Chapter 11 Vale
Vale
Iam obsessive. I always have been. My parents put me in therapy when I a kid, but all that did was just teach me to mask and hide my obsessions.
When I was ten, I met Rory, and he became my toy.
Luckily, his dark soul reflected my own, so it worked out.
When we were fifteen, I discovered Cyn and found myself stalking him.
Learning everything about him, terrorizing him.
He loved it.
Cyn’s love language is fucked up.
Dakota found me. I hated him at first, but the first time he knelt for me, begged me, I knew I was never letting him go.
He was the most beautiful alpha, and I had to have him.
I bonded him without asking. He’d been stalking me for a year; the extent of his devotion cemented my choice forever. He is more me than I am some days.
Cyn and Rory had fallen for him, too. We were seventeen, and the was an open buffet. We were rich, fucked up, and there were no rules we couldn’t break, and no one to tell us no.
Then she came along, all perfect blond hair, the most striking green eyes, dressed in virginal white, wearing frills with lace and satin ribbons in her hair, looking like a handful of white kittens. It was obscene.
For one second, I knew that if I had her, I would destroy everything about her. I’d strip that innocence from her and grin while I did it. I would teach her to fear the world, mold her into my tormented pet. I would corrupt every inch of her and leave nothing clean, white, and bright left.
But life is a circular beast, and here we are, and she’s not white and innocent anymore. She’s got edges and hardness in her eyes, claws on her fingertips, bitter words on her lips.
She’s strong now, forged of steel, full of promise.
She’s a challenge, and she’s triggered that dark part of me that hunts, that becomes obsessive.
I stay right behind her, keeping pace, watching her rather than the environment.
Every detail is imprinting itself in my mind. I’m recalling everything I’ve ever heard about her.
Friends, teachers, doctors, family. All those people who came forward and told stories. She’s funny, depressing, bright, an idiot, a loner, popular, innocent. It’s an act. She was after our money.
The only people who never spoke were her family. They rallied around and protected her; a brick wall. I was impressed with her father’s ability to turn the press on each other. He is not an alpha to be underestimated.
But with everything I know, nothing is concrete, she is a mystery. Except now, stripped bare of the frilly frock, she’s a conundrum of feminine energy and a compelling omega who seems to mock me at every turn.
I want her.
One thing the four of us have in common is how messed up we are. Cyn and Rory are as dark and twisted as Kota and I are.
She calls a lunch break and slips away. I follow, watching as she stops and leans against a tree, muttering softly. She doesn’t know I’m here, but then she won’t unless I want her to.
I step out from behind the tree. Her eyes dart to mine. The soft grass beneath my feet makes no sound as I glide towards her.
“I’ve been thinking,” I murmur low.
“Did it hurt?”
“And I’ve come to a decision.”
“Must’ve been agony.”
I smile at her dry sarcasm. “I think we should get to know each other.”
“Good grief, that is the last thing we should do. I truly feel getting cuddly with a rabid rottweiler would be a better idea than getting to know you.”
“Ouch, my feelings. They are so hurt.”
She rolls her eyes. “Good, so we’re agreed this is a terrible idea?”
“A terrible idea would be walking away from this without taking advantage of it.”
Her expression clears, and she suddenly walks towards me with a whole different personality. Her hips twitch side to side in an almost hypnotic sway, her eyelids lower, and her lips curl. I didn’t think anyone could look sexy in beige, but she somehow pulls it off and then some.
“You want to have sex with me?”
Sex? Sex is such a paltry description of what I now need, but I can’t scare her off. Not yet.
“Sure, we can do that, too, but I was more thinking about what is your favourite food, why do you do this job, playing the ‘Lets Get To Know You’ game.”
“So you can what? Walk away again with a clear conscience? Regret your decision bitterly forever? Or are you hoping that you will be vindicated?”
Her eyes are wide, and I catch that scent that Rory was talking about. My mouth waters as I lean in closer.
“I don’t need to be vindicated. It was the right decision for all of us.”
Her eyes get harder, shiny but not wet with tears. More like she’s completely fixed and focused on me. Almost like she’s a hunter, too.
“Are you ready for the next part of the hike?”
I frown, but she steps back, plastering a picture perfect smile on her face, one that completely masks her. I dislike that mask intensely.
“If you’ll just head back to the other campers, I will be with you in a moment. Nature calls, after all.”
I could stay here and force the issue, but I’m a patient hunter. I smile back and reach out, brushing my knuckle across her cheek.
