Hidden: The Swamp

by Royce, Rebecca

  He looked between us before he laughed. “Call her off? I don’t do that.”

  “You’re her Alpha.”

  Rainer shook his head. “I’m not, really. For the moment, she’s treating me that way, but Omegas don’t have Alphas. Don’t you remember your wolf hierarchy?”

  What did that mean? He was my Alpha. I was sure of it. Right then I supposed it didn’t matter. I wanted to kill Brennan.

  “I do think she’s going to kill you.” Rainer smiled. “And if she wants to kill you, I’m sure she has a good reason for doing so.”

  “Rainer…” This time it was his mother. “You can’t be serious.”

  Someone’s phone rang, but I ignored it as Rainer bent over to stroke my head. “If you don’t absolutely need to kill him, maybe hold off a second. I don’t think doing so is going to endear us to this Council. They’re already drooling over the fact that you’re an Omega and you shifted.”

  I whined. He had to understand how bad Brennan was. Why couldn’t anyone understand it? Why couldn’t they scent it? Anton lifted his eyebrows, looking at Rainer and then back at me. I could scent his approval. He knew. That didn’t surprise me. He often understood things that the others didn’t. Maybe he could even smell how bad this man was.

  “Why does she want to kill you?” Jarret asked the obvious question.

  “How should I know? Maybe she’s rabid. This is why we have the Accords.” He backed up farther.

  Kayla rounded on him. “One does not speak of the Omega that way.”

  I liked that he wanted to run, his fear tasted good. When he was gone, the pack would be healthier. I edged forward.

  “That’s not a real answer.” Preston sighed. “And if you’re going to lie, I say we let her kill you. She might anyway, even without our say so. Woman has a beautiful mind and she uses it. You’ll have to excuse me, but if I remember the bullshit trial my brother went through, it was you who said you saw him as a Loup. I think you’re a liar and maybe even worse. I think you probably deserve to die.”

  This was new information, and it steeled my resolve. I would taste his blood.

  “Okay. Okay. I’ll talk. I’ll tell everyone everything.”

  Rainer patted my head. “Maybe shift back for the moment, sweetheart. If he needs to die, I’ll kill him. I’m already a murderer to these people. What’s one more death on my hands?”

  The ironic part here was that Rainer had never killed anyone, and yet, I sensed no deception from him. He would kill Brennan simply because I wanted the man dead. The human part of my brain called me back, and I forced myself to return to my human form. Of course, now I was naked. I closed my eyes. Humiliation was going to be…

  I never got to finish that thought. Anton’s shirt was yanked over my head. He must have taken it off when I started the shift. He was much taller than me, and the shirt fell past my knees. I looked a little bit like a little girl tumbling out of her room in her nightgown to talk to the adults, but it was better than the nudity.

  My mark on Anton was on full display, and I reached out to stroke my fingers over it. His eyes widened before he took my hand to his mouth, kissing my knuckles.

  “Do you remember what that was like? What it used to be like?” one of the male Council members asked the room.

  “More and more,” Brian answered, looking at his wife.

  I wrapped my arms around Anton, holding onto his chest before I placed my head on his skin. He was going to be cold without his shirt.

  “You smell evil. You smell like you want to kill us all. It is my job to keep the pack in good condition. You are an enemy. It is taking every bit of my control to not kill you.” I smelled the air. “I don’t even think that anyone on the Council would care that much. I think they don’t like you.”

  Brennan narrowed his eyes. “Okay. I’ll talk. But everyone in here has to understand that—”

  “Hold on,” Kevin came in on the phone. That was right. Someone had phoned in the midst of my shifting. “Everyone stop. I have Gus on the line. He’s found one of your brothers, Kenzie.”

  It wasn’t lost on me that their father had just used the nickname my family, and Jarret, used for me. In other situations, I might have grinned.

  “Which one? Is he okay? Whichever one it is.” I couldn’t speak fast enough.

  “Agustin.” Kevin met my gaze. “No, he isn’t okay. Something is wrong.” My stomach clenched. “What do you mean? Where is he? I’ll come right now.”

