Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
Houndfall Forest
Istumble through the oaks and hickories of Houndfall Forest, gritting my teeth against the waves of exhaustion that are threatening to drag me under.
Yet I battle against them.
If I give in and curl underneath these pale, skeleton trees, then I’ll be buried underneath the next snowfall and become a skeleton myself.
If I don’t find shelter before the freezing night falls, then it won’t matter that I’ve been running for miles into this dense forest from the ABO Facility without the guards capturing me, I’ll die.
More importantly, the Omega who is wheezing and struggling to keep up even at my reduced pace will also die.
And that’s not acceptable.
I push myself to run harder, despite the screaming muscles in the back of my thighs.
The forest is silent.
The earthy scent is familiar to me. I have trained in forests like this with my instructors many times.
In my teenage years, I spent long weekends dropped in the mountain forests with nothing but a knife, left to scavenge and survive, despite the dangers of bears…or because of them.
I have hunted targets through forests in worse conditions than this.
Yet most of my time was spent trapped inside a basement, business rooms, or penthouses as a bodyguard.
And now, I am here as the prey.
I bare my teeth. My breath puffs out in mists in front of me.
Bird’s rasping gasps sound painful.
I squint up at the gray clouds through the bars of thick branches above.
It’s going to snow soon.
Too soon.
I concentrate on putting one foot in front of another, avoiding as many of the brittle twigs as possible, which make too much noise when they snap in the quiet.
I know how to move silently, especially when being followed.
Unfortunately, Bird doesn’t.
He sounds like a wild boar rampaging through the undergrowth.
I am at least making sure that we are traveling upwind to mask our scents from pursuers.
I glance at Bird.
He is staggering next to me. He’s shivering and hugging his arms around his middle over his thin top.
His lips are blue, and his eyes are glazed with pain.
My expression becomes tight.
I glance down at Bird’s feet. Blood is seeping through the cloth that is wrapped over his bare feet.
He must have stepped on a sharp rock. I should have warned him to look down, even when running.
My Omega’s survival instincts suck.
Better not to tell him that. Omegas prefer praise, right?
By the time that I’d helped Bird to climb the fence and we’d reached the edge of the forest, he was hopping from foot to foot in agony.
The earth was freezing and only going to grow colder.
Frostbite was no joke.
I ripped off the central portion of my top, revealing my stomach.
“Hey, what are you doing?” Bird protested.
“Saving your feet.” When I knelt in front of him, he flushed.
Then I wrapped the cloth around his feet as improvised shoes.
I jolted, when I heard a rip above me.
“Your turn.” Bird knelt next to me, holding up the material that he’d torn from his own shirt.
I stared at Bird in shock.
“What?” Bird challenged. “Aren’t I also allowed to protect my Alpha?”
When Bird stumbles against me, I steady him.
His breathing is dangerously labored. He hasn’t been harshly trained like I have. He isn’t used to being pushed like this. Plus, he’s only just recovered from his coma.
Yet he hasn’t complained.
I’m impressed.
Suddenly, the hairs on the back of my neck rise.
Is someone watching us?
I stop and spin around.
I throw myself behind a large pine tree, dragging Bird behind the trunk alongside me.
My hand drops to my hip, reaching for a sidearm that isn’t there. My lips curl in frustration.
“W-w-hat?” Bird drags in desperate gasps of air.
I hush him, peering around the tree into the shadows.
There is a long, agonizing moment.
Nothing moves. No scent.
Was I wrong?
I’m sure that I wasn’t.
“They’re close,” I grit out. “We have to run faster. Also, we must find somewhere to shelter for the night.”
“Faster?” Bird stares at me in horror. “I can’t, Ro. I’ll…”
“Do you want to die?”
Fear of death is the best motivator, I’ve found.
It works on me.
Bird clutches his side, grimacing. When he bends over, his long hair trails onto the floor.
I pull a face.
Leaves and moss catch in Bird’s curls.
Each morning in the Facility, I have enjoyed combing through my Omega’s silky hair with my fingers. I find that I don’t enjoy him being reduced to this state. I never cared when I was on missions what I looked like. Claiming an Omega does make being an efficient assassin more difficult.
“Raise your arm and take deep breaths,” I order, attempting to help Bird with his stitch.
Then I lightly massage his side.
Bird takes deep breaths, before looking at me pleadingly. “Can’t we rest here just for a moment?”
