by Leann Ryans
Verik looked them over. Approaching each one, he gripped their chins so he could look down into their faces.
“Where is the sixth one?” he asked once he had inspected the five before him.
Lyric could see Raider’s fists clench as his back straightened further.
“The sixth one received an injury during her capture. It will be weeks before it completely heals.”
Verik stared at Raider a moment before turning towards where Lyric still sat on the horse. She could see a nasty grin spread across his face as he began to stalk towards her, Raider taking long strides to fall into step beside him. Tensing, Lyric unconsciously clenched her legs around the horse, making him dance around as the two alphas closed in.
“I’m assuming this is her?” came Verik’s rough voice.
“Yes,” Raider said, stepping forward to grab the horse’s bridle to hold him still.
“Come here, girl. Get off that horse so I can look at you.”
Eyes darting to Raider as her heart thundered in her ears, Lyric hesitated until Verik let out a growl, hand darting out to catch her arm and yank her from the horse’s back. Luckily for her, he had grabbed her right arm and not the injured one, but she still let out a whimper of pain at the jolt to her shoulder from how roughly he had pulled her.
Landing on the ground when he released her before she could get her feet under her, Lyric let out a pained yelp before Raider’s growl drowned her out. Stepping between her and Verik, Raider’s growl continued as the two alphas squared off.
“She reeks of your cum. Where you trying to hide her from me and not give me my due?”
“Five or six omegas, you still only get to keep two, and I never attempted to hide her.”
“But you didn’t place her with the others for me to inspect,” Verik growled back.
“She’s not one of your options. I’m keeping her.”
Both alphas looked ready to attack at any moment, and Lyric tried to scoot away from them so she wouldn’t be underfoot if they did. Unfortunately, the horse was behind her and she couldn’t move far without risking being stepped on by it instead.
“I don’t see a claiming mark, so that means she’s still free game. That’s not very fair that you took first pick as well as the majority of the omegas. Maybe I want her.”
While Verik’s tone suggested he was teasing, the look in his eye showed he wasn’t going to back down. Lyric realized it wasn’t even about her anymore, it was two Alphas posturing in front of their men.
“I’m the one that fought for and captured her, first pick was my right. Maybe if you had gone, you would have found her first.”
“I had no reason to attack her village, and I was needed here.”
“You getting first pick was never part of the bargain. Choose from the other five.”
“Why is she so special? If she’s the one you’ve chosen, then that would mean she’s the best. Since I’m only getting two of the omegas, quality is important.”
Verik kept looking at Lyric out of the corner of his eye even as Raider tried to keep himself between her and the pacing alpha. She wanted to stand, but was afraid the motion would set the alphas off.
Letting out a huff, Raider quit growling and gave himself a little shake, posture relaxing though his expression was still stony.
“I chose her because I was the one who shot her and felt guilty about it. She will have permanent scaring and possibly restricted motion in that arm. She’s also a pain in the ass. Mouthy, defiant, and definitely doesn’t know her place,” Raider said, crossing his arms over his chest. “Maybe I should let you have her and save myself the headache, but then I get to pick the four I want to keep instead, and you’ll take the one I leave you.”
Verik stopped pacing and eyed Raider before focusing on Lyric. Stepping closer, he sniffed in her direction.
“The others are naked, I need to see her stripped before I decide.”
18. Raider
Raider had to grit his teeth together to keep from snarling at Verik. He had known him for a long time, though they hadn’t had many reasons to interact, and he knew that acting possessive over Lyric would only drive the other alpha to want her more just to keep Raider from getting to keep her. More than anything, Verik wanted a reaction, so Raider had to fight the possession he felt over Lyric and act like he didn’t care.
Stepping back, he reached down and pulled her to her feet, making sure she was steady before he let go of her arm and yanked the collar of her coat backwards to pull it off of her. Taking the end of her right sleeve and the bottom of the shirt in his hands, he had it over her head and sliding down her left arm before she could even let out a gasp.
Lyric jerked her arms up to cover her breasts which made yanking her pants down to her knees easy. Figuring that would be good enough for Verik, Raider turned back to face him, stepping to the side so he had full view of her.
“Happy?” he asked.
Verik grunted, stepping close again as he looked up and down Lyric’s body.
“Drop your arms, Omega,” he commanded her, but Lyric stood there, stubbornly covering her breasts.
Verik growled, making a threatening step forward before Raider stepped behind her and gripped her arms himself, forcing them down to her sides.
“Keep them there or you will regret it,” he hissed to her before stepping back to her side.
“Turn,” came Verik’s next order.
Scowling at both of them, Lyric began to shuffle in a circle. Once her back was to Verik, he closed the distance between them and took a deep breath of her scent, watching Raider from the corner of his eye for a reaction. It was hard for Raider to force himself to remain still and resist attacking the alpha standing a hair’s breadth from his omega.
Seeing Verik’s lips tip up, Raider knew he was about to do something to push him.
