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 Contents
TITLE PAGE
COPYRIGHT
DEDICATION
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
ABOUT ANN-KATRIN
NEWSLETTER SIGN_UP
OTHER BOOKS
 Mating the Omega
Mercy Hills Pack Book One

By
Ann-Katrin Byrde

Cover Art by Ana J. Phoenix

© 2016 Ann-Katrin Byrde
All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution
via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution
and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given
to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and
retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law.
This is a work of fiction. All resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.
This ebook contains sexually explicit scenes and adult language and may be considered offensive to
some readers. Please don’t read if you are under eighteen.
To all those thwarted in love. Be sneaky. :)
 CHAPTER ONE

My Dad woke me up in the middle of the night, his voice tight with fear. “Jason, wake up.
Quick, grab your bag and get downstairs!”
“They found us?” I asked as I struggled out of the tangled sheets.
He nodded. “They’re not far. No!” I’d started emptying my dresser drawer, but his hand on my
arm stopped me. “There’s no time.”
I dropped the stack of shirts in my hand. “Okay.” While he thundered down the stairs to get the
car packed with our emergency supplies, I threw on yesterday’s clothes, still crumpled at the foot of
my bed, and fished some clean socks out of the dresser, because there was no way I was going to put
on dirty ones, no matter what the risk. And as a True Omega wolf, the risk was massive. Then I
grabbed the already-packed backpack in the corner of the room and ran downstairs.
The front door stood open, the air swirling in through it sharp and cold with the first frost of the
year. It was October, and we’d only been here since the last time they’d found us in mid-summer; our
stops were getting shorter all the time. I grabbed my laptop off the kitchen table, picked up my phone
and both our chargers, and shoved them into my regular backpack.
Dad came in the door. “Come on.”
“Ready.” I jammed my feet into my sneakers and took one last look at the place I’d hoped might
be a home at last. I’d been happy to have a yard, and the neighbors had seemed nice, though they were
human, which made real friendships problematic. But there’d been introductions and greetings, and
the occasional invitation to a barbecue and stuff. All over now, though.
At least I wasn’t leaving behind a garden this time. That had hurt at the last place; I love my
gardens.
We tossed our stuff into the car. Dad locked the front door of the house behind us, and then we
were off.
“How did they find us?” I asked as we rocketed out of the driveway and squealed around the
turn onto the road.
“I don’t know, but I got a head’s up from your uncle Andy back home that they were headed
here. He figured they be on us by dawn.”
“Damn.”
“Language, please. Just because we’re being hounded all across the country doesn’t mean you
can forget your manners.” Dad said it in a prim, school-marmy kind of tone, or what I’d always
imagined one would sound like. He did it to make me laugh, and it worked, despite my frustration and
anger and the tears that hovered at the back of my throat and made my eyes sting. It was so unfair—I
didn’t ask to be born omega. I sure as hell didn’t ask to be born a True Omega, with their supposed
powers—whatever the fuck those were—and every Alpha on the planet suddenly slavering for my
ass. I’d gladly hand them over to someone else. The only thing these omega powers had ever done for
me was make it easy for me to grow vegetables. I had a sudden image of myself dressed in the iconic
farmer’s overalls, with a pitchfork and a straw hat, scratching Old Bessie’s head while she chewed
her cud, and I had to suppress a laugh. There was no way I’d ever get to live that life.
Not if the Alphas had anything to do with it.
Dad turned onto the highway and the car started to speed up. “Why don’t you crawl into the
back seat and go to sleep again. We’ll be on the road for a while.”
“What about you? You haven’t had any more sleep than I have.”
He shook his head, and a passing street lamp glinted silver off the gray at his temples. “I’ll
wake you around dawn, and you can take over. We want to put as much space between us and them as
possible.”
“All right.” I undid my seatbelt, did a quick check for cops, then squirmed into the back seat.
“I threw in your napping blanket,” Dad said, and he was smiling when I met his gaze in the rear
view mirror.
“Thank, Dad.” He never forgot it, no matter how quick an exit we had to make. It was the last
thing I had from Mom—they’d killed her when I was fifteen.
No, she’d sacrificed herself, to give us time to get away.
I think, if I’d realized what she’d been planning, I would have let them have me, underage as I
was, knowing what would happen. But I didn’t, and she died, and the only thing I had left was this
heavy gray blanket, its edges beginning to fray with use and washing. That and my hair, which was
like hers, thick, with ends that curled into loose ringlets if I let it grow too long, and still unable to
make up its mind about whether it wanted to be blond or brown.
I dug the blanket out from under Dad’s bag, wrapped it around me, then pillowed my head on my
backpack and began the meditation exercises I’d started using four years ago, right after Mom had
been killed and my body had suddenly forgotten how to sleep. It was harder to get into them tonight
for some reason, and it took me a few minutes to figure out what the problem was.
Damn. I was coming into Season.
Well, fuck my life.
 CHAPTER TWO

