Chapter 27 Vale
Vale
Two days have passed with her managing to avoid us while thwarting our plans so completely that it’s now become the most adorable damn thing I think I’ve ever seen.
“I’m going to tan her hide as soon as I have her tied naked to a bed,” I mutter and glare at her, but, damn, if a part of me isn’t absolutely thrilled to have a challenge. The question is how to keep her.
I want to throttle her. I want to kiss her until we’re on fire.
We’ll be home in two days, and we’re at the end of a two-day journey through Colson’s Pass.
I just want to talk to her, but she’s gotten so good at using the betas as shields.
All four of us are frothing at the mouth trying to get a minute alone with her, but since the day we had sex, she’s been playing least in sight.
I’m ready to kidnap her.
I’m ready to steal her choices.
Throw her over my shoulder and march off.
The darkness in me demands her. Take her. Steal her. Kiss her until she forgets, make her feel so good that she never wants to escape.
Bonnie is talking through the abseiling lesson. I’m not paying attention. I’m watching as she fixes the ropes and gets Rojer into the harness. He’s demanded to go first. That’s fine with all of us.
This might be the last opportunity that we get.
It’s half hearted, though. I think we’ve all come to the conclusion that if this fails, we’ll just get them when we get back.
Bonnie tries to help him with the helmet she pulled out of a hidden chest, but he slaps her hands away, earning a deep, furious growl from Kota.
Cyn casually undoes the rope from the anchor. He wedges the rope between a rock so it feels firm and then casually wanders off.
There’s no possible way she can save him this time.
I inhale and feel myself tilt a little more towards the feral side of my nature. Peanut butter cookies. There is no denying it or hiding it. Her omega scent has taken over our world and every alpha here is struggling to ignore it.
“All right, just breathe and ease over the edge. It’s not far down. Once you’re there, it’s the homestretch.”
Rojer is white, his lips locked in a firm line, his nostrils flaring, and I know he’s going to hurt her as soon as he’s safe.
It’s his go-to. He hurts when he can’t control.
I’m going to make him suffer so bad when I get him alone.
Cyn can keep him in his maze for a month, and then we'll pull him apart piece by piece.
This piece of shit shouldn’t be breathing the same air as her.
He eases off the edge, but then, in a move we couldn’t have predicted, he grabs her wrist.
The rope goes free, and they fall.
Dakota shouts and lands on it. He grunts, rolling, scrabbling for purchase as the rest of us pile onto him. We stop their fall, but a second later, I hear a crash and realise that’s her. She hit the bottom.
He fucking let go.
“Bonnie!” I sob as I strain to hold his weight.
Cyn looks up at me from where I’m crushing him.
“Vale, go.”
I hiss and jump up, racing to the edge. He’s dangling halfway down, but she’s lying motionless on the ground.
“If she’s dead, Rojer, I’m going to fuck you up, you fucking coward,” I roar.
“Oh, god, oh, my god. Bonnie!” Quincy shouts. “Don’t move. Just stay still!”
I dump my pack, grab the small first-aid kit, shove it into my pocket, then I put on my climbing gloves and carefully slide over the edge. I thank every deity ever created that Kota insisted on us learning how to free climb.
I don’t dare look down. I just keep going. When I get close to Rojer, he starts trying to get my attention, but I keep going. I would leave him there to rot forever if it were up to me.
“You fucker!” he screams. “Get over here and help me! You’re done, Prince. You’re fucked. I’ll make it so no one can ever work with you again.”
I ignore him; all my focus is on getting down to her. When I get within a few feet, I shove myself backwards off the wall and sprint to her side.
She’s breathing, nice and evenly. I carefully feel her arms and legs, then check her head.
She moans.
“Bonnie, don’t move.”
She doesn’t listen and sits up but sways. I catch her to my chest, holding her up and cradling her body.
“What happened?”
“Rojer grabbed your wrist and dragged you off the cliff.”
She blinks. “He dragged me off?”
“Yes. Where do you hurt?”
She blinks, and her eyes aren’t focused. “I hurt everywhere, but I think I hit my head.” She’s wearing a helmet, and I almost weep because I’m so damn grateful.
“Okay, we’re going to take care of you now. You will be fine,” I assure her.
I carefully help her sit by a tree and then, with extreme reluctance, I go to the cliff, glaring at Rojer, who is still shouting.
“Cyn, get your ass down here.”
“What about Rojer?”
“Cut him loose,” I shout, ignoring his screams.
Cyn’s head appears, and he’s grinning manically. “Can I really?”
Rory moves fast, flashing out, and in a fraction of the time, he’s down beside her, gently touching her face. Her eyes are closed, but I’m keeping an eye on her breathing. I think she’s okay, but I can’t relax my guard.
“Get them down,” I say through my teeth to Cyn. I turn to Rory. “You do not leave her. Not for one second.”
I launch myself up the cliff until I’m beside Rojer. “It’s time for you to get down now, but if you try anything, I will cut you loose and leave you to die.”
He must see that I really mean it because he just gives me a tight nod.
I guide him down the wall, hating that I can’t slam his face into it until the cliff is red with his brain matter.
Once he’s on the ground, I force him to strip off the harness and climb back up. One by one, we talk them down. Once they are all down, I turn and find Rojer’s pack.
