by Sky Winters
“Fuck,” he said. “I was pretty sure I’d thought that, not said it.”
“Oh, you actually think?”
He smirked again and Jason gave him a playful shove.
“You know,” he said, “if you don’t want to look like the loser dude who didn’t get the girl, you’re going about it in the worst way possible.”
He was right. Standing on the edge of the party like that, not talking to anyone—it didn’t look good. But Jason didn’t care.
“It’s fine. I’m not going to be here for much longer anyway.”
“What’s your deal?” asked Eric. “You want to be with her all of a sudden? I was pretty young, but I remember you and the rest of the guys always teasing her when you all were kids.”
“I don’t know—it’s weird. Something about coming back just made everything different. I don’t know why.”
“Because you looove her.” He laughed after saying the words.
“It’s not that,” said Jason. “Not that at all. More like...she’s not a bad girl. I mean, she’s great. Chad, on the other hand, is a total fucking prick. Probably got about five brain cells total bouncing around that thick head of his. She deserves better than him.”
“What, someone like you?”
“Anyone else. Not saying it has to be me.”
“Sounds like it does.”
Then Chad rose for his speech.
“Fuck,” said Eric. “This is going to be good.”
For the next ten minutes, Chad gave what Jason felt had to be the most painful groom speech imaginable. He could barely string a sentence together, talking mostly about how hot Lexi was, how he couldn’t wait to claim her, how all the other clans in the state were going to be jealous as hell.
Polite applause followed.
“Always so elegant,” said Jason.
He finished his beer and tossed the bottle into the woods.
“All right,” he said. “I’m outta here. Give me a call if you want to go to Marley’s later. Got a feeling I’m going to want to get drunk tonight.”
Eric chuckled. “But you’re definitely not in love.”
Jason gave the finger as he walked away, Eric laughing again.
He wanted to be anywhere but the party. Jason took a long stroll through the woods, trying to clear his head and figure out exactly why he was so pissed off and annoyed by what was happening.
After all, he thought, wouldn’t it be the best for the clan? Sure, Chad was an idiot, but Lexi was smart as hell. Maybe she’d balance him out—maybe the kids would take more after her than him.
An hour had passed by the time Jason made it back to camp. He entered from the other side of the woods, spotting Chad’s cabin up ahead.
But he stopped short when he saw it. The lights were on, the windows illuminated.
Jason checked his watch as he approached the house. To his surprise, more time had passed than he’d thought—over a couple of hours. The dinner was likely over, the party still going on.
He watched as Chad passed in front of the window, Jason ducking behind a nearby tree so as not to be seen.
This is fucking weird. Why the hell did he ditch his own party?
Part of him screamed for him to leave, that it wasn’t any of his business.
But he couldn’t help himself. He was curious and wanted to get closer.
When he saw Lexi pass in front of the window, he was determined to figure out what the hell was going on.
Jason moved closer and closer, finally reaching the side of the cabin, close enough that he could hear through the window. He held still, listening to the conversation.
“...don’t know why you wanted me to come here,” said Lexi. “People are going to think it’s strange that we’re both gone.”
“Who cares?” asked Chad. “It’s my party and I can do whatever the hell I want. And right now, I want to be with you.”
“Well, I don’t know what you expect to happen. We can’t, you know, do anything until the wedding night.”
“We’ll see about that.”
Jason poked his head up and watched as Chad crossed the room, putting his hands on Lexi’s hips. It was obvious she was uncomfortable, hating his touch.
“Come on, babe,” said Chad. “Loosen up a little. You want some wine or something?”
“What, so you can get me drunk?”
“No, so you don’t look like I’m fucking torturing you or some shit.” Then Chad’s face lit up. “I’ve got a badass idea. Go upstairs and put on the dress.”
“What?”
“The wedding dress. I had it delivered here last night.”
“What are you talking about? I’m wearing the dress my mom wore when she got married.”
“That thing?” Chad scoffed. “That’s like, a million years old. No, I got you something better.”
“You bought another dress without asking me? In what universe is that OK?”
“In the universe where I’m the alpha.”
“Not the alpha yet.”
“Will be soon. It’s on the bed. Go upstairs and try in on.”
“But—”
Chad hardened his expression. “You’re about to be my omega, Lexi. Tomorrow night, I’m going to imprint. So, you might want to do yourself a favor and learn how to take orders from me—because I’ve got a lot in mind I’ll be giving. Now go.”
Anger welled up in Jason. For a brief moment, he considered rushing into the house and clocking Chad across the face.
But he said nothing, did nothing. Lexi flashed Chad a hard expression before stomping off, going up the stairs, and disappearing.
Minutes later, she returned.
Jason couldn’t believe what he saw.
She had on a wedding dress, but it was a dress unlike any that he’d ever seen before. It was short, the hem barely covering her thigh. And the top was low enough to make it seem like the slightest wrong move would send her tits spilling out for anyone to see.
And she didn’t look happy in it.
