8. Keagan
Chapter eight
Keagan
K eagan Aged 17
My mother and her new pack have been gone for almost two years. I’ve managed to hide it from everyone, but I’m alone now. The nights are cold, and, without electricity, it’s getting harder and harder to live.
I go and wash in the ocean each day. I steal food from gardens or stalls or get a plate from Henni, who works at the hotel. Meals are optional when you don’t have food, and I have done some horrible things to get it.
I wrap my arms around my knees and bury my face in them. Why did she leave me? What did I do wrong?
The new bonds press into me, reminding me I’m not alone. It’s the best gift they could have given me.
I close my eyes, but when I wake up, I find Shale sitting beside me.
I put my head on his shoulder and tangle my fingers with his.
We’re the outcasts of Black Valley.
And I’m so damn in love with my best friends. I haven’t told them yet, but I know they can feel it through the bonds. It’s us against the world.
I can feel how much they love me, too. It’s addictive to a kid like me who has no one.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Shale murmurs.
“What should I say? I’m doing all right. I don’t need any help.”
Beau appears out of nowhere and slaps the back of my head. “Don’t be an idiot.”
“Come on, my dad’s gone again. Let’s go back to my house and make a plan.”
“What kind of plan?”
“The kind where we get our own place,” Shale says and grins.
His words send a bolt of excitement through me.
Yes, I want that. I need that. My soul hungers for it more than my body hungers for food.
They gave me salvation.
I’ll give them everything.
P resent Day
I follow Gael as he stomps down the road, heading back to town and his ridiculous pack. He keeps glancing back, glaring at me when he spots me.
So far, pack Raines is shaping up to be something lackluster. I had been under the impression that they would be noble, strong, and interesting.
Anything.
They are sulky little man alphas, and I find that incredibly distasteful. Sulky children get ignored out here on my island. Beaten if they continue to offend my queen.
Gael twists around, glaring at me before he stomps off faster. As if there is anywhere on this island he could run.
“Hey, Keagan, have you seen Aspyn?”
“I have.”
Benny, who owns the convenience store, stares at me like he expects more as I walk past. Tough, he’s not getting anything out of me about Aspyn. She is ours.
I hear him mutter, but when I swivel my head that way, his mouth is shut, and he’s rushing into his store.
“What are you, the island mafioso?” Gael spits.
“Maybe,” I say with a small chuckle. Shale would get a kick out of that.
I really don’t feel inclined to answer any of their questions. This pussy boy is running back to his pack after hearing just one tiny thing he doesn’t like.
Weak.
“So you just go and throw your weight around, stealing people’s lives from them, you just take and take, and no one stops you.”
I smile at him, amused by his outburst. Everyone walking around us is a local and is refusing to look. But, then again, they know what happens when you piss off Pack Daane.
“Something like that.”
“You are monsters. Assholes. Giant fucking bastards!” he hisses.
I move fast, grabbing a handful of those dark locks and dragging him close to me. I pull him up on his toes, ignoring the way he hits my chest, fighting to break my grip.
“You’re going to want to watch your fucking mouth, Gael Dahan. We know everything about you, and we’re not happy with how you’ve made our omega feel.”
“She’s not yours. She doesn’t want you. No one wants you. You’re alone and nothing and-”
My fingers curl into his throat. The desperate urge to silence him forever pushes at me, but I fight it, straining not to let the rage and pain in my black heart out on this ignorant brat.
He coughs and splutters when I finally loosen my fingers.
“You’re fucking crazy!” he hisses with wide, fear-filled eyes.
I simply smile at him. I am crazy. Two years of starvation and loneliness leaves scars on your soul that I don’t think you can come back from.
He walks backward and spins when he’s far enough away and moves with purpose down the street to the beach. I watch from a distance as he catches up with Ezy and Kelly. The three of them talk. There are big arm gestures in my direction, scowls and frowns.
