by J. L. Wilder
THEY BOUGHT THEIR BREAKFAST at a little gas station off the highway in between rural towns. Seated on the back of the motorcycle, Hazel ate her chicken salad, scooping it up with little crackers. Emmett was eating jerky again.
He sized up her meal. “I guess you’ve changed your stance on the whole meat for breakfast thing?”
“This isn’t really what I’d consider breakfast,” she said, grinning. “More of a fugitive snack.”
“Okay, but what do you think your old pack would say if they could see you eating fugitive snacks on the back of my motorcycle?”
“Who cares what they’d say?” Hazel asked. “I don’t. I don’t give a damn what Matthew would think about anything anymore.”
He nodded, took a long swallow from the bottle of water they’d bought to share, and handed it to her. “I know you had friends there,” he said. “They were your family. They raised you. It’s okay if you have complicated feelings about them.”
“About Matthew? He had you beat up, Emmett. He took you away from me. He never loved me.”
“Okay, maybe not him. But there were other people in that pack. I’m sure you had some you were close to.”
Hazel thought of the way Paisley and Rita had acted while she’d been confined to her room. “No,” she said. “None of them helped me. Even if I could see that they understood what I was going through, none of them bothered to help.”
“They probably couldn’t,” Emmett said. “Matthew had probably ordered them to keep you locked down.”
“Yeah, he had, but even so...I don’t know. It was like they were all gaslighting me,” she said. “They were trying to get me to believe that I’d never loved you, that what had happened between us wasn’t real. And it wasn’t just my heart at stake. It wasn’t just my life at stake. They were going to force me to have an abortion.”
Emmett’s face hardened. “I was afraid of that,” he said.
“If it had just been me, I might be able to forgive them,” Hazel said. “But they were going to stand by and let Matthew end my pregnancy. Our children would never have been born. I can’t forgive that. Maybe they were under orders, but I’ve had an alpha all my life, and I know as well as anyone that there are always workarounds. There’s always something you can do to help the situation. No alpha is omniscient. They can’t countermand everything.”
“That’s true,” Emmett agreed.
“You look pensive. What’s up?”
“I was just thinking of my pack and the times they got things past me,” he said. A small smile came over his face. “They were clever.”
“What did they do?”
“Oh, all kinds of things. Like, one time, I ordered Judah to go out and hunt for our dinner, and he went, but then he brought home a stolen rotisserie chicken and pointed out that hunt could also mean find.”
Hazel laughed. “Didn’t he want to actually hunt?”
“No, Judah hates to hunt. It’s a weird little hang up. He’s got no problem eating what the rest of us hunt, but something about directly killing animals has always bothered him.”
“He sounds really...”
“Sensitive?”
“I was going to say kind. He sounds like he has a big heart.”
“He does. Judah’s the quiet one. The thoughtful one.”
“What about the others? Do they also defy your commands?”
“Sure,” he said. “There was one time, Xander—he’s the kid, only sixteen—well, I ordered him to get rid of this heavy novel he’d been carrying around. And he did it, but then he went back and got the damn thing out of the trash the minute my back was turned.”
“Serves you right!” Hazel cried. “Why did you want him to get rid of a book, of all things?”
“It’s tough being on the road,” Emmett told her. “We have to travel light. This book alone probably weighed ten pounds; it was huge. He couldn’t carry his share of the rest of our supplies.”
“So?” Hazel said. “I bet the rest of you could. Besides, you’re on motorcycles. Is carrying things really so much of a problem that you have to get rid of one book?”
“Nah,” Emmett said. “I was over worrying. And the truth is, I was so impressed by Xander’s determination to have the stupid book that I never brought it up again.”
“You miss them, don’t you?” Hazel asked quietly.
He had a faraway look in his eye, one that made her want to wrap her arms around him. “All of them,” he agreed.
