Omega's Run (21 page)

“Take your hand off me before I take it off at the wrist,” I growled and he did, jerking back as if he’d been burned.

Markus scoffed a laugh and I sat on the edge of the bed, pulling on first one boot then the other, glaring at each man in the room in turn. I was vastly outnumbered with no real way of evening the odds against me.

I caught the solemn look on Remus’ face and it gave me pause. I laced my boots to the knee and sighed out; maybe it wasn’t just me and I was jumping the gun here. I picked up my bra and went into the bathroom.

“Hey, I would prefer if you stayed in sight, Sweetheart.” Markus said after me.

“Deal with it,” I grated and shut the door in all their faces. I pulled off my shirt and got my bra on, pulling the shirt back on over it. I caught my makeup free face in the mirror and frowned.

In the words of Elizabeth Taylor it was time for me to
“pour myself a drink, put on some lipstick, and pull myself together.”
So I did just that. I turned on the bathroom sink, drank some water to clear the bitter taste out of my mouth and smirked when I heard the boys out in the room muttering.

“You can fucking hear me, you know I haven’t gone anywhere, you can just fucking wait.” I told my reflection in a normal, controlled tone of voice. Then I picked up my toiletry bag, slipped the small Ruger LCP 380 ultra-compact pistol out of it quietly and into the cargo pocket of my pants on the left side.

I rattled through my makeup as I did it just to cover any small noises I made doing it and then I set about actually
doing
my makeup. Black liner, and fuck it, I went with a crimson lip. I’m pretty sure at one point I heard one of the guys outside the bathroom door ask, “Is she actually doing her makeup?”

I heard Remus’ dark chuckle, “She doesn’t give a fuck, it’s one of the reasons I like her.”

I threw all my makeup back into the bag, zipped it up and opened the door with it and hairbrush in hand. I’d used a generous amount of my jasmine perfume oil to hopefully hide the gun’s smell and moved to my bag on the table. Shit. They’d been through it and gotten the other guns, Markus had most of my arsenal slung over his shoulder and tucked into his waistband.

I picked up my Joe Rocket and put it on, satisfied with the distribution of weight that let me know he may have gotten the guns, but he didn’t get any of the other hidden treasures.

“Why you packing this much heat, Sweetheart?” Markus asked and I smiled, it wasn’t nice.

“I’m a firm believer in the second amendment,” I answered dispassionately.

“Ava’s a Hunter,” Remus disclosed, and once more I wanted to hoof him in his front butt. Motherfucker wasn’t keeping anything back or to our advantage!

“I’m driving,” I grated, shouldering my bag and leading the way out the open motel room door. I had the keys anyways. They were still in my jacket pocket. I went downstairs, the boys right on my heels and tossed my bag in the seemingly empty cargo area of the truck. I got into the driver’s seat and Markus got in on the passenger side, handing weapons back to the guy riding behind me who passed it into the cargo area.

Remus got in on the passenger side behind Markus and I glared at him. He gave me a look that practically begged me to trust him but fuck that, he should know how this went by now. I started up the Cruiser and put it in gear.

“I-90 West, Sweetheart. Don’t get any ideas.”

“Can’t police my thoughts, Grandpa.”

We drove for a good long ways and even got onto a boat across the water. Remus made a surprised noise when Markus told me to pull off to the left and down a driveway. I glanced at him in the rearview and his face closed down into a neutral look that was pretty much unreadable.

I had no idea what he was up to, but I could only assume it wasn’t good for me.
Fuck, fuck, fuckity, fuck!
I’d played right into this, right into his hands. My need for revenge all consuming.

Son. Of. A. Bitch.

There were two peo- wolf-kind, waiting at the end of the driveway in front of an impressive log cabin that would have made James give a low whistle and when I stopped the truck, Remus clued me in.

“William and Chloe, try to not be you, Babycakes.”

“Fuck you,” I uttered and he laughed quietly for a second.

We got out of the truck and the guy behind me, got out on Remus’ side and shoved him forward. I hid behind the door while they drew out Remus, distracted and got out my Ruger. I came around the truck and leveled it, not really pointing at anyone in particular but I was enough of a distance that I would take at least one of the wolf-kind royal couple out before anyone got to me.

