Hawk's Sparrow

HAWK’S SPARROW by Tia Fielding ”When will it get easier, Sparrow?” Carla, the mother of the child writhing on the narrow bunk bed, asked, wringing her hands in despair. “Shouldn’t be much longer now.” Sparrow tried to calm her down. In reality, he didn’t know. No one would. A piercing scream echoed in the small log cabin, turning into a howl at the end. “That’s a good sign, the wolf is showing itself,” Sparrow smiled and looked at the woman apologetically, “You better go. The wolf won’t recognize its mother, but it does recognize its Omega.” It was clear Carla was torn; every mother would be in this situation. Sparrow was sure his own mother had been like this too, hovering in the middle of the floor somewhere, trying to fight the maternal instinct to go to the child instead of forcing her body to leave the room. Right now Carla needed go to the Jeep and drive back to the farm. “I’ve done this before, only once here, I know, but a lot of times for my old pack. Go on, he’ll be fine,” Sparrow got up from where he was perched on the windowsill, and walked to the woman, placing his hand on her shoulder. He let his Omega-skill calm her, they both knew he was doing it but for once the feisty woman let it happen without protesting. “Okay…” she sighed, placing her hand over Sparrow’s and squeezed a bit. “Okay.” As Carla left, Sparrow walked closer to the bed where the flailing, halfconscious teenager lay.

“Nico, listen to me,” he said quietly, letting his voice turn smooth and its cadence change enough to penetrate the haze of what the young man was going through. There was a growl vibrating Nico’s chest when Sparrow placed his hand over the boy’s heart, but it died down as the Omega began to speak to the origin of the sound, the wolf still trapped within. Sparrow spoke what came to his mind, letting the wolf know he was there, touching the boy’s skin to keep a connection going, waiting for the right moment to call the wolf out, hoping that he would know the moment… It pissed him off, having not come to his true Omega powers yet. There was a reason for that, sure. There was a bloody good reason and Sparrow wanted to kick the idiot’s ass for holding him back. His mate, his Alpha, this pack’s Alpha… The man was a stubborn git and… Nico howled again, this time the boy’s human voice was almost completely gone. Sparrow got up from the floor where he had knelt next to the bunk bed, and went to open the door. Then he stripped down, starting from the tank top and ending with the cargo shorts he folded the clothing on the shelf that was the only other piece of furniture in the cabin, besides the bed. There was no need for more furniture here, the cabin was there for this sole reason; giving young wolves a safe space to shift for the first time. The farm wasn’t close to town, but there were humans living in town and not far from the farm. That was why this cabin was used, it was on the pack’s land, in the middle of nowhere up the mountain, and barely accessible by anything but a sturdy jeep or a horse. Naturally nobody would bring a horse up there, not when hormonal, angry, frustrated, young wolves were about. Not so good for the horses. The Omega stood there, naked in the middle of the small cabin, but his

hesitance was not maternal like Carla’s had been. No, this was self preservation. If the wolf that would make Nico implode so that the wolf could explode from the boy’s body didn’t know Sparrow… He could get killed. That pissed him off more than anything; the fact that he was doing this, risking his life here in the American back country for some bloody idiotic Alpha. An Alpha who didn’t want the skinny British Omega, not even though the rest of the pack was welcoming him with open arms. Sparrow knew the story behind his new pack. It had been his mate’s father’s pack first. His father’s before him. It ran in the family and that was fine, his mate was raised to lead it eventually. Nobody had known that the day would come too soon. Three years ago, the old Alpha had suddenly died of a heart attack, leaving his twenty-two year old son to cope alone. Sure there was the rest of the pack, a good, older Beta and everything, but it had still been a shock and it hadn’t been a life Sparrow’s mate was prepared to. But now there was Sparrow, an asset to the whole pack, and everything could be better again, if his mate just… They were rare, Omegas. They had gifts and abilities. The world of werewolves most humans knew nothing about was very simple. You had your regular, average wolves. Then there were three other kinds, Alphas– the leaders, Betas–the right hand men and women of those who led, and Omegas– those who were the glue of a pack. A mated, claimed, Omega came to his true Omega powers pretty quickly, the more important wolf the Omega’s mate was, the more the Omega’s natural abilities were enhanced. There were a reasonable amount of Alphas, a lot more Betas, and very few Omegas. There were no rules that Omegas should mate with Alphas, but it was preferred, even more so if they happened to be true mates. But when an Omega was mated to an Alpha, it was almost a blasphemy to be doing what Sparrow’s mate was doing, which was ignoring his existence. And why? Because –

His internal monologue was cut short when the boy on the bed made an anguished human sound and in the blink of an eye, an almost black wolf was there in his place. For a split second the wolf looked almost shocked, like it didn’t believe being out. And then it attacked the first thing it saw; Sparrow.