“Hell yeah,” said Chad, getting up and coming over to her. “This is...so fucking hot. I knew you’d look killer in it, but man, I didn’t expect this.”
“It’s too much,” she said. “I look cheap.”
“You look like the hottest fucking omega I’ve ever seen. All the betas are going to be so jealous when they see this shit.”
Lexi rolled her eyes.
“Now,” said Chad. “Take it off.”
“What?”
“Take it off. You look good with it on, but I bet you look even better with it on the floor. Now, take it off.”
“What were you doing out in the woods today?”
Jason cocked his head to the side as if wanting to make sure he’d heard her correctly.
“What?” asked Chad.
“I saw you today,” said Lexi. “You were out in the woods with a bunch of shifters I know aren’t in our clan. What were you doing?”
Chad was taken aback. “What the fuck? I wasn’t out in the fucking woods today.”
Very cool, thought Jason. He’s a fucking liar, too. Charming.
“I know you were,” she said. “I saw you with my own two eyes. And I smelled you, too.”
“I don’t know what you think you saw, but it sure as hell wasn’t me.”
“Tell me the truth, Chad,” she said, her tone firm. “Tell me why you were meeting in secret with other packs’ alphas.”
He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, as if trying to buy time to come up with an excuse.
“Don’t fucking worry about it,” he said. “There’s one big thing you’re gonna have to learn when you’re my omega. And that’s to mind your own business. Understand?”
“So,” said Lexi, “if I went to your dad and told him about it, then he’d be totally fine?”
“You’d better not say a fucking word to my dad,” he said, his tone sharp. “You’re fucking with things you don’t understand.”
As if wanting to chan
ge the subject, he stepped in close and slipped his hand under her sleeve.
“Now, I’m tired of talking about this shit. I want you out of this dress, and I want you out of it now.”
“No, Chad,” she replied. “Nothing happens until tomorrow night.”
Before she could say or do anything else, Chad pulled his fist back and slammed it into the wall next to Lexi’s head. A boom sounded out, his fist punching a hole effortlessly.
“You’re really testing my fucking patience,” he said. “Don’t you get your job as an omega is to do what I say? How fucking stupid can you be?”
Rage unlike anything Jason had ever known boiled up inside of him. However much he wanted to beat the shit out of Chad before, it was nothing compared to how he felt at that moment.
“Chad,” said Lexi, fear in her voice. “Stop this.”
Heavy metal played from somewhere in the room, confusing Jason. But he realized what it was when Chad stepped over and picked up his phone.
“Hey, Dad...” He held up a finger in front of his mouth to Lexi. “Yeah...just took a break with Lex...Don’t worry, we’ll be back soon...see you then.”
He shoved his phone back into his pocket and turned his attention to Lexi.
“We’re going back to the party,” he said. “But change out of that dress. I’m leaving now, so meet me there.”
Then he pointed to the hole in the wall.
“I’m going to leave this here. I want you to look at it, think about what it means. Really use that big brain of yours. Got it?”
Lexi, still stunned from the punch, quickly nodded her head.
With that, Chad blew past Lexi and left the cabin. Jason hurried to the side of the building and watched as Chad left, making his way back to the party in front of the alpha cabin.
Jason gave himself a minute, letting the fire of his animal burn itself out. He wanted to pin down Chad, to carve his face open with his claws and leave him for the woods to take.
But he knew it wasn’t an option. He wasn’t shy about breaking the rules, but killing the son of the alpha would be a step too far, even for him.
When he was ready, he rose in front of the window. Lexi was there, seated on the couch and staring into the middle distance, still stunned by what had happened.
Jason tapped on the window, getting her attention. She looked up, confused at first. But when Jason waved his hand, she realized what was happening. Her eyes shot open and she hurried over to him.
“Jason?” she asked after pulling open the window. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Are you OK?” he asked, not bothering with a response to her question. “Did he hurt you?”
“No,” she said. “Wait, what did you see? How long have you been here?”
“Long enough to see what kind of a prick we’ve got on our hands.”
She appeared shocked that he’d witnessed it all, but then seemed relieved, as if happy Jason was there.
“I can’t take this,” she said, looking away. “I can’t marry him.”
There were tears in her eyes, and the sight of them made Jason want to kill Chad and protect her all at the same time.
“Come out here,” he said. “We need to talk.”
“But...” She appeared hesitant at first, but quickly changed her mind. Lexi hurried through the house and stepped through the back door.
The sight of her in that dress was nearly enough to make Jason lose his mind. He stood over her, Lexi’s tight body packed into that tight dress, he wanted her like he’d never wanted any woman before.
Get your fucking head straight. Not the time to be thinking with your dick.
“You’re not going to marry him,” said Jason.
He was surprised at his own words.
“What?” she asked, confused. “What do you mean?”
“Chad’s...he’s worse than we thought. It’s one thing to be a douche; it’s another to threaten you like that. I’m not going to stand aside and let it happen.”
“But what else can I do? We’re set to marry tomorrow.”
“We leave. We leave, and we go right now.”
She was stunned, her mouth slacked open.
