Omega's Run

by A. J. Downey

  Her moans came longer and louder as I sealed my mouth over her, sucking gently and flicking my tongue while I slowly worked two fingers inside her. Her legs tensed and flexed, thighs alternately clamping down on my head and spreading wider to give me better access.

  “God dammit.” She grabbed a fist full of my hair and pulled my head up and away from her. “You’re going to fucking kill me if you keep doing that,” she groaned and I grinned and twisted my fingers inside her.

  “You mean, that?” I asked and she squeaked, her eyes widening slightly.

  “No, not that. Get your pants off and get your cock inside me, now.” She really was demanding, but who was I to disappoint? I had my pants off in record time, and without tearing them; something I was inordinately proud of. By the time I turned back to her she was sitting up, a condom in hand and reached for my cock.

  And of course, as things will go, it was at that moment that there came a loud pounding at the door to our hotel room.

  Fuck. They seriously couldn’t have waited till morning?

  “Go away,” I yelled, biting back a groan as she took me in hand and stroked the condom down over me. I prayed that it was someone from the hotel and they would just leave.

  “Remus Reese, open the fucking door before I’m forced to break it down and kick your damn ass, Pup. I ain’t playing with you.”

  “Fuck me,” I groaned and flopped down on the bed next to Ava. Even through a door I would recognize that voice anywhere. The Arbiter, Markus.

  “Who the fuck is that?” Ava hissed. Calm and collected as she was, she had already dived for her pants and was wriggling her way into them, an action that did some very enjoyable things to her anatomy from my view. When she saw I was just staring at her she reached out and slapped my shoulder. “What the fuck is going on Remus?” she snapped, eyes flashing angrily and I winced, sure that I wasn’t going to hear the end of this one for a while.

  “Remember back at the cabin when I said some of the pack would have to take us to see William?” I whispered and she nodded silently.

  “Yeah, I wanted to talk to you about that. I don’t agree with giving up the tactical advantage by letting them drag us in. Who knows what could go wrong?”

  “Well that’s them outside the door right now.” The look on her face is one I’ll never forget. Somewhere between dumbfounded shock and monumental anger. She was pissed at me, no doubt.

  “How the fuck did they find us so damn fast?” she hissed as she jumped out of the bed and grabbed for her shirt. Forgoing a bra she pulled the black shirt over her head and yanked it down, eyes flashing dangerously at me.

  “This hotel is run by a couple of members of the pack. I knew word would get back to them but I figured they would have waited until morning.”

  “I can hear you two, you know that right?” Markus called through the door.

  I sighed and pulled the condom off, tossing it into a waste bin before I went over and opened the door. Behind me I heard a strange noise from Ava, probably in reaction to my answering the door completely naked, but I didn’t really care. Nothing the old man hadn’t already seen before anyway. Nudity wasn’t as frowned upon amongst wolf-kind, as it was among humans.

  When the door swung open Markus simply glared at me, steely gaze locked onto my eyes for a moment before dropping to take in the brand burned into my chest. Despite my insistence that it still burned, it had healed well over the months and was nothing but a scar. A scar that would probably never truly fade, but a scar all the same. It matched the new scar on the side of my face, a pale white line caused by the silver bullet that had first fired from Ava’s gun the night her team caught me. Silver always left a scar, even when it healed up. Scars that took ages to vanish, if they ever did.

  “You’ve got a huge hairy pair, coming back here like this Remus,” Markus growled. It was strange to me, that in that moment, I realized I had kind of missed the old man’s voice. He had one of those deep, gruff voices that you hear described all the time as belonging to those strong, upstanding types, salt of the earth and all that; he looked the part, too. His hair was a little grayer than it’d been the last time I’d seen him but he still appeared to be a man in his mid to late forties. Military style haircut and in good physical shape, the sort of muscular that his jeans and loose flannel shirt did little to hide. His stern expression was almost permanently etched onto his face as if it had been carved from marble. Yeah, I’d missed Markus. Imagine that.

  He stepped forward and I stepped back so he wouldn’t walk into me. He kept walking, so I kept backing up until he was all the way in the room and was able to close the door behind him.

