A soft tune drew me out of my slumber. With a strained groan, I opened my eyes, only to hiss as a harsh light burned the back of my eye sockets. I quickly covered my face, waiting for my eyes to adjust. Once the brightness dulled, I lowered my hands and stroked the soft linens beneath me, taking in my surroundings.
Murals of wolves chasing each other among the trees of a forest stretched along the room's walls. Two fluorescent lights hummed overhead. To my right, there was a one-way mirror with a door to its left.
Where am I?
Another half hour passed before the door finally swung open. A brunette woman, dressed in a navy-blue pinstriped suit with matching shoes, clacked her way toward me, a green file tucked under her arm. Before saying a word, she dragged a hospital chair to my bedside and sat down. She opened the file and began reading, ignoring me for a full minute. When she finally looked up, her muddy brown eyes raked across my face before a polite smile crept onto her lips.
"Good evening, Caleb," she said, removing her reading glasses. "My name's Dr. Steiner, director of the Blooming Hills Institute. I'm here to welcome you and help answer any questions you undoubtedly have."
I couldn't help but scoff as her shrill voice grated against my ears. "How did I get here?" I wheezed. My throat burned like hell.
Dr. Steiner hummed as she poured me a glass of water, then handed it over. "The two gentlemen you met earlier brought you here, at the behest of your pack. You arrived this afternoon, so we placed you in this room for integration."
The cold water running down my throat soothed the fire in my chest. I set the glass back on the bedside table and rasped, "Well, I don't care. I don't want to be here, and my pack can go fuck themselves."
"Unfortunately, you can't leave," she replied, closing the folder with a soft thud. "Your pack invoked the Pack Protection Act of 1978. It states that in the event a pack lacks an heir, they may draft an omega to act as a surrogate for the pack, or its ally."
Drafted? What the fuck?
Orion growled inside me, his fury mirroring mine. Who gave them the right to take away his freedom, his choice, of when or if to have pups? It was his body. His. Not the pack's.
"No, they have no right!" I tried to bolt from the bed, but with a flick of her finger, the bitch beside me froze me in place. A fucking witch.
"Let me go!" I strained against the spell, every muscle burning with the effort. But it was no use. I collapsed back onto the bed with a defeated snarl.
Dr. Steiner sighed, her voice almost sympathetic as she patted my shoulder. "I really am sorry. But there's nothing I can do. The law is clear, and your Alpha already signed the documents. We've also received the sample from the father-to-be, so in a few hours, we're going to induce your heat cycle and proceed with artificial insemination."
Her words echoed through my skull like cannon fire. I lay numb, staring up at the ceiling.
They were going to force me to carry that fucker's child.
The door opened, and a blonde nurse pushed a trolley into the room. Dr. Steiner rose from her seat as the nurse approached.
"Caleb," the doctor said, her tone gentler now, "you're not the first omega to rebel against this. But it's a necessary evil. There are too few omegas in the world. We need you to give this a chance. Your pup could save a pack from falling apart."
A few tears slipped from my eyes as the nurse neared with a syringe in her hand.
"You don't have to worry about a thing," she whispered. "The next time you awaken, the procedure will be done."
Dr. Steiner instructed the nurse to prep me before she left the room.
I tried to pull my arm away, but the goddamn spell held firm. I could only watch as the nurse plunged the needle into my vein.
And then, the world faded from view.
🌕🩸🌲🌙🐾 Deputy Omega 🐾🌙 🌲🩸🌕
Waking up from a drug-induced sleep was a bitch. My tongue was numb, my throat parched, and the world around me swirled as my vision cleared. Great, another freaking white ceiling.
I slowly sat up on the queen-sized bed. The room I was in was spacious. The walls were a soft pastel green, with beige carpeting covering the floor. Several portraits of nature scenes hung on the walls. Two bookshelves flanked a flat-screen TV, and beneath it, a game console rested on a floating shelf. Sunlight streamed through the two patio doors on either side of the bed.
My eyes snapped to the door as it opened across the room. I bit down a growl as Dr. Steiner sauntered in. This time, she wore a crimson suit with a doctor's coat over it. She walked past the brown leather couches in the center of the room and stopped at the foot of the bed.
"Good morning, Mr. Grand," she said, wearing that same too-sweet smile. Fake, just enough to keep her prisoner-patients relaxed. "I hope you're doing well this morning."
I scoffed. "Why would I be? I'm being held captive and forced against my will to bear a child for some stranger I don't even know."
The doctor sighed and took a seat in the chair next to the bed. "I'm really sorry you have to go through this, but it's not my decision. The law is clear. If you try to leave, I'll be forced to place you in high-security housing until you give birth. All I can say is that we'll take good care of you.
"The Northern Ridge Pack is covering all expenses while you're here. All you have to do is relax and allow nature to take its course."
I turned my head away from her, lifting my right hand, and froze. My eyes bulged. The runes I'd tattooed on my wrist were gone.
Fuck!
I'd had them for years. I created the runes on my wrist to get me out of sticky situations like this one. Werewolves couldn't do real magic, but ancient runes allowed non-magic users to perform spells as long as they had a power source. Depending on the type, you could bend elements to your will or enhance strength, speed, or senses.
"I removed them," she said.
I glared at her.
"Not many werewolves know how to use runes. I was surprised you had them."
"You had no right to remove them."
She adjusted her glasses. "It was necessary. You can't use any form of magic while you're pregnant, and I didn't want you using the runes to escape."
"Fucking bitch. Why don't we just kill her?" Orion growled inside my mind.
I groaned, clenching my fists. "I'd love to…But how are we going to escape? They've probably got magical barriers all over the place, and let's not forget the guards. The runes were our only chance.
"I'd advise you to remain calm," Dr. Steiner said. "You don't want to hurt the life growing inside you."
My head snapped toward her. "Say that again? Since when am I pregnant?"
The doctor rose and adjusted her skirt. "We performed the artificial insemination two days ago while you were sedated. It's easier for everyone when an omega isn't awake during the procedure. We try to minimize stress for our patients whenever we can."
Before I could stop myself, I laughed, hard. It was bitter and dry. "That was a good one, doc. You should try stand-up comedy."
How dare they? I didn't want to carry that fucking alpha's pup, only for the child to be ripped away from me later. There was no greater pain for a bearer than to lose their pup.
"You may be angry at your situation. That's normal. But for the sake of the life growing inside you, you need to take care of your body and mind. This doesn't have to be a torturous experience."
"Fuck you!" I snarled.
She flinched and took a step back, just as the door opened and two muscled nurses entered the room.
"Calm down, Caleb."
"I'll calm down when this thing is out of my stomach!" I tried to punch myself in the stomach, but the bracelet on my left wrist lit up red, freezing my arm mid-swing.
"Fuck!"
The two nurses rushed forward and pinned me to the bed as I thrashed, yelling and fighting back. I didn't even notice when Dr. Steiner injected me with something. A wave of warmth and euphoria spread through my body like a slow-burning fire. I melted into the bed with a sigh as my eyelids drooped.
"There you go," one nurse murmured, stroking my cheek. I tried to glare at him, but couldn't. "The medicine will mellow you out for a few hours. The bracelet will prevent you from doing any harm to yourself… or the pup."
I wanted to cuss him out, but my vision blurred until a familiar, suffocating darkness swallowed me whole.