Chapter 10

Ten

CALEB

I felt bad for this innocent omega.

She didn't do anything to the Onxypaw Pack, and yet they treated her like garbage. It bothered me to no end, and I vowed to fucking take revenge. They would not hear the end of it, and I would make sure they didn't try to join another dating agency ever again.

"Please give me a moment," she said in a shaky voice.

She was in the closet. Omegas craved small enclosed spaces when they were emotional, nesting, or in heat. I respected that, but I had to go in there. This disaster was completely my fault.

"We should have done better," said Bruce, shaking his head.

"Don't blame yourself," said Dravin, clapping me on the shoulder.

I opened the closet door, seeing her small form curled up under my suits hanging above her. I was going in there, whether she liked it or not.

"Please go away," she whimpered, covering her face with her hands, and turning towards the wall. Her wavy black hair came out of its bun, tumbling down her back and down the blue dress she was so excited to wear today. I gently placed my hand on her shoulder, trying not to startle her.

She didn't move or flinch when I touched her.

"Jade," I said. She slowly turned around and uncovered her face. It was obvious that she was crying. This meeting had broken her heart.

"You said my name," she whispered, looking confused.

"You're not just any random omega," I said. "Today wasn't your fault at all, Jade. I will find a pack worthy of your attention."

Jade looked down, her face falling.

"What is it?" asked Bruce, crowding in next to us.

"I don't want to go through this process again," she said. "To get my hopes up and then crushed because I'm not a virgin."

I was curious about her past and who in the hell she slept with. And who she deemed worthy. But it didn't matter to me at all.

"If it had worked out, you would have been stuck with the gelled eyebrows guy, Brent," said Nick.

His comment made her smile, and I was glad it did. She would get over this.

Eventually.

After lots of comforting and hugging her, we managed to pull her away from the closet and onto the bed. Nick and Dravin sat on either side of her. Nick dabbed at her tears with a tissue, and Dravin purred into her ear. Damn, my pack is ready to take care of an omega . But I couldn't take on a new omega. I wasn't ready.

"I'll be back," I told them. They were too entranced with Jade, and that wasn't good at all. We would lose potential business.

When I left the room and went downstairs, I noticed Bruce had followed me. Bruce's whole demeanor changed. He looked anxious and upset for some reason.

"I think we should keep her," he said.

"Are you talking about Jade?"

"Of course. Who the fuck else would I be talking about? Stop dodging the question, Caleb."

I rubbed my eyes. It had been a tiresome failure of a day, and I lost a cool million-dollar deal already.

"I'm not ready to take on a new omega," I explained for the hundredth time.

"But we are. It's been five years since Glenda was murdered," said Bruce, with no mercy in his eyes. "We need to move on and take a new wife."

My heart ached at the sound of her name, but it wasn't as bad as it had been when it was fresh. I found her in our backyard, completely mutilated by something wild. Found with wolf claw marks all over her. Her body was nearly unrecognizable. I failed at my job of protecting her.

And I wasn't going to let that happen again.

"We cannot," I said, shaking my head.

Bruce let out an audible sigh. "If you're not taking on an omega anytime soon- I'm not sure I want to stay in this pack any longer."

What the fuck was he thinking? Leaving a pack was unheard of in Howl's Edge.

"A pack stays together and loyal to whatever the pack leader decides," I said, hackles rising. "I don't need to tell you that, Bruce."

"I need time to think," said Bruce, leaving out the front door without another word. "You're being unreasonable."

He was the most emotional alpha I ever met, but his heart was in the right place. He was frustrated with me, but I would give him time to cool off. He would be back.

And if not…I would be furious if he left over an omega.

"Hey Ma," I said, walking in through the front door of the guesthouse when she didn't answer the door.

I had a plate of food from Dravin's feast, and I wanted her to have some even though she isolated herself from people living in this tiny house. It was a two-room building with a modest pink couch in the living room with a fireplace. She had hung curtains everywhere to block all sunlight. I couldn't find her in the living room or her bedroom.

Looking in the second room, I saw her sitting cross-legged on the ground in her patterned dress, surrounded by candles and a marking of a circle around her. Her dreadlocks were covered in multi-colored beads, and her face was shiny with sweat.

She was mumbling something under her breath.

I never believed in her witchery magic shenanigans, but the people of Howl's Edge seemed to trust my mother, Zaneesha.

"Hello, son," she said in a scratchy voice, resting her hands on her knees. She turned to me slowly, as if it took all her energy.

"Mom, what's wrong?" I asked, kneeling outside of her circle of candles in the dark room. The shadows from the flames danced around the room. "I've brought you food. It's on the kitchen counter."

"I'm being weakened by the Shadow Wolf," she said quietly. "Ever since it left the sigma that I entrapped him with. He's not contained anymore."

The Shadow Wolf was her imagination of a demon. Something I never understood. But from the stories she told me, she had summoned him to help save Howl's Edge Island years ago. My dad had passed away on my tenth birthday. Even though my mother was an omega, she only had one mate, which was unheard of. Nobody questioned her because of how much she helped everyone on the island. She did her own thing as an omega.

"Are you saying the Shadow Wolf's here?"

"Yes," she shuddered. "This circle of protection can only last so long. I fear he may take over me."

"You need to leave this house, Ma," I said. "Maybe some fresh air will help. Nothing is going to take over you."

"I know you never believed in this stuff," she said, looking off to the corner as if she could actually see the Shadow Wolf. She wiped her forehead with a rag. "I cannot leave this circle until I can find a way."

"This is ridiculous. You're getting weaker every day. Please live in the house with me at least," I said. "You can have my room until we can move into the mansion I purchased last week for us."

"I don't want to put you in danger," she said. Her excuse for years was that she needed to be alone to do her business and didn't want to be around anyone else's toxic energy. "I saw your omega the other day. She's very pretty."

"Yeah, she's not ours, though," I said, giving up on trying to convince her to live a normal life with me. My mother was the only blood relative I had left in this world, and I didn't want to see her expire this way.

"Why not?"

"I'm matching her up with a pack. She's been looking for a long time for the right pack."

"What if you are the pack for her?"

"I'll think about it," I said to stop her from prying. I had enough discussing Jade for one day.

"Can you please bring the food in here?"

"Yes, of course," I said, leaving the room. I needed her to eat something. She looked ill and didn't look like her usual self at all. Her skin had a yellow tinge to it, and her eyes were baggy from lack of sleep.

It was only a matter of time before I would have to drag her to the hospital. Her mental health was slowly declining, despite what the people thought. I believed she could concoct herbal remedies for people but not magical powers. It was too far-fetched for me to believe. I wasn't around when she conjured up this mythical Shadow Wolf, and I wasn't there when she helped various people with their problems.

I needed to get her the help she needed before I lost her too.