Chapter 22
Octavian
Hugging myself a little tighter, I watch the best my spare glasses allows me to as Bentley slams the tailgate of his truck closed, then starts dragging the two black tarps down the dirt path.
This all feels so damn surreal.
Having the twins show up at my loft, again, just so they can do whatever the hell they were going to do to me is mind blowing, but only because they knew my alpha was living there.
That was the farthest they’ve gone with me, the most they’ve done to my body aside from bruising it, but it was just one of a few handfuls of times they’ve attempted to hurt me. Or claim me as they so often said.
The fact that they waited until I had an alpha living with me, my damn scent match, just shows how stupid they really were.
It doesn’t make what happened any less scarier than it was. Not when both of those horrible pieces of shit managed to assault me in a way I’ve prevented since I was eighteen years old.
I hate to admit it, but I knew I wasn’t going to be able to fight them off, not this time.
Historically, I was able to say or do something that stopped them from going all the way, or there was some sort of divine intervention that prevented it.
Bentley was the latter this time, there is no doubt in my mind he was sent by some higher power to end this permanently, but if he hadn’t shown up?
There’s a pretty good chance I’d be dead.
I rub my hands up and down my arms as I begin following my alpha, glancing back at the truck where Floyd and Bella are sleeping in the backseat, briefly before I limp faster to catch up.
I couldn’t leave them at home. Not with all the mess that’s still there.
I know they’re just animals but I refuse to believe that means they think and feel any less than we do, and that means sitting in the loft where they watched me get attacked was going to be hard on them.
Just as hard as it was going to be for me to leave them there.
Bentley knew that.
Without me having to say one word, he knew.
We cleaned up all the blood, showered again and my alpha had to take over so I didn’t scrub the skin right off my body, then Bentley loaded the bodies in his truck while I made sure Floyd and Bella weren’t injured too badly.
Those bastards kicked our dog, and they literally tossed our piglet to the side. Thankfully, neither of them appear to be more than a little banged up, and they were relieved when their daddy came back, scooped them into his arms, and loaded them into the truck before he did the same with me.
Bentley is such a good man, a strong alpha, and a perfect mate for someone like me. I don’t deserve him but I’m not about to let him go, so we’re both just going to have to deal with it.
Granted, it’s going to be a lot harder for me, but I’ll manage.
I stand silently next to the fence as I watch my alpha open the gate, motioning for me to follow, but I hesitate.
Dirt paths are one thing, muddy pastures are another entirely. When we get to the actual pen where the pigs are? I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep my skin from crawling long enough to enjoy the way those sus domesticus’ will devour those two as my alpha makes my problem disappear forever.
“Does your friend know we’re here?”
Bentley nods as we get closer to the squealing and snorting. “He said I can come out whenever I want.”
I frown as my boot gets stuck in the mud, cringing at the suctioning sound it makes when I tug it free. “Does he know you’re dumping body parts in the pig pen for his livestock to eat?”
“Not really,” my alpha says with a chuckle. “But the fact that he said day or night leads me to believe that maybe he had an inkling about my extracurricular activities.”
I carefully push my glasses up my nose and nod to myself.
That makes sense, I guess.
I wonder if that’s some kind of unspoken thing between farmers?
Like, if you body dump in my pig pen, I’m going to borrow your wood chipper to make human fertilizer for my crops sort of thing.
I think I have a lot to learn about farmers and ranchers, and everything that makes up Bentley Walker’s world.
It doesn’t take my alpha long to empty both tarps, dropping the naked and dismembered bodies of the twins who’ve been making my life hell for over a decade, in with the pigs, and instead of being horrified by how eagerly they get to work, I’m actually intrigued.
“They’ll eat anything, won’t they?” I grab the shorter fence and hold on while I look over the top of it. “I knew they were omnivorous, but this is next level.”
Bentley chuckles as he finishes folding up the tarps then comes to stand next to me.
“Anything organic. Goats are the ones who’d eat the shoes and clothes if we were inclined to do something other than burn them, but it wouldn’t be very good for their guts.”
“I bet.” I look up at him as he starts rubbing circles on my back. “Can we get goats, too?”
My alpha’s brows shoot up to his hairline, the look of surprise is one I’ll hang onto for a long time, before he gifts me with that beautiful smile. “Goats, pigs. Mini highland cows. Whatever you want, Tav. We can get it all.”