When he woke up, he was back at the farm. His arm was bandaged and in a sling that seemed to be wrapped to his torso, probably to keep the arm immobile. Details were hazy, he remembered… The cabin, Nico, Nico’s wolf. He tried to get up, but the movement and the twinge on his ribs made him groan and his head spin. Apparently he was being watched, because the door of his bedroom opened and Carla walked in. “Oh my God, Sparrow!” she exclaimed, half running to his bedside. “Thank God you’re okay!” “Is Nico?” Sparrow rasped, his throat was parched and Carla seemed to go into mom-mode, taking a glass from the nightstand and went to the adjoined bathroom to fill it with water. “Nico is fine, he’s all sorts of sheepish and afraid that you’re mad at him, but other than that everything went fine,” Carla said, as she stepped back into the room and helped Sparrow drink a little. “Good, I’ll heal but if he would have hurt himself or something had gone wrong,” Sparrow frowned and looked down at his body that seemed to be black and blue. “How bad is it?” he asked, not quite ready to actually move the sheet and take a look. He was very obviously still naked like he had been just before the accident, but that was it.

“Cracked ribs on your left side, broken collarbone. That’s why Doc decided to get you wrapped up like that,” Carla gestured at his bandages as she leaned in to fluff his pillows. “He says you’ll be fine tomorrow, if you rest today. You can move around the house, if it’s not too painful, but no using the arm until tomorrow or the day after.” “Yes, mom,” Sparrow smirked, making Carla tug at his flame colored hair, as if she was gently scolding a child of her own. “Oh shut it. Why don’t you see about getting up, I’ll find you something to wear,” she encouraged him. For a moment, the thought of getting up from the bed naked with a female in the room was awkward, but then he tried to do it for real and the awkwardness was long gone by the time he maneuvered himself out of the bed. “Holy shit…” Sparrow hissed, swaying a little as he instinctively tried to use his left hand to balance himself. The action sent a bolt of pain through his body, and he whimpered, eyes watering from the pain. “Take it easy, Sparrow, you can’t run before you can walk, you know,” Carla tutted and came to him from the other side of the room. She had obviously dug out a tank top, a clean pair of underwear, and some jeans cut into shorts. “These should be easy enough to put on, let’s try. And don’t get shy now, Sparrow, I might not be your mother but my oldest is only a few years younger than you, so I’m used to young men,” she said, graciously avoiding eye contact as she helped Sparrow into the clothes. He couldn’t have done it by himself, he knew that, and it was a relief to have

someone taking care of him like this, especially with his own parents so far away. “Oh bugger, I need to call my mum, don’t I?” he asked in a small voice. “If you were my child, yes, I’d like to know,” Carla nodded. “I’ll go and find Nico, he can come up to talk to you, right?” “Of course, can you get me the house phone? I’ll call mum right away before I forget and she gives me hell over it at some later date when she finds out,” Sparrow asked, walking towards the window-seat. “Sure, be right back,” the woman who was rapidly becoming a mother figure for Sparrow said, before vanishing to the hall. Sparrow stared out of the window at the summer scene. It was lovely, everything was so lush. Then he spotted a strange car outside, and then another. They were obviously a wolf pack on the move. The old beat up SUV and the motorhome were both clearly outdated, well-traveled and they both had the classic paw print sticker on the corners of their roofs. It was neat, actually, the way to identify other wolves while on the move. Not many people looked too carefully at stickers anyway and these were always on the roof of the cars, so they were extremely easy to notice for what they were. Then the open doorway of the barn was suddenly filled with people coming out, Sparrow’s mate staying behind the others. So the strangers hadn’t been taken to the house, but in the office in the barn instead... Interesting. That was where their Alpha took anyone who he didn’t know or trust yet, and it was usually recognized as the gesture of being polite but not overly friendly that it was. There were six other wolves in the other pack. A man who was clearly their Alpha, a woman who looked like his mate and by her general demeanor Sparrow thought might also be a Beta, teenaged twin-girls, a twenty-something male and a very pretty female around the same age.

Just as the thought of there being no pups came to Sparrow’s mind, he saw three little kids run to the adults from somewhere behind the barn. They were accompanied by some of the Hawk Pack’s pups. Everyone in the strangers’ pack seemed healthy and happy. Sparrow didn’t get any bad vibes from their behavior. The Hawk Pack’s Beta, Harry, walked to his Alpha and gave him what looked like a map. The map was then transferred to the younger male of the other pack and Harry and the man began to discuss something. Sparrow’s eyes fell on his mate. His mate who was flirting with the pretty female. Suddenly Sparrow heard a low, rumbling growl and realized his inner wolf was making the sound. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up like the hackles did on the wolf within, and tried to shake the feeling off. “He’ll come around,” Carla’s voice said from nearby. Sparrow had been too concentrated on the happenings on the yard to notice her enter the room with the portable receiver in her hand. “Here, Nico will come here once he stops ogling those twins,” she grinned and Sparrow had to smile back. “Thanks,” he said, then thought to ask, nodding towards the window, “what do they want?” “They’re relatives of the Jameson Pack’s. They got lost on their way there, but then they saw the marks and drove straight here to ask,” Carla explained before leaving the room again. There were marks all over the countryside surrounding the pack’s lands. Some were even in town. Hell, the town hall had a wolf paw print carved to the front door. Sometimes it was a paw print, sometimes just a certain kind of marking on a tree near a roadside. A few innocuously placed stones somewhere they didn’t really belong. Small things everyone could see, but only wolves would

