by Connor Crowe
He must have seen my mouth hanging open, but he still didn’t dare meet my eyes. “It’s a neat trick, I’ll give them that. For all the shit they put us through, there was some real genius in there. Almost a shame to lose that…” He grew quiet, his face hard.
A second later he perked up again, unrolling the scrap of paper stuffed into the document carrier. His eyes widened the moment he started reading, and a stone of dread dropped into my stomach.
“What is it?” I asked, unable to wait.
“Shit…” he breathed. Elliot’s eyes flicked around for a few moments. He scrambled over to another rocky outcropping and spread out the paper on a flat surface, waving me over.
My heart beat furiously and blood rushed in my ears as I joined him.
“You will tell me what’s going on,” I commanded. I didn’t like not being in control. I didn’t like not knowing. Working as Markus’s second in command gave me the power and agency I needed, but working with this omega…I ground my teeth.
“Okay.” Elliot let out a breath. “Remember how you guys had the Eye of the Ocean? And how we found the Fist of the Mountain hidden in the base?”
“Go on.” I held my breath, but a tendril of dread already snaked through my chest. I had a bad feeling I knew where this was going.
“There’s a map and a list of the others here. They weren’t just looking for the Eye of the Ocean when they sent Felix out to do their dirty work. They’re trying to steal them all.”
“The Keys were scattered across the packs for that reason,” I murmured. “No one group can control all of the elements. The consequences…” I shuddered. Didn’t want to think about it.
“Tell that to the Black Hands.” Elliot spat.
“We’re going to have to tell Markus about this. Immediately.” I straightened, brushing the dirt off my pants. “Roll up that map and put it back. Keep it close—you might just be holding our lives in your hands.”
And my heart, I thought grimly.
Elliot gave a nervous chuckle. “No pressure,” he squeaked.
“No pressure,” I repeated, but my warrior senses were already on full alert.
We had an uprising on our hands, the Keys were in danger, and the fates decided that now would be the perfect time to meet my soul mate. Not to mention that he was nothing like I’d expected, and I wanted to treasure and protect him with everything I had.
No pressure? Yeah, right.
2
Elliot
Only a day ago, I’d been rotting in a jail cell, never knowing if I’d see the light of day again. Today? I was free for the first time in my life, and to tell you the truth, it kind of scared me.
When Felix approached me and set me free, I should have been excited. I should have been jumping for joy at the opportunity. And I was…but there was more to it than that. A lot more.
Unlike many of the other recruits of the Black Hands, I hadn’t grown up in the compound. I hadn’t been stolen off the street like so many others. No. I had chosen to be here.
I approached them and begged them to let me join. Sound crazy? You don’t know the half of it.
Now everything I knew was gone, and here I was, stuck between lives once more. I couldn’t go back to the way things were. That much was for certain.
I couldn’t go back home. That wasn’t even an option. After everything I’d done to disappear and get away from there? Not fucking likely.
So where did that leave me?
With this rag tag pack of wolves and this tall, brutish man that called to me in ways I didn’t think were possible.
There was no way we were actually mates, of course. We were strangers. He didn’t know anything about me other than my name.
And for my own sake, I wanted to keep it that way.
Fate, however, had other plans.
I never thought I’d live to see another pack. Surely not the fabled enclave of Nox Bay. Yet here I was, stepping through the gates with Arric at my side, just as the sun began to sink lower in the sky. My new life awaited me within these walls, but I couldn’t help but wonder: had I traded my captivity in the Black Hands for yet another form of it?
“You’ve still got the map?” Arric asked, speaking for the first time in what seemed like ages. He was a quiet, stoic man. I’d picked up that much. Typical bodyguard type. Joke was on him, though—I didn’t need anyone to protect me.
“Still got it,” I replied, patting the bag at my side. “But can’t we get something to eat first? I’m starving.”
He considered that for a moment then shook his head. “This is too important. We’ve got to go to Alpha Markus immediately.”
I sighed. My stomach made a grumbling, gurgling sound, expressing its displeasure. The food they fed us in the cells back at the compound left a lot to be desired, and come to think of it…when was the last time I’d eaten? My stomach cramped again and I braced it with my hand, wincing.
“It won’t take long,” Arric assured me. He held out his hand expectantly. “The map, if you please.”
I clenched my jaw to stop another retort. Fine. If all he cared about was his stupid map, he could have it.
“Here,” I spat. “Take it. I’m going to go eat something, thank you very much.”
“Oh no you don’t.” Arric grabbed my wrist in a vise like grip before I could get away. His steely grey eyes met mine. It could have been a trick of the light, but I could have sworn a saw a flash of gold there. I held my breath, blood pounding in my ears and my heart racing in double time.
His touch was firm, demanding, but not painful. In fact, something within me didn’t want him to let go. I opened my mouth to speak, but Arric cut me off.
“We’re going to see Alpha Markus. Together.”
And that was that. No room for argument. His grip loosened just a bit, his free hand taking the document carrier so I didn’t drop it. Then his strong fingers moved lower.
Together.
