“Getting out of the truck now, micina. Puck sat behind me just in case we were being followed is all. Hayes is waiting for you too.”
I take a step nearer and she reaches with one arm, but instead of rushing to her I have to hold my hands up in a moment of surrender. It’s hard not to sweep her up, but I’m not myself, and I hate her seeing me like this.
Her sweet voice finds me in the delirium of my anxiety. My mind is still locked on what could have happened. “I’m okay, baby. I promise you, I’m okay.”
Raney is the only light I need in my cavernous darkness. I lock onto that insight as I count to a hundred. And then I do it again. The counting helps to calm the ravenous beast inside me as I let her words and her appearance take stock in my mind. It’s the fragrance of her wisteria scent blowing in my direction that shackles me. Opening my eyes, I see her watching me, a hint of panic making her green eyes pop against the white of her wide-eyed shock.
“I hit my head pretty bad, so we’re probably going to have to stop for a couple of stitches or at least some glue before we pack. And maybe we should get my wrist checked, but it doesn’t feel broken. I need to talk to dad too. Oh my god, my Scorned Girls,” she rambles. But I’d much prefer her rambling than what could have happened.
“Micina,” I speak as quiet as the breeze, “I’m going to fix the restraints, you’re going to sit in King’s truck, and wait. And I know you’ve got a lot to tell me, kitten, but you will do as I ask.”
She goes to speak, but the both of us hear the moment Puck opens the door of the truck. His need for her manifests in the opposite of mine; a rush of his scent and a blast of his dominance. I don’t need to turn around to see his desperation. I feel it.
Strangely, I find a sense of calming solace in his reaction. I knew he was hers the second I saw him with her in her heat. I wasn’t looking for confirmation on his motivations or commitment, but it gets delivered to me regardless.
“Puck,” she whimpers. It’s her relief that spills as soon as she sees him, but in a way it’s also her way of warning him.
“It’s good, Raney,” he says over the rush of the chaos around us, already reading the scene better, more maturely than most others would. “I’m going to hang here a minute. And when Koz is good, I’ll see you. Okay?”
“I’d wait,” she says. Her voice doesn’t waiver or quake, and again I’m rendered more peaceful and stable by how intrinsically well we fit in with each other, even in these initial stages of our pack forming.
I take a step nearer, ignoring the slight whimpering she makes. I focus on doing what I said I would, which is free her. Holding her wrist, the extent of the damage is clear but time will heal the bruises. The ones I bear on my soul, being ultimately responsible for her injuries, will take longer to heal. But it will.
I look down and her gracious smile radiates like a beacon of light guiding me back from the place no alpha in his right mind wants to ever transcend to. Feral is not just a word. It’s a state of mind that no strong alpha ever wants to experience.
“I know you’re not yourself, Koz, but I will say, you should be pretty chuffed considering how everything you’ve ever told or taught me came together, like that.” She tries to click her finger, but it doesn’t work. She rolls her eyes before she stands taller, prouder. “Ispilt his blood for what he did to me, but I waited until you were all near me so we could end this once and for all. But, for the record, he did touch your name on my body. He didn’t seem to like it being on my skin, not the way I do.”
I huff a laugh at how perfect she is. She’s my own melodrama. Parts of me remain mesmerised by the sheer audacity of her character, the other parts of me are still lost in a tumultuous clash of what might have been if I was a little later, if Reid was a little braver. A simple touch of her hand on mine and we take a deep shuddering inhale together as I inch further away from falling into a blood-soaked rut.
I shouldn’t press my lips to her forehead while I toy with the dangerous line of control, but she shouldn’t have been snatched away in a blink of an eye from me today either. Without warning, I hold the chain away from her and shoot, to free her from being tethered to him. And without asking, without all the pomp and ceremony I promised her and even before either of us take another breath of air, my teeth slice through the skin on the sweetest spot of her neck. Claiming and marking her and packing us.
A trickle of sensations follows the second I start binding us. It commences with a calamity of noise and a whirlwind of chaotic thoughts growing stronger second by second, rising to a fever pitch that blocks out the rest of the world. My heart pounds sporadically, increasing in a painful twisting beat that has me wondering if I’m suffering a fucking heart attack, and I stumble against her, making that trickle of sensation become a tsunami of commotion. I’m powerless to stop the onslaught of change and there reaches a point where I wonder if I did it wrong.
“Don’t move, Koz,” she says, her lips on my body poised already, and when I’m at my furthest point of madness, she strikes. Returning my claim with a vigour of her own. In it she instantly soothes absolutely everything happening inside me. She sates the rage and frantic disarray to a point of complete and utter, peaceful clarity with a single touch.
Her lips linger for a moment over the aching bite she left behind. By fucking god, her mark on me feels divine. As she comes back into view, I’m greeted by the tease of her scent already changing as a warning to others that this omega is now owned. A galaxy of colour appears in her eyes, reflective of the wave of emotions she contains inside her. Seeing them, I go to apologise for ruining her dreams of packing in front of her friends and family, but she cups my face tenderly instead. “Let’s go, alpha, you owe me a sunset.”
Without another word, she leaves me and goes to Puck. I twist around and see him lose any semblance of control as she nears. He rushes her against the door of the car and bites her with a savage desperation. I’m surprised by how quickly Puck claims her, it felt like time stretched out in all directions when I did it. Watching and being a part of it are two very different things.
He hoists her off the ground even before she finishes biting him and carries her to the back seat, but unlike me, he can’t not leave until he’s kissed her stupid and left her laughing lightly and scenting up the scene. But he does leave her. He shuts the door on her and locks her inside the safety of King’s truck. Another part of me relaxes. Hayes is more gentle as he holds her and claims her, but much like her presence fills a new part of my mind, the both of them do too.
Looking into the trunk, I set the barrel against Reid’s heart, and wait.
Waiting for Puck feels right.
In his own way, he’s already following or mirroring me in a lot of what he does. It’s like discovering your shadow is a tangible extension of who you are, which makes sense, considering he is part of my pack now too.
He stands at my back with her scent on his skin, which in theory should have me ready to rip him to pieces, but my alpha and his instinctively know who we are to each other. He holds his gun ready, and without a count down or even a sound, we act as one.
Emptying the entire chamber takes less than ten heart beats. Reid’s demise doesn’t fill me with satisfaction, but it does put an end to the ugly blight that has been following Raney for so long.
And yes, we should have done it anywhere but in the open for every man and his dog to see. I should be reticent of my actions, though I can easily admit I’m past all points of caring. Without a word, Puck simply turns his back and goes back to watch over our omega with Hayes.
“Are you armed, Talon?” I ask quietly as I shut the trunk.
Talon’s voice is confident and unwavering. “Service revolvers, left and right shoulders.”
“Any other weapons?”