understand. If you followed them, you’d eventually find wolves. Eventually your nose would lead you to the right place, and that was why these wolves were on Hawk Pack’s land. With a sigh, Sparrow settled down on the window-seat and dialed the number he knew by heart now. He had been here for six months now, ever since his parents decided that taking Sparrow to the United States for his twentieth birthday was a good idea. Sparrow had had no real interest in going, it was probably more because his parents wanted to see more of the States that they decided on the trip the first place. His birthday had been just an excuse. He had to come with his parents, naturally, because being an Omega, an unmated one at that, he was supposed to be taken care of by his parents, until his mate would claim him. Whether the said mate was his true mate or someone he chose because of love. Sadly love hadn’t had a chance when they had arrived in the small town his dad had heard was what they called wolf-friendly. It had been close to the full moon and Sparrow, being a relatively young wolf, wouldn’t be able to control his shifting. The last place they wanted to be was in some bigger city or even an all-human city. A wolf is difficult to hide, if it pops out in a city where there’s no prey to hunt. They had met Harry first, by chance, in town. The older man had realized that the tourists were important, after all they had an Omega with them. There was nothing else to do than to take them to his Alpha. Frankly, the first time Sparrow had seen the said Alpha, Dawson Hawk, he hadn’t been too impressed. The man was sullen, big and burly like Alphas often were. He obviously had native blood in him, his jet black long hair and proud features were a testament to that, as much as his last name was. As nice as he was to look at, as hot as his body to fantasize about, it had been Dawson’s annoyingly quiet and serious demeanor that drove Sparrow up the walls. There had been some attraction, from Sparrow, obviously, because Dawson was straight, it wasn’t like the Alpha was disgusting, quite the contrary.

Sparrow needed more than that to be truly interested in someone. And more he had gotten, immediately when the full moon came and they went to the mountainside to shift. You could fall in love with another wolf without ever seeing his or her wolf form, but you couldn’t find your true mate unless your inner wolf saw theirs. Sparrow had stood there, naked and excited to be shifting again. His parents had been there too, speaking quietly with Dawson and Harry, his mum talking with Carla and the other women of the pack. Everyone was naked and even though it was completely natural for wolves to be naked like this, especially at full moon, Sparrow was a bit weirded out. After all these were strangers. When the moon had come from behind the clouds, Sparrow had taken a deep breath and let go of the mental restraints he had already been struggling with. So his wolf wasn’t much, just a strange looking gray wolf because his fur had an odd red tint to it. He was on the smaller side, just like he was as a human, but that was okay because he was an Omega. The silence was deafening, and he was afraid to open his eyes once he had shifted. When he did, he was staring into the eye of a dark colored wolf. Dawson Hawk’s wolf form was beautiful as the man was. Strong and big, and looking more like the American subspecies, rather than the European ones. It felt like a slow humming in his bones at first. Then, without Sparrow having any control over his body, his wolf form laid down, turned to its back and exposed its throat to Dawson. Total and utter submission. If he hadn’t known what was going on then, it became obvious as soon as Dawson made a disbelieving whimpering sound, turned around and ran off, leaving the Omega on the ground without acknowledging his gesture. For a moment Sparrow laid there, stunned in silence. And then his heart broke.

The worried whimper of his mother’s made him snap out of it a little. She had shifted too, and was now trying to nudge him up with her muzzle. For his mother he could do it, he staggered up and leaned to her flank for a moment, letting her calm wash over him. Then, even in wolf form, he picked up his pieces and put on a brave face and pretended that his true mate hadn’t just turned his back to him. “Sparrow, what’s wrong, lad?” It was his father’s voice that snapped him into the present. He chuckled a little, “Why would you think something was wrong, pa? Can’t I call you just because?” “Well sure you can, but you rarely do. Do you want me to get your mum?” The tone of his dad’s voice was knowing, and that was what made Sparrow choke up. His parents would always know him best. “Yeah, thanks,” Sparrow sighed and tried to find more comfortable position on his seat. "Sweetheart?” His mother’s worried voice carried over all the physical distance between them. “Mum…” Sparrow breathed, and immediately something that had been stuck within him dislodged and he tried his best to reel in the pain and the longing to be with his family and the pack he had grown in. “What’s the matter, darling, it’s all okay, whatever is wrong we’re here, honey,” she all but cooed at him. Maybe it was the tone, the same she had used when he fell off a tree when he

