Shuffling steps and muttered grunts outside the front door had my head shooting up in a flash. I scrambled to my feet, almost panicking, stumbling out of the room as quickly as I could. The other omegas didn’t seem to notice my sudden withdrawal, seeing as all their faces had turned towards the front door with varying emotions – fear, dismay, despair, resignation – playing across their features.
As I backed down the corridor, Owen and I exchanged a glance. He shook his head, staying where he was. We both knew he was popular with the betas. He didn’t like it, but I had the impression he felt he could handle it better than the rest of us.
I disappeared down the corridor and into our room at the end, where I huddled in the dark. Harsh voices out in the vicinity of the living room had me trembling. There was an argument going on. I heard a slap, a whimper. The front door slammed shut. The scrape of a chair across the timber floor. The door slammed shut again. My eyes winced closed at the sound.
I heard nothing more for a while. My rapid, shallow breaths sounded loud and raspy in the empty room. My heart felt like it would pound right out of my chest. Were they gone yet? I couldn’t hear the omegas talking amongst themselves…
The silence was…
I stood up. Did I hear a floorboard creak? Or was that the door of one of the other rooms?Whoa!I jumped as the bedroom door slammed back against the wall, and the light flicked on.
“Got you!” growled the beta, whose name I knew was George.
I froze, eyes wide.Fuck!This was not good. I craned my neck, hoping to see Owen coming up behind him. There was still a chance I could get out of this if he did. But the corridor was empty behind him.
“I knew there had to be one more,” George grinned, showing a row of yellowed, broken teeth. His putrid breath, an unsavory mix of alcohol and decay, washed over me, nearly making me gag. “You’re the omega with the collar, ain’t you? Been looking for you.”
I looked him straight in the eye, took a deep breath, and said as calmly as I could manage, “I’m off-limits. You’re not allowed to touch me.”
His eyes took on a hostile aspect, narrowed and scowly. His teeth clenched. “Ain’t no omega gonna speak to me like that.”His hand swung up, but instead of accepting the blow, I stepped back.
“I belong to the new alpha. He’s got exclusive rights to me,” I said primly, mentally clutching at straws. My mind was whirring, wondering how I could get out of this. My heart was thundering in my chest, pounding so hard I thought George must hear it. But he was too focused on himself to notice, it seemed.
“Well, he’s not here to stop me, is he?” George sneered, his upper lip curling back in an ugly grimace. He was ugly anyhow, sneer or not.
“But he’ll find out,” I retorted. “Zarbius promised him no-one else would touch me.”
George shrugged, his beefy pecs stretching the shirt across his chest. I gulped. He was so much bigger than me. He dwarfed me in both height and breadth, and the size of his chest and arms… there was no way I’d be capable of resisting him if he decided to force the issue.
“I don’t reckon Alpha will care too much,” he said. He ran a thick finger along my jaw. I wanted to vomit.
“Maybe not. But the new alpha will,” I assured him, keeping my chin up and my shoulders back. I forced my arms to hang relaxed at my sides. “He might not care about me, but he won’t be happy that you disrespected him. Did you know he was an MMA fighter in his previous pack? Won a ton of awards too.” I puffed out my chest proudly, though I’d totally made this whole thing up.
“Yeah, is that right?” The beta’s enthusiasm seemed to dwindle a little.
“Oh, yeah,” I said brightly, “he’s the local champion down there. I think he said he has another fight coming up in a few days. He’s been in training. You should see his muscles… omg…” I babbled on.
“Right.” The man leaned forward, his odor of sweat overpowering, and for a frightening moment I thought he was going to ignore my comments and keep going. My chest ached with each passing moment as I held my breath.
George’s fingers plucked at my collar, flicking the lapels apart. “Huh,” he said, backing away and sounding disinterested. “Just checking.”
Then he abruptly turned and I collapsed against the wall as I listened to his heavy footfalls fading down the corridor. The house shuddered as the front door slammed shut.
I exhaled, the sibilant hiss barely audible over the pounding of my heart as I sank to the floor. Hugging my knees to my chest, I pressed my forehead into them and prayed that Agelius would come back soon.
*****
Despite my narrow escape the previous night – or maybe because of it - when morning came, I felt buoyant. Maybe today would be the day my alpha came back. I was going to feel a lot safer with him here and I hoped he’d get us out of here sooner rather than later. I was determined to convince him to bring Owen with us. I couldn’t bear to leave him to the mercy of Zarbius and his helpers. In the meantime, I seemed to have stumbled on a good way to keep myself safe if anyone else decided to flaunt Zarbius’ instruction not to touch me. And…yeah, I was going to have to confess to Agelius that I’d made himout to be a mad successful MMA fighter. I hoped he wasn’t going to be too upset with me.
I spent a little extra time in the bathroom again this morning – not enough to be annoying! – admiring my new collar. For the first time in a long time I felt optimistic. So much so, that I’d pulled out my bag of treasures which I’d brought with me when I’d first been dragged along to this pack – it seemed so long ago now – and dug around until I found the crystal stud earring, dusty with time and residue from the inside of the bag. It matched well with my mood and I was admiring it now as it shone and twinkled with my every movement, reflecting the bathroom light in a thousand sparkles of joy.
Chapter 21
AGELIUS
Sharkey knew the way as well as I did, they’d been our neighbors after all, but he trailed after me, prowling just behind my left haunch. I didn’t like having him behind me. I didn’t trust him. I didn’t trust Zarbius either. For all I knew he might have set me up and Sharkey was going to kill me on this trip, so I stayed alert, always directing some of my senses backward. Any time Sharkey disappeared completely behind me, I changed directions slightly to bring him back on my rear quarter again.
It was late in the afternoon, but up here in the high country you wouldn’t have known. The trees were sparser, the canopy more spread out, and the sun fell unobstructed between the trees. This area of the forest was quite inaccessible, and the risk of coming across humans was almost nil, even so we were careful. The grass was dry and brittle, the air quite still and held the dry, aromatic scent of summer. Passing under the trees, the shade was pleasantly cool, though the dry grass still scratched as we padded over it.
