His Runaway Omega (The Mountain Shifters Book 4) Read online

  Yuri took the alpha's shaft in his hand, turned on by the immediate response of the hard, warm flesh in his palm. He stroked the length of it in admiration, but Benjamin had other plans. The alpha pushed him down and began undressing him, stirring a whole new kind of anticipation within Yuri as the mate his wolf so foolishly desired unveiled him. Benjamin explored him with his mouth, the soft, sensuous caresses of his tongue and light scraping of his teeth turning the last of Yuri's hesitation to flaming lust. By the time Benjamin settled on top of him and slipped a lubricated digit into his entrance, he was more than prepared to take the alpha without any assistance.

  At least, that was what he thought until the head of Benjamin's cock was pressed against him, pushing against his tightly clenched muscles. He had never been so aroused by an alpha's touch, but that didn't mean the invasion was painless. Benjamin filled him in ways he hadn't imagined possible, but with the dull ache came the sharpest kind of pleasure.

  Benjamin's fingers wound with Yuri's, pressing his hands into the bed for leverage as he began to thrust. Yuri arched into him, moaning softly each time the alpha's rhythm strummed a new chord of pleasure deep within him. He had always known that mating was less painful when the omega was aroused, but he hadn't imagined it could feel as pleasurable as it did. Or that Benjamin would care about his pleasure at all. He could feel the alpha's watchful gaze on him, gauging his reactions, easing up when something caused Yuri pain before he could even respond and grinding into him harder when his body tensed with bliss.

  The omega whimpered as the first orgasm took him under and he writhed underneath his alpha, desperate for more. Benjamin was all too eager to give it, driving deeper into him than seemed possible. With a sudden burst of pleasure accompanied by the closest thing to actual pain Yuri had felt throughout their encounter, Benjamin's knot swelled inside of him, locking them together in the most intimate embrace.

  Yuri stared up at Benjamin, wide-eyed and breathless. The alpha seemed equally bewildered for a moment before his confusion gave way to a new kind of lust. Benjamin leaned down and captured Yuri's lips as he pressed their bodies closer together, and Yuri let out a muffled cry of bliss when the alpha came inside of him.

  Benjamin laid on top of him for a long while until his panting gradually subsided. Yuri melted into the pillows as a deep satisfaction coursed through him. His wolf was purring and longed for nothing more than to fall asleep in the alpha's embrace, especially when the steady rhythm of Benjamin's breathing gave away the fact that he had fallen asleep, his knot still tying them together, but Yuri knew he couldn't risk it. It would be far too easy to fall asleep in Benjamin's arms, but the temptation to wake up in them every morning for the rest of his life was even greater.

  Chapter 10

  BENJAMIN

  Benjamin woke with a greater sense of calm than he had ever known. All the loneliness that had wound its way around his heart like a weed over the years had fallen away with one night in the omega's embrace. He knew he had given in to temptation by taking Yuri to his bed, but he couldn't bring himself to call it a mistake. After all, it had been the confirmation he had needed to know that Yuri was his mate. His knot wouldn't have swelled otherwise. Maybe it wasn't the conventional way of doing things, but there was nothing conventional about the way Yuri had come into his pack. If a night of intimacy was what the omega needed to understand that he was safe and wanted, Benjamin couldn't bring himself to regret that at all.

  Until he woke up in an empty bed. He sat up sharply and looked around the room, but Yuri's scent had long since faded. He wasn't in the shower, and the sight of his clothes missing from the closet confirmed the red flag that had already gone up in the alpha's mind.

  Benjamin threw on his clothes and barreled down the stairs, nearly colliding with Sue in the process. "Sorry," he muttered, reaching to steady her before he resumed his search of the rest of the house.

  "What are you looking for?" Sue asked, blinking at her son as she followed him through the house. Benjamin stopped once he realized the omega was nowhere to be found. When he turned around, his mother was looking him up and down, and he could already see the suspicion forming behind her eyes. "Did you sleep here?"

