Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The Tunnels, The Alpha Underworld
“ N ow, that is the hottest thing I have ever heard, bella.” River spins around with a dreamy expression. “Our cool new beauty with his cock in your mouth, while our Alpha watches. Ah, but to have been the one to fuck the Omega’s sweet ass at the same time…”
I snort. “Good luck. Laurent intends to fuck you . We wants both us Omegas to fuck you together.”
River stumbles but then grins. “I was wrong. That is the hottest thing I’ve ever heard.”
I shift the heavy leather bag on my shoulder.
The bag contains medicines, bandages, and medical equipment. I’m helping River by carrying it for him, as he makes his rounds of the fighters’ dorms.
It’s one of the few tasks outside training, which I’m allowed to openly help River with for his protection.
It’s not safe for River to walk these concrete tunnels alone, which run like a labyrinth through the Underworld.
I shiver, scrunching my nose at the stench of damp and oil.
The bikers use these tunnels for racing.
Sometimes, people are hunted through the tunnels for sport.
I hate walking through the low ceilinged tunnels that are sprayed in graffiti. They are even more lawless than Dad’s territory.
Yet they are used to connect up the different areas of the Underworld.
At least with me, River is safe.
No one would touch a top fighter from the cage fights…or Don Battle’s daughter.
Yet a pretty unbonded Beta like River would be a prime target to be claimed by another pack.
River pushes his curls out of his eyes. “Plus, Laurent has a brilliant plan, hmm?”
I whispered the outline of the plan to River, without giving away just how dangerous it was in order not to worry him, as soon as I met up with him in his workshop.
He almost knocked over a tray of flowers with his excited hand gestures.
River is all in.
“In fact, our Sweet Thorn said that the basis of the plan was the same as yours,” I reply. “He praised you, saying that great minds think alike .”
River looks bewildered, unsure how to reply.
He’s unexpectedly shy. “La mia rose isn’t wrong.”
My stomach growls.
I grimace. It’s almost lunchtime. I hope that this doesn’t take long.
Yet River is meticulous and caring in his role as a medic.
He doesn’t only tend to the fighters’ physical needs, which he’s tasked with, but also their mental ones as well. No one else gives a fuck about those.
Yet by River taking those ten minutes longer with each of his patients, sitting at their narrow cots in the communal dorms and chatting with them, rather than coldly rushing them out, he allows them to talk about anything they want.
Some talk about their friends who have died in the cage fights and who they’ve barely had time to grieve. Others talk about the pressures and anxiety of their training or not being allowed to match with the person they love.
Most are desperate for someone to simply show that their needs are even noticed.
That they matter.
River knows how that feels.
He tries to give the fighters what they’re denied by the system down here, in the same way that he does for the Beta servants.
By working as his assistant, despite being the boss’ daughter, I attempt to do my best to do that as well.
When River notices me shiver again at the chill of the tunnels, he slips his arm around my waist and hugs me. He tries to transfer his meager warmth to me.
He’s at least wearing a thin black coat now, which my brother left on his bed last Christmas.
Companions aren’t allowed presents.
My brother and I always found a way to get around that, as Lionzio did by the mysterious appearance of the new coat.
The medical bag bumps between us, as we walk. Its familiar weight feels companionable.
“I have an idea,” River whispers.
There’s always been something about River’s melodious Italian voice, when it drops to a whisper, that makes me shiver. And not with cold.
“Always dangerous,” I reply.
“It is, bella. But not for you.”
Intrigued, I turn to look into his long lashed, blue eyes.
Sometimes, when he’s this close to me, I can’t believe that this incredible Beta has truly chosen me.
Yet River is the one who doubts that I want him simply because he’s a Companion.
“What do you mean?” I ask.
River’s eyes are blazing with the type of passionate excitement that normally means he’s thinking about one of his obsessions like flowers or an experiment to develop a new ointment.
Yet there’s also a steeliness, which has been slipping in more recently.
The one that reminds me how dangerous he once was.
Possibly, still is.
“When Laurent and you make your risky move on the Hades estate tonight,” River says, “you may know the layout and be able to hack, but there will still be some guards. You can fight, but they will have guns. Yet I know those guards. They get treated by me the same as anyone.”
I furrow my brow. “I don’t follow.”
“I’ve been developing a herbal powder. When added to someone’s drink, it will make them go to sleep for at least a couple of hours.” River smiles, brightly. “I’ve been wanting to try it out. It’ll be easy to have the Hades Betas add it to the guards’ drinks. I have connections across the Underworld.”
I stare at him. “You scare me sometimes.”
He preens like it’s praise.
Perhaps, it is.
