“Jake, leave!” orders Alpha.
His tone is absolute, and for one crazy moment I want to challenge him. I don’t want to take his orders. I’m an alpha too and fairly well matched to him. Why shouldn’t I be the one to lead for a change? As the thought crosses my mind, it shocks me. I’ve completely lost my shit.
I take a deep breath. I don’t want to be the pack leader. I don’t want to fight Callum. I’ve never wanted either of those things. It’s fucking Fitz destroying my sanity. Not content with trying to kill me, he is going to make me lose my mind first.
“Fine,” I mutter and I stomp away like a moody teenager.
I reach my room and yank the death trap apart before flinging it across the room. The knife thuds loudly as it skids across the floor. Fuck. I should have left the vile contraption up so Callum could see it and know that I’m not being melodramatic. Fitz really is an evil hunter. And I brought him here.
Groaning, I drop onto my bed. There is a bitter taste in my mouth and a heavy feeling in my soul. I know this feeling, it is far too familiar. It’s grief. I’m grieving for the sweet, scared Fitz-the-victim. The one that part of me, despite my best intentions, had believed I could help, redeem, save. Whatever the name for it is.
Despite knowing how foolish it was, I had been hoping that Fitz would renounce everything the hunters had taught him. I had been yearning for him to embrace his shifter nature and realize that the only monsters are the hunters.
It hurts to admit it to myself, but I had been wishing for Fitz to grow into a sweet little omega that I could welcome into my arms, my bed, my life. Perhaps even make him my mate.
A noise that sounds suspiciously like a sob escapes from my throat.
His booby trap didn’t kill me. But it has murdered all my hopes and dreams.
Chapter twenty
Istayinmyroom and try to pretend I’m not hiding. How is Alpha going to get Fitz out of the tree? How is he going to punish him once he does? I groan but nothing stops those questions whirling around in my mind. It’s not my problem, it’s Callum’s. He sent me away. I shouldn’t even be thinking about it.
After a long while, I hear everyone come back into the house. I think I hear footsteps going down into the basement and the door locking. The need to know what is happening itches along my skin but I ignore it.
Time drips by slowly and eventually I doze. I startle awake to the tantalizing scent of a heat. It is Fitz’s. My heart thuds and every cell of my body starts to fizz. Has Callum thrown him? I’ve jumped out of bed and I’m half-way to the door before I realize what I’m doing.
I stop and take a deep shuddering breath.
“Not my problem,” I say aloud as if that will help.
Turning and pacing my room is far harder than it should be. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It is taking every last inch of my willpower and all of my stubbornness.
Five strides, turn. Five strides, turn. Five strides, turn. I’m going to have to do this all night. My fists are clenched into tight balls by my side and I let my claws out just a little to see if the sting of pain will help. It doesn’t.
It reminds me of the feel of Fitz biting me. The rake of his claws down my back. There is no sign of either left on my flesh and I wish that shifter healing wasn’t so good. I want to wear his marks. I hate him. I want him. I hate that I want him.
Time turns as slowly as an ice age but it still relentlessly moves forward. The long, long moments tick past. This night is going to age me a hundred years.
A pained yell from Callum’s room has me running. I burst through his door in no time at all and I have no idea how I got here so quickly.
Callum is bent over, one hand on his balls, the other cupping his bleeding nose. Fitz’s scent is everywhere but I can’t see him.
“Where?” I ask.
“Under the bed,” says Callum and he spits out a mouthful of blood.
“What the fuck happened? Did you throw him?”
“No!” Callum manages to sound indignant even with his voice all nasal from his clearly broken nose. “He went into heat when he was alone in the basement. I was going to help him out of it because I assumed you would not want to do it.”
The white hot rage that floods me is blinding. My wolf is enraged. It wants to rip Callum’s throat out. He dared to touch Fitz. There has never been a worse crime committed in all of history. I’m glad Fitz broke his nose and kicked him in the balls. It’s the very least that Callum deserves. I’m proud of my omega.
I shake my head to try to clear it. Fitz is not my omega. He is my enemy. I knew he was in heat, I knew someone was going to have to deal with it, yet I stayed in my room. I knew Callum was going to have to do it, my absence was my permission.
And Callum is my Alpha, I should be concerned with his injuries, not the omega under the bed.
Henry, Dave and Philip rush in, alarm clearly on their faces. They go straight to Alpha. Callum is in safe hands and being taken care of. This means I can now turn my attention to Fitz.
