The Omega's Mate: (11 page)

Cain pretended to ponder that.  “Well, I would never forgive myself if I didn’t check.”

Carly's lips curled up wickedly.  “In fact I think we should do a few tests.”

Cain leaned over and brushed his lips against hers.  He was in for a long night.  He couldn’t wait.

*

Cain sat up in bed suddenly.  The frame creaked under his abrupt movement. 
It had already suffered quite a rigorous work out a few hours earlier
.  He smirked just thinking of the way his mate screamed his name over and over.

Frowning, he realized she wasn’t lying next to him.  It was still dark outside; the moonlight danced through the window, illuminating the darkened room.

Cain’s eyes were drawn to the sliver of light from the door to the bathroom.  His bear whined as he heard a stifled sob.

With surprising speed, he flew to the bathroom to find his little mate crumpled on the floor, trying to stifle her sobs with a towel.  His heart almost broke at how wretched she looked.  She’d thrown on her lamb pajamas, making her look even smaller and more helpless.

Carly looked at him, with large red-rimmed eyes and quivering lips. “I’ll be fine.  You can go back to bed.”

His bear wailed at him.  Cain knelt on the ground and scooped her into his arms, gently stroking her hair.  “What’s wrong beautiful?”

Carly sniffled.  “It’s nothing really.  A few of my pack mates are upset so… I am too.”

Cain tightened his grip.  “Does this always happen?”

She calmed a little at having him near.  “No, only occasionally when things are bad, like when a lot of people are upset at once.  Sometimes, it just gets too much.”

He kissed her temple.  “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine, and I’ll be fine.  Seriously, you can go back to bed.”  She wanted to cling to him, to cry out all the hurt coursing through her, but experience told her that these extreme mood swings were too much for men.  She couldn’t bear it if she scared him away with her craziness.

“No beautiful, we’ll sit here together until you’re ready, and then we’ll both go back to bed.”

Carly tried to protest.  “You don’t…”

“Yes I do,” he told her firmly.  Even if he wanted to leave her, his bear would never allow it. 

Carly felt her eyes moisten again, but with happy tears.  Her doubts that she wasn’t good enough slowly floated away.  She snuggled into his warm, reassuring embrace, and allowed herself to fall asleep.

Chapter Thirteen

24
th
January

Carly tried to restrain her inner control freak as Cain pottered about her kitchen.  Or more like, barged around like a bear in a china shop, seriously,
bulls have nothing on bears!

He insisted he make her breakfast.  She was trying to enjoy the fact that he was doing something nice for her.  She really was.  But all she could focus on was the clattering of pots, the dropped eggs on the floor, the burning toast…
nope it was too much for her.

Swiftly Carly got to her feet and eased Cain onto a seat.  She flew around the kitchen, cleaning and cooking, and in no time at all, she had a big breakfast ready for both of them.

She twinkled at him.  “I’m guessing cooking’s not your strong suit.”

Cain leered at her as he reached under the table, his hand wandered up her leg.  “You already saw that last night.”

In spite of how intimate they had been, Carly blushed and looked away.  Cain hooted with laughter.

They had already eaten together once, but Carly was still amazed at how much food Cain put away.  Male wolves were ravenous beasts, but they were amateurs compared to this bear.  She watched in awe as he ate six eggs and a whole pack of bacon. 
Thank god she made extra.

Carly nibbled on her toast.  “I need to go and visit some of my pack mates.”

“What for?” asked Cain tightly.  He was trying not to sound too annoyed; he had been hoping they could hang around the house together.  Preferably naked.  His bear was still prowling, not liking the idea of her visiting others. 
Some of them may be male.

Carly placed her hand over his, soothing his annoyance away.  “I need to visit the pack members who were upset.  If I don’t, things might get worse, and you’ll find a quivering blob of jello on our bathroom floor again tonight.”

Cain’s shoulders shook.  “A blob of jello, huh?”

Carly playfully slapped his arm.  “You know what I mean.”

Cain caught her hand and brought it to his lips for a kiss.  “Our bathroom?”

“Hmm?”

Cain cocked her a sexy grin.  “You said it was our bathroom.  Not your bathroom.  Our bathroom.”

Heat dusted her cheeks.  “Oh… I guess it was just a slip…”

“I accept.”

Carly knitted her brows together.  “You accept what?”

“Your invitation to move in with you; I’ll get all my stuff out my truck, I can have it all in here in half an hour.”

“All your stuff’s already in your trunk?” 
Had he planned to move in with her?

Cain looked at her a little sheepishly.  “Yeah, after we… uhhh… first met, I was kind of angry.  When I got home, I sort of had a little disagreement with my landlord.  Anyway, long story short he kicked me out, so all my stuff’s packed in my truck.  I mean, I would have looked for a new place to live, but I was trying to find you.  That was more important.”

