The Omega's Heart (Wilde Creek Four)
Read The Omega's Heart (Wilde Creek Four) Online
Authors: R.E. Butler
Tags: #wolf, #pack, #mate, #shifter, #mating, #wilde creek
The Omega’s Heart
(Wilde Creek Four)
by R. E. Butler
Copyright 2015 R. E. Butler
The Omega’s Heart (Wilde Creek Four)
By R. E. Butler
License Notes
This book is licensed for your personal
enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other
people. If you would like to share this book with another person,
please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re
reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased
for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you
for respecting the hard work of the author.
Cover by Ramona Lockwood
This ebook is a work of fiction. Names,
characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s
imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to
actual persons, living or dead, events or locations is
coincidental.
Disclaimer: The material in this book is for
mature audiences only and contains graphic sexual content. It is
intended for those older than the age of 18 only.
* * * * *
I’d like to thank Alexis Arendt for editing
this story.
Much thanks to my best sisterfriend and the
twin of my heart, Joyce Bange, for beta-reading and for always
being there.
Thanks to Shelley Chastagner for her
eagle-eye and graciousness with her time.
Many heartfelt thanks to my Aunt B.L. and my
husband. I love you both.
Hugs and thanks to the Wild Shifter Babes
Street Team for their continued support and all-around
awesomeness.
Special thanks to Chelsea Snow for stepping
in when others failed, and for having my back in too many ways to
count. Love you writer twin!!
* * * * *
Table of Contents
Chapter
1
Honey Williams stood outside her father’s
study and eavesdropped on his phone conversation. For the last few
months, he’d been acting strangely, and she hadn’t been able to
figure out what was going on with him. They’d never really been
close — she’d wanted to be when she was younger, but he never had
time for her. Her mother had run off with another wolf when Honey
was a toddler. She had no actual memories of her mother, but she
did have some pictures thanks to her grandmother, who moved in with
them and raised her. Grandma Stacy wouldn’t talk about Vicky,
Honey’s mother, but that probably had less to do with her own
sadness than her father’s decree that no one could speak about
her.
She sucked in a slow breath and listened
intently through the closed door.
“I had hoped you’d be willing to come on the
full moon,” her father said. There was a long pause and then he
said, “Two days after? That’s acceptable, as long as she’s as pure
as you say.” He snorted loudly and said, “I can’t promise the same
thing, unfortunately, but the alliance favors us both, even if mine
isn’t pure.”
Pure? Why did he keep talking about something
pure? And what ‘she’ was he referring to? Her phone vibrated in her
pocket and she tiptoed quickly away, stopping in the kitchen before
she answered.
“Hey girl,” Trixie, her human best friend
from college, nearly shouted after Honey answered.
It was hard not to smile. Trixie was always
enthusiastic. “Hi Trix. What’s up?”
“I’m calling because you haven’t given me a
final answer about the bachelorette party for Heidi on Saturday.
She wants you there. You’re the one who introduced her to
Rick.”
Heidi, her other human best friend, had been
a shy, quiet girl from a tiny town when she, Trixie, and Honey
shared a room their freshman year in college. Honey had been
invited to a wolf fraternity party and brought her friends with
her, and Heidi had met Rick, who was almost as shy and quiet as she
was.
“I know. I haven’t decided yet. The full moon
is Monday.”
“Why can’t you celebrate the full moon with
Rick’s pack? They’re really friendly and welcoming. Not like
someone else’s pack I know.”
Honey grimaced. “Every pack is different. I
don’t expect you to understand. It’s not like being part of a
family; it’s more complicated than that.”
There was a long pause and Trixie said,
“Rick’s dad is alpha. His sister, Ronda, has never lived under the
oppression you have. I’m surprised your father let you go to
college. He made you go home every full moon, and you couldn’t join
any of the wolf sororities.”
“I didn’t really want to.”
“Oh, bullshit. Lycan Delta Ru had amazing
parties, plus they did all kinds of community service projects
around town, and I know you love helping people.”
“Why are you harping on me about my pack?”
Honey snapped.
Trixie sighed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to
be a bitch. I just worry about you and I miss you.”
Honey closed her eyes and exhaled loudly. “I
miss you and Heidi, too. You don’t have to worry about me, okay? My
dad is alpha. No one messes with me.”
The strange phone call she’d just overheard
flitted through her mind, but she pushed it away, even though it
made her heart grow heavy with suspicion.
“Okay, okay. I’m never going to stop worrying
about you, though. You’re my best friend.”
“You’re mine, too.”
“So, the bachelorette party? I got chocolate
suckers that look like dicks. It’ll be fun!”
Honey laughed. “Well, that changes
everything. I’ll see what my dad says, okay? No promises, but if
I’m able to come I’ll have to leave in time to be back here for the
full moon.”
“Love you, bestie.”
“Love you too.”
Honey put the phone on the counter and stared
at the blank screen. She wanted to be part of Heidi’s bachelorette
party, but she purposely hadn’t talked to her dad about it because
she was afraid he would say no. He was weird about the full moon.
She’d never been allowed to miss one, no matter what was going on
at college. One full moon she’d been honored for her high grades by
the university president, but her dad didn’t care. He ordered her
home, threatening not to allow her to return if she didn’t show up.
