Forget Me Knot (PoisonVerse #2), page 22
This place was huge, though. I could hear distant footsteps, voices in different rooms. It helped us avoid people.
Once, I was able to drag us into an open room just before a group of alphas hurried by. It was large enough that if I pressed against the far wall with the door closed, they might not feel my aura. I couldn’t rid myself of it now.
Ice was tense at my side as they passed. I heard the voices from here.
“—Nash causing problems again?”
“They really need to rein him in—”
The footsteps faded, and me and Ice moved more urgently now. They were onto us. There were traces of scents everywhere. Some fresh, some fading, but all strong enough that they had to be alphas or omegas. Many of the scents was marred with terror.
For one brief moment I thought I heard the faintest humming of a lullaby. There was a sadness to the song that drew me up.
“What?” Ice asked.
“Another omega…” I didn’t know how I knew, but I did.
Only, in this maze of tunnels, the song was coming from a thousand directions. I turned, trying to pin it down. The further out I pushed my hearing, the more I was drowned with distractions. More footsteps. More talking.
“Where?”
“I don’t… Fuck. I don’t know.” I tried again to locate the sound, but it was impossible. “We don’t have time."
It went against every instinct I had, but I didn’t know how long I would last. I didn’t know the details of the detonation I had triggered, but I knew one thing: if my aura faded on us, Ice would be alone.
Ice
I had climbed this ladder before. It was cold and metal and stretched far up to a latched door above. Viper was first, slamming the door open with a burst of his aura.
“We… made it.”
We were in a theatre, and I could see the streetlight through the double doors ahead. A few people walked by on the street.
The outside world. Out there, they couldn’t touch us.
We had made it, and Nash was dead.
I had killed him.
I loosed a mad laugh, spinning to Viper only to freeze.
He’d buckled, his knees crashing to the wooden slats that made up the theatre floor. “Hey…” I made for him, kneeling at his side and holding him up as he sagged further.
The poisonous aura around him was waning, drawing inward, getting… sicker.
“What’s going on?” My voice shook, something foreboding in the pit of my stomach.
“I think…” Viper croaked. “My uh… my time is up.”
“What does that mean?”
“This wasn’t going to last.”
My grip was tighter and I grabbed his chin, forcing him to look at me. “What does that mean?” I demanded again.
“My aura isn’t… isn’t that strong, really.”
“It is…” I trailed off, a part of my mind realising what he was saying before I allowed myself to think it.
“I might have…”
“No.” No no no.
“Not much choice…”
This couldn’t be happening. “You… saved me.”
“I’d call that worth it, Little Omega,” he croaked.
An alpha with severed bonds of dead packmates had an option no other alpha had. The open wounds of dead or cleaved brothers left their aura one small snip away from untethering completely.
And Viper had just done that for me.
It was why his aura was poisonous. Toxic. Why it was so powerful. Because it was drawing energy from the one place that it should never be able to draw from.
It was drawing it from him.
He was going to die for me.
That didn’t make sense. Nothing made sense. No one saved me, not without needing something back. He knew saving me would kill him.
I stared into bright yellow eyes, every foreign instinct I’d tried to bury rising its head.
Mine.
He was mine. I wanted him. Needed him. And I’d never needed anyone, so he wasn’t allowed to die.
“You need an anchor,” I rasped.
“Bit late.” His smile was weak. Anger flared in my chest.
“No…” My voice was faint. Then the realisation hit me like a truck. “I’m… an anchor. Bite in.” He’d saved me and I could save him. And then… he’d be mine…
“I can’t do that.”
He was fading, his body getting heavy in my arms. I adjusted, resting his head down, leaning over him.
“No.” He couldn’t die. He’d protected me, given up everything for my freedom. Done what no one else in my life ever had.
“I-if you die, you’ll never see her again.” My voice caught. This was it. The first time I’d ever known beyond a shadow of a doubt, I wanted a bond. I wanted to be an omega if it meant being his omega.
Viper shook his head, a smile drawn across his lips. Tight, unhumorous. “I can never… be with her.” Tears were tracking his cheeks.
“You can. She’s ours, you idiot,” I begged, my voice shaking. His breathing was ragged. “Please!”
I’d never claimed someone, but my instincts were like a torrent, and for the first time in my life, I wanted what they wanted. The universe had handed me something back.
Only to rip it away.
I pressed my neck to his mouth again, but he didn’t bite.
“Don’t do this.” My voice was still trembling as I drew back, gripping his shoulders and shaking him. “You can’t just come into my life like this and leave.”
He’s saved me.
Given everything for me.
I wouldn’t… couldn’t do this.
I lost myself in that moment and I pressed my teeth to his neck instead, claiming him. He seized beneath my teeth, and when I drew back he was staring at me with wide yellow eyes.
“I want y-you.” The words shattered on the way out of my mouth. Please don’t take this away. Even my pack… they didn’t want me. It didn’t matter if I loved them. I could never tell them that, because they didn’t love me.
I’d made it impossible.
“Don’t leave me.” Tears blurred my vision. “P-Please don’t leave me.”