I finished hanging our cheap Christmas decorations, stuff I’d picked up during a clandestine
excursion to the used-everything store, and stood back to admire my handiwork. Okay, maybe admire
wasn’t the word I was going for. This stuff was ugly, butt ugly. But I refused to go through Christmas
without some sort of decoration—they weren’t going to take that from me too. Our Christmas tree—a
scraggly thing that we’d ‘liberated’ from a local park one night—stood propped up in the corner,
already shedding needles onto the threadbare carpet. There were only two gifts underneath it—one
for Dad, and one for me. We moved around too much for the lavish celebrations we’d had when I was
a pup. And, realistically, we’d only end up leaving it all behind the next time they caught up to us.
We’d learned to live light.
And the last reason for our tiny Christmas? We didn’t actually have all that much money. Dad
was working here and there, but nothing steady. Electricians could always get jobs, but it took a while
to get established. Dad was afraid to let me work out side the house anymore, not since I’d been
tracked down at my job two years ago by a Texan Alpha who just couldn’t believe the rumors were
true. We lived off what he brought in, and whatever both of us could scrounge out of dumpsters. So
double the reason for a small Christmas.
We were going to have a turkey, though, with all the trimmings. I’d scraped, and pinched
pennies, and managed to get a small one on sale. I’d had to borrow a roaster from the neighbors, but
since they thought I was disabled, they were all too eager to take pity on me. I’d told them I had
epilepsy, to cover for any weird noises they might hear. Sometimes living in a one bedroom apartment
in the middle of a city got to be too much for two shifter boys out on their own. And it helped explain
why I never went out anywhere.
The real reason was that it was too dangerous. Sure, shifters were segregated from human
society, bound by law to be registered and to live within their prescribed communities unless they had
special permission to live outside them—which we did not—but they still did business with the
humans, and it would be just my luck to run into one while I was at work, or even end up working
with one. I could only hide the difference in my scent so well, and it was inevitable that someone
would pick up on it. And then we’d have to run again. Not just from the shifters, but from the humans
too, for breaking their laws.
Dad had promised me that, once the Alphas had given up on me, we’d look for a place in the
country, somewhere where my instinctive need to nurture and grow things could be put to use. I had
some potted herbs growing on the windowsill, and they did well for living in such poor light, but I
wanted more. Needed more. The Omega Drive, my mom had called it.
Not all the omegas had it. Actually, none that were alive right now had it. The True Omega had
died out. Except for me.
Go me. Way to be different and fucked up. At least this fall’s season had been short; I was
blissfully able to enjoy our little holiday without the constant hard-ons and the restless urge to go out,
somewhere, anywhere, and pick up a guy to fuck me silly.
Yeah, omega sucks, no matter how hard your parents try to tell you there’s a good side to it too.
I’ve never noticed it.
The rattle of the doorknob broke the silence of the tiny apartment and then Dad was home.
“Look, they had pie, half off.” He held up a box, with the conspicuous pink sticker on it.
“Great. What kind?”
“Apple. Aaaaand,” he lifted a plastic grocery bag into view, swinging heavily with the weight
of its contents. “Ice cream!”
“Fantastic!” I waved at the wall and took a bow that was only slightly sarcastic. “And I
decorated.”
“It looks great. You have a knack.” He put the pie on the kitchen counter and started putting
away the rest of the groceries. “Tomorrow we’ll sleep in, eat pie for breakfast, and watch Christmas
shows on the computer.”
“You might be. I’ll be up early to put the turkey on.”
“We don’t have to eat it at lunch.”
“Then we have to cook two meals. Nope, turkey lunch, then turkey supper, then turkey breakfast
after that.”
He stuffed the empty grocery bag in a drawer. “If I grow feathers, I’ll singe your tail for you.”
I pretended I was offended. “Hey, this turkey is going to be so good, you’ll want to eat it for
days.”
“Okay, okay.” He laughed and went to hang up his coat. “So, what’s for Christmas Eve supper?”
“Tuna casserole.” It wasn’t really. Just a can of tuna dumped into a box of macaroni and cheese,
with some no-name frozen veggies mixed in so we could pretend we were eating healthy. I’d cooked
it in our one pot, too, because we didn’t have anything that we could put in the oven. Though after
tomorrow, I’d have a pie plate, and I could start thinking about things I could make in that. It was
expensive replacing everything we owned at least once a year. Sometimes we had enough warning to
get out with most of our stuff, but not always—this last move being a prime example of what it was
like.
Supper was quiet. What was there to say? There was no work for electricians at Christmas,
though he had some stUff lined up for after. I was debating bringing up the subject of my getting a
part-time job again, even knowing he would veto it. Maybe I could talk him into a little dumpster
diving after supper. We might find more decorations, or some food that we could scavenge. Stale
bread wasn’t bad if you used it right, and it would save the loaf on the counter from being used up for
stuffing the turkey.
 CHAPTER THREE