  A bang sounded behind me, and I jumped. Brennan opened the front door with a loud thud and ran out of it like he was going to be chased. My mouth watered to do just that, but my brother took precedent, even against the threat to my pack. He could be dealt with later.

  “My brother?” I pressed again.

  “He’s not himself, or at least not what we think he must have been like. He’s rabid but not a Loup. Throwing himself against a cage, not making sense, threatening Gus with death. They have him restrained, and they’re bringing him here. Gus wants me to check with you to make sure that isn’t just what he’s like.”

  “No, that’s not what he’s like.”

  Agustin was the sweetest out of all of us. Kind to a fault. My father used to say that when kindness was being doled out, Agustin had taken a double dose. He never had a bad word to say about anyone, and he certainly wouldn’t be throwing himself against a cage.

  “Why is he in a cage? Maybe if they took him out, he’d understand he’s being rescued.” I’d never been in a cage when Gus rescued me. Why was Agustin in one?

  “To protect themselves from him. He tried to kill them.”

  Well, this was just ridiculous. Agustin wasn’t harmful to anyone, and if there was something wrong, I’d fix it, end of story. “Bring him here. I’ll take care of him. Whatever is wrong, I can make it better.”

  I was sure of it.

  Kevin nodded. “Okay. But not here. We’ll bring him to the swamp. Fewer human eyes. More control. We’ll all go home.”

  That was fine by me. I wanted back in my swamp. Things were more in control there. If an enemy came, they could be more easily handled, destroyed. I blinked. Why had my thoughts gone so bloodthirsty? It was like one second I was myself, the next I was this creature ready to kill easily. Was this just who I was now?

  “Ms. Harper,” it was Kayla who spoke. “I don’t know what has happened to Brennan or what you smelled, but you’re an Omega, and you’ve come just when I didn’t think such a thing was possible anymore. Perhaps you’re here to save us all.”

  I held up my hand. “Do not make me some kind of savior. I’m never going to fulfill that role. I’m just me. However that works out.”

  She nodded. “Whatever you need, please, just ask. And… obviously you’re all not in trouble for the shifting. We have to work out what to do. Brennan has been such an advocate for not shifting, such a strong voice, and you’re telling us he smells wrong.”

  I shrugged. “Try shifting. Then tell me what you think. I need to go home. My brother is coming.” I shivered. And somehow it felt like he brought the troubles of the world with him.

  * * *

  “They’re going to flock to her like she’s the second coming of wolfhood.” Preston sipped a beer on the dock, staring out at the swamp. “And I thought she was going to kill Brennan.” I stepped outside. There was no way that he didn’t know I was there. That meant he wanted me to hear him even as he spoke to Jarret, who was drinking whiskey if I smelled it correctly.

  “I wanted to. He felt like an affront to the pack. Like I had to save all of us from him. Would that have bothered you?”

  He patted the dock next to him, and I sat down. “Not in the least. I’m more concerned with the way the Council was all ready to bow down to you. I don’t want them coming here, demanding things. It’ll be never ending for you.”

  “I don’t think there is much we can do about that, and frankly I’d rather have them want me than want to kill me. I’m pretty sure Brennan wants to ki
ll me.”

  “Mac.” He kissed my cheek. “Brennan isn’t getting anywhere near you. Did you see him begging Rainer to save him? He knows he’s not as strong as us. I bet not even when he was younger.”

  Jarret threw a stick into the swamp. “I’m afraid of getting cocky. These were strong, powerful werewolves. He, and others, managed to convince an entire society of werewolves to give up shifting. He didn’t do that by being weak. We took him by surprise. Don’t take that as powerless. He’s regrouping.”

  Preston sighed. “Fuck. Couldn’t let me have an hour of feeling glass half full?”

  “Nope.” Jarret sat down next to me.

  I hoped we would have lots of times like this. Just our family sitting on the dock, staring at the swamp, in almost perfect silence. The thing about staring at the water in this unique part of the world that seemed almost entirely to belong to us, was that it really could make me feel like the rest of the world ceased to exist. Out here, as things floated by at a slow pace, hurried by nothing, I could simply be. My mind turned sideways; there was nothing but now.