Kelly and Ezy go grab their boards and wait. Within twenty minutes, Gael shows up, and the three of them head out to the waves. I wander into the café and grab a coffee, and then go and sit on a chair and ponder the situation.
I wasn’t a fan of this plan. Right from the start, I didn’t want her to have them. I think she would be happier with us. They did their damage, and they can fuck off. I really just don’t want to share. But I can see Shale’s point.
I poke the bonds and watch in amusement as they flinch.
Shale and Beau both think she needs to heal emotionally, and if that’s what she needs, I will get it for her. My omega has suffered far too much, and I will do whatever it takes to save her from more pain.
She is the entire reason my world makes sense. The light that stopped us three degenerates from ending up somewhere we couldn’t have returned from.
The day I met her, I was sliding down a slippery slope of alcohol and aggression. I was so angry at the world, at being trapped on this island.
The misery of my life just didn’t make sense to me. How could this be it? Shale and Beau were as fucked up as I was. We were heading for death or prison.
And then we saw her.
She was so small, so cold. I couldn’t look away as she huddled against the side of the building, her clothes in tatters. Her eyes were huge as she watched us approach. It’s clear she was living rough.
We beat the absolute fuck out of the guy who was approaching her. He’s a tourist with a rape rap and just the thought of that happening to her made me sick. We killed that man that night. He never laid a finger on our omega, but he intended to.
After that, we brought her to Nat, who owed us big time. And the rest was history.
Aspyn was legally an adult but dependent on her mother to live. And that bitch up and left her. Just took off for a better life, no warning, no words, just gone. Who does that? Perhaps if she’d lived in a city, she would have had a better chance of making a life, but out here on this island where everyone remembers her mother, the whore, she got no mercy.
Every time I think about Aspyn’s mother, I want to kill her.
I remember how it felt, that fear and the hunger that gnaws at you until you’d do almost anything to eat. The memory always returns when I’m worried. I’d looked into her eyes that night and knew she’d felt the same.
It shouldn’t affect me so, but I can’t get over that feeling of being alone in the dark, hungry cold and losing the battle. And I can’t forget the fear and horror of seeing Aspyn living the life I thought would kill me.
I finish my coffee, put the cup in the bin, and notice that my surfers have decided to be stupid after all.
Well, there is justice in the world. How fucking deliciously joyful.
I wave down Mitch Osland and climb into his car. The skinny guy is a massive pot smoker and hides his beta designation beneath a cloud of weed, but, right now, he’s going to help me catch a pack of pussy alphas who need a hiding.
We drive along, bobbing on the unsealed road. I get down to the beach we were at last night and ask Mitch to wait. I stand on the hill and watch the three of them paddling on their surfboards. They stop and look around before coming up to the beach and sitting down.
I pull out my phone and dial Shale’s number.
“Hey, bro, so, I’m telling ya, these guys are just getting more and more interesting. And fun. Really, really fun.”
“Oh?”
“They all got on their surfboards and tried to paddle away.”
Shale barks a laugh. “You’re kidding?”
“I’m looking at them from Lover’s Point, and they are resting up for the next part of their journey.”
I can almost feel Shale frown.
“Why are they going the wrong direction?”
“No one wants to go up against pack Daane, and I get the impression they’ve been getting on the nerves of some of the locals.”
“True, the laid back, chill alpha told Margot that she needed to learn how to count better. Everyone here knows Margot can’t see too well these days. Ezy, isn’t it? Yeah, that twat made her cry. How many times you seen that hard woman cry?”
“Did you hear that, Shale? Mitch has been monitoring them.”
“I heard.”
“What do you want me to do?” I peer at the beach. They have no water, no supplies. Absolute morons.
The bonds are a buzzy vibration of anger and panic. Nothing much has changed, but they are calming down a little bit. Yeah, I’m not going to let them get comfortable. Welcome to my hell, bitches.
“Follow them for now. As soon as we’re done, we’ll come join you.”
