The forest whizzed past as I raced through the trees. The bright moon illuminated the path ahead of me. My wolf howled happily as it caught the scent of a small deer close by. We slowed our pace as we neared the unsuspecting creature.
Suddenly, the wind shifted and the deer caught my scent. It bolted and just as I was about to give chase I caught another scent. It was intoxicating, it was a mixture of flowers, blood and sugar. My brother, the alpha, came up beside me and nodded, he had caught the scent too.
We slowly edged closer following the scent. As we neared a river we noticed someone laid at the water's bank. The strange scent was coming from this person. From what we could see it was an unconscious male.
His scent was strange. I could smell his wolf so I knew he was a shifter but he looked too small and skinny for an average shifter. There was also another scent, it was faint but it reminded me of when my brother's mate was pregnant.
We edged closer still and he stirred slightly. Halting in our tracks, we watched the obviously weak man move feebly. On his hands and knees, he crawled forward. He had yet to acknowledge us.
Once free of the water he collapsed onto his back and the unusual scent suddenly made sense. He was pregnant.
'He must be a male omega,' my brother said through our mind link.
'He looks like he's been attacked. Who would attack someone who is clearly pregnant?' I responded back as I continued to move forward.
I watched him bring a hand over his stomach tenderly. So transfixed by the sight I didn't notice the small group of twigs in my path until my paw stepped on them. The loud snap echoed in the silence and we all froze.
When the man shot up the wind also changed. I caught his scent again at the very moment our eyes met. There was the sugar and flowers scent from before as well as something else. Something that reminded me of the oak trees near the packhouse. His hazel eyes widened as they stared at me.
It took me longer than I care to admit to notice the look of fear in his eyes. He quickly broke our trance and started moving backwards. Due to his enlarged stomach and weakened body he didn't get far.
Quickly, I shifted back to my human form and knelt low. I raised my hands to show I wasn't going to hurt him.
"Easy there little wolf, we won't hurt you," I told him softly.
He paused for a moment, eyeing us warily. I heard my brother shift behind me and felt him move next to me. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't take my eyes away from him.
"You are safe with us, no one will harm you. I'm Evan. I'm the alpha of the Dark moon pack. This is my brother Aiden," he introduced us.
When Evan said my name the stranger's eyes flitted back to me. There was that strong magnetism that overtook me again. I wanted to comfort him and I didn't know why.
"What's your name?" Evan asked after the silence stretched around us.
"Cameron, I'm called Cameron," he said weakly.
"Can I come over to you Cameron?" I asked eager to get close.
Cameron didn't have time to accept or object, as he soon passed out. We both rushed to his side and I gently picked him up. Despite being pregnant he weighed next to nothing. I was instantly worried.
We walked back to the packhouse and into one of the spare rooms. I had wanted to take him to my room but had decided against it. He is probably gonna freak out when he wakes up anyway, no need to make it worse by saying he is in my room.
We stepped back so Hannah, my brother's mate and our pack Luna could look him over. Whilst we waited, Ben, my five-year-old nephew, came in and immediately started to climb me. He was going through a phase where he thought I was a tree.
"Uncy Aiden, who's that?" he asked and I chuckled.
"He is a stranger and someone in need of help," his father answered for me as he took Ben from me.
Eventually, Hannah left Cameron and came up to us. She had a worried look on her face and I was immediately on edge.
"It looks like he has been tortured for a number of years," she said as she absentmindedly touched a scar visible on her lower arm.
When we had come to this pack seven years ago, she was being tortured by her parents, the alpha and luna at the time. They would find an excuse to punish her. When Evan had first looked in her eyes he knew she was the one for him, so we challenged the alpha and won. He, along with his mate, was banished.
We found that no one objected to us taking over, as they hated their former leader. His daughter hadn't been the only one the alpha and luna had unleashed their wrath on, but she had borne the brunt of it.
Evan pulled Hannah into his arms and kissed her neck. Ben also wrapped his arms around his mother to comfort her. A pang of envy stabbed at me as I watched them.
A groan from the bed broke the small family moment. I walked to his side and placed a hand on his arm. He instantly calmed.
"What else Hannah?" I asked.
I know they could hear the strain in my voice. Hannah placed a hand on my shoulders forcing my attention back to her.
"Have you found your mate Aiden?" she asked with a small smile.
I smiled back before looking back down at Cameron's sleeping form.
"I think I have but I'm not sure, it didn't feel like it did when Evan looked at you," I said
Through our mind link I have seen and felt what he did when their eyes met. It was intense, electric and powerful. Although I felt a powerful pull towards him when we first locked eyes, that was it.
