Page 3 of Mating the Omega
So I went. Fast as I could, my breath sobbing in and out of my lungs. I dodged behind buildings, hid in shadows, and doubled back through the smelliest places I could find to hide my scent from him. An eerie howl lifted into the night sky as I turned another corner, down a long dark alley filled with dumpsters. I tripped over something, so hard I didn’t even have time to protect myself. My chin split open against the cracked pavement, and for a moment I couldn’t breathe. Seconds later, I heard the snuffling and padding of paws outside the alley, and I forced myself to my feet while my breath wheezed in and out of my lungs.
The thing I’d tripped over was tangled in my shoelaces—a length of pipe with screws sticking out at each end. I unhooked it and then, for lack of any better idea, I took a firm grip on one end and waited for my hunter to find me. I wasn’t going down easy, and now that my memories of what I’d be facing had been sharpened again, I knew I’d rather be dead than Orvin’s.
It would probably be better for Dad, too, if I died. They’d stop chasing him. He could find a pack again and settle down. Maybe he’d get married, have another pup, but not an omega. It occurred to me how selfish I’d been, letting my family uproot themselves for my comfort. At the same time, the thought of Orvin touching me, putting his cock inside me, no matter how much I’d want it when I was in season—it made me sick.
Yeah, better to go out swinging, than go back home whimpering. I wound up with the pipe, and waited.
And when he came down the alley, barking in triumph because he’d cornered me, I brought that Pipe down on his head with all my strength, and kept bringing it down until I was sure he wasn’t going to move again.
CHAPTER FOUR
By the time I got back to Dad, my trusty length of pipe still clutched in one hand, the other two enforcers had left him alone and were, presumably, gone looking for me. Thank Medeina, goddess of wolves. I don’t think I could have taken on two of them—I still wasn’t sure how I’d managed to defeat the first one.
I threw the pipe down beside him and shook him carefully. “Dad? Dad!”
He groaned, and I started to cry with relief. “You’re alive, you’re alive!”
“Yes, I’m alive. What are you doing here? I told you to run.”
“I got away from them.”
“How?”
“Does it matter? Can you walk if I help you?”
“Jason, what did you do?”
I chewed on my lip, and decided that honesty was probably the best course. “I think I killed one of them. I haven’t seen the other two.”
Dad let out a harsh breath, but he didn’t say anything, and I hesitated to break the silence between us. I didn’t really want to know what he was thinking right now, I had enough to do to get him back to the car, and figure out where to go after. “Dad, we need to go. You can lean on me, I’ll take you to the car.” I didn’t want to leave all my stuff behind, but it looked like I was going to have to. Dad groaned when I slipped his arm over my shoulder, and basically lifted him to his feet myself, with a bit of help from my wolf. Wolves are stronger than they look, and right then, I needed that strength.
We limped back up the block and I got him into the car without incident. I heard howls a couple of times, but they weren’t close, so I ignored them and concentrated on Dad. He looked small and old there, lying in the back seat. I didn’t even have a blanket to put over him.
My blanket! No, I wasn’t going to leave without it. And I was tired of replacing everything all the time. I wanted my computer, and my clothes, and Dad’s clothes.
Fuck it, I’m going back.But just in case, I picked up my pipe as I went. Better safe than sorry.
At the end of the block, I flattened myself against the wall and peered around the corner. There was a car I didn’t recognize in front of our building and I knew every car on the block. What else did I have to do with my time but sit by the window and watch everyone but me have a life? But that meant that I knew this car wasn’t from around here, which meant it was probably the pack enforcers’ car. I snuck down the block, hiding behind cars and garbage bags and old furniture until I got to the car—it was theirs, the plates were from Montana—and then I let the air out of one of the front tires. I did the same with the back one, too, and wished I had a potato or something to plug up their exhaust with. But with those tires, they wouldn’t be chasing us down in the car anyway, so I didn’t let it bother me for long.
I crept in the front door and up the stairs—the fire escape here was more of a hazard than a fire would be. The apartment door was closed, and I drew on my wolf to listen inside.
Nothing. Just in case, I made myself wait a few more minutes. After all, no one made noise all the time. But the other side of the door was as quiet as a tomb. I shivered, because if I guessed wrong, the apartment could very well become my tomb.
No it won’t. But it could very well become a torture chamber.
Waiting in the hallway was starting to make the hair stand up on the back of my neck, and the risk of the enforcers coming back grew with each passing moment. Assuming they weren’t sitting quiet as church mice in my living room, waiting for me to deliver myself to them like so much Chinese food.
Here goes nothing. I cracked open the door—unlocked, the bastards—and pushed it open a couple of inches. No sound still, so I pushed on it again, leaving a gap wide enough for me to sneak my head through. Every light in the place was on. The cupboards had been ransacked, and the door to the bedroom stood open, where I’d left it closed. The place was empty. I stood up and slipped inside, closing the door gently behind me so it wouldn’t make any noise. Now, to find our stuff.
The enforcers had packed up everything they could find. It lay in neat piles in the middle of the living room, where a couch would normally have gone. We didn’t have one, of course, just the inflatable mattress that Dad slept on, which had also been packed up. I checked out my bedroom—they’d packed my mattress as well. How kind of them.
Now the problem was to get it all down to the car.
I took the important stuff first, calling on the wolf to help with speed and strength, even though I knew I’d pay for it later. Half-shifted was far more exhausting than staying in either other form, but I couldn’t haul the bags out with paws and teeth. So I borrowed and refused to think about the price.
The last boxes, the ones with our dishes and the two mattresses, were the only thing left when I heard the first howls close by. I dumped the dishes—we could eat off paper plates for a while—but grabbed the mattresses and bolted out of the building.
They came around the corner while I was unlocking the car, barking that they’d found their prey. Adrenaline hit me like a brick wall. My hands jerked and I fumbled the keys.