was six years old, that made him chuckle despite the few tears that had managed to escape. “No, just missing you, nothing really bad, mum, trust me.” “Okay, but it is something, otherwise you wouldn’t be calling me.” Excellent point there… “Carla made me call. There was a bit of an accident with her son, Nico. He shifted the first time last night and I got in the way before I could shift,” Sparrow admitted. “How bad?” the tone of the woman was deadly, like she was about to crawl through the lines to get to wring his neck if he had put himself in danger and got seriously hurt. “Broken collarbone and cracked ribs with some pretty neat bruising everywhere. No bites, I think he must’ve just knocked me down. I didn’t have time to react, I’m not as in tune with the pack as I’d want to be,” Sparrow said, a hint of bitterness creeping into his tone. “I know, honey, he’ll come around,” his mother’s voice was relieved now, knowing that with the rate wolves healed he’d be fine in no time. Sparrow turned his gaze back outside, where the group of wolves was still gathered, chatting away. The pretty female was still flirting with Dawson, and it made Sparrow’s blood boil. It wasn’t until he saw Dawson reach a hand to touch the female’s long, chestnut hair, that he growled again. “Honey, what’s wrong?” Great, now he had alarmed his mother. “Sorry, mum. Just… He’s flirting with some female out in the yard… Some

strangers came by,” he turned his gaze away from the scene and nodded at Nico who was cautiously stepping into the room, looking mighty apologetic. “Maybe you just need to outwit him? He’s a very smart man, a good leader, but right now he’s letting his true mate and his pack down, just because to him you seem to be the wrong gender or something… Outwit him, make him afraid of losing you and he’ll stop taking you for granted, son,” his mother stated. “You know what, you’re right, mum. I’ll do just that. Thank you. I gotta go, Nico just got here,” Sparrow said to the phone, perking up because there was a plan forming in his mind. “Is the boy okay?” his mum, always the mother, asked. “Yes, he’s fine. I’ll call you again soon," Sparrow said and disconnected the call. “How are you feeling?” Nico asked hesitantly, looking everywhere but the bandage around Sparrow’s body. “I’m going to be okay, Nico. First though, who got me here?” he asked, still holding on to the hope that maybe it had been his mate and not Harry. “Harry did, once I plowed you down I ran out and ran straight back to the farm. It worked out really well. The wolf wanted to run first so I let it. They knew something was wrong when you weren’t with me.” Nico looked proud of himself, as he should be. “So Dawson shifted and Harry took the car and we ran and he drove and then once Harry got you, Dawson took me to hunt.” “Okay, good to know…” Sparrow said thoughtfully, then just to be sure he added, “We’re fine, you didn’t do anything wrong. But there’s one thing you can do for me if it makes you feel better,” Sparrow grinned, and the utter relief on Nico’s face told him that everything would be fine soon. “Whatever you need, Sparrow, what can I do for you?” The young man was enthusiastic now.

Nico was only fifteen and his inner wolf had come out when he was still a bit too young to be in full control of it, but they couldn’t help these things, nobody could. So they lived with them, and now he could use the fact that Nico was known to be very intelligent and honest young man. Nobody would question him, nobody at all. “I need you to lie for me,” Sparrow said seriously. “What?” Nico was shocked. “We need to set things right, and the only way to do that is to make Dawson see what he’s missing, what the pack is missing, can you help me do that? For all of us?” Sparrow pleaded to the boy, who thought about it for a long time, then nodded determinedly. “What should I do?” “First of all, you just walked in to me talking to my mom how it’s too dangerous for me to be here when I don’t have all my powers. That I agreed with her to go back to the UK. That’s all you know, that I was hurt, I’m not scared and because my mate isn’t taking responsibility, I’m leaving the pack.” Sparrow spun the best lie he could in such a short notice. Nico’s eyes were shining with an uncharacteristic mischief. “Oh yes…this will be good…” the boy chuckled. “Now, go get Harry for me. Just go out there where he is with Dawson and the other pack, and tell him that our Omega needs him. Don’t even look at Dawson. Make sure the message is clearly for just Harry.” “What if Dawson asks?” Nico frowned. “You tell him that I called for Harry and that it seems like I’m making plans to

leave or something, then you just take off. And don’t stay eyeing those twins. They’re too old and there’s two.” Sparrow grinned and Nico promptly blushed. “Okay, should I go now?” the boy asked and Sparrow nodded. Sparrow quickly thought exactly what to say once Harry got to his room, while watching how Nico was doing once he got to the yard. The boy walked over to the adults and the twins, went straight to Harry and nudged his elbow to get his attention. Then he said something, and to his satisfaction Sparrow noticed how Dawson turned so fast his hair flipped to his other shoulder. Sparrow could tell the Alpha asked what was going on and Nico played his part perfectly. Just in time, he turned his head away as Dawson’s gaze locked to his window. He could feel the steel gray eyes trying to read him across the distance. He didn’t move, couldn’t move, because he didn’t want to make any more concessions for his stupid mate. When the heavy boots Harry always wore thumped up the stairs, Sparrow braced himself and tried to look neutral. “Sparrow,” Harry nodded with respect. “Harry,” Sparrow returned the gesture. They had been in good terms ever since they’d bumped into each other in town all those months ago. Harry was a friend, not a good one but more than acquaintance. He was someone Sparrow trusted to always look after the pack, and that was the important thing to remember right now. “So… Nico said something about you leaving?” Harry asked quietly, like he was hesitant about something, possibly crossing some invisible boundary. “Yes, I spoke with my mother just now and… and we think it’s best if I leave. You know what happens over time if I live around my true mate and he doesn’t

