Claiming My Omega: Blackwater Pack: Book 2 Read online

  Claiming My Omega

  Blackwater Pack: Book 2

  Liam Kingsley

  Contents

  1. Vaughn

  2. Finley

  3. Vaughn

  4. Finley

  5. Vaughn

  6. Finley

  7. Vaughn

  8. Finley

  9. Vaughn

  10. Finley

  11. Vaughn

  12. Finley

  13. Vaughn

  14. Finley

  15. Vaughn

  16. Finley

  17. Vaughn

  18. Finley

  19. Vaughn

  20. Finley

  21. Vaughn

  Epilogue

  Chapter 1 Preview – Claiming My Co-Worker

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  Claiming My Omega

  1

  Vaughn

  In the grand scheme of things, it probably hadn’t been all that long since I last came back to Blackwater. As an architect, my work kept me busier in Helena than it ever could back home — but that was exactly it. Blackwater would always be ‘home’, no matter where I hung my hat. Every couple of weeks there was something for our pack to celebrate, or at least it felt that way; our group of shifters was flourishing in the beautiful Montana wilderness, with mates and cubs springing up out of the blue.

  Take my best friend, Owen, for instance. Half a minute ago, it felt like we were in the same boat. Now his omega, Lukas, was almost ready to drop. They’d be fathers before we knew it — just like my cousin Ryker and Owen’s kid brother, Austin.

  Well. Not so much a kid any more, huh?

  I was twenty-eight. At this age, it shouldn’t feel so weird to see my friends settling down and starting families, but it did. No matter how hard I tried to displace it, the image of Owen I held in my head was still a teenager in the eyes despite the full beard — happy to hold the responsibility of his police work, but definitely not interested in adding a family to his plate. Now, as I parked outside his place and saw him coming out to meet me, there was a patchwork baby blanket tossed over one shoulder. No doubt about it, I’d been left in the dust.

  “You’re not even gonna trim that beard for your kid’s sake, huh?”

  I embraced Owen like a brother, feeling the force of his laughter in his chest. This was home, even more so than the ink-dark night-time waters of the creek and the well-built walls of my pack members’ houses. This was why I came back.

  “My kid’s gonna come out with a beard like this already,” said Owen. “Wait and see — boy or girl.”

  “Poor Lukas. He’s giving birth to your cub; the last thing he needs is to be tickled along the way.”

  I pulled back, taking in the warmth and happiness in his eyes. When I first moved away from Blackwater, I had worried that the pack would be angry with me. That the friends I’d loved since my childhood would take personal offense. I needn’t have been concerned.

  “Thanks for coming,” said Owen. “After you skipped out on Christmas, I figured we might be free of you for good.”

  “You know you’ve got an omega now?” I said. “You don’t need to worry about losing out on all the attention when I’m in town anymore.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Owen grinned. “Whatever, Casanova. I was planning on going to help set stuff up now. You want to come along?”

  “Sure.”

  We made our way to the Moore Family Country Club. With the windows rolled down, I could breathe in the clean small-town air around me. Okay — maybe there was something physical I missed about home too, instead of just my fellow shifters.

  “So,” I said, turning to face Owen as he drove. “Fatherhood, huh?”

  “I know.” He gave me a wide-eyed look. “I can hardly believe it myself.”

  “And committed to an omega, too.”

  Owen shook his head, an unfamiliar smile stretching onto his face. “Don’t think you’re any more surprised about it than I am. It crept up on me, but… he’s perfect.”

  I bit my tongue, not sure how this new Owen would take a playful joke at his omega’s expense. Once upon a time, we had traded off-color jokes about mated pairs like it was going out of style; now that he had joined them, I somehow suspected it wouldn’t go down the same way. Something in my face must have changed, because I saw his smile reshape into concern.

  “It’s okay that you’re here, right? I don’t want to drag up any shitty feelings, or…”

  “No, it’s fine.”

  “I want to celebrate with you,” he insisted. “Your joy is my joy. Pretty sure it goes both ways. But I don’t want you feeling like the odd alpha out, or… you know.” He paused, wary of speaking for a few beats. When it finally came out, he still only managed one abstract word, disconnected from its broader meaning. “Kids.”

  “Don’t be crazy,” I said, waving a hand at him. I answered quickly on purpose, preferring to deny it before I thought about it. Before I knew if I meant it or not. The truth was, it didn’t matter either way. I wasn’t going to ruin Owen and Lukas’s baby shower with my sadness or bitterness, if there was any. This wasn’t about me.

  Besides, he was right. Their happiness was my happiness, and I was still thrilled for them. Whatever underlying feelings I had to complicate that, it couldn’t take that away.

  Even so, Owen didn’t seem convinced. He hummed, making a turn into the country club. “Well… don’t be a masochist,” he said. “You feel like your mood’s heading downhill, take a breather outside. Cut off lovey-dovey couple stories with fake puking sounds. You have my permission.”

  I smiled, already safe in the knowledge that I wouldn’t do either. “Thanks.”

  “Alternatively?” he said, bringing the car to a stop, “Go omega shopping. We’ve got a load of unmatched friends of Lukas’s coming today.”