“It won’t kill them, right?” I check.
I can’t help remembering the poisonous plants that River is growing in his workshop.
“Of course not. I know the right dosage to kill or not.”
Hmm, is that reassuring?
River grips my hand. “Let’s work hard, have lunch, then save some time for kissing. I enjoy that, bella. If you’re going on such a dangerous mission later, then we need some pleasure first, yes?”
When we turn the corner to the final tunnel, which leads to the vast hangar that holds the domed fighter dorms, we both freeze.
Vinnie and Harbinger block the tunnel ahead.
They’re facing away from us, having a heated argument. But they’re going to see us at any moment.
Vinnie is dressed in his normal outfit outside the octagon: jeans, sturdy motorcycle boots, and a leather jacket with the Hades’ skull patch on the back.
I squint at the two men.
What’s going on?
Harbinger is smaller than Vinnie, which is made more obvious by the way that Vinnie has crushed his pack member against the curved wall of the tunnel.
Yet I know what an incredible fighter Harbinger is. I suspect that no one but Feral stands a chance against him.
He could get out of that hold. He could rip out Vinnie’s throat.
But Vinnie is his Head Alpha. It doesn’t matter how strong Harbinger is, he still has to submit to the hierarchy.
I know what that’s like with Dad.
Uncomfortable, I shift from foot to foot.
What should I do?
“It looks like Harbinger has a rough time in the Hades pack,” River whispers.
Suddenly, Harbinger falls quiet, sniffing the air.
Then he glances over his shoulder.
His midnight green eyes glow in the shadows, as his gaze meets mine.
It’s unreadable.
My mouth is dry.
Why is my heart beating so fast?
The Alphahole shouldn’t be having this impact on me.
Finally, Vinnie lets go of Harbinger, stepping back from him.
When Harbinger turns to face me with a casual shrug of his shoulders, I notice with surprise that he is still connected to Vinnie by a steel chain.
I wince at how bruised Harbinger’s wrist is.
Harbinger is dressed in a white outfit that’s in startling contrast to Vinnie’s leathers. He’s not wearing the Hades’ colors, but rather, a suave white suit, waistcoat, and tie.
With his silver hair, he looks like an angel, who was fallen into hell.
“Don’t you wish that Harbinger wasn’t our enemy?” River sighs, nuzzling closer to me, as he always does when he’s forced to be near the Hades pack. “Why are all the good ones knotheads?”
“Hey,” I say in protest.
“Apart from the ones in my pack, bella,” River assures. “My ones are the best.”
Vinnie finally turns as well.
He glowers when he sees me, crossing his arms.
River casts me a nervous glance. “What should we do?”
“Come on.” I straighten my shoulders. “The assholes will need to make way for us. I’m not going to be intimidated by Vinnie. We have work to do.”
I grasp River’s hand and march toward the two men.
I don’t expect the way that Harbinger prowls forward to meet me.
He scans over the bruises on my neck. “Are you okay, Kitten?”
He raises his hand, before stopping himself and lowering it again.
I narrow my eyes. “No thanks to you, Wolf .”
Harbinger flinches.
He runs his hand through his hair, slicking it back like he doesn’t know how to deal with me outside the octagon.
His hair isn’t tied back by ribbon now. My stomach tightens at how much I like it this way.
Also, how much I like how he smells.
I can’t help taking in deep breaths of his vanilla bourbon scent.
It’s delicious.
It also holds a hint of unexpected sweetness that takes me by surprise.
I chase after it, desperately.
He’s also taking deep breaths and trying to hide it.
Is he chasing after my scent as well?
Is that what’s knocking him off his game?
Finally, Harbinger steadies himself, and his gaze becomes frosty. “I thought that we were playing. Don’t take it personally, Kitty. But I always win.”
“Is that why you’re the one who is leashed right now?”
“Stop talking to the Omega.” Vinnie viciously jerks Harbinger back. Harbinger grits his teeth. “You’re meant to be telling me which fighters are the weakest.”
“Why?” Harbinger demands, icily. “Are you intending to give them a nice break in Hawaii? A raise, if you paid them to start with? Because if it’s option three to cull them, then I pass.”
“Fucker.” Vinnie yanks on the chain again, using the motion to slam Harbinger into the wall. I wince. “Fighters are disposable.”
Before I can hold him back, River is snatching the medical bag from my shoulder and surging forward to Harbinger’s side.
Harbinger’s eyes widen like he’s never been tended to gently before, as River carefully lifts Harbinger’s bruised wrist between his hands, testing it from side to side. “You shouldn’t keep pulling him about by this wrist, Mr. Hades. It’s injured. Plus, the chain is wound too tightly. You’re going to fracture the joint.”