“We could—”
“No, we couldn’t,” he interrupted. “I’ve thought about it every possible way. They’re miles away now. I’ve left them behind, most likely for good. I doubt I’ll ever see them again.”
Hazel was quiet for a moment. “I wish I’d known them better,” she said quietly. “They were your family.”
He nodded. “I wish you had too.”
“Are you sure there’s no way we could get in touch? You didn’t have a plan for what you’d do if you were ever separated?”
He shook his head. “It was shortsighted, I know that now. Pax always wanted us to get emergency cell phones. I should have listened. But it always seemed like such a good idea to be completely off the grid, and cell phones seemed like such a pointless human distraction. What did we need phones for?” he sighed. “Now, I’ve gotta admit that, in a situation like this, phones would have been a perfect solution.”
“Would you try to put the pack back together? If you could get in touch with them, I mean?”
“No,” he said. “After everything that’s happened, we can never be one pack again, any more than we can with the Coywolves. They won’t want us now that we’re together, now that we’re expecting. As alpha, I could make them submit to us, but I never will. I can’t make them accept my mate when I’ve forbidden them from finding mates of their own.”
She nodded. It made sense.
“But I would say goodbye to them,” he said. “I would tell them I’m sorry I have to leave them. I would thank them for all our time together, and for helping me to rescue you in the first place. Hell, I would know they were alive. That would be enough.”
“I’m sure they’re alive,” she said quietly. “They’re strong. Stronger than us. Especially, collectively. And nobody is hunting them, not anymore. And we’re still going.”
He smiled at her. “That’s true,” he said. “I guess, if we can make it through all the shit that’s been thrown at us, I’ve got to think my pack can too.”
She pulled him down to her and kissed him. Just the touch of his lips lit her up inside, and she wished they had time for more, but he had been firm about the need to get on the road as soon as their breakfasts were consumed. She could already feel the bonds that tied her to him as alpha, the need to submit to his orders. She wanted to finish her food quickly and ride away because it was important to him, because he had told her too. She wanted to please him.
This was how the bond between an alpha and a member of his pack ought to be, she thought. It should be voluntary, something given willingly as a sign of trust and love. She had never chosen to belong to Matthew’s pack. The thought had never occurred to her until now, but she had been born an omega, it was her destiny. Was it any wonder it had turned out to be a prison?
Emmett gathered up their garbage, threw it away in one of the gas station’s garbage cans, and mounted the bike. Hazel took hold of his waist as he brought it to life, and they rode off together.
BY THE TIME NIGHT FELL, they were in North Dakota.
“No money for a motel tonight,” Emmett said. “We’re going to have to find a comfortable patch of ground, I’m afraid,” He looked at her anxiously. He really was afraid, she saw—afraid that, at some point, what he had to offer wouldn’t be good enough for her.
It would never happen. I’m his, she thought, feeling a little tremor of pleasure at the thought of their lovemaking. I’m his now. “Ground is just fine,” she said. “You might have to let me use your shoulder as a pillow, though.”
He chuckled. “With pleasure.”
The patch of ground they found turned out to be in a field of soybeans. It was a little frightening because, unlike the corn they’d slept in before, the beans didn’t stand high enough to conceal them from view. They compensated by lying down behind the motorcycle, which at least created a feeling of being sheltered from the road.
Hazel curled up in Emmett’s arms, gazing up at the stars. She expected to lie awake for hours luxuriating in the sheer relief of having him back, but the stress and heightened emotion of the past several days came crashing over her like a wave, and she was asleep before she knew what had hit her.
She slipped into a sort of lucid dream. Her babies had been born, in the dream, and she held one of them in her arms. He’s the new alpha, she thought, not knowing exactly where the thought had come from but sure that it was right. Emmett will train him to lead the pack one day. And the little one, there, she’s the new omega. The next in the Cavallon line. But her life will be different than mine was. She won’t be raised to think of herself as a bitch for breeding. She’ll make her own choice about who she wants, and when. She’ll have a job, if she wants one. She’ll have a life. And all of them will know their dual natures as human and wolf. None of them will ever have to choose.