  Benjamin couldn't answer, not only because he was ashamed but because his thoughts were already racing.

  "Ben? What are you doing here?" Heinrich asked, coming into the room with his morning coffee. There were dark circles under his eyes, like he hadn't slept well.

  "I think he's been here," Sue said slowly.

  A look of realization dawned on Heinrich's face. Then the disappointment set in. As the golden child of the family, disappointing his parents had once been Benjamin's greatest fear, but that morning, as a man who had finally found the greatest treasure in his life only to lose it, he knew there were far worse things. It wasn't just losing Yuri that he feared. A thousand possibilities were surfacing in his mind, explanations for where the omega might be. He certainly might have run off, and Benjamin had expected at least an attempt when Yuri had first arrived, but after the night they had shared and the way Yuri had responded to his touch, he doubted it. That left far more troubling alternatives.

  "Yuri is gone."

  Sue and Heinrich exchanged a worried look. "When did you last see him?" asked Heinrich.

  "Last night," Benjamin muttered, reaching for his keys in the bowl on the counter. "I have to find him."

  "Maybe he just went for a walk," offered Sue.

  Benjamin shook his head. "His clothes are gone." He remembered that detail as soon as the words were out of his mouth. That certainly increased the likelihood that Yuri had run away. That or he had been taken by a particularly thoughtful kidnapper.

  "I'll search the eastern half of the territory, you take the west," said Heinrich.

  "I'll call around and ask if anyone has seen him," offered Sue.

  Benjamin was out the door just as Lita was coming in. "What's going on?"

  "Not now," Benjamin muttered, getting into the car. "I'm looking for Yuri."

  "Yeah, well, I think I know where you can find him."

  Benjamin froze, glancing back as Lita held up her phone. "What is that?"

  "Lisa just texted me," she replied. "She saw him leave with Angel Teak after the party last night."

  "Angel?" Benjamin frowned. "Why?"

  Lita shrugged, offering him her phone so he could read the text. "This was sent hours ago," he growled. "You just thought to tell me now?"

  "Hey, I just woke up and if I kept my phone on at night, I'd never get any sleep," she protested.

  Heinrich and Sue joined them in the driveway and Benjamin realized they were drawing attention from the neighbors across the street.

  "What on earth would Yuri be doing with Angel Teak?" Sue asked, echoing Benjamin's own confusion and disbelief.

  "I have no idea," he muttered. "But I'm going to Mountain Ridge to find out."

  "I'll go with you," Heinrich said in a tone that left no room for argument. "I have Mitchell's number. We'll call and find out what the hell is going on while we're on the way."

  Benjamin got into the car and started it up without another word. He didn't know what had possessed Yuri to leave in the middle of the night, let alone with the Mountain Ridge omega, of all people, and he knew the pack had supposedly changed its ways. Whatever the truth really was, if they had harmed Yuri in any way, there was going to be a war even if Benjamin had to fight it on his own.

  Chapter 11

  YURI

  The car ride to Mountain Ridge had been long and silent, giving Yuri plenty of time to think about what he was doing, and for doubt to set in. Getting out of the house had been the hard part. Once Benjamin's knot had finally gone down, allowing Yuri to free himself from their embrace, it had been a challenge to get ready without waking the alpha. He had originally planned to take money from the road but found himself riddled with enough guilt just for bringing a few changes of clothes in a duffel bag.

  Besides, there
was no need to worry about survival on the road if Angel really did run a sanctuary. He had anticipated that convincing the omega to take him back would be difficult, but finding Angel at the party for the charity drive had been easy enough. "Of course," was all he had said when Yuri dared to approach him and ask for sanctuary. No questions, no argument, no interrogation. Just, "Okay." Without another word, Angel and the beta who had been sent to guard him had loaded Yuri into their caravan along with the rest of the donations, and they were on their way.

