Chapter 6 Bonnie
Bonnie
This is a bad idea.
“This is a great idea,” Meg says happily.
She scrapes her fingers through her hair and smiles widely at our ragtag group of campers attempting to set up their tents.
They are a disaster. I know that we have three small groups from three different companies, but you wouldn’t think any of these people had a brain between them.
I’ve never seen anyone have so much trouble putting up a tent before.
I rub my hand across my mouth when Greg Ultie, who proclaimed no less than twelve times that he’s been camping in worse places, manages to somehow just miss stabbing himself in the eye with his tent pole.
With a sigh, I look hard at Meg.
“Looks like we've found our camping expert.”
This guy is going to try to show me up and push the whole trip. There is always one of these know-it-alls in the group. But hours in and almost losing an eye is a new low.
“Meg, watch them for me. I’m going to go check the area.”
She raises her eyebrows and makes quotation marks with her fingers. “Area.”
I lift my chin. “Are you going to help me or what?”
“Take five minutes to sulk, you mean. I just need to clarify. It’s for entertainment purposes only.”
“Check the area,” I snarl at her playfully.
Meg winks at me. “Sure, go check the area. Protect us from those evil blades of grass.”
I give her a flat unimpressed look. “Just for that, you can check their boo-boos.”
Her face blanches. “No! You are so mean? Why?”
“Oh, yes. Blister check. Should not have told me about the guy with the foot fetish.”
“Aw, fuck you. He looked at my feet too closely. It was disturbing.”
“Maybe he’ll let you kiss them.”
Meg retches. “You’re sick, Sanderson.”
I give her a mock salute and trot back up the trail, heading to the beautiful overhang that we stopped at earlier.
There’s still plenty of daylight today, but it won’t be the case over the next few days.
Today is a partial day where we will teach them how to set up tents and cook.
I get the fun task of assessing how much of a liability they will be.
The trees seem to part like a curtain and reveal a sky that I feel like I could fall into.
The terrain is glorious, but I’m biased.
My dad’s been bringing me here all my life.
It’s my favourite place in the whole world.
It’s like the gateway to the wilds, and half of the time, I want to walk out of here and never come back.
Locklier Park is massive, and, from here, I can see the distant mountains, the rugged terrain, the thick forests. In my mind, I can see all the landmarks and hear my father softly telling me everything he knows.
This is my safe place.
So, what are they doing here?
Why are they here in my space, and why didn’t Dad tell me?
I pull out the satellite phone and stab at his contact. While it’s ringing, I turn and scan the tree line before relaxing and letting myself turn back to the big blue sky and incredible landscape.
“Wild child!”
I grit my teeth, fuming. “Don’t call me wild child when I’m mad at you.”
He just laughs. “You didn’t like my surprise? I thought you might love it.”
I can just picture him sitting on the couch, his arm around my mum, probably playing with her hair or stroking her earlobe, wearing his big plaid jacket, jeans, and boots.
The same way he’s always been. Smiling too huge, too friendly because my dad thinks he’s the worlds funniest trickster!
I overheard him one night role-playing Loki with my very into it mother.
There is no saving my imagination after that. I just torched it all.
“What are you thinking? It’s a horrible idea for them to be out here. They are going to ruin me! Daaaad!”
“You know, I know I’ve done my best work as a dad when you break out that tone and say ‘Daaad’ like that. Haha, I can rest easy tonight, knowing I tortured my offspring into deep annoyance. Consider it my gift to you.”
I snarl. He just laughs.
“Get your revenge and heal, baby, and then come home. I’ll take you hunting to make up for it.”
“You could have told me. Warned me, something, anything.”
“You would have said no, and besides, where is the joy in it if I simply tell you all the fun stuff? Now, you get surprised, they get surprised, and you can have three weeks tripping them up and walking them into hornets’ nests.”
I burst out laughing. “Hornets?”
“Ants? Spiders? Put a snake in their pants?” My dad’s voice drops to a conspiratorial level. “Think of the evil you could do, spawn of my loins.”
“Ew, never ever say that again.”
My dad just laughs. “You need this, daffodil.”
I sigh, knowing he’s right but hating it anyway. He knows I know, too, because he huffs out a big chuckle.
