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I wanted one for myself. I could freely admit that now. But that didn’t mean it was my fate. Maybe this was all there was for me. And “all” was such a shitty choice of words. I had a rewarding job, friends that I would die to protect, a thriving pride, and even my own little hidey hole in the woods. I had so much more than most people ever did. Wanting more was selfish.
Only I did want it, and every day I wanted it more than the one before.
Chapter 3
Silas
I felt like I was floating, but not on water. More as if I were trapped in a dream. But if this were a dream, why was there so much pain? Because that felt real. Far too real.
The sensation of blood in my nostrils, down my throat, and in my lungs was undeniable, confirming the harsh reality of the situation. This wasn’t a dream. It was real, and I wasn’t able to make my body move. It was like I was trapped in place.
Panic started to grow. I needed to move, to roll over before I choked on my blood. I tried and tried and tried again, failing each time. This was beyond bad. The pain radiated throughout my body, and I couldn’t pinpoint exactly where it came from, couldn’t discern what exactly was injured, just that I was broken and bloody and immobile. I couldn’t even get my eyelids to work.
The worst injury I’d had prior to whatever I’d sustained in the fight with Jerome, if it could even be called a fight, was a broken ankle I got as a teen when I attempted to play baseball and failed miserably. Since then, the only injuries I encountered were paper cuts. This was no paper cut.
“Is he dead?” a voice broke through the fog. Maybe it was for the best I couldn’t move. If I had, they’d probably have continued to pummel me.
“Shut it,” another voice, presumably the Alpha’s, replied. “We’ll dump him off here and be done with this situation.”
“What about the omega?” the first voice asked, each word becoming progressively more clear.
“What about him?” There was no concern in that voice, just a tinge of fear overlaid with a lot of panic. Good. He should panic. Beating me the way he did, given the circumstances, was completely against our laws. If I were to bet, the only reason I was even able to take a breath was because my death would make the shit he was in about three billion times worse.
Not that this was good.
“He’s not going to heal on his own. He needs a doctor,” the first person, who I now recognized as one of the pride’s Betas, said.
“Call Steelwick. Tell them that Silas beat Nathan near to death and then he ran off. We chased him here but didn’t want to trespass on another pack’s lands to follow him.” He must’ve bent down, because I could feel his breath on my arm. “Ask them if they could get us permission. It will make us look more legitimate and might sway their judgment.” And then his breath was gone, and two footsteps echoed through my ears. “They’ll handle the investigation. They’ll find Silas’s dead body.”
“If two people from our pride go missing, there’ll be suspicious. Steelwick will—” The Beta was quickly cut off.
“Shut it,” the Alpha’s voice was infused with his authority, and even I wanted to submit to him. I flinched from the force of the words, which was a relief because it meant I could move, but also terrified me because it could easily draw attention my way.
“I apologize, Alpha. I will watch my place.”
“I don’t know why Silas had to get in the way anyway and ruin all my fun. That omega wouldn’t have put up too much of a fight. Nathan would’ve gone along with whatever I asked if Silas hadn’t interfered.”
I hated him more than I knew it was possible to hate. Thank gods Nathan managed to get away. I couldn’t bear to think what Jerome would’ve tried on him had he not gotten away.
“If you hadn’t lost control, we wouldn’t have this problem.” The Beta didn’t have a single ounce of self-preservation. If he kept this up, he was going to bleed out before Steelwick was even on their way.
A loud smack echoed, indicating that Jerome had struck his Beta. There was absolutely no way he was dumb enough to strike first. The scent of fresh blood, not my own, permeated the air, and the floating sensation abruptly ceased.
“Quick, dump him out. And then let’s get out of here,” someone ordered. I hadn’t realized there was a third person present.
I tried not to move as they jostled me around, making sure to remain quiet even though my limbs ached. If I so much as squirmed, they would know I wasn’t as bad off as they thought. I couldn’t fathom the reaction that would bring.
My arm was definitely broken, as was my nose. A cut adorned my face, the blood still flowing down my cheek, and I could feel the skin pulling in multiple places, indicating swelling. My forehead throbbed, and my ribs were in bad shape, as if someone had repeatedly struck them with a boot or maybe a bat. And those were just the injuries I could pinpoint in my current state.
No wonder they were leaving me for dead. I was as good as.
I could barely recall the brutal beating the Alpha had subjected me to. He hadn’t played fair. I stood no chance. I was honestly astonished that I had managed to survive it. Not that I was going to live out the day.
“He’s lost too much blood. There’s no way he’s going to live through this,” one of them commented. Had he not been paying attention to Jerome when he all but said that my death was the goal?
“He’s a big guy. He can take a lot of blood loss,” the third person, whom I was now pretty sure was another Beta, argued.
“He’s a weakling. A useless ass pencil pusher. No way could he survive a beating like that. Look at him. He’s barely breathing now,” Jerome chimed in. “If he didn’t have such a hard-on for that omega, he never would have had the balls to stand up to me. Look at him now.”
