Chapter 25
Friends at the end
The door slams open and falls off whatever it was holding on to, crashing to the floor with a boom. Bear stands in the frame, his chest heaving.
“Taryn is missing.”
Mordecai growls. “I told you she was a runner. Jarek, Cadel, I need you to help me.”
I cock my head to the side and watch them rush off.
“Yeah, sure. I’ll just wait here until you get back,” I grumble.
I wander out of the room, but instead of going towards the mayhem, I keep walking down this abandoned section of the school.
I find part of a collapsed wall, but I manage to squeeze through a little gap.
In the first room, I find about twenty dirty and faded plastic chairs that look like they’d only be big enough for a small child, but sitting on one is Taryn.
I walk in and stand there, watching her. She’s got her eyes closed and is rocking slowly back and forth.
“People are looking for you,” I say, and I really don’t have much sympathy for her.
Taryn’s eyes open, and I immediately want to bite my tongue on the harsh tone.
“They can keep looking. I’m not a doll or a captive. I’m a person, an omega, and I don’t want to sit where they tell me to sit.”
I snort a laugh and move into the room, sliding to the floor and sitting beside her.
“Good for you. Nice hiding place, by the way.”
“Are you going to drag me back?” Taryn says with a bite in her voice that I respect.
“No way. They left me to sit and twiddle my thumbs until they found you. I say let them stew.”
She turns her head and stares at me. “You’re not so bad, Omega Keres.”
“Neither are you.”
She pulls out a flask and hands it to me. “Marshall’s rice wine.”
I take the flask and drink a mouthful. It tastes awful, but the burn of alcohol hits the spot. I hand it back and watch as she sips and puts the lid on.
“Did you have kids, Keres?”
I wince, recalling the memory I have absolutely no desire to remember. “No, they cut me open and… and I can’t.”
Taryn stares at me with wide eyes. “I’d heard rumours.”
“Whatever rumours you’ve heard aren’t the worst. That place needs to be set on fire and the ground salted for a thousand years.”
“I am sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.”
“There was a reason you did, what was it?”
Taryn shakes her head. “Do you believe in fate or destiny or that things are spiraling out of your control? They were easier back then; I knew right from wrong. I didn’t…” she stops and stands up and paces to the door and back, swiping at tears.
“You didn’t?” I prompt.
“I didn’t know what I was going to lose when I gave it all up. I didn’t know I would feel this way.”
I’m confused, so I just watch her pace. She comes back and kneels in front of me, reaching out and taking my hand.
“I’m sorry.”
“You keep apologising, Taryn, but you have nothing to apologise for.”
“I fought, I ran. I tried so hard to avoid my fate.”
She’s rambling, but I can feel the fear in the air; her grief has a salty taste.
“But she will not be denied,” Taryn whispers, squeezing my fingers. “She won’t be denied, and I know now what the right thing to do is, but, oh, goddess help me. How do I leave them?”
“Taryn, I don’t understand,” I say gently.
She sits back, letting go of my hands, and swipes at her tears. “Ugh, never mind me. Do you know what I want more than anything?”
“No, what?”
“I’d like a friend. Can we be friends, Keres?”
She’s staring at me with a mix of hope and shame, and I can’t find it in me to deny her.
“We are friends, Taryn.”
She lets out a little squeal and throws herself at me, hugging me. I laugh until I realise she’s trembling. She holds tight, and we both pretend we don’t hear her sobs.
“I don’t know how you did it. I don’t know how you survived all the pain.”
“You just take one moment at a time and tell yourself there are people who are waiting for you.”
Taryn falls to the side, and I realise she’s a whole lot more wasted than I thought she was.
“I’m worried about you, my friend,” I say carefully.
“Don’t worry about me. I’m fine. I met an alpha, and he was the love of my life.
Dawn was so beautiful. I really, truly loved him.
We had many happy, happy years. Our children are happy and healthy.
My boys, they are the most special creations I have ever made.
I have been blessed in this life. Blessed. ”
She starts crying. Silent tears roll down her face.
“Taryn, I will find a way to get you out. You can introduce me to your family, and we’ll drink Marshall’s gross rice wine and talk about these days and laugh.”
I reach for her hand and turn so we’re facing each other.
“You are a good friend, Keres. A true friend. I wouldn’t have come here for anything less.”
“I don’t understand,” I murmur again.
She reaches out and strokes back my hair. “I want to sing the song I sang to my boys. Can I sing it to you?”
“Of course,” I whisper.
She opens her mouth, and out come notes so pure they bring tears to my eyes. She sings a song for her alpha sons, praying to the gods to give her sons wisdom, health, and strength so that they may find happiness.
It’s a cute little lullaby, and when she finishes, the silence seems too loud.
“Come on, let’s drink more before they find me and drag me back to my doom.”
I sit by her side, and we pass the flask back and forth and talk.
Nothing deep, just what food we’d eat if we could magic it here.
She tells me stories of her husband and how he really wants to be able to build things, but he’s terrible, so now they eat at a table that wobbles, and her fence keeps falling off.
“What’s his name?”
