Chapter 19
The “cave” turned out to be another White Frost contingency. When they reached the side of a small mountain, Oberon had instructed Fenrir to dig for the control panel. It’d almost taken longer for him to find it than it had for them to walk there, but eventually he uncovered it.
A keycode was needed, and confused, Fenrir had followed instructions.
As soon as the code was input, there was a low buzzing, and then the sound of a spring coming undone.
A hidden door carved into the side of the structure popped free, sending a heap of snow tumbling to the ground, which of course delayed them further, since it meant more digging.
He helped Oberon inside first, propping him up as soon as they were both in so he could reach back and seal the entrance. There hadn’t been any signs that they were being followed, but he wasn’t taking any chances, not with his alpha injured like he was.
Lights flickered to life, casting them in a vibrant white glow, and Fenrir’s brow shot up when he got his first real look at the place.
The space had been converted into a safe house, with a comfy-looking bed tucked in the left corner, and an open shower space on the right.
Shelves lined with packaged products like food, first aid, and bottled water, were built into the walls between the sleeping and bathing areas, and a fluffy fur rug covered a spot on the floor in the center of the room.
Oberon shifted on his feet and hit another panel. The entire wall where the entrance was flickered and then became clear, giving them a window-like view outside. “It’s one-sided. No one out there can see in here. The door is also locked and hidden. We’ll be safe until the storm ends.”
“Multi-slate? Computer?” Fenrir helped Oberon to the bed, tilting his head to search the area for any type of communication device that could get them out of here sooner.
Oberon chuckled humorlessly. “Would you believe that I completely forgot about that part when building the place?”
“No.” He lowered him down and then pulled back. “Why do you hate communicators so much?”
“I don’t,” the alpha said as Fen walked toward the shelves. “I just hate being bothered by trivial matters, and I don’t like the heavy feel of the damn thing on my wrist.”
Fenrir selected a few items and grabbed the largest first aid kit, then returned, dropping down to his knees in front of the alpha. He twisted the top off a bottle of water and handed it over first, then popped open the kit after Oberon took it.
“What are you doing?” the alpha asked.
“We don’t know how long we’ll be trapped here. You wound needs to be taken care of.”
“And…you know how to do that sort of thing?”
Fen grunted. “The Wardrobe doesn’t waste coin patching up grunts. When I worked for them before becoming a test subject, we had to learn how to take care of ourselves. Lie back.”
Oberon eased down with a sigh. “The heat should have kicked on once we entered. It’s programmed to gauge the temps outside and adjust accordingly. We’ll be warm soon.”
“I’m fine.” Fenrir threaded a surgical string through a needle and then held it over the flame of a lighter, moving quickly through the motions.
“Right. Must be nice.”
“If you separate how being a hybrid has put a target on my back? Sure.” He pulled up the alpha’s shirt and winced at the sight of the wound. The ice he’d left there had begun to melt, and the area around it was purple. “You might have tissue damage already.”
“Just close me up for now.”
Seeing no other way around it, Fenrir got to work.
“Keep talking to me,” Oberon ordered after the first stitch was completed.
“Don’t be such a baby, alpha.”
“It’s not that.” He waited until Fenrir glanced up at him, their eyes meeting. “I like the sound of your voice. It’s been days since I’ve been able to talk with you, precious. The bond works both ways. An omega doesn’t just need to acclimate to their alpha. I need to get used to you as well.”
Fen shoved the needle in and did another stitch.
“Ow,” Oberon complained.
“Are all White Frost whiners?” He clicked his tongue. “Better question, who creates a secret hideout and forgets to put in a communication device?”
“Claudio was in charge of the design,” the alpha said, but Fen wasn’t buying it.
“That is not a thing he would forget.”
“You don’t even know him.”
“I know he’s been your assistant for a decade, which means he’s well aware of how often you forget your multi-slate. There’s no way he’d create this place and leave something that important out.”
“Fine.” Oberon blew out a breath. “I came to check it out once it was finished and ended up walking out with it, happy?”
He blinked at him. “Are you telling me you removed the emergency multi-slate—”
“It was an accident. I forgot I put it in my pocket while I was talking with Koah.”
“Why didn’t you bring it back?”
“I haven’t had a reason to come back until now.”
“Then you order one of your men to do it for you. This isn’t rocket science, King. That’s why you pay them. Money is wasted on you.”
