Page 42 of Feral: Part Two
“You were trying to stop me.”
Thane nods. “Yeah, I was, but shit, I’m glad I didn’t.”
Malik stands up, holding my pups, Preston right beside him. “And now they’re going to throw a new doctor at us. I’m pretty sure they left Nathan here on fucking purpose because he was expendable. We have absolutely no idea what’s going to happen in the near future, now.”
I want to be angrier about this, but I have everything I need right here. The bottom half of my clothing is soaked in blood, Kael reaching down to untangle something from my ankle. It might be his colon for all I know. What I do know is that I need a shower. Immediately.
Kael nuzzles against the side of my head, his purr thrumming through his chest for several seconds before he speaks. “You called me your Alpha, Slate.”
“I did. You are. This is my pack now and forever.” I twist around to meet Preston’s accepting smile before turning my gaze upward to Kael’s. “I should have said it earlier and as much as I don’t want to be in here, I’m safe with you, with all of you.”
He leans down to kiss me, a soft, sweet embrace, but that’s not what I need. That’s not what I want. Something he catches onto immediately. “I’ll give you what you need, little Omega, just as soon as you name your pups. We can’t go around calling them Thing 1 and Thing 2 forever.”
My nose scrunches up at the idea of picking names. Thane saves me. “Why not? It’s kind of catching and they make this adorable little sound every time I whisper their names to them.” He tugs me to his chest before lifting me into his arms. “Let's goget a shower and then we can show you the baby name books Preston used.”
“Earl and Bob,” I throw out, just wanting it to be over, even if I internally cringe at the thought of calling my babies that.
Kael bursts out laughing as he follows us to the main bathroom. “There’s no way in hell you’re going to convince me that you actually want those names, little Omega.”
“Fuck. What about the body on the floor?”
“Someone will come pick it up,” Malik offers, trailing behind us. It seems that this shower is going to be a family affair, not that I’m all that torn up about it. Just as long as our babies stay out of the tub. I don’t want to brush through wet fur right now. “How about something a little longer, softer, maybe?”
“Bartholomew!” Preston shouts as he hops up onto the sink, Malik dragging a towel into the sink before the babies are placed there. There’s a lot of little squeaks of contentment as they trample over each other before Preston looks back up at me.
Kael is already stripping me down as I shake my head. “Jacob and Edward. Heh?” No one gets the connection and I just grumble that there aren’t nearly enough TV options in Wolfscorge. To be honest, though, I know what I want to name my babies. Although it feels a bit dumb now. “Cameron and Atticus,” I whisper, a smile spreading across my lips. “They were my dads’ names. I didn’t really know them before I was taken to Veltmoor, but they’re all I know about my family.
“I love it,” Kael purrs in my ear. “Oliver, Emilie, Cameron, and Atticus. Four gorgeous names for four gorgeous pups.”
Almost as if they know their own names, my pups raise their heads and let out a little howl before curling up around their other siblings. My heart warms at the tangle of fur in the sink, knowing that they’ll grow up with the love that was stolen from me. They'll know what it feels like to be wanted, to be protected,to be part of something bigger than themselves. They'll never doubt their worth or their place in this pack.
And maybe that's enough. Maybe love really can be enough to overcome everything else.
A Week Later
Kael
Chaos.
That’s the only way I can describe our new dynamic between four fox pups running around the entire house and getting into everything, and our Omegas taking us when they want. I can barely come up for a moment to breathe.
Not that I mind.
But Jesus Christ, I never thought we’d have to fox-proof the house. Those sneaky little pups can climb and squeeze into the smallest spaces, Slate’s babies even more mischievous than Preston’s. But get them altogether right before they need a nap and I just…
I drag a hand down my face and stare at the newly constructed board we put together last week. With what little we know, it’stime to start a different path.The Collectiveis very much part of all of these shenanigans but now I’ve placed Violet who heads up Veltmoor and Alexandra up there as well. There’s also a few other family members who are definitely in contact with the council, as well as Raphael and Ulysses.
I’m not sure if we’ll ever figure out how it all connects, but I like knowing we’re one step closer tosomething.
Ever since they dragged Nathan’s body away, we haven’t really been bothered. We keep to ourselves most days and I reach out to Beck and Arlo for any status updates, though there isn’t much. Beck’s Omega still hasn’t come out of the basement, which is a nightmare in and of itself, but Arlo can’t find Orion.
Which… is terrifying.
“Alpha, I thought you were closing all this up.”
I twist around to see Malik peeking his head in, his torso slick with sweat, his hair plastered to his face. A chuckle rumbles through my chest as I step up to him and flick off the light. “Yeah, I was just saying goodbye to it all. It’s still going to bug me.” I look back at the board, my gaze falling on the animal names along the bottom, question marks for the Omegas that might not even exist yet. A heavy sigh falls from my lips before I close the door and push Malik into the living room. “You’re right. We’re done. This is our life for the foreseeable future and we need to live in the present.” I parrot Preston’s words from last night’s dinner because he’s right.
We’ll get nowhere focusing on connections that don’t make sense when we have nothing to go on.