“I love you, wild child. Your mother loves you. Go and have some fun, and come home. We’ll see you in three weeks, and you know the drill.”
“I know. I’ll call if I need you. I love you, Dad.”
“Be safe or get even.”
I snort out a laugh at his violently playful tone.
“I will.”
“Call me when you get back; I’ll come get you.”
With that, the phone goes dead. I switch it off and put it in my pocket. I turn around and find Vale five feet away, staring at me with far too much interest. Where the hell did he come from?
“Interesting career for an omega,” he says nonchalantly.
My heart pounds in my chest, though I know he can’t see any sign of it on my face.
“Well, you know, there are no cameras and a whole world where I can exist without asshole alphas ruining my view.”
He grins wider like my snarky response amuses him. “And here I was thinking omegas liked attention.”
Icy rage slithers up my spine, and I look at this alpha with all the contempt I can muster.
“Of course, because any attention is good attention, right?” I step towards him.
“It was the absolute thrill of my life. My fifteen minutes of fame. I even got to become a meme. Highlight of my life, woo! I won’t ever be able to top it.
” I step closer to him. “Let me be clear, Alpha Prince. You are an adventurer on this tour; you aren’t Mr. Big Shot CEO, and you aren’t the alpha who rejected me.
It’s a day long in the past, ten years past, and I love my life because you aren’t in it.
But here, out here, we need to be focused, we need to trust each other because our lives are in each other’s hands, so let’s put it all aside and just agree to be strangers until we can go our separate ways. ”
His eyes flicker. “There was so much emotion in that speech that I have trouble believing you.”
My breath stills in my lungs as my temper ignites further still, but I force it down, let calm steal over me and shrug.
“Believe whatever you want. We are together for three weeks, and then you can go back to your cities, and I’ll be out here doing my inappropriate omega job.”
I stalk past him, refusing to acknowledge his presence. We took enough parting shots at each other through the media for me to know that any sign of engagement will start a war I can’t win.
One thing I’ve learned from experience, it doesn’t matter how right I am, only how rich they are, that is how the world will always judge us.
I’ll never be anything but the omega who lost her pack.
I’ve heard it all: faulty, broken, deformed, cheater, gold digger, whore.
Every boyfriend I never had came out to speak against me.
All and any friends I had told all my stories.
My teachers got paid, my doctor came out and spoke about how I have this and that diagnosis, which was an utter lie.
He even told the press I had a sexually transmitted disease.
He died in a car crash a week later after spending the money he got from his lies on a hooker and a night of debauchery. He had a medical episode and just…poof, gone. But his words; immortalized.
The only people I could depend on not to say anything were my family. They closed ranks around me, and together, we weathered the storm, or tried to. I am not going to drag them back into the thick of it.
I get back to the camp and freeze.
Two tents are up, but they look like they’ll collapse in a stiff breeze.
Meg is red faced, and I can see her temper is about to burst at the seams. Desi is setting up a tent for the incredibly beautiful Tiffany Woods.
She’s got ridiculously long nails that I’m positive will be torn off halfway through, and her clothes are tight, showing off her body, which isn’t at all practical.
Tiffany is a pretty beta with an incredible ability to manipulate alphas.
She is currently flirting her little heart out with a panicking Desi, who is just trying to just get on with his job and avoid the eye of his omega mate.
I sigh and intercept Meg when she loses her hold on her temper.
“It’s okay, he’s just doing the tent for her,” I soothe.
“I’ll rip her tongue out and shove it up her cunt so she can fuck herself,” Meg growls with a savagery that she is more than capable of. There is no one more important in her world than Desi, but there is no one he loves more than he loves Meg.
I bite my lip and stroke Meg’s back. “Easy, girl, easy.”
“That’s my alpha.”
“Yes, and you staked your claim; everyone can smell him.”
Meg’s lips twist, but her eyes are narrowed and intently watching him as he sets it up.
The rich bastards just watch us like they expect us to do it for them. Well, that’s not going to happen here.
“Right,” I call out loudly, looking around. “Why are your tents down? Hurry up. Get to it. I thought you were brilliantly smart alphas and betas?”
“Why are there no omegas?” Justin Smith mutters under his breath as he walks past me.