“Guess you’re just going to have to take over the household finances.”
Fenrir paused, but it didn’t appear as though he was joking. “You have no idea how I am with money. I could be terrible with it, too.”
“Not a chance. People who’ve lived without something most of their lives tend to appreciate it more when they finally get it. You can appreciate my coin, and I can appreciate you. Fair trade.”
“How can you say that with such a straight face?”
“Is that your way of calling me romantic?”
“That depends,” he did up another stitch, “what happened with the omega you spent the White Hunt with?”
“Them?” Oberon shrugged. “I don’t even remember if they were male or female.”
He paused. “You’re also into women?”
“Come on, precious. Give me a break.”
“King.”
“I’m into you, Fenrir. Just you.” When he tried to sit up, Fenrir stopped him with a hand over his throat, but Oberon merely grinned, settling on his elbows.
“Do I need to bite you again to prove it? I will. Gladly. I was already planning on it, in fact. It irks me that you can’t recall such an important milestone between us. ”
Confident the alpha would stay put, he went back to patching him up. “It’s not like I wanted to forget.”
“If I’d known about you beforehand, I never would have joined the White Hunt. What do you say? Can we call it even?”
“You're such a fucking smooth talker.” He finished with the final stitch. “The bullet didn’t go very deep.”
“I know. I dug it out before you found me. No serious damage either. I’ll be fine.”
“You would have frozen to death or bled out if not for me,” he reminded.
“I have such a doting omega.”
Fenrir’s eyes narrowed and Oberon laughed. “Hold on…” If he’d dug out the bullet… Fenrir shoved the alpha’s shoulder, sending him flat onto the bed and stood. “You were faking it.”
“I was not,” he argued. “Look. Literally shot.”
“A White Frost that’s never taken a bullet before? Come on.”
“Okay, so the cold hurt more than the injury, and I was bleeding so much because I used my fingers to pull the offensive piece of metal out. That doesn’t really change anything.”
“How fast is your alpha healing?” As a dominant alpha, it had to be rather impressive. Fen narrowed his eyes. “I practically carried you all the way here. Are you telling me we could have made it to shelter faster if you—”
Oberon emitted a pained sound and curled in on himself, and Fenrir shot forward, checking the stitching in a mild panic.
Before the alpha peeled one eye open and smirked at him.
“Fuck you, King.” Fenrir growled and pulled away, cursing under his breath as the alpha laughed at his naivety.
He started cleaning up, tossing things with a bit more force than necessary back into the first aid kit, not bothering to stop the alpha when he sat up, even though there was risk he’d pull a stitch for real.
Let him.
Let him bleed out for that matter.
Stupid, mother fucking—
Soothing pheromones brushed against his skin, and Fen made a swatting motion as though that could stop them. “Enough.”
“Are you really that mad?”
“That you tricked me?”
“It was a game,” Oberon corrected.
“Lugging you through the snow, afraid you’d freeze to death before we got here, is not a game.
” He closed the kit and then crossed to the other side of the room, placing it on the shelving units.
They needed sustenance, and he scanned the food items, noting many were perishables.
“Why did you stock so much stuff that can go bad?”
“It tastes better.”
He scowled.
“It’s fine. Someone comes to check up on the place regularly. They replace the bedding, vacuum—”
“You have someone vacuum a cave?” Ridiculous. “Also, if someone comes to throw out bad food, surely they could have returned the multi-slate you took.”
“It slipped my mind?”
“Fantastic.”
“It’s no big deal.”
“That I’m mated to a moron? Kind of is.”
The pheromones shifted, going from soft and sweet to edged. The alpha’s voice was deeper as well the next time he spoke.
“You’re stuck with me,” Oberon stated. “And I don’t just mean because of the storm.”
Fenrir tsked and spun on his heels, heading straight to the exit.
“Where are you going?”
“Out,” Fen said. “A blizzard can’t contain me. I’ll melt a path from here to town and—”
The alpha came up behind him, one arm wrapping tightly around his waist, the other securing him around the chest. With a sigh, he rested his chin on Fenrir’s right shoulder, and then nuzzled against him, using the glands hidden on the curve of his jaw.
“What are you doing?” Fen asked.
“Scenting you.” He pressed his wrists on him and rubbed as well, motions careful and limited since he refused to release Fenrir to do it properly.
