Finally, I forced my one good eye open.
From where I lay, all I saw was the tall summer grass wavering in the slight breeze, the trees at the edge of the forest, the blue of the almost cloudless sky tinged yellow at the edges as the sun slipped towards the horizon. The Alpha was gone. Talius... the omega-stealing double-dealing prick of an alpha was gone.
It was just as well.
I tried to blink away the confusion, but the pounding in my head was taking up most of my attention. I'd been fighting. I was sure I'd been in wolf form, but something had made me shift. There had been sirens and shouting. Maybe it was a conditioned reflex, knowing that at all costs, the humans must not find out about us wolves. Maybe that was what had saved me, because I knew I'd been losing that fight. Talius had been so enraged, his eyes bloodshot, the flare of his nostrils exposing the red mucosae...
He hadn't killed me. Probably couldn't bring himself to kill a human. He was weak...
Two hands grabbed me, twisting one arm behind my back. I ground my teeth together, my eyes nearly rolling back in my head, stifling my scream as they rolled me over to grasp my other hand and bring it up behind my back. Something cold and hard andburningsnapped around my wrists, and when I tried to pull my arms away, Ididscream as the metal burnt into my wrists in a way no regular metal should.
Silver.
"I know what you are!" hissed a low voice in my ear. "Get the fuck up, you piece of shit!"
Someone yanked at the cuffs cruelly, almost dragging me to my feet. I fought to hold back another scream as I was hauled painfully upright. The metallic taste of blood flooded my mouth as I bit down on my tongue. I shook my head, trying to clear the fog of nausea sweeping through me, but there was no escaping the combined effects of the silver and the migraine. I gagged, retched, and then relieved the entire stinking contents of my stomach all over the grass as my knees buckled.
Silver was poison to shifters anyway, but I'd always been unusually sensitive to it, perhaps because of certain... events... in my youth, or maybe I was just naturally that way. Either way, I was a gagging, spewing mess and my world had dissolved into a nightmare of pain.
"Get up!" the insistent voice of my tormentor snapped. I screamed as the cuffs were yanked upwards, and I staggered to my feet again.
"Check out the cabins, the office if you can find one. There's bound to be paperwork. If you find a laptop, bring it. We'll get the tech team to grab any data off it."
"We got most of the others, but a couple ran off into the bush."
The voices seemed to be coming from far away, reality swimming into and out of focus.
"You sick fuck," a deep voice laced with scorn seemed to be addressed to me. Someone kicked my leg. It barely registered over the agony caused by the silver cuffs. I turned my head searching for my assailant with my one good eye.
The heel of a hand slammed into my back, pushing me forward. This time the cuffs came with me, so there was noextraagony above the baseline pain that consumed my entire being. Fuck this. The guy restraining me must have been a shifter, because he knew precisely what this was doing to me. I inhaled, trying to scent him, to recognise him later when I'd get my revenge, but the blood bubbled in my nostrils, drips still leaking onto my naked chest.
He propelled me forward, the world swimming around me, as I struggled to stay conscious and on my feet. My eye continued to swell. My lower body screamed silently with every halting step. I desperately needed to shift to heal myself, but with the silver around my wrists, that wasn't possible. I gritted my teeth and struggled on, unsure which was worse - the pain from the silver cuffs on my bare skin, the agony of weight bearing on something that was very clearly broken or the relentless pounding in my head.
Eventually the white shape of a van loomed over me, and I wasbeing shoved inside, careless of my injuries. Excruciating pain enveloped me, a myriad of stars spun in a sea of darkness, and the world dissolved.
When I came to, a circle of fire shackled my hands to an overhead bar on the inside of the wagon, every jolt and bump over the uneven ground sending new waves of agony slicing through me as they took me away.
EPILOGUE 1
AGELIUS
We stepped out of the trees to the applause of the pack. It looked as if every last member was there to greet us, and they were cheering and hollering as though festivities had started some time ago, but in reality, they were simply enthusiastic. If the pack were going to celebrate, they’d celebrate together.
Beside me, Tosca’s shy face turned bright red, contrasting brilliantly with his blond hair and pale body. He was truly magnificent. I was so proud to be by his side. I couldn’t have dreamed of a more beautiful mate. Despite our little ritual in the forest, technically, we weren’t mates – Tosca had yet to turn 22, the age at which Paranormal Council rules permitted us to make a formal union with a mating bite - but in our hearts we already were. And clearly the pack saw that too.
I smiled, pulling him closer, even as he sought to tuck in beside me. I leaned down and found his perfect lips, cool from the mountain air, his mouth warm and enticing, and kissed him in full view of the assembled pack.
My tongue licked the seam of his mouth, and for a moment I thought his bashfulness would stop him opening to me, but Iwas wrong. Right there, in front of the whole pack, we shared a deep and filthy kiss. If they couldn’t smell it on us – and I was sure they could – everyone there would know we were intimate with each other. My chest was full to bursting, so full of love and desire, so proud to call this omega my own.
Oh shit!I had a little – actually a large problem – but then I shrugged. What did I care if they saw how much I desired my mate?
Absorbed in the sloppy, hungry kiss, I didn’t notice the quiet descend until, face flushed and eyes somewhat unfocused, I ended the kiss, to find Talius half-way down the path towards me. He was flanked by Irian and Isca, one on each side. The omegas were trying to look solemn, but the corners of their mouths kept twitching into half-grins. They were an irrepressible pair, and Irian seemed no worse for his time in captivity. His cheeks were round and plump and his eyes shone as he tried to repress his smile as he looked across at his omega mate. Isca was the more serious of the two, but his relief at having Irian back was evident. I briefly wondered again how Talius managed to keep two omegas satisfied, when I was exhausted servicing just one, but I didn’t have long to think about that, as the trio arrived to greet us.
Talius’ brilliant blue eyes gazed directly into mine. This experience had aged him. I noticed extra lines on his face, and grey streaks in his dark hair that hadn’t been there before. But his voice was as firm and strong as ever when he greeted me.
“Welcome home, Agelius,” he said, smiling warmly.
I bobbed my head. “Thank you, Alpha.”
