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“You mean they would have grabbed Ava and Maia.” Cary said, not holding back. He was far too perceptive. I sighed and nodded.
“They would have tried,” I acknowledged, shooting a quick look at Ava.
“How are the two injured guards doing? One was quite young, wasn’t he?” Ava asked. She had a serious frown on her face and looked really concerned.
“Yeah, he was one of my cadets.” The guilt was eating at me. I never should have let him into the storm cellar, but he’d wanted to prove himself and assist the guards, and we were badly under-resourced. “It could have been so much worse. Luis said they’d be fine, but Damon is trying to grab some more antibiotics and medical supplies if they can find any while they’re on the supply run to the airfield tonight.”
Dio had been right about the Palace alphas. We didn’t even need to turn them. It turned out more than a few no longer wanted to follow orders they couldn’t stomach for people they didn’t believe in. If there was a resistance brewing, they said they wanted to be a part of it. All of us could relate.
“I heard the alphas that stayed behind asked for help to free the rest of the omegas at the Palace. Will you help them?” Cary asked. He was walking casually with his hands in the pockets of his dark jeans, but his body was tense and he watched me carefully. This question was important to him.
“You mean, willwehelp them?“ I gestured between us. I wanted Cary to know he had a home here if he wanted it, not just a place to stay. “You get a say in that. For us, we’ve always intended to try and free the omegas, ever since Maia turned up and told us what was really happening up there at the Palace. We just needed to figure out how when we’ve been way outnumbered. So yeah, we’ll help them. Or they’ll help us. Either way, we’ll be freeing those omegas.”
“I want to help when we go,” Cary insisted, his tone firm.
“Me too,” Ava added.
“We’re going to need all the help we can get,” I reassured them. Ava was a sweet kid. I didn’t know what the hell she could do to help. She looked so fragile, almost ethereal, in the moonlight. But I’d been around enough to know people had a way of surprising you when you least expected it.
I was damn tired of these Palace alphas getting the jump on us. We needed to get on the offensive, but we didn’t have the resources yet. Thinking of Lexie and the increased danger she was in now had my chest tightening and my fingers twitching for my gun.
I desperately needed to see her. I hadn’t laid eyes on her since this morning and it was making me vibrate with an itchy sensation, like there were bees under my skin. We’d both been so busy we’d been missing each other all day, even at lunch and dinner.
Lexie had spent the day helping to settle all the new alphas in and finding supplies for them. They had nothing but the shirts on their backs. She also sorted out all the minor crises that popped up on the farm. People naturally came to her with problems and she always jumped right in to sort them out. Meanwhile, I’d been busy helping organize the supply run and security at the farm for tonight.
The urge to find her and just touch her, breathe her in and make sure she was alright, was overwhelming. I sighed at the memory of watching her emerge from the treehouse in the dawn light this morning looking adorably sexy and well-fucked, with a giant smile on her face. Even that god-awful perfume hadn’t been able to tamp down my insane need for her.
She always liked to wear baggy overalls around the farm, thinking they hid her natural curves. Yet today she had paired them with a snug fitting cropped t-shirt that turned the entire ensemble into a peep show. If she charged money to let men sit and watch her work all day in it, I’d buy the whole damn front row.
Watching her stand there holding Dio’s hand, I’d wanted to go to her and grab her other hand so badly it had almost hurt to keep still. Her revealing as an omega hadn’t changed the way I felt about her at all. Neither had her claiming a mate. Her new scent and the glow surrounding her just enhanced her natural beauty, and made her even more unattainable.
I’d forced myself to stare at the trees instead of her as I’d asked myself, not for the first time, if I dared risk everything and make her mine.Could I live with myself if I didn’t, while watching her build a pack without me?
I didn’t know if she knew that was what she was doing, but I could see it clearly.
Given what we now knew from Maia and her ancient book on packs, a healthy pack needed a beta to balance them out. Despite what I had said this morning about not making a move, I didn’t know if I could sit back and watch another guy take the place that felt like mine.Did I deserve her, though, with all the secrets I carried?
I shook my head at myself. The guys all calling me out this morning had settled me somewhat and that feeling of rightness thinking about Lexie and I hadn’t left all day, even with the chaos that followed.
Knowing Leif and his mates were okay with the idea had made me feel like I could breathe properly for the first time in years. Yet, Sam had been staring me down with enough aggression to inflate a hot-air balloon. Jesus, that guy desperately needed a pack.
I was pretty sure the only reason Sam wasn’t completely wild and gone rogue years ago was down to Dio, filling the role of the pack as best he could. He wasn’t even really all that subtle about it, not with the way he touched Sam constantly to settle him, at least in front of us. It reminded me so much of Damon and Hunter when we first met.
Dio needed help, though. The level of dominance Sam displayed was on par with Damon, and it was too much for one person to manage alone. Leif and Max had helped Hunter and when Maia came along, the whole pack had clicked into place almost effortlessly. At least once Damon stopped fighting it.
I could already see the effect Lexie had on Sam and Dio. The three of them forming a pack felt inevitable, despite the way Lexie and Sam were circling each other warily.
The satellite phone clipped on my hip rang suddenly, startling me out of the reverie I’d fallen into as we’d walked the last stretch of path in silence. It could only be Damon. He was with Max, Sam, Dio and half of Sam’s team on the supply run.
I stopped where I was on the path as I grabbed it. Cary and Ava paused alongside me. I’d been waiting for this call. They were overdue to check in. “Talk to me.”
“We reached the airfield and found it locked up. There was only one old guy here, a maintenance guy, all alone. He said we can take anything we want if we bring him back with us to the farm.”
“Holy shit, that’s good news. Make sure the maintenance guy brings his toolbox as well. Having him around will come in handy when things break down.” Our workers were good at patching things up, but we relied on a mechanic in town for bigger issues. Hopefully, this guy could help us keep our machinery going.
“On it. He said they ran a flying doctor service into the mountains from here too, so there’s a medical office we’re going to raid. It means we don’t have to find an unlooted pharmacy on the way back. Can you find Luis and get him to call me back with a list of what I need to prioritize? I’ll try to grab as much as I can, but we’re exposed out here and I don’t want to hang around and draw people to us. If there’s something he really needs, I don’t want to leave it behind because we didn’t know and left in a hurry.”
“Got it. He’s in the new infirmary. Give me five minutes.” I hung up and groaned quietly.