It was a beautiful dream, a sweet fantasy. Hazel knew she was dreaming, and yet, couldn’t this be her future? What was to stop it from coming true? She looked around at her little family, drinking it all in. We’ll have this someday, she promised herself. This will be our family. Me and Emmett and all our children. We don’t need anything else.
A pained sounding howl rent the air. The dream evaporated around her and Hazel sat bolt upright.
She was surrounded by guns.
She looked to Emmett. He laid on the ground panting, his face gray with pain. A wolf crouched low behind him. The wolf had sunk its fangs into the muscle of Emmett’s calf and was holding on, refusing to let Emmett move. She started toward him.
“Don’t!” Emmett cried, holding up a hand to stop her. He closed his eyes and trembled. “Don’t move.”
“Wise advice,” said a familiar voice. Its owner stepped out of the shadows. He was one of the Savage Rangers, she knew. The alpha? She thought so. “You want to listen to your friend,” he said. “If you move, my boys will shoot you.”
Hazel was terrified, but she managed to speak. “You won’t shoot me,” she said. “You want me alive. I know you do. You’re bluffing.”
The Ranger smiled. “Well. I said shoot, not kill. But if you don’t believe we’ll do it, try us. Go ahead. Run to your little boyfriend and see what happens.”
“Hazel, don’t!” Emmett yelled.
He didn’t need to tell her. She could tell by the look in the Ranger’s eyes that he meant what he said. Yes, they wanted her alive, but they could easily put a bullet in her without killing her. If she thought taking a nonfatal bullet would have actually helped Emmett, she would have done it. But all it would do would be make it harder for her to help him later. She held still.
The Ranger grinned. “Smarter than she looks,” he said to his packmates.
“We knew she was smart,” one of them said. “She keeps escaping.”
“No, she doesn’t,” the Ranger said. “You don’t escape, do you, Hazel? You wait to be rescued. You’re just a pawn in this game. You’re just waiting, while all these packs pass you around, waiting to see where you’ll end up.” He bared his teeth. “You should have known it’d be with us. We’re the strongest. We’ve been the strongest this whole time.”
“What are you going to do?” Hazel asked.
“Come on, you know the answer to that, don’t you?” he asked. “And here I thought you were smart.”
Of course, she knew the answer. “Say it,” she bit. “Say what you’re going to do.”
“What, you think I won’t say it? We’re going to breed you, of course. We know who you are. You’re the last of the Cavallon line. Your litter’s going to be huge. We’ll be the dominant pack on the east coast when we’re done. We’ll be able to wipe out the Coywolves, and we’ll definitely be able to take care of any nomads who come into our territory.” He sneered at Emmett.
Emmett let out a grunt of pain.
“You’re hurting him,” Hazel said. “Let him go. Please.”
“Can’t do that,” the Ranger said. “He’ll attack my people.”
“He won’t attack anybody! Jesus, look at him!” He was slumped on the ground, his fingers digging into the dirt, his teeth gritted. “Just stop hurting him!”
The Ranger eyed her speculatively. “I will if you come here,” he said.
She got to her feet immediately, with no hesitation, and walked to his side.
“You’ve got to come with us,” he said. “You’ve got to stop escaping. Or being rescued. Tell him you don’t want him to come after you.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Say it,” the Ranger said.
“I don’t want you to come after me.” She hoped to God he knew it wasn’t true.
“Tell him if he comes after you again, you won’t go with him.”
“If you find me again, I won’t go with you.”
“Make him believe it, Hazel. If we catch him near you again, we’re going to kill him.”
“Don’t come, Emmett,” she said. “Don’t. They win. I’m sorry, but they win.” And now, she hoped he would believe her, that he would give up the pursuit. Because they were telling the truth, she knew. They would kill him if he came for her again.