The streets were dead when we out together after supper—after all, it was Christmas Eve. All
the better, because then there’d be no one to notice me hanging upside down in a dumpster behind the
grocery store three blocks away from us. It must have been a sight, me bent double over the edge, Dad
hanging onto my legs so I didn’t fall in. It stank, but I let some of my wolf sneak out so I could follow
my nose to the stuff that wouldn’t give us food poisoning. So far, I’d found a few roasts, and a bag
with a pretty random assortment of breads and donuts and muffins in it that didn’t smell too old. There
wasn’t a lot in the bin, though. I guess they sold pretty much everything, what with it being the
holidays and stuff. But still, I could get six or seven meals out of the meat, and there was enough
bread to stuff the turkey, and sweets to snack on while we lounged around. It was almost like a real
Christmas.
“I think that’s it. Everything else smells disgusting. I wouldn’t chance it.”
“No fruit or anything?” Dad tightened his grip on my legs and lifted, helping me out of the bin.
I shook my head once I was back on my feet. “Nothing that didn’t turn to mush as soon as I
touched it. Do you want to hit another place?”
“Maybe. There’s that green store, the one we found the bag of clothes at.”
It was a couple of blocks out of the way, but yeah, that had been a lucky find. They were a high
end store—it was likely they’d throw out anything that wouldn’t still be perfect when the store
opened again in two days. “Okay.”
Luck was with us, and we headed home with a bag of oranges, some cookies in a smashed box,
a bag of organic potatoes, and two containers of strawberries that we’d have to pick the bad ones out
of, but that I couldn’t resist. Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad Christmas after all.
We left the car in a parking lot a block away from our apartment and walked through the
darkness with our loot. Maybe it was the season, maybe it was that we were tired of being poor and
on the run, maybe our luck had just run out—I don’t know. But we rounded the corner, and there they
were, my worst nightmare. My old Alpha’s enforcers, sent to track me down and bring me home, so
he could fuck me and breed me, and steal my power to make himself invincible. Not for the first time,
I wished I knew what the fuck was so special about me, and how I could use it to make everyone just
leave me alone.
“Run,” Dad whispered. He took the bag of oranges and hefted it. I couldn’t move, frozen with
shock and the sudden urge to just roll over and get it over with. I was tired. He was tired. I was
halfway to convincing myself that it couldn’t be as bad to belong to Orvin as I’d made it out to be
when the men spotted us, and the horrifying reality of what I’d be letting myself in for came crashing
down. I turned and bolted back the way we came. “Dad! Come on!” I yelled, but there was no sound
of footsteps behind me. Instead, I heard a scuffle, then the meaty thunk of fist hitting flesh, growling
and cries of pain. I skidded to a stop and spun around.
They had Dad on the ground, two of them pummeling him. The third advanced on me down the
sidewalk, a satisfied grin on his face. “There you are, pretty little omega. It’s time to come home.”
His grin got wider. “You’ve grown up from the scrawny spoiled brat you were when I first saw you.”
I started backing away, my gaze flicking back and forth between him and the motionless form of
my father. A particularly brutal kick wrenched a moan out of him, and I forced back a sob. He looked
up at me, head cradled in his arms for protection and mouthed, “Go!”
So I went. Fast as I could, my breath sobbing in and out of my lungs. I dodged behind buildings,
hid in shadows, and doubled back through the smelliest places I could find to hide my scent from him.
An eerie howl lifted into the night sky as I turned another corner, down a long dark alley filled with
dumpsters. I tripped over something, so hard I didn’t even have time to protect myself. My chin split
open against the cracked pavement, and for a moment I couldn’t breathe. Seconds later, I heard the
snuffling and padding of paws outside the alley, and I forced myself to my feet while my breath
wheezed in and out of my lungs.
The thing I’d tripped over was tangled in my shoelaces—a length of pipe with screws sticking
out at each end. I unhooked it and then, for lack of any better idea, I took a firm grip on one end and
waited for my hunter to find me. I wasn’t going down easy, and now that my memories of what I’d be
facing had been sharpened again, I knew I’d rather be dead than Orvin’s.
It would probably be better for Dad, too, if I died. They’d stop chasing him. He could find a
pack again and settle down. Maybe he’d get married, have another pup, but not an omega. It occurred
to me how selfish I’d been, letting my family uproot themselves for my comfort. At the same time, the
thought of Orvin touching me, putting his cock inside me, no matter how much I’d want it when I was
in season—it made me sick.
Yeah, better to go out swinging, than go back home whimpering. I wound up with the pipe, and
waited.
And when he came down the alley, barking in triumph because he’d cornered me, I brought that
Pipe down on his head with all my strength, and kept bringing it down until I was sure he wasn’t
going to move again.
 CHAPTER FOUR