  As soon as it was closed, he growled.

  Not like how Ava would growl at me, not even how I had growled at Ava in the past, that throaty kind of growl people do when they’re pissed off. No, this growl came from somewhere deep, seeming to bypass his throat entirely. His entire torso vibrated with the bass tones of it and it was a sound no human vocal cords would ever be able to make. This was a growl that would send all lesser creatures scurrying for their dens in terror and it had the effect of sending an immediate shiver of fear up and down my spine.

  Behind me Ava grunted again and I heard a slapping sound. I was reasonably sure she had just tried to pull her guns from her thigh holsters. The very holsters that she wasn’t currently wearing, so her hands must have just slapped against her thighs instead. Markus didn’t even glance her way, his focus centered entirely on me.

  “Well?” he barked, suddenly. “You got a good explanation for this, Pup?”

  “Mind if I get dressed?” I made a point of keeping my voice calm and even. No sense getting him worked up when he was already pissed. As Arbiter of the pack, Markus handled a lot of the ins and outs involved in maintaining a pack and a territory of the size that we had. They had, I corrected myself. The entire state of Washington belonged to the Pacific Northwest Pack, and that was by no means a small parcel of land. So issues were always dealt with swiftly and decisively whenever Markus could manage it.

  “Make it quick.”

  I did. I practically jumped into my jeans, careful not to catch myself on the zipper and threw on the sleeveless hoodie. I ignored my boots for the moment and turned, sitting down on the end of the bed, keeping my hands in plain view and remaining as still as I possibly could.

  “Markus, this is Ava Martine. Ava, this is Markus, the Arbiter of the Pacific Northwest Pack of wolf-kind. He’s sort of William’s right-hand man in dealing with pack issues.”

  “It’s nice to meet you,” Ava said as calmly as she could manage. I could hear her heart pounding and smell the fear rolling off of her, but she didn’t let any of it show in her face or in her tone. Gotta say I was pretty damn impressed.

  Markus nodded but still never took his eyes away from me. “You’re an Omega, Remus,” he snapped. “You were never supposed to return to your former pack’s territory.”

  “Unless I had a very compelling reason to do so,” I said. “I think those were the words that William used when he made me an Omega in the first place.” I’d been thinking about it for a while now. William had to have had a reason for not ordering my death, as pack law dictated. He had to have had a reason, other than making me suffer with the knowledge of what I did; what I lost. He’s not a vindictive kind of person. He wouldn’t torture me without good reason, and I think I finally figured out what that reason was.

  “And you have a reason that you think will stop William from ordering your death this time?” he asked, one grey brow arched questioningly at me. I nodded.

  “We need William’s help. We need the pack’s help. And I needed to warn you, warn William…” I took a deep breath. “Salt the earth protocol needs to go into effect, immediately.”

  Both steely brows rose at that one but his face didn’t change in the slightest otherwise. “Why in the hell do you think William would ever help you? After what you did?” he asked, ignoring my statement for the moment.
r />   I took a deep breath and stood slowly, looking Markus directly in the eye as I sensed him subtly tensing in case I attacked. Without looking away for even a moment I spoke calmly and clearly. “We need the pack’s help to kill Mathias Young.”

  Chapter 20

  Ava

  I was pissed, but I didn’t let it show. Instead I schooled my face into a calm, neutral blank and waited to see how things would play out.

  The older man looked Remus up and down, eyes narrowed in calculation, chewing his bottom lip. Finally, he nodded.

  “Get her weapons and get down to the trucks. You two are coming with me.”

  “I’m not leaving my brother’s rig behind; we’ll follow you.” I said curtly and he looked me over, raising an eyebrow.

  “And who might you be to Remus?”

  I gave him a nasty little smile and Remus sighed out, “Ava…” he intoned, pinching the bridge of his nose.

  “Remus…” I imitated him and hoped it was fucking irritating. Yeah, petty, but I was seriously annoyed. The old guy, Markus looks like he was waiting for my answer so I gave him one.