Finally, she spoke.
“We leave? What are you talking about? Where would we even go?”
“We go to Seattle. And we go right now. Chad’s going to be expecting you back at the party any minute now. The more time we waste, the more likely it is that he comes back.”
“You want to leave—right on the eve of my wedding night? And with you engaged to Maddie?”
“Exactly. Listen, I want to go, and so do you. And Maddie’s not exactly going to be losing sleep over not having to marry me. If anything, it’ll be a relief to her.”
“But...I don’t have any money—I don’t have anything but this stupid dress.”
“That doesn’t matter—we’ll figure it out once we’re gone.”
“And what about my family?”
“We’ll drop them a line. Listen, Lexi, we’ll figure all of this out later. But right now, unless you want to spend the rest of your life with that prick, we have to go. I don’t want to stick around to find out what he’s got in mind for you for the rest of the night. And I don’t think you do either.”
She said nothing at first as if processing everything that was happening.
Then, she nodded.
“Let’s do it.”
CHAPTER 9
LEXI
This is insane. This is totally, absolutely, fucking insane.
The words repeated over and over in her head.
But in spite of that, in spite of knowing what she was doing was perhaps the craziest thing she’d ever done in her life, she was...excited.
Jason took her hand, leading her to the edge of the pack grounds. Once they reached the tree line, he stopped.
Lexi felt silly, still in her skin-tight wedding dress, the party going on just a short ways away. But standing there with Jason, her hand in his, she felt ready.
“All right,” he said. “We’re going to Seattle. You ever gone that far from the pack before.”
“Never once. But I’ve always dreamed of it.”
“It’s...different out there. Humans aren’t like us.”
“I could’ve told you that.”
“Right. I mean, you’re smart as shit. But it’s one thing to know it; it’s another thing to experience it. Humans are...they’re fuckers. They stab each other in the back, the scheme, they plot. This loyalty—” he swept his hand toward the camp. “The loyalty packs have for their members, it doesn’t exist out there. We’re going to have to stick together, trust no one but each other.”
Lexi took a deep breath and nodded.
“And...” he said. “Once we do this, there’s no going back. We can’t leave and return tomorrow, thinking it’s going to be all good.”
“Chad.”
Jason nodded. “Chad’s going to come for us. But luckily for me and you, Seattle’s huge. We go there, we blend into the city shifter community, and we lose him. And if Seattle’s not big enough, we go to LA. But no matter what, we can’t ever let him find us. God knows what he’ll do.”
“I’m ready.” Lexi turned her attention back to the tree line, the woods deep and dark, the moon silver overhead.
“Good. We go south, loop around. There’s a small town named Pine Hill—it’s off the beaten path and won’t be the first place Chad will check for us. We rest up, and make the remainder of the trip first thing in the morning.”
“And what about money?” asked Lexi. She swept her hands over her body. “This is it—it’s all I have.”
“Nearly all of the cash I made, I had to give back to the clan. But I socked a little away in a private bank account. It’s not much, but it should be enough to get us started. And maybe...”
“Maybe what?”
“My Uncle Stone. He’s...kind of a prick, but he’s family. He might be able to help us out.”
“Or tell the
rest of the pack where we are.”
Jason shook his head. “We’ll figure all that out later. Right now, we need to move. You ready?”
“Ready.”
Jason closed his eyes and shifted into a massive black bear. Lexi shifted along with him. Then he pointed his head toward the woods and they took off.
The moment Lexi was over the border of the pack grounds, she felt something that she hadn’t known in years.
Freedom.
She’d been into the woods before, even a few miles from the pack. But never had she left like this, with the intention of never coming back. It was exactly what she’d wanted for as long as she could remember, to run off into the woods, to leave it all behind.
With each moment that passed, Lexi put more and more distance between her and her old life. She knew it wouldn’t be easy, that there wasn’t a chance in hell Chad would take what she’d done lying down.
But she didn’t’ care. She was free.
An hour passed, the two of them tearing through the woods, moving as quickly as they could. Eventually, the scent of shifter gave way to the scent of human, the lights of the town Jason had mentioned appeared in the distance.
Jason stopped and shifted back.
“There,” he said, once Lexi had shifted back and approached his side. “That’s it.”
“And we’ll be safe there?”
“We’re not going to be safe anywhere. But there’s a motel and a bus station, and if we play it smart, we can be in Seattle by noon tomorrow.”
“Then let’s do it.”
He nodded and stepped forward, taking his wallet out of his back pocket and leafing through the bills. Lexi spotted a few hundreds, and nothing else. It wasn’t much, not nearly enough to start a new life with.
But they didn’t have any other choice.
They reached Pine Hill, a small town nestled on a bluff that rose over the forest. It wasn’t much of a place—Lexi guessed there weren’t any more than a few hundred people living there—but it would be enough for the night.
The motel, called Pine Hill Inn, wasn’t much either. The town was off the beaten path, far from the highway, which meant they likely didn’t get much in the way of visitors.
“What is this place, even?” asked Lexi.