For a moment he was silent. I could see him considering the possibility. Men like him ruled their packs with fear and intimidation. Respect that was forced and not earned, had the bitter aftertaste of unreliability.
“Impossible! All my men are loyal,” he decided, waving me off peremptorily.
“Okay, if you’re sure…,” I allowed a touch of doubt to creep into my voice. “Maybe it was just bad luck. Regardless, here we are.He’s offered you a downpayment. I can escort the omega back to him if you like and collect the rest of the money then. I’m sure he’ll be more than happy to hand over your mate. He has no use for him.”
Zarbius’ eyes narrowed, “Now why the fuck would I do that?” he asked suspiciously. “Hand over my only bargaining chip?”
I sensed I was dangerously close to losing his confidence.
“Or just put him on the truck when you ship out the others,” I said, shrugging half-heartedly. “You won’t get the rest of the money, but at least you’ll have this.” I waved the bag of bills in his direction. “Better than nothing, right?”
“Huh,” Zarbius huffed, a sour expression on his face. “How much did he give you?” He up-nodded at the bag.
“100 grand. That’s all he had in his safe. He has to go to the bank to withdraw the rest.”
Zarbius grunted.
I wondered where Talius was right now. I needed him here. And I needed to get to the omega house to check on Tosca. Every extra minute I delayed, something terrible could be happening to him. A bead of sweat formed at my hairline, but I didn’t wipe it away, afraid to show Zarbius how nervous I really was.
Zarbius’ attention was distracted momentarily by the steady rumble of an engine audible way down the bottom of the mountain. His eyebrows rose and he smiled a cold, calculating smile. His eyes, dark and gloating, sent a feeling of dread straight through me. I was too late.
“Well, well, well. Looks like the decision’s been made for us. That’s the truck come to pick up the omegas. While you were away, I called ’em and said we’d send the consignment early.”
He turned to the beta behind his left shoulder. “George, go get the omega from the cabin. Bring him up here for a bit. Alex, go round up the other omegas, get them lined up and we’ll pull out the ones we’re sending.”
“What about Sharkey?” George asked.
“Eh, we’ll worry about him later. If he’s stupid enough to let them keep him down there, maybe we don’t want him here anyway. Now get moving!”
George scowled and hurried after the other beta.
The heavy footfalls of the two betas died away, leaving Zarbius and I staring at each other. In the distance, a currawong cried. A tribe of crickets sang their enjoyment of the afternoon sun. A trickle of sweat ran down my back, tickling the skin and making me twitch. The drops of sweat forming at my hairline were a distraction, and I resisted the urge to run my forearm across my brow. Everything was still around us, the light breeze rolling over my body overstimulating the hairs, speckling the skin with goosebumps and sending cold shivers down my spine. Did Zarbius mistrust me? I wanted to fast-forward, get Irian and Tosca out here and bring this to a rapid conclusion before it all spiraled out of control.
For something to break the tension, I waved the bag. “Want this?”
“Later.” Zarbius continued to watch me with his fathomless eyes. I breathed deeply, steadily, forcing my hands to stay still.
“Here he is, Alpha,” the ingratiating tone of Zarbius’ underling broke the standoff. It was both a relief and an anguish when we turned to face the beta and his captive. My nostrils flared, when I saw what the guy had done, and I exhaled a quiet, angry breath.
A line of red circled Irian’s wrists where the twine tying them together had rubbed the skin raw, his hands so white I worried the bonds were cutting off the circulation. The beta was dragging him forward, like a dog on a chain, and though he was resisting, Irian had no choice but to follow… or lose his hands.
“Hey! Don’t hurt the merchandise!” I snapped at the beta.
At my words, Irian pulled up hard, the unsuspecting beta staggering as he came to an abrupt halt. Irian bit his lip – the sudden stop must have hurt his wrists, if he had any feeling left in them – and he glared at me, his face a kaleidoscope of emotions – outrage, shock, hurt – then his nose came up and his expression settled into a mask of cold dismissal. Zarbius laughed.
“Poor little omega,” he sneered. “Seems like everyone has deserted you. Your packmate has defected, and even your mate doesn’t want you back. Sadly for you, he hasn’t sent the ransom. Guess we’ve been keeping you safe for no good reason.”
The deep throaty rumble of a truck changing gears overrode his words for a moment, then…
“Lucky for you the truck’s already here or my men might have made up for lost time. Agelius must be right about you being useless in the sack – or else your mate would be falling over himself to get you back, eh?” he taunted, laughing harshly.
The muscles in Irian’s jaw tightened, but he said nothing. His expression didn’t change.
Zarbius snickered low and suggestive. He put a meaty finger under Irian’s jaw and forced his chin up so the reluctant omega was obliged to look at him. “Now how would he even know about that, eh? Has our little omega been putting out for the rest of the crew?”
A sickly choking sound erupted from my throat as his disgusting suggestion, but I hurriedly converted it into a spluttering laugh. Zarbius was clearly enjoying making Irian uncomfortable and while every cell in my body wanted to object, I had to play along. I hoped Irian would forgive me for allowing the disrespect, once we got everything sorted out. Ihopedwe’d get the chance to sort things out - at the moment I wasn’t seeing how this could play out in our favor. Where the fuck was Talius?
The rattling of the truck as it bounced along the uneven dirt and pulled up at the gate interrupted Zarbius’ sadistic enjoyment of the situation.
