Episode 7 The Omega Gauntlet #2
I swear, if they had feathers, they’d be preening.
Thayer doesn’t rise to it, but his jaw flexes in a flicker of irritation. Maybe at them for screwing with the plan… maybe at me for being rooted to the platform, staring up at the stupid maroon puff like it’s personally offended me.
Either way, it doesn’t matter.
They left the second highest for me.
And I’m going to take it.
I could be petty. I could grab Petal’s low-hanging key and let her deal with the mess they made. But no. I want to win. I want to prove to them—to myself—that I’m not the weak link they think I am.
Even if my knee throbs just imagining the climb.
“Ren,” Thayer murmurs, stepping close enough that his warmth brushes my back. “Ready?”
No.
Absolutely not.
Every part of my body is screaming no.
“Yes,” I say anyway.
His hands settle on my hips—big, steady, confident—and then I’m suddenly airborne as he lifts me halfway to the key.
My breath stutters. I scramble for purchase, hooking fingers and the toes of my shoes into the netting.
Thayer keeps his hands on me as long as physically possible, guiding, bracing, making sure I’m solid before he finally has to let go.
As soon as his warm hands leave my body, I risk a glance down, seeing him right under me, arms poised, eyes tracking every movement, ready to catch me if I falter, if I fall. My chest loosens, my muscles relax… which is just bizarre given the circumstances.
But his steady presence makes it easier to continue the climb, my gaze focused on the maroon puff.
Five feet.
Four.
Three.
Two.
I unhook the key and immediately start my descent, staring straight ahead and not down, not wanting to see how high up I am.
Below me Thayer is calling out encouragement that under different circumstances might make my panties damp.
“Good girl. You’re doing so well. That’s it.
Just like that. Look at you,” taking my cock so well, my stupid brain inserts that last part in his growly voice with no prodding from me.
And who am I kidding? My panties are done for.
I think that’s going to be the case for all my underwear by the end of the show, if I’m honest.
I scowl down at him. “Stop that,” I hiss.
His response is of course to just give me that same look he did on the docks that first day. But I can tell he knows what he’s doing. “Come on, omega, you’re almost there. You can finish this.”
My scowl only deepens. His smirk in response is… everything, and I’m so flustered that I miss the next rung and then I’m fucking falling all because a stupid alpha smirked at me? My stomach lurches, and fear grips me tight. A squeak of sound pushes past my too tight throat.
I brace for impact, for pain and embarrassment. But I only fall for a half second before I’m cradled in a set of strong arms blinking up at Thayer as he grins down at me. Grins. Like he’s enjoying this.
“Asshole!” I shove at his chest and he lets me go, making sure I land on my feet.
His smile only grows. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, omega, I was just offering encouragement.”
“You know exactly what you were doing.” I snatch up my key and stalk toward the zigzag beams, so flustered and frustrated that I traverse them with nary a wobble and in seconds I’m stepping onto the beach, and Petal is taking my place on the obstacle, smiling big, arms outstretched.
She’s short and nimble, a lower center of gravity from the rest of us, and she’s over the water and on the platform almost as quickly as I made my return trip.
“Nice move,” Joanie says, bumping her shoulder into mine in what I think is supposed to look like a friendly nudge, but actually hurts. “Getting him to catch you like that.”
I eye her. “It wasn’t a move.”
She ignores me and Odette scoffs. “Not that it’s going to help, though. We all know the royal pack isn’t going to end up with American trash like you.”
God, why is this their default? Insulting others? Trying to tear everyone around them down. If the Ashbourne Pack is picking their omega based on how catty they can be… well, I’m on the wrong show.
Out on the platform, Thayer has plucked Petal off the ground and placed her right next to her key. She laughs as she untangles the puff, and then again when the alpha just keeps her in his arms as he crosses back over the zig zag beams.
Oh, the cameras are going to eat that up, especially the way they beam at each other when they’re back at the sandy beach. A stupid niggling of jealousy creeps up my spine, seeing the careful way he sets her on her feet right next to the treasure chest.
“Keys?” he asks the rest of us, already dropping to his knees and inserting his and Petal’s into the locks. The rest of us hurry to his side and hand ours over. In seconds he has the chest open and the first canvas bag in his hands.
I’m aware of Forsythe dropping to his knees next to his chest as we take off across the sand, in first place. My competitive side just barely manages to suppress the need to crow about it.