By the time I got back to Dad, my trusty length of pipe still clutched in one hand, the other two
enforcers had left him alone and were, presumably, gone looking for me. Thank Medeina, goddess of
wolves. I don’t think I could have taken on two of them—I still wasn’t sure how I’d managed to
defeat the first one.
I threw the pipe down beside him and shook him carefully. “Dad? Dad!”
He groaned, and I started to cry with relief. “You’re alive, you’re alive!”
“Yes, I’m alive. What are you doing here? I told you to run.”
“I got away from them.”
“How?”
“Does it matter? Can you walk if I help you?”
“Jason, what did you do?”
I chewed on my lip, and decided that honesty was probably the best course. “I think I killed one
of them. I haven’t seen the other two.”
Dad let out a harsh breath, but he didn’t say anything, and I hesitated to break the silence
between us. I didn’t really want to know what he was thinking right now, I had enough to do to get him
back to the car, and figure out where to go after. “Dad, we need to go. You can lean on me, I’ll take
you to the car.” I didn’t want to leave all my stuff behind, but it looked like I was going to have to.
Dad groaned when I slipped his arm over my shoulder, and basically lifted him to his feet myself,
with a bit of help from my wolf. Wolves are stronger than they look, and right then, I needed that
strength.
We limped back up the block and I got him into the car without incident. I heard howls a couple
of times, but they weren’t close, so I ignored them and concentrated on Dad. He looked small and old
there, lying in the back seat. I didn’t even have a blanket to put over him.
My blanket! No, I wasn’t going to leave without it. And I was tired of replacing everything all
the time. I wanted my computer, and my clothes, and Dad’s clothes.
Fuck it, I’m going back. But just in case, I picked up my pipe as I went. Better safe than sorry.
At the end of the block, I flattened myself against the wall and peered around the corner. There
was a car I didn’t recognize in front of our building and I knew every car on the block. What else did
I have to do with my time but sit by the window and watch everyone but me have a life? But that
meant that I knew this car wasn’t from around here, which meant it was probably the pack enforcers’
car. I snuck down the block, hiding behind cars and garbage bags and old furniture until I got to the
car—it was theirs, the plates were from Montana—and then I let the air out of one of the front tires. I
did the same with the back one, too, and wished I had a potato or something to plug up their exhaust
with. But with those tires, they wouldn’t be chasing us down in the car anyway, so I didn’t let it
bother me for long.
I crept in the front door and up the stairs—the fire escape here was more of a hazard than a fire
would be. The apartment door was closed, and I drew on my wolf to listen inside.
Nothing. Just in case, I made myself wait a few more minutes. After all, no one made noise all
the time. But the other side of the door was as quiet as a tomb. I shivered, because if I guessed wrong,
the apartment could very well become my tomb.
No it won’t. But it could very well become a torture chamber.
Waiting in the hallway was starting to make the hair stand up on the back of my neck, and the
risk of the enforcers coming back grew with each passing moment. Assuming they weren’t sitting
quiet as church mice in my living room, waiting for me to deliver myself to them like so much
Chinese food.
Here goes nothing. I cracked open the door—unlocked, the bastards—and pushed it open a
couple of inches. No sound still, so I pushed on it again, leaving a gap wide enough for me to sneak
my head through. Every light in the place was on. The cupboards had been ransacked, and the door to
the bedroom stood open, where I’d left it closed. The place was empty. I stood up and slipped inside,
closing the door gently behind me so it wouldn’t make any noise. Now, to find our stuff.
The enforcers had packed up everything they could find. It lay in neat piles in the middle of the
living room, where a couch would normally have gone. We didn’t have one, of course, just the
inflatable mattress that Dad slept on, which had also been packed up. I checked out my bedroom—
they’d packed my mattress as well. How kind of them.
Now the problem was to get it all down to the car.
I took the important stuff first, calling on the wolf to help with speed and strength, even though I
knew I’d pay for it later. Half-shifted was far more exhausting than staying in either other form, but I
couldn’t haul the bags out with paws and teeth. So I borrowed and refused to think about the price.
The last boxes, the ones with our dishes and the two mattresses, were the only thing left when I
heard the first howls close by. I dumped the dishes—we could eat off paper plates for a while—but
grabbed the mattresses and bolted out of the building.
They came around the corner while I was unlocking the car, barking that they’d found their prey.
Adrenaline hit me like a brick wall. My hands jerked and I fumbled the keys.
They were getting closer.
I scrabbled on the ground, afraid to take my eyes off the approaching wolves, and found the keys
more by luck than by any kind of talent. My heart pounded so hard my chest hurt, but I got the key into
the lock and slid inside, slamming the door shut in their faces. The first one, a big deep gray with
broader than normal shoulders, slammed into the side of the car, rocking it like it had been hit by a
train. It was lucky he hadn’t hit the window, but if I didn’t get out of there he probably would, and
then I would have burned all my luck and more.
For once, the car started without complaining. I put it in Drive and looked up to see the other
wolf standing in my way. For a moment, I was paralyzed. What do I do? The wolf and I stared at each
other, while the first one clawed at the door. I heard the trim ping away onto the pavement and the
metallic groan of the metal giving way before the onslaught.
 A faint groan wavered up from the back seat, and I made up my mind. I don’t know when my
expression changed, but I knew the exactly moment that the wolf in front of me realized what I was
planning. I gunned the motor in Neutral once, twice, and his eyes, widened, then I put the car back in
Drive and put my foot to the floor.
Even then, he didn’t quite believe that I, an omega, a weak, submissive wolf, would
deliberately try to run him down.
But I’m no ordinary omega.
He jumped out of the way just in time, and I fishtailed out onto the street, determined to put as
much distance between us and them as possible. I didn’t even know where I was going. Away was a
good enough direction for now.
We’d figure the rest out later.
 CHAPTER FIVE

