Chapter 161 - 160. Hi...

In Red Orbs leader's residence, an abnormal commotion had settled down. One of the reasons behind this commotion was the news of Krasny Licht's victory over White Sage's alpha and, thus, the sudden expansion of the pack's territory.

Red Orbs, the small pack born of a bunch of rogues would merge with the third most influential and largest pack in the country. It was unheard of.

This should have been the focus of the blood-red-haired alpha as a leader, but the latter was in his office, his head in his hands. Victim of another commotion. The one caused by his desperate but vain efforts to find a solution so that his omega speaks to him and stops slamming the door in his face.

Krasny had played his last card after Winnie closed the door and never opened it again and gave Glen the go-ahead to go get his mate.

At first, the Dominant had believed that he would at least succeed in explaining the broad outlines of what he needed to do to complete the ritual to Winnie. But the male omega had been stubbornly locked in the bedroom all day.

His stubbornness had even ended up worrying his father and his uncles who tried to convince him to open the door at least to let them in. However, they all hit a wall. Or rather a door. As a result, Krasny was here, peering closely at the wood of his desk, praying that Bloodhood's omega would break through Winnie's defenses.

He hadn't thought it would be so difficult to endure because during his sudden heat Winnie stayed glued to him. The only thing he needed to give Winnie was tenderness and a good dose of pheromones to calm the pain in his body.

Unfortunately, as soon as the male omega woke up, all of the Sub's intense and erratic emotions started to flow to him. His head was a mess. None of the explanations Glen had given him to prepare him helped him.

An impatient part of him wanted to just bite his future mate to calm his emotions but the alpha knew he couldn't give in. They still had thirteen days before the full moon, until then he couldn't bring his fangs near his omega's neck.

Krasny sighed and decided to get to work.

He had been locked up with Winnie for the past two days because of his heat and everything just piled up. He grabbed a folder on top of the pile that had been carefully prepared for him and began to study the many changes that would begin with the merger of Red Orbs and White Sage.

_________

Eden got off the bike and took off his helmet before handing it to his mate. The alpha took off his own helmet and ran a hand through his hair to remove the strands that were bothering him before reaching up to retrieve the helmet that the omega male was giving him. He noticed his mate watching him and recognized that glow he now saw more and more often when they were together.

With a smirk, his eyes darkened and the dominant locked his eyes on the golden irises as a slight tension set in. He wedged Eden's helmet on the bike in front of him and leaned over to wrap an arm around his omega's hips and pull him closer.

Glen then kissed with a calculated lasciviousness his mate who pressed his upper body against his torso, eager to deepen their kiss. But the alpha didn't give him what he wanted.

He felt his mate's impatience grow as he refused entry to his mouth for the second time as the male omega's tongue licked his bottom lip. A smile curved the alpha's mouth and he broke their kiss, pulling back just a few inches to make eye contact with his omega who was staring at him in disappointment.

"Are you sleeping at home tonight?" Eden felt him alpha's arm tighten its grip and he frowned with a pout.

"You were doing that on purpose, right?"

"Of course!" Glen replied shamelessly with a dazzling smile and he stifled his mate's protests with a series of kisses he placed on every inch of his face starting from his mouth.

Eden chuckled and squirmed in all directions to extricate himself from the dominant's embrace and succeeded to run away towards the entrance of Alpha Krasny's residence.

"And my answer?" the dominant shouted as the omega reached the front door.

The younger werewolf turned around, eyes sparkling, and gave his mate an enigmatic smile before pushing the door open to go inside. Just as the door was about to close behind him, the alpha heard Eden's voice echoing in his head.

[I'll come!]

Glen stared at the front door, which had closed behind the male omega, a beaming smile on his lips.

"I think I'm the happiest werewolf in the world," he muttered.

"I'm glad to hear that!" replied a voice in the distance.

Glen's bubble popped and he turned back to where the voice was coming from. Silver Bloodhood gave him an amused look. Cyrus and his brothers were also here eyeing him with a teasing look. The alpha shook his head to dispel his discomfort at being caught acting all sentimentally and stowed the two helmets in the provided compartment of his motorcycle. He joined the other dominants and by the time he got to their level, Silver's smile faded.

"There are serious and worrying things happening not far from our home, Son. Let's try to figure things out so you can keep being the happiest and live with my boy in joy."

_________

Given the modest size of their pack. The residence of the Red Orbs' alpha wasn't so big that Eden needed help finding his way. He followed the instructions given by his mate and quickly, he smelled Winnie's scent, which he tracked down at the source. He stopped in front of a wooden door behind which the smell of Green lake's omega was the strongest.

He kicked the door like the rude brat that he could be sometimes and a voice rose almost immediately.

"I said, leave me alone!" said Winnie's voice, and Eden rolled his eyes, a slight smile on his lips.

"Stop whining you, Crybaby" he yelled out. "Open this damn door, you're worrying everybody, starting with your alpha who will end up regretting having chosen you if you keep going."

The door swung open and, before the blond could react, he was dragged inside the room by Winnie who grabbed him tightly by both shoulders.

"Do you lose your mind during this ritual? Because I don't see any other explanation for all this…" The end of his sentence was replaced by a frustrated growl and the omega male let go of Eden to walk away and pace.

