I slowly woke and realized that I was unable to move my legs. I opened my eyes and blinked in the dim morning light that was starting to come in the window. Sometime during the night, Will had migrated to the middle of the bed and had cradled me against his chest as he curled up around me. My back leaned against his chest as both of his arms were protectively caged around me. He had drawn up his legs to form another wall, and his face was lightly pressed into my neck fur. Even with my small form, I didn't have a chance of wiggling out.
I decided to relax and listen to the soothing sound of his breathing and heartbeat. My senses told me that no one was awake in the main pack house rooms yet, although I knew that sentries and patrols ran all night long. After a while, I decided to see if I could get out of Will's hold. I tried to slowly wiggle out of Will's grasp. I barely made any headway before he grunted in his sleep and pulled me tighter to his chest.
Well, that attempt had backfired on me. His protective hold was similar on a few levels to when Phil had pinned me. I was barely able to move, and there was no chance of me shifting. I turned my head and examined my predicament as much as I could. Yeah, there was no way I was getting out of here on my own power.
I noticed that he had pulled his head lower when he had moved. That tantalizing hair of his was within reach and no one was watching. I knew the mate bond was to blame, but I couldn't help it. I nuzzled my nose into his hair. It was soft and smelled exactly like I was in the middle of a forest. I loved that scent. For some bizarre reason, unknown to even me, I started to gently lick his hair as if grooming him.
Will stirred in his sleep. "Hmmm?"
He lifted his head to look at me groggily. I started snickering at his appearance. All of the hair on this side of his head was soaked and sticking up at odd angles. He blinked sleepily at me before realizing that he was on the wrong side of the bed. He pulled back, and I almost instantly missed his warmth.
He sat up and ran a hand through his wet hair. "What the-? What happened?" He looked at me in sleepy confusion.
I shifted back and covered my mouth as I started laughing at his expression and out of control hair. "I honestly have no idea why I did that. Although in my defense, my courses of action were rather limited."
He shook his head to clear it. "I seem to recall doing something similar to you yesterday, so I know the feeling."
I sat up and fiddled with the tattered hem of my t-shirt. "So, what are our plans for today?"
Will glanced at the clock. "If you are up for it, I usually go for a short run in the morning before grabbing some breakfast. I do have to help with training today, so that will leave you with some free time. Later this afternoon, the Alpha should return, and he will probably do the acceptance ceremony this evening."
I replied, "I am up for a run. I won't be able to run for long, so I can come back and help the cooks with breakfast. That will give you time to have a good run for yourself."
There was a certain freedom running with Will, or any werewolf for that matter. I could run without having to worry that some predator might pounce on me. I quite enjoyed it after so many years of cautious slow travel. I glanced towards the door as I sensed a powerful aura approaching the pack house and commented, "Looks like the Alpha got back early."
He looked at me in confusion. "How do you know that?"
I grinned at him, realizing that I hadn't gotten around to telling him about my abilities yet. "I had been designated as an Omega. Even if I hadn't been born one, the Alpha's designation was still strong enough to allow the Omega's senses to form. I didn't lose the senses when I left the pack, although the Omega status disappeared the instant he passed away."
Being designated as an Omega was considered a huge insult to most wolves, although it hadn't bothered me since I had more problems with just being a runt. It took an Alpha command either during an acceptance ceremony or during a big pack announcement to designate someone as an Omega. Such occurrences were quite rare and required careful planning.
Simply being assigned an Omega's duties for punishment was different and was much more common. Just like any common punishment, anyone with sufficient authority could do it. One simply had to do the duties. Being assigned an Omega's duties didn't truly make one an Omega and it didn't give them the abilities.
Besides, it took almost a year for the Omega's abilities to form, and as handy as those abilities were, most wolves could not tolerate the degrading thought of truly being an Omega at all. While a few wolves thought that it would be interesting to be able to sense other wolves around you, most pack members thought that it was pretty pointless.
Will looked stunned. "I wasn't aware that you had been designated as an Omega." He blinked as he refocused on me. "Can you tell if he is in a good mood? If so, I can introduce you to him before he gets distracted with the pile of paperwork on his desk."
I checked my senses once more before confirming, "Yes, he is in a good mood. Hopefully, he will have finished kissing Emily by the time we get down there."
Will chuckled as he got out of bed and grabbed a set of clean clothes. He headed to one washroom while I headed to the other. I waited for him by the top of the stairs, and he joined me shortly afterwards. I grinned as I noticed that he had actually had to wash his hair in order to get it back into some sort of order.
He held my hand as we descended the stairs. I murmured, "They have moved into the small side living room. They have also stopped kissing."
He nodded and altered his route. Will knocked softly on the door frame and the two sitting on the couch looked up. It didn't surprise me to see that the Alpha was a huge, heavily-built man with more muscle than seemed possible. Emily smiled as she spotted us. "Ah, Will. We were just discussing your mate. Roland, this is Jade. Jade, this is Roland."
I bowed my head. "Pleasure to meet you, Alpha."
