Did he even give his name?
He couldn’t remember if the mysterious stranger had. Why was it so important? It just seemed that way somehow, in his exhaustion-fogged brain.
Stop thinking. Please. Stop.
His thoughts didn’t stop. They circled and circled, looping in on themselves until he could hardly make sense of them anymore. Keiran shook his head so hard that his ears made a popping sound when they flapped. He staggered to the side again, paws crumpling underneath him. With a yelp, he fell flat on his face and skidded in the dirt before coming to a dead stop.
Just before his own yelp rang out, another omega let out a cry. He must have been shorter, because he was just barely able to detect their thumping fall a millisecond before his own. Everything was too acute; too sharp. He felt like he was dying; like this was his end. And if it was going to be his end, he was at least thankful that he hadn’t technically been the first to give out.
But all around him were more thumps. As if the two collapses had triggered something, the other omegas all began to falter. Their strength had given out.
And the mysterious man’s voice, as sharp as everything else Keiran sensed: “I’m impressed that we made it this far.” From any other man, that might have been an insult. From this one, it became a compliment. “We’ll camp here for the night. Stay still, all of you. Rest. Breathe. We will bring you drink and food once we’ve hunted and secured a water source.”
Keiran just lay there dully in a heap with the other twenty-some omegas, gasping and struggling to get breath in his burning lungs. His legs felt as if they had fallen off.
All around him, other wolves moved. With that same sort of clarity, he heard the mysterious man giving orders. Some of the alphas departed to go hunting, while several others set up a watch around the perimeter of the camp. One or two set about to make camp, marking out sleeping spaces and kindling a fire.
They’re obviously not good at it, Keiran observed, listening to a man growl with irritation as he struck and bent match after match.
After about five minutes of lying prone, Keiran sat up. He was the only one.
Ty rolled his eyes in Keiran’s direction. He was in human form as well, though not all the omegas were. “What... are... you... doing?” the fox panted.
“Sitting?”
Ty pulled in a deep breath. “Why? They’ll... take care of us. Just... rest. Wait.”
For some reason, Keiran didn’t feel like waiting. He stayed sitting up and Ty huffed, clearly giving up on him. Something nagged at the back of the omega wolf’s mind, some bit of thought he had trouble separating from all the rest. For some reason, he didn’t feel like he should just be sitting around and letting others take care of him when he was at least well enough to continue moving around a little.
Some of the wolves were on their way back now, laying down bottles of water near the exhausted omegas. “Rest,” one said. “Drink when you’re ready. We’ll keep fetching water. Just rest.”
As no omega moved, Keiran suddenly realized what had been nagging at him. Something Abigail said once, about how she would probably still be prescribing cures on her deathbed. “As long as I can still think, I will still heal,” she said. A determined glimmer had been in her eyes.
Keiran could think. As a bonus, he could move. He could heal.
He pushed himself up to his feet and went over to one of the bottles of water. Surveying the omegas around, he picked out a female with her face pressed against the ground and went over to her. She didn’t move at all, not even her eyes.
“Want a drink?” he asked. The sound of his own voice was almost terrifying. He sounded like someone who had been eating sand for every meal.
The woman didn’t do anything.
“It’s safe to drink, see?” Keiran lifted the mouth of the bottle to his lips and took a deep swallow. It was like being kissed by an angel. Pure, magical wetness. Oh, it was good. He nearly cried, but that would be a waste of the precious fluid going into his body. “Try some.”
And still no response.
If she doesn’t drink, she’ll die. They all will.
Keiran tilted the bottle, wetting his fingertips. He gently rubbed the moisture over her cracked lips, feeling the wet scabs melt and split. Her blood stained his skin, but now he had her interest. She stirred, tongue flicking out to lick her lips. Encouraged, he tried to tilt the bottle down toward her mouth to pour some water in, but the angle was all wrong and she couldn’t lift her head anyway. He looked around uncertainly before another idea came to him, then he grabbed hold of his shirt and tore a scrap away from the rest. It would have been hard had the material not been so thin and cheap. Holding his makeshift rag, he dampened the end of it and then pressed it against the woman’s lips so she could suck on it. At first, she didn’t seem to understand, but the cool water must have revived her because her next reaction was almost violent, as she sucked greedily at the rag.
