My Mate Is An Omega
Chapter 45

Lancaster

POV

As I was making my way back to our room, each of my steps felt heavier than the previous one. It had been less than fifteen minutes since I left Caitlyn to explain my secret plan to my ranked members, yet the guilt for simply thinking of betraying her trust was already eating me up from the inside. I had to constantly remind myself of the reason why I had decided to do this in the first place; I knew she would try to stop me. It was a reckless idea, born from my burning anger, my desire to obtain revenge. She would never agree with me. "That's bullshit," Atlas argued at once, making me stop dead in my tracks. "Mate has always supported us. She will understand, and you know that. You're just afraid she will see an ugly side of you."

"She thinks I'm amazing. I can't destroy this perfect image she has of me," I finally confessed. There was no point in lying to my wolf, the other half of my soul. "I don't want her to think I'm just an impulsive male eager to draw blood, but I need this. I can't keep living knowing the fuckers that killed the man who took me in are still out there, lurking around our territory as if we were helpless fish surrounded by sharks. This is important for me."

"Which is why she will understand," he insisted. "I wanna get revenge too, but we're not just warriors anymore. Whatever we do doesn't affect just us, it affects our entire pack. We need to put our people first," he reminded me, slowly making me realize my stupidity. "Mate is smart. She will help make our plan better. Besides, she already thinks we're perfect; nothing will ever change that."

Standing in front of our door, I took a deep breath in a final attempt to study my next move. Atlas was right; I couldn't lie to her. Not only was it wrong, but she would definitely notice I was hiding something sooner or later. It would be much worse if she found out by herself - if one thing could actually change her feelings for me, it would be this betrayal. s**t! What was I thinking? Was I even thinking at all?

As soon as I pushed the door open, Caitlyn slowly lifted her head up to look at me. She was lying on our king-size bed, dressed in only one of her new satin lace babydolls. Even in her sleepy state, it took her less than a second to realize something was wrong. Her hazel eyes widened as she sat up in bed. I could hear her heart beating faster, denoting her concern - it just wasn't pounding louder than mine.

"How was the meeting? You seem distressed." Her worried voice broke me. I immediately dropped to my knees in front of the bed, only further shocking her.

"I never told you what this meeting was about," I started in a shaky voice.

"I never asked you." She c****d her head to the side, unable to comprehend where I was coming from.

"I know, but you're my Luna. I should have told you. I'm sorry."

I proceeded to explain the whole story to her, from when I first had the idea to what we had discussed in my office. I couldn't keep looking into her eyes as I told her how I had initially planned to leave her out of it, overcome by shame. Once I was done, I waited for her judgment, my heart threatening to beat out of my chest.

"How long have you been keeping this from me?" was the first thing she asked. She wasn't concerned about my plan or my sick need for revenge; like Atlas suggested, she didn't judge me. "About half an hour?" I admitted.

She chuckled, leaving me startled. I was expecting a thousand different reactions, and this wasn't one of them. "You're so cute, Lance. You're already drowning in guilt after such a short time." "You're not mad?"

"I mean, I would have been if you hadn't told me," she said in a serious tone. "But should I really be mad if you confessed everything the minute you walked out of your office? I would rather have been the first to know, but I guess it doesn't change much considering I found out about it shortly after your ranked members did." She shrugged.

I closed my eyes with relief, waiting a moment before I went on. "What about the plan?" I asked shyly.

"Honestly, I think it's risky, but it's too soon to tell; it relies on ressources we don't even know if we can get. Tracking the bears is a smart move, especially because it lets us know if they get too close to our territory. My opinion is we re-evaluate it in a few weeks, and study a few different approaches to make sure we won't just be throwing ourselves to our deaths." She sighed, stretching her hand out to caress my hair. "Anyway, it's getting quite late. Tired minds can't think straight. Why don't you get up off your knees and join me?"

A small smile lit up my face as I obliged. "Of course, beautiful. You're so perfect."

"I'm far from being perfect." She giggled, watching as I stripped down to my boxers to lay down beside her. "But I like to think we are perfect together."

"Well, you certainly bring out the best in me." I planted a long kiss on her forehead. "Good night, beautiful."

***

Caitlyn POV

The next morning, Lance showed me the security reports as soon as we made it to his office after training. I agreed with him that the situation was concerning; I had truly hoped the bears would go away for good after they lost around half of their army in the latest attack. It was surprising they were so close to our territory again, only a few weeks later. Following the discussion we had the previous night, we decided it would be best to put my mate's plan aside for a while and focus on what we truly needed - allies. With the former Beta's help, we had mapped out all of the packs in the neighboring area with similar numbers to Diamond Tempest. Lance ate his breakfast in between calls while I listened attentively to every single one of his failed attempts. He never lost hope after being turned down by half a dozen Alphas, but our list would soon come to an end. All of our efforts to get our new business running would be in vain if we couldn't use it to get outside help.

