Chapter 63
Chapter Sixty-Three
Halley
Viper and I are alone.
Our eyes lock for a moment before we both avert our gazes. We feed off each other’s anxiety, like two static charged individuals.
There are unspoken words between us. After all, we’ve never discussed what happened in the ICU. Does he remember our time together? Does he think about how close we came to bonding?
’Cause I remember it like it’s a brand on my skin.
“Viper,” I tentatively call his name. I hesitate and take a few moments to gather my courage. My inner Omega wants me to throw myself at the Alpha. “I… Are you okay with this?”
“Me?” He looks startled to have been singled out despite being the only one left.
“Yeah.”
“I’m on board,” he says, ducking his head.
I decide not to pressure him. He’s obviously not ready to discuss it.
“So,” I scuff my boots on the loose stones, unsure what else to say. It’s strange that I can talk so freely with Shade and Blaze, but with Viper I feel like a blushing teenager talking to her crush.
“Do you want to help set up our bedding?”
The question catches me by surprise and I’m momentarily confused. I hadn’t thought too much about sleeping arrangements, but we won’t have our own bunks tonight.
“Sure, I’ll help. What do you need?”
“Grab a bunch of branches and we’ll lay them down on the ground.”
We work side by side and, after a few minutes, I have a small collection of leafy branches and he has an enormous pile.
“Now what?” I ask, a hand on my hip looking eagerly for instruction.
He glances at me and then quickly looks away. “We lay them out to make a soft place to lay down.”
The dark comes swiftly as we work, spreading the branches evenly underneath the canvas strung above. Even with the large amount of branches Viper collected, it makes sense to layer for comfort more than space. It’s a small slab and I’m confused about how all of us are going to fit on it.
I find myself moving close to Viper, shadowing his movements and brushing against him. I can’t help but want to be close to him and interact.
According to my primal hindbrain, Viper is mine.
We finally step back, straightening to peruse our work.
“I’ve never spent a night like this,” I confess to Viper, wanting to share a part of me to feel close to him.
“Slept in the same bed as an Alpha?”
“Definitely haven’t done that, but also, I’ve never slept under the stars.”
“Never?” Viper asks, turning towards me.
I shrug and fuss over the branches to cover a sparse patch.
“My father wasn’t big on letting me leave the homestead after dark, for safety reasons, you know?
And I hadn’t stepped foot out of Barkrood Base for over a decade until I came to the training camp.
It’s something I’ve always thought would be romantic.
Like the books I read about camping and how Omegas are kept warm and safe by their Alphas. ”
I’m rambling, trying to draw him out of his shell.
Viper doesn’t respond.
I bite my lip and peek at him through my lashes. He’s looking down at me with an unreadable expression.
“I might get cold.”
“We brought your blanket,” he says gruffly.
“Yeah,” I agree readily, nodding with enthusiasm.
He licks his lips, and shyly looks at his boots as he says, “If you get cold, I can keep you warm.”
“Thanks,” I beam, happy he’s not shutting me out and I got a positive reaction from him. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
He nods and returns his attention to the makeshift bed, straightening a few stray branches before laying a canvas over the top. It’s not ideal, but it beats sleeping on the damp, rocky ground. With the canvas strung between two trees above the bed, we’ll be dry even if it rains.
Behind us, the campfire crackles and the flames cast the squad in dancing shadows as they chat and casually rib each other. Knox is boiling a pot filled with water.
Shade and Blaze are working in tandem stirring two pots bubbling on the ruby-red coals. The scent of stewing meat and vegetables fills the air, and my stomach rumbles.
Viper huffs in amusement, tossing his chin towards the fire. “Come on, let’s get you fed.”
“Okay, Alpha,” I agree and skip back towards the fire, glancing over my shoulder to see Viper’s reaction.
His eyes widen at the title, and he watches me for a moment. The way I said his designation was very different to how I say his military rank. It’s heavy with meaning.
He makes a soft rumbling sound of pleasure, and I smile to myself. Noted. He likes it when I call him Alpha.
With a determined look on his face, he follows after me.
We sit in a circle around the fire, and the two pots get passed around with a single spoon. We take turns eating, and it feels intimate in a way I’ve never experienced before.
Blaze’s penchant for feeding me is back in full force as he insists I take extra bites of the stewed vegetables, pressing the spoon to my lips until I refuse to open them and shake my head.
Being cared for and feeling like part of the team is an incredible feeling.
Before, it was me against them. Tonight, I’m one of them.There is a camaraderie and unity that exists here, and it’s infectious. After everyone has eaten their fill, Shade passes out small bags of nuts and berries for dessert.
The conversation flows as naturally as the waterfall rushing behind us.
Blaze regales us with stories of escapades from his earlier years. “Did I ever tell you how I took out an enemy with only my raw sexual energy?”
“No way,” Knox scoffs, shaking his head in denial.
“Way!” Blaze argues, a smirk firmly planted on his face.
“I don’t believe you,” I say, joining the fray.
“Oh, Sparkles. This is an indisputable truth.”