“Oh, Dawn.” Her expression turns wistful. “He’s the light of my life. I never thought I would be so lucky to feel like this.”
“You kissed Mordecai, though?” I say tentatively.
“Oh, that.” She wrinkles her nose and uncaps the flask. “I would do anything to get home. Well, up until that point, I would have done anything. Now…I can see the bigger picture.”
“You don’t want to lead the Beta’s Path to your family,” I surmise. “That’s admirable.”
“Yeah,” she says and looks up. “The party's over.”
“What were you thinking?” Marshall snaps.
“I was thinking I didn’t want to spend the last days of my life in chains!” She snarls. “Mordecai is so convinced I’m this saviour that he’s turning into the thing he hates.”
“Taryn, we’re just trying to save as many people as we can. Mordecai believes in his visions—”
“I know you don’t believe in them, Marshall, but you also won’t go against Bear. This is hell. I’m not allowed out; I’m not allowed to walk around inside. I’ve been kept in a single room with a damn guard!” she shouts furiously.
“You keep her guarded?” I ask, outraged. As I stand up, I become aware of just how unstable the world is. I stumble, and Marshall just manages to leap towards me and catch me before I pitch forward onto the floor.
“What the hell is wrong with you two?” Marshall barks.
I look at Taryn, and we both burst into gales of giggles.
He snags the flask and opens it, spitting out a curse that would turn a grandmother red.
“Have either of you ever been drunk before?”
I shake my head and then moan as the world keeps shaking.
“Gods save me from idiot omegas,” he snaps.
“Hey!” I protest but end up spitting on myself.
Taryn explodes with hysterical laughter and points at me. “You spat on yourself.”
“I did not!” I say and do it again.
“Oh, for the love of—”
“Bunnies.”
Marshall side-eyes Taryn. “I do not like bunnies.”
“Sure, you do; they are cute and cuddly and so fluffy.”
“And they have two mouths full of serrated teeth. What's not to love?”
“Marshall, I want to see some bunnies before I die.”
“If you could sober up, I will go catch you one. We can eat it for dinner.”
“Hey!” Taryn slaps his arm. “We can’t eat it for dinner.”
“Of course, we can. What do you think yesterday’s mystery meat was?”
Taryn lets out a piteous moan. “No, no, don’t tell me that.”
“It’s a carnivorous rodent that eats people. Why do you care if it’s dead?”
Taryn looks at me; I look back at her.
“Because it’s fluffy,” we both say at the same time and then laugh so hard we cry.
Marshall sighs heavily. “I’m going to walk out of here and pretend I never saw you.”
“That would be rude, Marshy.”
“Do not call me Marshy.”
“We should set him up with an omega,” Taryn says. “I know a cute girl near my place; she makes the best biscuits.”
“All my people disappeared,” I say forlornly.
“I do not need a date!” Marshall snaps. “We’re in the middle of the Culling Ground with the Path surrounding us. The last thing I want to do is fuck.”
“Oh, I could go for a fuck. My husband, Dawn, he was so good.”
I nod my head. “Sex is grand.”
“Grand?” Cadel says from the doorway.
I give him a lopsided smile. “Perfect?”
“Better.”
“Take her back to wherever you guys are holding up. I’m going to take this thief back to her room to sleep it off.”
Cadel comes over to me, and I watch until he’s just so tall and huge.
“You’re so pretty.”
“You’re so drunk.”
Taryn stiffens, and all the blood drains from her face. “It’s you.”
Cadel looks at her; he shows no sign of recognition.
“It’s you. I didn’t.” Taryn looks at me, and her eyes fill with tears. “I didn’t know.”
“What are you talking about, Taryn?” Marshall huffs and swings her up into his arms. She cuddles into his chest, looking absolutely tiny.
“It’s the one I’ve been waiting for. She said I needed to wait for him to arrive, that when I met him, I would know it’s about to begin.”
Except even to my drunken mind, her statement sounds completely and utterly devastated.
Marshall grumbles and disappears with her, leaving me with Cadel.
“Do you know what that was about?”
“I have no idea,” I say and reach up, stroking his jaw. “Sometimes the hurts go so deep, and we hold them in so long that they just have to bleed out. Taryn is hurting. She misses her family; she needs friends, not isolation.”
“You are a very kind omega,” Cadel whispers. “Now, stop taking care of everyone else, and let’s go take care of you.”
I turn my face into his throat, inhaling the smell of him, getting lost in the memories.
“I’m not having sex with you while you are inebriated,” Cadel whispers, “no matter how cute those little moans are.”
I grin and drag my teeth over the spot, hearing his hissing inhale.
He moves swiftly, carrying me back to our room and sits beside me.
“Aren’t you going to go look for the escape?”
“No, I’m going to stay here and look after you,” he says and closes his eyes.
I twist so I can look up at him. He opens his eyes and reaches out, brushing my hair back from my face.
“Sleep now, Omega.”
I don’t want to obey him. I don’t even know if he used a bark, but I succumb to his command immediately, letting out a contented sigh as I wrap an arm around his thigh and press my face against it.