11. Wild and Wrath
Wild and Wrath
EMERALD
B y the Source! I can’t breathe! I stand ready to leave the cave as he packs a makeshift bag for the long journey to the finish line.
“Where are yu goin’, lass?” he growls, making me pause at the cave exit.
“I… uhm… I need some fresh air,” I tell him, and it’s not a lie. The entire fucking cave smells like him. My skin still tingles from his touch… his hands, his mouth, his name . It’s without question this damn beast has etched himself like a brand across every nerve of my fucking body.
There is no part of me he hasn’t reached… under my flesh, between my legs… and I hate to fucking admit it, but in my heart. I hate it, and by the smug smirk on this bastard’s face, he knows it !
“Aye, but dinna go far. We leave soon,” he reminds me, and I glare. I wasn’t fucking asking. But I nod and stomp out, with him chuckling behind me.
I walk over to the river, wishing I could go to the mother tree, but the trees move, so I know it will take me ages to find it again. Still, I’m grateful that the cave and lake seem to move in tandem with each other, so finding it is easy.
Tired, I grit my teeth, inhaling deeply to get some air in my lungs, but nope! All I smell is him!
“Fuck!” I press both hands against my chest, trying to ground myself, trying to shake the image of him taking me all night, then holding me tight and kissing me to sleep. It was peaceful, vulnerable, and beautiful in a way that hurt.
He wasn’t supposed to feel like safety. He’s supposed to be the monster. My captor… yet he cleaned my wounds, kisses me tenderly, and whispers my name like it’s sacred. He hadn’t just claimed me… he had seen me, and I him…
And If I’m brutally honest, it scares the fucking life out of me.
I’ve seen what it’s like for Omegas who trust Alphas.
I know too many of them who were hopeful that they’d found their mates, only to be told later of their demise and attending the funeral that the government had to pay for.
Sadly and pitiably, the only things remaining of them are their memories and an ugly ass, crooked white cross that barely spells their names correctly.
They don’t even bother to write the date of birth or death…
I fucking know better! That is why I chose to participate in the Hunt, to take my freedom into my own hands and win the prize! I never wanted to be claimed. But Source help me, my body wants him. Not the heat. Not the mark. Me . And that truth sits in my chest like rot.
Because what does that get me? I’ll just wind up as just another Omega swayed by dominance and strength.
Just another girl who was broken down and reshaped into a possession.
And if I’m lucky, I’ll be tossed away with no baby…
a bastard hated by society as they claim their mother a whore who sold pussy and pheromones and got knocked up. That’s if I’m lucky… if not… a coffin?
But Murdoch… he seems different… no he feels different… IS different.
I feel so scared… I’m falling. That cave was no longer a cave.
That makeshift cot was no longer just a cot.
It was ours, and last night in his arms…
for the first time in this life, even for a little bit, I let go and it felt good.
Being with him… no heat to cloud my judgment…
I shudder thinking about it. I felt the first tinges of happiness in my life. Happiness… lo ve
No.
No!
Alarm bells as loud as the horn rings in my head. To love an Alpha means nothing but death.
The thought of having something and trusting someone sends a fear even worse than an Alpha attacking me rippling through my bones. Love… I gasp for air, breathing hard, cheeks flushed, chest warm with something I hadn’t let myself ever feel.
Wrong. This feeling is wrong! These thoughts of happiness are wrong!
I spin on my heel, listening for Murdoch, and quickly use my powers to make a leaf and rope dress and some shoes as quickly as possible. Thankfully, it’s easily doable with all the rest and my wounds healing from the leaves of the mother tree.
Quickly, I throw everything on and I move with the original plan. Win this hunt alone! I just need to get closer to the checkpoint… it’s already day six… Get to the finish line, win and disappear. If I’m lucky, I’ll go to the human realm and shed this Omega stigma.
I glance back at the cave, heart aching, telling me to go back, but all I know is what logic tells me. Omegas can never trust an Alpha…
And I run… it’s the only thing I can do because I know I cannot kill him… and not because of his power, but because I literally do not have the drive anymore.