Without hesitation, I go through it, looking for evidence, something, anything that can help. I find an envelope hidden in a jacket pocket, and when I open it, I hiss.
Dakota looks over my shoulder.
“They’ve got another set of these photos? Sick fucks!”
I pocket the photographs and then turn and throw his bag into the forest. Everyone else’s I gently drop over the cliff.
As one, we lower over the side and descend.
When I turn, they are all looking at us like we’re terrifying, and I guess, in a way, we are. We’ve trained with security and tactical units. I’ve hired mercenaries and martial artists. We’ve got skills that even we don’t remember we have anymore.
Climbing the cliff, though, that was just for fun.
I walk over to her and check her again.
“She’s had a little bit of water and some painkillers,” Rory growls protectively.
“Right, let’s set up camp,” Kota says decisively.
“No!”
Rage blinds me. I turn and stare at Rojer.
“No, we aren’t stopping. We need to get home.”
“She’s injured.”
“So carry her,” he snarls. “You’re big strong heroes.”
Rory steps up beside me, his face an expressionless mask.
I can see Cyn flexing his fingers, no doubt eager to pull his knives out, and Dakota has gone languid, his body totally relaxed, an amused smile on his lips.
“We really can’t afford the delay,” Kevin says.
The tension mounts. The fires of rage burning so cold between us, but then I shrug.
“Sure. Let’s do it.”
I turn and carefully pick her up so her head is resting on my shoulder.
We grab our packs and start walking.
“Where’s my pack?”
I keep walking.
“You fuckers! Where’s my pack?”
I turn and see Rojer, all red-faced, his hair messed up, dirt and blood on his clothes. He’s not nearly fucked up enough yet, but we’re getting there.
“I didn’t see it up there!”
Rojer charges me, but Cyn, Rory, and Dakota step in front of me, their bloodlust filling the air.
“Now, guys, can we just calm it down?” Quincy asks nervously.
But we can’t. Our pheromones are at full strength now, and there is an injured omega in our midst. One that half our camp wants to protect and the other half wants to destroy.
It’s been coming to this point, but it got here faster than I anticipated. I inhale the sweet smell of our omega.
No one has ever smelled so intriguing, so desirable. That thread of weakness in her scent makes it even more intense, it calls all my instincts out. She’s hurt, vulnerable. It throbs in me. My teeth ache with the urge to bond her.
I sigh and shift her in my arms before I turn and walk away. They follow; what else were they going to do?
But the tension is getting dangerous, and I see them watching her. A wounded omega is easy pickings. They won’t be able to stop themselves. Our instincts are driven by the two distinct camps of aggression: predator or protector, and our civilized trappings are falling away.
They want her so badly the air throbs with it. Rory has an almost constant growl coming out of his mouth. Dakota and Cyn are flanking me, their rage crystallizing.
We find her campsite, and I stop without asking the others. Our tent is set up, and this time, Cyn crawls inside with her while the betas cower off to the side. Rojer, Kevin, and Nathan set up their tent not far away, practically salivating as they stare at the tent.
We get the wood, start a fire, and cook a very basic meal. Quincy finds water, and we boil it, and when it’s cool and the night is filled with biting bugs, we share it out.
She sleeps through it all.
We don’t dare leave her for a single second.
If he just jerks a finger in her direction, I will end him.
At some point, she wakes up and tries to get up. I slip into the tent while Cyn goes outside.
When she goes to speak, I put a hand across her mouth, lean in, and whisper in her ear.
“You are injured, and you smell like an omega. We are all that’s standing between you and them. I need you to stay quiet and out of the way until you are feeling strong enough to hide it.”
Her eyes have gotten so wide, I can see fear in them but outrage, too, which is okay, as long as she’s taking this seriously.
I take my hand away from her mouth, and she awkwardly sits up. I pass her my water bottle, trying not to purr over her accepting water from me.
I’ve even got a bowl of that foul fake potato crap for her to eat. She eats it with no complaint, even though it's extra nasty tonight. Her eyes look brighter, and after she’s eaten, I check her head.
I wish we had ice, but she’s doing all right now.
“How are you feeling?”
“Just tired.”
I lay down beside her, and when she realises I’m not going anywhere, she carefully lays down beside me; I wait until she’s completely still before I wiggle up closer, putting an arm over her waist.
“What are you doing?”
“It’s cold, and your sleeping bag got ruined, remember. You’re not well. Let me help you.”
“Scent mark me?” she asks bitterly.
“That, too,” I murmur and rub my chin over her back. “It will keep you safe. Is that so bad?”
She hesitates, and I know she wants to say yes, desperately wants to banish me from her space, but she’s smart enough to realise she needs our help.
She subsides but with spicy notes in her cookie scent. I lean in and inhale deeply.
“You smell delicious when you’re mad.”
Her skin breaks out in goosebumps. I lay back down, not willing to push it.
She grumbles but goes to sleep in my arms.
At one point, she starts dreaming. It’s a nightmare, she’s twitching and whimpering in my embrace, and then she whispers my name.
But it doesn’t sound good. I’ve never heard her say my name like that, and I never want to again.
It’s like I broke her.