Hector touched the brow of his blinded eye. “Tell meaboutit.”
“What’s your deal, anyway?” Shane continued. “No offense, but you smellweird.”
“Like an alpha, but in heat,” Colin mused. He was eyeing Hector curiously, and Hector bunched up his shoulders under theattention.
“It’s a long story,” I began, speaking to take the attention away from him, “but the gist of it is that Hector is an omega who took pills to change his scent and disguise himself as an alpha to make sure he wasn’t treated like an omega while he worked forGunner.”
“Makes sense. I wouldn’t want to be treated like an omega, either,” Shanemuttered.
“But youarean omega, right?” Colin asked. “I mean, that heat scent of yours was pretty strong, even if it wasconfusing…”
“Yeah,” Hector said stiffly, obviously fed up with all theprying.
“There’s probably something else you should both know,” Woodrow said. Both Hector and I listened intently. “You two and the four of us are not the only shifters living on theoutskirts.”
I satup. “What?”
“We have a small base camp on what is probably the opposite side of the territory, seeing as how long it took us to find you,” Woodrow continued. “Living with us are a few omegas who escaped the town under specialcircumstances.”
“How?” Hector asked loudly, his eyes flashing. It was clear he was invested in the safety of other Scarlet Ridgeomegas.
“We realized how fucked up everything was, and busted some of them out the night we got exiled, before Gunner could stop us,” Darrel explained. “The guards were confused because they still thought we were on their side, but it nearly cost us our lives.” His voice became quiet. “We lost one of our own, another alpha named Rick. His omega crush was one of the ones wesaved.”
“I’m sorry,” Hector and Imurmured.
All of us had lost someone because of Gunner - some of us had lost many people. This couldn’t happen anymore. I refused to let anyone else die because nobody would dare to faceGunner.
I stood up. I had made upmymind.
“I’ll do it,” I announced. “For now, until we get everything settled, I will become your newleader.”
The other alphas looked both relieved, like a weight had been lifted off their shoulders, and excited, too, for the future of their pack. They thanked me and shook my hands. I could already see the respect in their eyes when they looked at me. It was clear they were elated to have a real leader - not adictator.
I glanced to Hector, who hadn’t spoken much lately. “I think it would be a good idea to meet the rest of this resistance group. It might be helpful for you to have other omegas to speak toaswell.”
His brows raised slightly. “You mean we’re leaving our cabin?” The rest of his question was silent, but I could hear it being held back on his tongue:We’re leaving to go with thesestrangers?
“Only if you want to,”Isaid.
The other alphas glanced at Hector expectantly, and he flinched slightly, like a rabbit. He sighed and got to his feet, murmuring, “Guess I don’t have much of achoice.”
I put a hand reassuringly on his shoulder for just a moment, then removed it when I remembered we had company now, and no longer had the luxury of being alone. “Everything will be fine. We’re moving ahead, and this is a great start for us.Trustme.”
Hector saidnothing.
We quickly gathered our light belongings, then I nodded at the other alphas to lead the way back to their camp. I fell in behind Shane and Woodrow as they threaded through the trees, with Darrel and Colin bringing uptherear.
Excitement thrummed in my veins. This was going to be the start of a new life for me - and Hector as well. We were going to rebuild Scarlet Ridge. Maybe then Hector and I could start a family of our own. My heart flipped at the thought, although I wouldn’t admit itoutloud.
But now wasn’t the time. Right now, a baby would be the worst possible wrench thrown into our plans. It was a major relief that the pills Hector took would ward off any pregnancies until it was out of hissystem.
Now, with the budding resistance against Gunner and the eventual taking over of the pack, we had bigger problems to deal with than a baby that wasn’t going tohappen.