Her wolf danced around like a puppy. 
Yes, now all they needed to do was bond…
  Carly was about to tell him to slow down, but then she asked herself why.  Why shouldn’t he move in with her straight away?  He was her mate; she was certain they were going to be together forever, and god knows she didn’t like the idea of him ever leaving…  Actually things had turned out pretty well; here he was all ready just to move right on in.

“Kismet,” she murmured.

Cain swooped in and gave her a toe curling kiss.  When he finally let her go, he growled lightly as his bear bellowed his content.

Carly rubbed a thumb over her tingling lips.  “Not that I’m complaining, but what was that for?”

Cain curled a strand of her hair through his thick fingers.  “You said kiss me, so I did.”

She snickered.  “No I said kismet…”

Cain interrupted her with an even more devastating kiss.  He maneuvered her onto his lap, and his hands roamed inside her sweater.

Carly drew back, breathing heavily.  “Why don’t you come with me?”

Cain nestled his head in her shoulder.  “Huh?”

“Come with me, and visit my pack mates.  You get to meet them, and you get to see what I actually do.  And you get to see that you have nothing to be jealous of.”

His bear stirred at the idea. 
Nothing could happen if he were there with her
.  “Won’t your pack mates mind?”

Carly shrugged.  “Well, they’ll be your pack mates too soon enough, so they’ll have to get used to you being there.  Besides, there aren’t many secrets between pack.”

“Then yeah, I’d like that.”

Happiness fluttered inside her, and she sent some of it to Cain, making him laugh throatily.

Carly traced a finger over his ear.  “There’s just one thing we need to do first… kismet, kismet, kismet!”

*

Carly said they would start by visiting Terri Tanner.  Terri was almost five months pregnant, and generally very happy.  She just suffered horrific pregnancy sickness.  The sickness was liable to be worse for her as she was human, and her mate was a wolf.  Her mate, Mal Tanner, worried about her constantly, but her doctor assured them both she was fine, and he’d seen this before with other shifter and human pairings.  However, waking up at 2am in a morning to puke your guts out wasn’t fun, and Terri tended to get upset, which made Mal upset, and then Carly got upset. 

Carly was sure Terri was fine, but she thought it best to check.  The Tanners didn’t live very far away so, at Cain’s suggestion, they walked.  Carly wasn’t too keen on the idea, but grudgingly she did have to admit it wouldn’t hurt her to get a little fitter.  With all the extra exercise she was getting, courtesy of her mate, she needed to be in great condition. 
The bear was insatiable.
 

They held hands as they walked.  Carly giggled as she flicked her eyes to him.

Cain was suddenly self-conscious.  “What?  Do I have something on my face?”  Gingerly he rubbed his mouth and cheeks.

“No, just thinking how odd we must look together.”

Cain pursed his lips.  “Odd how?”

“Because you’re so big, and I’m so small… well relatively small anyway, my butt’s kind of big…”

Cain stopped unexpectedly.  He turned to face her, releasing her hand, and placing his on her shoulders.  He looked downright fierce. 
Carly shivered a little at the power he exuded.

“We look perfect together, and this ass?”  Cain slouched, sliding his hands down her back until he cupped her buttocks, gently kneading them.  “This ass is just perfect.”

Carly preened at the compliment whilst Cain began dragging her up his body.  She tutted and tapped his shoulder.  “Hey, no, we don’t have time; I want to catch Mal before he leaves for work.”

Reluctantly, and exceedingly grumpily, he released her, and they continued on their walk.

“So, as the Omega you’re kind of…”  Cain breathed through his teeth trying to find the words.

Carly trotted to keep up with his long strides, trying to pretend she wasn’t already panting from the exertion.  “Kind of what?”

Cain rolled his shoulders.  “I don’t know… kind of employed by the pack.”

Carly burst into laughter, making her mate grumble.  “I’m sorry; it’s just I’ve never heard it described in that way before.  It’s no more a job than being Alpha or Beta is; they’re just natural roles within the pack, that some wolves are instinctively born to be.”

“But aren’t you at the beck and call of all your pack mates?  Don’t you have to always do what they say?”

Carly shook her head.  “Not exactly.  I mean I have to obey the Alpha and the Beta, and others who are high up in the pecking order, like the female Alpha and the Chief Enforcer…”

She looked at him quizzically as he growled at the mention of Acksel, but chose to ignore that for now.  “But the Omega is more like a… ummm… treasured position in the pack,” she blushed slightly but continued, “we don’t really have a rank within the pack, we’re outside of it.  It’s the same for Don; as the pack tracker he’s also a treasured member.  We do get a wage from the pack though, usually because we don’t have time for jobs.”

