Page 26 of Crave

“Love you too, Zanny. Be safe.”

I hung up the phone, swiping my arm across my eyes to wipe away the tears that threatened to fall. Quinn came up behind me, and wrapped his arms around my waist. “Everything okay with your brother?”

I nodded, leaning back into him. “Yeah, they’re packing up and evacuating now. I feel sorry for them, though, to have to do it all over again.”

Quinn kissed the top of my head, his Omega presence soothing my sadness and my frazzled nerves. “They’re a resilient Pack. If anyone can rebuild twice, it’s the Huxley-Gray Pack.”

With a sigh, I zipped up the last of my suitcases. It was sad how between the two of us we only had three bags. We’d lived light since the day we’d run away, and we’d kept very little stuff with us at Wilkie’s Packhouse. But this place, my childhood home, had more memories for all of us—some good and some bad. Raiden had taken his first steps here. My mother had died in the bedroom down the hall. Quinn had taken my virginity here, and we’d discovered he was an Omega in the same room.

My dad had come by and packed his own go-bag. I’d watched him touch all my mother’s jewelry and little things he’d kept all these years. He’d loved her so much. Eventually, I told him to pack whatever he wanted, and Quinn and I would take it with us. I would help him preserve the memory of a woman I’d barely known, but whose death had forever altered the course of my life.

We dragged our things down the road toward the center of town, where the Alpha General had arranged buses to ship out everyone who wanted to go, and those he deemed ‘at risk’. Basically, everyone he could Alpha order without causing a fight.

More people joined us as we queued, the air filled with the scents of fear and sadness. This might be the last time they ever walked out their doors again. It might be the last time they’d see friends or loved ones who stayed to fight the fires, though my father had declared that a fool's task.

No one spoke as we reached the center of town.

A man I recognized as one of the supply managers was there directing people to where they could put their luggage. “Everything has to fit under the bus. If it’s too big, it will have to stay behind in the Legion building,” he said firmly, but with a lot of compassion. He knew what people were feeling; I had no doubt he was feeling it too.

Quinn helped me push our suitcases beneath the bus, then we moved out of the way for the family behind us. Walking over to the supply manager, we waited until he was done reassuring a group before he turned to us.

He bowed his head. “Omega. It’s good to see you here and safe.”

“I’m hoping a lot more people will see reason,” I said, giving him a sad smile.

He lifted a single shoulder. “Only the Goddess can know what will happen. We just have to plan the best we can. The bus should leave in about twenty minutes. Another will come straight after. Don’t be late, because we aren’t doing a roll call—if you aren’t here, we won’t know.”

We’d be left behind to fend for ourselves. “Fair. We’ll be here.”

“Young Murphy is looking for you too,” the older man said, his eyes twinkling, despite the fact he must’ve thought we were still mated to Wilkie. We haven’t made that little tidbit known throughout town just yet.

“Thank you. Be safe.”

We stepped out of the way as the small square filled up with more and more people. I was relieved that they weren’t being stubborn and insisting on staying. Soon enough, the crowd swelled, and I was a little worried we wouldn’t get on the same bus as our bags. Everything smelled like smoke and fear, and it was giving me a headache.

I dragged in oxygen, and froze. A scent that chilled me to my bones clouded around me, making me want to throw up.

Something hard and sharp pressed into my spine. “If either of you shift, or yell out, I’m going to sever this bitch’s spinal cord and she’ll have to drag her useless cunt around for the rest of her short life.” Wilkie’s voice swept over my skin like acid. “I don’t need you to be able to walk to sire my cubs, bitch. Now,move.We’re going to go home.”

I didn’t turn around, but I could see the fear in Quinn’s eyes. He was nodding with his hands raised as he turned and walked down the small path between the buildings. Wilkie had his fist wrapped in my hair tightly so I couldn’t run without ripping off half my scalp, but it might still be worth it. I just didn’t believe that we could outrun him. He was an Alpha—primed to be physically superior to Omegas and Betas.

My body trembled, making the knife press harder against my skin. Wilkie led us down the shadowy back alleys of the buildings, past the dumpsters, avoiding all the incoming people. It was a small mercy that the smoke and the trash were still covering Quinn’s burgeoning Omega scent. Maybe I could shift to the left a little, try and move the knife to a less deadly position, then Quinn could run and get help.

As if he could sense my thoughts he looked over his shoulder and widened his eyes almost imperceptibly. Years of love and friendship meant I knew that expression was a ‘don’t even think about it’look.

As we walked toward a dead end in a nearly empty part of the Legion training grounds and saw Joseph and Errol, I knew this was only going to be bad. Errol looked pale, standing as far away from Joseph as he could without being in the middle of a fire zone. Joseph sneered at us, his eyes twitching around the trees, like he expected the Alpha General to fall from the sky.

“Look, Betas. I’ve brought home our wayward Omega and her bitchboy Beta,” Wilkie crowed. “Bring me the cuffs.”

Joseph walked over, swinging two sets of cuffs from his forefinger. He was a handsome man, which fucking sucked because on the inside he was almost as ugly as Wilkie. He didn’t want power—not like his Alpha. No, Joseph wanted money and prestige. He wanted to hide away in the background, hoarding dollars and ripping off his fellow Manix just so he could be the richest man in Maxton.

It was a pity that Wilkie liked to spend money as fast as Joseph made it. He resented his Alpha, though not enough to cut ties with him and all his connections.

“Are the cars ready?” Wilkie snapped at Errol, who wouldn’t meet anyone’s eyes. “I asked you a question, Beta.” Wilkie Alpha-growled when he didn’t reply fast enough.

“Yes, Alpha. Everything is packed.” Errol looked up just enough to give me a guilty look, but I held no beef with the weak-willed Beta. He didn’t have the strength to resist an Alpha command.

Yanking my arms behind my back, Wilkie snapped a set of the handcuffs on me. “Tight enough that if you decide to shift, they’ll cut off your goddamn cheating hands.”

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