  Yuri was still in a state of surreality when they reached the Mountain Ridge Pack lands. The pack wasn't quite as far away as he would have liked, but he knew he still had a better chance of avoiding Benjamin's claim than he would a thousand miles away on his own. After all, there was nowhere in the world an omega could go where an alpha couldn't find him, if he had his mind set on it.

  Yuri had heard plenty of stories about Mountain Ridge, from his youth to the last few months. While his home pack had spoken of the distant territory with fear and admiration, the Council wolves seemed to range from wariness to haughtiness in their opinions of the mega pack. The military complex became visible through the dense forests and the mountain ridge that protected the land, but it wasn't quite what Yuri had expected up close. There were shops and even a few restaurants. It was well after dark by the time they arrived, but there were families with young pups mixed in among the camo-clad soldiers who strode purposely from one building to the next.

  This certainly wasn't the Mountain Ridge Yuri had been raised to fear and envy from a distance. Angel glanced back at him from the front seat with a patient smile. "Not what you thought, huh?"

  Yuri shook his head. That was certainly an understatement.

  "We've made some renovations over the years," Angel said with a laugh. The car finally came to a stop in an expansive garage and the beta came around for Angel's door, then Yuri's. Angel took a moment to get his footing, and seemed a bit off balance due to his swollen belly. Yuri's best guess was that he was anywhere between six and seven months pregnant, but on his slight frame, the pregnancy was even more obvious.

  "You'll be staying in the dorms," said Angel, motioning for Yuri to follow him up the stairs. "My mate is the only alpha who's allowed on the premises. They're guarded by betas twenty-four seven, and Mitchell and I live in the apartment on the top floor with our twins, so we're always around."

  Yuri took in the information, feeling a bit overwhelmed as they entered the lobby. There were omegas on the couches, standing in the hall talking to one another, lunging by the Television set and reading the books that lined the shelves that took up an entire wall. Until that moment, he had harbored doubts that such a place truly existed.

  "You're safe here," Angel said, giving his shoulder a squeeze. "Whatever you're running from, whatever reason you felt like you had to leave, this place can be your home as long as you need it."

  Yuri swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded. He followed Angel up the stairs and down a hallway lined with doors. There were a few omegas in the hall, but they gave him only the most cursory acknowledgments, like they were well accustomed to omegas coming in and out of their living space.

  "Let me show you to your room," said Angel, coming to a stop in front of a door near the end of the hall. He pushed it open, revealing a small but nicely furnished apartment with a huge window that overlooked the courtyard below. Before Yuri had come to the Cold Water Pack, it would have been far nicer than any room he had ever been given. "There's a bathroom, an Internet connection, everything you need. If you have any problems, there's always a beta on the hall who can help."

  "Thanks," Yuri murmured, stepping into the room and dropping his bag on the floor. He looked around for a moment, struggling to take it all in. He finally looked at Angel and frowned. "Aren't you going to ask me why I'm here?"

  "There's time for that," Angel said with a gentle smile, resting his hand on his stomach. "For tonight, I think it's important that you just rest."

  Chapter 12

  BENJAMIN

  Benjamin's head spun as he stood in front of the Mountain Ridge Alpha, his father's grip on his arm all that was holding him back. Attacking Mitchell would be seen as nothing short of grounds for war, or at the very least, disciplinary action by the Tribunal, but he didn't care. His mate was on another wolf's territory and every instinct in him was screaming to attack first, ask questions later.

  "Benjamin," Heinrich said in a low, calm tone that belied his fear. "Just calm down and let him explain."

  "He can explain when I've seen Yuri with my own eyes," Benjamin snarled. His father looked startled by the rare display of defiance, the first since he had been old enough to know better, and took a step back.