Lyric let out a cry as Verik’s arms wrapped around her, large hands gripping her breasts hard enough to bruise as he ran his nose along her neck. She tried to flinch away but had no chance of escaping his hold.
The only thing that stopped Raider from ripping out Verik’s throat right then was Bear’s hand landing on his shoulder, holding him back.
“We’re outnumbered. Think of the men,” Bear murmured low enough that Verik wouldn’t hear.
“Have you ever pleasured an alpha, girl?” Verik asked Lyric.
Whimpering, she shook her head no as she stood frozen in his grasp.
“Have you taken any lovers?”
Again, a negative shake of her head. With Verik this close, Raider could scent his aggression and arousal, but there were no sweet notes of slick coming from Lyric. He wasn’t sure he would have been able to resist attacking Verik after all if he had. Verik must have noticed the same thing, because after another sniff of her neck, he released her and stepped back, his face a blank mask.
“She’s not worth letting you leave me with whichever one you don’t want. I’ll take the first and fourth in the line,” Verik said, turning his back and walking towards where the other omegas still stood beside the wagon.
“Get dressed,” Raider growled at Lyric before following him.
He watched her trembling as she pulled up her pants before retrieving her shirt and coat from the snow at her feet. Tears streaked down her pink cheeks, and he briefly felt a surge of regret that she had to go through that.
Grabbing the two omegas Verik had requested, Raider barely glanced at them as he shoved them to the other alpha before snapping his fingers at the remaining three. He didn’t care which ones Verik took as long as Lyric remained his.
“Get in before you freeze,” he barked, the girls jumping before rushing back into the wagon to bury themselves in the furs.
Their strangled sobs could be hear from inside the cage as one of the two Verik held whimpered, struggling in his grip.
Turning back to Verik once he locked the wagon, Raider crossed his arms over his chest.
“So, we have satisfied the agreem
ent.”
Nodding, Verik held out a hand to him.
“Agreement satisfied.”
“A pleasure, as always,” Raider said, shaking Verik’s hand.
Verik smirked and nodded, turning and heading back to his men as Raider returned to where Lyric still stood next to his horse.
Tossing her into the saddle rougher than he meant to, he swung up behind her and turned his horse, signaling his men to make their way back down the hill. Following in their own tracks, they made their way back to the trees before Raider and Bear began barking orders at the warriors.
Jumping back down off the horse, Raider was opening the cage door again in moments. Taking something from one warrior, he began tossing whatever it was into the cage.
“Dress. Now,” he ordered the omegas.
Three warriors lined up beside the wagon on their horses as others were unloading things from the back of the second wagon onto each of their mounts. Lyric didn’t notice until then that the Nicaavet had all stayed within the trees when they had gone to meet with the other clan. Now they were circling the smaller group of men, sneaking up and sniffing each one as if to catalogue who had returned.
By the time the omegas crawled, dressed, from the cage, the second wagon had been lightened and everyone remounted. They tossed a few things into the back of the cage before it was shut and locked once again.
“Everyone knows the plan?” Raider called, getting nods from all of the men.
Taking one omega at a time, he lifted them into the arms of the warriors who had waited by their wagon. Both wagons had moved on as soon as the girls had left the cage, heading off in a northwestern direction.
Clasping Bear’s arm, Raider gave him a nod before climbing back into the saddle behind Lyric.
“It’s about to get rough,” he said to her before turning to the other men holding omegas.
“Move out. No breaks until we hit the meeting point.”
At that, each man turned and took off, all of them taking a different route through the trees. Raider, the last one to move, wrapped an arm around her hips to hold her against him before heading north.
Lyric was jolted around in the saddle until she got into the right pattern to move with the horse beneath her. Teeth clenched to hold back the whimpers of pain from her shoulder, she hung on to Raider’s arms. It was at least an hour before they slowed, the horse coated in sweat and chest heaving.
“What’s going on?” she gasped out.
“Call this me being paranoid. The Andtay may be my allies, but there’s no reason to trust them any more than I have to. The wagons are vulnerable because they’re slow. In case they decide attacking us is worth the reward, I’d rather not leave the valuables there,” he answered.
19. Lyric
With the uncertainty of the situation on the hill, Lyric hadn’t had time to process what was going on, but now that she thought about it with him calling the omegas ‘valuables’, she was furious.
“What the hell was that anyway?”
Raising his eyebrow, Raider stared down at her with a bland expression.
“It’s not bad enough that you attack our village, strip us, and then drag us away from our homes, now you’re separating us? What, to buy the allies you don’t even trust not to attack you? How dare you give them to that beast!”
By the end of her tirade, Raider’s face was a dark cloud of furrowed brows and an angry glare. Lips pressed in a tight line, he waited for her to finish before grasping her hair and yanking her head back. With a startled yelp, her good hand gripped his wrist as he twisted her to the side, leaning out over the passing ground.
“In case you forgot, let me remind you that you, as well as them, are captives, and have no right to say anything about what I do. You’re nothing more than the bounty from a successful raid, and the property of whoever I give you to. Those omegas were payment for the help of their warriors, which was agreed upon before the raid ever happened.”