I hang up the phone and sit down. Mitch sits beside me and puts his chin on his hand.
“Who are they, anyway?”
“A pack of idiots.”
“Ahh, that clears it up.”
I ignore his sarcasm. Mitch is probably one of the few people on the island that I can tolerate and will allow to be sarcastic. But only because he saved Beau’s life when my brother was in dire need after being stabbed by an angry tourist.
“How far do you reckon they’ll get tonight?” I murmur.
“Oh, maybe reach White Sands about midnight. Unless they are planning on having a rendezvous right here on the beach, then maybe dawn. Why are they doing this, anyway?”
“Because.”
Mitch suddenly sits forward, leaning so he can see my face properly.
“Because why? We aren’t doing anything illegal, are we? Because I want no part of that. Sonny has promised to arrest me next time I so much as look like I'm committing a crime.”
Sonny, our by-the-books cop, has a hard-on for Mitch. It’s a peculiar fascination, but it serves its purpose in having our police officer too busy to be looking in our direction.
The three of them get up, and Ezy shoves Gael. I wonder what they are arguing about, but, in truth, I don’t really care. Maybe they can go drown each other and save me the headache.
The bonds inside me pulse, and I feel Gael’s hurt. Ezy is angry. It’s clear to see, but Kelly is worried. Like, deeply worried and trying really hard to hide it. He keeps looking around, but, sadly, in all the wrong places.
Smart alpha.
I climb to my feet and wander back to the car, reaching in and pulling out a rope.
Mitch’s eyes widen. “You said we weren’t doing anything illegal.”
“Did I actually say that, though?” I tease.
Mitch thinks back and moans. “Keagan, I can’t get in trouble.”
“Ah, you think we don’t know you love being in there? When Sonny arrests you, you spend the night on your knees under his desk, cleaning his cock for your crimes. Everyone gets a happy ending, but Sonny gets the happiest.”
Mitch’s ears turn bright red, and he swallows hard. “How do you know that?”
I smirk and saunter down the path, heading towards the car park and beach.
When I get there, the three of them are silently staring out at the water.
With a wicked grin, I send a bolt of glee through the bond, filling it with the psychotic madness that I keep muted. They jump out of their skins. I laugh out loud and swing the rope around my head, making it sing in the air.
“Alphas, you can run, but you can’t hide. Come play with me!”
“Fucking shit, Kelly, he’s here! Run!”
I almost trip over laughing so hard as the three of them grab their surfboards and bolt for the ocean. They paddle hard and are soon gone from sight.
I let the rope fall to the ground and wipe the tears away.
“You are a very bad alpha, Keagan,” Mitch says and doubles over while he tries to stop laughing long enough to catch his breath.
“These three alphas are a mess and hilarious. I’m having a great time,” I admit. “We should do shit like this more often.”
“So, we’re just scaring them?”
“Driving them,” I say with a wink. “Into exhaustion. Teaching them that there is no escape from the Daane.”
“You three are reaching mythical status. Oh, those gummies should be ready soon. I’ll bring them over.”
And this is another reason why Mitch is tolerated above all others. He actually cares about Aspyn. He sees her as a person and treats her as one.
“Cheers, Mitch. So, shall we head to the cliffs and keep an eye on their progress?”
I start up the path.
“What if they get eaten by a shark?”
“Well, that would be sad.”
“Seriously?”
I shrug. “Life is life. Who am I to deny my shark brother a meal?”
Mitch stares at me like I’m a monster. I guess, for a lot of people, I am. But not for her.
“If you ever think I’m in danger of getting eaten, please deny your finned friend dinner. I want to live with all my appendages.”
I snort and climb back into the car.
The foliage is thick up here. We can’t be seen from the beaches or the ocean. But there are places we can stop and spy.
Track their progress.
And there are a few more beaches I can show up and drive them on again, too.
The only regret I have is that Aspyn isn’t here with me. I think she might really get a kick out of this.