Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Hunter Cabin, Blue Valley Woods
“W-w-what happened?” Bird slurs, blinking up at me.
He is still dressed in his flannel pajamas, while my violet dress is torn.
I wiped off my makeup in the long ride up into the mountains in the back of the Hunter’s SUV last night, while my hair falls in a tangled mess around my face.
Joker confiscated both my high heels and hair clips, claiming that they were possible weapons.
He was right.
Of course, I’m a weapon just by myself. I could use my Rogue Powers at any time.
Except, I’m intrigued to find out what is going on here. I’m holding back because for the moment, I’m gathering intel.
I know dangerous men, and these Hunters are deadly.
So far, however, they’ve been acting like they’re here to protect us.
They weren’t the ones who were shooting at us, and until I know the truth of the mystery, I’ll copy their tactics and play at being the prisoner to find out the information.
After all, the Hunters have a safehouse. I may as well use it today.
Didn’t Joker like to pretend that he was sweet and innocent?
I don’t know that I can pull it off.
I can sit here tied in ropes, however, like I’m not the monster that they’ve allowed into their pack.
The cat and mouse game is still on.
I gently brush Bird’s curls out of his face, although my hands are bound together with rope.
When I was pushed into this bedroom at the back of the Hunters’ safehouse by Joker, he wound the rope around my wrists into an efficient handcuff knot.
Joker winked. “Since you enjoyed slapping handcuffs on me, I’m only returning the favor, baby.”
“Bite me.”
“I’d love to. Maybe later.”
Phantom carried the still unconscious Bird into the bedroom and carefully laid him on top of the thin mattress, unable to hide his wince. He was bleeding heavily from his wounded shoulder, and despite Joker’s increasingly panicked questioning, ignored his injury like he hadn’t been shot.
In fact, Phantom held onto Bird like he was his Omega.
I paled.
What if Bird was his scent match?
“Thank you.” I raised my gaze to meet Phantom’s. “You risked your life to save my Omega. I pay my debts.”
Phantom arched his brow, before he gave a short nod. Then he pointed at the Beta.
I turned to Joker. “He’s right. You threw yourself over me without hesitating as well. You protected me like a bodyguard would, even though we’re not in the same pack and you don’t owe me loyalty. I respect that. I won’t forget.”
Now, I rush to soothe Bird with my pheromones, while I lie next to him on the pillow. He nuzzles next to my neck, breathing deeply of my scent gland.
“You were drugged with something in the mini bar,” I explain.
Bird wrinkles his nose. “I knew that soda was bad for me.”
“And I was tricked by the sweet-smelling Beta, Joker,” I grudgingly admit. “It turns out that while I was playing cat and mouse with him, he was doing the same with me.”
“Was he as pretty as you thought he’d be?” Bird peeks at me. “You’re not as angry as I’d expect. Normally, you’d be threatening to pull out his cock through his throat by this point.”
“Jokes would probably enjoy that. He’s prettier. And he’s…” How do I explain the whirlwind of unhinged chaos and danger? “Not like any Beta I’ve met. He proved his loyalty and his worth. Plus, his scent…”
I snap my mouth shut.
Will this upset Bird? He’s my Omega.
Will it hurt him to know that I have felt connected to someone else?
“It’s okay, Ro.” Bird gently kisses my cheek.
“I was once in a pack with over a hundred members. I love Betas and I’d love to add one to our pack.
I’m not sure that a contract killer who was sent to hunt us is the best choice, you know?
But then, we’re still alive. So, does he want to kill us? Or return us to the facility?”
Bird’s fear creeps like shadows through the bond. Bird should never feel like darkness.
I hug him tighter. “I won’t let them do either. Jokes claimed that they don’t intend to.”
“Do you believe him?”
“I believe that we’re right where I want us to be. We’re more hidden than we were before in this safehouse. We’re currently being protected by one of the most feared packs. When we have the best chance to escape, I’ll take it.”
Bird peeks around the cabin’s bedroom at the thick-hewn log walls, which are packed tight and sealed. The single narrow window is high on the wall. It is backed by a steel shutter.
He wrinkles his nose at the scent of the oiled timber. “This cabin looks like it’s been prepared for a siege.”
I nod, edging onto my back to assess the room.
“The Hunters are definitely ex-military. They’re smart.
Nothing in here can be used as a weapon.
The bed is bolted to the floor. The lighting is flush to the rafters so there are no cords that I can use.
Lighting cords are good as garottes or…okay, no details.
Even the floorboards are sanded and fixed without nails. Because I could use nails to—”
Bird looks green. “It’s all right, I can imagine the creative uses you have for nails.”
“Bet you can’t imagine all of them.”
He becomes greener.
