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He must realize the same thing I do, because he pauses before answering and when he does answer, his voice is rougher than it was before. “Don’t know if I got lucky or they got unlucky.”
“What do you mean?”
“Mean that it seems kinda suspicious that a gang of Alphas woulda left good shit here.”
“Trash City?” I offer.
“Too far. They’re bold, but they’re not bold enough to cross the river. We’re too close to Dark City.”
My throat works. I fight to stay quiet, but I can’t. “They’re bold enough to have guns.”
He gives me a long, penetrating look and scratches the underside of his chin. His beard is matted to hell and makes him look feral and insane. It also sparks something inside of me that my Omega preens at and I ignore purposefully. He’s a Berserker and an Alpha but he’s a beast no matter which form he takes.
“Don’t know and I don’t like it. I plan to look into it when we get back to Dark City. I’ll need your help.”
I stare at him blankly, waiting for the other shoe to drop. I’m horrified.Horrifiedat the offer. Horrified by the idea that he doesn’t plan to shackle me to a wall and invite his Alpha guests to use my body or my gifts for a small fee.That’sthe fate I was expecting. Not going with him and helping him solve a mystery.
His stare turns concerned. He wipes his palm down his chest in an absent gesture, smearing mud and blood across it. We’re both filthy. I inhale a sharp breath.Filthy filthy filthy.I want to present. The urge comes on strong and sudden and a traitorous whimper slips out from between my teeth.
His eyes flare and he straightens up, then the bastard has to go and take a step away from me. Because he doesn’t want me. He proved that last night. “Echo?”
Another desperately swallowed moan wheezes out of me and I quickly cross my shins over one another even tighter. I rub the space between my eyes, closing them, trying to reorient myself and think. He’s a Berserker.He was a Beta too, once.He owns me. He hurt me.He was trying to save me.He’s a bastard. He commands me.He helps me use my gifts.He’s the Berserker.He’s Adam.
“You want me to help you investigate Trash City?”
“That a problem?”
“Just out of pity though, right? To give me something to do?”
“Got knowledge of Paradise Hole I don’t. Got gifts I don’t. Already thought I could do this without you once and look how that turned out.” His gaze travels from my hair down my face to land on my injured arm, and then my injured leg. “Saved us out here more than once, Echo.”
“You did, too. And I…I can’t even use these Omega powers or whatever they are without you telling me to.” What iswrongwith me? The orgasm must have rearranged my fucking insides. I can’tthink!
His eyebrows are pulled so far together they nearly fuse over the bridge of his nose. “Nah. You got your gifts when I bonded you, even if the bondin’ didn’t go…quite right.” He clears his throat and red suffuses his cheeks. “Just need time with ‘em. You’ll learn control,” he finishes quickly.
“How do you know?”
“Seen it before. With my sister. Though she got her gifts before an Alpha ever crossed her. Didn’t need to be bonded. Made her special.”
The blow of his words hits me sideways and I open my mouth…and immediately start to choke on my own spit. He starts to crouch back down again, but I hold up my hand. “I’m good. Good. All good…” Cough cough. Choke choke. “I’m fine.”
I straighten up and immediately scramble to my feet and put another six feet of space between us. I move to the other side of the fire, giving him a wide, wide berth. Kneeling before it, I feed a couple more dried twigs into the flames and nod jerkily. Distance, yes. Distance is good.He was a Beta too, once. And he had a sister… Had, being the operative word.
“You ever thought about practicin’?”
“Wh-what?” I say, still coughing a little bit — choking at the direction this conversation has taken.
Crouching down so that we’re at eye level, he rolls forward onto a knee and plucks something out of the open pack beside him. He shows it to me, but I’m too far and the flames are too bright for me to be able to make it out easily. I shake my head.
“Flower.”Flowers. I remember the way that single rumbling word slaughtered me last night. “You made this. A flower’s not far from a fruit. You think you could make us somethin’ to eat? A nice little Omega dessert?” He winks and I shake my head vigorously.
Distance! I need distance, goddammit! Distance from his indulgence, distance from the idea that he wants tohelp me, distance from the lascivious way he’s talking to me now and his even more lecherous looks.
And then he sighs, “Echo, think about it. You can grow a flower, you can grow food. Gotta try.”
“Is that an order?”
He rolls his eyes and tosses the flower over his shoulder. It’s lost to the dark. “You want it to be?”
