Chapter 48
Chapter Forty-Eight
Blaise
‘How’s that sweet ass feeling, baby?’
She glances over her shoulder, trying to spot me, but I am a ghost in these trees. She will not find me unless I want her to.
I grin to myself, watching from the shadows as she squares her shoulders.
There it is. A tiny wince.
Oh, she’s tender all right. Perfect. I want her feeling me for hours.
This bond-telepathy thing? It’s freaking brilliant. My voice channeled directly to my girl. It snapped right into place the second we coupled.
Shade and Viper used to go on about how it felt like Halley had taken a place in their soul. I didn’t get it. Not until now.
I can feel her in my bones. In my blood.
Every jagged little corner of me that I thought no one would ever want to see, let alone touch.
The grounding sense of reality I’d felt since her return has fully settled in my chest. My feet are planted.
My head’s clear. And for the first time, I feel not just seen… but accepted.
Halley doesn’t flinch from the sharp bits. She loves all of me. Blaze and Blaise. Dark and light. Sweet and savage.
The spooky part is I know it’s the truth because I can feel her love sliding through me, warm and unshakable. Any doubt the dark tries to whisper about her is swiftly suffocated by inescapable reality.
Halley pouts, shifts her weight, and turns her back to me in silent defiance.
‘Ah, turning the other cheek, Sparkles? Don’t be an ass about it.’
Her little shoulders raise in suppressed annoyance.
‘Stop talking about my ass, Blaise. I need to concentrate.'
I chuckle under my breath. ‘No need to be butthurt.’
This is too much fun.
No way the others haven’t used this freaky mind-link to mess with her. There’s nothing better than watching her cheeks turn that pretty pink, knowing it’s me putting the heat there while everyone else is oblivious. If they had the slightest idea what she’d been doing just hours ago…
My filthy, gorgeous girl.
The Beta survivors are still staring at her in shock, asking the same stunned questions in different ways, again and again.
"You're an Omega?"
"What are you doing here?"
"Why do you care where we go?"
“Why should we listen to you?”
She’s been trying to convince these people to pack their meager possessions and head to the processing camp for nearly an hour, with little success.
I couldn’t care less if they came back with us. If the dumb want to die, then let ‘em. I only care about the welfare of my Omega. I’m here to make sure she’s safe while she saves everyone else. If she can’t convince them soon, I’ll need to extract her.
If we don’t reach the Pass before dark, I’ll have to pay the consequences from the Pack. Threats don’t usually motivate me, but when it comes to Halley’s safety, I take it seriously.
Besides, I’ll already be in trouble for fucking her ass. No need to make it worse.
The grin on my face, which has been constant since my knot deflated, widens as I recall the moment.
The others can punish me, but it won’t change the fact that I was there first. Her ass is mine. Forever.
Fuck. She’s perfect.
Halley has a bond with all of us now, a tether that proves we’re meant to be together.
When we discussed our Pack mating Halley, I’d still been unsure whether I was ready.
Now, I’m struck with an urgency to make this thing official.
I can’t wait for her heat to hit. It’s going to be soon.
Her scent has been getting thicker and sweeter as each day passes.
Halley tucks her typical rogue strand of hair behind her ear for the fourth time. She’s frustrated, but too determined to give up.
Time is running out, but Halley’s not a quitter and she won’t be happy until they’re safe.
I suggested she use her Omega Command and the wave of suffocating anxiety which surged from her made my stomach turn.
She wants to do this her way, without force.
"I know it's confusing, but like I said, there are places you can go where you'll be safe," she says, doing a good job of keeping the exasperation from her tone.
"I'll never trust Alphas. They're corrupt monsters, every last one of 'em."
I roll my eyes.
‘So dramatic! I’m not corrupt… maybe a monster. Okay, they might have a point.’
Halley sighs. “I can only imagine the loss and pain you’ve gone through, but if you don't move, you'll lose so much more. The human army is closing in and they won't show you mercy.”
“Mercy?” a female voice shouts from within the group. “The Alphas didn’t show us mercy when we starved last winter!”
“Where were the Alphas when our power went out for two months last spring?” another chimes in.
Halley, empathetic yet resolute, nods in agreement. “I understand the government failed you, they’ve failed all of us, but don’t let them cost you your lives too.”
A young woman in her early twenties steps forward. There is a large gash over her left eye accompanied by a deep purple bruise. Blood, sweat, and dirt coat her, a thick, cloying layer that smells of iron and defeat. She looks like she’s endured a battle and barely escaped with her life.
I don’t care who she is or what she’s gone through. I see only the pistol holstered on her belt. A threat.
In a seamless movement, I flip the rifle from my back to my hands and sneer in annoyance. I missed a potential threat. The little pest kept the gun hidden under her torn, soiled coat. It’s no excuse, I shouldn’t have missed it. Too busy fucking around with ass jokes.
Get it together, shithead.
Blaze takes back control and Blaise lets him. It’s the assassin that Halley needs right now.
I train my rifle scope on the approaching Beta. This ‘survivor’ will be a mist of red in less than a heartbeat if they make a single hostile movement towards my Omega.
“Ma’am, I think you’ll find trust is in short supply in these parts,” she says stiffly to Halley, crossing her arms.
I don’t take my finger off the trigger.
“I get it, I really do, but I’m not taking you to the Fathim military or government. They’re fellow Demi-humans. They’re soldiers who saw how wrong Fathim treated its people and risked their lives to do something about it.”
“So they’re disloyal.”
“They’re loyal to Demi-humans, not a corrupt regime.”
