Buried and Shadowed (Branded Packs #3)(4)

They were predators, after all.

“What do you need me to do?” he asked.

Holden studied his face. “Is something wrong?” he asked, his wolf in his tone. There was a reason Holden was Alpha, and this was only part of it. The other man knew when his wolves needed him, knew when something was off. Yet Gibson wasn’t about to lay his needs at his Alpha’s feet. They were for him and him alone.

Gibson shook his head. “I’m fine. I just finished Anya’s and Cole’s mating tattoos.” It wasn’t a lie, but Holden would be able to take what he needed from that.

Ariel put her hand on Gibson’s forearm over his brand and studied his face. “You’ll let us know if you need us? If you just want to talk?”

Gibson slowly removed his arm, her touch too much for him. Unless he was working on someone’s tattoo, he tended to keep to himself. He might be a wolf, but he’d always known he was different.

“Okay,” he lied. “Tell me where you need me,” he asked Holden.

His Alpha let out a sigh. “On the building next to us. We’re working on a few new housing units for the bears, though it’s going to be a snug fit.”

“We just don’t have the room,” Ariel said sadly. “We didn’t have the room before the bears and cats arrived, and now it’s that much worse.”

Gibson studied her face as she frowned. Holden brought her close. “It’s not your fault.”

Ariel gave him a sad smile. “It kind of is, but the more I wallow, the more annoying I get. So how about we work on what we can fix and let me sulk later.”

Gibson sighed but followed the Alpha pair as they made their way to the job site. Since the heat started to suffocate, seeping into his pores, he stripped off his shirt and began to work. He needed the release of tension, and beating his body into tiredness would have to be the thing that did it.

He was well into an hour of hard work when the sweet scent of wolf and sugar filled his senses. He tensed and did his best not to look over his shoulder.

Of course, he failed.

He turned as Mandy made her way to Ariel’s side, her best friend and future mate, Theo, close by. The other wolf always watched her, cared for her, did everything a mate should do except mark her.

As Mandy was submissive, her wolf required more time and care than other wolves would. She was an integral part of the health of the Pack, even if not everyone understood that.

And she wasn’t his.

He swallowed hard and forced his gaze away. She wasn’t his. Same as Oliver.

He was alone, right where he should be. He couldn’t do what he had to do for his Pack if he had others, if he had someone to share the burden. They wouldn’t understand, and he didn’t want them to have his burden. It was what he had to do.

And Mandy would be happy with Theo.

And Oliver…Oliver would find his peace one day with his role as Foreseer.

He felt Mandy’s gaze on him, as well as Theo’s glare. He pushed himself into his work, lifting and hammering until sweat coated his body and his lungs burned. By the time he looked around again, they were gone, and he could finally breathe once more.

Gibson bent down to reach for his bottle of water and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. He rose slowly, ready to lash out at whoever had put his wolf on edge. Yet as soon as he turned, claws out, someone else came from the other side.

The last thing he remembered before something smashed into the back of his head was a sharp pain radiating from his skull, pulling all thoughts of matings and confusion from his mind.




“Gibson,” a voice growled. “Wake up, wolf. The bleeding’s stopped, but you need to wake up.”

Gibson blinked his eyes open and promptly shut them at the blinding light. He growled, trying to remember what had happened, but could only focus on the fact that his wolf couldn’t stay still.

It prowled within him, lashing out and nudging at him. It wanted something, but he couldn’t quite figure it out. Rage filled him, followed by relief, and an overwhelming sense of unease and responsibility. Before he could navigate through the emotions, his wolf howled within and he opened his eyes.

“What happened?” he gasped.

Holden knelt over him, his eyes wide, though not his own. Rather his wolf’s. “Omega,” he whispered.

Gibson swallowed, trying to catch his breath, but the emotions assaulting him wouldn’t let him do anything except lie there and try to remember how to be him. “What?”

“You’re our Omega,” Holden whispered. “I have no idea how it happened, but, Gibson, we’ve been waiting for you for a lifetime.”

Gibson looked into his Alpha’s eyes, then around him at the other wolves who knelt in a semi circle, awe in their gazes. He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think.

He couldn’t be the Omega. That was a place of power and great pride. They were the ones who helped heal the Pack from within and brought them together while the Alpha and Beta protected.

He couldn’t be the lost wolf Omega.

Yet as rage, happiness, awe, fear, sadness, angst, and nervousness assailed him, he knew it had to be true.

He was the Omega.

Gibson blinked.

His Pack was screwed.

“Who hit me?” he asked, his voice raspy.

Holden’s eyes narrowed. “That is something we’re going to figure out, Omega,” he growled.