He pressed his palm to mine, our fingers brushing for a fraction of a second. Testing. Experimenting. Looking for permission, almost.
I didn’t think too much about it. Couldn’t. There was too much else going on. So I let my hand relax, and slipped my fingers between his.
We set off like that, hand in hand, and somehow? It didn’t feel strange at all.
It felt right.
“What is it?” The voice came muffled through the door. I watched with awe as we passed through the halls with ease, each guard standing down once they saw Arric. That told me he was of some position within the pack, and whoever we were going to see was higher ranking still.
Alpha. The word tingled in my ears and burned in my throat. The very ones who’d treated me like nothing more than a bargaining chip. The ones I’d put everything on the line to escape, even if that meant becoming a criminal.
Arric stood at attention, having dropped my hand. I wasn’t going to admit it, least of all to him, but everything felt a little colder now. More empty.
But there were more important matters afoot, and we both knew it.
Arric knocked at the door again. “Alpha Markus, the debriefing you requested.”
“Right. Come in.”
Arric pressed the door open and stepped inside, motioning for me to follow.
The room we entered was even more elegant than the clean, tiled walkways. Red draperies hung over a large window overlooking the Bay. A slight breeze drifted in from the cracked window, bringing scents of saltwater and pollen.
I wrinkled my nose and sniffed. Damn allergies. I simply swiped at my face with my sleeve and stood next to Arric, waiting for instruction.
We sat down at a table with Arric and I on one side, Felix and Markus on the other. Markus folded his hands and leaned forward, resting his chin on them.
“What news?” He asked at last. “Did you find anything of note in the wreckage?”
My eyes flicked to Arric. He shuffled in his pocket and pulled out the map we’d found, sliding it across the table in the stone holding tube.<
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Markus raised an eyebrow. “What’s this?”
Felix, as I expected, recognized it at once. “That’s one of the communication tubes that the Black Hands used,” he breathed, reaching across the table to take it. “It’s in such good condition...survived the fires and the collapse and everything. Where did you find it?”
My lips twisted into a grimace. I remembered all too well the pale, unmoving hand. The stench of death. The knowledge that somehow, in some way, I’d done that.
I’d killed them. Or at least, I’d helped.
“Someone was holding on to it,” Arric cut in, saving me from forming the words. “The owner almost made it, too—we found him right at the perimeter. This was all we found on him. Must be quite important to try and escape with it like that.”
“Must have,” Markus agreed. “Have you had a chance to inspect it? I don’t see any kind of opening—“
Felix cut him off. “The seamless design is what makes it so hardy. Here, watch this.” He pressed in on either side of the tube just as I had done, and the container fell open, the parchment unrolling on the table.
For a few moments, the only sounds were the click-clack of the large grandfather clock in the background and the slow rustle of paper. I ran my eyes over the map again, trying to make sense of it. Nothing jumped out at me.
“Is this what I think it is?” Markus muttered, leaning back in his chair at last. He looked over to Felix, then to Arric and finally to me. “Just what were they into over there?”
My stomach churned and the words stuck on my tongue. They’d sent Felix after the Eye of the Ocean, and then to find out that they’d had the Fist of the Mountain all this time...
I gulped. If this map was correct, then they were after the last two Keys—fire and air.
“Did you find any survivors?” Markus asked, changing the subject. “Anyone we could ask a few questions?” I didn’t like the way his ever watchful eyes flicked over to me once more. I shrunk back in my seat despite myself.
“No survivors,” Arric confirmed. “And I think we’ll be retiring, if that’s everything.”
Markus sighed. “Very well.” He stood and waved us away. Arric stood next and took my arm to lead me out of the room. I gritted my teeth, still on edge from the ridiculous reaction I had to him. It wouldn’t stop.
And the weirdest part of all? I didn’t think I wanted it to.
That night was one of the longest I’d experienced since I joined the Black Hands. No matter what I tried, I couldn’t find rest. The events of the day played over in my head again and again. Not to mention the thought of Arric’s hand on my own, the jolt of connection we’d shared, the almost spiritual feeling in my soul that this was right.
I groaned and shook my head, pushing myself upright. This was stupid. Sure, the raid on the compound had freed us and a few others from what amounted to slavery in the Black Hands, but there was one problem with that.
I didn’t really know what to do now that I was out.
Unlike many of the young omegas the Black Hands brought in, I’d actually volunteered for the gig. Yeah, silly me, right?
I was young. I was innocent. And I needed a quick escape where I could lay low for a while. Where she wouldn’t find me.
My face looked back at me from the bathroom mirror, emaciated and tired. It was the first I’d seen of myself in what felt like ages, and I nearly flinched away at the sight.
How had I allowed things to get so bad? How had I thought that joining their little ‘thieves guild’ was any better than life in my old flight?
I fell backward into bed, staring at the ceiling. Everything was flying around in my head, trying to fit together or make some sense, but something was still missing. Some piece I hadn’t considered.
The map...the compound...the Keys...
What did it all mean? And what, if anything, could I do about it?
As the tendrils of sleep crept up around me, one thing remained in my thoughts through all the chaos: Arric, the steely-eyed, too-serious-for-his-own-good, alpha wolf.
