Reaching For His Omega

By Crista Crown and Harper B. Cole

He can see everything... except a future that includes love.

Grizzly alpha Caspar long ago resigned himself to a loner life, never suspecting that the future he saw with Asher Lambert's pack of outcasts would ever be more than a means to an end, that they would become his family. And then he meets a man whose future he cannot see...

He always expected to have a family... he just didn't expect to adopt a dozen kids at once.
Rabbit omega Theo Ward was happy with his position as the head librarian, content to let love find him when it was meant to be. Instead, twelve homeless kids found him. Theo will do anything for them, even stand against the giant bear who has come looking for them...

Their only focus is the children... or so they keep telling themselves. But will the attraction and mystery be too much to ignore? Is it possible that Caspar actually has a future he cannot see?

Reaching For His Omega is the last book of The Outcasts Chronicles, and it is HIGHLY recommended you read them in order. It features a dozen shifter kids with powers and giant chips on their shoulders, a protective rabbit, and a giant grizzly who's really a teddy bear inside.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Crista Crown
• Release date: Aug 2, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463868225

Crista Crown

Crista Crown grew up in the middle of the woods in a log cabin her father built. She's always found animals to be better company than humans, and finds that shifters combine the best of both worlds! She writes MM and mpreg romance and loves every minute of it.

Book preview

1

Theo

I took a moment from shelving books to lift a particularly new book and breathe deeply. I was a not-so-secret booksniffer, and my job as the head librarian of our small-town Kentucky public library gave me plenty of time to indulge, if my home collection wasn't enough. Okay, when there were only two librarians, head librarian didn't sound quite so fancy. Not going to lie, I was still proud of the name plate that declared: Theodore Ward, Head Librarian. 

Ever since I got the job here three years ago, my personal book purchases had decreased, as I funneled my own money into donations to expand the young adult selection. There was nothing as beautiful as the sight of a teenager lost in a book.

And there was nothing as terrifying as twelve unknown teenagers coming through the library door, their eyes shifty.

I quickly shelved the last few books and pushed the cart back to my desk where the kids were waiting. Not all of them were teens, I realized. A few of them had drifted into the children's section already. Trying to give the kids the benefit of the doubt, I kept a smile on my face as I asked, Can I help you?

We'd like to use the computers, please. The speaker was a gangly boy of about sixteen, I'd guess. They were shifters, all of them, as far as I could tell, but not of any pack or warren or den. I could pick out a wolf, a fox and a cat of some sort just from a quick sniff. We didn't get a lot of predators here in Warren. There were several shifter-heavy towns nearby—many of us were drawn to these out-of-the way little towns, close to nature. But we tended to stick to our own kind. Warren, for instance, was full of rabbits. I'd give anyone two guesses as to where the town name came from.

My flight or fight instinct was in high gear in the presence of so many predators, despite their youth. I knew how dangerous hormonally crazy teenagers could be, especially shifters, with our animal instincts feeding in to our emotions. I pulled out the sign in sheet, however, and handed it over to the boy. Thirteen and older can use the computers without parental permission. Anyone younger, and I'll need a permission sheet signed.

Something told me these kids wouldn't be bringing Mom or Dad in to sign them in. 

How did so many kids from such different animal groups come in together? And how had they ended up here, in Warren? We were too far from any of the cities to draw any kind of gang attention, but they could be some sort of weird militia group. We had plenty of those back here.

The kids signed in, and one of the younger ones tried to take the pen and sign in as well, but the first kid snapped, Will, you're not thirteen yet.

The younger boy gave him a sullen look, but placed the pen on the counter and pushed the sign in board toward me.

The first teenager’s name was printed clearly: Gideon Scott. 

My anxiety eased as they quietly settled in at the computers, the younger ones browsing, or finding spots in the reading nook. I glanced to make sure they weren't paying any attention to me, then looked over the names of the ones who'd signed in. Not a single shared last name. It was possible they were some kind of school group, but they definitely weren't from around here, and they would have had a teacher with them if that were the case.