claim me, especially when he’s the Alpha of this pack,” Sparrow reasoned, “Besides, wasn’t last night’s episode proof enough that I’m not good enough for the pack as long as I go unclaimed?” Harry fidgeted from one foot to the other, looking torn. “Do sit down,” Sparrow said and nodded towards the armchair nearby. “And speak your mind,” he added in a firm tone. That seemed to make Harry a bit uncomfortable, but the older man was certainly someone who would respect the hierarchy, and when there was an Omega in the pack, the Beta was underneath the Omega in some ways. Not in danger, no, but in these pack-related issues that were about what was best for the pack as a whole. “I… I’m not sure I can talk about this… I mean… I’ve known Dawson for a long time but I can’t…” Harry was hedging now. “It’s not that I’m asking you to convince me to stay, I’m leaving nevertheless. I just wanted to talk to someone about the future of the pack without me in it,” Sparrow said innocently, trying to seem nonchalant about even mentioning such a thing. “What do you mean?” Harry frowned and leaned his elbows to his knees, looking thoughtful. “Well, I’m leaving and you know what that means for, first of all, Dawson. Sure, he didn’t claim me, but I am his true mate. He can’t expect there not to be any consequences. So if he begins to get weaker or finds a lover and that seems to affect him in some negative way, give me a call, okay?” Sparrow tried to look pleading in a convincing amount but not too sad, so that Harry couldn’t tell him not to go. “Okay… See, I haven’t found my true mate so I don’t know how that goes, can you…?” The question was there for the Omega to answer, and he was happy to

do it. “Oh, you know, like there are the positive consequences from a true mate’s claiming, especially if there couple happens to be an Alpha and Omega-one, there are negative consequences too. See, the wolf within him wants me and our bond, because it knows it’s there. So it might start acting up in some ways, especially if he finds another mate. My mother’s mother was a Beta of her pack and she knew stories of wolves going mad and becoming volatile in this kind of situations. A wolf should never deny his or her true mate,” Sparrow said almost casually, matter of factly, but with some careful sadness in his tone. “I, naturally, will be having more difficulty, I think. Mostly because I’m smaller and weaker in the first place. If it comes to me getting out of control and weak, I might come back here to ask someone to put me out of my misery. I couldn’t make my parents or their pack do it.” Now the sadness in Sparrow’s tone was on the surface. To his utter satisfaction, he heard Harry inhale sharply. Of course he failed to mention that such cases were mostly stories of the old legends, things that didn’t really happen these days or might not have happened at all. But Harry didn’t seem to know that, and Sparrow wasn’t above being a bit mean and misleading to make sure his pack, this new pack that was already his home, would get what it deserved. “Uh… And the pack?” Harry managed. “Well naturally there’s the fact that their Alpha might end up off his rocker and they won’t have an Omega anymore, but maybe things won’t be too bad. I wasn’t good to begin with, after all my record with doing my thing isn’t too good,” he nodded downwards at the arm bandaged to his chest and winced a bit when the movement hurt. “Err…uh… When are you leaving?” Harry was getting fidgety again, he was obviously going to bolt at any minute to think about this. Sparrow knew the Beta well enough to know he’d vanish somewhere to think

first, then go and talk to Dawson. “Apparently the Doc said it will be a couple of days until I can properly move my arm, so after that. Some time next week, I assume,” Sparrow said in an offhand tone, lightly, like it was all decided. “Okay… If I can help you with anything..?” the Beta was getting up from the chair, looking nervous. “I’ll let you know, thank you,” Sparrow said graciously, and watched with amusement as Harry exited the room in a rush. And now he’d just wait…

That evening he didn’t go to dinner downstairs, because his ribs didn’t like walking the stairs one bit. Instead Carla, who was obviously on to the fact that something was going on, brought him a tray of food. Maybe it was her female intuition or she knew her son was hiding something, but she didn’t ask about Sparrow leaving, not even once, despite the news having spread through the farm like a wildfire. During the evening, Sparrow had some visitors. Nico stopped by again, gushing about the twins still and getting their email addresses before they had left. Carla’s littlest, four year old Natalie, came by to watch cartoons with Sparrow for a moment. Harry’s wife, Yvette, who was very pregnant, came by and she was the only one who asked him to stay, if for nothing else then for the pack. For a moment Sparrow felt bad about the deception, he didn’t want to stress a pregnant woman this close to her due date. But in the end he knew the change for better had to come from Dawson. Actually, if he wasn’t so sure Dawson would come around with the help of his inner beast, Sparrow would have considered staying in town. Not with the pack, a few families, that resided on the farm, but outside it. Still around for them, but not around Dawson all the time.