In comparison to what other wolves dealt with in their own packs,
she knew her pack was strict. Some packs were more progressive, but
in her pack, the females had zero rights unless they were given
them by their fathers or mates. Her father let her go to college,
which was a small miracle in and of itself, but otherwise her
activities were rigidly controlled.
The hairs on the back of her neck stood up
and she spun around to find the pack beta, Shred, standing in the
doorway of the kitchen. He was a huge male, with scars on his neck
and arms from many years of brutal fighting. His head was shaved,
and his darkly tanned skin always looked dirty.
She picked up her phone and slipped it into
her back pocket. Shred gave her the creeps. He was always watching
her. She glanced at the door to the back patio, but she didn’t have
shoes or a coat on, and she didn’t want to go outside just to get
away from him. Keeping her gaze down so she didn’t make eye
contact, she walked slowly toward the doorway and tried to slip by
him.
She almost made it through, but he stopped
her, shoving her shoulder and spinning her around so her cheek
pressed against the open door and his thick fingers covered the
back of her neck.
She gasped in shock, struggling to get away,
but his grip tightened and she froze, knowing he could snap her
neck in a heartbeat if he chose. His hand slipped down her back in
a rough caress and she squeezed her eyes shut. He dug in her back
pocket and pulled her phone free. Leaning into her, until she was
pressed hard into the door, he held the phone where she could see
it, entered her passcode, and scrolled through her recent
calls.
He grunted and shoved the phone into her
pocket. He leaned harder, pushing her into the door. She squeaked
out a protest. He bent, his lips brushing against her ear. “I
would’ve liked to be the one to break you, little bitch. You would
have been fun to play with.”
He licked her cheek and chuckled darkly
before pushing off the door and disappearing. Honey slipped to the
floor in relief, gasping for breath and shaking. She struggled to
her feet, forcing her trembling legs to hold her up as she hurried
down the hall to Stacy’s bedroom. Shutting and locking the door,
she sat down on the bed and hugged her arms around herself. Shred
had always looked at her like he was thinking about all the vile
things he wanted to do to her, but he’d never put his hands on her
like that. She was tempted to go to her dad, but she knew that
between the two of them, her father wouldn’t take her side. If
Shred lied, he’d believe him. And even if Shred told the truth, she
wasn’t sure her dad would care. All Shred had really done was check
her phone. That he knew her passcode when she’d never given it to
anyone was worrisome, but not nearly so much as the threat that
Shred might ask her dad if he could play with her. The way he said
play
didn’t conjure images of a friendly game of
checkers.
She shuddered and scrubbed her cheek with her
sleeve as she shoved the disgusting thoughts of Shred out of her
mind. Stretching out on her back, she stared at the ceiling and
willed herself to relax.
Stacy had passed in the night six months ago,
going to sleep and never waking up. Honey was still grieving, but
coming into the room by herself and spending time with her
grandma’s things helped her to not feel so sad. Today, when she was
suddenly feeling like a noose was tightening around her throat
because of her father’s strange conversation and Shred’s odd
threat, she craved the solace of Stacy’s quiet room. Her grandma
had a good, long life. She’d been Honey’s biggest supporter and the
strongest woman she’d ever known. Lying on the handmade quilt that
topped the full-size bed, Honey ran her hands over the lovingly
stitched blanket and whispered, “I don’t have a good feeling in the
pit of my stomach about my future, Grandma.”
The response to her statement was silence;
not that she’d expected to suddenly see the ghost of her grandma
with some sage advice, but she liked to talk to her, sure that she
could still hear her and was watching over her.
She hummed, tilting her head in thought.
Grandma Stacy had died six months ago. Three months ago, Honey had
turned twenty-five and that was when her dad started to act weird.
Although always rigid in his authority over her, he’d suddenly
become downright stifling in his demands. She’d lived away from
home in college, but had moved back after she graduated at
twenty-three. Aside from her being part of the full moon hunts,
he’d never asked or expected much of her. Then Stacy died, and
suddenly her father restricted the freedoms she’d enjoyed, only
allowing her to go to approved pack functions where he or his
highly ranked males would keep an eye on her. And she’d twice found
tracking software installed on her cell phone.
Growing up in the pack-only small town of
Wyling River, Honey had little interaction with humans until she
went to college. She wanted to get out and explore the world a
little before she settled down and found her mate. College was
eye-opening. Wolf sororities and fraternities welcomed her as the
daughter of a powerful alpha, males tried to woo her into choosing
them as her mate, and all the females wanted to be her friend.
The word ‘pure’ kept floating through her
mind, and she wondered what her dad had been talking about.
Whatever the ‘pure’ thing was, it was coming two days after the
full moon, which was in six days.
Her phone buzzed; she pulled it from her
pocket and saw an alert about Heidi’s bachelorette party. She
hadn’t planned to go, but maybe it wasn’t a bad idea. She could be
back in time for the full moon on Monday, and since that was all
that her father seemed to care about, he shouldn’t mind her going.
Resolving to get away from Wyling River for a few days to clear her
head, she texted Trixie that she was going to be able to
attend.
