16. Runa
Runa
Ash is wearing faded jeans and a black sweater when he strides into the breakfast room like he owns it. With a smile as big as my anxiety about why he’s so chipper, he bends and whispers in my ear, “Good morning, Omega.”
Thankfully, it’s early, and we’re the only two people in the room.
“My name is Runa, not Omega.” I bite into my bacon.
Ash grips my wrist and devours my bacon. It’s the night of the fire moon, so a single werewolf male and a single werewolf female should not feed each other unless they’re flirting or courting.
I try to tug my hand away, but he turns it to inspect my burn. Which isn’t healing.
“I’m going to see our healer today,” I say.
“I’ll come with you.”
“No.”
“No what?” he asks, smirking.
“You’re not coming with me.”
“I didn’t ask if I could. I told you that I’m coming with you.”
Alpha males can be very stubborn. And insufferable. I change the subject. “Did you burn the human world this morning?”
“Not yet. Why?”
“You seem happy.”
“That’s because I’m alone with you.”
I nearly choke on my bread. Is he flirting? What is this wolf doing? Trying to get me killed, most likely. “That comment is inappropriate.”
“Tread carefully, Omega. Your sister broke our pact and chose a man over me. I’m within my rights to kill you all. Being a little inappropriate with you is appropriate, actually. Speaking of which… Where is my fiancée-not-to-be?”
“Father is making her nest for you, so I’m guessing you’re keeping her secret. But I’m curious about what you guys said last night after Maren and I left?”
“Pass me the apple, would you?”
“Sure.” I reach for a ripe red one and grip it firmly, then grin like a lunatic as I pitch it at his head. Shock registers on his face, but the alphahole recovers quickly and catches the fruit before it hits him.
Ash lifts his upper lip, showing me his perfect, sharp canines, before biting hard into the apple. Then I smell it. His mating scent. He’s deliberately releasing it.
My lower belly heats up, making me flush all over. Since I came to eat after my chores, I reach into my pocket for a clothespin and clip it over my nose.
Ash stares.
I give him my middle finger.
He opens the window, and once the wind blows through, airing out the space and chilling my bones, he closes it.
I remove the clothespin.
Ash scoops out eggs, bacon, fresh-baked pastry, and jam. Pancakes. Butter. Strawberries.
“Someone’s hungry,” I comment as I take a second helping. I’ll need it. Being near Ash Fireborn is sending me into heat.
“Ravenous.” He waggles his eyebrows.
Why is he so playful today? I need to stop this. “Maren chose another man over you.”
Ash shrugs. “The Moon guided her decisions.”
“I didn’t think you believed in the ways of the Moon.”
“It offers salvation for someone like me.”
“Ah.” I won’t prod him about his sins. No matter what he says, he’s not without remorse about his past. “There is no treaty without Maren. She and I spent the night chewing our nails and worrying about our lives, while you seem to have slept better than ever and woken up chipper as fuck.”
“I thought my reaction to their romance was enough. No need to worry. I won’t retaliate against Maren or her lover. We’ll proceed as planned.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean what I said. We’ll proceed as planned. We’ll leave Stormcrest and move to Fireborn territory as agreed. Nothing changes regarding your parents and their human alliances. In my territory, we’re free to do what we want without consequences for any of you since I make the rules there.”
“How will you marry Maren if she’s allowed to be with another man?”
“You let me worry about that while you pack up and come with your sister.”
“Me?” I shriek.
“You.”
I shake my head. “No.”
Unbothered, he eats his breakfast. “Same as before with your visit to the healer. I wasn’t asking.”
“But I’m not supposed to leave with you guys. My father makes the rules at Stormcrest, and the rules say that I stay here. With my parents.” The youngest omega wolf remains at Stormcrest. It’s been that way for centuries.
“Don’t care. You’re coming with me.”
I swallow. “You?”
“Us. Whichever way you want it.”
“Even if I wanted to, my parents and Soren won’t let me go.”
“We have to convince them otherwise.”
“My dad is more stubborn than anyone. My brother will look out for the pack’s future, and I’m part of Stormcrest’s future.”
