Omega's Tarnished Heart [MxM] (Moon Cave Book 2)

Chapter 7 - "All Night... So We Thought"

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Alexa, play 'All Night' by the Vamps & Matoma

"I've been up all night, no sleep. Cause I feel like I'm always dreaming. Wide awake, that's okay, as long as I'm with you."

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TOREN • POV

Mika's small hand was soft in my own and I held it tightly, loving the feeling of his warm flesh pressed against my palm. He clung equally as tightly, his small, slender fingers wrapping around mine like a vine made of velvet. Right there where we were connected, I could feel the bond where it pulsed the strongest between us, like a warm, comforting throb.

Mika was almost bouncing beside me and I couldn't hold back the huge grin on my face as I watched his happy smile and energetic walk. He was excited to be with me and that felt so fucking good. I'd felt as though my whole life, no one had that reaction when I was around... aside from maybe Sammy when I fed him. My father had always looked at me as though I was an inconvenient object taking up his space and Lilian had stopped greeting me at all, three years ago after we left. It was lonely, but I felt none of that haunting emotion as Mika beamed up at me. I meant something to him and that felt great.

I squeezed his hand to get his attention and when he looked up, I began to sign. The significant height difference between us meant that he had to strain his neck and I lowered my hand towards his eye level to relieve the awkward angle. "Tell me what you did today, Mika. I want to hear about your pack and your family," I told him. Although Mika was hearing, I was still self-conscious about my accent and felt more comfortable signing for him. I hoped he didn't mind.

Mika started signing back without hesitation, so fast with his excitement that I missed a few words, but it was easy enough to piece together his elaborate story telling. "I didn't do much today, I had training this morning! Papa made me wake up at four in the morning! Can you believe that?! I was so tired! And then Kori punched me in the stomach! It really hurt!" He paused suddenly and my eyes widened when he yanked up his shirt to show me a small, almost healed, yellow bruise on his belly.

Once his shirt lowered, he was off again. "He's eight though and Robyn beat him up so I'm okay now. I don't really hold grudges," he beamed up at me and I chuckled, squeezing his hand to quiet him for just a moment.

"Training? Tell me more. And who is Robyn, you haven't mentioned him before," I asked and he nodded vigorously as we entered the large, local town park. It was almost unusual for the humans to build such a huge man-made park when the small town was surrounded by miles of forest. But it was a blessing for the wildlife and other shifters who used the forest as their home. The park kept the humans away and it was safer for everybody.

"My daddy is the Alpha of our pack, Moon Cave, so he's pretty good at well... everything. I haven't seen him in action since we haven't had any pack problems since I've been alive, but I heard he'd ripped another wolf's head off with his bare jaws," Mika told me, his huge blue eyes blinking rapidly as he descriptively told me the valiant story of his father brutally killing his evil grandfather.