I pulled up a web browser and searched a few of their names, but nothing came up. Of course, they could be using fake names.

Hell, I was being crazy paranoid. They probably had a perfectly legitimate reason for being in town, and I was being weird.

I closed the browser and pulled out my lunch. I was halfway through my sandwich, reading the latest addition to my favorite urban fantasy series, when I felt eyes on me. I glanced up just in time to see the kid Gideon had rebuked, Will, look away, but not before I saw the look of bare hunger in his eyes.

I took a second glance at all of the kids. Their clothes were clean but worn, with a few tears in shorts and shirts. Stains. Small, not obvious... unless you were looking for them. 

Are you hungry? I asked.

Will shook his head quickly and looked back at the shelf of books. 

I stared at the sandwich, suddenly not hungry myself. I had a growing suspicion about these kids... but there was no way they were going to trust me, a stranger, especially if I was correct.

I quickly put together a flyer for a movie night on Friday. It was two days away, but it was the first evening the library would be open. I made sure to emphasize the words pizza and drinks equally. As I walked to pin the flyer on the announcement board, I made sure to hold it so Will would see. I then waved it at the kids on the computer before pinning it up. Movie night, if ya'll are interested. We'll have pizza and popcorn and drinks.

Gideon did his best to look uninterested as he said, How much does it cost?

I answered as calmly as I could, knowing the bait had been set. Oh, it's all free. Something the library does fairly regularly. I just forgot to put the flyers up.

The Powers That Be would forgive me my little lie, I was sure.

They left just as quietly as they had come, taking no books, just logging off and filing out together. My heart was aching, but there was nothing more I could do right now. Not without proof. As shifters, they were better off than humans would be, living on their own, if that's what was going on. But they were still kids. I couldn't report my suspicions to the authorities—shifter kids didn't do well in the human's system. 

All I could do was wait. In the meantime, I started typing an email to library patrons to let them know about our new movie night.

Ginny, the only other librarian, poked fun at me all afternoon on Friday, I was so jittery. Half of me hoped the kids would come, and half of me hoped I was completely wrong, that they had homes somewhere. But when Gideon and crew walked in on Friday night, I couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. 

Hey, guys! Glad you could make it. The movie is going to be downstairs, and pizza is going to be here any minute. Hope you brought your appetite! I had to force my cheerful grin, because the look of yearning in their eyes made me want to cry. I'd ordered six large pizzas, more than I imagined we'd need, and the kids were practically shaking with eagerness when I brought it down and set it out on the table. Even then, they each only took two pieces of pizza and one cup of soda, clustering to one side of the room while I got the movie set up. The other six kids who showed up were mostly humans who knew each other from town, and they laughed and joked together, a sharp contrast to the my little gang. The two rabbit kids gave my group a curious look, but knew better than to bring up shifter topics in front of humans.

I sat in the back corner and did my best not to stare at the kids too much. I kept waiting for them to come for seconds—two of the pizzas were completely untouched—but they finished their two slices, downed their cups, and sat politely till the end of the movie. It was rewarding to see them relax a little as their minds were carried away by the story.

Now I was absolutely convinced the kids were homeless or abused, living in the woods together. And I didn't have the least clue what to do about it. 

The town kids walked out together, while the gang stayed to help me put away the chairs and tidy up.

Sheesh, I said, looking at the pizza and trying not to lay it on too thick. Teenagers tend to have excellent bullshit meters. I didn't expect to have this much pizza left over. You guys don't want to take it home, do you? I don't have any room in my fridge, and I'd hate to throw it out.

All eyes slid to Gideon, who looked just as hungry as the rest of them. He shrugged his shoulder with false nonchalance. We can always eat more pizza. If you're going to throw that out, that is.

You'd be doing me a favor if you'd take it.

I piled them up with the leftover pizza and drinks, feeling completely inadequate. Ginny had already closed the library up, so I walked the kids to the door to let them out. Come back any time, you hear? And we have movie night every Friday night.

At least, we would now.

It was late, and the diner was closed, but I could see the kitchen light on as I locked