I finished shedding my clothes and shifted. “Let’s go.”
I was out of the door and heading for the woods behind our house, not letting any thoughts but getting Kitten to safety enter my brain. I knew the path instinctually, having walked it so many times I could do it with my eyes closed—or in this case, close to full-blown panic.
Corvin had his nose to the wind, scenting for threats, listening for other predators in the woods. There were very few creatures that could take down a Manix in full Beast form, and the large predators of this ecosystem stood no chance.
I could tell the moment that Corvin caught her scent though, because his whole body went rigid. I turned, raising my face to the breeze. Omega, in heat.
I went instantly hard.
Fuck.
Fuck, fuckity, fuck, fuck fuck.
My feet stilled, and I heaved in lungfuls of air as I got ahold of myself. Then I changed back to the man. It was too hard to keep ahold of my Beast in my other form, and right now, Kitten needed the man, not the Beast.
Corvin had a backpack clutched in his claws, and right then I loved the hell out of him, because even in a crisis, he’d remembered to bring clothes and supplies. He dropped the bag in front of me, his chest still vibrating with a rumbling growl. I grabbed out my discarded jeans, forgoing a shirt. If she was okay, she’d freak out if we rocked up naked and fully beasted out. But we would all be more vulnerable in our human forms.
“I’ll stay shifted,” Corvin said, in his deep, rumbling voice that would have made a human shiver with fear. “Just in case.”
I looked up at him, letting my pure appreciation shine through. “Thank you.”
He waved a clawed hand, and I knew he just wanted to hurry. There were no other scents around Kitten’s house, and I had a feeling that Lorso had his own wards put on the place all those decades ago to keep people away. It was why he’d always been considered more of an urban legend than a real figure in Manix society—there was just a general sense of unease once you got past a certain point in the woods. You felt like you were reaching the edge of Pack territory and then a strange foreboding started to sink in.
In reality, there was another mile between Kitten’s house and the border of the Packlands. When the first female Omega we’d had in centuries arrived in Maxton, forcing the former Alpha General to strengthen the wards, I’d breathed a sigh of relief, though I didn’t say anything to Corvin. No one could sneak over the back side of the Packlands and hurt Kitten now.
As we moved around to the front of the cabin, I noticed there was no light burning in the window, and my heart pounded in my ears. What if she’d passed out while bathing in the stream and drowned? What if she’d fallen into her fire? The Manix could survive a lot of things, but drowning and burning to death weren’t included in that list.
I pounded on the rough wooden door that had weathered with a run of hard winters. “Kitten! Kitten, are you in there?”
Silence. I couldn’t breathe.
Corvin walked up beside me and kicked in the door. It banged open, and I knew something was wrong. It was too still, too silent. “Kitten?”
We moved into the house in unison, checking everywhere for the girl who’d stolen our heart. There was food on the table, uneaten—as if she’d just stepped out—but the ashes in the fireplace were cold. Wherever she was, she’d been gone for a while.
A roar from the bedroom had me racing to the only other room in the cabin. Corvin was hovering over an unconscious Kitten. She looked paler than normal, her body limp, like a lifeless doll. I was on my knees beside her before I even consciously thought to move. I checked her pulse, but it was strong, and her skin was warm and dry. It was like she was just asleep.
I checked her over for any cuts and bruises, anything broken, but she was perfect. Corvin’s rumbling growls in the background were a distraction, but I didn’t chastise him. He was as scared as I was.
“She feels fine. Strong and healthy.” I shook her a little. “Kitten? Kitten, can you hear me? It’s Beckett.”
“Wake up, Omega,” Corvin roared, the Alpha power in his voice making my skin prickle, but Kitten remained still.
“Obviously, Corvin is here too.” I looked up at my best friend. “She’s completely unconscious. We need to take her back to the Packhouse.”
I didn’t think about the fact that Darius was going to lose his shit that we’d kept this from him for years, or the fact that she was now a female Omega—something I knew he’d prayed to the Goddess for after the Huxley-Grey Omega had appeared from nowhere like a gift.
I wasn’t even sure I believed in the Goddess, but it was hard to deny now though. Changing designations, your actual biology? That was fucking insane.
Corvin bent down, scooping her up into his arms with a gentleness that belied his scales and huge claws. We were monsters, but not with Kitten. Kitten was everything.
“Let’s go.”
2
DARIUS
The whole fucking town had gone insane. It had started about an hour ago, the scent of female Omegas in heat permeating Maxton like the most delicious scent you’d ever inhaled.