Releasing her hair, he let her sit up straight in the saddle again before pulling her tight against him and whispering in her ear.
“And don’t think you will not be punished for that, little omega.”
Gritting her teeth, Lyric tried to pull away, but he urged the horse back into a gallop, so she was forced against his chest again. Hanging on as the trees blurred by, her anger kept her warm even as the chill wind whipped against them. She couldn’t believe she had let herself think there could be something between them. Something more than the carnal urges of their bodies. She would always be his captive omega. A valuable to guard, but never treasureb.
Firming her resolve, Lyric decided she would run the first chance she got. The Nicaavet had stayed with the wagons to help protect them in the case of an attack, and this would be the best chance to get away. If she could move quickly enough, she may be able to get back to the Andtay clan and find a way to save the two omegas that were left there. Once they made it back to their people, someone could save the others from Raider.
If there were any of her people left.
That thought was sobering, but she figured she would do what she could for now and worry about that issue if it arose. The first step would be getting away from Raider. He was vigilant and barely let her out of his sight. The only chance she would have of getting away would be if he was asleep or distracted.
Putting together hasty plans for whichever event happened first kept Lyric distracted as the sun crested in the sky. Raider finally brought the horse to a halt beside a stream, pulling her off of its back before stripping the saddle off and rubbing the horse down with a rough fur he had in one of his bags. Lyric almost took the chance then, but with Raider’s longer stride she had no chance of outrunning him.
When he turned back to her, Raider handed her some dried meat and an apple, directing her to sit beneath a tree where he could keep her in view as he walked the horse to the stream. Filling his canteen while the horse drank, he downed most of it, grimacing at the cold before refilling it and bringing it up to Lyric.
“Careful, it’s cold,” he warned as he handed it to her.
The first swallow cooled her parched throat, but by the third, the cold was creeping through her tissues, causing her head to throb in pain.
Tying the horse to a branch and throwing a bit of oats and hay on the ground for it, Raider chuckled when he noticed her holding her aching head.
“Told you,” he said with a smirk.
Glaring up at him, Lyric drank more as the pain faded, though it never went away.
Coming to kneel next to her, he took the water from her hand and sat it beside him.
“Take off your coat and shirt,” he ordered.
Brows drawing together and jerking away in confusion, Lyric shook her head.
“I need to check your bandages to make sure the riding hasn’t caused any torn stitches,” Raider said with a huff, reaching for her coat.
Lyric tried to pull away and do it herself, but he didn’t release his grip, yanking the coat off of her. Growling, she turned her back to him before pulling her right arm out of the shirtsleeve, lifting it over her head and letting it slide down the left while clutching the front of it across her chest to hide her stiff nipples. She wanted to blame them on the cold, but she knew his proximity and the vulnerability she felt at being topless before him was the real cause.
Turning her so he could see the front as well as the back of the wound, he grunted as he checked and adjusted the padding and wrap.
“There’s a little bleeding but not enough to worry. It’s a bit red though that’s probably from earlier. We must clean and rewrap it tonight,” came his husky voice from just behind her shoulder.
Raider was close enough that she could feel the heat radiating from his body and she had to fight against the urge to lean back into him. Running his nose along her uninjured shoulder to her neck, the quiet groan he let out sent shivers down her spine and caused her core to clench with need.
Fisting her hands in her
lap, Lyric forced herself to ignore what her body wanted, and leaned away from him. Sliding her shirt back up and over her head, she yanked it down roughly and reached for her coat, but Raider pulled it away.
“So, you’ve gone back to being like that again?” he asked in a casual voice.
“Like what?” she forced herself to grit out.
“Angry. Self-righteous. Pretending you don’t want me.”
The slight smile playing around his lips had anger flooding through her again, washing away the unwanted longing that had crept in.
“I don’t have to pretend. Especially when you don’t care what I, or any other omega, wants,” Lyric growled.
Raider’s expression flattened, but she could see the anger simmering in his eyes.
“Get up, it’s time to go,” he said, rising and turning his back to her to saddle the horse.
It took him less than a minute to have everything situated and grab her around the middle. Having loved animals, and particularly horses, her whole life, Lyric was finding herself wishing she would never have to ride again. Raider was a large man and needed a large mount, but having her legs stretched wide over its broad back was causing her thighs to feel like they would never be the same.
Grumbling to herself, she held the flare of anger close as he ground himself against her ass once he was seated. She didn’t want a mate who thought of her as an object to possess, and this time she wouldn’t forgive and forget.
20. Raider
He knew he was pushing everyone hard making them race to his territory, but Raider felt this was the best course of action. The Andtay weren’t stupid. They would watch the wagons first. It wouldn’t take them long to realize that he was missing, and then figure out that the omegas weren’t there either. He wasn’t really worried about the wagon being attacked even though it would be in Andtay territory for at least another day or two depending on how the weather held up.