I gave a sharp piercing whistle to get some attention, and growls emanated from all five throats. I shook my head.

“Careful, my trigger finger gets twitchy when I’m nervous. You should ask Remus about that, I’ve already shot him once and I’m a might tempted to do it again seeing as he hasn’t really filled me in on his plan all the way here.”

“Ava…” Remus started in a low warning tone.

“Shut it!” I barked, “You had plenty of fucking opportunity, now before I go any further along with your tenant relocation program I want a few assurances.”

The redhead and only other woman smirked a bit at me and touched William’s arm, “Let’s hear what she has to say,” she said levelly and I quirked an eyebrow.

“Practical like daddy, I see.”

“Something like that. More like I can smell the fear rolling off you all the way from over here.”

“Be stupid not to be afraid, five on one. Pretty sure I’m going to die here tonight and you know what? I’m okay with that. It’s a much better option than being held captive, especially after what we did to him.”

I didn’t glance in Remus’ direction, but I saw him frown out of the corner of my eye.

“Speaking of which, you should really listen to him, he’s got some important shit to say and he’s not lying.”

There, I did what I could for him. I swallowed hard.

“Cause we’re just supposed to believe a hunter bitch ‘cause she says an Omega isn’t lying to us?” the meathead growled, but we all ignored him.

“Why are you here with him?” William asked and he was sharp, once he got past his initial anger and started thinking.

“I don’t know, why am I here Fido?” I asked Remus.

“Ava’s the Hunter that captured me; she’s got intel on Mathias, and these… facilities. Mathias had a deal with our father, William. He had a deal with Declan. In exchange for neutralizing threats to the territory, Declan was letting Mathias and the Hunters take pack members from the fringes.”

“Why would he do that?” William demanded and looked startled.

“Experimentation, trying to figure out how you fuckers tick,” I said.

“Put down your gun,” William said and rubbed his forehead.

“You told me not to come back without a compelling reason, Little Brother, if ever there was one, this is it. You need to start the salt-the-earth protocol, now. The Hunters know where we are; they’ve been herding us, keeping us contained and
Dad knew it.
He fucking
helped
them, but Mathias got fuckin’ greedy. Their deal wasn’t providing him enough of our people. So he played Rom and me, and this whole thing is going to fall the fuck apart unless something happens. That’s why I’m here, that’s why I brought Ava here. I guess I wasn’t clear enough on what needed to happen,” Remus shot me an apologetic look and I scowled.

“Right, fine, what will it take for you to put up that gun?” William asked.

I chewed my bottom lip, “We’re here for the mutual benefaction of each other’s interests. We’re not prisoners. You give me back my toys as a show of good faith, and you give me your word that you won’t hurt him or kill him. That’s the deal, then we parlay.” William and Chloe exchanged a look.

“Damn, you must be giving her some really good dick for a
Hunter
to protect a wolf-kind,” the meathead muttered.

“Craig,” Markus said and hung his head.

“And I get to shoot
him
, first round in this gun is non-silver, a warning shot. What do you say?”

“I say you aren’t shooting
any
of my people, silver or not, and I say yes to the rest until a time we find you’re lying.”

“She’s not lying,” Chloe said and I frowned.

“Not like you’d know anything about it, we were under the strictest protocols to keep you out of it. Mathias’ orders.”

“I know that, and you know that, and these guys know that, hell
everybody
knows that… I’m not saying you’re not lying based on anything that happened before. I’m saying it because I know you’re telling the truth. I see it on your face and in your eyes and I know that if my father trained you, that it wouldn’t come out of your mouth if it weren’t true. You may have been trained by that monster but I was
raised
by him… Put down the gun, let’s go in and eat. Remus you look half starved.”

Just like that, Chloe Young turned on her heel and headed back into the cabin, William looked after his wife, a smile on his lips that made me ache to see it before I shoved that lost little girl who had wanted things like that for herself, way back down inside.

“Ava…” Remus said softly and I glanced in his direction, his dark eyes raw and crackling with suppressed energy in the night, “Put it down, Babycakes, you got us in the door. Time to use words instead of bullets.”