  “Do you two want to fuck me?” I used the f word purposefully. That was just the kind of sex I wanted to have. I hadn’t had it yet, but I could imagine what it was like.

  Preston lifted his eyebrows. “Is that a question?”

  “Together?” I leaned back.

  I never got an answer to that question. The sound of a truck pulling up caught all of our attention. Jarret jumped to his feet. “Your brother is here so we’ll shelve that question until a more… quiet time.”

  Preston sighed. “And just as things were starting to get interesting. Guess it’s time to meet your family.”

  I rushed through the back door toward the front of the house. Agustin was here. Aching for the wellbeing of my family had been a constant source of pain in the back of my mind. Having him here meant a small piece of rightness could finally fall into place.

  I skidded to a stop, nearly colliding into Anton’s back. He took my hand, stopping me from going forward.

  “That’s my brother,” I spoke the obvious, but he wasn’t letting go. He held up a finger like he wanted me to wait.

  Rainer strode toward Gus, meeting him as he opened the car door. Neither they nor Cristian said a word. Instead, they opened the lid on the bay of the truck, showing a cage. My brother lay flat in it.

  I sucked in a breath before I shouted. “Why do you have him like that? No one could believe they were going to be okay if they’re like that.”

  “MacKenzie.” Gus shook his head. “Trust me I didn’t want this. I can’t explain it. I had to shift to subdue him. I haven’t in all of these years. Not even to save you. And he’s not right. My nose can’t make sense of it.

  My own was getting nothing this far back. I yanked my hand out of Anton’s, who tried to grab me again. “That is my brother. I don’t need to be saved from him. Not ever.”

  Rainer sniffed the air. “What is that?”

  I could smell just what they meant. It was something metallic, and it felt like it coated my tongue as I got a whiff of it. What had they done to my brother? I rushed the cage, and he lifted his head. “Kenzie?”

  Tears flooded my eyes. “Agustin. We’ve got you. All will be well.” My hands burned so badly that I winced. I wasn’t surprised. He must have needed a serious amount of healing. “I can help you. I’m good at it. I’m an Omega.”

  He furrowed his brow. “Omega?”

  “Yes. Who would have thought it, right? Me. The one who can’t really excel at anything is an Omega.” I pulled on the latch. “Let’s let you out of there, and we can talk about it.”

  “Sweetheart, maybe wait a second.” Rainer touched my leg.

  “This is my brother. He needs me. I fix what’s broken. I’m not afraid of it.”

  Rainer sighed. “I fucking hate this.”

  I pulled open the cage. “I get that you’ve been scared, but it will be okay now, I promise.”

  In a million years, I wouldn’t have expected my brother to shift into the scariest looking black wolf I’d ever seen and launch himself at my throat. In a million years, I wouldn’t have believed I could ever have known the feeling of his teeth sinking into my human skin and tearing into it. The metallic scent that had coated my tongue overwhelmed me as I lost my ability to scream.

  I’d forgotten… I was vulnerable.

  I’d forgotten… bad things happened and rarely did happiness win out in the end.

  I didn’t know how long my blond-haired, blue-eyed brother hung onto my neck, trying to kill me. Maybe it wasn’t very long. I didn’t know how much blood I aspirated. I didn’t know how hard I tried to breathe or for how long. There were six wolves there almost seemingly at once. My loves. Two of their fathers. It was all very vague.

  Maybe it was endorphins that kept me from really knowing what happened. Maybe it was shock. Maybe it was disbelief that the brother I had worshiped and who had treated me like gold my whole life tried to kill me.

  But that was all that I knew, all that I remembered. Everything faded gray before black. Then there was nothing.

  * * *

  The wind blew in her gray hair. She must never have gotten the memo that older women should cut their hair since my teacher’s—and that was what she was—hair was well past her waist.

  “You will live through this. And whatever comes next. Omegas are made of strong stuff. We survive. But I am sorry, MacKenzie. I wouldn’t have wished this on anyone.”