“Don’t get worked up,” he murmured, dampening the rag again and returning it to her. “You’ll choke and make yourself sick. Just keep it steady, okay? There’s plenty so take as much as you need.”
After several more minutes of suckling on the rag, the woman was finally able to lift up her head. Her eyes were cloudy, but she tried to speak. Keiran shushed her. “Don’t worry about talking right now. Just drink. You need water.”
He propped her head up in his lap now that she’d found some strength and gave her water directly from the bottle a sip at a time. She drank greedily and he could almost feel strength flooding into her limbs. No, scratch that. He could feel it. For the moment, this ragtag group counted as his pack and a wolf was always in tune with the members of his pack. That was just how it worked.
When he gauged that she’d drunk enough for now, Keiran gently laid her back on the ground. “Just rest now. There’s more water. If you need more help, I’ll be back in a bit. Just rest.”
He left her there and shuffled over to her neighbor. There was no doubt in his mind that she would be able to get her next drink on her own. Just a tiny bit of water could do wonders for the body.
He repeated the same process as before, again and again and again. Some of the omegas were simply grateful they didn’t have to get up and get water on their own. Not all of them listened to him when he told them to take it easy, vomiting back up what they’d already drank. Keiran moved on from those as quickly as he could. He could help, but he couldn’t help stupidity.
And then there were others like the first, who genuinely needed the help. There was one little omega boy who couldn’t have been more than 14 years old, a common tabby cat if the distinctive pattern of freckles on his face was anything to go by. He was as close to death as a child could come without actually dying. Keiran stayed with him for over twenty minutes, letting him suck from the rag. And in the end, he only had enough strength to lift his head for a moment and still couldn’t drink from the bottle.
I don’t know what to do now.
Keiran looked around at all the others who still needed his help, who needed water. And that was only the first thing he had to take care of. There were injuries to treat as well, and who knew if they would be capable of eating on their own when the hunters returned. Some of them were shivering, either cold or caught in the grip of a fever. And he had no medicines.
Someone lightly touched his shoulder. Keiran turned and blinked at Ty, whose hair was the color of the approaching sunset. “What do you need?” Keiran asked, his voice cracking. He was overwhelmed, thoughts whirling again. He himself had only taken a single swallow of water and desperately wanted to tend to his own needs, but a healer would always put himself last.
Ty gestured for the rag and the bottle of water. “Let me help.”
Keiran stared at him. His mischievous eyes were deathly serious. “Why?”
“Because maybe you’re not half as stupid as I thought,” Ty said gruffly. He glanced away and snatched at the things Keiran held. “And I can move. I can help.”
/>
Though he was still suspicious, Keiran felt relief wash over his tired body. “Okay,” he agreed, and told Ty what to do. He had his concerns that the dumb fox would rush or do something wrong, but the gentleness in Ty’s touch as he reached for the omega cat told him things would be just fine.
And so Keiran moved on. When everyone had been given a drink, Keiran enlisted the help of one more person to continue administering water. With that done, he stood up and staggered over toward the nearest member of the Guard.
“Uh... excuse me.” His voice went up an octave, embarrassingly. Stupid omega, he cursed himself. Too damn shy for his own good.
“What do you need?” the alpha asked, turning to face him with sympathetic eyes. “I saw you in that group. Taking charge. Rare thing for an omega. Well done.”
Praise. I can’t believe it.
Blinking rapidly to chase away tears, Keiran said, “Um, thanks. Listen, do you have any bandages? Or anything?”
The alpha nodded and led him over toward where the fire was now blazing, scrounging around in the packs that lay there before coming up with an armful of rough cloth bandages. No medicine. “This is all we’ve got,” he apologized.
Keiran shook his head. “It’s great. Thank you.”