It was painful, still. The rejection stung him so badly he wasn’t sure he could survive for long. That much had been true in what he had told Harry. He could tell his wolf was feeling rejected, even more so than Sparrow’s human side did. At least the human in him could reason, think about it more or less objectively, try to understand. The wolf was just an animal. So it was a huge deal to Dawson that he was a man, with all male parts and things. It wasn’t the first time he’d been rejected by a straight guy. It was just that fate, the evil bitch, had decided that his true mate, the one he couldn’t really live without comfortably, didn’t want him. Later he was laying in the bed, the TV on mute, trying to stand the physical pain without dwelling in the emotional, when he heard a silent knock. Carla had closed the door the last time she had been by, to collect the tray. She had told him to rest and he had promised. He was feeling sleepy, sure, but immediately when the knock came, his heartbeat picked up. He could tell who it was just by the scent, and the man hadn’t even opened the door yet! It wasn’t like he was lacking in the senses normally, but when it was his mate… Yeah, he could probably catch his scent from the other side of a packed to the rafters football stadium or something. “Come in,” he said quietly, knowing Dawson could hear him anyway. The Alpha stepped in smoothly, barely making a sound, and closed the door behind himself. Then he raised his eyes to Sparrow’s. “Can we talk?” The now familiar, gruff tone asked and Sparrow nodded. “Yeah, if you help me with the pillows so I can sit up,” he said, because he didn’t want to have this conversation laying down and he was evil enough, at least tonight, to have his mate inhale his scent whether he wanted or not. Dawson nodded and walked closer to the bed. The big man was obviously feeling quite awkward and Sparrow was milking it by leaning into the arm that

reached over him to pull the pillows up behind his back. The sudden closeness was making Sparrow’s wolf whimper, and somehow he could tell that Dawson’s wolf wasn’t unaffected either. “Sit down,” Sparrow nodded once he was sitting comfortably. Dawson sat down on the bed, trying to make himself comfortable while sitting with his back to the low footboard. Sparrow wasn’t going to make this any easier, so he waited for the man to start talking. “So… You’re leaving?” the Alpha finally uttered, looking over Sparrow’s shoulder like there was something there on the lavender-colored wall. “You don’t want me here, what am I supposed to do? My wolf is so distressed I’m afraid to shift now. You’re killing my wolf slowly, at least I can suffer back in the UK with my family.” Sparrow watched Dawson take the impact of his words like slaps and punches to his face. “Sparrow I…” Dawson choked, but Sparrow wasn’t ready to let him talk. “No! You’ve acted like this means nothing to you for six months now! You’ve made everyone miserable, uncertain, because you’re determined that your true mate can’t be a man! And when I could’ve been killed, because I don’t have the abilities I could have by now, you weren’t there! You fucking went hunting with the boy and left your Beta to take care of your mate!” He was getting truly pissed off now. Dawson was shocked, that was obvious. He had probably thought that the smaller, more sensitive Omega was a mellow, peaceful man. Oh how wrong he had been… Sparrow was feisty, he would do anything for his pack, even if it was taking on his moron of a mate! “It’s… It’s not because you’re a man,” Dawson said so quietly a human’s senses couldn’t have picked the words up. “What?” Sparrow looked at his mate in disbelief.

Dawson coughed, “ I… I’ve known I’m bisexual for a long time now.” Finally the Alpha glanced at Sparrow, but only briefly. “Then why? Why put your mate, your pack, through this?” Sparrow demanded, leaning forward a little despite the pain that shot through his shoulder. “Because I was afraid,” Dawson stared down at his own lap now, letting the black hair fall forwards to hide him a little. “Of what?” Sparrow’s tone had taken a gentle quality. This he understood, being afraid and feeling vulnerable. It wasn’t easy for the Omega, and it would be twice as hard for a big, tough Alpha. “Of losing myself in what we could have,” Dawson’s frustration was evident in his tone, especially when he huffed and continued, “I’ve never been in love, Sparrow. Never felt anything. And then there you were, a scrawny little Omega from Europe, brought here by chance and I thought sure, he’s good looking, but I knew you’d be leaving soon so… So I decided not to risk anything. That night, when we shifted, I’ve never been so terrified before.” It was amazing how the always strong Alpha could look so vulnerable in front of his mate. Sparrow stared at him, taking in the slight tremor in the large hands, the way Dawson hid behind his hair and still clung to his composure because that was what Alphas do. “There you were… someone I thought interesting, but would never approach because of the distance and… and because I didn’t think you’d want me. After I saw your wolf, I didn’t know what happened, because mine jumped out of me so fast I had no time to react… It responded to yours so strongly that for some reason I was able to run off when I wanted to. My wolf… My wolf wanted to claim you right then and there.” The confession fell from Dawson’s lips like he was unable to control the words.

“So don’t go, Sparrow. Please?” When the Alpha looked up, there were tears in his eyes, and Sparrow knew for sure that he wouldn’t ask again. Not after putting himself out there like this, showing his vulnerability to the younger man he didn’t really know that well. Their wolves knew each other, yes, but the human sides had a long way to go still. “Then will you claim me?” Sparrow asked quietly, looking into the eyes of his true mate, the one person in the world that could make him complete in every possible sense. “Once you’ve healed properly, yes.” Dawson nodded, then wiped the tears from his eyes and looked embarrassed for a while. “It’s okay, you know. You don’t have to hide from me. I’m your true mate, your Omega,” Sparrow smiled. His heart was mending, it was almost a physical feeling of pieces fitting back together. Then his playful streak came out again, and he grinned. “You do realize that was the most I’ve ever heard you speak, right?” he asked, making Dawson snort and smile. “So will you?” the Alpha got more serious again, the insecurity returning to his gaze. “Okay. But you’ll call my mum and tell her the news,” Sparrow said, making his mate groan out loud. Maybe one day he’d tell Dawson that he had never had any real intention to leave, but that time wasn’t now. Right now he had one more request. “Would you sleep here tonight? With me?” he asked, wondering if he was pushing his luck.