  “I’m the chick that shot him. I’m also the chick he’s currently fucking; does that satisfy your curiosity?”

  The older man’s eyebrows shot up the same time mine crushed down. I had weapons at my disposal, the only trick was getting to them – I was so going to kick Remus’ ass for this later down the line.

  “Right then, you can stay with Remus – I’ll ride with you two. Craig!” He called back over his shoulder.

  “Yeah?” A voice called up from outside.

  “You ride with us, have Grayson and Rory take my truck and follow us up.”

  “You got it, Markus!”

  “You might want to get dressed and leave them guns right where they’re at.”

  “I’ve got ‘em,” Remus grumbled when I set to pop off. He collected my guns and handed them over to Markus, holding out my empty holsters to me. I pressed my lips flat and shook my head at him, taking the holsters and strapping them on. I would need a place to put my guns when I got them back, or a new pair later. At this point, I would be hard pressed not to shoot his ass again.

  “Ava, just get dressed and let’s finish this drive.”

  “Eager to die?” I asked.

  “Tired is more like it, and eager to get the Pack on the move, to safety.”

  “Uh huh.” Well it looked like those cross roads of cross purposes had come up much faster than I would have liked. Damn. Oh well, nothing lasted forever. I was surprised to find that it hurt more than I’d expected it to.

  Remus caught my arm as I bent to grab my boots, “Chill out, Babycakes, it ain’t over yet. Not by a long shot.”

  “Take your hand off me before I take it off at the wrist,” I growled and he did, jerking back as if he’d been burned.

  Markus scoffed a laugh and I sat on the edge of the bed, pulling on first one boot then the other, glaring at each man in the room in turn. I was vastly outnumbered with no real way of evening the odds against me.

  I caught the solemn look on Remus’ face and it gave me pause. I laced my boots to the knee and sighed out; maybe it wasn’t just me and I was jumping the gun here. I picked up my bra and went into the bathroom.

  “Hey, I would prefer if you stayed in sight, Sweetheart.” Markus said after me.

  “Deal with it,” I grated and shut the door in all their faces. I pulled off my shirt and got my bra on, pulling the shirt back on over it. I caught my makeup free face in the mirror and frowned.

  In the words of Elizabeth Taylor it was time for me to “pour myself a drink, put on some lipstick, and pull myself together.” So I did just that. I turned on the bathroom sink, drank some water to clear the bitter taste out of my mouth and smirked when I heard the boys out in the room muttering.

  “You can fucking hear me, you know I haven’t gone anywhere, you can just fucking wait.” I told my reflection in a normal, controlled tone of voice. Then I picked up my toiletry bag, slipped the small Ruger LCP 380 ultra-compact pistol out of it quietly and into the cargo pocket of my pants on the left side.

  I rattled through my makeup as I did it just to cover any small noises I made doing it and then I set about actually doing my makeup. Black liner, and fuck it, I went with a crimson lip. I’m pretty sure at one point I heard one of the guys outside the bathroom door ask, “Is she actually doing her makeup?”

  I heard Remus’ dark chuckle, “She doesn’t give a fuck, it’s one of the reasons I like her.”

  I threw all my makeup back into the bag, zipped it up and opened the door with it and hairbrush in hand. I’d used a generous amount of my jasmine perfume oil to hopefully hide the gun’s smell and moved to my bag on the table. Shit. They’d been through it and gotten the other guns, Markus had most of my arsenal slung over his shoulder and tucked into his waistband.

  I picked up my Joe Rocket and put it on, satisfied with the distribution of weight that let me know he may have gotten the guns, but he didn’t get any of the other hidden treasures.

  “Why you packing this much heat, Sweetheart?” Markus asked and I smiled, it wasn’t nice.

  “I’m a firm believer in the second amendment,” I answered dispassionately.

  “Ava’s a Hunter,” Remus disclosed, and once more I wanted to hoof him in his front butt. Motherfucker wasn’t keeping anything back or to our advantage!