As he returned to the group, he desperately wished that he knew enough about herbology to go scrounging around in the hills. Maybe there was something he could find to soothe nerves or help with infections, but he would just as likely accidentally kill someone by administering poison. No, best to stick with what he knew.
And he did exactly that, using water to thoroughly wash sores and cuts, binding them with bandages. He braced twisted ankles and aching wrists with more strips of bandage, tied at just the right tightness to avoid cutting off circulation. For those who shivered, he guided them over to the fire. For those with fever, he gave them more water and dampened their foreheads to combat the burning heat. What he could do, he did. And what he couldn’t do, he wished he could.
A howl over the ridge signaled the return of the hunters. Keiran looked up to see each wolf dragging along a small plains deer. It wouldn’t be nearly enough to feed all of them, but it was a start. Stomachs shrank when a person hadn’t eaten for a while, which meant the omegas would quickly become full during this initial feast, but after that, they would become ravenous. Hopefully, more hunters would go out.
Night approached as the hunters started butchering and cooking the deer. Keiran knelt next to one of the omegas still sitting down and helped him limp over toward the fire so he could be fed and kept safe when it came time to sleep. He was on his way back when, suddenly, a hand clamped down around his shoulder from behind.
A yelp exploded from his throat, not so much from surprise of being touched as surprised by what the touch did. It felt like his entire body had been shocked by a lightning bolt. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up and his legs quivered, tingles lacing through his veins. As the electric shock faded, scent reached him: an alpha’s musky aroma. And not just any alpha.
“Hi,” Keiran said shyly, turning his head to greet the mysterious man who had been in charge of saving them. He couldn’t even think about meeting that dark gaze. He wasn’t worthy of it.
“Hey,” the strange man said. His voice was so strange, so clipped and formal and yet now familiar. And friendly. “You don’t have to avoid my gaze, you know.”
“Um... I’m just shy?” Keiran suggested. It came out a question because his thoughts didn’t feel like they were his own. He wasn’t even sure what he felt, except for the last fading echoes of those tingles radiating down from his shoulder.
“Well, you don’t have to be.” The stranger let out a soft laugh. Keiran noticed that he was rubbing his hand, as if he’d also felt the shock. “I saw what you were doing with all those other omegas. I have to thank you for the help because I must admit, I never would have known how to do any of that.”
Keiran struggled to form a coherent sentence. “Well, I wasn’t just about to lie there and do nothing when I could move around. I’m the last one that the traders picked up, you know. Well, uh, I guess... you wouldn’t know... except... you know now... so...”
The stranger just watched with those dark eyes. He hadn’t moved away and they were standing much too close together for two strange wolves who didn’t know each other. In any other situation, this was an invitation for a fight. “I see. Well, thank you for your assistance. May I ask your name?”
“Keiran. Um. Keiran Smith.”
The other wolf nodded so emphatically that it was almost a bow, which only increased Keiran’s discomfort. “Well, I’m in your debt. Who knows how many I would have lost on this journey back without you.”
God, what a conversation this is. I can’t talk and this guy just keeps repeating himself. What a pair.
“Like I said, I just felt like I should. So, I should get back to it. I need to make sure that everyone gets to the fire so that they can eat.”
Keiran started back the way he’d come but was stopped by the stranger holding an arm out in front of him. “I don’t think so,” the man said. “Like I said, I saw you. You haven’t rested or had a drink. Let my guards help the others over to the fire. Stay here with me. Talk a bit. Take a drink.”
The man held out a bottle of water he’d been holding onto, which Keiran hadn’t even noticed before. Keiran hesitated. What would Abigail do in this situation?
A healer is no good to anyone else if she doesn’t take care of herself, he thought. She hadn’t ever said that, but he felt like she would have. It made sense. If Keiran dropped, no one else had the knowledge he did.
With a nod to himself, Keiran reached out and took hold of the water. Raising it to his mouth, he was distinctly aware of the other wolf’s gaze on him. He drank, resisting the urge to gulp and limiting himself to only a few sips. Even so, he could feel the strength pouring back through his body and he let out a shuddering gasp. “God, that’s good.”
