Posing for the Omega (For the Alpha #2)(16)

I was completely alone and my back was still sore, but not as sore as I’d expected it to be. How long has I been asleep? I rubbed my belly which growled hungrily, my pups demanding their daily twenty meals. Even through the hunger pains I couldn’t stop remembering what had happened after I’d taken Zora’s hand.

He’d helped me up and had inspected me for injuries and then we’d walked back to the dens along with the beta’s who carried the female luperci. We didn’t speak a word about the attack on the walk back and I went straight to my den where I’d curled up on my furs trying to find any semblance of safety. I’d keep my promise for now to hide the truth from the others, but I wouldn't forever. I needed to understand everything first, and I’d start by looking for answers for Zora himself.

I got up slowly and walked out of the den and into the morning sunlight. Was it early morning? Had I really slept into the next day?

“Ira?” Koda called out as he trotted up to my den with wide concerned green eyes.

“Koda? What’s wrong?” I asked, looking him over for any sign of injury under his black coat.

“Nothing except your mutant ass was holed up in your den for almost half a day, and alpha told us to leave you alone. What the hell is going on? Where the hell did that wolf come from? It looks like you— is it one of the blood wolves?” He looked around at as if looking for prying pack members that would hear us.

I looked around the dens and noticed others were looking curiously in the direction of the other end of the camp. What were they looking at? “I-I can’t tell you.” Wasn’t that a load of rotten cotton tails? For once I wanted to tell my asshole brother something and I couldn’t tell him anything. It burned deep inside not to spew everything to my brother, just so I could get the giant weight off my chest.

“What the hell do you mean you can’t tell me?” Koda asked, his ears laying flat against his skull in an obvious sign of irritation.

“I need to talk to Zora first.” And possibly hit him over the head with something really hard repeatedly. That gave me a large level of satisfaction just thinking about it. He’d deserve it after keeping something so big hidden from me. What was even the point? Did he not trust me? Or worse was everything a lie? He’d told me to trust him if I couldn’t forgive him, but how could I trust anything he said after he’d hid something so important?

“Talk to the alpha? Ira something is going on I can fucking tell. Now, tell me what is going on. Why were you asleep for so long?” Koda fidgeted his ears laying back anxiously against his skull.

“I can’t talk about it until I talk to Zora,” I said to him, wanting to steer the conversation away from the current topic. “What is the pack looking at?”

Koda looked over his shoulder at the other wolves who were attempting to go about their business but staring off into one general direction. “That’s where they’re holding the blood wolf. The pack is wary she’ll get loose.” Koda said as he looked back at me.

The female. With everything going on with Zora I’d almost forgotten about the reason I even knew his secret. I looked at the other side of the dens, farther than I could see, but I knew she was tied up just beyond the farthest dens. They had taken her captive then? Maybe she was where I needed to start. She had known about the luperci, and regardless of what happened I don’t think she was attempting to hurt me when she’d pushed me. No, she’d been after my alpha and somehow she’d known what he was. “Where is alpha?”

Koda shifted uncomfortably— something that was so unusual for him. “None of the pack has seen him for a few hours.”

No wolf had seen him for...hours? My heart dropped in my chest and my stomach cramped painfully. My mate hadn’t been seen by anyone for hours. “What the hell do you mean no one has seen him for hours? What about Alloy?” My voice came out a deep rumble, assaulting my brother with questions.

“Alloy said the alpha doesn’t want to be bothered. That’s why I came to talk to you, and ask you what the fuck is going on!” Koda barked irritably.

“It’s none of your hog barfing business!” Mother fucking hairy moose balls he’d scared me. I’d thought maybe Zora had been taken by the blood wolves. “Why didn’t you just start by saying he’d left on his own?” Granted that didn’t make me feel a hundred percent better, but at least I knew he wasn’t taken. I was angry, confused, and even scared, but I didn’t want him hurt. I couldn’t take it if he was hurt.

“None of my business?” Koda narrowed his green eyes.

“Yeah. As in keep your nose out of my rear end! This is between me and my alpha.” I snapped.

Koda growled. “No Ira it’s not! Whatever is going on between you and the alpha affects us all! You’re the alpha mate and he is the alpha everything you do affects the pack! Stop thinking about just yourself for once, not everything revolves around you and your desperate need for acceptance!”

His words burned me almost as efficiently as a fire's flames would. Why would he say something so cruel? Had I only been thinking about me? “I-I’m not desperate for acceptance.” Now that was a lie, wasn’t it? I’d left my last pack to find acceptance, I’d endured Naga for it, I’d bruised every part of my body working for it and I was holding back life threatening secrets because I was afraid it would jeopardise it. So yeah, that was a lie.