Runt [ManxMan]

Chapter Eleven

Apologizing to Tala was the most difficult thing Dax had ever done in his life, and as days passed, he began to wish he hadn't done it at all. At first, it seemed she had accepted his apology and things would go back to normal, or at least as normal as they could be with Tala now in his life.

Then the next morning she strode into his room while he was changing clothes—he at least had pants on, thankfully, as he wasn't interested in the woman seeing his privates, though he knew it was inevitable—and told him to hurry up so they could go to breakfast.

This was not entirely unusual; she usually ate meals with him, and though she often met him in the cafeteria, it wasn't uncommon for her to seek him out when she was ready to eat, whether he was or not, because she thought they should share all their meals.

He began to grow suspicious when she followed him on his morning rounds. Her impractical heels usually prevented her from following him across the grounds, so she usually chose to stay in the pack house and wait for him to get back. To his surprise, she had swapped them for a pair of flats in the same red as her usual heels and didn't complain at all as he led the way across the pack complex. Her constant presence was already beginning to wear on his nerves, and it was only mid-morning. What was she up to?

When he returned to his office to do more of the endless paperwork occupying his desk, he again expected her to excuse herself and go off to wherever she went when she wasn't bothering him, but she surprised him yet again by taking a seat on the couch in the corner of the room, a small book in hand. She settled in, opened the book to the first page, and started to read, studiously ignoring the alpha.

Dax wasn't sure how he felt about this new Tala. He was accustomed to spending much of his time alone, and her constant presence unnerved him, but she had also been rather quiet, which was somehow more unsettling. He felt she must be plotting something, but he hadn't the slightest idea what it could be. He'd never known her to do anything not in her best interest, so she must believe spending every waking moment with him was going to have some positive effect.

There was no reason to push her for answers now, not when it was finally peaceful. He chose to ignore her as he draped his leather jacket over the back of his chair before sitting at his desk, drawing a stack of paperwork toward himself and starting to work. And that was how they spent the morning, in eerie silence.

Around lunch there was a timid knock on the door. "Come in," Dax called, not looking up from his work until the door creaked open, allowing in a strong scent that had him wrinkling his nose and finally looking up.

An omega stood in the doorway, shaking slightly with her arms wrapped tightly around her stomach. She was young, maybe sixteen, which would explain why she was coming to him while she was in heat.

Omegas, both male and female, were more fertile than other wolves, and especially so when they were in heat. Unfortunately, the scent they gave off while they were in heat made them nearly irresistible to most wolves. Beta-borns were mostly unaffected by their pheromones—they heightened attraction, but didn't drive them insane like common wolves—and alpha-borns like Dax were immune.

Dax also had his own pheromones, and they counteracted those given off by omegas in heat and could ease them out of heat before anything could get out of hand. Mated omegas often just shut themselves in their homes with their mates, but young omegas like this girl had no one to defend them or ease the discomfort the heat brought with it, so they often came to him for help.

He glanced to the corner where Tala sat. She'd put her book aside and her nose was wrinkled, but otherwise she didn't look affected by the strong scent of the omega's pheromones. He'd expected as much, but it was still reassuring. She was beta-born, after all, so unless she was hiding that she was attracted to the fairer sex, the omega's pheromones would have no effect on her.