Chapter 33 Casey
Casey
“What do you do for work?” Khaos asks suddenly.
I look over at him and smile. “It’s been what? Three, four weeks, and you’re only now asking?”
Khaos leans back, arms folded over his chest, waiting.
“I lead tours in the tourist season through the woods and mountains, and I sell artwork.”
He blinks. “I haven’t seen anything.”
I roll my eyes. “Come on, then, Mr I’ll-only-believe-it-when-I-see-it.”
I unfold myself and pull the stairs to the attic down.
“Go have a look.”
I watch him climb the stairs, wondering if I should follow, but the old, familiar voices of my birth pack chase me back to the couch where I scowl at the TV.
He’s gone a long time, and I keep flicking my gaze to the stairs; the longer he’s gone, the more nervous I get.
The minute I see his boots, I fix my eyes on the TV and stay there, pretending I’m absolutely fascinated.
He comes down and sits beside me. He exhales. “You are so very talented. Every time I think you can’t get more fascinating, more intriguing, more desirable, we find another facet of you.”
“You don’t sound happy about it.”
“I’m not.” Khaos barks a laugh. “How could I be happy about this situation? Our omega is our owner. And in order for us to be free, she needs to choose someone else. It's occurred to me that we should just stay with you with the collars on us.”
I swallow hard, blinking back tears.
“Maybe we could be all right for a month, two, more. Maybe forever. But maybe not. But you are worth it,” Khaos whispers in a rare moment of vulnerability.
I sit there silently and consider his words, letting them fall heavily into me. Breaking a part of me that I’m trying to build up. I take those desperate, whispered words and turn them into a weapon.
“I don’t want you to stay with me with that being the choice. None of us are free right now, but maybe freeing you would be enough. It’s too late for me.”
Khaos stares at me, but I refuse to look up.
“How did you manage to resist shifting for so many years under such trauma? Where did your wolf go?”
The abrupt change of conversation throws me for a moment.
“Threat of death. I think she left because there was no way to survive with her; it had to be me alone. And it kind of broke me inside.”
Khaos frowns. “I don’t understand. Omegas are cherished. What is wrong with your pack?”
“Are they?” I ask, stunned by that news. “Not in my pack.” I scoff. “It’s a bit more complicated, but my mother was a tough omega. She had to fight and fight hard to keep us alive.”
Khaos stares at me.
“She kept getting challenged by the alpha female. But we were starving, and she was giving me her food. After that, I went to live in my father’s house, and it was…bearable. I had Liam, and they mostly just ignored me. But then…my wolf never showed.”
I lean forward.
“They never used to pay me that much attention, but they are noticing now. They will come for me soon and come to kill you. We are running short of time.”
Khaos swings around so he’s sitting on the coffee table in front of me.
“You’re remarkable.”
I blink at him, frustrated that he’s ignoring my warnings.
He leans forward slowly, giving me time to pull away, and presses his lips to mine.
I kiss him back, but he pulls away too soon. Somehow, we both end up staring at the laptop, but I reach for it first.
“So, shall we set up the next date?”
Khaos grunts. “Yeah, let’s do it. Casey?”
“Yes?”
“I wish everything could have been different. My mother would have loved you. But our pack will love you just as much.”
My throat gets thick, and I just nod and focus on the laptop. “I wish that, too.”
I reach over and touch the back of the man’s hand, breaking into his monologue.
He starts and pulls back from me instinctively. I smile at his obvious response.
“What are you doing here?”
He looks adorably confused. “Um, coffee date?”
“You love your wife. You love your children. Not just how people say they do, but you really do, so why aren’t you trying to win her back?”
He blushes and shifts on the chair. “It’s not that simple.”
“Isn’t it? I mean we can sit here and continue to chat, but you have no interest in me whatsoever. But when you talk about her, your eyes sparkle, and you come alive.”
“I fucked up,” he admits in a rush.
“So, fix it.”
“It’s not fixable.”
“Everything is fixable if you’re prepared to do the work. At least at the end of it, you can say you fought, you tried.”
He frowns. “Do you think so?”
“No one wants to think that someone else that shared those kinds of feelings would just walk away. We always want to believe we’ll fight for love.”
“Thank you…”
“Casey.”
“Thank you, Casey. I…I never thought about it like that. I just…can’t imagine my life without them. It’s hollow and grey. She is my world.”
I lean forward, putting my hand on my chin. “So, what are you doing here with me?”
He sniffs and smiles. “There’s a man looming in the corner of the shop who keeps staring at you as well. I could ask you the same thing.”
I blush. “It’s complicated.”
He lifts his coffee mug; I do the same.
“Here’s to complications.”
“May they lead us to happiness,” I murmur.
We clink our mugs together, and he drinks and then stands up. He gives me one cute, little nerdy wave and then turns with more bounce in his step and leaves.
I sigh and draw circles with my finger on the table.
Hazard slides into the seat opposite me.
“Didn’t work out?” I shake my head. “Good.”
I peer up at him, trying to see if he means that.
“Good,” he says clearly.