But he was a man. And I was straight. Wasn’t I?
I mean, I’d never really thought about it, but everyone in my old flight was. Straight, I mean. Men mated with women. Alphas with omegas. Not like this, though. Never like this.
Could he really be mine?
3
Elliot
There she was.
Those red scales. Those piercing yellow eyes. That snarl.
She advanced on me, claws outstretched. My former flight members gathered around us. They did nothing. Said nothing. And their silence said more than their words ever could.
I tried to scream out. I tried to tell them they were making a huge mistake. I hadn’t chosen to be born omega. I hadn’t chosen to be a shifter who couldn’t even take animal form.
And I sure hadn’t chosen to be forcibly mated to this queen bitch “for my own protection.”
“You’ll never make it out there alone!” Her hissed words echoed through my mind. “You’re too weak. Too simple. Too gullible. Pathetic.” The words speared through my heart like knives.
Searing, burning flames that seemed to consume me from the inside out. And the fear, deep inside, that maybe she was right.
I was nothing.
“No!”
I woke up, sweating and gasping, a hand pressed to my chest to calm my racing heart.
Just the same dream again. The same stupid, traumatic dream.
I let out a breath and took in my surroundings. Took me a moment to reorient myself, but then it came rushing back to me. I was no longer part of the Black Hands. They, for all I knew, were finished. In a whirlwind of teeth and fangs and fire, the compound and the life I’d known had burned to the ground.
Literally.
I whirled around, hearing movement from behind me.
It was Arric.
My heart leapt. Skipped a beat. Then came the questions. The fears.
“Arric,” I breathed, clearing my throat. “How did you get in here?”
“I heard you cry out.” He shrugged, as if it were just a matter of fact.
“And?” I pressed, pulling up the covers around me. “I don’t remember letting you into my room.”
“I…” A shadow fell over his face. “You’re right,” he said at last. “I overstepped. I am sorry.”
I should have yelled at him even more. I should have put as much distance as I could between me and the alpha, as quickly as possible.
But in the wake of that terrible dream, all my walls had fallen down. I was groggy, vulnerable. Hurting.
And somehow, he sensed that.
“I’m…” I swallowed. “I appreciate your concern. I do. But you can’t just go barging into people’s rooms like that.”
Arric sniffed. He opened his mouth, about to retort, then snapped it shut. He turned away from me, but even then a strange lump of sadness formed in my chest. More so than my own emotional raggedness. It was foreign, somehow. Unfamiliar.
“I’ll leave you alone now.” The words came out a soft whisper and Arric stepped toward the door with slow, hesitant steps. Giving me an out. Giving me a choice.
And that was more than I’d ever had in my birth flight. Or in the Black Hands.
“Wait,” I said at last, breaking the silence.
“Are you all right, Elliot?” He didn’t turn around.
I wasn’t expecting that. I sat there, stunned, still grasping the covers around my near-naked body. Finally, a nervous, choking laugh came out. “All right? Depends.”
On whether you’re just as toxic as the rest of them.
“On what?” Arric said, almost too quiet to hear. “Alpha Markus has put me in charge of the newcomers’ wellbeing. I heard you cry out. Sensed it, crazy as that sounds. Thought you were in pain. Tell me how I’m supposed to react.”
“You sensed my pain,” I repeated, deadpan. “Like a psychic or something?”
A snort. “That’s preposterous.”
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“Then what?” I crossed my arms, my heart rate picking up once more. I’d been screwed over far too many times to let my guard down that easily. I was weak. Omega. Useless.
“You…” Arric grimaced.
He rubbed the back of his neck with his large hands. Stared at the floor. Back to me. “I was concerned about you.”
There it was again. That slow, pulsing feeling in my gut. That intuition that something about this, whatever it was, was not only safe—it was right. It was good.
“I want you to know I’d never push myself on you, Elliot. I realize I might have scared you barging in like that. But I know there’s something bothering you. Can’t get it out of my head. And I want to be there for you.” He pursed his lips. “If you want me to be.”
Time froze around us as I looked into his eyes. Steely, hard grey with flecks of gold. He held his hands out to me, palm up.
Then he did something I’d never seen an alpha do, ever.
He knelt.
“I give you this promise,” he said, voice like a prayer. “You will have the protection of all of Nox Bay.”
The thrum grew around us, stronger and louder than ever. This couldn’t be real. Couldn’t.
Yet why did every fiber of my soul think it was?
My lips parted, eyes half lidded as I gave in to the alpha’s thrall. I wanted to touch him. I wanted him to stay.
“Arric,” I said, barely audible. “Come here.”
And when he took that first step toward me, the singing in my soul reached a crescendo.
We were only inches away from one another, two bodies orbiting one another and pulled in by some celestial force.
He was mine. My fated.
And if he was the man that my soul thought that he was, perhaps this was the answer to my prayers after all.
I reached out with my hands, the tips of my fingers only brushing the rough fabric of his coat. I sucked in a breath. Read his eyes one last time for confirmation. And then he took my chin in his hands, tilting my head up toward him as the room spun around us...