I clutch my aching heart, wheezing and sweating, the further I get from him… missing him more with every step. My body pulses with every centimeter I stray away.
GO BACK!
I shake the thought from my head and run… I run… I pause… looking back, puffing because I can’t run! As I bite my lip, fear, realization, and dread coursing through me. I can’t leave hi ? —
The crack of a branch behind me sends adrenaline slicing through my spine.
Murdoch… did he catch up with me already?
The happiness that spreads through me is confirmation enough that I can’t leave him.
I spin on my heels with an excuse on my lips, but the trees whisper distressing words to me, causing my stance to change.
My fists clench, magic humming at my fingertips.
Nothing …
But I’m not stupid… I don’t let my guard down and use my power to cut down a branch. Before it hits the ground, I carve the edges into a spear and grasp it, crouching.
“Come out you, fucking cowards,” I grit out.
A growl answers back. It’s low and repulses me. Not my Murdoch.
“Didn’t think he’d let you wander this far,” a voice drawls from the shadows.
“But lucky us… now we can get a taste of the sweet pussy we’ve smelled for days.
” A man steps from behind a tree. Tall. Pale, with scars across his chest. Definitely an Alpha, but this one is a ghoul.
Still… I can handle him… Or so I thought, when six other Alphas flank me, circling like dogs. I curl my lip, disgusted, and snort.
“Oh, you couldn’t handle lil ol’ me by yourself, so you big strong Alphas had to gang up on me? A helpless Omega?” I raise a brow and the ringleader snorts.
“Helpless? I don’t think anyone in the forest doesn’t know what you did to those poor Alphas…
so we decided to move differently… because we’re smart.
But believe me when I tell you, we can more than handle you, the same way the other Alphas and I handled the other nine Omegas,” it smirks. Those mother fuckers !
I gasp and spit on the spear, furious not only at them but myself… I could have helped them.. . I arch my hand back, throwing it and using the wind to shoot it straight through the heart of the Alpha next to him panting with ire.
The yelp is loud and satisfying, but so is hearing its body drop to the ground with a thud.
Deep down I knew… I knew I was the last one standing.
My heart aches for them… we didn’t deserve this …
fuck… rest in power. I might not have known you all, but I’ll avenge as many of you as I can…
not out of obligation, but out of need for vengeance
“Smart?” I shake my head, holding in a wince when my stomach starts to burn with heat…
No… Source, not right now! I can’t afford to go in heat now…
“No, I don’t think you’re smart at all, because if you were smart you’d know not to fuck with a woman who’s on a mission,” I grunt as I call a vine up and hook it though my spear, sending it back to me.
“You bitch!” it chokes out on his last breath.
“I know you are, but what am I?!” I stick my tongue out at him.
“She’s mouthy. I can’t wait to fuck her… she screamed so prettily in that cave…” it laughs and I blast a huge clump of dirt his way, sending it slamming into a severed tree branch I’d just cut off, groaning, blood spewing from its mouth and chest .
“Anyone else?!” I smirk, and one of them chuckles. Meanwhile, the others flinch.
“You think power makes you untouchable?” the lead Alpha hisses, stepping closer.
“But you’re just an Omega that’s been used and marked…
easy prey… no Alpha even has to claim you.
We can just take you to the finish line, fuck you, and kill you…
that’s the Hunt. Those are the rules… that’s the fun. ”
“Well, I want to see you try,” I growl and it laughs and lunges at me, face turning large and clumpy, screeching
“GET THAT BITCH!” it shouts and they all charge at me at once.
I scream, ready to fight, but before it can even reach me, its body goes flying with the swipe of a large paw. Murdoch!
“You found me!”
“I’ll feckin’ deal wit’ yu later!” he growls, catching one of the Alphas in his mouth, crushing its bones, and flinging it to the side.
I know it’s strange… but I’m not even upset. I’m… happy, no… I feel on top of the world! He came after me!