It was spring, and we had just arrived at the pay-by-the-hour motel we’d be staying at for the
next couple of days. Dad had gotten some handyman work in the past town, which took care of the
rent. For my part, I’d covered up my scent by taking up smoking, and lifted a few wallets from unwary
people. Dad didn’t approve of it, but for once, the way people just gravitated toward me was useful.
They were so busy being charmed, they didn’t notice I was going through their pockets. And it paid
for food, and gas for the car, and sometimes put a roof over our heads.
I was going to have a bath. Maybe. It would depend on how bad the bathroom was. But we’d
been living rough the past couple of days, and I was ready for even the simplest of luxuries.
“You got your ID?” Dad asked. He still limped, and sometimes his headaches were so bad he
couldn’t drive, and I ended up doing it all. Living hand to mouth, sleeping in the car, and always
looking over our shoulders was hard on him. He’d never entirely recovered from the beating. It
worried me, and I’d come to the conclusion that our roving days had to end. But I needed to find the
right place to end them.
I knew that ‘coming in’, as the cop shows put it, would involve giving myself to an Alpha.
There was no question about it. But, if I was going to do that, I wanted to pick one. At least, if I
picked him, I would know that I was getting what I’d asked for. Maybe the abuse, the tight regulations,
the loss of independence would be worth it.
So, I’d picked up another burner phone and called my Uncle Tony. Dad didn’t know it, but we’d
been visiting territories around the middle of the country ever since Christmas, checking out packs
while I tried to decide which Alpha I could trust to be the least interested in me. Because mostly I just
wanted to get pregnant, then have him leave me in peace. I could do that. And every heat made the
desire for children that much stronger—it would kill two birds with one stone.
I rented us a room and helped Dad carry the backpacks inside. He sat down in the chair with a
whoosh and put his hand to his head.
“You can sleep if you want,” I told him. “I’ll see what I can scrounge for supper.”
“You shouldn’t be wandering around on your own.”
“I have my secret weapon,” I said, and pulled out the pack of cigarettes. I pulled on a ball cap
and checked my wallet to make sure I had enough money to buy burgers on the way back. “You rest.
We need to talk about where we’re going next when I get back.” By then, I’d have learned what I
could about the man who ran the local pack and made my decision to stay or keep moving on.
Abel Mercy Hills was his name, a warrior’s name and his pack’s name. Before we were herded
into enclaves, Mom said there were many small packs, and shifters had more last names, but not now.
The Alphas of the Mercy Hills pack ran a tech company, building software for humans. Someone like
him, he’d either have all the time in the world to bother me because he was just a figure-head, or he’d
be hands on, and I would only see him when my heat struck. I had my fingers crossed for the second
one.
Dad wasn’t the only one this was wearing on.
I’d been fighting the guilt since Dad’s beating, my constant companion. I hardly slept any more,
and it was only habit that had kept us out of the hands of Orvin and the other Alphas. Too many close
calls, and I was tired and ready to belly up to anyone who promised to at least let me garden when I
wasn’t at their beck and call. And they had to allow my Dad to stay, and get him proper medical care.
Outside of that, well, I would have to deal with it, wouldn’t I?
I wish I knew what the fuck all the fuss was about.
To prove my point that I could be careful, I dabbed some of that menthol gel humans use when
they get a cold over my pulse points, where my scent would be strongest. I pushed my hair, now down
to my shoulders and curling in every direction, firmly under my ball cap, and lit a cigarette, to cover
any lingering sign of omega in my scent. “There, no one will smell me or recognize me now. I’m
going to have a scout around, see if there’s any work to pick up.” That would be my excuse for
coming back late. “Get some sleep, Dad. I won’t be long.”
“Yeah, okay.” And that worried me more than anything else—he was giving up too easily. He
got to his feet and made his slow way over to the bed, kicking off his shoes and more falling onto the
mattress than lying down on it.
I left the motel in a grim mood. It was a good hour’s drive out to the enclave, which only gave
me time to stew, and to worry every time I saw a police car. I had no permit to be off shifter grounds
—at least, none for this name. I’d lost everything except my current identity in the last close call.
They’d caught my jacket and I’d skinned out of it without even thinking about the phone and the wallet
with all my cards in it. They came back for me later—I don’t know if they tracked me, or just visited
every motel in the city looking for our car, but they found our bolthole. The only thing that saved us
was that we’d gone to do laundry before we settled in for the night, and that was when Orvin’s
enforcers has broken into the motel room. When we came back, the police were there, and we quietly
got back into our car and left. I’d called our usual contact for false papers as we drove down the
highway, putting miles between us and our hunters, but the line was disconnected. It took me two days
to find someone who would do it for us—Orvin’s work, I assumed. And in the meantime, we’d toed
all the lines in the world, trying to stay under the radar.
This isn’t getting you anywhere. I punched the button on the radio and started scanning stations,
settling on one that played bright, cheery, unrealistic pop music. By the time I’d arrived at the gate, my
hopeful mood had returned. And then it hit me—I didn’t have any papers. Just my current ID, which
was for a human. Which absolutely wouldn’t get me past those gates unless I had a work order or a
government permit.
Fuck. I pounded on the steering wheel, then drove past. Didn’t matter—I’d just go over the
wall. I left the car parked in a field behind some trees, and took off cross country. The open field
called to me, urging me to change and run like I hadn’t had the opportunity to in ages. I shivered with
the pleasure of being out of the city—I hadn’t seen green grass and open spaces, except for some
poorly maintained parks, since well before Christmas.
 The wall was a tall concrete thing. I couldn’t imagine what it had cost to build, but then again,
we shifters were taxed half to death to cover the cost of them. That’s why there were so few enclaves,
and why many of them were becoming so crowded. A few years ago, the human government had
begun allowing small communities to form outside the enclaves to ease the overpopulation, but they
were strictly regulated, and required to be associated with an enclave so the shifters had someplace
to run on full moon. Most shifters preferred the enclaves—they were safer for us. Humans were
known to band together and attack when you least expected it and there were always stories running
around about families dragged out of their beds and beaten within an inch of their lives.
All the trees near the wall had been cut down, but when I got closer to it, I could see ridges and
notches where the forms the humans had used to build it had been. It might be enough to get me up the
side. Wolves weren’t natural climbers, but I was desperate. I reached out and stuck a couple of
fingers in the first tiny depression, and began my climb.
By the time I got to the top, I’d fallen off four times, my hands were sore, and I had nearly given
up twice. But then there it was, the flat top, with the silver-coated bars at the top. I hadn’t brought
gloves, so I pulled my shirtsleeves down as far as they’d go and went over the bars as quickly as I
could, cursing the itching and the beginning of the burn where the cloth had pulled away from my
fingers. I hoped there’d be water somewhere nearby so I could wash my hands before they started to
swell. I’d only had silver burns once, when I was five, and we’d gotten a special permit to leave the
enclave to take me to a museum for my birthday. A couple of human kids had been watching us,
making me nervous. I’d wandered away to look at the bones of a prehistoric wolf when one of them
approached me and offered me a present. I thought I’d been wrong and that he was giving me a
birthday present. Instead, he’d seen the tags on our clothes marking us as shifters, and was playing a
trick. I ended up in hospital, and my birthday trip was ruined.
All these thoughts played in my head as I made my way carefully over the pointed ends of the
bars, and then I was inside. It was a long way down, but my hands hurt, and there was a glint of water
not far away.
Fuck it. And I jumped.
 CHAPTER SIX