I shake, remembering all the times that my brother has been yanked up by his wrist from the dining table by Dad.
All the times that I needed to wrap Lionzio’s wrist for him.
All the times that it was fractured.
Harbinger appears too shocked by River’s sudden attention that he allows the Beta to move him around, staring at River in wonder.
Vinnie, however, reddens with rage.
“How dare you talk back to me, Beta?” Vinnie bellows. “You’re nothing but a Companion orphan. Have you forgotten what happened to your parents? Do I need to remind you? Send you to visit them? ”
River becomes ashen.
His shoulders stiffen, but he doesn’t stop checking Harbinger’s wrist.
He’s breathing hard like he’s fighting back a panic attack.
What happened to River’s parents? How does Vinnie know?
He’s clearly threatening River, but I don’t know how.
River’s parents are dead, right? Does that mean Vinnie is taunting River with sending him to heaven?
The fucking jerk.
I’m going to kill this Alphahole.
My expression hardens at River’s distress.
“Don’t talk to him again,” I order. “River is a medical professional. He’s just doing his job.”
“I didn’t give him permission to touch my property, Omega,” Vinnie growls.
His property?
Harbinger is avoiding my eye.
Is Vinnie talking about Harbinger like this because he owes Vinnie money? Is that why he’s fighting for him, only because of being in debt?
Doesn’t he have a choice?
River darts a concerned look at Harbinger and continues to work. “Luckily, it’s not broken. It is swollen though. Without a way to x-ray it, I can’t tell if it’s fractured. This chain needs to be loosened; it’s rubbed the skin away in a couple of places. It could get infected. It would help if I put on a splint just in case, or if you won’t let me remove the chain, then at least wrap it with a bandage underneath it. I can disinfect it now and do that. What do you think?”
He smiles up at Harbinger.
“It’s fine.” Harbinger raises his pierced eyebrow. “I’m sure that your bristling little Kitten over there won’t be happy if you waste that stuff on me, Sunshine.”
River blushes, when Harbinger calls him the pet name Sunshine .
I have to admit that it’s the perfect pet name for River.
I’m about to roll my eyes, when I realize just a moment too late that Harbinger is trying to get River to subtly leave in order to save him from Vinnie.
Shit.
“Harley is kind,” River insists. “She won’t even want the jerk who beat her in the octagon to be in pain. She cares about everybody.”
“I said,” Vinnie snarls, “you don’t have permission to touch my property, Beta trash.”
He kicks out at River.
Lightning fast, Harbinger grabs River by the shoulders and twists their bodies. Vinnie’s kick knocks out Harbinger’s legs, instead of River’s.
Harbinger is sent sprawling to his knees with a grunt.
Furious, I rush forward, leaping over River’s medical bag. I drag River into my arms briefly, before pushing him behind me.
Vinnie immediately grabs Harbinger by the scruff of the neck, which is the most vulnerable place for any Alpha.
“Fucker,” Vinnie hisses, “did you really just defend a member of the Battles pack from me, your Head Alpha?”
“He was helping me,” Harbinger gasps. “If you harm him, then I won’t fight for you.”
Vinnie drags Harbinger back to his feet. “You better not have just threatened not to make good on your debt to me.”
A terrifying silence settles over the tunnel.
Harbinger is breathing hard, as his Head Alpha’s nails claw into his skin.
River’s eyes are wide.
“Do something,” River begs me.
But what can I do?
Harbinger doesn’t belong to my pack. He’s a Hades.
Vinnie is his Head Alpha.
Plus, I rejected Vinnie’s offer of a bond. I destroyed his nest.
Vinnie fucking hates me.
Anything that I say or do in defense of this other Alpha, will only make Vinnie even more furious at Harbinger.
I’m a swirl of confusing emotions.
This new Hades pack member who fought against me in the pits, carried me with care to River’s clinic.
And now, he’s just stood up for and protected River.
It appears that he’s not one of the gang members who get their kicks out of stalking and kidnapping. He’s a fighter who is paying back a debt.
But what does it matter? Harbinger is still not my Alpha.
Yet somehow, as River and I have to watch powerlessly in the shadows of this tunnel, while Vinnie promises Harbinger ominously that they will talk about this more back in his study and drags him away, Harbinger feels like he should be part of our pack.
I don’t understand it.
I can’t deny the attraction that I felt even as I fought Harbinger. Now, I want to fight for him.
Perhaps, there are as many fighters who are in as need of help as Feral is.
Yet tonight, Laurent and I are breaking into the Hades estate. I can’t allow myself to forget that every single member of that pack are the enemy.