Chapter 5 Dakota
Dakota
“Is this really happening?” Cyn asks again. I grit my teeth and resist the very reasonable urge to punch him in the dick.
Rory rolls his eyes, shoulders his pack, and starts walking, leaving us behind. Vale says something under his breath, stands up, and hits me with a look that tells me nothing has changed.
Nothing has changed.
We have a mission to accomplish. We’ve finally narrowed down the possible identity of serial killer Marrow who has been taunting us for ten years. He’s here in this group, and we’re going to end him.
Everything has fucking changed, I argue in my head.
I pick up my pack and follow Rory, still wondering at this omega who is hard and confident.
She’s turned into a diamond. We researched this family.
There was no mention of her. Sanderson Adventure Tours is owned by a male alpha.
Our investigations should have shown that she was his daughter. We got slack.
Stupid mistake.
But this is too good of an opportunity to miss. Over the years, I’ve thought about this mysterious omega and wondered what it’d be like. I’ve dreamed about her. Perhaps I can answer my questions, sate my curiosity.
Find out more about her…
My gaze finds her again. The high ponytail of straw blond hair bounces with health and life.
Her green eyes had flashed with irritation at seeing us.
She’s matured in the last ten years, going from innocent little lamb to this cold omega who looks like she would dropkick us off the nearest cliff if we let her. The vibe has me hard!
I will never admit it out loud, but she looks incredible now, an omega I would want to spend a couple of vicious hours in a sleeping bag with.
The kind of omega who will scratch up your back and wear my marks with sensual arrogance.
My mouth waters, and I find myself plunging headlong into a smoking hot fantasy.
“Oh, boy, I can’t believe we’re out here. Dakota, I have absolute faith in your ability to keep me entertained,” the nasal voice says beside me, tearing me out of my daydreams.
I have to resist the urge to roll my eyes, hard. Quincy Leahman is a puppy of a beta. He’s excitable and not too bright and got to the position from sucking up and riding the coattails of people better than him, and he knows it, too. But he’s not a bad beta, just a weak one.
He’s got wide grey eyes that are always red-rimmed and a bit of a gut.
He’s uniquely short, only as tall as my shoulder, and feels a constant need to chum it up with alphas to try to prove that his designation isn’t what’s holding him back, when it’s possibly the only thing helping him move forward.
There are three companies out here. Alphawise, which is ours. Betastrong, which Quincy and his friends run, and Allied Track, which is headed by Kevin, Nathan, and Rojer. Most of the people here are from Allied Track, and everyone thinks we are looking to merge.
We aren’t.
“It’s come as a surprise. I had no idea I had the job of entertainment,” I say flatly, wishing he would go away. Being out here with these guys for three weeks is going to kill me. Or them. Why am I entertaining him?
He chuckles and increases his stride to keep up with me. “It’s just totally something I would not do. I’m much too busy. This place is amazing, though.”
Quincy jabbers on, not even really listening to my remarks, while I glare holes in Rory’s back. He glances back and winks, the asshole.
Meg and Desi, who have been walking together, part, with Desi dropping back off the trail, while Meg jogs to the front. I watch her talk to Bonnie.
I hadn’t even remembered her name. I never bothered watching the news or following the fallout. To be honest, it served her right for ambushing us on the red carpet in front of the press. I was a bitter asshole back then. Right now, I’m wondering what I missed out on.
I like to think I might have cared more if she’d approached us somewhere else, but probably not. Truthfully, I had no interest in a scent match back then. I was young and full of violent tendencies that an omega in white and frills would never have been able to handle.
But she’s different, in a way, she’s like this wild park. Mysterious, dangerous, and strong.
This place is really beautiful, but we chose it for its remoteness. No service and having to unplug from the corporate world was the second most important reason. No phones.
No way for anyone to escape, certainly not our target. When we go home, someone will be leaving in a body bag. We’ve worked it all out, narrowed it down, and we know our target, or at least the three suspects left. After all these years, it will finally be over.