"Aiden," Hannah sighed. "Not all meetings are the same, some are intense and some are subtle but they all mean the same. If you feel the pull and want to love and protect that person then they are your mate. It was probably different from when we met because he will be more cautious and scared. He has probably been tortured a lot longer than I had or by lots of different people," she explained.
"Is he and his child going to be ok?" I asked weakly.
Hannah smiled and nodded. A great wave of relief washed over me.
"He is very weak but as long as he rests and eats well they should both be fine. I am not sure how he will give birth but hopefully we can talk with him about it when he wakes up," she said.
----
It took a day for him to wake up. When he did it was the best feeling of relief I had ever felt.
"Where … where am .. am I?" he stuttered.
"Do you remember meeting me and my brother?" I asked.
Cameron nodded as he looked behind me. Evan stood behind me but further away, so not as to scare him.
"You collapsed, so we brought you to our pack. Hannah, our luna, has been caring for you. How are you feeling?" I asked.
He tried to sit up so I moved to help him, ignoring the slight flinch he did at first before allowing me to help.
"I feel tired," he said with a sigh.
Hannah came in with a tray of food. She passed it to me and I placed it on his legs.
"Eat," I told him softly.
His eyes lit up at the sight. I wondered at how long it's been since he has seen food like that. Especially if the sight of chicken and veg was appealing so much that he practically inhaled the food.
"Thank you," he said after finishing the whole plate within a minute.
He rubbed his hand over his stomach and sighed. However, this wasn't the same type of sigh he did earlier. It was a contented and satisfied sigh.
"Can you tell us what happened?" Evan asked.
"When I first shifted my alpha ordered my banishment when my omega wolf was revealed. Mother and father came with me," his head lowered as we heard a catch in his voice.
"After a year or so, we were attacked. My parents were killed when they tried to defend me and I was taken as a prisoner and tortured. He..he enjoyed punishing me," he brought his hands up as if to shield himself from the memory.
I took one of his hands in mine and grasped it gently. He looked me in the eye and smiled weakly at my attempt to comfort him.
"Anyway, after years of being tortured I had become numb to it all. Nothing he did was having the desired effect anymore so he decided to up the ante. For years, he had been forcing me to drink this awful concoction, which I think was to suppress my heat. It worked as I never had one whilst I was there."
He rubbed his stomach gently.
"Then he suddenly stopped giving it to me. He told me the plan was to wait until my heat was starting and then stick me in a room with several shifters. When I didn't show him the fear he had wanted he hit me."
"Weren't you afraid?" Hannah asked.
"I was, but I had learnt how not to show it so he doesn't get what he wants. Things didn't happen the way he wanted. When my heat started it wasn't as strong at first, it was like it crept upon us. When it finally hit he was the only one around. I was being tortured in an old building far from the pack house. I think it was because he didn't want his alpha to know what he was doing."
"How did you know that?" I asked.
"I often heard him bitch about the alpha when he was torturing me. Saying that he thought that the alpha was a weaker choice and useless among other things. So I doubt he would have told him about what he was doing. Anyway, when my heat hit, he was the one that raped me. During one of the rapes he marked me."
He moved his head to the side and bared his slender neck. An ugly scar in the shape of a bite had me growling in anger. Cameron flinched again and I immediately calmed my wolf down.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you," I told him, gripping his hand once again.
"It's ok," he said weakly. "Anyway, my heat ended as quickly as it started. Once he realised what he had done he was beyond angry. His punishments increased then. A couple of months later I started feeling unwell but I had no idea why."
He stroked his stomach again with a small smile.
"There was one shifter, a young woman, who would bring me food and clean me up. He liked to see the fresh marks on me each time so I had to be clean but he wouldn't do it. When I became unwell she said I sounded like her sister who was pregnant. That's when it hit both of us."
"She decided to help me escape. She said she had been told lies about me, that I was a curse and all that. However, during the escape he caught us. He killed her for helping me. So I killed him. As I was leaving the shifters that attacked me attacked again and I barely managed to escape. I came to a high waterfall that fell into a large river. Without thinking I jumped and floated downstream until you found me."
He was trembling by the end of his story and I desperately wanted to hold him. To make him feel safe.
"I am sorry you went through that. I know you may not believe us but you are safe and welcomed here. Our younger brother has just shifted and he is an omega. We told any of our pack that wasn't ok with him to leave. A few people did but not as many as I would have thought of," Evan said with a smile.
"Really?" Cameron asked.