"Yes, they have been attacking us for quite some time now. No, we don't know what they want, but..." He couldn't even finish his sentence. I could hear the other man's words crystal clear thanks to my heightened senses, but even if I couldn't, my mate's face said it all. "I understand. Thank you for your time."

Once he put the phone down, he ran his hands through his wild hair in an anxious gesture I had gotten used to. He looked away, taking a few minutes to process yet another ineffective approach with a leader. This kind of negotiation was usually done in person, but considering we were on a tight schedule, we wouldn't have time to visit every single one of these packs, and the result would hardly change. I gently placed my hand over his in an attempt to help him come down.

"It's useless. No one even lets me get to the part regarding our offer. They shut me down the second I mention the bears." He sighed. "So far, only Alpha Cedar has promised to send us warriors, but I'm sure it was just because of the deal we proposed." When he finally turned to me, it seemed as if he was searching for answers in my hazel eyes. It tore me apart not being able to give him any. "It's just like what James said - no one wants to start a fight with a stronger enemy."

At that moment, it hit me. I didn't know how I hadn't thought about it sooner, but this could be the perfect solution to our problems. Lance widened his eyes as a smile lit up his face.

"I know that look. What do you have in mind, beautiful?" His voice was full of expectation.

It took me a minute to organize my thoughts before I spilled them out. "No one wants to start a fight with a stronger enemy, but what if they're already at war?" He c****d his head to the side, waiting for me to go on. "One of the books Sasha assigned to me was about other species of shifters, and how it's becoming more common for packs to make alliances with them. According to what I read, foxes and lynxes also have a troubling history with bears. If we can-"

He didn't even wait for me to finish. At first, I was surprised when his lips crashed against mine, his tongue roughly pushing its way in. It didn't take long for my heart to skip a beat as I gave into the sweet feeling, ravishing his taste. Just as abruptly as he came closer, he pulled away. I recognized the twinkle of admiration in my mate's eyes, which caused my cheeks to warm.

"This is brilliant, Cait! You're amazing," he told me sincerely, melting me from the inside.

"Don't compliment me just yet. It's just an idea; we have to check if it'll work," I replied shyly.

"I've never seen any of your plans go wrong," he insisted.

Right after our conversation, Lance linked James to ask him for study material regarding interspecies alliances. Since it was close to lunchtime, we decided to take a break and join our friends at the dining hall so we could eat together. It reminded me of simpler times, when we used to do this every day. There were no concerns back then, no responsibilities. However, I had to admit I was grateful for our new positions. They were a heavy weight to carry, but they also made it possible for us to help our family. Although it wasn't a decision we made on our own, I was honored that our late leader entrusted us with the most important titles of our society.

A few minutes after we returned to the office, the former Beta knocked on our door to deliver some books and documents. He stayed with us throughout the afternoon to answer any questions we came across during our research. I mainly read articles regarding the laws for treaties between different species of shifters, while Lance studied about packs established in North America who had strong relationships with other shifter groups. At some point, my mate's surprised voice broke the silence.

"I just came across this very... interesting pack," he revealed thoughtfully. "Apparently, Mariners Moon Pack, which is located in Florida, has a female Alpha and a male fox shifter as its... Lune?"

"Oh, yes. Lune is a very old term used to refer to the partners of Alpha she-wolves," James clarified, standing up from his chair. "It's basically the male form for 'Luna.' It isn't really common these days, for obvious reasons."

"A female Alpha? I thought werewolf law stated that only males could occupy the three highest-ranking positions of a pack." I leaned closer to the reference book Lance was reading.

"In Canada, yes. But werewolf law differs from country to country, since it's established by the Elder Council of each region," the former Beta went on. "As you might have noticed from the Mariners Moon unorthodox Alpha couple, they are a very unique pack. Around seven years ago, they fought in the Ultimate War. Their victory put an end to the centuries-long war between wolves and foxes. They have been fighting for fox rights ever since, helping many skulks thrive."

"Skulk?" My mate furrowed his brows.

"That's what a pack of foxes is called," I clarified before turning to James with an impressed semblance. "How did they manage to break so many barriers in our society?"

"I'm afraid I don't have all of the answers for the questions you might have..." the older man confessed, the shadow of a smile playing on his face. "But if you feel talking to Alpha Marcelline and Lune Fintan would be helpful, why don't you try inviting them for a meeting?"

"Would they even accept to travel all the way here just to talk?" My mate's voice was full of uncertainty. "They are one of the biggest packs in the United States with more than a thousand wolves, while we have just over two hundred members after the attack. I doubt we'll be able to offer them anything worth their time."

"You'll never know 'till you try." James shrugged. "You probably won't get a deal with them, but they are activists for fox shifters' rights. They might be interested in helping us get an alliance with a Canadian skulk.

"This could be our starting point, Lance," I encouraged him.

He was thoughtful for a second before eventually replying, "I'll try my best to capture their interest then."