The landing knocked the breath out of me and I spent a good five minutes just lying on the
ground staring up at the sky, waiting for my lungs to work again. I made a note to climb down the next
time I broke into a werewolf enclave.
Once it got easier to breathe, I rolled to my feet and staggered off in the direction of the pond I’d
seen. The place was packed with trees and just their presence made me happier than I’d been in a
long time, but still I hurried. My hands were getting worse, the itching turning to burning. If I didn’t
wash them soon, the reaction would be impossible to stop.
There! I caught the scent of water, off to the right, and veered in that direction. Moments later, I
broke through the undergrowth and fell to my knees next to a pond that couldn’t have been more than
ten feet across. I didn’t care—it was water, and I plunged my hands under the surface, rubbing
feverishly at the skin until the burning started to lessen. It wouldn’t go completely; by this time, some
of it had soaked through my skin, but it was only a couple of spots and I’d gotten it off the outside. My
body would work through the rest.
About the time I decided I might be safe to move on, I heard the low growl of an engine in the
distance, coming closer. Was it a regular patrol, or did they have sensors on the top of the wall? Fuck.
I took off at full speed away from the sound of the engine. The pond seemed to be spring fed, which
was a shame. If the books I’d read as a kid had been right, I could have thrown them off my scent by
following whatever stream fed it.
I climbed a tree, hoping to catch my breath, and to try to figure out where the security team—that
had to be who it was—were looking. I didn’t even consider that it might be an evening tryst—my luck
hadn’t been that good since my first heat happened.
There. Back where I came from. I climbed down again and headed away from the wall, hoping
to find civilization and blend into a crowd before I was spotted.
My stupid luck, though, got the better of me.
Not five minutes after I’d left my tree, I damn near ran into one of the local shifters. We both
froze, staring at each other. I couldn’t make out much about him, except that he was huge, and that was
really all I needed to see to know I didn’t want to be caught by him.
He raised his hand in my direction and I spun around, heading back the way I came at my best
speed. He shouted behind me, answered by another shout more to my right, and then I heard the
crashing of the bushes as he came, hot on my trail.
There was no way I was going to be able to outrun him on his own territory—I’d have to out
think him.
I dodged and weaved through the trees, gaining a few feet only to double back in the hopes he’d
keep running in my original direction. It worked a couple of times, but he always figured it out, which
was frightening. I’d hoped he’d be one of those big guys that got riled up and stopped thinking—I’d
used that a few times to get my ass out of sticky situations. No such luck here, though. He was a good
hunter and knew how to read a scent trail, which I had to be leaving behind by now.
But if he was busy chasing me, maybe the trick was to stop running…
It only took them about fifteen minutes to find me once I stopped. I had to admit, I was
impressed. I’m pretty good at blending into the background—most omegas are, or if they don’t come
by it naturally, they learn that protective camouflage pretty fast. So when the big redhead hauled me
down out of the tree I’d climbed, I didn’t put up much of a fight. Well, maybe a little, enough that the
dark-haired guy with him, easily as huge as his redheaded buddy, cuffed me across the back of the
head with sufficient force to make my eyes water.
“Settle down. Humans shouldn’t be sneaking in here; it’s not safe for you guys without an
escort.”
Red drew in a deep breath, then pulled me close and sniffed at my wrist. I guess the water had
washed away my protective menthol shield. “I don’t think he is.” He frowned and raised the wrist he
held so high that I had to stand on tiptoes or I would have been hanging in mid-air. Another sniff, this
one with his nose buried deep in my armpit, and he nodded. “Yep. He smells a bit like my cousin
Bram.”
Dark cocked his head to one side and leaned in for his own sniff. I kicked at him out of pure
contrariness, and ended up with both my legs caught in a stranglehold against his hip. This isn’t how
the night was supposed to go. I growled and tried to punch him, but Red grabbed that arm too. Dark
laughed and inched his way up my legs until he could sniff at my groin. “Definitely wolf, but I don’t
know. I don’t know what he smells like.”
“We have to take him back anyway. Maybe someone else can figure it out.” Red eyed me
thoughtfully, and my heart sank. I recognized that look. If I let them take me back wherever they were
talking about, I might never get out again, and I’d be stuck here, slaving away for whatever Alpha was
fast enough to mate me, or for whoever won the fight if they got me locked up first. Dad would never
know what happened to me—he might even think Orvin had caught up with me, and he’d go home and
get himself killed trying to get me back. The thought sent a shot of cold adrenaline through my body,
and I began to throw myself around, hoping to loosen their grip enough to get free.
Red laughed. “Easy now, you’re going to hurt yourself.” He nodded to Dark, who let go of my
legs. As soon as my feet touched the ground, I tried to bolt, but Red still had my arms, and all I
managed was to wrench my shoulders so hard a whimper escaped.
“You’re hurting the boy,” Dark said.
“If he’d stop squirming, he wouldn’t get hurt. I’m not the one moving around.” His hands
squeezed my wrists, thumb pressing on the nerve hard enough to bring me to my knees. “There, that’s
better.” He let up on the pressure, but I stayed down. I wasn’t going to invite that kind of pain again.
And maybe, if I played scared, he’d relax and I’d have another chance to break away.
Dark pulled a walkie-talkie from his belt. “We got him. It’s a wolf, but not one of ours.” A voice
crackled out of the speaker, too distorted for me to make out, though Dark and Red seemed to have
problem with it. “Roger that. Be there in about ten minutes.” He put the walkie away and patted me on
the head. “Well, you wanted in. You’re in.”
What the hell did that mean?
Red pulled me to my feet and twisted one of my arms behind my back. He patted me down,
taking my phone, my wallet, and my car keys out of my pocket. There wasn’t anything else to find.
“Come on, pup. Let’s go see what the big guy says.” He pushed a little on the arm and gave it just
enough extra twist to promise a world of pain if I fought back.
I went with them quietly, playing the dutiful omega while I watched for a moment’s inattention
on their part, and an opportunity to escape on mine.
The entire time, I wondered who they were taking me to see. And was it salvation, or total
disaster?
My life didn’t allow for much in between.
Another random document with
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 THE WRITING ON THE WALL.

Then his face grew white with fear, and his knees trembled
and smote one against another, for he could not control his
terror.