He nodded as he examined me. "I was quite glad to hear that Will met his mate. I know you are hoping to go through the acceptance ceremony, but I do have to ask the standard questions first."
I nodded as I watched the couple without truly focusing my gaze on them. Staring directly at an Alpha or his mate was a sure way to stir up an Alpha, especially since I was not part of his pack yet.
He rose up to walk in front of me. I felt the shift in Will's mood as the powerful male approached, even though his expression or stance didn't change. I squeezed his hand in reassurance, and he exhaled slowly. The Alpha's eyes caught the small motion while also detecting Will's faint change of breathing.
The Alpha seemed amused by Will's reactions and said, "The mate bond seems quite strong already. Relax, Will. I mean her no harm."
Will sighed heavily. "In theory, I know that. In reality, rationality simply doesn't enter the equation when it comes to the mate bond."
Emily laughed merrily from the couch. "You should have seen Roland when he first met me. I have to admit that you are handling it much better than he did. The mate bond is much more intense for high-ranking wolves. Your Enforcer rank was designed to protect others, so it will be hitting you quite hard since your protective tendencies are already heightened. I am actually surprised that you didn't growl at Roland when he approached like that."
Will winced as he replied, "You have no idea how close I came to it. The only thing that stopped me was the thought that it might scare Jade."
The Alpha smirked at Will, not overly bothered by Will's words. "If you plan on growling at me, at least do it in private like this so I don't have to uphold my status. You can chase me around the training field later if you want to get revenge."
I relaxed slightly as I picked up the close friendship between Roland and Will. Most Alphas were as close to their Enforcers as they were to their Betas. They trusted their Beta at their side, while relying on the Enforcers to look after the pack while the Alpha was away. Such trust and friendship allowed for a fair bit of leeway in the formality department.
The Alpha focused on me once more. "Just the standard questions that any rogues get when they plan on joining." He gave Will a pointed stare. Will grinned back, showing he knew that Roland was not going to question me more than anyone else.
Roland looked at me closely as he asked, "How long have you been a rogue?"
"Since I was twelve when my pack was wiped out by ferals. I did join a pack for just over a year a while back."
"Why did you leave that pack?"
"It was the Black River pack, and I left when Doug passed away." I saw all three wince with that statement. With no children of their own, the Black River pack's story hit far too close to home for this group.
"Have you ever attacked or killed anyone?"
I shook my head. "No." Will looked amused at the question, probably recalling our wrestling match.
"Do you have any enemies who may be searching for you?"
I once more shook my head. "Not to the best of my knowledge."
He tilted his head as a look of slight confusion crossed his face. He intently stared at me while his eyes occasionally unfocused. He asked, "How are you doing that?"
I blinked in confusion. "Doing what?" I had no clue what he was talking about. I could sense confusion from Will and Emily as well, which meant they had no clue what he was referring to either.
He took a step closer to peer into my eyes, ignoring Will's low growl. Roland slowly said, "Every time I try to closely focus on you, it is like my attention just slides off of you. As an Alpha, I normally have no problems concentrating on someone with single-minded intensity, and yet, those skills do not seem to be working on you."
I blinked as realization set in. I had unconsciously been using my Omega abilities to maintain a passive stance in the presence of an Alpha. It was a skill that most Omegas used at some point to avoid attention or try and get out of a room undetected by upset individuals. It was also used to make oneself seem less of a threat, and I tended to use it automatically around large groups or powerful individuals.
My stance was so passive that no trace of threat could be seen or sensed, and most wolves would completely ignore me like this. Apparently, it also prevented an Alpha from truly focusing his attention on me during an interrogation. I had the Omega abilities, but no longer had the Omega rank, so he would not have been able to sense it and connect the dots.
I blushed slightly in embarrassment and stopped using that ability. "Ah, I think I know now. Sorry about that. I had been designated as Omega during my stay with the Black River pack. I didn't realize that the passive stance ability would have such an effect. In truth, I didn't even realize that I was using that ability until you mentioned it."
He examined me and relaxed now that his own ability to focus was working again. "Interesting. Do you have all of the Omega abilities?"
I shook my head. "No, I have the common ones. There are some abilities that only a born Omega can have, and I lack those."
In curiosity, Emily asked, "How good are you at using the various abilities?"
Omegas skills with the various abilities varied by individual.
I shrugged. "My ability to sense individuals and the moods of those nearby is pretty strong. My passive stance ability is about average. My truth sensing ability is weak and takes deliberate concentration in order for me to detect lies, but it is fairly reliable. My skill at differentiating edible plants apart from poisonous ones is decent, mostly from practice. My ability to calm down people is nearly non-existent. It might as well not even exist in human form and is only somewhat effective in wolf form if they have no aversion to runts. I don't have any of the other abilities."
Will looked intrigued with that bit of information. The Alpha nodded without surprise. "Then I don't really have any concerns. Welcome to Nightwind Pack. I have some time after supper for the Acceptance Ceremony if that works for you."
I bowed my head slightly. "Thank you."
Roland went back to sit by Emily, so Will and I took our leave as we headed out for our morning run.