The blond looked at the teenager busy pacing and his gaze was caught by a pile of clothes gathered on the bed in a makeshift nest. From the faint smell, he could tell it was the clothes of the blood-red-haired alpha. He also noticed pheromones floating in the air and so he put two and two together to figure out the situation.

"Oh, so you do want him…"

Winnie stopped pacing and turned to glare at Eden who had just said out loud what he had spent the last few hours denying. Why were all his senses in turmoil like that? It didn't make any sense. He barely knew the werewolf, how could he… His glare softened and his eyes misted with tears.

"Bloodhood, I don't get it. Why do I feel like this? I want to be near him, I want to kiss him, touch him, talk to him. I want to breathe his pheromones, hear his voice, but I'm afraid. It hurts so bad to stay here away from him, but I don't want to die…" He started to cry and the blond-haired omega sighed loudly.

At least the Winnie in front of him matched what he knew of the seventeen-year-old werewolf. Nothing to do with the despotic boy he had had to put in his place back in Green Lake.

"Glen told me you refused to even listen, but I didn't think it was that bad." He trotted over to the omega and ran his hand over his back to soothe his mood a bit. "Stop crying, I bet you feel dry losing all your body water like that! Also, during the ritual, your alpha feels your every emotion. It must be hell for him to deal with because you refuse to allow him to meet your needs when he feels the urge to do so. He must feel like the worst dominant ever right now."

"No! Why? I don't want him to feel that!" exclaimed Winnie immediately, looking up at Eden. "It's just…"

"Yeah. I got it. You know what happened to Lia White Sage so you're scared. But he won't hurt you so stop being a pain in the ass."

"How can you know?" Winnie asked sniffling. Eden could see that he was tired because of the storm of emotion he was feeling.

The blond-haired werewolf looked out the window behind them and saw the turning red sky announcing that night was soon to fall and the moon to rise. They didn't have much time.

"Alpha Krasny spent two days and two nights with you during your heat when you were in your most vulnerable state and he did you no harm. He scented you and helped reduce your pain. Trust him, Winnie, and trust you. You chose him. Your inner wolf chose him as your mate. When you calm down, I'm sure you feel like you can go near him, right? So stop sniffing those clothes and go breath in some pheromones at the source.

I know it's intense and it's scary, but if you and Alpha Krasny listen to each other, there's no reason for you to fail the ritual. The purpose of this trial is that omega and alpha learn to listen to each other, Which means you need to stop doubting so much and listen to your instincts.

I promise you we will help you. I know my mate spent time with your alpha explaining everything you're going to go through and how to deal with it. If you need me to help you because it's too much, I can help you too." He smiled and added in a lighter tone. "Although my answer will always be the same. Trust your alpha and trust you."

Winnie was silent for a moment. Eden could see that he was thinking about what he had just said to him and that those words had an impact. The icy blue-eyed omega trotted over to the bed where he had gathered all of his alpha's clothes and he climbed into the middle, thoughtful. The smell had allowed him to hold on and calm down when his thoughts had become too agitated.

He absentmindedly grabbed a shirt which he tweaked between his fingers and opened his mouth before closing it with an expression that Eden couldn't decipher. The latter decided to approach the bed and let himself fall cross-legged on the floor, then rested his back on the bed.

The blond had said everything he could, now it was all up to Winnie. He felt the omega stir in his nest behind him. The silence stretched a little further and the voice of the icy blue-eyed werewolf trembled a little as it rose.

"I'm sorry, Bloodhood... I mean... for what I did to you and your mate… I'm sorry."

Eden was surprised by the sudden apology. For him, the incident had ended when he gave Winnie a piece of his mind but he supposed everything he said must have gnawed his peace of mind away.

"If you're sorry, get your butt off this nest. I've got naughty plans for tonight and you're wasting them!"

Winnie who didn't expect such a response burst out laughing and did as the blond had asked.

He arrived outside Krasny's office door after freshening up and taking a detour to the kitchen to eat and brace himself. He paced in front of the entrance and even tried to walk away but Eden's words came back to him and he went back to stand in front of the door, took a deep breath, and raised a trembling fist to knock.

"Come in."

The voice wasn't dry but the response was too brief for him to gauge if the alpha was in a bad mood. The moon was going to rise and Eden had warned him so he didn't want to waste any more time.

Winnie put his hand on the handle and opened the door. He froze when he saw Krasny sitting behind his desk facing his father, his uncles, Silver Bloodhood, and Glen Red Creek.

"I-I didn't know you were busy. I'm sorry!" He was already leaving but Cyrus Blackbones' voice held him back.

"Don't go, Winnie." The Green Lake alpha exchanged a knowing look with the other dominants around him. "We'll stop here for today, you can come in." His smile was reassuring and the omega swayed from one leg to the other before peeking at his alpha to see the latter's reaction.

When he saw the smile on the dominant's face, his heart raced and he stepped into the room, completely captivated. He even missed his father's utterly annoyed expression as Cyrus and Atticus pushed him to the exit. The door closed behind the dominants and a short silence settled. Winnie lowered his head, his brain racing to think of something to say.

"Hi…"

He looked up when he heard the voice and the next moment his gaze was lost in the copper-colored eyes.