Omega Hunted by Linsey Moon
19
The darkness fellover the forest fast and Savannah kept looking over her shoulder every time she thought she heard a sound around her. Another night of running through the woods blindly while being hunted by a group of alphas was the last thing she wanted to be doing.
For some reason she just hadn’t been able to allow herself to let Kasim bite her. She might end up regretting that before the night was out. If there was one thing she was sure of it was that Kasim was a better alpha than many of those who she might have the misfortune of running into in the darkness. She could run into one of the alphas who had trapped and tied up the omegas Nick and she had helped escape earlier.
“Nick!” She froze in her tracks.
Taking a moment to calm her mind she looked around to get her bearings. Nick wasn’t her responsibility yet she still couldn’t bring herself to keep going without at least trying to find him and see if he was safe. He’d gone against Roman for her. Sure, they saved three other omegas, but she knew he’d only pursued Shen and Roman because she’d insisted on going after them and he wasn’t going to let her go alone.
Well, she wasn’t going to leave him alone any longer. Not until she laid eyes on him and saw he was safe. Then she would get back to her plan to escape. As much as she hated to go back there she didn’t know where else to start looking so she headed for the cabin where they’d rescued the other omegas since it was the last place she’d seen him.
She approached as quietly as possible, keeping her head on a constant spin to look out for her surroundings. The front door to the cabin was opened but there were no lights on inside. Still hidden in the brush she took a deep inhale. She could smell the omegas and alphas who had all been there earlier.
The most notable being Nick’s scent. Aside from Kasim he had one of the few scents she’d been able to discern from the other alphas…one of the scents she’d been drawn to. Even in the forest she could make out his woodsy scent apart from the trees. It was faint though, like it was little more than a remnant left behind from hours earlier.
All of the scents were faint, so she pulled on all the courage she possessed and moved in. Even though the cabin and all the space around it seemed to be empty, she had to know for sure. Had to make sure Nick was not lying somewhere inside that cabin hurt, or worse.
Savannah made her way towards the cabin, keeping her eyes open and alert for any threats. She took her time stepping inside, trying to avoid making too much noise in case someone was lurking nearby. The reminder that alphas would use the cabins as a way to bait and catch omegas ringing loudly in her head. Once inside it was clear that nobody was there.
She made a quick look around, hoping to find some sign left behind by Nick. A note saying he was fine and had gone back to the main house would have been great, but she found nothing.
“That’s it,” she told herself. “You looked. He’s not your responsibility.”
She started back out of the cabin in the direction she had came, but her mind wouldn’t stop nagging her. What if Nick hadn’t gotten free and went back to tell The Lady about the alphas who were breaking her rules? What if they had caught more omegas who’d allowed their guard down during the daylight hours, and done unspeakable things to them.
She couldn’t trust that Nick had gotten away and even if he had she couldn’t assume he went to The Lady to report the wicked alphas. So she turned back and started in the direction where the entire nightmare she currently found herself in began. She began heading for the main house.
She would make sure The Lady knew about Roman, Shen, and Lucas and then she would find a way to escape this place. Maybe she’d see Nick there too just to settle the annoying voice in the back of her mind that she couldn’t seem to silence that was worried something bad might have happened to him.
Wanting to keep herself as hidden as much as possible, she moved back into the thicker brush within the tree line. Something felt wrong but when she looked around she couldn’t see anyone or anything out of place. To be safe she decided to move faster, taking off at a jog.
A few moments later she felt something move under her foot. She knew her mistake almost immediately but the vines were already wrapping themselves around her ankles. In a manner of seconds, her feet her pulled out from under her and she was hauled upside down at least six feet off the ground. She bucked wildly but her efforts only succeeded in making the vines around her ankles tighter.
Laughter was the first sign that she wasn’t alone, but it was the scents of the two alphas walking up behind her that make her blood run cold.
“I told you this was a great idea,” Roman said.
“Would have been better if we’d caught two,” Lucas said, “but at least this one is a better specimen than the three you and Shen caught earlier. Good thing too.” They both walked around where Savannah could see them and Lucas bent down and grabbed her hair pulling her body awkwardly up to the side so he could force her to look at him. Then he moved in close until his nose was barely an inch from her face and inhaled deeply. “Since this bitch helped Faulkner steal those same omegas from us.”
Savannah’s eyes widened in panic. “What’d you do to Nick? Where is he?”