Viper
“P-please don’t leave me.”
Ice had claimed me.
An ancient wound shifted, years and years of armour cracking away to reveal the foul infection beneath. The offer I’d made had been torn away. It went unreplaced, slowly killing me like the losses of my brothers.
“Take the princess bond.”
Her smile had been dazzling.
“You know my answer.”
But she’d waited, not wanting to give it until we were home with my brothers.
Only…
My thoughts jammed, an age of agony halting me.
We’d never… She’d never…
The offer I’d made had never been answered, ripped away with my brothers, then she was gone, too.
And silence.
For years and years. Immobilising silence.
I couldn’t heal. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t release her from the offer I’d made that she could never accept.
I’d been left behind.
And now? A claim.
Panicked golden eyes stared down at me, tears splashing on my face. Then he did it again, pressing his neck to my mouth. He was trembling, and his terror… I could feel it. It was for me. Not for him.
He wanted me.
He’d claimed me.
But if I bit him… then Onyx…
“Please!” His nails dug into my arms, and he drew back again, palm at my cheek. “Fuck! Come on! P-please!”
His eyes glittered, desperate, afraid.
Afraid for me…
I… wanted him, I realised. I wanted him as much as he wanted me.
Blasting my weary aura one last time, I leaned up, dragging him against me as I sunk my teeth into his neck.
TWENTY-NINE
Arsenal
A bond lit.
An invitation.
A pack brother.
I drew up in the parking lot to the theatre we’d just arrived at. “What in the ever living shit?”
“What?” Malakai spun to me and the others halted.
“He just…” They wouldn’t feel it. It was on me to accept or reject. “Someone just tried to join our pack.”
“But… that could only happen if…?”
“Ice lets them.” Onyx sounded confused, finishing the sentence.
It was true. Either I could initiate a bond as pack lead, or an alpha could be anchored in through our omega. Ice had a genesis bond, a normal bond, which meant—
“He would have had to make the offer.” King finished my thought.
Malakai glanced between us. “Then you have to say yes.”
“Just like that?” My voice was hoarse, but… he was right.
“He wouldn’t fuck around with an offer like that.”
I nodded, still reeling. No, Ice wouldn’t make that offer lightly. If he had, it was life or death.
“Fine.”
Throwing every goddamned rule of the universe out of the window, I said yes to a new alpha into our pack—without having even seen him. I trusted Ice, though. He wouldn’t have done something like that without good reason.
This unknown fifth member collided with our pack bond like a firecracker. On a summer’s day. In the middle of a drought.
Sickness rocked me, and Malakai had to place his hand on the jeep to steady himself. King drew up, his face suddenly pale.
“What?” Onyx glanced around at us.
“Holy shit.” Malakai muttered.
“What?”
“He’s… sick.”
“The new alpha?” Onyx asked. I nodded. “Hurt? Physically.”
“I don’t know. Every way,” King rasped.
I blinked, weathering the sickness that was seeping into every crack of the bond, setting me on edge.
I exchanged looks with the others. They seemed to be thinking the same thing, and I could feel the flicker of relief in the bond.
Whatever this meant, it was hope at the least.
But the fact was, no matter how the day ended, there would be no returning to normal. But without Ice, none of it mattered.
I felt more unstable than usual. A combination of my strained aura, losing my omega, having just come out of a rut, and this insane new bond in the pack. Onyx reached up, touch grazing my arm, and I could practically feel her aura soothing me. We weren’t bonded though, which meant I was oozing instability.
We had to break the locks of the theatre to get in, but we hurried down into a large auditorium. It looked half under construction, and in the centre, down rows of seats, on the centre stage, was—
“Ice!” My chest loosened and I felt like I could breathe as I ran forward.
He was crouched over the body of a man, hands gripping a gun as he looked up at us.
“Fuck.” The relief we all felt momentarily smothered the sickness from the newest pack member.
King tucked his gun away and began down the stairs. Malakai nodded to me, not lowering his gun. I didn’t move mine, though I did begin down the steps in twos after King.
But seeing Ice holding a gun, a bloody mess as he stared up at us with terror etched onto his face, it was enough to send caution out the window. I lowered my gun, racing after King, who had almost reached them.
But no recognition crossed Ice’s face as he stared at us, and as King hauled himself up onto the stage, Ice jumped. Then the gun was raised, pointing right at King.
“Wait!” My command shattered the calm. Ice flinched, fighting it, the gun dropping for the briefest moment before he’d raised it again, a choked growl sounding from him.
“S-stay back!”
King raised his hands, slowly getting to his feet on the stage. I was climbing after him.
“Ice…” King was confused, but I wasn’t. I could feel it through the bond. From Ice, there wasn’t a flicker of recognition.
“It’s us, Ice,” I growled. “Your pack.”
Ice blinked, shaking his head as he turned the gun on me. “D-don’t come closer.”
My eyes dropped to the man beside him. He was a wreck, his breathing short and sharp. For a moment, a flash of anger burned in my chest. He was protecting this alpha?
I shoved it down, looking back at him and dropping low, setting my gun on the wooden panelled floor.
