4. Kato #3
They stare at me like I’ve grown an additional head. “Wot?” one of them says.
Idiots. “Something to give the horse,” I say slowly. “To eat.”
The two of them look at each other. One scratches his chin. “Eh,” he says. “Got a peppermint.”
“Give it here.”
He scowls at me. “Piss off, you great alpha wanker. M’on my break. Not gettin’ up.”
Of fucking course these morons are going to embarrass me in front of the omega, who I can practically feel laughing as I storm over and snatch the wrapped mint out of the lazy beta’s hand.
I ignore their sniggering as I make my way back to Cas.
I unwrap the mint and pop it into his waiting hand, and he gives me a cute smile with a wink that makes me almost forget the last thirty seconds.
“They shouldn’t be smoking,” he says, quite loudly, as he turns back to the now very interested mare. She lips the mint delicately from his outstretched fingers. “They could start a fire and burn the whole barn to the ground. Then they wouldn’t have a job to take a break from.”
“Oh, piss off, freak,” the shorter of the two shoots back. “Ain’t you got a baby to be making?”
Cas goes rigid, his shoulders seizing up by his ears. Can’t see his face because he’s ducked it, hidden beneath the fall of his hair.
All at once I’m furious.
I shove off the fence and spin around, watching as they laugh at their own stupid fucking joke. They don’t notice I’m seeing red—the same kind of immediate rage one might feel when cut off in traffic, or relentlessly tailgated, and it just happens so quick. That anger. Mine.
I’m right in front of them before they realize what’s happening and my fist connects with the short beta’s face before I know what’s happening, smashing through his nose with a sickening crunch.
And then again, his teeth cutting my knuckles before he staggers backward, his back hitting the barn wall.
And because that’s not good enough, because he’s still making noise, and I’ve got this urge to shake him by the back of the neck until he stops moving, I grab the front of his shirt and slam him back against the wall.
Once. Twice. A third time.
He slides, dazed, to the ground. There is a trail of blood smeared on the stone behind him.
“Say you’re sorry.” I don’t even recognize my voice. It’s gone inhuman. My canines have elongated to fangs and cut the inside of my mouth. There’s copper on my tongue. “Say you’re fucking sorry!”
He doesn’t answer. Or maybe he can’t. His face is a bloody, mangled mess and I can’t quite discern his nose anymore—it’s all pulp.
His friend gets between us, his eyes wide and scared and even he smells like prey, all delicious fear and stuttering heartbeat like something small and furred and trapped.
“Stop,” he’s bleating. “Stop, you already won, y’brute, just stop.”
I feel Cas at my back before his hand slips into mine, and suddenly I’m aware of how much it aches, the way the beta’s teeth have scraped it. “Kato?” he says. Just my name.
The rage seeps right out of me, like the omega is siphoning it away, and all I’m left with is this—the meat sack of a beta before me. And how much, in the moment, he looks like the alpha I killed.
But this one’s still alive. Going to live, I think. I don’t think I messed up that bad this time.
“Oh,” I say. And, “Shit. I—”
“Kato,” Cas says again. He’s tugging me gently away as the uninjured beta bares warning fangs at me, but he’s got nothing to fear from me anymore. The fight’s over. Fuck, it wasn’t even a fight to begin with—just me beating the absolute fuck out of someone for the crime of pissing me off.
I could’ve killed him.
I don’t apologize because I never do when I make a mess of things. It never matters. No one ever cares. Instead I back away quickly, dragging Cas along with me, and take him home without another word.
It’s not like I know what to say, anyway.
After we trudge back to the house in silence, Cas ushers me to the kitchen like it’s his, turning the dribbling tap on full. “For your knuckles,” he explains, gently, like I’m stupid. Or like he’s nice.
I’m already pulling away from him. “Don’t need it,” I mumble. I just want to go sulk in my room and punish myself for acting out. Again.
And I know that if my uncle finds out about this he’s going to lose his absolute shit.
Or worse, tell my dads. Actually, he might just tell my dads, and then they’ll lose their shit at me.
Fuck, it’s lose-lose. Why can’t I just be chill?
Anger, always, just roiling beneath the surface.
Or self-loathing. One of the two. Prickly and awful.
“Don’t be an idiot.” Cas keeps his surprisingly strong grip clamped around my wrist as he drags me toward the sink. “Just let me.”
I decide to humor him. I stand there and let the tiny omega rinse the blood and grime from my already swelling knuckles, even though I’m perfectly capable of doing it myself.
He’s got such slender fingers, tapering and fair as the rest of him, and the fine tendons in the back of his hand are almost mesmerizing to watch.
After a moment, I say, gruffly, “Thanks.”
“It’s nothing.” He’s tender with his touch, which doesn’t improve anything, really, except my wild attraction to him. “Nice to take care of someone for a change, instead of being the victim.”
I open my mouth, then shut it. I don’t trust myself not to say something stupid in the moment. Then, fuck it, open it again. “That happen often?”
“Lately, yeah,” he says wryly.
I wait a beat. “I wonder why that is.”
He gives me nothing, of course. He shuts off the tap and pats my hand dry with a tea towel. The bleeding has already stopped; it’ll just look ugly for a couple days. “All better,” he says with a faint smile. “Suppose I’ll be thanking you for defending my honor. Unnecessary as it was.”
“He was being an asshole,” I say. “I wasn’t gonna let him talk to you like that.”
“It’s just talk, Kato. It’s all betas have.” There’s something almost wistful in his words as he folds the towel and sets it on the counter. “Do you resolve every conflict with violence?”
Yes. “No.”
His mouth twitches. “Well, I’ll thank you for the tour, too.”
“Anytime,” I say. “And, um—Cas, you know you can tell me anything, right? If—if there’s something that needs telling. Like…about you, and…” I trail off lamely, hoping he gets the picture. Holy fuck, am I bad at this.
Unfortunately his smile fades. “I’m going to rest my eyes,” he murmurs, stepping around me. “I’m tired.”
“Oh,” I say. “Sure. Let me know if you need anything.”
And then he’s gone, of course. I’ve blown it a second time today. Or is it the third? I can’t keep track.