed down. He motioned for the two other Betas to move, which they did, but they remained in their fully shifted forms.
Wilkie was the last to leave, and he eyed both Raiden and Naja hungrily. “The Legion will hear of this. They’ll pass the Omegas over to a more worthy Pack. A Pack that will strengthen the Manix bloodlines rather than weakening it.”
With that, he strode out the doors, jumped the porch railing and landed effortlessly on the ground. He was right about one thing—he did have good bloodlines.
But he was crazy if he thought we’d give her up without a fight.
28
