Espen Urso would rather stay inside and enjoy a nice, sweet cake than be out in the worst storm of the year. But there’s a group of alpha shifters trespassing, and he needs to defend his territory and keep the people in his village safe. A group of wolf shifters he can scare off, but when he realizes they’ve hurt a defenseless little bird, he loses his patience.
Arvid Rai is having a bad day. He’s an omega on the run, with a group of alphas on his tail. If there hadn’t been a storm, he could have easily flown away before the stupid wolves got their hands on him, or the angry bear noticed he was in his territory. But there is a storm, and the idiot who grabbed him broke his wing, so now he can’t fly anywhere. Still, he deems it best to stay with the growly bear rather than having the other alphas fight over him.
Espen has never believed in the myth of omegas, and it isn’t until he takes Arvid in he realizes how much trouble he’ll be in when shifters from near and far learn he has one in his home. Will he be able to keep Arvid safe from other shifters? Is it even possible to defend his territory with an omega in it?
With a thud and a screaming pain radiating from his right wing, they hit the ground. The cat roared in triumph. It was followed by another roar. A roar sounding farther away and far more threatening. Arvid tried breathing through the pain, but it didn’t subside. The dark forest swam around him, the wind howled in his ears only to be drowned out by his hammering heartbeats.
Would this be the day he died?
He tried calming his heart. Even if he had to spend his life with Cat Grabbyhands, it was better than being dead. Probably. He took in the massive cat, the sharp teeth, and yellow eyes. Maybe not.
Filling his lungs, he tried to calm his heart. The pain, it grew more intense. The man on top of him shifted back into a dark-haired man, with broad shoulders and bulging muscles -- they always did. At least, he was still wearing his T-shirt.
“Change.”
Arvid would’ve rolled his eyes at the command, had he been in human form. They all chased the omega, they all wanted the omega, and they all forgot he didn’t have to do what they told him to. He might not be an alpha, but he wasn’t a submissive either. For some reason, they disregarded that part.
“Change back!” The growly order made Arvid look straight into the man’s eyes. It usually set them off more. Changing would have him passing out from pain -- not something he wanted to try -- and staying bird made it extremely hard for the man to mate with him. How did you fuck a bird when you were a human or a leopard? How did you bite a small bird’s neck when you were a huge human or a leopard?
Desperation crawled into the man’s eyes. “Change!” He slammed Arvid against the wet ground, forcing all air out of his lungs. He cried out as a slicing pain cut through his every thought.
Arvid closed his eyes and tried breathing through the pain as the angry roar came again. It was closer now, and Arvid feared he’d be stepped on if there was a fight.
Branches broke, twigs snapped, and a giant brown bear cantered into the woods -- Grizzly, perhaps? Arvid didn’t know his bear species. It was massive and brown with long claws.
Someone cursed, and his mate-to-be -- unless he got away from him -- curled his fingers around him and lifted him off the ground.
The giant bear melted into a huge man. “Get out of my territory. Now.” Blood was trickling down his chest, and Arvid deemed him insane. Alone against five alphas and hurt -- did he have a death wish?
The rain fell on his naked chest -- Arvid didn’t look farther down -- but the blood kept oozing from long claw marks.
“Your friend is alive.” The bear looked at them, one at the time. His gaze was hard, his hands still claw-equipped. Arvid took a shivering breath. So much power.
“We only came for the omega.” Arvid’s mate-to-be -- unless he, of course, could get away from him -- held out his hand with Arvid in it.
The bear’s gaze hardened. “I don’t care. You let the poor girl go or you take her with you -- ” Arvid gave a tweet. Girl? Take him with them? Not that he’d believed the bear would save him. He’d try to mate him too, and who wanted to be mated to a bear? “ -- and get out of here.”
The bear’s gaze zeroed in on him. “You trespassed too, birdie. I don’t allow any shifter into my territory uninvited. The humans in my village have already been disturbed enough.”
His village? Humans? Few shifters Arvid had met cared about humans.
“We’ll leave.”
“Now. And bring the idiot in the village.” He crossed his arms over his chest while glaring at them.
The group of alphas -- Arvid was amazed they weren’t fighting each other now when they’d gotten him -- edged toward the village.
“Put on your clothes!” The roar made Arvid tremble despite the large hand holding him. “You’re not walking naked into the village.”
One of the wolves -- not a wolf turning into a cat as the idiot tightening his hold on him -- turned to the bear. “It’s faster if we shift and go.”
“I don’t care.”
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