Thayer keeps pace with me, shortening his strides and going much slower than he needs to. I can feel him looking at me out of the corner of his eye. “What?” I snap.
“I’d never have let you fall, you know that, right?”
I scowl at him. “Of course I know that.” The biological instincts ingrained on the core of every alpha is to take care of omegas, keep them safe and away from harm. Or at least, that’s the lie peddled in Omega Academies across the world.
Alphas keep us safe.
Unfortunately, it’s something I believed. Until one alpha proved me so incredibly wrong.
Stupid. I knew Frederick Bell was a bad alpha. I’ve known that for as long as I’ve known Haven. For as long as I realized just how buried under his alpha commands she was, and yet, until I experienced it for myself, I didn’t really know.
Thayer draws me up with a hand on my elbow, halting me mid stride, until I turn to face him. “I mean it, Florence. I would never let anything happen to you. It wasn’t my intention to make you fall.”
He seems genuine. Really genuine. His blue eyes scouring my face, reading my expression. “I know,” I say again, softer, gentler. “It’s not your fault I’m extremely uncoordinated.”
He hums at the blatant lie. Because that is a lie. A way to save face so maybe the whole world won’t know that I lost my grip on that net because of a few words of praise from this alpha.
“Now, come on,” I say, tapping the back of my hand to his stomach…. His very ripped and hard stomach. “We have a challenge to win.”
Before I can pull away fully, his fingers press into my palm, holding my knuckles against him for a moment. A moment too long.
“Are you coming?” Odette shrieks at us, impatience clear in every word. And maybe a tinge of jealousy?
Though that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
Thayer’s jaw does that ticking thing again, like he’s physically biting back words he wants to say. I take off toward the second challenge before he can decide if he’ll speak them or not, heading toward the other omegas who are waiting impatiently.
“Only one of us needs to do this one,” Petal explains. “One of the omegas.”
I eye the crisscross of ropes, the chest on the far side, while the only nice member of my team explains how the chest must be retrieved by an omega (or omegas).
Basically, the alpha of the team gets to stand by and try to guide the omega through the ropes without the omega touching them.
For every rope touched a ten second penalty will be added to our teams final time.
I count the number of ropes between us and the chest, trying to decide if it would be worth it to just barrel through them and take the penalties. But there are over thirty ropes, which would be an additional five minutes, so it’s not likely.
“What if we did something like a relay race? One of us goes all the way to the end, and then we stagger through the rest of the ropes. We can pass the chest to each other to avoid one person needing to carry it all the way through?”
Petal nods. “I like that idea.”
“Me too,” Thayer agrees, which stalls out the argument I could see blooming from the other omegas, likely hoping they could just stand still and look pretty for the cameras.
“I’ll go through the whole thing,” I offer to save time, because I can tell the other omegas won’t. I move forward intent on doing just that while calling over my shoulder, “you can figure out the rest of the order, right?”
I’m directing the comment to Thayer, since he is the alpha and should be in control of our group, he should be making at least some of the decisions. “I should go last,” Deirdre is quick to say. “I’m just so clumsy.”
Her voice dips into an omega whine so sugary it could rot teeth. The kind designed to make an alpha fold like a lawn chair.
Thayer doesn’t. He just blinks at her, expression mild, the edge of amusement tugging his mouth. “We’ll see.”
Petal hides a smile. Joanie does not hide her scowl.
But I don’t have time to deal with them because the ropes up close are worse than they looked from a distance.
It’s not just a crisscross; it’s a full web, knotted in ways that force you to twist sideways, duck under, reach over, and balance on narrow patches of bare earth.
Some ropes hang loose, others are taut as tripwires.
Touching even one means ten seconds added to our time.
Which means I cannot touch any of them.
Behind me, the omegas are still arguing.
“I should go third,” Joanie insists. “My arms are longer. It only makes sense.”
“And I should be second,” Odette says, flipping her ponytail like we’re on the runway. “Thayer will be able to guide me best.”
Deirdre whines again—longer, sweeter, more pitiful. “But I’m the tallest Thayer. If I go last, I won’t get in anyone’s way. Pleeeease?”
Thayer makes a quiet sound, something like a restrained sigh, and calls, “Ren, you good?”
“Yep!” I shout back, already threading myself between two ropes. “Just… give me a sec.”