  I took her hand. “Where are the others?”

  She shook her head. “I wish that I knew.”

  * * *

  “Stop,” Rainer’s voice filtered through the fog of nothingness, pulling me toward him. “You heard Cristian. She needs to sleep. I said stop.”

  Who was he talking to like that? I lifted my lids. Four very worried faces stared down at me. A second later, their individual scents mixed, mingled until the comforting sense of having mates around me almost dragged me back down to sleep again. I liked opening my eyes to see them there.

  “Okay, see? You woke her!”

  He had to be talking to Anton, who kissed my hand and not the others because they weren’t doing or saying anything. If he wanted to be technical, it was Rainer who woke me.

  “What’s going on?” I sounded hoarse, like I’d been smoking packs of cigarettes one after the other. Or at least I assumed that was what it would sound like. I’d never smoked one. I didn’t really know what would happen to me. This was just a guess.

  “See?” Rainer let out a long breath. He visibly shuddered. “I told you there was nothing to worry about. She can talk. For obvious reasons, someone here has been really, really worried about that.”

  Anton brought my hand to his mouth again. This time he closed his eyes and held it there like he was never going to let my fingers go.

  What was happening? The whole ordeal rushed back to me, and with my free hand, I grabbed at my throat. My brother had ripped at my throat with his fangs. He had… How in the hell was I still here?

  No wonder my voice hurt. “How am I here? What happened?”

  It was Jarret who spoke. “Somehow we managed to get you to shift. Do you not remember? You shifted and you healed. It was touch and go. Then you shifted back. That was… over a day ago. We weren’t sure it would work. There are some things you can’t heal from. Well, that’s not true. You could probably heal us from those things, but you can’t be healed. Fortunately, it was just your shifter genetics. They healed you up in the change. We weren’t sure about permanent damage.” He leaned over and kissed my cheek. “Cristian said you might sleep a long time. It’s so nice to see those eyes open.”

  I took a long breath. “This is entirely my fault. I never thought that my brother would…” I swallowed, my throat burning. All right, there was nothing to it, I was going to cry. I let the tears go down my face. “I’m sorry.”

  Preston surged forward, his mouth on my other cheek. “You get hurt and you ap
ologize? Stop that. You’re okay. That’s all that matters here. We love you. You need some more rest.”

  “Yes, she does. I need to speak to her for a minute. All of you out. I’ll stay with her while she sleeps.”

  For a second, Preston’s eyes flared wolf. He must not have liked that order from Rainer, but he quickly nodded and exited the room, Jarret right behind him, who turned before he left and stared at me for a long moment. Anton had still not let go of my hand.

  “I get it, okay?” Rainer put his palm on Anton’s back. “But she’s going to be okay.”

  I squeezed my fingers in Anton’s. “I’m sorry I scared you. The throat. That must have been… yeah. But you would have helped me if I lost my voice. We would have been okay.”

  He placed my hand over his heart in that way that only he did. He shook his head in long strokes before he touched the spot over my heart. I got what he was saying. If I had died, he wasn’t sure his heart would have kept beating. The way I understood him was unique. Things would have quieted, and it would have been unbearable. I’d never heard him as fully as I was right then. It was like his words flowed straight into my head. Maybe it was a mating thing. I didn’t care what the reason was. I lifted my lips to kiss his neck, and even though the movement hurt, I did it anyway. He pressed his to mine while he dropped my hand to support my neck. Finally, he let go.

  With a nod to Rainer, he followed the path his brothers had taken from the room.

  Rainer stared down at me. “I know you heard me at my parents’ house when I said I’m not your Alpha. That there isn’t really the same hierarchy with the Omega. Despite the fact that you sometimes drop your eyes when you look at me, I never smelled submission from you. Truth is, you have regularly ignored me when it comes to doing your Omega things, like with the Loups. You may not even realize it. The sisters confirmed what I knew. Their mother never submitted to their Alpha father.”

  I had heard him. “Rainer, half the time I have no idea what I’m doing.”