“Ice. Look at me.” I edged in front of King and Ice’s gun pointed right at me. He was shaking. “It’s Arsenal, yeh? We’ve come to get you out. But you have to put the gun down.”
“N-No.” He shook the weapon, as if in warning. “N-no one's coming for me.”
My heart cracked at the expression on his face, at the sickness that was flooding the bond. Sickness from him.
Cold and dark and alone.
And he’d felt this always. Hiding from us.
I took another step. “He’ll die unless we get him to a hospital.”
“I’ll sh-shoot.”
But I was one step away, and I couldn’t let him spend one more second like this.
I’d failed him.
We all had.
I sank to my knees before him, reaching out, but he jammed the gun to my chest. I shut my eyes for one moment, and then steadied myself.
If my own omega pulled the trigger right now, then death was the least I’d deserved. I reached out, cupping his cheek. For a brief second, something shifted through the bond, and he leaned into that touch, eyes darting between mine. I had the barrel of the gun in my fist, and I dragged it from my chest. Once it pointed at the floor, I moved in a flash, ripping it from his grip and holding it behind me. I felt King take it in an instant.
I heard the click and my heart rate calmed. Then King knelt beside the body of the alpha. He reached out for a pulse, but Ice lost it.
“N-No!”
His expression cracked, panic crossing it, and before I could do a thing, his nail caught my cheek. I grabbed his wrist, but he threw himself at me.
Shit.
I had to seize both his arms, but he wasn’t stopping. I caught him right before he went for my throat. I shoved him away, but even in the bond he was gone.
“Don’t touch him!”
“ICE!” I shouted. “It’s us. Your pack.”
“N-no!” He sounded wild. “Y-you w-wouldn’t come for me. You never w-wanted me. You h-have her.”
I grabbed him by the chin, holding him down and forcing him to look right at me.
“We will never leave you behind.”
Malakai
Arsenal had to slam Ice against the floor by his wrists, and even then he had a time avoiding his teeth. I reached out as Onyx took a step forward, catching her and shaking my head just slightly.
Ice was feral, his eyes wide as he threw himself against Arsenal’s hold.
“Don’t touch him!”
“ICE!” Arsenal shouted. “It’s us. Your pack.”
“NO!” Ice snarled. “Y-you w-wouldn’t come for me. You never w-wanted me. You h-have her.”
At my side, I heard the breathless sound from Onyx. From the corner of my eye I saw her hand jump to her mouth. I reached out to her, not taking my gaze from them.
I tugged her close.
This wasn’t her fault.
This was on us.
Arsenal grabbed Ice by the chin, forcing him to look right into his eyes.
“We will never leave you behind!”
There was a long moment of silence where Ice stared up at Arsenal. All the energy died in his body. Tentatively, Arsenal let Ice go.
The moment he did, Ice launched himself at Arsenal. I tensed until I realised what it was.
A hug.
Arsenal shifted back until he was sitting on his heels, arms wrapped around Ice’s neck as he held the trembling omega against his chest.
King was looking back at me, though, finally able to examine the alpha Ice had been defending. The look in his eye told me it wasn’t good.
Shit.
Onyx broke my grip and hurried toward them, lifting herself onto the platform and approaching the alpha.
I glanced back around the auditorium, still on high alert for any noise. When I looked back at them, Onyx had recoiled. I was the only one who saw her expression of confusion. Her face was white as a sheet.
King was standing, hauling the alpha into his arms.
“We gotta go if he’s going to make it.”
THIRTY
Onyx
The alpha hadn’t woken and Ice hadn’t spoken a word in the ambulance. Now he was curled up on the same hospital bed, clutching the alpha's arm, a low purr rumbling in his chest. Anxiety rather than contentment, I thought.
We still didn’t know who he was, but I knew the draw I felt to him. It was the same I felt toward everyone in pack St. James. That wasn’t something I could allow myself to focus on.
I didn’t know how I was supposed to feel. There was something wrong with the image of Ice curled up beside that alpha. I’d thought for a brief, guilty moment during Arsenal’s rut, that there might be a place in this pack for me. Now I wasn’t sure at all.
King sat beside me looking worn, his short blond hair was messy and there were bags beneath his eyes. Eyes which were dull, instead of their usual dazzling green.
At some point, King tried to tug me into a hug, but Ice shifted, eyes finally meeting mine. I couldn’t read his expression, and couldn’t tell if it was pain at seeing me with them.
Yet, right now it was strange, staring at him beside that alpha with an ache in my chest as he looked at me with King at my side.
Something was wrong. So, so wrong, but I couldn’t place it.
“I’m okay,” I whispered, shrugging King away.
After we had sat in a long silence, Arsenal spoke. “We have to talk about the obvious issue.”
I stared at him, blinking. Obvious issue?
Malakai sighed, unfolding his arms as he glanced at Ice and then me.
“Oh…”
Right.
Ice had nearly died, and it was my fault.
I clenched my jaw to fight the burning of my eyes as I got to my feet. Holding my handbag tight to my chest was the only thing that kept my breathing steady. I nodded. “I’ll—”
