Chapter 45 Casey
Casey
A month has passed, and I’ve finally stopped having nightmares every time I close my eyes, but then, we were all having them. At night, Khaos wakes from his with tears in his eyes and walks the castle as if he’s seeking the comfort of ghosts.
We’re drowning here.
I get up and force myself to shower and pull on some clothes. After they rescued me, I think I spent almost two weeks just eating and sleeping, crying and staring into the memories that I can’t escape. I don’t even feel human anymore.
Casey, who lived on that mountain, is gone, a distant memory.
But I woke up this morning with the conviction that if I didn’t try to fix things, then I would lose the pack. So, I leave the room for the first time and, to my surprise, there is a woman waiting for me.
She’s startled, her mouth dropping open before she remembers herself and smiles widely.
“Omega.”
She bows her head with deep respect, the kind of respect you only give an alpha.
“Can you take me to see…”
“Yes, follow me.”
She’s got brown hair in a long plait and is wearing tight jeans and a loose white top. She’s a wolf; I can smell that much.
“What’s your name?”
“Oh, sorry,” her cheeks turn tomato red. “Hannah.”
“Hi, Hannah.”
She smiles shyly and then gestures for me to follow her.
She leads me through several corridors. It’s not ostentatious, but it’s nice, clean, warm, like a home. But it doesn’t feel like a home; it feels hollow and empty.
I don’t ask any questions, even when she leads me into a hall. Khaos is standing in front of a window staring out of it.
Riot, Wrath, Hazard, and Angel are sitting at the table with some other people.
Khaos turns and smiles. “Casey.”
Everyone in the room turns; most bow their heads.
Omega is whispered in deference, in awe, in appreciation. For one second, I’m caught between shifting shapes and launching at them and running, but I force myself to see them, to remember who they all are.
Everyone who hurt me is dead.
I don’t need to fear anyone anymore.
When Riot holds out his hand, I take it, forcing myself to step into the crowd of people.
Soft touches on my arms and back. The pack marking me as theirs, as precious. A part of me loves it, but a part of me is terrified.
I allow them to touch me as Riot guides me to Khaos. His face is lined, tense, stressed. There are dark shadows in his eyes.
As soon as I get close, I wrap my arms around him and hold on. Maybe if I hold him tight enough, I can keep us all together, but we feel like ash in the wind, breaking apart, losing each other, losing ourselves.
No.
I lost them once, I won’t lose them again.
I pull back and look up at him, I can already see he’s a million miles away. Draw him back, save the pack.
The omega is the heart.
She keeps it safe.
“Alpha.”
He blinks, looking down at me, and, because I have his attention, I have the others.
“I want those bonds.”
He inhales so quickly he ends up choking and coughing until his eyes water, but there’s life, there’s shock on his face now.
“Now?”
“Yes, right now. I don’t want to waste another minute. But,” I hesitate, looking around, “not here. Take me to your favourite place, a safe place.”
He cocks his head to the side and ponders it for a minute before his expression clears. “I know a place.”
“I need to be real; I need an anchor, Khaos.”
Wrath presses into me from behind. “I’m not going to lose you. And I’m not going to allow you to be lost.”
“You can’t fight the memories; that’s my battle, but I need something to hold on to.
I don’t want to be this person, the one who is angry and scared and ready to fight all the time.
And I don’t want to keep reaching for the wolf, ready to attack and run.
I miss you. God, I miss all of you. I miss me. Help me find myself.”
My whispered plea breaks through his ghosts, and he captures my face, brushing his nose against mine.
“I will always come for you.”
Khaos steps back, and I turn in Wrath’s arms, surprised to find us alone. Khaos glances at Angel, who shrugs.
“It would be the best place to go.”
They all nod in agreement, and then Hazard takes my hand, pulling me towards the massive doors and out into the sunlight and the beautiful day that’s going to change all our lives.
“Come play with me, Omega.”
How can I possibly resist him?
The safe place is in the middle of a forest. We walked there in human form; it was an easy hike, and the farther away from civilisation we got, the lighter I felt. But my wolf started to press against me.
The urge to shift got louder and louder until, at last, to my surprise, Angel had announced in a low growl that we were here.
I turn to find them all staring at me, intent and hungry. My heart rate kicks up, my stomach flutters, and I slowly reach up for the dress, pulling the ties at my shoulders apart until the material flutters to the ground.
Angel takes a step forward, but I growl.
Then I shift.
I take off before they can say anything, but I hear Wrath’s wild whoop as he explodes after me.
