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“Easy now. There you go.” He laid Della down, savoring the way her arms clung to his neck, as if not wanting to let go till the last possible moment. Crouching at her side, he stroked the length of her supple thigh, and, amazingly, she didn’t protest, only regarded him with a peaceful serenity.
Immediately, he became all too conscious of the two of them, in a room, alone, with a bed. Not that he’d take advantage of her in a compromised state, but explicit imaginings strolled through his thoughts uninvited. Detaching from her with some effort, he pulled over the dusty metal chair and took a seat next to the bed, pressing her nearest hand between his own. A smile lit her face, and, if such a thing was possible, his heart thumped in acknowledgment.
“Why’re you being so nice to me?” she asked.
He turned her slim palm over and traced the lines with his rough, blunt finger pad. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
The elegant arcs of her eyebrows nudged together. “I don’t think I’ve been very nice to you, have I?”
He huffed a weak laugh and brought her palm to his lips, placing a kiss in the center. “Not yet. But I ain’t giving up.”
At that, she looked even more confused before sinking her head deeper into the old, flat pillow. “I wanna go home. My head hurts.”
“Soon,” he said, adding a rumbling purr to the words. The purr settled her as it had earlier out in the barn. Another confirmation, as if he needed one, she was Omega.
Simon returned, handing off a full canteen. “Up you go.” With an arm under her shoulders, Cal hoisted Della and lifted the canteen to her lips. Thankfully, she grasped it for herself and took several long, slow gulps. “Not too fast now, don’t make yourself sick.”
She drained half the container and screwed it shut, immediately flopping back and clearly ready to drift off to sleep. Cal addressed Simon, speaking low and under his breath, “You reckon I oughta keep her awake?”
Simon tilted his head. “Nah, let her sleep for now, but wake her up every few hours to check. Although…” He paused, shooting Cal an anxious glance. “Not sure what we’ll do if she has a serious brain injury, anyway.”
Saying a silent prayer, he watched Della slide into unconsciousness, hoping this wouldn’t be the last time he’d ever see her awake. He couldn’t lose her as soon as he’d found her. Before he’d made her his. “She’ll be fine,” he said, voice roughened.
Outside the small room, the stable noises, Alpha and animal, had quieted. “They gone?” he asked Simon, easing his back against the chair and pouring the rest of the water down his parched throat.
“Yeah. I offered to finish brushing the horses and cleaning the tack. Told ‘em it was only fair since I’m new and needed to pay my dues.” His mouth formed an ironic quirk. “They took off, all except Sloan. He damn near made me recite an entire manual of horse care to him before he agreed.” Simon glugged from his own canteen and then spit a mouthful on the floor. “But, whatever, he’s gone. What’re you thinking?”
Cal took a breath, wrangling his thoughts into something resembling order. All his instincts screamed at him to take his Omega and run, but he had to be smart about it. He couldn’t tear off into an unfamiliar forest and hope for the best, especially with Della in a compromised state. “You heard what Colt said. Tomorrow there’s gonna be some kinda trial where I have to explain my actions, and there’s a high possibility I’ll be exiled. I need to leave. Tonight. And I’m taking her.”
Simon’s chin dipped with slow comprehension. “Where’re you gonna go?”
He swept a length of Della’s hair off her neck, the silken, multihued strands sifting through his fingers. “Got a place in mind, but I need supplies: bedding, cooking gear, a change of clothes, a lamp or two, and at least a week’s worth of food. I’ll need my pack and whatever else you can get your hands on without raising suspicion.”
Simon rubbed a hand over his brow. “It’ll take me a minute,” he said slowly, “but I got some supplies set by, and I’ll check with Matteo. Between us, probably enough to get you started.”
Cal released a relieved breath, the enormity of this undertaking descending on him. He’d planned journeys before, many of them, but never this slapdash, never when the stakes were so high, and never when he had an injured Omega to care for in the process. It edged uncomfortably close to a retreat, like skulking out of town in the night like a dog who’d stolen a chicken from the coop. Except instead of chowing down on the chicken and consuming the evidence, he’d be leaving their scents as a breadcrumb trail that could potentially be followed.
But he didn’t reckon he had much of a choice. Now that he had an entire night to think of one, Silas would lie and make up some story to implicate Cal in some dubious plot. He’d no doubt announce it for the entire Pack to hear at this tribunal or whatever the fuck would happen in the morning. Cal didn’t like lying, and he didn’t like sneaking, but he wasn’t dumb enough not to notice the clear warning in Colt’s words, and that fucker didn’t even like him.
Fuck. He’d thought this Pack, with a solid Alpha like Hunter at the helm, stood as good a chance as any of being somewhere he could find a purpose, have a home, be part of a community, and make a life for himself. Somewhere he hadn’t yet tainted with his bumbling incompetence. But where the fuck was Hunter in all of this? Snugged up in a Rut with his Omega, and who could blame him?
But it left Cal out to dry.
Even if reason prevailed and Cal stayed, in the next day or so, Della’s mental clarity would improve, and then she’d be back to her irritable self, refusing to have anything to do with him. Then how would he spend enough time with her to induce a Heat? With the wildly inconvenient “rule” about Omegas consenting to being claimed, would she hold out long enough for him to lose his fucking mind from not having her?
No, there was no choice; plenty of reasons to go and none to hesitate. It would have to be the cave. He’d take her there, watch her for a few days to make sure she was all right, get her bonded to him, then they’d leave and find somewhere else to live. In Old Tacoma, he’d heard talk about places further inland with consistent electricity and more developed civilization. He’d take her there, and they’d start over, together.
Slapping his hands on his thighs, Cal rose from the chair. “While you gather supplies, I’ll finish up with the horses and saddle a fresh one to carry us. Figure I’ll get to the spot, unload, and then set the horse free to find her way home. If you can keep a look out tonight and put her away when she returns, no one has to know.”
“Let’s pray she makes it back by morning. If not, there’s no way I’ll be able to hide it from Sloan.” Simon grinned an evil grin. “Half suspect he’s a horse fucker for how protective he is of ‘em.”
Despite himself, Cal barked a laugh. “Go on and see what you can find. The sooner I leave, the better.” With one last lingering caress of Della’s cheek, he strode from the room, intent on his plan. Simon followed, heading toward the exit, when Cal stopped him with a hand on his arm. “Me disappearing is going to put you two in the hot seat. You and Matteo need to lay low.”
“Cal...” Simon darted a glance back at the office where Della slept. “What happens when they find out she’s missing? They’re gonna come looking.”
He winced, sucking air between his teeth. “I know it, but I think she keeps to herself. If anyone asks you, tell them you saw me carrying her.” He lifted a shoulder, acknowledging it wasn’t a full-on lie as he had carried her into the side room. “They’ll assume I took her to her cabin, and if we’re lucky, that’ll buy us some time.”
“They’ll track your scent.”
