16. Rolly
Rolly
Ichortle as I slip back into camp, sliding up next to Merle and wrapping my arms around her. Does it soothe a part of me that she relaxes into my arms when I touch her instead of flinching? Fuck yes. Do I find it endearing how she reaches for me? Yes. Am I smitten with this omega? Also yes.
“ROLLY!”
My cousin Rory storms into camp, doing up his pants. “I know it was you.”
He ignores the omega in my arms, but I don't. I soothe her, stroking her belly, silently telling her it's okay.
“He was balls deep in Bonnie, and I shot him with a dart,” I whisper in her ear.
She lets out a tinkling laugh.
It is worth my entire day to hear that sound.
“Rory, I’ve been here with Merle the whole time,” I say with absolute innocence.
He gets really close, glaring at me. “Do not lie to me, you little shit.” He steps closer.
Merle stiffens slightly, and I stop paying attention to Rory and start paying attention to my girl. She’s barely breathing, perfectly calm and composed and absolutely frozen.
I swing her away and into Pix, who catches her with a surprised shout as Rory pounces me. We roll in the dirt. He gets some good punches, I get some better ones. It's all fun and games until Blaze sprays us with something that smells so noxious that we both end up heaving and trying to crawl away.
“I will not accept this behaviour. If you want to behave like animals, I will train you like the dogs you are.”
“I mean, I’m not sure I like it, but you have to admit, his methods are effective,” Vale mutters, imagine getting Rory to stick around on Sunday cleaning day.
“Using chemicals is ingenious,” Cyn murmurs. “Rory uses drugs, but I wonder if he’s considered a powder or an aerosol version.”
I stand up and walk towards Blaze, he watches me approach, not even nervous about the way I’m smiling. Before he can react and defend himself, I punch him in the stomach and drop him on his back.
“You’re the one who said one pack,” I snarl.
He lays there and starts to laugh.
“Sick prick,” I growl in disgust. I hate that I know that he let me hit him.
I stalk away, grabbing my pack and heading towards the river. Merle hesitates, then jogs after me, King following close behind.
“It was hot.”
I cock my head, looking at the strange duo as Meg whispers to her alpha.
“Meg, please.”
“I’m sorry, babe, but you had to admit, it was just drippy.”
“Drippy?” I hear Bonnie ask.
“One of the holes is dripping, so drippy.” Desi explains, and his face turns red.
“Gross, you two. Keep your dripping holes to yourself.”
“Yes, Boss!” they say together.
I think I hear a snarl behind me, but I don’t turn to look. Twenty minutes later, I throw my whole self in the river, finally getting rid of that noxious smell. When I surface, Merle is staring at the water anxiously.
Aaron plunges into the water and crosses the river, moving to sit on a large rock and stare in the opposite direction. Merle looks at the water and then slides down and wades in.
Sage shadows her, though I’m not sure if she even knows he’s there. She kicks and swims but quickly gets snatched up. My anxiety surges, and I turn to where she is fighting, ready to jump in and save her.
“Come on, Merle, you’ve got this.”
She struggles harder and kicks the water, finally pushing towards me. I edge backwards, watching as she gets her feet under her and steps up on the bank. Sage is right there, a protective presence ready to jump in and be the help she needs.
He doesn’t need to, though, she drags her dripping frame out of the water and looks around her curiously. Except, every now and then, she glances at Roseland, and she edges towards him.
Interesting.
By the time everyone else has joined us, Merle is three feet behind Roseland and has stopped even pretending not to notice him. When he moves, she moves.
“I am confused about what’s going on there,” Kota says to me.
“I think she’s going to skin him and wear him as a body suit,” I say absently, hoping Kota will just leave me alone for a few minutes to think.
Kota chuckles. “Of all of us, he should not be the one that feels safe to an omega. He lies, incessantly. He repeatedly states how much he doesn’t want one.”
This is true, not that I will admit it to him. What is the appeal of this alpha? He’s hot, skilled, kind, intelligent. He’s got so many interesting things. He’s everything I’m not. Staid and serious where I’m so erratic and chaotic.