  “And since when have I needed an invitation to do that?”

  Owen grinned right back at me. “Guess so, you whore. Just… have fun, right?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “And if you should happen to fall in love while you’re spreading your pheromones around every unclaimed omega at my baby shower, then that’s fine too.”

  “What are you?” I teased. “My fairy godmother?”

  “Hey, it happened to me. It could happen to you.”

  I slipped out of the car, lips tweaked into a slight smirk. I knew where Owen was coming from. Romance seemed to sneak up on everybody it claimed — but I was fairly sure that it wasn’t going to happen to me. For one thing, it never had before. Even the most serious of my past relationships had disintegrated before that four-letter L-word came into play, and I didn’t feel particularly wounded by that.

  Let alone that after my accident, I was also tainted goods.

  “I’ve said my piece, V,” said Owen. “I won’t drag it out. Let’s go get all these balloons and streamers set up.”

  “Balloons and streamers?” I repeated, shaking my head. “What’s happening to you?”

  Of course, I knew the answer already — and as we stepped into the country club to a brightly lit room full of flowers and color, the evidence was staring us right in the face.

  I watched the smile wash over Owen as he set eyes on his pregnant omega, and saw that potent joy reflected right back at him. Even with the swell of Lukas’s stomach between them as they greeted each other, they looked closer than the physical plane allowed. They looked like the rest of the world had vanished around them.

  A few seconds later, it all came back. Owen stepped back to nod at me. “Look what the moon dragged in.”

  “Vaughn! You came.”

  I could practically hear the tears in Lukas�
�s voice. I grinned, watching him lift a hand to his heart.

  “Hey, Almost-Daddy,” I chuckled. “I see pregnancy’s doing wonders for those hormones.”

  “Oh, God. Yeah. I’m a mess.”

  Owen laughed, winding his arm around his mate’s waist to tug him closer. “Feelings are a lot right now, huh?”

  “Yeah.”

  Lukas leaned into Owen’s arm. By the glow on his face, he drew comfort from his alpha’s touch. There was an energy buzzing in the air that only they shared — some warm and golden resonance that bound them together, buoyed up by each other’s attention and love.

  I made an effort to pin up my smile, feeling it waning. Maybe Owen was right after all. Maybe it would kind of suck being around all these blissfully happy universes of two.

  And baby makes three.

  “Well, the room looks beautiful,” I said, leading the conversation on to easier territory. “I got roped into helping set up, but it seems like you’re done.”

  “Oh, no,” Lukas said. “Not yet. I mean… thank you, but there are a thousand things left.”

  “You do know you’re not meant to be planning your own shower, right?” Owen teased.

  I tuned out from the details, trying to guess at what jobs I might be put to. There were string lights to put up, and maybe there were still things to lay on the tables. If I was lucky, I might be able to go out and buy something they’d forgotten. That way, I could get that breath of air Owen had offered me without showing that I’d taken it.

  The loneliness creeping over me was bad enough by itself, especially after denying it to Owen. It’d be almost unbearable if I had to talk about it.

  ///

  Seeing my fellow pack members made me wonder why I’d spent so much time away. I’d missed a lot of them — and others, I’d never laid eyes on. Like any healthy shifter pack, we were gaining fresh blood all the time. It was a lot for me to keep up with, living away, but I still liked seeing the steady mix of new and old wolves around me.

  One wolf in particular, actually.

  I weaved through the crowd, pretending not to notice the smorgasbord of omega pheromones that spilled my way. Whether living out in Helena made me mysterious and exotic, I didn’t know — but every time I came back to Blackwater, there seemed to be a sea of omegas waiting for me. Ordinarily, I’d probably sidle up to the one with the strongest scent and let him preen — but right now, I was an alpha on a mission.

  Avoiding the eyes of every omega who tried it on, I slid over to the buffet table. Owen was filling two plates, but wasn’t too distracted to notice when I nodded across the room with slightly narrowed eyes. “That blond,” I said. “Who’s that?”

  ‘Blond’ was probably an understatement. The young man in question had a shock of white hair — short on the sides, and styled into long, soft waves on top. He was too far away to say for sure, but his eyes were so big and wide that I could have sworn I caught a flash of silver-gray. He was reasonably tall, but so slim and unassuming in posture that he seemed to sink into the crowd around him. Natural camouflage. I felt lucky to have spotted him — this self-dulled diamond I almost recognized.

  Almost. But I still needed Owen to help me out.

  He grinned. “The willowy one? That’s Lukas’s TA. Don’t you recognize him from Ryker and Austin’s shower?”

  The memory rushed back to me in a burst of stars. I clicked my fingers. “Damn it. That’s where I’ve seen him before. You’re right.” In my mind’s eye I saw him shrouded in the club’s playful darkness. Here and now, with bright light illuminating him, he was even more appealing. “What’s his name?”

  “Well, well. Should I be chaperoning you over there and making formal introductions?”

  “Fuck off, Owen.” I stole a vol-au-vent from the plate I presumed to be his; the other was loaded down with bizarre combinations that could only be Lukas’s pregnancy cravings. “I’ll go talk to him. I hear you loud and clear.”

