I left his stomach alone. It hurt too much to think about.
There was nothing.
Not on his body or his hindquarters or his head, though he didn’t let me get too close there, snapping his fangs at me as I ran a finger along the side of his face.
Whatever was wrong with him didn’t seem physical, at least that I could find.
“What happened to you?”
He turned his head away from me.
“I’m going to find out. You know I will.”
Nothing.
“Whatever.” I reached back and grabbed the blanket from the bed and pulled it down and over me. I lay down on the floor, the fire warm against my chilled skin. His back paws pressed against my legs, and I waited for him to move them, to put more space between us.
He didn’t.
The sky was just beginning to lighten when I fell asleep.
HUMAN EYES STARED DOWN at me when I awoke.
He looked away quickly, turning to feed the fire.
He was wearing my shorts again.
“What time is it?” I asked as I rubbed my eyes.
He didn’t answer.
“Oh, that’s right. You don’t have a clock. And my phone is broken. I don’t even know why I’m asking.”
“You still did,” he grunted. “Mouth always open. Always moving.”
“Maybe don’t focus on my mouth so much.”
He stiffened.
I sighed. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“The witch,” he said. “The witch told you.”
It took me a moment to figure out what he was talking about. The woman in Kentucky who’d given me his note. The witch who’d rushed out after me before I left, telling me she knew who I was looking for. And where to look. “She… recognized you. Said it came to her later.”
He nodded tightly. “Mistake.”
“What is?”
He waved his hand jerkily. “This. Everything. All of it. Should have known. Should have seen.” He tapped the side of his head. “I… got lost. In here. Foggy. Heavy.”
I pushed myself up, the blanket sliding to the floor. I was stiff and sore, and my jeans felt rough against my legs. I didn’t have anything to change into. “Because you’re an Omega.”
His face twisted painfully. He sneered at the fire. “Yes. Omega. Bad wolf. Big bad wolf.”
“I get it, man. I was there too.” Understatement. Though it’d scared the shit out of me, I’d trusted Gordo when he said I needed to give in to it. That I needed to let it consume me. It’d been easier than I expected. I was holding it back, and once I let go, once I let the Omega rise, Kelly’s tears stinging my nostrils, I had time to wonder why I’d fought it at all. There was rage, sure, a furious storm that almost obliterated everything else, my humanity falling away into nothing. But it’d felt comforting, almost seductive. The tendrils of violet that wrapped themselves around my head and heart were strong and thick. I gave in to the animal underneath, and I knew that fog Gavin spoke of. I’d lived it.
And yet, through it came a bright and shining light, a beacon in the dark.