So he called aloud to fetch the soothsayers, and promised,

that if any one could tell him the meaning, he should be
clothed in purple, and have a chain of gold, and be made
the third ruler in the Kingdom.

Then all the wise men hurried in, but they could not read
the writing, nor give the interpretation.

Belshazzar commanded his servants to clothe Daniel in scarlet.

Belshazzar was very frightened. Then the Queen hastened
into the Banqueting Hall, and told him not to be frightened,
as there was one man in his Kingdom who could tell dark
sayings, and in whom there was the spirit which, she
supposed, could only come from the gods.

She little knew that this man of whom she spoke, loved and
served the only True and Great God, who lives in Heaven.

So Daniel was brought in before the King, and Belshazzar

asked him if he were one of the Captives whom
Nebuchadnezzar had brought from Jerusalem? And the King
hurried on to tell him of all the gifts which he should
receive, if he could tell him the meaning of the writing.

Then Daniel answered before the King: "Let thy gifts be to

thyself, and give thy rewards to another; yet I will read the
writing to the King, and make known the interpretation."

Then Daniel went on to explain to the King that the God

who lived in heaven had given Nebuchadnezzar a Kingdom
and majesty: but when his heart was lifted up with pride,
he was deposed from his throne, and he had to live with the
wild beasts, till he knew that the most high God ruled in the
Kingdom of men, and gave it to whomsoever He willed.

And then Daniel went on to say that Belshazzar had not

humbled his heart, but had lifted up himself against the
Lord of heaven, and had even taken His holy vessels to be
used at the feast, and had praised the gods of silver and
gold "which see not, nor hear, nor know." And Daniel added
these solemn words: "And the God in whose hand thy
breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not
glorified."

Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this
writing was written.
 MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN—

"This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE—

God hath numbered thy kingdom and finished
it."

"TEKEL—thou art weighed in the balances, and

art found wanting."

"PERES—Thy kingdom is divided, and given to

the Medes and Persians."

Then Belshazzar commanded his servants to clothe Daniel

in scarlet, and to put a chain round his neck, and make a
proclamation that he should be the third ruler in the
kingdom.

But in that very night, Belshazzar, the King of the

Chaldeans, was slain, and Darius, the Mede, entered into
the City and took the kingdom.

That writing on the wall, written more than two thousand

years ago, contains a living lesson to all of us to-day.

It was God who sent that message to Belshazzar: "Thou art

weighed in the balances and art found wanting." For God
judges every one's life. We read in the Revelation, "There
shall in no wise enter into His presence, anything that
defileth."

But there is another Writing, not like the one on

Belshazzar's Wall—and that is in a Book in heaven, which is
called "The Lamb's Book of Life."

Do you wonder what is written there?

It is the name of each one who has come to "The Lamb of
God, which taketh away the sin of the world."

Let each one of us ask God to wash away all our sins, and
to write down our name in that Book of Life.

That is the writing which will mean endless happiness and

joy.

XXXV. DANIEL IS A CAPTIVE

THE people of Israel—the Jews—had so departed from

serving and obeying God, that at length, in the reign of
Jehoiakim, God allowed the King of Babylon to come up
against Jerusalem with a great army and to besiege it, and
eventually to take the city. He carried away not only
Jehoiakim, the king, but afterwards Zedekiah (whom
Nebuchadnezzar had set up in Jerusalem instead of
Jehoiakim), and with him, he took all the nobles who were
not killed in the siege, and every smith or craftsman who
might be useful in Babylon.

He carried away also the whole of the sacred and precious

vessels from the Temple of God, and put them into the
house of his own idol in Babylon.

Thus the city of Jerusalem and the Temple were completely

destroyed; and none were left in the land but the very
poorest of the people.

So now you must picture to yourselves how

Nebuchadnezzar instructed his lords and officers to choose,
out of the ten thousand captives whom they had brought to
Babylon, all the best of the young men: all that were skilful
in wisdom or clever in science, who should be brought into
the king's palace and should be taught the learning and
language of the Chaldeans.

These young men were given into the charge of Ashpenaz,

one of the king's trusted chamberlains, and
Nebuchadnezzar ordered them to be fed from the king's
table, and nourished, so that at the end of three years, they
should be able to stand before the king.

Now among these high-born young men were four, whose

names in Judah had been Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and
Azariah; but Ashpenaz named them afresh, and called them
Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
So you will now understand why these young men were
sometimes called by one name and sometimes by another
in the Book of Daniel.

When the orders came, and Daniel was told that he and his
companions were to be fed with the king's food, Daniel
purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with
it, nor with the wine which the king drank.

The reason of this was, that the food was not prepared as
the Jews' food was; for God had given them strict rules as
to how their meat was to be killed; and also, the wine of
these heathen kings was often offered to their idols before
they tasted it themselves, and thus, in the Jews' sight, was
defiled.

So Daniel spoke to Ashpenaz, and begged him earnestly to

excuse him and his companions from eating the king's food.
 Their wisdom and understanding was far beyond that of any of
the others.

Now God Himself, Who was watching over His servants,

these captives in Babylon, had great purposes which they
were to carry out, not only for the Jews, but by and by for
the whole world.

But as God takes care of the little things as well as the

great things, He had softened the heart of Ashpenaz, so
that he tenderly loved Daniel.
And when he heard Daniel's request, he did not speak
roughly to him, as those great princes generally did in those
days, but explained to him how difficult it would be for him
to comply with what he asked.

He told Daniel that if he did not give them the king's food,
they would not look as well fed or handsome as the other
captives, nor as the king would expect them to look; and if
he yielded to Daniel's request, he might endanger his own
head to the king! For in those days, life was of no value in
the eyes of the great sovereigns. They did exactly as
pleased them at the moment.