The stranger smiled. It was a crooked, dashing smile that hung awkwardly on his lips like he wasn’t used to it. “Sit with me for a moment,” he implored and dropped down to the ground.
After a bit of hesitation, Keiran did the same. The grass right was particularly soft. He took another sip.
“So, Keiran, my name is Jace.” That was said in such a way as if it was more important than it seemed, so Keiran nodded seriously. Jace just blinked at him for a moment and then shook his head, gesturing for Keiran to drink more. “How did you come by your skills?”
Keiran hesitated, lowering his head and staring at his hands. Indecision weighed on him heavily, nagging at him. It would be rude not to answer, but it would be potentially illegal to give the truth.
“Keiran?”
His name sounded so good in Jace’s mouth that he couldn’t help it. He decided to put it as simply as possible. “I’m the son of a blacksmith, but I sucked at working with metal. My best friend back in the village was a healer and I... learned from her.”
Jace’s dark eyes narrowed as if in consideration, and then he nodded. “I see. Thank you for sharing that with me.”
They sat together in silence for a while longer. Keiran took a few more sips of water. The scabs on his cracked lips were bleeding, tainting the taste of the pure liquid, but he could already feel himself hydrating and becoming healthier.
“Hey, Jace?”
“Hmm?” the alpha rumbled.
“How did you ... get into the business of hunting down slave traders?” That seemed like a safe topic. He had a right to ask that, didn’t he?
The look Jace gave him said otherwise. It also said a whole lot of other things that Keiran didn’t understand. “I guess you could say I was born into it,” Jace said darkly and then stood. “Rest a bit longer before you help the others again.”
Keiran stared down at his hands and took a few more gulps of water. The bottle was half-full when he stood up, feeling restlessness nag at his spine. He’d had his break. It was
time to be useful again.
All the omegas had been helped over to the fire, which Keiran examined as he passed. The first deer looked just about ready to be served, so he assisted in slicing small portions of meat and passing them out. Nearly every omega thanked him with some variable amount of gratefulness, and the only ones who needed assistance with eating were those who had the most problems getting a drink. Keiran did the best he could, placing morsels in their mouths and then giving them a drink to wash it down. It was something.
Ty jabbed at Keiran’s shoulder, catching his attention. “Hey, you need to eat, too.”
Keiran accepted the piece of venison offered to him, examining it while he tried to adjust to this strange sort of reverence everyone treated him with now. Was this how Abigail felt all the time or had she grown used to it? Did she like it? In the end, all he could say was simply, “Thanks.”
“Sure.” Ty nodded. “You need to eat, too,” he repeated.
“I guess so.” He took a bite of the meat. It was tough and burned on the outside, but he hadn’t ever tasted anything so good in his entire life.
“No, I’m serious.” Ty shook his head and stared around, then leaned in close to Keiran and whispered, “I have no idea how you were so cool in front of Jace.”
Keiran blinked and shook his head. “I’m not sure what you mean... I mean, I know he works for the Capital somehow, at the castle, but he’s just an ordinary shapeshifter, isn’t he?”
Ty’s mouth dropped open, showing off two rows of slightly pointed teeth. His eyes went wide with astonishment, sending a ripple of uncertainty down Keiran’s spine. “Are you kidding? You seriously don’t know?”
“Don’t know what?” Keiran asked, uneasily.
“Man, maybe you really are as stupid as I thought at first! Keiran, that’s Jace. Jace Culvers.”
For a moment, Keiran still didn’t understand. The last name of Culvers was familiar somehow, but where had he heard it before? And then, his eyes stretched wide and something akin to horror flooded through his body. He actually had to sit down, literally bowled over from astonishment. Jace Culvers. son of Bartholomew Culvers, the Head Predator of the Dexus. And that made Jace... a prince. Keiran had engaged in a casual conversation with the prince of the entire land.
Wild Ride: An M/M Shifter Mpreg Romance Bundle Page 82