I smile as he dips his chin and presses a kiss to my lips, breathing in his scent as I sigh in relief. “I’m not touching their shit, though.” Bentley barks out a laugh as he kisses me again.
“I’ll help clean the pens or barns or whatever, but I’m drawing the line at shoveling shit.”
“No problem, baby. You leave handling the shit to me.”
After making sure the pigs are destroying what’s left of the twin dumbasses, my alpha takes my hand and starts leading me back to the truck, but stops when I wince in pain.
“I’m fine,” I grumble, even though I’m not. My face hurts, and there are places on my body that are very uncomfortable, but honestly, the pain is more emotional than anything else.
Those two violated me, they took something I was never, ever going to give either of them, and I can still feel their hands on me every time I move.
“Tav, baby,” Bentley says softly as he cups my cheeks. “I know you hate emergency rooms—”
“They’re petri dishes full of germs and disease.”
He smiles and shakes his head. “For those reasons and more, but are you sure I don’t need to take you to one? I can only do so much, and the fact that you had me set your nose means it's going to be crooked forever. I’d really like to make sure you’re okay.”
“And I love you for it.” I reach up and take his hands off my face, kissing both palms before I lace my fingers with his and start walking us toward the truck again.
“I’m fine, though, and a crooked nose will give me character, right?
I’ll look a little more like I belong to the big burly alpha with scruff, scars, and callused hands. ”
Bentley stops abruptly with a growl, and when I turn to ask why, the look I’m met with is downright predatory.
“Bent?” I ask slowly. “Is everything—”
He charges at me, his blue eyes darkening as he plows into me as carefully as he can, capturing my lips in a soul-searing kiss as he lifts me against him and starts running.
I instinctively wrap my arms and legs around him so I don’t fall and despite the potential for bumping my nose against his, I kiss my alpha back just as fiercely.
I need this.
I need him.
I need my alpha, my scent match, to erase the horrible bullshit that happened a few hours ago, to replace it with his kisses and his touch, with his body and his scent until all that’s left is him.
As soon as we reach the truck, Bentley whips open the passenger door and sets me down, sucking on my bottom lip as he pulls away before he goes to the back and lets our babies out.
“Go potty,” he says gently as he sets Floyd and Bella down on the ground. “Get some fresh air. Bella, be a good little girl and show your brother what it’s like to have open spaces like this. Won’t be long before we have one of our own.”
I can’t help but smile as they listen obediently to their daddy, Floyd trying to do what he thinks Bentley asked while Bella makes sure he does it.
They make it about ten feet away before both of them squat and poop, lift a hind leg to pee—Bella learned from watching Floyd—then run another two or three feet before our pup has a narcoleptic spell and drops like a sack of potatoes.
Who would have thought I was such an animal lover? Watching our piglet nuzzled up next to her sleeping big brother melts my damn heart, and it really does make me want a whole farmyard full of animals running around.
“We can’t eat them,” I say with a gasp as Bentley drops my seat back until I’m practically laying in it.
“Bella and Floyd?” he asks as he climbs over me, rolling me with him so I’m straddling his lap. “I wasn’t planning on it. You, on the other hand, are a different story.”
I chuckle as he licks the side of my throat then starts unbuttoning my shirt. “The animals. The ones we get for the ranch or whatever. I don’t think I can get attached only to turn around and eat them with a side of scrambled eggs.”
“No problem,” Bentley grunts as I slip my hands under the hem of his shirt and push it up over his head. “We’ll have chickens for eggs, cows and goats for milk and other dairy, then we’ll make sure anything else we eat doesn’t live on our property, but is humanely sourced. Sound good?”
I nod as I grab his belt, quickly undoing that and his fly as he does the same to my jeans.
“Good. Great. Let’s talk about it later. I need you to fuck the bad memories out of my system so I can make room for all the good ones we’re going to create.”
And he does.
Within seconds, Bentley has us both naked in the front seat of the truck, his rough hands palming my thighs as I push up on my knees and take his cock in my hand, lining it up with my slick-covered hole.
“I love you,” I groan as I slide down, taking him all the way to the knot in one fluid motion.
“Damnit, I love you.”