Then Daniel explained it all to Melzar, who was the man

whom Ashpenaz had set over them to control these smaller
matters, and asked him to "prove" them by allowing them
to have only "pulse to eat, and water to drink"; and if, after
ten days, they looked less well than the others who were
having the rich food from the king's table, then Daniel and
his friends would do what Melzar wished.

I think Daniel knew that his God would make it all right for
them!

And so it proved; for at the end of ten days their

countenances appeared fairer and fatter than the others
did, who ate the king's meat. And Melzar took away the
wine and the good food, and gave them pulse and water, as
they had asked.

As for these four young men, God gave them skill to learn;
and He gave Daniel the power to understand visions and
dreams.

So at the end of the three years the prince of the eunuchs

brought them, and a number of the other captives, in
before King Nebuchadnezzar; and the king communed with
them; and among them all, he found none like Daniel,
Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. So they remained near the
king, and when anything was wanted of them, they were
there to do it.

The king found, when he talked with them, that their

wisdom and understanding was far beyond that of any of
the others, and ten times better than all the magicians and
astrologers that were in his kingdom.

These four young men, captives in a strange land, eating

and drinking nothing but bread and water, were brave,
faithful and obedient.

"They had set the Lord always before them." Their one aim
was to please Him; and as we go on with their story, we
shall see that God was with them, and enabled them to be
"more than conquerors through Him Who had loved them."
 XXXVI. THE SECRET IS REVEALED TO
DANIEL

IN those days, dreams and their meanings were much

thought of, and great kings had their soothsayers and
sorcerers, their magicians and astrologers, who were always
at hand to explain doubtful or hard questions, and to
pretend to look into the future.

Many of them were extremely clever, and from long practice

and observation, many of their answers and explanations
seemed very plausible.

So when Nebuchadnezzar, the great king, had a perplexing

dream, which worried him very much, he sent for these
soothsayers and magicians; and they at once, of course,
asked what the dream had been, so that they might furnish
the interpretation.

But Nebuchadnezzar had to confess, that though the dream

troubled him, he could not recall what it was!

So the magicians were greatly alarmed; as they said, no

king would ask his magicians to tell the dream, as well as
the interpretation!

But the king was angry and furious; and at length sent out
an order that all the magicians and soothsayers in Babylon
were to be destroyed.

So the decree went out that all the "wise" men, meaning
astrologers and soothsayers, were to be slain: and with
them, Daniel and his companions would perish!

Then Daniel with gentle wisdom, which God gave him, said
to Arioch, the captain of the king's guard, who was sent out
to kill the wise men: "Why is the king's decree so urgent?"

So Arioch explained to Daniel that the king wanted not only

the explanation of his dream, but the dream itself! And that
the magicians could not tell it.

But Daniel went in and asked the king to give him time, and
he would show the king the interpretation.

Then he went to his house, and told Hananiah, Mishael, and

Azariah, and asked them to pray to God to show them this
secret, so that they and all the wise men in Babylon should
not perish.

We must pause here for one moment to remember that God

gives wonderful answers to "united prayer"! We see it over
and over again throughout the Bible; and we see it over and
over again in our own experience, when we trust Him!

So Daniel and his companions prayed, and the answer

came.

Then was the secret revealed to Daniel in a vision in the

night.

And what did Daniel do the first thing after he knew the
secret?

He blessed the God of Heaven! He thanked Him for giving

him wisdom to understand, and that He had made known
what they had desired of Him.
Then Daniel went to Arioch, and told him the good news,
and he brought him to the king in haste, saying: "I have
found a man among the captives of Judah, who will tell you
the interpretation!"

So the king said to Daniel: "Can you make known the

dream, and the interpretation?"

And Daniel answered: "The secret which the king requires,

the astrologers and magicians cannot answer. But there is a
God in Heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to
King Nebuchadnezzar what shall happen in the latter days."

And then he added: "This secret is not revealed to me for

any wisdom that I have . . . but for their sakes who make
this interpretation known to the king, and that the king may
know the thoughts of his heart."

We see here an evidence of Daniel's humility; no wonder

that God could trust him with Vision after Vision about the
future, which we read in the later chapters of this wonderful
Book of Daniel.

This was the dream, and Daniel told it to the king in words
like these—

"The king saw a great Image whose brightness was

excellent and his form terrible."

"The head of the Image was of Gold:"

"The breast and arms of Silver:"

"The belly and thighs of Brass:"

"The legs of Iron; and the feet part of Iron and part of
Clay."
"The king looked at this Image till a Stone, cut without
hands, smote the Image upon his feet, and brake them to
pieces. Then the whole Image fell to pieces, and was
scattered like chaff before the wind, and the pieces were
carried away, so that they could not be found."

"And the Stone which smote the Image became a Great

Mountain, and filled the whole earth."

Then Daniel went on to say: "This is the dream—and we will

tell the interpretation of it."

"Thou, O King, art this head of gold! And after thee shall
arise another kingdom inferior to thee; and another third
kingdom of brass. And a fourth kingdom which shall be
strong as iron; and the toes of the feet shall be part of iron
and part of clay."

"And in the days of these kings shall the God of Heaven set
up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed . . . and it
shall stand for ever."

"The great God hath made known to the king what shall
come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the
interpretation thereof sure."

Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face before Daniel

and said: "Your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings,
and a Revealer of secrets!"

Then the king gave Daniel great gifts and made him ruler
over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the
governors over all the wise men of Babylon.

And Daniel asked the king to remember his three

companions, and Nebuchadnezzar set Shadrach, Meshach
and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon.
But Daniel sat in the gate of the king—which was evidently
a place of great honour.
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