I kiss the end of his nose.
I admire the efficiency of this pack even more, and it looks like they respect my skills.
“What about the Chief Alpha?” Bird asks, and I sense his anxiety through the bond. “The Beta may not be a dickhead…”
“I wouldn’t go that far.”
“Even though I trust that you have a scheme, the Chief Alpha here won’t like another Alpha on his territory, especially when you’re the same type of professional that he is. Why would he protect a strange Alpha and their Omega?”
“Now, there’s the right question.”
When I hear the lock turning, I struggle up with my bound hands and crouch in front of Bird.
The door bangs open, and Joker stumbles through it, carrying the largest stack of soft blankets and fluffy cushions that I’ve seen in my life.
The Beta is dressed in casual black jeans, shirt, and the same emerald jacket that he wore yesterday.
“Good, you’re up.” Joker more falls than walks to the bed, dumping his treasure of blankets and cushions on top of Bird.
“Are you trying to smother my Omega?” I shove the blankets off Bird’s head.
Joker ignores me.
He dives onto the bed, and with surprising dexterity for a Beta who doesn’t have a bonded Omega, starts to build a nest around Bird.
I need to fight my own inner Omega instincts, which rise in me when I see the nest, not to dive into it as well.
I ball my hands into fists.
Bird starts to purr, rubbing his face against a forest green blanket. “It’s so soft.”
Joker’s face lights up. “That one is my favorite too.”
Bird glances at him in surprise. “These are yours? Sorry, am I stealing your bedding?”
Joker shrugs. “You need it more. I know how to look after guests. Well, I don’t since you’re our first guests. I’ve been alone and isolated for a long time. So, I’m probably fucking this up. I don’t want to be rude.”
I hold up my tied hands. “Too late.”
“Guests.” Bird’s lips quirk. “Aren’t we prisoners?”
Surprised, I watch the way that Bird is leaning toward Joker. His pupils are dilated, and he’s fixated on the Beta’s lips.
I understand. I find it hard to resist Joker as well.
Also, hard not to want to spank the brat.
Joker pushes a sheepskin pillow underneath Bird’s head. “It’s more like protective custody, Cookie.”
“Cookie?” Bird’s purr abruptly breaks off.
I bite my lip not to laugh.
“You smell delicious, sweet thing.” Joker launches himself off the bed, pulling at the sleeves of his green jacket.
“So do you, Honey.” Bird’s gaze sharpens.
Joker stares at Bird like he’s reassessing what he knew about him.
If he thinks that my Omega is a typical submissive Omega, then he’s made a mistake.
Joker is smaller than Bird. If these two were in the same pack, it wouldn’t be my Omega kneeling to the Beta.
A slow grin spreads across Joker’s face. “I like you. I see why both your Alpha and mine were prepared to give up everything, even their lives.”
“So were you,” I point out. “Why? And who was shooting at us?”
“My Alpha told me not to talk to you,” Joker declares.
Phantom is smart then.
Joker strolls back to the bed and perches on its edge.
I arch my brow at him in question. “Like you are now? Sorry to break it to you, but that ship has sailed.”
He winks. “Luckily, the skipper can’t bust my ass for disobeying him because he’s out right now, having a bullet dug out of his shoulder. A bullet that he took to save you, Cookie.”
When Joker glances at Bird, Bird’s eyes widen.
“The Chief Alpha was shot protecting me…?” Bird sits up in the nest in shock.
“Skipper is like that. He has always stepped into the line of fire to save others. He’s a hero.
” When a cloud crosses Joker’s expression, I wonder what he’s remembering.
His hands clench on his lap. Then he forces a smile onto his lips, before he looks up again.
“Anyway, the point is that I don’t follow rules. ”
“Why did he save my life, if you’re contracted to kill us?” Bird demands.
“We’re not.” Joker appears offended. “Why did you think that we were?”
Confused, Bird and I exchange a glance.
“When I was in the facility,” I explain, “I was experimented on as a Rogue. They would burn us from the inside. They’re intending to kill us all with poison.
The knothead warden, Mr. Baskerville, would threaten us with your pack, making sure that we didn’t fight back or escape because then we would be hunted.
He said that there would be a bounty on our heads, dead or alive. And he named your pack.”
Joker stares at me. “Fuck.”
“Was the warden lying?”
Joker’s trick of acting the prisoner does work for gaining information. I should have used this one before.
Joker has paled.
He pushes his feathered, blond hair out of his face.
“Phantom and I have this reputation, yeah?” Joker pushes himself to his feet, pacing. “We created it on purpose. We are bounty hunters and contract killers. But we’re not…we’re more than that. I wish that I could tell you everything. But people like that asshole warden use us like the boogey man.”