Dawson was quiet for a moment, and Sparrow was just about to open his mouth to take back his words, when the Alpha spoke. “No, but you can come to the master bedroom, where you belong.” The slightly gruff tone was back, but it was softer, almost husky, and that was all Sparrow needed to know to believe everything would be just fine.

It had been the longest four days in Sparrow’s life. His mate was determined that they’d wait until Sparrow’s injuries were completely healed for sure before they would take their relationship any further physically. The morning of the fourth day, when Sparrow walked downstairs to breakfast, even Carla was vibrating with nervous energy. It was obvious it took her a lot to keep quiet about everything. Just to not push his luck, Sparrow ate as quickly as possible and escaped to the barns before she opened her mouth to ask anything he wasn’t prepared to answer. Sure, they had been using the last days creatively. They had talked a lot, about everything, getting to know each other, but all the closeness had made other instincts pop to surface. Like the immediate need to connect on a more physical level. Frankly, Sparrow was ready to be fucked into the mattress. Now, please. He used his excess frustration and energy to muck some stalls, clean some of the tack and then went to the paddock, to brush the horse that was assigned to him. That was where his mate found him around noon. “You done here?” Dawson all but growled, and the hair on the back of Sparrow’s neck rose immediately. Instead of saying something stupid like “yes I was ready two days ago”, he merely nodded. Dawson opened the paddock gate he had been leaning on and waited, a clear indication that Sparrow better hurry the fuck up right about now.

The Omega’s whole body felt tense, as he took the brush he had used on the horse and slipped out of the gate, heading to the stable to return the brush where he had taken it from. He wasn’t sure why he did that, he could’ve left it on the fence or something, but when he felt the delicious tingles all over his body, he knew it was worth it. His mate followed him a few steps behind, and Sparrow could feel the eyes on himself. It was like a challenge; would he dare to prolong this, or would he succumb to the tension that was freely flowing between them. At first he really liked the idea of putting the brush back into the tack room, of walking to wash his hands in the bathroom by the barn office room. The tension within him won, though. He realized he was walking much faster now, and that Dawson’s long legs were taking longer steps too. In no time at all Sparrow was tossing the brush to the general direction of the tack room and practically jogged to clean up. When he turned around in the tiny bathroom, hands still wet, his mate filled the doorway. The dangerous glint in Dawson’s gray eyes made Sparrow feel like prey, like something coveted that Dawson wanted to own. As if timed, they began to strip down, boots, socks, shirts, jeans, underwear… It was all so hasty, but the less clothes Sparrow had on, the stronger the wolf within became. The last purely human thought the Omega had, was thank goodness all the horses are outside, because in the next instant, two wolves were running in the barn aisle on their way out into the wilderness. The larger, dark wolf could’ve outdone the smaller reddish one easily, but they ran together. It was playful, the way they dodged trees and boulders, jumped over logs and kept nipping at each other’s flanks when ever their paths crossed. They never roamed far from one another, almost tripping over when they brushed too close. Sparrow’s human mind was feeling so good, so relaxed as he let the wolf take him wherever it wanted to go, that he didn’t keep an eye where they were

running. It wasn’t until Dawson began to slow down, that the smaller wolf looked up. They were at the cabin. The Alpha shifted, and Sparrow took a moment to truly look at his mate in all his naked glory. Nudity wasn’t an issue, but ogling someone wasn’t really cool, now was it? Except when it was your mate and you were alone in the middle of nowhere… “Coming?” Dawson threw over his shoulder, and walked the last steps to the cabin door, opening it. Sparrow jogged closer before shifting. Obviously he was expected to go in first. When he did, he felt Dawson’s large palm on the small of his back, warming his skin and sending bolts of liquid fire into his system. He gasped at the contact, and then again when he saw the insides of the cabin. Where there had only been the bunk bed and a shelf on the wall, was now a bed that took most of the floor space. “Had to bring it here in pieces and put it back together again. Harry helped, and Nico too. They were both blushing but it was so worth it,” Dawson chuckled, pushing the smaller male inside and closing the door behind them. “Thought it was better if nobody could bother us tonight.” Suddenly Sparrow was spun around, pulled close and Dawson was inhaling his scent from his short, red hair. “Wait, wait…” Sparrow managed, though every instinct, both human and wolf, was trying to push him into giving in, surrendering himself to his mate. “First things first,” he said firmly. Something about his tone must have made his mate realize he was serious. Dawson stepped back with a forced politeness and Sparrow moved to sit on the edge of the bed. “I want to know why,” he said, raising his piercing blue eyes to meet Dawson’s,

