Page 38 of Omega's Bears

Chapter Twenty-Two

“Don’t do this,” Ryansays.

Jack ignores him. He speaks only to Luka. “Wait until you’re sure they’re following me. Don’t make your move until you see them go.”

“What if only half the pack follows you?” Luka asks. “It’s what I’d do. Divide forces.”

“If they split up, make sure at least three have gone after me,” Jack says. “If it’s fewer than that, I can handle them on my own. If one or two remain behind, you’ll have to take care of them before you pick up the trail. Can you do that?”

Every part of me is shivering, torn apart with fear. But Luka just nods. “I can do it.”

“Will you please just hear me out?” Ryan asks desperately.

Jack raises an eyebrow. “Do you have anything to say that you haven’t said already?”

“Don’t do this.”

Jack nods brusquely. “Take care of Cami. This is all for nothing if they get their hands on her. Do you understand? No matter what happens, you’re to take care of Cami. That’s an order.”

“I don’t need an order for that,” Ryan growls. “Of course, I wouldn’t let her come to harm.”

“All right then.” Jack crosses to me in three strides and gathers me up in his arms. It’s so unlike him, this embrace, that I lose my breath for a moment. I’ve never doubted Jack’s love for me, but he isn’t affectionate. It takes me several seconds to get over my shock and return his hug.

“Please be safe,” I whisper in his ear. “Please come home. I need you to come home.”

He rests a hand on my cheek. “Don’t worry. Everything’s going to be fine.”

I don’t believe him. Not for a minute.

Jack releases me and ducks into the tunnel that will lead him out of the cave. He disappears from view, swallowed up by the darkness, almost immediately, but we can hear the sound of his footsteps as he makes his way toward the exit.

Luka pulls me to him and kisses me. “I’d better go too,” he says.

“Luka....”

“Don’t be afraid, Cami.”

“I led them here. This is all my fault.”

“No. Don’t do that. You’re our family.”

“And you’re mine,” I tell him. “You have to come back. Promise you’ll come back.”

He closes his eyes. “I promise.”

Ryan rests a hand on Luka’s arm and the two men look into each other’s eyes for a long moment. I can tell something is being communicated, but I don’t know what. Then Luka embraces Ryan, careful not to squeeze him too hard, and he disappears down the tunnel too.

And it’s just us. Me and Ryan, left behind to wait. I have a million questions. How will we know if the fight’s been won or lost? How long is this expected to take? What if Luka and Jack are badly hurt—how will we know to go help them? But I can’t find the words to ask any of the things on my mind. Maybe I just don’t want to know the answers. Maybe I’m too afraid of what the answers will be.

Ryan pulls his backpack into his arms and fishes around, eventually coming up with a pair of binoculars. They’re nice looking, and I think they must have been expensive. Just looking at them leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Another luxury, another thing we could easily have lived without, acquired by theft?

He sees the look on my face. “What?”

“Those are stolen.” It’s not a question. Of course, they’re stolen. Even if he paid for them, the money he used to get them was definitely stolen, just as Luka used stolen money to pay for the ingredients for his stew. I had forgotten my anger about that fact in the terror of the wolves’ arrival, and I’m surprised it’s having such an effect on me now—there are bigger things to worry about than traumatized convenience store clerks—but my mind latches onto the distraction. Here is something I might be able to do something about, an issue where my voice might actually be heard. Or maybe I just want a fight with Ryan, so I won’t have to think about Luka and Jack out there, running from the wolves, fighting, maybe dying.

Ryan frowns. “What’s the problem?”

“What’s the problem with stealing?”

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