  He gave a satisfied smirk, letting my snack-theft slide. “It’s Finley King. Fin, for short. He’s a sweet kid, so… play nice.”

  “As if I wouldn’t.”

  Owen drifted off with a wink, ferrying food back to his mate. The more I saw him doing it, the more it seemed natural for him to inhabit this role. The transition from single, unattached alpha to committed family man was smoother than I thought — but maybe it wouldn’t be like that for everybody. Certainly not for me.

  Still, the thought of staving off the solitude with a gorgeous omega’s company was a pleasant one. It’d make a nice distraction from all the hand-holding couples around me, and the growing sense of unease they prompted in my lone-wolf chest. Sure, it’d only be a one-night thing. It usually was, for me — but with a face like Fin’s, how was I supposed to stay away?

  2

  Finley

  Parties like these made me feel like I was split in two. It made my heart sing to see our whole pack gathering together, thrilled to celebrate the joy of two of their own, but it also reminded me just how different I was than every other shifter in the room. For the hundredth time, I wondered what it must feel like to have grown up mired in this kind of collaborative, familial spirit, and knowing that it would be there to lift you up when you had something to celebrate. To be sure of that, without feeling you had something to prove first.

  If I had that certainty, would I still be clinging to the edge of the room for shyness’ sake, eyes darting down every time a stranger met them, and looking instead of living?

  On a logical level I knew I belonged here, of course. Though I was adopted and raised by human parents, I had moved to join the Blackwater pack long ago enough now that I knew I was liked and wanted. Any remaining self-consciousness was all my own, and some sensible part of me knew that. It was just easy to get lost in those negative thinking traps sometimes, bogged down by old insecurities — and some unresolved ones.

  After all, there was something else that separated me from the rest of the crowd.

  Or, more accurately, something that didn’t separate me from the crowd.

  Unlike most omegas my age, I was still waiting for my first heat. Sure, I was still an omega by scent, but it was faint and subtle. In a room like this, full of wolves with much stronger and more enticing post-heat hormones, I didn’t stand a chance of catching any alpha’s attention. Let alone my future mate.

  If he existed.

  I cast my eyes around the room, letting a little wishful thinking guide me. There were a lot of alphas still on the market in Blackwater. Even if I knew they weren’t interested in me, I could still daydream about how it would feel to catch somebody’s attention. To feel like the only omega in the room, even surrounded by people.

  I swallowed as my gaze fell on the tall, handsome figure of Vaughn Bennett.

  Sure, Fin. I told myself. Dream on.

  This wasn’t the first time I’d found my eyes catching on this handsome Houdini. He only seemed to appear in Blackwater for big milestones and celebrations, shimmering in and out of existence like some kind of musky mirage. It wasn’t just me that noticed, either. Every time he appeared in town, he seemed to be surrounded by a miasma of thirsty omegas clamoring for his attention.

  Okay, maybe that was unkind. Maybe I was just jealous that they had something to offer him. If I did, I’d probably count myself among them, all glowy-eyed at his sharp jawline and well-tended facial hair. The honey-brown of his eyes, and the wicked twist of his smile.

  I sighed, turning back to my beer, and tried to convince myself that he was probably an asshole. That wasn’t likely, considering he was such a close friend of Owen and Lukas’s, but it’d be so much easier if he was a jerk. If it wasn’t so easy to picture that handsome smile shining over at me, and an arm snaking around my waist, and…

  “He’s pretty, huh?”

  I jumped, almost spilling my beer as I turned to see Lukas standing beside me.

  He grinned, sharing the windowsill I leaned against, and gestured in Vaughn’
s direction, ignoring my flustering. “You’re allowed to bow to your inner horny omega, you know. We’re not at school right now. There are no kids present.”

  “Your bump doesn’t count, huh?” It was meant to be a joke, but I soon rushed to wave my hands and dismiss it as Lukas’s eyes brimmed with tears. “No, no! I’m just teasing.”

  “I know,” he said, patting his heart. “Don’t worry; I’m fine. I just remembered this is happening and… well. This happens a lot.”

  I nodded, willing to play along and pretend that this was the first time I’d seen him burst into tears over nothing recently. In truth, his powerful emotions made my stomach feel warm. Lukas was a great teacher to TA for and train with. He’d already taught me so much, above and beyond the call of duty — but he had also shown himself to be a really sweet person. I couldn’t imagine anybody who deserved this kind of happiness more than he did.

  “As long as you’re okay,” I said. For a moment, I was secretly grateful that the subject had veered away from Vaughn, but that gratitude soon faded back to embarrassment as I saw Lukas nod in his direction.

  “I saw you staring at him at Ryker and Austin’s, too, for what it’s worth.”

  I winced. Maybe I was one of those thirsty omega groupies after all.

  “You should say hi.”

  “Are you kidding?” I said, voice briefly rising to an embarrassing squeak. “Absolutely not.”

  Lukas tutted, folding his arms over the swell of his stomach. “Look, I know he’s hot, but he’s really not that intimidating when you get to know him. You know he’s an architect, don’t you? You burrow down deep enough, you’ll see he’s kind of a nerd. I think you guys would get along.”