“Fuck off, Quincy, I need to talk to my boy,” Cyn says and falls into place beside me.
My alpha grumbles and adjusts his bag. Quincy lets out a meep and takes off.
I’m not sure why it’s Cyn that scares the crap out of the beta, but it is.
My sunshine boy with his glorious movie star looks and smile that practically melts panties off omegas is troubled, and he gets really hard when he knows people are afraid.
He’s like a bloodhound, snorting up those pheromones.
“She’s here!”
“She?” I say mockingly.
“The omega!”
“What omega?”
“DAYKOHTAH!”
I smirk to myself as he stretches the syllables of my name into a hundred pieces.
“What, Cynsel?”
His scowl darkens. “Say that again, and I will trot back to the cars and call an ambulance for your broken leg.”
I shove him; he launches at me; we tumble off the path and into a tree. Things are just starting to get interesting, when I hear a twig snap.
“Knock it off!”
The whip-crack command cuts through my amusement, and I find myself looking up into furious green eyes.
When she’s mad, her cheeks get red, and her eyes glitter. Good to know.
“Sorry, Bonnie,” I say, relishing that I get to say her name. I look for a reaction, but there is none.
Her lip curls. “We’ve been walking for ten minutes, and you two are already causing trouble. If you want to go back to the cars and go home, by all means, go. But, from here on out, this is serious. Show everyone else who wants to be here at least that much respect.”
I press my lips together to stop the teasing retort from slipping out. Vale shakes his head in warning, and I swallow it just to make sure it doesn’t.
“I was just teaching him how to fall,” I say innocently.
Her expression transforms to bored. “I think the world knows how you fall already, Alphas. No one needs a demo.”
My interest flashes, and I get to my feet, towering over her. She does not back down at all. Why can’t I smell her? It’s so frustrating. Her hair glints in the sun, turning to gold.
“Have you been following where I put my dick, Miss Omega?” I purr and reach out to brush a stray lock of hair from her face. She catches my hand and throws it away before I can get close.
“Your attempts to keep the Centers for Disease Control in work made headlines in papers, online, and on television. Though, to be fair, it took coming out here just to stop hearing the bets on whether you were going to knock someone up first or end up with a mutant virus that makes your dicks drop off.”
I scoff. “Are you calling me easy?”
She smiles sweetly. “I wouldn’t dream of it.” Her smile drops. “The media, on the other hand, has made it clear that you get more ass than a toilet seat.”
“You make us sound dirty,” Cyn grumbles unhappily.
“Oh, do I?”
We wait for her apology. She’s silent for a long moment and then shrugs her shoulders.
“Well, let’s get going, then.”
I gape at her as she turns and marches away, her ponytail swinging in a maddening arc. I want to chase her. That was so incredibly hot.
“This is not going to go well,” Cyn says from beside me, but I can see how excited he is. He wants to pounce her, too.
Vale approaches and stands beside us. “At least she’s going to make it easy to avoid her.”
I make a shrill sound in the back of my throat as I fight back laughter.
Vale’s eyes drop to the front of my pants; he scoffs. “Really?”
“It was hot.”
“You are sick, Kota,” Cyn hisses.
I bite my lip and hurry after this strangely interesting omega.
Every omega I’ve ever met has always been simpering saccharine to us, but to have her snark, her disdain, her obvious disinterest, it’s like waving a little toy mouse on a string in front of a cat.
I can’t help it. And the fact that those ridiculous shirts hide the curves of her body just makes me want to peel it off so I can get a better look.
Her ass is a masterpiece that I’d take up poetry just so I could write a sonnet over it.
Do you think she would let me do an inspection?
I need to chase it, this feeling, her.
My mouth waters imagining her taste. What is her scent? It’s a barely there memory that I can never quite catch. How could I have forgotten it?
“No, no, no. Don’t do that, Kota. Do not obsess over this…” Cyn whispers the word, “omega.”
“I’m not.”