My instructors would have beaten me black and blue, before sending me on a ten-mile run with rocks in my backpack if I’d dared to ask that.
I believe that I’m restrained when I merely shake my head. “We’ve had a rest. We can stop when we find a cave or somewhere to shelter. There should be caves along the mountainside, although we may need to share with a bear. Follow me and try to avoid standing on sticks, okay? Stay quiet.”
“I’ll try.”
I kiss Bird, quickly. “Good Omega.”
His cheeks redden.
See, I can do praise.
I set off at a pace that still feels too slow but is as fast as I can push the Omega who I know is at his limit.
Bird is biting his lip bloody to try and remain quiet, despite the way that he is still holding his side in pain.
He is staring at the forest floor, however, carefully jumping over brittle twigs.
I smile with pride.
He’s learning.
I risk glancing up at the sky, however, and am horrified when a freezing snowflake trembles onto my cheek.
It’s starting to snow already.
We’re fucked if we don’t find clothing somehow or shelter.
I blink away the snowflakes that are now clinging to my eyelashes and assess the heavy sky.
Three…maybe only two…hours left until nightfall.
Dread sits heavy in my stomach.
Suddenly, with my enhanced hearing, I pick up a sound in the north that lifts my mood: the deep double blasts of an air horn in the far distance.
I grab Bird by the elbow and steer him in a new direction toward the horn.
We will never reach the caves in time at this pace. Yet I recognize the sound of the horns — a freight train.
It means that there are train tracks running along the edge of the forest.
It is dangerous to stow away and ride on a freight train. But it’s my only option right now.
It may be the only way that Bird and I will live through this snowy night.
Bird’s eyes widen, and he looks at me questioningly. But he still runs at my side, trusting me.
I drag him after me as fast as possible. I don’t care about being silent now, crashing through the undergrowth and pulling Bird past his limits.
We must catch that train.
Isn’t this how one of Mars’ romance books starts?
How is this meant to be romantic?
To my surprise, Bird and I stumble into a clearing and crash into a large tent. We fall over, tangling in the guy lines.
“Shit,” I hiss.
Yet Bird laughs. “Didn’t you say that we need clothes?”
“It’s our lucky day.”
“You know that you have a low bar, right?” Bird is already scrambling, however, to shove the hats, gloves, leggings, bottles of water, protein bars and beef jerky that these campers have helpfully left out in their now destroyed tent into their equally helpful backpacks.
I crouch, scanning the trees in case whoever this campsite belongs to returns and finds it being ransacked by two thieves.
My nose wrinkles at the black coffee scent.
This tent belongs to two young Alphas, likely frat boys from the local university based on the cheap cooler stuffed with bulk-brand beers and the football abandoned in front of the poorly built firepit.
They’ll manage for one night without these things.
Bird and I won’t.
I search the tent as quickly as I can.
When my hand closes around a sock that crinkles when I squeeze it, I yank the rolled-up dollars out of it. “Jackpot!”
Looks like these frat boys are shady. Perhaps, they’re just being cautious in case this area doesn’t have reception and they need emergency cash, or more likely, they’re taking part in one of their frat rituals.
I toss the cash to Bird, who drops it into a backpack and throws me the other bag.
“I feel bad that we’re stealing their shit,” Bird says, guiltily.
“Don’t. The assholes are most likely gambling with the cash, and that’s the best case scenario.
They’ll get over losing their shit. They can see it as their contribution to charity,” I reply.
Bird looks unconvinced. “The Rogue charity. Didn’t you used to play Robin Hood?
See it as stealing from the rich to give to the poor. ”
Bird gives a mischievous grin. “You’re right. What are they going to do to us? Put us in jail? Done that. Got the t-shirt.”
I snatch up a black winter jacket and shrug it on. Then I choose a thick hoodie with Greek letters on the back and slip it onto Bird. I brush the leaves out of his hair.
When Bird smiles at me, it steals my breath away because wearing this hoodie, he suddenly looks so much younger.
His age.
If he was an Alpha, I could imagine him hurrying to class on campus, rather than running for his life.
Why aren’t Omegas allowed to study? Bird is fucking smart.
“Come on, we have a train to catch.” I stand, hiking the bag onto my back.
When Bird struggles with his backpack, I take it from him.
They’re both light. They don’t contain rocks.
“I’ll carry it,” I insist. “Just fly toward our freedom.”
When I stand and run, Bird sprints next to me.