“Is that because you’re supposed to marry into your own pack?”
“Yes! You know the laws.”
“Those are customs, not laws.”
“They might as well be laws if we’ve followed them forever.”
Again, Ash shrugs. “You should pack.”
“Laws don’t change just because you want them to.”
“Yes, little wolf, they do. I suggest you start packing now, because we must make haste so we can avoid the next storm.”
“Morning, children,” my mother announces as she sweeps in. She wears her hair up, showing off the beautiful earrings my dad bought her many years ago, when they cared about each other. A low neckline and a black dress, along with her red lipstick, tell me she’s flirting with my dad this heat cycle.
My mother doesn’t have heats anymore, but she is an omega with a healthy sex drive, even in her sixties.
“Morning, Mother,” Ash says, then pours her a glass of pineapple juice.
Mother? I roll my eyes.
“Put a dash of rum in there, dear.”
“At your service.” Ash finds the cabinet and the rum for her.
“You’re a sweetheart,” she says as he pours rum in her coffee.
Ash smiles sweetly and sits back down.
I want to throw up.
“Morning.” My father walks by and sits at the opposite end of the table.
“Hi, Dad.”
He pours himself a coffee and sips it as he sits, looking over the papers in his hand. When he reaches for the eggs, his gaze lands on my mother, but doesn’t linger long enough to matter. I’m crushed for her, while she pretends as if his negligence can’t hurt her.
“Soren isn’t coming,” my dad says. “He and Sven are on a call with the Council. Sven is being reassigned.”
“Packing is in order, I believe,” Ash comments.
“I hear,” my father starts while housekeeping brings fresh eggs for my parents, “that you allow your Regulators to film your purge.”
“I figure I could use the live feeds as a way to remind them of what can happen if they decide to come for me or mine again.”
I frown. “You went after them. You burned down just about everything.”
“After they killed my sister and tried to silence me.”
I put down my fork. “I didn’t know you had a sister.”
“Aiseen was fourteen when they raped and murdered her.”
My mother clears her throat. “Not at the breakfast table.”
“Truth makes the guilty parties uncomfortable.” Ash sips coffee. “That is why you don’t know about my sister.”
“We were told you lost control of your element.”
“That would be the end of the world, don’t you think?”
I haven’t thought about it that way, but I will now. If he lost control, the flames would burn…uncontrolled.
“Don’t fill my daughter’s head with your nonsense,” my dad says.
“Daddy, I’m perfectly capable of discerning what is nonsense and what isn’t.”
My father huffs out a breath.
Ash leans back in his chair. “Runa tells me you asked Maren to nest.”
“I have.”
“Are you her alpha?” Ash asks.
My father nearly chokes on a piece of bread. “Excuse me?”
“Are you her alpha?” Ash repeats. “The male who will visit the nest?”
“Show some respect,” my dad barks.
“I will when you extend that courtesy to me. You’re not her Alpha anymore. You stopped being her Alpha from the moment she signed that treaty. Don’t overstep your authority again.”
“Don’t talk to me—”
“Blade!” My mother shouts to interrupt the tension growing between my dad and Ash. “Where is your friend Blade?”
Ash exhales a pained breath. “I haven’t seen him this morning. Since Runa is here and not with Blade, I don’t care where he is. Isn’t that right, Runa?”
Is he referring to the arrangement between Blade and me that he so rudely broke up? “It is, Ash.” I say his name with venom, as if I’m telling him to go fuck himself. “May I be excused?” I ask my mother, who I know will say yes, before I push my chair away from the table.
“You might want to stay for this conversation,” Ash says.
“I doubt it.”
“By the Moon, Runa,” my mother says. “You know how much I dislike it when you don’t eat enough. Have more.” My mom grabs another plate and pours gravy over a biscuit.
My mouth waters. That’s my favorite. But I can’t stay. “I have to help Maren nest.”
“Maren should pack, not nest,” Ash says. “And so should you.”
Oh no. He said it. My parents will lose their minds now. The very thing I tried to avoid by leaving.
Ash looks pointedly at us. “Runa is coming with us. We leave after lunch.”