“Demi-humans?” she scoffs, pointing at Halley. “Alphas and Omegas, you mean.”
“I mean everyone. Alpha, Beta, or Omega. They’ll protect any Demi-human who needs sanctuary.”
The crowd titters with a disbelieving tone which is quickly shifting into suspicion.
Halley’s lavender scent twists, sour with anxiety, and the Betas pick up on it instantly. Their shoulders tighten. Stances shift. The air gets that brittle, about-to-snap quality I know too well.
'Easy, Sparkles. Keep 'em calm.'
She gives the smallest nod, and then, overcompensating, she shoves her thoughts toward something sweet. Her scent blooms, syrupy lavender meant to soothe.
"Fuck off!” the woman barks, stumbling backward. Her eyes are wide, hands thrown over her nose. “Don't try that Omega scent bullshit on us!"
My trigger finger stays still, but she is only breathing because I am no rookie. There is no scent of aggression, only fear. That buys her a little mercy. Still, Halley’s safety comes first. One more threat like that and I will not lose sleep over putting a bullet between her eyes.
Despite the wild stories I tell around the fireside, the truth is most infiltration missions are mind-numbingly dull. It is all waiting, breathing, and knowing exactly when to move. You get one shot, and it has to land at the perfect moment. Not before. Not after.
I am very good at knowing when it is someone’s time to die.
“Frack, I’m sorry,” Halley rushes to apologize. “I can't help it, it wasn’t on purpose. I only wanted you to calm down and listen to me.”
"I’ve heard about Omega pheromones, it’ll mess with our heads. Make us weak to your words." Her voice is harsh, and her tone bitter. "I don't want it used on me, ya hear?"
"I understand, I'll try to keep it under control. Can you just… consider coming with me to safety?”
The woman steps closer, leering down at Halley. My brave girl doesn’t flinch or take a step back, her tiny five-foot-nothing stature holds steady.
So do my hands as I hold my target between my crosshairs.
“How would you know it’s safe, Omega? I bet you’re a little pampered princess whose never faced hardship in her life. What happened? Did the scary Humans snatch away your castle?” she sneers.
That gets a fire to ignite in my sweet Omega. Her jaw tightens as she grits her teeth.
“That’s not—”
“So you’ve had to butter your own toast once or twice. Is that what you think suffering is?”
The crowd chuckles.
“You don’t know a thing about me,” Halley snaps.
The woman scoffs and rolls her eyes, talking over Halley. “Getting fucked by an Alpha’s knot sounds cruel, but I wouldn’t exactly call living in The Capital suffering.”
The woman’s words draw a few uneasy laughs from the edges of the crowd, but most of the Betas only shift where they stand, their expressions tightening.
Halley’s lavender scent sharpens again, this time with a bitter edge, and her jaw works as if she is chewing back something she would rather spit in the woman’s face.
Her eyes sweep over the gathering, meeting stares head-on until the murmurs fade. When she speaks again, her voice is steady, but I can hear the steel she has hammered into it.
“I’ve never been to The Capital. My father kept me locked up and hidden my whole childhood.
My life didn’t begin until I had my first heat and he deemed me finally valuable enough to sell to an Alpha.
Except, he didn’t know I was infertile and worthless.
So, instead, he sold me as a whore to service the Alphas of The Capital. ”
My fingers dig into the bark of the tree I’m hiding in, the crack of wood splintering, causing one of the older Beta survivors to scan my position with uncertainty. He can’t see me, but I force my hand to release the tree and remain still just in case.
I knew she’d had a rough life. That she’d ended up at Barkrood Base for a reason. I just never knew the extent of her family’s betrayal. Rutting fuck.
Some of her rash decisions are reframed. There is an overtone of abandonment and betrayal that mirrors my own.
My father burned me alive. Her father sold her.
If shared trauma isn’t proof we’re fated to be, then what is?
I want to hold my mutilated soul in the palm of my hand and compare it to hers. I’d look down into her pretty purple eyes and tell her, “See, Sparkles? We’re the same!”
In hindsight, our glaring shared Daddy kinks should have been a clue.
Halley continues. “I thought I had no choice in my future, but sometimes fate throws you a lifeline.”
“And sometimes fate hangs you with that lifeline,” the woman mutters, watching with a suspicious but reluctantly interested expression.
“Yeah, sometimes it does.” She pins the Beta woman with a steely, resolute stare. “But this choice is simple. Come with me and live, or stay here and die.”
The camp is silent, broken only by the sound of crickets chirping in the long grass.
The young woman scans Halley’s face for a long, tense moment. She takes in the defiant little Omega before her and finally exhales.
“Fine,” she simply says, and turns to gather her things. “Ain’t no bigger fuck you to The Capital than the Beta scum they left to die surviving.”
The others mutter among themselves, and it becomes obvious that the young woman is in charge here. Her agreement is enough, and just like that, the band of survivors is moving.
Halley blinks rapidly at the quick change of heart, but I spot the small smile of success that graces her flushed face.
Her voice echoes through our connection.
‘I did it, Blaise. I convinced them and I didn’t use my Omega Command. I didn’t have to strip away their free will.’
She wants Blaise, and surprisingly, Blaze steps to the side.
‘You certainly kicked ass,’ I tell her, pride curling in my chest.
‘Stop talking about ass, Blaise,’ she shoots back, her tone exasperated but warm.
‘You bet your ass, Sparkles.’
‘I’ve created a monster,’ she mutters, half to herself.
‘Yeah, but I’m your monster.’