  "I can understand where you're coming from as an alpha, but as the Alpha of this pack, I can't let you pass," said Mitchell, his arms folded and his face an unreadable mask of stone. He certainly wasn't the raging brute Benjamin had heard tales of. Under any other circumstances, he might have been impressed by Mitchell's resolve. Under the current circumstances, it only made him want to rip the other alpha's throat open all the more.

  "He's my omega," Benjamin said through gritted teeth, unable to recognize the sound of his own voice. "My mate. You have no right to hold him."

  "That would be true if Council law applied in this case, but it doesn't," Mitchell replied. "Of course, the fact that there's no mark on his neck suggests he's not your mate by any standards the Council would recognize."

  Benjamin hung his head, immediately deflated in his pride but not his anger. Mitchell was right, of course. In abandoning his own standards and the expectations of pack tradition, he had left the omega entrusted to his care vulnerable to the claim of another pack. He hadn't marked Yuri and he had taken so much pride in exploiting that loophole, in telling himself he was doing things the right way simply because he had resisted the urge to place his mark during the intimacy that was meant to accompany it.

  Now, it was all being thrown back in his face. All his cleverness had left him with no claim to the omega he now recognized, if not by the bond that had formed between them when they mated then by the terror he had felt upon Yuri's disappearance, as his destined mate. It might not have been a matter of obsession at first sight as it had been with the other destined pairs. The earth hadn't shifted on its axis the moment the alpha and omega had met, but Benjamin's world certainly had, and without his notice. The Spirits had finally given him the mate he had convinced himself he was ready for, the mate he thought he deserved, for all his claims of humility he now knew to be false.

  It was no wonder Yuri had left. Benjamin could only assume he had rightfully gauged what a selfish, unworthy mate he would be saddled with if he stayed. If anything happened to the omega before he had the chance to put it right, Benjamin knew he would never forgive himself. No matter what he had to do in order to get that chance, undeserved as it was, he would do it. If it meant taking down Mitchell and every alpha in his territory, then dealing with the consequences the Tribunal would undoubtedly impose on him, then it was worth it. At least he would know Yuri wasn't suffering for his own poor decisions.

  "Mark or no mark," Heinrich said, speaking up on his son's behalf, "Yuri is still a member of our pack. You can't hold him here."

  "Again, if Council law applied, you'd be right," Mitchell said with a shrug. "Fact of the matter is, I'm not obligated to turn over any omega who seeks sanctuary in my pack of his own free will. Not even to the Council."

  Heinrich and Benjamin looked at each other, then back at the Mountain Ridge Alpha. "I'm not sure I follow," said the older wolf.

  "My mate and I run a rehabilitation program for abused and otherwise runaway omegas," Mitchell replied. "We're given license by the Tribunal itself to give shelter to any omega who requests it without interference by individual pack law. Or pack systems, in the Council's case."'

  "Abused?" Benjamin echoed in disgust. "Yuri isn't... Wait, you expect me to believe he ask
ed to be taken in? That he's not a prisoner?"

  Mitchell scoffed. "Only prisoners I've got earned their stay one way or another, and thanks to the fluffy wolves at the Tribunal, they all got a fair shake in court. Certainly no omegas. Yuri is here because he requested sanctuary, and it's my policy to give that to any omega who asks, no questions asked. Given the history of my own pack, I'm sure you can understand why that's so important."

  Benjamin could. The abuses that had gone on in the Mountain Ridge Pack's long-defunct Breeding Program were infamous. In recent years, the mega pack had become more well-known for its progressive ways. Mountain Ridge omegas were the ones who chose their mates, rather than agreeing to arrangements made by their families. It was something of a sore spot for certain wolves in the Council, but Benjamin had always admired it even if he didn't fully understand it.

  "Where is he now?" Benjamin asked warily.

  "With my mate. He's been screened by our medical team and given quarters with the other omegas in the program."

  "I can certainly understand why the program exists," mused Heinrich. "As much as it chafes me to think that there are alphas out there who make it necessary, it's a good service you're providing. That said, I think there's been a misunderstanding in this case."