“What about your shop?”

“Oh, well, we have a new Omega in the pack, so she’s taking some of my responsibilities.  It’s Kira from the Diner.”

Cain fidgeted remembering Kira’s disapproving glare.  “So, won’t Kira be visiting pack members too?”

“Doubtful, she’s a good Omega but she’s not very strong.”

Cain stopped them and looked at her curiously.  “And you?”

Carly looked at him shyly.  “I don’t want to sound conceited but yes, I’m quite a strong Omega.  I got my powers when I was 5.”

Cain marveled at his tiny mate; so small in body, and physically weak, yet so powerful in other ways. 
They were a perfect match.

“You’re not mad, are you?” she asked softly.

“No, just… impressed.”

He leaned down, and just as he was about to sweep her up in his arms, a wolf whistle sliced through the air.

Carly jumped back startled, to see one of Mal’s brothers leering at them.  Apparently they were closer to the Tanner house than she realized.

Cain growled and placed a protective arm around her.

Carly called out to the male wolf.  “Darryl Tanner, shouldn’t you be in School?”

Darryl was jangling some keys, walking towards his dad’s truck.  “Yeah, probably.  Terri and the asshat are inside.”  He saluted and grinned cheekily, before jumping in the truck and speeding away.

Carly figured the asshat must be Mal. 
The Tanner boys are always sooooo charming.

Cain snorted.  “Friend of yours?”

“No, pack mate of ours.  Come on, let’s go see Terri.”

*

Terri was feeling a lot better, and in spite of Mal’s fervent protestations that she was too ill to have guests, she eagerly invited Carly and Cain inside for a cup of tea. 
All coffee had been banned from the Tanner house since the smell made Terri nauseous.

Terri was thrilled to meet Cain, and delighted for Carly.  Mal barely noticed; he was too busy trying to entice his mate to sit down and rest.  Terri was a little tired after another sleepless night, so Carly soothed her a little, and managed to lull her into a nap before they left.  For which, a much harried Mal was very grateful.

Cain was especially pleased with how Carly gushed about Terri’s pregnancy.  His bear howled in joy; he couldn’t wait for them to have their own cub.  Or pup, either way.  He had visions of a few strapping bear sons, and a cute little she-wolf daughter.  Yep, three sons to one daughter seemed about right. 
He and his boys could scare off any potential boyfriends together.

Their next stop was to see Isaiah, the older wolf who Cain met at the hospital.  Carly refused to walk to his house; she insisted they go by car.

Isaiah was pleased of the company.  They spent a few hours with him and stayed for lunch.  Isaiah offered to cook, but Carly hurried him out of the kitchen.  Soon enough, she’d thrown together some delicious omelets, filled with peppers and chorizo.

Before they left, Carly eased Isaiah’s pain and told him he was welcome to visit her whenever he wanted.  She warmed as Cain echoed that sentiment.

Their third stop was with a young wolf called Casey Shaw.  Carly had never been close to him, but surprisingly he had sought out her company recently, for a very unexpected reason.  He’d always been a little too wild and promiscuous for her, but he was a pack member in need.  They found him at his parent’s home.  His mother was pregnant, and Casey was helping out as much as he could.  If nothing else, Casey loved his family.

Cain watched quietly as Carly expertly probed the young wolf.  Casey was reticent to talk about what was bothering him, even more so in Cain’s presence, but through gentle coaxing, Carly soon discovered the truth.  Casey had met his true mate, and she rejected him.  The wolf was torn between fury and hurt; he wanted to roar and burst into tears.

Cain’s heart went out to him.  The brief time when he had worried Carly would reject him had been torturous.  Carly tried her best to make him feel better, but she knew he wouldn’t be appeased until his mate accepted him. 
She prayed it would happen soon.

After Casey, there were just a few more brief stops.  A middle-aged wolf was stressing over paying for college for his three daughters.  Rosalee’s mother, Violet, was worried over her relationship with one of the pack wolves, fearing that she was betraying her late true mate.  Jolene, another pack mate, was upset after receiving threatening phone calls from her ex-husband.  Carly made sure Adam knew about that.

Finally, Carly made a phone call to Noa Lucas.  Hans and Acksel’s younger sister was at college in Florida; training to be a vet.  Noa was stressing over an upcoming test, but thankfully just talking to Carly helped.

The day had been kind of draining, so Carly decided to take a nap.  Since she was going to be asleep, and was too tired to have sex,
he asked her four times just in case she changed her mind about that
, he decided to do a bit of training.