A quick, sharp flash of lightening shook Kai awake. Sand particles clustered around his forearms, and his eyes were tired, gravelly, and itchy as he tried to adjust his vision in the darkness to no avail. He slapped away an ant crawling up his knees and lay still, breathing heavily. Disorientation made him dizzy. He fought with his memory to remember the events of the night before, and where exactly he was.

A fierce thunderbolt shattered the air after the flash, startling him properly awake now. He half rose from where he was sprawled out on the cold, hard ground before he recalled that he wasn't back at the pack house. 

He was in a cave.

“Be calm, Kai,” a low, soothing gruff voice reassured him. It was a voice that sounded stormy, but had a softer inclination beneath all that brashness. A strong hand guided him to stretch out again.

Another flash of light, followed by a louder thunder, and Kai bit down hard on his bottom lip, counting the seconds. “Shit. The storm is getting closer. And faster too.”

“That's for sure,” the voice whispered.

Ian. That was the man's name. He hadn't been hallucinating then. Everything that happened wasn't a dream as he'd hoped.

He wasn't back at the pack house, trapped with an Alpha he considered cruel and despicable. The pack house that was once his home was now a prison, and Kai would gladly take the rough, hard floor of a damp cave over it at any time.

The muscular, solid thigh beneath his head was surprisingly a perfect pillow. The heat wafting off Ian's body comforted him, as did his hand draped protectively over Kai's shoulder.

“It's moving north to south,” Ian said. “The front would clear us before it reaches the pack house. We'll strike out as soon as it's safe to keep our head start.”

Kai nodded in agreement. After a soft, dreary sigh, he gave up trying to find sleep again. The storm would keep him awake no matter what. His stomach boiling and twisting in anxiety over what the future held for him added in keeping his eyes open.

When he first birthed this idea of getting away from Barry and his reign of terror, he hadn't imagined he'd get this far. The confidence had been fickle, but he always knew it was something he had to do by himself. He had to be the first to break out of the mold.

The omegas had precious little freedom before Barry had arrived.

They lost that when Barry solidified his stance as the new Alpha.

The guilt of abandoning them, his half-brothers, weighed heavily on him, even though they were the ones who encouraged him to run away.

The mental image of Barry catching up with him loomed like a shadow. It drove him forward in fear. He could only hope that it could anger Barry enough that he'd end up killing Kai in his rage and Kai's nightmare would be over.

The calm reassurance of Ian's presence next to him, running away with him at this point, was comforting and realistic.

“Do you wish to get moving now? You seem restless.”

It was obvious that sleep had completely eluded Kai. He twisted and scooted about till he was finally sitting next to Ian. Side by side, his warmth seeped through their damp clothing and it kept him warm. “Barry is worse than the devil. He's a monster.”

“I figured that out while we were still back there. He wasn't the Alpha my pack negotiated with. Who is he and where did he come from?

“No one knows. We do think he's a deranged rogue. He showed up one day, covered in bites and scratches. Probably gotten from fights with other Alphas whose territories he'd crossed. He lied to the Elders and Kade that he'd been unfairly outsed from control by his beta, and had no place to go. They agreed to shelter him for a while till he was healed and fit enough to travel — ”

Ian's hand nestled warmly on Kai's arm. “So this means that Kade was your true Alpha, right?”

“Yeah,” Kai nodded.

Ian held his breath. “What did Barry do?”

“Eliminated them,” Kai said. A violent shiver coursed down his spine. The air grew colder, the silence terser, as if in response to the cold blood rushing through his veins.

“Who he didn't shoot to death, he smashed their heads against the wall till their skull cracked and they lost their breaths. He didn't bury, but threw them away like that. Then he started taking the rest of us to start his own pack — ”

The memory of his first night with Barry would forever be burned in his memory. Calling it horrifying would be an understatement. He gave up his virginity, the one thing he'd cherished so much, up in order to keep his brothers safe.

Kai couldn't stop the involuntary hiccup that escaped his lips.

Ian's strong arm draped over Kai's shoulder and drew him close. Kai exhaled, burrowing closer against the offered warmth.

Maybe it was stupid, desperate of him, but now, he couldn't but believe Ian could protect him.

None of them ever had protection before. Not like the comfort offered offered by simply sitting next to a warm body.

Ian had this intoxicating, masculine smell. Even after running in the rain, gotten muddy and dirty and sitting in a dank, musty cave, his cologne was still sharp, crisp, and alluring. 

It must be severely expensive, Kai thought. Underlying that was the strong, irresistible scent of an Alpha.

It excited Kai's wolf. Turned him on in all the right places. The heat he'd fought hard to suppress, hid in a desperate hope that the brutal Alpha wouldn't try to impregnate him, started to emerge. A primal urge to mate with an Alpha who could protect him.

It was easy for Kai to trust Ian, an Alpha he didn't know. An Alpha he didn't think he would know. His instincts, his wolf, told him all he needed.

Everything Ian represented, everything the Alpha stood for was a life Kai never believed could be his before the pack Elders Elders negotiated to combine packs and selected him as the deal-sealer.

Now that the reality was closer, if they could get away and stay away from Barry until they were rescued, Kai should be thankful. His miserable life would be immeasurably better, especially if his promised Alpha wasn't anything like Barry.

“I'm scared, Ian. I don't know what the future holds and it scares me.”

A hand that wasn't used to hard labor, hands unlike any that had touched him before, gentle, yet firm, lifted Kai's face to look at him. “You don't need to know anything else but this: I won't let him take you back, Kai. Never.”

“What about this new Alpha I'm being  promised to? What if he's not any better? What if he's worse than Barry?”

Ian paused, and Kai fell into the depths of his eyes. They were warm, smoky-gray, compassionate, drawing Kai in further into a place of tangled emotions. “I honestly don't know what your life would look like with him, but I can guarantee that you won't be mistreated. The Northern pack don't tolerate abusers and bullies. They'll be dealt with very harshly. Being in my pack would be pleasant for you. You won't be alone. You'll have your brothers with you too.”

Kai wanted to believe him more than anything. He swallowed thickly and nodded.

Ian's face was so close and the comfort of his body heat, even though the damp clothing, proved to be a strong pull for Kai to resist. He let out a frustrated sign and leaned in, placing a kiss on Ian's soft, pink lips.

It was a forward move, a bold one, and Kai feared it would be rebuffed. It was the touch of their mouths that helped calm his frayed nerves.

Ian's eyes widened, and he gripped Kai's shoulders, fingers closing down almost painfully. He pushed until they were apart and breathing heavily, his  eyes closed. “Kai — ”

“Please, Ian,” Kai whispered desperately. “Please...”

The pained look in Ian's face said enough. At any time, the Alpha could push him away. The strength coursing through Ian's body was evident, even beneath the expensive wet shirt. Ian had defeated Barry. It meant Ian was strong.

It wouldn't take much effort for Ian to break them apart and push Kai aside.

A small pained sound came from Ian, and instead of being left alone and bereft of the omega's warmth, he gently eased Kai to stretch back on the floor of the cave again, this time looming over him with a look that spelt out raw desire.