32. Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Two
Blaze
Day Four
I trail Halley like a devastatingly handsome shadow.
I’m three steps behind her in the corridor, eyes sweeping corners, counting exits, cataloging every soldier who pauses a fraction too long when she passes. The fortress is full of trained killers, and their eyes follow her everywhere. I don't like it.
I'm the only one who should stare unblinking at our Omega. It's basically our thing. I stalk and stare, and she… well, most of the time she doesn't know, but when she catches me, I think she likes it 'cause she smiles at me.
She's not smiling much these past few days. I can smell the acrid scent of worried Omega, and the bond is like a tangle in my chest.
If I thought untangling my own feelings was difficult, now I have four Packmates worth of feelings all messed up inside me too.
They're all worried about the incoming army.
Knox and Shade in particular are worked up into a frenzy over it.
I mean, I get it. Once this army arrives, we'll be outnumbered a thousand to one with little to no hope of survival. But that's just the life of a soldier, isn't it? Sometimes the odds are stacked against you, and you've still gotta throw yourself into the fray win, lose, or draw.
I'm not too worried, to be honest. I might've been a few weeks ago, but now I'm not.
I watched my Omega get shot and die and then come back to life an hour later with a spring in her step.
If that's not a fucking miracle, then what is?
And that's not even counting Viper's Blood Lust being cured, or the magical Omega bullshit happening with our bonds.
And add on the fact that I, Blaze the child assassin, am mated to an Omega?
Miracles are happening left and right.
What's one more?
I don't like that our Pack isn't talking much about the big issue.
The one that actually scares the daylights outta me.
The others are doing that thing where they shove thoughts about it into boxes and sit on the lid.
Me?
I’m thinking about her being pregnant. Constantly. Like a sick little hobby.
I keep sniffing for signs even though I know it’s too early, and Everlyn would call me an idiot if she caught me trying to scent a fetus.
I still do it 'cause I reckon I'd know if something so fundamental changed with my Omega.
I know her scent better than anything, better than even the feel of my combat knife in my hand.
I take in her scent every time she shifts her jacket, exhales, or turns her head. I watch the way she holds her shoulders, the set of her spine, the way her steps land. I’m looking for nausea, fatigue, a fraction of hesitation where she's usually fine.
I don’t find anything, but that doesn’t stop me from looking.
Halley glances back at me, and her mouth twitches at the corners, threatening a smile. "You’re doing it again."
"Doing what?" I ask because denial is fun, and it keeps her attention on me.
Her eyes flick to my nose. "Sniffing me like a lunatic."
"First of all, you like that I'm a lunatic.
" I lean closer as we walk, lowering my voice because there is always someone listening, and I like when we get to have private moments, just the two of us. "Second of all, if you’re incubating a tiny future soldier, I’d like to know before it makes you start eating my snacks at two in the morning. "
Halley snorts, which is a wonderful sound, and I file the memory away like contraband. It's mine. I earned it, and I get to keep it.
"And what," she says, "would you do with that information if you confirmed I was pregnant, Blaise?"
Ah. An interesting mistake. She thinks she's talking to Blaise.
She's not.
It's Blaze who has been in the driver's seat for four days.
With the whole Pack in a collective state of shock and denial, it's been my duty to keep a sharp edge. They're all busy thinking about politics and war strategy and support, so someone had to stay a soldier.
My primary role is to guard and protect Halley. It's not exactly hard, it's my default mode to want to follow her everywhere, and now I've got the perfect excuse. She can't even complain when I follow her into the bathroom 'cause I'm just doing my job really, really well.
And I guess, if our Omega is harboring a cluster of cells in her womb, then it's my job to protect it too, because it's part of her.
I'll guard them until my last breath. Kill anything that even thinks about touching them.
I would also panic, probably, because I would be a terrible father, and I’m not even insulted by that.
It’s a fact. I’m good at murdering in creative ways and loving Halley with the obsessive intensity of a thousand suns.
Nowhere inside me is there a nurturing section that wishes to impart wisdom on the next generation.
Don't become a child assassin. That's it. That's all my wisdom. Maybe to keep a sharp knife on you at all times, but that's just common sense.
"We'd share a secret and secrets are always fun," I tell her instead with a bright, beaming smile.
Halley doesn't need me to explain to her that I'm not father material. I told her about my sperm donor and what a sack of shit he was. I don't exactly have a great role model for paternal responsibility, nor have I led a life a child could be proud of.
"I can't stop thinking about what might happen if it's positive," she breathes, looking up at me and then straight ahead again. Her eyes are shining with unshed tears.
Oh fuck. Omega tears.
Red alert. Red alert.
I'd rather get stabbed in the gut than have Halley cry on my watch.
Blaze takes a step back and lets Blaise's softer approach handle the live grenade that is our mate.
I exhale loudly, scrubbing the back of my head with my hand, and shoot her a smirk. "I dunno how you could not be. I mean, we came inside you a lot during your heat, like there was so much come."
"Blaise!" she gasps, swatting at my arm, but there's a big smile on her face.
"At some points, I was like, 'rutting-fuck, I'm gonna die from coming' and then I'd still keep coming."
"Stop! Someone's going to hear you," she giggles, lunging across me to press her hand against my mouth.
I wriggle away from her hand, grinning down at her as I keep teasing. "And I wasn't even the worst. I think Viper might have a proper medical problem. When that guy came inside you, I swear your belly would inflate like a balloon."
A shriek of laughter spills from her as we wrestle in the middle of the corridor, not caring who sees us. "That's not even possible, you weirdo!"
"Oh, it very much is possible. I saw it and it was hot. And when his knot would shrink, there was a big fountain of baby batter that would shoot out of you. Whoosh!" I exaggerate the gushing sound with the sweep of my hands.
"Ew! Don't call it that!" She realizes she's not going to get me to stop by wrestling with me because I like it too much. Instead, she presses the flats of her hands against her ears and shakes her head.
I cackle, catching her around the waist and pulling her flush against me. I smile down at my sweet, horrified but amused Omega.
"But you don't have to fret so much, Sparkles," I say, tapping the tip of her nose as she giggles. "Whatever happens, the Pack will handle it as a team. I don't know if you've noticed, but we're pretty good at executing our mission objectives when we put our minds to it."
I doubt my words will stop her from worrying and running possibilities through her mind, but I hope over the next few days I'm able to pull her out of any particularly bad spirals.
I take my job as her guard very seriously, and that includes her mental state. After all, she's always tried to be there for me when I can't find the light in the dark.