This time, as tired as we both are, it doesn’t feel hard.
Instead, it’s like we’re flying on the cold air. I can sense Bird’s exhilaration through the bond. It feeds my own.
This time the blare of the train’s mournful horns is louder. It is joined by a deep rumble and rhythmic clatter.
Yet also, shouts start up behind us.
Are they from the guards? Or the campers?
“Ro…” Bird’s voice is high and panicked.
“Don’t look back.” I focus on the thinning trees, as we reach the edge of the forest and the curving train tracks. “Do you trust me?”
“With my life.”
I growl.
I can do this.
I must.
Ahead, I catch a flash of deep blue and yellow.
We’re going to miss the train.
“Faster.” I struggle to hold onto both backpacks as I sprint with Bird at my shoulder.
The voices behind us are louder. The snow falls faster like a veil. I blink to see through the white.
Suddenly, I break out of the treeline.
Sparks fly from the tracks, as the freight train winds past us frighteningly close with a sound like rolling thunder.
“How do we get on it?” Bird stares at the train like it’s a wild animal.
I forgot that he’s never traveled on a train.
Everything in the world is new to him.
He’s fucking brave.
This was my gamble like everything in life.
I took a risk. But if one of the cars isn’t open, then we’re fucked.
I let out a breath of relief when the last car comes into sight and it’s open.
Jumping onto a moving train won’t be hard for me, but it will be nearly impossible for Bird.
Still, he’ll take a leap of faith for his Alpha, right?
For his freedom?
I have faith in him.
I grip Bird by his shoulders, and his wide eyes meet mine. “Don’t hesitate. Don’t think. Just do what I do and jump.”
Bird nods.
“See this as an adventure.”
“I wouldn’t change a single thing I have experienced with you for anything.”
My expression becomes fond.
Did I say my Omega was smart? He’s an idiot.
I let go of Bird, adjusting the weight of the backpacks. Then I run alongside the slow-moving train.
Snow stings my face. My lungs burn.
Yet my heart thrills.
This is the action that I have been missing.
People believe that life gives second chances. Yet I have always lived in a world that doesn’t offer them.
If I fuck up this jump…if Bird does…the wheels of this train won’t offer a second chance.
One…two…three…
I leap, and it feels like flying, escaping, and being fully alive.
I land hard inside the steel car, clutching onto the rusted surface with my hands. I scrunch up my nose at the ashy scent of coal.
I drop my bags and twist to grab hard onto Bird’s shaking shoulders as he lands heavily next to me on his face.
We did it.
We fucking did it.
The train carries us away through the mountains.
Bird and I have found shelter from the night. A way to escape and carry us miles from our hunters. And inside these bags, clothes to keep us warm.
I allow myself to relax, until I realize that Bird’s shoulders are shaking.
Shit, is he suffering from shock?
Am I pushing him too hard?
I lie next to Bird on my back, stroking his hair away from his face. “Little Bird?”
Then I realize that Bird is shaking with laughter.
He throws himself onto his back.
Bird’s cheeks are smeared with coal residue from the grimy floor of the wagon.
He has never looked so beautiful.
“If Mom could see me now, she’d have a coronary.” Bird turns to meet my gaze. “I’m a true outlaw.”
“You’re a Rogue.”
Cold air paints both our cheeks pink.
We clasp each other’s hands.
It hits me that we’re alive. We’re being carried somewhere to our freedom. And for the first time in my life, I am in control of where we go next.
“I once thought that I would spend my entire life in a single hotel, until I was matched at a courting ball with an elite pack. I wouldn’t have a choice who they were,” Bird says.
“When I was punished and became a Hotel Omega, I then thought that I would never see more than hotel rooms again. I’d never, I don’t know, watch a movie, eat at a restaurant, or even walk down a street by myself. And now…”
“You’re running through frozen forests, stealing from frat boys, and riding as a stowaway on a train. Never say I don’t know how to show my Omega a good time. Stay with me, kid, and you’ll be going places.”
Bird gives his sunny laugh, which makes me melt inside in a way that I never knew I could.
It’s his weapon, and he doesn’t appear to know how much power he holds with it.
“Where does this train go?” Bird nuzzles closer against my side.
I kiss him on the forehead.
Then I take a deep breath of his scent, flooding the car with my pheromones and finally allowing my eyes to become heavy with sleep. “I don’t know. That’s the excitement of being on the run.”