“Prove it!” Shade calls out.
“I can’t prove a story,” Blaze protests, waving the spoon in a random pattern.
He’s taken control of it like it’s some kind of scepter.
“But I can tell you it’s true. My team was sent to extract one of our operatives that had defected.
It was a routine operation and nothing special about the target, except the fact she had stolen a lot of sensitive information that needed to be recovered. Like launch codes and shit.”
“Sounds important,” I say, pretending to be unimpressed. “Why’d they send you?”
The others laugh at each other over their travel mugs.
I never expected to learn that the Prime Alpha had a chocolate addiction and always carried a packet of hot chocolate in his utility pack for ‘emergencies.’ The bucket Knox boiled was to purify the water from the waterfall.
He added a chocolate powder to the hot warmth with a satisfied gleam in his eyes.
Even weirder, because I didn’t have a travel mug of my own, he shared his with me.
“You’re just jealous ’cause you were not there to witness my epic-ness,” Blaze replies with a smirk.
“How come we’ve never heard this story before, Blaze?” Viper asks, the corners of his lips twitching.
“Well, ’cause you fuckers never asked. Sweet Sparkles here is the first person who actually wants to know me on a deeper level,” he says, fluttering his eyelashes and winking at me lewdly. “Also, it’s been sealed as a classified file up until last month.”
My eyes widen. I always forget just how highly skilled these guys are and the shady careers they’ve led up until now. The secrets they must all hold are fathomless.
“Get on with it,” Knox jeers, passing me his mug again. His fingers brush mine and tingles shoot up my arm. He watches as my lips suck on the spot his were moments ago.
“So, I was the first sent to the location. She was expecting to meet her human contact, so when she saw me she was understandably alarmed. But then the little minx gets a devious look in her eyes. She thinks if she seduces me, I’ll go easy on her.
So, the spy tries to flirt her way into my good books.
She starts by touching me, rubbing my arms and purring, pretending to be an Omega.
She’s hot and all, but definitely not my type,” he shoots me a wink.
“What is your type, Blaze?” I ask.
He locks eyes with me and drops his smirk, a predatory glint in his eyes. “I prefer my women to be the quietly strong ones who keep me guessing. I like to break them out of their shells, push them to the edge, and get them to beg.”
“Blaze. The story,” Viper grunts, snapping his fingers to break his comrade from his digression.
In a blink, the smirk is back and storyteller Blaze is sitting in front of me again.
“Anywho, she starts pawing at me and I’m not having it, but I play along and pretend to be seduced. She leans in for a kiss, and right before she plants a wet one on me, I catch a glint of something in her mouth. The crazy bitch has a fucking needle between her teeth!”
Shade chokes on his drink, and the rest of us stare with wide eyes.
“That’s insane,” Knox says, leaning forward, fully engrossed.
“I sidestep and dodge the kiss, and she stumbles forward, trips over her own feet, and then drops dead to the floor. Her teeth caught on the needle, and it was so sharp she stabbed herself. I didn’t even have to do anything. So, the moral of the story is that I’m lethally sexy.”
“I don’t think that’s the moral of the story,” Knox scoffs.
“I think the moral of the story is that Blaze has more luck than sense,” Viper adds, taking a drink from his mug.
“No,” Blaze waves the spoon around. “The moral is that I’m hot, and I can seduce an enemy into killing themselves. You can’t say the same thing, can you, Viper?”
“So you’re saying she killed herself rather than kiss you.”
“Fuck, no,” Blaze protests, pointing the spoon in Viper’s direction. “I’m saying, the enemy agent wanted to seduce me, and I made her want it so much, she killed herself over it.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Knox argues.
“Yes, it does,” Blaze shouts.
“No, it doesn’t.”
“It does too!”
The two bickers back and forth as we tidy up after our meal. A warm, content feeling washes over me. Is this what it’s like to be part of a Pack?
“Enough!” Shade orders, putting an end to the squabbling like the team dad he is. “Let’s put the fire out and get some rest. We have a long day tomorrow and a lot to accomplish.”
Knox extinguishes the fire with water, and Blaze slinks off into the darkness.
“Guard duty,” Shade says when I look at him, confused. I guess it makes sense. They don’t have any of the extensive surveillance gear, and we did just get attacked while in a vulnerable situation. My inner Omega is reassured by the idea of one of our pack standing guard at all times.
I’m bone tired. So fucking tired that my legs begin to shake. I toe off my boots and crawl into our bed.
It’s dark, the only source of light coming from the stars and moon shining down on us.
As promised, Viper lays down next to me, his large body putting off waves of warming heat. We lay next to each other, shoulder to shoulder.
“Thanks, Alpha,” I whisper, not wanting to disturb the tranquility.
“Goodnight, pretty girl,” Viper whispers back, the sound of his voice laced with fatigue.
My heart sings, and I slip my hand into his, lacing our fingers together. The gentle giant watches over me as I drift into blissful unconsciousness.
Tomorrow is the dawn of a new reality, and I’m excited to see what it brings.