Hunting Ground (Alpha & Omega #2)(46)

"This I have seen," he said.

"Right, then. That's something you and I are missing. I mean, I can still tell-even with humans-who is in charge and who isn't. But it doesn't have anything to do with their relationship with me."

"Ja," he said jerking his head up and slapping the desk. "I thought there was something wrong with me, that I did not feel this. That I did not feel the need to drop my eyes or bow my head."

"They probably didn't even think to tell you," Anna told him. "And... it is still safer to drop your eyes around the more dominant wolves."

He took a deep breath and leaned forward. "I thought they had trouble hurting ones such as you and I."

Anna pulled back. "Yeah, well, there's always the crazy ones."

"Isaac, my Alpha, he told me that there was a problem, yesterday. I saw it, but I couldn't decipher it myself. He says something scared you, and every wolf in the room was ready to defend you-and they were all looking at the wolves next to them to see who the problem was. That is to do with being Omega, too?"

Anna sighed. "I told you something about my first pack-they left me with a few issues. Too many dominant wolves, and I turn into a chicken. What do you know about the difference between the dominant wolves and the submissive ones?"

He shrugged. "They tell me nothing. These wolves, they don't talk much. Me, they will tell you, I talk all the time. Or maybe you have noticed. How can we solve things if we do not talk? Talking is useful. But I watch, too. The dominant wolves fight with each other and take care of the submissive wolves. The submissive ones, they are no threat. They need to be taken care of, though-a pat on the head. A reassuring touch is necessary for them."

"I had it explained in very simple words," said Anna. "Dominant wolves"-she deepened her voice to a passable baritone, but she couldn't quite get Asil's accent-"their instincts tell them to protect with violence and control their environment. They are ready to kill. The more dominant the wolf, the quicker he is to kill. Less dominant wolves cede the authority to protect to the more dominant wolf. An Alpha is the ultimate control freak, ready to kill anyone who threatens his pack. He protects the weaker from the strong and suffers no defiance of his will. There's other stuff, magic stuff, but that's the gist of it."

"Yes," he said. "I have seen this."

"Submissive wolves are the kinder, gentler wolves. They are missing the killing instinct. That doesn't mean they won't kill under the right circumstances, just that it is not their first answer to every problem. They don't need to control everyone around them. With a submissive wolf, a dominant wolf will relax because the lesser wolf is no threat."

"All right. Yes."

"An Omega wolf is an Alpha wolf who is extremely zen."

There was a little pause as he absorbed that. She grabbed a handful of nuts and came up with a bunch of Brazil nuts and a peanut. Angus, evidently, didn't like Brazil nuts.

Finally, Ric said slowly, "An Alpha is the most dominant wolf in the pack, the most prone to violence."

Anna nodded. "No one gives him crap, and his job is to protect his pack. No one gives Omegas crap either, and our job is to protect our packs, even from themselves. The zen part comes because we don't have to kill anyone to get our way."

"Alpha," he said it again, to get the feel of it. And there was a little punch behind it. Anger, even.

"Alpha," said Anna, eating a nut. She didn't mind Brazil nuts, though she preferred almonds. "Minus most of the tough stuff, and our magic stuff is different. With our magic, we make our pack happy."

Ric grinned at her.

"While the Alpha can pull strength, even magic, from all the pack, the Marrok-and this is only the smallest part of what makes him scary-can pull from all of his Alphas. I don't think we have anything like that. But yeah, you don't have to listen when the big bad wolves want to boss you around. Omega doesn't mean weak."

Evidently he could be quiet, too, because he tilted his head toward the ceiling and thought for about ten minutes-long enough that Anna had time to think over what she had told him. She hadn't been acting like an Alpha with zen; she'd been acting like a submissive wolf... No, because even a submissive wolf didn't usually put her tail between her legs at the first sign of a dominant wolf, as she had been doing. She had killed a vampire. She had killed a witch so scary that she'd chased Asil out of his home and kept him on the run for two hundred years. Asil, the Moor, whose name was whispered with awe (or, sometimes snarled) wherever he went.

Grumpily, she picked up her book and stared at the page.

"Anna," he said, at last.

"Yes?"

"I would like to teach my pack this truth of yours. That I am not a child, a plaything they may find convenient. An uber-submissive wolf, yes? They must see me for the zen wolf that I am."

Zen wolf. That had a bigger punch than Omega.

"And how have you decided to do it?"

He smiled at her, his face lit with mischief. "I have an intention. Tonight there is to be a feast, yes? And after that, a hunt. Anyone not a submissive wolf may join in the hunt. That exclusion is for their protection, with so many dominants about. Anyone. I think that I should hunt."

Chapter EIGHT

CHARLES was most comfortable by himself or, if that wasn't possible, with his pack in the wild. Talking for hours in a crowded auditorium was not on any list of things he enjoyed-or things he was good at. At least no one had died. Yet.