I sigh, looking down at the table while guilt sloshes back and forth like a pendulum inside me.
He reaches across the table and takes my hands. “Let’s all just stay like this-”
I don’t hear the rest of what Hazard’s about to say because he’s torn backwards out of his seat as Liam and Preston rip into him. Hazard rolls free of their kicks and gets to his own feet, his eyes glowing eerie gold.
“Stay away from our pack, mongrel.”
By insults, it’s not very creative, but for Preston, it’s almost brilliant. The two dumbasses forgot one crucial aspect of this ambush, though.
I grab Preston by the hair and yank his head back. “Kneel.”
He fights the command, so does Liam, but they don’t have the strength, the willpower I’ve forged with the blood, tears, and pain at their hands. And I’ve got something to fight for, something more precious than anything they have.
Their knees bend, and they drop to the ground and lower their eyes.
“I am not pack.” My rage is a thing of beauty, I shiver with it. “I deny all and any claim to the pack.”
“Then you give up your home!” Liam snarls, glaring up at me.
“Check your maps. I’m on the outside of pack land, always have been.”
“No, we claimed it.”
“No, you didn’t,” I say sweetly. “I claimed it.”
Liam blanches. Slowly, bit by bit, they are losing the leashes they used to control me. They will come after me in force soon. I’m going to have to be prepared for it.
But not yet.
I know how my enemies work. I’ve been studying them for well over a decade.
“I also told you I would protect what’s mine,” I purr softly and walk through the mess they’ve made to press myself into Hazard’s side.
I look up at him and then stretch up and kiss him. It’s hot, and even more hotter because of who is watching, sending us seething, livid glares.
I pull away and lick my lips, then I step through the mess to Liam and punch him hard. I do the same to Preston.
“Keep your hands off what’s mine.”
Liam growls, but when I look at him, he swallows the sound and drops his gaze.
I walk back to Hazard and put my hand through his arm, allowing him to lead me out of the coffee shop like I’m a damn queen. It takes us ages to drive home, and we barely speak.
Riot meets my hungry kiss with one of his own. When I draw back for air, he raises his brows.
“So, I need to bring you into town once a week so we can have this kind of sex,” he runs a hand up and down the space in front of me.
“This?”
“Aggressive. Sexually powerful, confident.”
I shake my head, finally smiling. “Tell me something about yourselves.”
Hazard grunts. “I hate bananas.”
I laugh. “No, seriously.”
He grins. “I really hate bananas.”
I chuckle, but it fades to silence when he leans in close to me and stares into my eyes.
“Nobody sees me but you. It’s like I’m a ghost in this world. But you see me. I don’t feel like I need to be stupid or tell jokes all the time to get your attention. Thank you.”
“Hazard.” They are breaking me. I’m breaking under the hope.
He presses a kiss to my forehead. “My parents were strict. Angel was the good wolf; I was the little shit. The angrier they got, the more extreme I had to be. It was a constant game of chicken. I was out the night I ran into those women, trying to find a way to stop our father mating Angel and I to a pair of wolves the pack had approved of.”
“You were?” Riot asks in surprise.
Angel stiffens and stands up straight, while Wrath perches on the porch steps beside me.
Hazard nods. “I overheard them. We were all supposed to be auctioned off before the end of the winter. Wrath, you had a match as well, she had arrived with the same females that we were going to be mated to.”
It’s clear Angel didn’t know this information. Fuck.
Wrath takes my hand.
“My family was good, but we were poor. My mum was dying when this curse was put upon us. I have no idea whether she’s alive or dead. And my real name was Hudson.”
“You changed your name?” I don’t know why I’m so shocked. I look at Riot, who already gifted me with his name. Riordan and Hudson.
“We all did. We chose our own names when we realised we’d be moved on,” Hazard says. “Our names depict our natures, and hide us so our families are safe.”
I consider their names. Riot. Hazard. Angel. Wrath and Khaos.
“Why did you choose Wrath?”
He reaches out and tilts my chin up. My breath flutters in my throat as I fall into his eyes.
“Because I am the wrath of our pack. The place they come to be safe. I am rage, insanity, the protector. I am the teeth and claws, the reminder of what we’ve lost.”
I stare up at him, the weight of those words bringing tears to my eyes.
“Wrath, Hudson,” I murmur.
He leans down; I rise to meet him, wrapping my arms around him. Trying to show him what he means to me.
He pulls away, and Hazard takes my hand.
“I’m Mika.”
“Mika,” I whisper and kiss him. “It suits you.”
Angel shifts, drawing our attention. “Drew.”
I stand up and approach him, moving slowly because we’re still being cautious. I lift a hand, pressing it over his heart.
“It’s nice to meet you, Drew.”
Khaos stands there, his expression miserable.
“I can’t tell you who I am,” he whispers. “I wish I could. If it were just my life at stake, I would tell you, but I have a duty.”
I dip my head, and a deep part of me understands him completely.
I swallow hard, regret filling me
“One day when it’s safe…I will call you by your names, and we can meet without the chains.”
Khaos swallows hard. “One day.”
Another promise.