“Sure, sunshine. You tend to your needs, and I will try to get control of my fantasies.”
She doesn’t even flinch. The smile doesn’t flicker.
I’m not sure I won that round, but I retreat all the same.
Cyn, Rory, and Dakota join me on the trail.
“Let's do it now. We need to get out of here before we end up with an omega or a knife in our back.”
It’s my last attempt at self-preservation, at saving her. One last ditch effort at resisting. I am already aware it’s too late for us, but I have to try.
Dakota’s smile stretches wide across his face, pure pleasure almost oozing from him.
“How?”
Rory clears his throat and pulls a jar with a tiny black snake in it.
We split up. I go and talk to Rojer and Nathan, while Cyn heads up Kendall and Quincy.
Another five minutes pass, and Rojer moves to his pack, undoing it and pulling out his drink bottle. He drinks deeply.
Nathan groans and reaches for his pack, pulling it on. “I’m going to take a month of leave when we get back and sleep for the entire week.”
“Sounds like a plan!” I say with a laugh. “I knew I should have worked out before I came here.”
“WHOA!”
We all whip around in time to see Bonnie grab Kevin’s wrist. He looks up at her in surprise.
“What?”
“Always, always tap your shoes. You never know what may have crawled into them.”
He tips his shoe upside down and hits it hard twice. A tiny black snake drops out and darts away.
“FUCKING SHIT!” Kevin roars and jumps away. He climbs halfway up a tree, staring with a white face at the spot where the snake vanished.
Bonnie scowls at the ground but doesn’t say anything. The rest of us are just silent, staring at her.
“Well, that was fun, wasn’t it?” Rory laughs.
Bonnie stares at him, and she seems to see right through him. For a second, I tense, and I wonder. I wonder if she knows what we are.
But that’s impossible.
She turns and spots Kevin, and everything disappears with her startled laugh.
“Kevin, how did you get up there?”
He looks down and grabs the tree harder, swallowing like his mouth is parched.
“I have no idea.”
“Well, you better come down and put your boots on; we need to head out.”
“No! What if there’s another one in there?” he wails.
“There wouldn’t be two in there.”
“There might be. Perhaps they had babies, and there’s a whole nest in there.”
“In your shoe?” Bonnie asks. Her eyebrows lift, and she puts her hands on her hips, peering up at him with amusement all over her face.
“Yes,” Kevin says, but clearly, he’s realised how dumb he sounds, and he’s sliding down.
I step up close behind her. As if I predicted it, she turns and visibly startles.
“Sorry!” I say with fake sincerity.
“It’s okay. I wasn’t watching where I was going,” she says, matching mine.
God, this omega is fun.
“Come on, Kevin, I don’t want to leave you here for the predators to get,” I sing out cheerfully.
“You’re an ass, Prince!” he growls.
He drops from the tree with a squeal, landing hard on his ass.
It takes a lot of effort not to laugh at him. The guy is such a pillar of control at work, seeing him undone is particularly delicious.
Kevin gingerly picks up his boot, tapping it again, and then a second time, just to be sure. He puts his shoe on with his eyes squeezed closed like he’s waiting for another snake to materialize and bite through his foot.
He does up his laces, and we’re on our way. I hang back, letting Cyn and Dakota keep close to our unwanted omega.
“What happened?” I growl at Rory.
“I have no freaking idea. Must have just been a coincidence.”
I blow out my cheeks in irritation.
“Oh, well, one more night.”
“Mmm,” Rory says, but he’s distracted.
“What’s the matter?”
“I don’t know. It’s just…how often do our marks get saved like that? Literally snatched from the jaws of death.”
I shrug. “Coincidence.” I say the word, but there’s a part of me that gets cold and hard because I don’t believe in coincidence. Not even a little bit.
I’m staring at her when she turns around and looks right at me. Her eyes are hard and clear, and I shiver with anticipation.
Does she know?
Does she suspect?
I bite my lip until she turns away, her blond hair swinging.
She’s beautiful and smart, still pure and good. She couldn’t know. It would send her running, for sure.
I wonder how much it would horrify her, if she knew the truth. Would she scream?
Would her sensibilities be hurt?
Would this omega run faint and reject us as easily as we did her?
I really want to see what Bonnie Sanderson, the beautiful and innocent omega we rejected, does when she finds out her scent matches are the most brutal and unstoppable serial killers of this generation.