Evan nodded just as his son and a younger version of us walked in. Ben climbed onto the bed as our brother came to stand near Evan. He looked between us all confused.
"Ben said you wanted me?" he asked. We both looked at Ben and he was preoccupied with looking at Cameron's belly. This kid was more insightful than most his age.
"Cameron, this is our younger brother Finn. Finn, this is Cameron, he is also an omega," Evan introduced.
Finn's eyes went wide as he rushed forward. You could see the excitement in his eyes.
"Really? You're an omega too! No one knows much about male omegas here. I've been wanting to meet one. I have so many questions," he spoke fast, almost too fast to catch.
It was then that Finn noticed Cameron's stomach. His wide eyes went even wider.
"You're pregnant? Does that mean I can get pregnant too?" Cameon nodded with a smile which broke into a laugh when Finn shouted 'yes!' at the top of his voice.
----
Once we calmed Finn down I made everyone leave so Cameron could rest again. I had asked nervously if Cameron was ok if I stayed with him. He nodded before drifting off to sleep. I laid next to him and watched his chest rise and fall.
I had often dreamed of finding my fated mate, but never had I imagined it would actually happen. When I pictured my mate I had always pictured a woman, however, I wasn't disappointed or disgusted that it was a man instead.
"Aiden?"
I jumped startled by the sudden sound in the silence. Cameron was watching me watch him. My cheeks felt flushed as I met his eyes.
"Why are you here?" he asked sleepily.
My eyebrows furrowed and I sat up.
"You said it was ok for me to stay," I said unsure if I had misheard him.
"No, I mean why are you here helping me? Doesn't your mate want you with her?" he asked.
I laid back down and gently cupped his face. His small gasp echoed loudly in the still room. I knew it was now or never. I needed to tell him sooner rather than later.
"My mate is right here."
His eyes went wide and my heart stopped. 'Please don't reject me,' I thought as I waited with baited breath.
"Why would you want me?" His voice sounded so weak and sad.
I leaned forward and kissed him. After the initial shock, he kissed me back. I lifted myself up and climbed on top of him. Luckily his stomach wasn't big enough to stop me.
We broke apart and I could see the heat and desire in his eyes. I knew he felt the pull to me just as strongly as I felt it for him.
"Why wouldn't I want you?" I asked him back. "You are strong, resilient, and so fucking sexy. So tell me, why wouldn't I want you as my mate?"
He gripped my face and brought me down to kiss him. Our mouths battled for dominance as I moved slightly to the side. My hand traveled down his body, ghosting over his chest before sliding over the small bump to his very obvious erection.
He moaned loudly as I gripped him through the thin pants he was wearing. After giving him a few pumps I moved my hand inside and gripped him fully. His hips bucked as he claimed my mouth again.
I kissed down his body and paused at his stomach. He looked down at me, the desire momentarily dulled as worry replaced it. I gave his bump a small kiss before smiling up at him.
"If he or she looks like you then I'm doomed," I said with a chuckle.
His face lit up and his smile widened before the desire flooded his eyes again.
"Come here!" he ordered and I shook my head.
I continued my path back down his body, pulling his pants down along the way. His cock sprung free and I set to work. I licked around the tip as he moaned again. Precum seeped out and I hungrily licked him clean.
I had never before been so hungry for a man, I also had no idea if I was doing this right. However, his moans and words of encouragement were telling me I was at least on the right track.
I pumped his shaft as I continued to lick and suck the head.
"Aiden! I'm…" he started to say but stopped.
I knew what he meant and quickened my pace. Soon he grabbed my head and pulled me off of him as streams of thick white liquid shot over his stomach and my chest as I continued to hover over him.
I moved back up and laid next to him pulling him into my chest. His hand moved down my body and I stopped him. He looked up at me quizzically.
"Don't you want me to .." he trailed off, a beautiful blush rising in his cheeks.
I smiled warmly at him and pulled him in for a kiss.
"Of course I do, I want your hands on me, your mouth on me and my dick in you but you need to rest. I promise once our son or daughter arrives I will take you in every way possible, in every moment I can."
His eyes went wide and his mouth hung open as I chuckled.
"Our son or daughter?" he asked.
"Yes, you are my mate and this child is in you. I will take them as my own and love them like they are. If you want me to," I told him.
Tears fell down his cheeks as his mouth widened in a huge smile.
"I will take that as a yes," I said before he attacked my mouth again.
"I promise you, Cameron, I will love and protect you both forever. You both belong to me, and I …" I kissed him deeply. "I belong to you."