One Omega

Chapter 11 - one step forwards, two steps back

My eyes lifted instantly to the others, a hesitant smile growing on my face before I smirked smugly when I heard a few jealous huffs from the others. Seth merely rolled his eyes, sifting through the cupboard to get the softest towel possible while the rest watched as I washed Zayne.

"Poor kid." I thought as I brushed through his fur, dirt swirling through the water with each brush. It must've been uncomfortable, having all that grime and filth stuck to your pelt and unable to wash it off.

But then again...if he had shifted, he could've cleaned himself up more. Zayne's breath stuttered against my throat with each brush of my hands, I could even feel his little heart racing against my chest.

Nobody should fear his own kind like this, especially not at such a young age. I sighed and redirected my anger into scrubbing Zayne's fur, making sure to remove patches of matted fur until he was squeaky clean.

"Fuck, he's so skinny and tiny." I thought, my defensive walls crumbling down at Zayne's trust. My wolf was softly purring in glee and pride, tail wagging in excitement at the knowledge that Zayne had willingly sought out contact with me.

I sighed and tenderly held Zayne, lifting him out of the bad after a gentle squeeze to his fur and tiny tail to remove excess water. When he stood on the bath rug, shivering in the wind, I heard a few soft wines coming from the pack.

Grinding my molars together, my eyes were transfixed on little Zayne as Seth quickly brushed him dry, each movement of the towel flashing a part of Zayne's ribs and spine sticking through.

"Terrance, You need to ask Mike about everything he knows of Zayne, how he got the Omega, how many scars he had from before and if he behaved in the same way." I sent, gaining a nod from Terrance as he glanced down at his mate.

I didn't have the pleasure to talk much with the human, but that was Terrance's fault. As soon as he realized Mike was his mate and the Alpha postponed his interogation...well, let's just say that Terrance jumped on the oppertunity to do his own sort of interogation.

Terrance flashed me a smug smile, winking cockily at Mike and causing the boy to flush beetred. It was a bit amusing to watch though and calculated Terrance, the ruthless Warwolf leader of our pack being so loveydovey with his mate.

"Are you having any thoughts about me and my mate?" Terrance huffed, crossing his arms so that the muscles bulged and threatened to tear his shirt. My eyes flitted to Mike and I smiled warmly as the human kid couldn't take his eyes off of his mate.

"Yeah I do. How's he still standing after the last few hours?"

Terrance barked with laughter, reaching forwards to snatch Mike and pull him against his chest. Mike didn't protest much as Terrance nuzzled his nose against Mike's neck, smiling against the boy's tanned skin.

Our light banter removed part of the tension but I instantly focused as Seth stood up with Zayne swaddled in a towel in his arms. The pup looked awefully cute and at times like these, it was hard to remember it was a teenager I wanted to coo and fuss at, not a young little pup.

"Oh, who am I kidding?" I muttered to myself before reaching for Zayne, gaining a tilted eyebrow and knowing smile from Seth. Huh, wise little know-it-all. I didn't take Zayne out of his hands as much as I wanted to. Instead I gently patted his fur before sighing deeply.

"Hey buddy, Zayne?" I waited until the pup lifted his head, golden eyes narrowed slightly in suspicion and fear. My wolf grumbled uneasily, sensing something just waiting to happen but after I mentally discussed it with the Alpha and Terrance, I sighed.

"Can you shift back bud?"

It was a simple question, one that he could answer easily. As soon as we reached the age of 3, we could willingly change back and forth between our forms. Before then, our shift could overwhelm us whenever our wolf pleased to shift.

What I expected to happen was Zayne nodding its head, even shifting back on the spot or maybe shaking his head slightly to indicate he didn't want to shift right now.

But that didn't happen. Instead I felt my heart twist and tear painfully as the once docile pup instantly started flailing, trying his best to get out of Seth's hand with fearful whines. For a moment, it truly sounded like he was in severe pain, causing everyone to step closer to Seth and even reach for Zayne.

"No, No, No! No shift, can't! Won't!" Zayne screeched in our minds, stunning and confusing us even more. Why the hell was he so afraid to shift? It wasn't a painful thing to do and I had thought Zayne would've liked walking around the house in his human form.

Instead of being happy to shift, he was genuinely afraid, terrified even to the point where he would probably faint from hyperventilation of we didn't do something quick. When Zayne slipped from Seth's grasp and started to tumble down, my wolf reacted and pushed forwards.

Cloths shredded and fell to the floor as I was able to catch the flailing pup by the scruff, making sure not to bite down and injure him. Zayne instantly froze when he realized I had shifted before I started walking to the bedroom.

"I'm sorry! I don't wanna train, please, no!"

I froze mid-step before continuing towards the bedroom. "What do you mean with train Zayne? You're too young to be training." Zayne's confusion filled my head as I nudged the door open before he slowly, hesitantly pushed a memory to the forefront.

A memory where he was dragged out of a cage, muzzled and tied to a post before a man ordered the rest of the gathered wolves to attack Zayne. I heard the telltale ripping of clothing in the hallway, indicating that the images I was seeing had also been sent to the rest of the pack and they had shifted in anger.

Zayne seemed even more confused at our reaction, though the fear was still strongly present in his actions, making me sigh. Laying the pup down, I nudged it on its belly before laying down beside him and draping a paw over his back.

He needed to sleep, badly, and as soon as he was dreaming, we would use the link to observe his dreams for past memories. Every reliable source of information was more than welcome and after a small discussion, I heard both Dylan and Brandon running for the door.

As soon as they were outside, they were going to split up and inform the nearest Pack Law officials from neighboring packs. It was time to go out and find Zayne's so called pack.