Omega Hunted by Linsey Moon
11
Hours passed that way,with only a few interruptions from alphas, none of which got close enough to spot them. They were mostly silent, with occasional quiet conversation that kept landing on the rocks of their shared trauma and other subjects too heavy to broach in the current situation.
It wasn't that Corinne was a downer, it was just difficult for either of them to think of anything but what was happening, the culmination of a lifetime of unfair bullshit, and how badly they wanted to shed it like a snake skin and start over.
"It's got to be getting close to morning," Savannah muttered, rubbing her eyes. They'd waded up a stream for what felt like a mile to break their scent trail, which had the added benefit of numbing Savannah's sore, blistered feet. But now they were warming up again and throbbing with misery.
"Yeah, I think the sun will be rising pretty soon," Corinne agreed. "We're not too far from the fence. We should find somewhere to hole up and rest for a bit."
"There's one of those cabins nearby," Savannah said, not as a suggestion but as a warning. Corinne grimaced.
"It might not draw too many people since it's so far out," she said. "But we should still put some space between us and it before we stop."
"Definitely," Savannah agreed. "But maybe we could-"
She stopped, grabbing Corinne's arm, as she heard something behind them. They both turned towards the sound, braced despite the likelihood that it was just a squirrel or a deer, which had spooked them several times during the night.
It was not a squirrel. The man stepped slowly out from the cover of the trees, long dark hair pulled back, eyes intense behind his mask. He was already very close. Too close. Savannah shot a look to Corinne, who met her glance for only a second. Then she shoved Savannah hard, sending her toppling into the leaves, and took off like a shot into the trees.
Savannah scrambled to get up, cold panic and confusion and betrayal making her clumsy. She fought to put her eyes on the alpha, rather than on watching Corinne run from her. He was watching her, but he hadn't moved yet. As she stared, he took a step forward.
She lunged to her feet and hurtled off into the trees at the top speed she could manage, and she could hear him behind her. He didn't crash through the underbrush like the other alphas had, but moved with a grace and efficiency that sent a spike of fear through Savannah. He was too fast. She couldn't outrun him, especially not with the shape she was in. She had to do something else.
She turned sharply, almost doubling back completely, and she heard him pause, thrown for a second by the maneuver, but it wasn't nearly enough to stop him. Savannah threw her everything into a wild sprint, legs pumping, knowing this was the last of her energy that she was burning and that if this didn't work she wouldn't be running anywhere after this.
She just needed to put some space between them, just the smallest gap, long enough for her to get where she was going. And there through the trees she spotted it, a steep bank that cut alongside the stream they'd walked up. The edge was hidden by dense underbrush. If Savannah hadn't known it was there she never would have seen it until she was hurtling over it.
Savannah threw herself forward, zig zagging wildly, trying to break his line of sight, then ducked behind a tree at the edge of the bank. Just as she'd hoped, he shot past her a second later, and straight over the edge. What she hadn't planned for was that he would twist in the air and reach for her, snagging her arm, and dragged her down after him.
They fell hard, rolling down the slope through the sharp branches of the underbrush, tangled with it and with each other, his arms closing around her, shielding her from the worst of the thorns and rocks. They rolled to an abrupt halt on the gravel bank of the stream, close enough that his hair was in the water. She lay on top of him, staring down as they both struggled to catch their breath.
His mask had come off in the fall, revealing a tanned, angular face with black, almond shaped eyes, devastatingly handsome despite the scrapes and cuts he'd acquired on the way down. She didn't need to see those intense eyes looking back at her to know who he was. She'd recognized his scent before they'd even stopped moving.
It was the man in the tiger mask. His chest moved slowly beneath her as he controlled his breathing. His hands rested lightly on her waist, not trapping her, just holding her. For a moment, she couldn't think of a single reason she should move from this spot. There was just the two of them and the sound of the stream and their mingled breathing.
A second later the spell broke and she scrambled to get away, rolling off of him and to her feet. He grabbed for her arm, yanking her back to the ground, and tried to roll over her. She brought her knee up into his ribs and he gasped, drawing back long enough for her to get to her feet again.
She stumbled a few steps away, and heard the gravel scatter as he too got to his feet. She turned to face him, knowing she didn't have it in her to run any further. He looked almost as weary and battered as her. They stared at each other in the dim gray light, each waiting for the other to make the first move.
Far in the distance, Savannah heard the sound of the starting pistol, a crack of noise across the sky, just as the first golden rays of sunlight began to peek above the trees.
At once, the alpha straightened up, the tension cut like a string. He sighed, dusting himself off. Then he looked at Savannah again, and nodded to her as though in acknowledgement, before turning around and walking away. He hauled himself back up the bank in a few short movements and was gone before Savannah could fully process what had happened.
Had he just... given up? What had that second shot been about? She didn't want to risk guessing what it implied. She couldn't afford to make incorrect assumptions. Whatever the reason, she'd been given a reprieve from what should have been the end. She had no idea how long it would last, so she should make the most of it. She crossed the stream and limped on into the trees, looking back once or twice in disbelief that he wasn't following her.