“did you flirt with that female? Why did you disrespect me and the pack and even the female like that? I need to know why, and that it won’t ever happen again.” Dawson stood at the door, still, and was very clearly choosing his words carefully. “Because being me, a young Alpha who has tossed into this position against my will, isn’t easy. Because I thought that I should act like those idiot Alphas who have something to prove to strangers, how masculine and strong they are, how desirable as mates.” Dawson looked ashamed as he leaned his back to the closed door. “You bloody idiot…” Sparrow exclaimed, “You had a true mate, an Omega at that, waiting for you inside your beautiful farmhouse. So you were tossed into leading the pack, but you always knew that would happen eventually. You’re the biggest man and wolf I’ve seen in years, Dawson. You have me and your whole pack, and you’d throw that away for what? For appearances?” His voice was bordering on snarling now, and for a big man Dawson could shrink to look smaller quite efficiently. “I know it was stupid, but…” “No buts, either you’re in this with me a hundred percent, or you’re not. What is it going to be?” Sparrow snapped. “You, I want you. Nobody else, Sparrow. Never again. I’ll be the man, the wolf, the Alpha you and this pack deserve.” The words were spoken in such quiet conviction, they brought chills to the Omega’s skin. “Then why are you still all the way over there?” Sparrow let a hint of playfulness into his tone that was rapidly changing into a husky purr. When Dawson pounced, it was expected, it was welcome and gods it was perfect! The tall frame of the bigger man was heavy on him, the scent of the

Alpha and the run through the woods lingered everywhere around Sparrow, and he felt high on it all. They kissed, not gently but almost brutally, eager to get as close as possible now that they could. The sounds they were making were primal; whimpers, purring and growling that seemed to have no end and no beginning. It was impossible to say who was hissing when something hurt in a pleasurable way, or who was dominating whom, especially when suddenly it was Sparrow on top of his mate, and they both froze. “Where do you want your scar?” Sparrow asked, trying to slow down and calm them a bit. Some decisions shouldn’t be done in the heat of the moment. “I haven’t thought about it, good call,” Dawson panted. “I want mine right here,” Sparrow said, pointing his left pec. That way the scar would be close to his heart. He was planning on being proud of it, carrying it as the testament of finding his true mate, maybe, eventually true love also. “Okay…hmm… How about my shoulder?” Dawson asked and Sparrow reached his fingers to touch a spot close to where his mate’s neck met the muscular shoulder. “Here?” he asked, getting a nod in response. Dawson reached under the pile of pillows and produced a bottle of lube. They were too different in size to be able to bite each other comfortably in their chosen spots at the same time, but it appeared that Dawson had a plan. Sparrow’s hips began to rock, his cock rubbing deliciously against Dawson’s equally hard length. He made sure his knees were firmly on each side of his mate, before leaning down to kiss him, slowly this time. The feeling of being

prepared while they kissed was amping up the pleasure, and he let his mate do whatever he saw best. Sparrow concentrated on kissing and nipping Dawson’s lips, jaw line and neck, feeling the high from before return at the taste of his mate’s skin. When Dawson maneuvered them so that he was leaning on the headboard with Sparrow straddling his lap, the Omega got a hang of what he wanted. “You ready?” he asked, voice husky with desire and growly with the wolf peeking through. Dawson kissed him once and took a firm hold of his hips, before nodding and tilting his head to give Sparrow more room. As the Omega lowered his mouth on the Alpha’s shoulder and bit down, breaking skin and tasting blood, he was lifted and swiftly entered by his mate. It was strange, how detached he could feel in the act of something so primal. The taste of the blood now dripping down Dawson’s muscular chest, the feel of his lover inside him, it was not enough and too much at the same time. He raised his head away from the permanent bite mark that was slowly healing, leaned back, boring down on his mate’s cock, and let go of every worry he might have had about this not working out. A growl erupted from Dawson, filling the cabin as he dug his teeth into Sparrow’s pectoral muscle, causing immense pain and pleasure, making them both climax nearly simultaneously, marking them to each other for all eternity. The rush of power that accompanied the bite, the true mate’s claiming, wiped Sparrow out. He lost consciousness for a moment, but when he came to again, he was laying on the bed, sprawled on top of his mate. He looked down at the utterly satisfied face of his Alpha-mate, and grinned a bit. Then he examined their already closed up bite marks, feeling proud and somehow, new. Yes, he could love this proud, silent man. He could make sure that the pack had

the emotional stability they needed to flourish, and he could make sure that nothing would ever lack from the life of his gorgeous true mate. Suddenly there was a knock on the door, and Harry’s awkward “Uhm…guys? You about done yet? We need our Omega, my wife’s just gone into labor and she swears she’s not letting the kid out before Sparrow is in the room with her.” THE END Author Bio: Tia Fielding lives in a peaceful little town in a small country in northern Europe. She loves nature, her horses, cats, and even the yappy little thing that occasionally gets called a dog. Tia learned to read before she went to school at the age six and began writing as soon as she figured she had stories to tell around the mature age of seven. Stories about horses, adventures, and ghosts might have turned into hot GLBTQ-romance, but she still has a wicked imagination and, hopefully, more stories to tell.