Cyn raises a brow and trips over a branch. I laugh, and she looks back, drawn by the sound of my voice. Oh, god, her eyes, those plump lips. Everything about her is a siren call.
Rory appears out of nowhere and yanks Cyn up. “Get it together.”
Cyn mutters something, but I’m too busy trying to catch up with the snarky omega.
“She’s hot,” a voice in front says with a tone that makes me want to crush him dead.
I slow my steps, my eyes drilling into the back of Rojer Wayne’s skull. I don’t like him even thinking about her. He’s a tall, handsome alpha with black hair, a head for business, and a nasty little habit that he thinks no one knows about. But I know.
Beside him, in a white polo top and shorts that are too tight and too small, is Kevin Young. He’s in his thirties, with a receding hairline and a pathological need to be liked by Rojer. The only thing that surpasses that desire is his temper.
The third of their sick triangle is Nathan Haze, who is a striking brunette with dark brown eyes, and I’m sure is a sociopath. He has no mercy or remorse for clients and workers alike. Everything comes back to increasing the dollar.
She doesn’t notice them watching her.
But I do.
When Rojer glances back, I smile happily and shoot past them, catching up to Rory. Who moves as easily on the trail as he does in the city.
“Roar?”
He glances sideways, those unnatural green eyes hitting me with all his annoyance. “I hope you’re all happy. There is, like, sun and shit.” He’s bitching, but his eyes are on our omega, assessing, planning.
I smile at his pure unhappiness. Rory loves the modern conveniences, showers, bug spray, technology, his very discreet staff, and his bikes.
“All this air causing an allergic reaction? Are you dying?”
“Yes!” he snaps. “I freaking am. This was stupid. I should have made you come on your own.”
He doesn’t mean it. Rory might hate the outdoors, but he loves killing things. He wouldn’t miss this for the world.
“You would never let me come on my own,” I say with a suggestive waggle of my eyebrows.
Rory responds by backhanding me in my stomach.
I double over, wheezing.
“Bug,” Rory says nonchalantly.
I look up into Bonnie’s disapproval and smile because I can’t help it. “It was a big bug, really buzzy.”
She rolls her eyes and turns away, and, I swear, it’s like the sun gets less bright. There’s a strange kind of yearning in my chest that I’ve never felt before.
“I’m in love,” I whisper.
Rory smacks me hard upside my head. “Get a grip.”
Just in front of me, Frenchie Mathers, who is the quietest of mice, covers her mouth to hide her grin. She sees too much, but few people notice her. I wink at her, and she blushes and looks away.
Kendall Roe, an unusually tall alpha who is a complete germaphobe, pulls out bug spray and spritz’s the air, causing Frenchie to choke. His skin is translucent white, and he walks crouched over like he’s trying to make himself smaller.
It’s always good to utilize the quiet ones. A little bit of respect will go a long way to them not seeing things they aren’t meant to.
Rory doesn’t wait for me, but I stagger back up to him, swatting a branch out of my face. I hear a yowl and look behind me to find it’s hit Jennifer Stone in the face.
Jen has dark auburn hair and a scowl that would frighten little children. She wants to be here less than Rory does, and it took corporate orders to get her here, but I can see she’s going to explode soon.
Her pretty face turns red, and she almost vibrates with her rage.
“Sorry, Jen!”
Her eyes, which are a vivid blue, focus on me. I don’t feel even the smallest part of fear. Perhaps if I were a wise alpha, I would, but this beta is the most adorable ball of rage I’ve ever seen, in the most platonic way. She reminds me of my nanny.
I kind of want to keep poking until I see her go boom.
“Do not do it,” Rory grumbles and grabs hold of my wrist, yanking me along the pathway.
“Aww, but I want to.”
Rory leads us up an incline, and then the trees part, and I get a look at a view that takes my breath away.
Bonnie is standing on a rock, her hair lifting in the wind. She looks capable and innocent, so very beautiful, completely unlike the photos the press took of her.
Oh, and the landscape is nice, too.