  “I’m driving,” I grated, shouldering my bag and leading the way out the open motel room door. I had the keys anyways. They were still in my jacket pocket. I went downstairs, the boys right on my heels and tossed my bag in the seemingly empty cargo area of the truck. I got into the driver’s seat and Markus got in on the passenger side, handing weapons back to the guy riding behind me who passed it into the cargo area.

  Remus got in on the passenger side behind Markus and I glared at him. He gave me a look that practically begged me to trust him but fuck that, he should know how this went by now. I started up the Cruiser and put it in gear.

  “I-90 West, Sweetheart. Don’t get any ideas.”

  “Can’t police my thoughts, Grandpa.”

  We drove for a good long ways and even got onto a boat across the water. Remus made a surprised noise when Markus told me to pull off to the left and down a driveway. I glanced at him in the rearview and his face closed down into a neutral look that was pretty much unreadable.

  I had no idea what he was up to, but I could only assume it wasn’t good for me. Fuck, fuck, fuckity, fuck! I’d played right into this, right into his hands. My need for revenge all consuming.

  Son. Of. A. Bitch.

  There were two peo- wolf-kind, waiting at the end of the driveway in front of an impressive log cabin that would have made James give a low whistle and when I stopped the truck, Remus clued me in.

  “William and Chloe, try to not be you, Babycakes.”

  “Fuck you,” I uttered and he laughed quietly for a second.

  We got out of the truck and the guy behind me, got out on Remus’ side and shoved him forward. I hid behind the door while they drew out Remus, distracted and got out my Ruger. I came around the truck and leveled it, not really pointing at anyone in particular but I was enough of a distance that I would take at least one of the wolf-kind royal couple out before anyone got to me.

  I gave a sharp piercing whistle to get some attention, and growls emanated from all five throats. I shook my head.

  “Careful, my trigger finger gets twitchy when I’m nervous. You should ask Remus about that, I’ve already shot him once and I’m a might tempted to do it again seeing as he hasn’t really filled me in on his plan all the way here.”

  “Ava…” Remus started in a low warning tone.

  “Shut it!” I barked, “You had plenty of fucking opportunity, now before I go any further along with your tenant relocation program I want a few assurances.”

  The redhead and only other woman smirked a bit at me and touched William’s arm, “Let’s hear what sh
e has to say,” she said levelly and I quirked an eyebrow.

  “Practical like daddy, I see.”

  “Something like that. More like I can smell the fear rolling off you all the way from over here.”

  “Be stupid not to be afraid, five on one. Pretty sure I’m going to die here tonight and you know what? I’m okay with that. It’s a much better option than being held captive, especially after what we did to him.”

  I didn’t glance in Remus’ direction, but I saw him frown out of the corner of my eye.

  “Speaking of which, you should really listen to him, he’s got some important shit to say and he’s not lying.”

  There, I did what I could for him. I swallowed hard.

  “Cause we’re just supposed to believe a hunter bitch ‘cause she says an Omega isn’t lying to us?” the meathead growled, but we all ignored him.

  “Why are you here with him?” William asked and he was sharp, once he got past his initial anger and started thinking.

  “I don’t know, why am I here Fido?” I asked Remus.

  “Ava’s the Hunter that captured me; she’s got intel on Mathias, and these… facilities. Mathias had a deal with our father, William. He had a deal with Declan. In exchange for neutralizing threats to the territory, Declan was letting Mathias and the Hunters take pack members from the fringes.”

  “Why would he do that?” William demanded and looked startled.

  “Experimentation, trying to figure out how you fuckers tick,” I said.

  “Put down your gun,” William said and rubbed his forehead.

  “You told me not to come back without a compelling reason, Little Brother, if ever there was one, this is it. You need to start the salt-the-earth protocol, now. The Hunters know where we are; they’ve been herding us, keeping us contained and Dad knew it. He fucking helped them, but Mathias got fuckin’ greedy. Their deal wasn’t providing him enough of our people. So he played Rom and me, and this whole thing is going to fall the fuck apart unless something happens. That’s why I’m here, that’s why I brought Ava here. I guess I wasn’t clear enough on what needed to happen,” Remus shot me an apologetic look and I scowled.