I put up the gun, “As long as I get to use bullets in the very near future…”

“Yeah, well, we’ll see about that,” Markus said darkly and he didn’t sound at all happy about any of the information that’d been revealed.

That made a whole fuck of a lot of us. I put the small Ruger back in my cargo pocket and held out my hands.

Markus hesitated but William changed his mind, “Give them to her,” the Alpha ordered, and just like that, I had my guns back and holstered where they belonged.

Remus shot me a look that screamed we would be talking about this later and I couldn’t disagree, we really would be talking about this later and I couldn’t guarantee it wouldn’t get nasty.

Chapter 21

Remus

I followed William and Chloe as they walked up the river stone path to the front door and stepped inside. Ava was behind me, Markus walked next to me and Craig followed along behind Ava. Just over the threshold I heard her growl angrily and turned to see that Craig was practically stepping on her heels, so close was he following her.

“Scooby, you really want to back the fuck up before I’m forced to shove a gun barrel up your ass and empty the clip.” Craig blinked and I snorted at the mental picture.

“I’d back up if I were you, Pup,” Markus snapped. Craig was mid snarl, his lips curling in disgust at Ava when the sound of the Arbiter’s voice cut through his anger. He seemed to shrink in on himself for a moment before he stepped back, giving Ava some space.

When all of us finally got inside the house I could see it hadn’t changed much from the last time I’d been there. The bottom floor was still one large room with metal tables laid out in an orderly fashion. Tools and parts of various projects were scattered about, but it always looked like even that was done with an almost obsessive precision.

“I see you’re still as anal about your workshop as ever,” I muttered and William chuckled quietly. Chloe laughed outright and I stopped, startled for a moment, turning wide eyes to her. She must have sensed my reaction because she paused, one foot on the bottom riser leading up to the living portion of the home and turned to face me.

“What?” she asked, confusion written clearly across her face and I gave myself a firm mental shake.

“It’s nothing, It’s just... the last time we spent any time around each other, I don’t think I once heard you laugh, at least not really.” The realization, or the memory, of what Romulus had put her through when last we’d encountered each other bubbled to the forefront of my mind and I couldn’t help but frown. Pissed at my brother, and at myself for what had happened. This state was my home. This was where my family, for I would always consider this pack my family, lived. And it was also the place where I’d made the biggest mistakes of my life.

Romulus and I were caught up in the spider’s web and made to dance to his tune before we were consumed by our own hubris. What had made us think that we could possibly have gotten away with our actions? Good intentions being what they were, I had more than paved my own road to hell with the bodies of my father, my brother, and even that psychotic bitch Lucinda, may
she
rot in Hell.

I blinked when I suddenly felt a gentle touch on my cheek and came back to the present as my eyes focused on the air above Chloe’s head. She was such a tiny thing that I had to look down to meet her eyes and I could tell, instantly, that she had really grown from the scared, weak woman I had first met. Even then, she’d had had a core of iron inside her. That core had tempered into something stronger, wilder, and far more powerful than she had been in the beginning. And it wasn’t just her status as Alpha Bitch of the pack that’d caused the change.

One glance and I could tell that it was her bond with William that had truly molded her into a powerful and beautiful young woman.

“Stop it, right now Remy,” she whispered and her thumb stroked across my cheek, wiping away a tear I hadn’t even realized had fallen. “Mistakes were made, lapses in judgement. You have, and
will
, continue to pay for your actions, but for now, you’re coming to us as family… and you’ll be treated as such by me and everyone here,
isn’t that right
?” Her voice was calm and quiet until the end when she raised her voice slightly, a commanding edge to her words. Even though she didn’t look away from me, I knew she was talking to the other wolf-kind in the room. There was a smattering of murmurs from the others including a quiet, ‘yes, dear’ from William and I almost snorted, amused by his cowed tone.

William may well be the Alpha, but he knew better than to cross his mate without a damn good reason.

“So come on upstairs,” she said and turned from me again, a small smile on her lips. “William started cooking an hour ago when Markus called us, so food should be up soon.”