“Oh, how sad,” Lucas said. “That louse had a soft spot for you too. The ferocity he displayed with my buddy Roman as I told him everything we were going to do to you if we ever saw you again had us thinking he must have claimed you.” He ran his finger along her neck and made her cringe. “I can see he wasn’t alpha enough for that. Don’t worry.” He grazed his teeth over her jaw. “I won’t have that problem.”
“I thought we were going to punish her?” Roman said.
“We are,” Lucas said. “But she’s the only omega here that’s even half worthy of my time. She smells so delicious.” He ran his dirty tongue over her cheek and Savannah cringed and tried to buck away, but only succeeded in her hair being pulled when Lucas yanked her back to him while laughing like she’d done the funniest thing he’d ever seen.
“Hey!” An accented voice yelled from behind Savannah. She knew from the scent he was an alpha. “Why don’t you assholes pick on someone your own size?”
“Mind your business Yuu!” Roman yelled.
“I’m making this my business,” Yuu said.
Roman stomped off behind Savannah where she couldn’t see him, but she could hear the distinct sounds of a fight erupting. The sounds of fists meeting skin and bone, grunting, swearing, and she even heard what sounded like a crack. Then Lucas dripped his hold on her and Yuu tackled him the moment he stepped away from her.
She tried to track their movements. See who was landing the most hits and doing the most damage, but she was suddenly upside down and swinging in the vines and it was hard to make out anything. She tried to swing herself up to grab her ankles hoping she could release the vines, but she couldn't come close to swinging her body hard enough to reach.
Another loud smack, the sound of a fist meeting flesh, a grunt and crunch, and then she looked. Lucas fell to the ground hard and he didn’t move. Yuu moved to her and snapped the vines holding her up by her ankles and slowly lowered her down into his arms.
“Thank you,” she said. “I don’t think we met at the party.”
“I’m Yasutake Yuudai, but everyone calls me Yuu.” Yuu smiled crookedly. “You might not want to thank me yet.” He brushed her hair back from her face and tucked it behind her ear. “I tell you what. I don’t want our life together to start out with me looking like a cheat. I’ll give you a five minute head start before I come after you. But Savannah, I will come, and I will catch you.”
“Please,” she begged, “I know you don’t owe me anything, but you said it yourself you aren’t a cheat. Nick Faulkner helped me saved three omegas from those two,” she pointed to Roman and Lucas’s knocked out bodies on the ground. “They were hunting omegas during the day with Shen and tying them up in a cabin just a couple yards west. Nick distracted them while I helped the omegas get to safety and I’m afraid they might have done something to him.”
“I’m not sure what I can do about that,” Yuu said.
“You can help me.” He cocked a brow at her so she added, “Help me get to the main house. Put the hunt on hold so I can report them and Shen to The Lady and the cheaters can be dealt with. What they are doing to the omegas they capture isn’t right.”
“If I do this, we go back into the hunt as soon as you’ve reported what happened to The Lady?” he asked.
She sighed. “Yes. As much as I don’t agree with any of this, I don’t expect you to walk away from it completely.”
He was quiet for a few moments and Savannah felt like she was teetering on the edge of losing her mind. If he didn’t agree, this was it. He would have no problem grabbing and claiming her right there and she wouldn’t be able to stop him. No matter what skills she might have acquired from a lifetime of living in the forest, she wasn’t stronger than an alpha.
Yuu met her eyes and gave her a nod. “I’ll do it. It’s not much of a hunt if people are cheating anyway. I didn’t come here to watch a couple assholes like them,” he pointed over his shoulder with his thumb at Lucas and Roman’s limp bodies, “torture omegas.”
He brought his hand to her face and wrapped a hair around his finger and drew it down her face. “This might be called a hunt, but omegas are meant to be cared for. When we claim our omega and make them our mate, we should worship them, not hurt them. I’ll make sure you get to the main house safely.”
“Thank you,” she said with a smile.
He gave her a cocky grin. “Just protecting my investment. If I’m letting you off without a claiming to do the right thing, I’m not about to let some lesser alpha slide in and claim you out from under me.”
She gave him a tight-lipped grin. There wasn’t much she could say in response to that. He was here with the sole goal of claiming an omega. She wasn’t fooling herself, but she would take help in whatever form it came.
Yuu held his elbow out for her to lace her arm through and she hesitantly complied. Better to be close to him then get grabbed by another alpha on their long walk. Then, arm in arm, they headed for the main house.