I watch for another five minutes before it suddenly clicks.
“Mirroring! She’s displaying mirroring behaviour. He’s the safe one right now.”
Kota purses his lips. “That’s not a healthy mindset, then.”
I glance at him and wonder if anyone will stop me if I punch him in the head. “She’s fine,” I snarl.
But is she? Maybe I can steal her something pretty.
Her eyes skip around, scanning in a pattern if you watch long enough. She’s situated herself so she’s further away from people and closer to the forest. Her fingers play with her T-shirt.
Okay. Not fine.
I disappear into the forest, searching until I find a stick that’s the perfect length and weight. I strip it of branches and return, holding it out to her.
She looks down at it and up at me. The broken uncertainty makes me want to howl.
Maybe being out here was too soon, but just when I think she won’t, she takes the stick.
She opens her mouth, and I try not to tense, waiting to see if she’s going to speak. I know we’re all waiting.
“I can sharpen the point if you want to stab someone.”
She looks so puzzled, but then she smiles. It was worth it. Every single second.
I fall back, tripping over my feet and star fishing onto the ground. She rushes to me, dropping the stick.
I grab her around the neck, lean up, and kiss her cheek.
We both freeze, her eyes dart to mine.
“I am not taking that back. I have wanted to do that since I first saw you,” I say in defiance.
She trembles.
“You can run now, I’ll allow it.”
She scampers back, but then her fingers lift, touching the spot on her cheek where I kissed her.
I lay back with a contented sigh as she scurries to catch up with Roseland.
“Proud of yourself?”
“So, so proud. She blushed, she smiled, she was adorable, and I got to kiss her.”
King crouches near my head and makes a humming sound. I know that sound intimately.
“What is it?” I ask, sitting up and twisting until we’re nose to nose.
“I think we’re being followed, but I have no evidence. Just a vague feeling.”
He holds out a hand and pulls me up off the ground.
“Have you told the others?”
“No, you know they don’t tend to take us seriously.”
“I’ll go. Tonight. Just have a look around.”
I lean up and press my lips to his.
“Now you’ve been kissed by the lips that kissed her.”
King lets out a rumble of a laugh, but Cyn is watching us, so he puts his hands in his pockets and walks off, leaving me alone.
“Little cousin,” Rory says, approaching again.
“Old and ugly cousin.”
Rory growls and swipes at me. I dodge his attempt easily.
“I can’t help but feel I walked into a parallel world and that something terrible this way comes.”
“How so?” I say as we fall into an easy walk, side by side.
“You aren’t hurting anyone, killing anyone, or destroying anything.”
I pause. Yes, there is that. Holding my nature back is getting harder and harder, but I can do it, for her.
“I’ve changed my ways.”
“Uh-huh. I don’t believe you.”
“Meh, I don’t care if you don’t believe me, it's the truth. I’m a different alpha. One full of conviction and principles.”
“Yeah, I give you two minutes.”
“Nice, Rory.”
“What can I say, you’re cut from the same cloth as the rest of us. Pretending to be something else is only going to work so long, and then you’re going to have to face all your lies.”
“Take your wisdom and shove it up your ass, Astor.”
Rory laughs and takes three steps off the trail, disappearing.
I ignore him, instead thinking about this parasite we’ve picked up. Not going to happen, not on my watch.
I slip through the darkness, hiding in it like I’m just a living extension, like I was born in them. My movements are confident, but not wasteful, each step I choose is one step forwards to a successful hunt.
I catalogue the sounds of the night, the paths and trails I’ve already mapped in my head are now traps. Or part of my traps because I’ve laid some vicious ones that will do some damage to anyone following my omegas.
I can feel Pix watching, waiting, a silent shadow in my mind, his scent the perfect decoy. He knows I’m using him, it's why he followed me out here.
I climb up a tree and perch in the branches, watching the bottle neck. There’s only one place left to cross the river, I’ve cut all others off.
