His brow quirked at the comment about heats. “Maybe it’s a good thing you still have heats. That’s how we all found you, after all. Otherwise we’d be out there on a wild goosechase.”
I shrugged in agreement. “Iguessso.”
Colin continued to walk by my side and chatted with me, which thankfully distracted me from how sore I was. I had to admit he was pretty nice for an ex-Scarlet Ridge alpha, even if he did have a bigmouth.
We finally arrived at their camp. Relief flooded through me. In front of us were a few tents made of tanned deer hides and a small crackling campfire. Behind the tents was a clothesline with some shirts and pants hanging to dry. Besides that, there wasn’t much else. The whole scene suggested that they moved around a lot - possibly to avoid beingcaught.
Smart, I thought. It made me realize how lucky Virgil and I had been to have our backwoods cabin, and that nobody stumbled across it byaccident.
A few faces poked outside the tents. Picking out their scents from the campfire smoke, I realized they were omegas. Part of me was relieved - no more being the single omega among a bunch ofalphas.
Excitement lit up Virgil’s face. He strode over to new faces alongside Woodrow and Shane, who explained the situation to the confused but curious omegas. I was about to do the same thing, except my body collapsed when I tried to take a step forward. I groaned as I lay, sore and exhausted, inthedirt.
Colin gasped. “Are you alright? Geez… You really weretired!”
He helped me back up to my feet and I shifted back to human form to becomesmaller.
“Thanks,” I muttered, embarrassed. But more than being embarrassed - I was angry. Angry at Virgil for not noticing. He had his back turned to me and was engaged in a riveting conversation with the other omegas, and hadn’t even seen mecollapse.
Whatever,I thoughtbitterly.
“Hector, are you okay?” Darrel asked as he came up behind us. At the sound of his question, Virgil finally turned around and saw what happened. He ran uptome.
“Hector!” hecalled.
“I’m fine,” I said, getting up. When Virgil reached for me, I swatted his hand away. “I said I’m fine! I don’t needyourhelp.”
Virgil’s eyes flashed, but I wasn’t paying attention to his expression. He clearly was more interested in this new fancy role of leader and meeting his new underlings than about me. That was fine. Icoulddeal.
Finally, Virgil said, “There’s a tent for those feeling unwell. If you feel dizzy, you should go see to the omegathere.”
I turned away from him. “MaybeIwill.”
As I headed for the tent he had pointed out, Colin jogged to my side and offered an arm. I didn’t take it but I muttered athank you. At least somebody seemed to give a shitaboutme.
I opened the flap and entered to find an older omega with a warm smile. Instantly some of the tension in my bodydissolved.
“Hello, dear,” he said, gesturing to the down pillow. “Takeaseat.”
Colin was still next to me. “George, we finally found them, that alpha and omega pair we were looking for. This is Hector. He was exiled from the pack by Gunner long ago, before any of us. He’s verybrave.”
George nodded slowly as he took stock of me. His eyes lingered on my face, presumably on my scar. I was getting used to thatbynow.
Suddenly, George frowned. He reached out and touched my shoulder like an old friendwould.
“You’re troubled,” he said matter-of-factly.
I blinked. He wasn’t wrong, but how did a stranger I just met know that? I supposed thiswasa troubling situation, trying to overthrow a tyrannical leader and all that, but I don’t think that’s quite what he meant by thosewords.
Colin glanced back and forth between us. Suddenly George lifted a palm to him, suggesting he shouldleave.
“Uh… Right. I’ll give you two some time,” Colin said. “Hector, I’ll be waiting outside if you need anything. Don’t push yourselfagain.”
“I won’t.Thanks.”
He breezed past the leather tent flap, leaving me alone with the olderomega.
“Your scent,” George said. “It is not simply your own. Tell meaboutit.”