I streak through the unfamiliar terrain, stretching my legs to run faster, to take bigger bounds. There’s no strange mix of scents here. I can’t smell my old pack, just these alphas.
Riot jumps out in front of me, and I veer off course, chuffing as I leap over a fallen tree.
Wrath bowls into me. We go tumbling over and over until he leans on me, pinning me to the forest floor.
His wolf form disappears, and he leans in, rubbing his face along my fur, causing my body to tingle everywhere he touches me.
“You are so damn pretty, Omega.”
I snarl playfully, but he curls his fingers in my fur, pulling lightly as he bites the tip of my ear.
I whine, scrabbling at the grass. He gives my tail a tug, and then I’m free. I turn, but he’s gone.
The thrill of this chase is exciting me in other ways. I can still feel his teeth in my ear, his fingers in my fur. His scent is everywhere, in my lungs, dancing on the wind.
I run and keep running. I’m alone, but I know they are out there, running with me. The earthy scent of the forest floor can’t mask my pack’s scents.
Hazard howls, and I realize with amusement that they’re hunting me.
I put on a burst of speed because as much as I want to be caught, I’m not going to make this easy for them.
Angel is on my left, Hazard on my right. Riot has vanished, but I can feel Wrath behind me.
Khaos is…gone.
Just gone.
I reach a cliff and skid to a stop, looking up, searching for my way out, but there’s no possible way of scaling it.
There’s a small lake nearby and a soft sandy beach.
Angel pauses in the treeline, just watching me. I’d miss him except that it’s impossible to miss him. He is truly beautiful, like a painting. And he’s mine.
We stare at each other for long moments until I realise they’ve formed a ring around me. I let out a whine and back up.
Riot and Khaos walk out together, human, appearing from the shadows of the forest like the ghosts they are.
Riot peels off, stopping in the treeline, but Khaos walks straight towards me. He crouches in front of me, not touching, just staring at me.
“Shift, Casey.”
The alpha command hits me, not as a heavy blow but as a sweeping, seductive stroking. I can ignore it, but this is a test. This is my alpha asking his omega to submit. I lift my chin slightly and let out a long call to my mates, to the world, to the future and the past. I just let it all out.
He waits.
Always waiting for me.
When the song finishes, I embrace my human form and fall into his arms. He pulls me into his lap and sits down heavily, while I wrap around him, bawling my eyes out.
“It’s okay now, Omega. Casey, we got you. We have you. I’m sorry we were so late.”
His hands stroke down my back, and the grief and pain slips away, leaving something else. A fire that he’s stoking and growing. I lean my face into his neck and inhale before flicking my tongue out to taste his throat.
“Casey,” he groans my name.
I lean in, opening my mouth to suck lightly on the spot that is oozing that deliciousness. Everything except this fades away. I slide my hands over his shoulders, down his chest, and then I’m suddenly lying on my back.
“Casey,” Khaos purrs.
I lift my face to his; his mouth opens, his tongue pushing in, stroking mine. His palm cradles the back of my head, holding me close, but his free hand trails spidery, whispered touches up my thigh and across my ribs in a pattern that has me gasping into his mouth.
I shiver as he presses his weight on me, pinning my hips to the grass with his. When he touches me, I’m expecting it, but it still steals a moaning keen from me.
“So wet, baby. I’ve missed you.”
I don’t bother answering, just return to the kiss as he traces his way through my slick and presses a thick digit into me.
I arch my back, my nipples achingly hard, brushing against his hot chest. He grips my hair and tugs my head to the side and trails his mouth down my neck until he finds a spot and sucks hard. My toes clench, and my thighs fall even wider apart.
“So beautiful, Omega.”
My eyes pop open, and I find Wrath kneeling over my head, his cock aimed at my mouth. I open and take that glistening head into me, lathing my tongue around his crown.
Wrath hisses, squeezing his base and stroking his cock into my mouth.
“You’re so damn good at this, Omega.”
I whine when Khaos withdraws his fingers, but no sooner do I feel the gaping loss than the hard and thick head of his cock is there, pressing into me, stretching me.
“No knots,” Khaos murmurs.
“Aww,” Wrath whines. “I was so looking forward to knotting this hot as fuck mouth of yours.”
My eyes widen. Yes, I want to try that, too. I suck harder just as Khaos plunges into me, bottoming out in one single thrust.
My eyes roll, my body clenches on him, resisting and welcoming. Everything is so bright and so intense.