The noises of the night suddenly cut off. I don’t tense up, I don’t even turn so I can fully see the path, I just watch out of the corner of my eye.
He’s not a big hunter, but he’s cautious.
He’d have to be to have evaded detection for so long.
His arrogance is astounding. He approaches the river and wades in, up to his knees.
My trap springs. The metal jaws I laid snap closed around his ankle, breaking it and biting through his flesh like it’s paper. I drop from the tree and approach the river, watching him struggle. He goes under and bounces up, his head tipped back in agony.
“Hello,” I say politely.
I don’t bother with masks like the Prince Pack do. I don’t leave survivors.
Ever.
“You were following us, and I’m curious, I just want to know why?”
He shakes his head, tears rolling down his cheeks, joining the icy river water and running away.
“No, just hiking.”
“Hiking? Where’s your stuff?”
He opens his mouth, pauses because he knows he’s caught, and adjusts course.
“I lost it.”
“Why didn’t you go back?”
“I’m lost.”
I wipe my hand over my mouth, frustrated and amused at his obvious lies.
“Why are you hunting the omega?” I ask coldly.
His eyes snap up, the spark of intelligence. He reaches for his jacket, grabs a sachet of pills, and brings them towards his mouth.
Pix cuts off his hand.
It’s a beautiful, glorious move. So swift, so elegant. I snag the body part before it gets washed away.
The man howls.
“I think you might be getting the picture now.” I chuckle and step into the water, ducking down and opening the trap. I shove him free and follow Pix as he drags our new friend up onto the bank.
“Shut up!” I snarl and punch him in the face.
He blinks, stunned.
“Why are you hunting my omega?”
He looks between us and shrinks in on himself. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I sigh. “Don’t be difficult. Not tonight.”
“I don’t. Honest, let me go. I’ve got a family, a kid-”
With lightning speed, I pull out a knife and stab it down on his junk. His scream takes on a whole new cadence.
“Same question,” I snarl out, rapidly losing patience.
He howls, his eyes bulging, his mouth opened impossibly far.
Pix grabs a finger and snaps it backwards.
“You got a thing for breaking fingers, babe.”
“Don’t call me babe, and it's easy, quick, and effective.”
“So is a knife to the thigh.”
“Might hit an artery, more clean up,” Pix intones, glaring at me.
I wave my ruby covered knife at him. “More satisfaction, more chance to be creative and dramatic effect.”
He stops screaming.
“Why are you hunting the girl?” Pix says in a low rasping voice that goes straight to my dick.
Our friend throws his head back, laughing. “You’ll never keep her. She’s marked for death. There’s more of us coming. So many more.”
I sigh heavily, but I can’t hide my pleased smile. “I was really hoping you weren’t going to say that.”
Pix grabs his hair and drags him out over the water.
“No, stop, wait. Please. Don’t!” He drums his feet, but he’s got as much hoping of stopping Pix as he has of stopping the sun from rising.
“You all should do your homework before you go hunting.”
He holds out his hand for my knife. I hand it to him, which says a lot because no one has touched this knife since I bought it. He drags the knife so gently across his throat. It’s a beautiful and sexy move.
Blood fountains into the water, pouring his life force into the frothing currents. In minutes, he’s dead.
I drag him back towards the cave I found earlier and slide him in, head first. It’s a good fifteen to twenty foot deep hole in the world that is only wide enough for a single person.
After that, Pix and I quietly dismantle my traps and make our way back to camp. We arrive at dawn.
She’s sitting by the fire, her back stiff and straight.
I pull off a ring and drop it in her hand, showing her how it twists to reveal a needle. There is something deeply relaxing about arming my omega.
She humphs and relaxes. I scoop her up, watching as Pix disappears into the tent.
Merle lays her ear on my chest, and second by second, her muscles relax until she’s letting out the most adorable purring snores.
When King wakes up, I use our pigeon sign language to tell him what happened and to be careful.
He disappears, and I know he’s going to the other’s, and our speed is about to increase. It’s time to vanish.