Omegas and alphas could scent their partner, an act done by releasing pheromones from various glands on their bodies. It was an act of possessiveness more than anything, meant to warn off others who might show an interest and alert them that the person was already taken.
“We’re alone here,” Fenrir reminded. “There’s no need for this. It’ll fade long before I make it into town.”
“You aren’t going anywhere.”
“King, you’ll be fine here on your own. I’ll—”
“I won’t be fine without you ever again,” he growled. “And I don’t intend to try and find out otherwise. I’m staying, so you’re staying. This isn’t up for debate.”
Fen tilted his head but didn’t try to pull away.
Outside, the storm continued to rage, the snow coming up at least three feet, easily visible against the one-way screen.
Even if Michelle’s men were still out there, they’d struggle to find their way through this mess, and the alpha’s injury wasn’t as bad as he’d initially believed.
“We’re safer here,” Oberon’s tone turned coaxing, the hand around his waist slipping lower. “I’m safer.”
“You were shot.”
“I’m a dominant alpha. This? I can heal this in a day. But if you’re so concerned, I have a better way you can help me than by braving the cold. Pheromone exchange between a mated pair will greatly increase the process.”
He should have known.
Grabbing onto the alpha’s wrist when his fingers went to dip beneath Fenrir’s waistband, he let out a warning sound. “I am not sleeping with you a couple of hours after you’ve been shot. Let go.”
“You're forgetting who the alpha in this relationship is.”
“You’re forgetting I can lower your body temperature and render you unconscious.” Fenrir wouldn’t. It was risky and so many things could go wrong, and he would never put his alpha in that sort of danger.
But Oberon didn’t need to know that.
“You let Michelle pull your leash, but bite back when I do it?” the alpha asked, and it was hard to tell if the hard note in his voice was anger or hurt feelings.
“She doesn’t mean anything to me.”
“No?”
“I needed her for pheromone control. Nothing else.”
“Care to put your money where your mouth is? Or, I suppose in your case, it’s not money, it’s freedom.”
Fenrir paused. “Release me.”
“Never.”
“No, I mean—” He exhaled. “I want to see your face.”
Oberon considered that and then finally dropped his arms and retreated a single step. His expression was enigmatic when Fenrir turned to look, the playfulness from before leached away to conceal his emotions.
“Elaborate,” Fenrir insisted when the alpha did nothing but stare at him.
“I think I’ve made myself pretty clear.”
“When was that?” If so, he’d missed it. “Surely something as serious as my supposed freedom is worthy of repeating. Tell me. We’re stuck in this cave for the foreseeable future. I’m not going anywhere.”
“You were five minutes ago.”
“I—” Ferir didn’t want to waste time on excuses. He set his hands on his hips and said plainly, “If you want me to stay, make me stay.”
“Haven’t I done that already?” Oberon’s gaze slipped to the healed mark on Fenrir’s neck.
Their earlier conversation, before they’d been interrupted by the Wardrobe, came back to Fen then. They’d been discussing the claiming bite…
“I don’t want to be caged,” Fenrir whispered, grasping onto that thread when something flashed in Oberon’s green eyes. “Tell me what you need me to do to ensure you won’t lock me up like she did.”
“Don’t compare me to her,” he said. “It’s insulting.”
“Why?”
“Because she didn’t know how lucky she was to have you.” Oberon reached out, fingers brushing a strand of hair off Fen’s forehead. “I do.”
“Do you?”
The alpha smiled, some of that stoniness chipping away.
“A hybrid who can turn our enemies into popsicles? Bonus points for looking like sin. For being so articulate. I’m not big on wasting time or beating around the bush.
I’ve gotten the sense that you aren’t either.
I’ll always be upfront with you. I ask that you do the same. ”
Fenrir cocked a brow. “Upfront? Like just now when you pretended to stumble through a blizzard just so I would hold you?”
He chuckled. “Come on, it was at least a little fun, wasn’t it?”
“I thought you might die, King. I thought—” He stopped himself, took another deep breath and then tried again.
“Full transparency? Okay. I’ve accepted you as my alpha because you’re the best option.
But we hardly know each other. I don’t want teasing right now.
I want understanding. I want to build something that we can actually stand on. ”
“Solid ground?”
“Yes.” No one else had ever given him that before. Not his grandparents, and certainly not Michelle.
But would Oberon King?