Emmett lifted his head from the ground. His face was sheened in sweat. “They’ll have to kill me,” he ground out. “Because I am never going to stop trying to save you. Never.”
The Ranger stared at Emmett for a long moment. Then he gestured to one of his men. “So be it. Kill him.”
“No!” Hazel screamed, the sound seeming to tear out of her.
“Like hell,” said a new voice.
Everyone looked around.
Dart stepped into the light, gun in hand.
Chapter Eighteen
EMMETT
Emmett was in a haze of pain, but the sight of Dart cut through it and cleared his thoughts. They were still badly outnumbered. There were at least ten Savage Rangers around them, and he wasn’t going to be able to fight with his leg in the state it was in. But Dart had gotten the drop on them.
And he’s still alive.
Where were the others? That was the real question.
It was answered almost immediately. One of the Rangers turned his gun from Hazel to target Dart, and as soon as he did, a voice whispered, “Freeze, asshole.”
Emmett recognized that voice. Would have recognized it anywhere. Pax.
There was a clicking sound that he recognized as several guns being cocked, and suddenly, three more members of the Rangers dropped their own weapons to the ground, looking skittish. Those cocking sounds had probably been too close for their comfort, Emmett thought. He couldn’t see Judah or Xander—and God, he hated the thought of Xander with a gun in his hands—but he knew they must be here if the rest of the pack was. He felt a brief twinge of disgust at the way the Savage Rangers were crumbling. There was no steel at all in them. They were brutal, yes, and dogged in pursuit of what they wanted, but as soon as they were asked to face danger, they folded like a bad hand of poker.
His own pack would never have been so weak. He was overwhelmed with pride.
It was Judah who spoke next. “I’ve got a gun on your alpha,” he said, still invisible in the shadows. “So, we’ll let him decide how this plays out, yes? You can all go back up to the road where you left your bikes, get on them, and leave. We won’t stop you. Our packs can go our separate ways, and we’ll never trouble each other again. That’s option number one.”
“She’s our omega,” one of the Rangers—one who was still holding his weapon, who hadn’t been spooked into dropping it—said. “Let us take her with us and we’ll go righ
t now.”
“No,” Judah said, his voice calm. “That isn’t one of the available options. Option number two is this: you try to move against the omega, or the gentleman on the ground, or any of us, and the shooting starts. And it starts with me putting a bullet in your alpha’s brain.”
Silence. Everyone seemed to be holding their breath. Emmett certainly was.
“All right!” the Rangers’ alpha said. It was practically a howl. “Okay. All right. Everyone stand down. Lower your weapons, for God’s sake!”
The Savage Rangers exchanged glances. Clearly, some among them weren’t thrilled with the direction this was going. But they’d been given an order by their alpha. One by one, guns around the circle were returned to their owners’ sides.
“Okay,” Judah said. “Now, everyone head back up to your bikes. Ride east. Your alpha will be behind you, when I’ve heard you all leave.”
“How do we know you aren’t going to shoot him once we’re gone?” one of them argued.
“You’ll have to trust me.” Judah’s voice was flint.
“Trust you. Right.”
“Ask your alpha, then. Do you want them to stay or go?” Emmett had never heard Judah sound so hard, so threatening.
“Go,” the Rangers’ alpha jabbered. “Take the bikes and go. He’ll do what he says. Go, now!” The man’s voice was awash in fear.
The Savage Rangers looked disgusted, but they followed the order that had been given. They turned and trudged toward the highway, making their way through the beans.
Nobody moved. Nobody spoke. Everyone listened and waited to see what would happen next.
Xander stepped into their patch of moonlight, a gun held loosely at his side. He holstered it quickly and dropped to his knees beside Emmett. “Don’t move,” he said quietly. “You’re really bleeding.”
Hazel whimpered.
“Give me your gun,” Pax said, holding out a hand to the Rangers’ alpha.