Skyegroaned as he was shaken awake.A hand clamped over his mouth and lips brushed against his ear as his mate shushed him. He froze, his sleepiness gone in the blink of an eye as alarm flashed through him.Linuspulled away just enough to reach above their heads to where their bags sat, pulling out his scabbarded sword. A glance around in the dim moonlight showed the rest of the band doing the same thing.Skyesat up slowly, unsure what he should do or how to react to the sharp tenseness of the group.Linusunsheathed his sword and crouched next to him, eyes darting around the darkness. Long, tense minutes drew out as they sat there, the moon providing only enough light to make out vague shapes and outlines.The camp lay oddly quiet and still, the embers from the campfire sat low, no longer burning enough to provide light or heat.Trees rustled in the gentle breeze as Skyestrained to hear something,
“Come on, that’s Tracepolitely telling us to hurry the hell up. We don’t know if the attackers were just desperate and trying to take a risky opportunity or if they were targeting us specifically, but we don’t want to hang around and find out if they have friends in the area.”Skyenodded in understandingand looked around in the dim undergrowth for his discarded nightwear. His pants were just behind him and his shirt only needed straightening while Linuswas fully clothed having only pulled his pants down.A few knowing grins were cast their way when they walked back into the camp but Skyeignored them in favor of helping Lejendsaddle up Moya, one of the last horses to be saddled.“Feeling better, Boss?” Caigeasked with a cheeky grin from atop his own horse, a flaming torch in hand lighting up his face.“Much, but you wouldn’t understand,” Linu
They travelled nonstop until it was late afternoon, eating in the saddle, to put as much distance between them and the corpses of the fools who tried to off them in the night.They found a good clearing just off the road near a small stream and dismounted.Dyllensnapped out commands and Linusnoted with amusement that instead of giving Skyethe usual shitty tasks, the alpha ignored the raven haired omega completely.The omega stood next to hisownhorse after sliding off less than gracefully, although at least he didn’t fall anymore, looking bewildered.“Looks like it’s your turn for a free night, Cherub,” Linuscalled, a smile hovering around his lips.Stubborn old Dyllenmight have listened after all.He wasn’t sure if it was a peace offering or if Dyllen just didn’t want to dealwith the omega while he thinks but either way, they usually rotat
In the end, both alphas were left barefoot and shirtless with only their pants on. Some of Skye’s alarm must have shown because Britereached over to pat his shoulder with a chuckle.“Don’t worry, they’ll both just have a few bruises but nothing serious.Sometimes alphasjust need to hit something, trust me,” Britesaid with a wink.“Shouldn’t they have armor on or something?” Skyeasked, his eyebrows furrowed as Dyllenmoved forward, stances changing as he raised his wooden sword.Ternihurriedly crawled out of the way and joined them at the campfire.“Nah, it would just slow them down and get sweaty,” Urkanereplied, his deep voice tinged with humour as he sat at the fire, a small knife and a pot of vegetables in hand.Urkane settled down to peel the root vegetables while keeping one eye on the fight.“It might not look i
Skyewas painfully aware of thepairs ofeyes on them and he only reluctantly agreed.He was just starting to fit in, he didn’t want to cause a scene or embarrass himself with his clumsy steps.It seemed that now his alpha has decided, Linus mate was determined to teach him how to dance. His mate slowed down Trace’s tempo even more before he was happy as he led Skyeto a small clearing just beyond the campfire.The night was creeping in on them and most of the light came from the fire now, casting the shadows of the band on them where they stopped.The alpha positioned himselfin front of him and showed him the step in whatever dance he had chosen for them.Skyestared at his feet but still stumbled each time they tried to put the steps together and Caige’s occasional teasing didn’t help matters, even with Briteshushing him.“And now you just need to follow my le
Linusnearly balkedwhen he was assigning tasks to each of the band members to complete during their brief stopover in the small farming community of Brinegrasp. He hadn’t been able to banish the images of a glowing, pregnantSkyefor daysnowafter seeing him with children at Athelneyand even now,they surfaced unbiddenin his mind. The last thing he wanted was to invite his mind to conjure up even more images by accompanying the omega,but he was his mate, so the task fell to him. The very fact that thought didn’t alarm him as much as it did the first time was, in itself, alarming. Thankfully, so far,the only ones who had visited their makeshift clinic on the villageMillvalleywere all beyond their teenage years. They were a cautious lot here, mostly untrusting of strangers, and Linusdidn’t blame them. Brinegraspwas technically counted in the
“That’s not good enough!”the woman stepped forward; hand outstretched as though to grab the omega but Linusstepped in front of his mate with a low growl of warning.Distress rolled off Skyein waves and it had his jaw clenching with the need to soothe him.He half turned to give the sheepskin to Skyebefore facing the woman again, stance set, ready to do whateverwasnecessary.“Kashiko,” the mayor stepped forward, trying to placate the woman.“Calm down, there’s no need to yell.”She slapped the mayor’s hand away and stood toe to toe with Linus, red faced and screaming as she poked his chest. “Move! I want him to cure my girl!”“He said he can’t do it, so fuck off,” Linussnarled back, hand inching towards the sword at his hip.“He’s lying! Filthy omega- ” she was cut off abruptly as s
Linusstretched having just awoken.The sounds of quiet activity greeted his ears as the early risers set about organizingbreakfast. The distinct sound of Urkanesnoring quietly off to the left and the faint light tickling his eyelids suggested it was still too early to be up just yet.He stretched again, working out more of his muscles but stopped at a sleepy protest beside him.Glancing down showed Skyecurled up on the sheepskin, eyes closed with a frown on his face as he tried to move back into his place against Linus’s chest.The alpha smiled at the image, feeling oddly warm at the unconscious desire to be close to him that his mate showed.They had curled up together early the evening prior, Linusdeciding that maybe the comfort of the soft wool under his cheek wasn’t such a bad thing. Skyehad certainly seemed to find comfort in it, which was exactly what the devastated omega needed af