Omega Phoenix: Hunted

Chapter 2

2

Max

It didn’t take long for Zack and Liam to realise we weren’t coming back down after getting Cyra to bed and they joined us within minutes of Cyra falling asleep. The bed is a little too small for all five of us, but it works for now. Especially since we all want to be as close to Cyra as possible, so we turn into a massive pile of bodies. Maybe it’ll get better later, but this will have to do for now. Luckily, the weather is getting cool fast, so we at least won’t boil each other out of bed during the night.

When I woke up, I had a weird crook in my neck from where Liam held my head almost in a headlock and I was about to fall from the bed, moments away from a painful crash on the wooden floor. Instead of trying to find another spot to sleep on the cramped bed, I got dressed and decided to start the day.

I let my mind wander as I’m making breakfast. More pancakes, since it’s one of the two breakfast items I know how to make and that we’ve got supplies for, the other being cornflakes... And cornflakes really aren’t going to sustain us right now. It looks like today is going to be a busy day, we’re going to have to find s**t out about that Alpha Cyra’s parents chose for her, and also how we’re going to protect Cyra going forward.

My phone rings and I blink, turning the heat under the pancakes down as I pick up, it’s Julie. That’s unexpected. “Good morning?”

“You sound too awake,” Julie grumbles before sighing. “You shouldn’t sound this awake this early in the morning, you know?”

“What’s up?” I can’t help smiling. I slept, deeply, before I nearly fell out of bed, waking me up at a pretty normal time, around six in the morning. Although, it’s a normal time for me to wake up, not for Julie. “Wait, why are you up?”

“Stupid reporters in front of my house. Thanks to you guys. They were being loud, arguing about the best spots to try to catch us on our way out. Isa had to get up because someone was trying to take pictures of us in our bedroom. They were basically pressing their cameras against the glass to get the best shot of us...”

“I’m sorry.” f**k. I did not consider that. I’d totally forgotten about the reporters camping out in front of her place. “Anything I can do?”

“Not really. Isa is taking care of things. Last I heard her she was on the phone with the cops to report them for trespassing. You know how much the cops here hate it when reporters are stepping over the line. So it should calm down soon. I’m just calling to see how Cyra is doing. How you’re all doing, but, you know, especially her.”

I open my mouth to answer her, but then stop myself. Not sure how much I should tell her. Or how to even explain what happened in a way that doesn’t make us look really bad.

“Max?” I can almost hear the glare she’s giving me through the phone and I automatically wince. “What’s going on? You didn’t do something stupid, did you?” She’s always been really good at spotting when I try to hide things from her.

“Define stupid?” I pull a face, because that’s a definite tell that I did something she probably wouldn’t like...

“f*****g hell, dude. What did you do?”

“Let’s put it this way, she won’t be needing the number of the doc for suppressants anymore. Though, she’ll probably need it for other things?”

“Oh. Dude.” Julie falls quiet. “I’m not even... Fuck.” I hear sliding doors open and close and then the sounds of the early morning as she steps outside into her garden. “You’re going to be in big trouble when her parents find out. Fuck.”

“I know.”

“Did you mark her?” She sounds disapproving.

“We all did.” My voice is quiet, not really wanting to admit it out loud. Even though it will be obvious to the whole world soon enough, when they catch sight of Cyra, when everyone can see the marks.

“All?! f*****g hell, Max. How can you...? Sometimes I don’t even... I expect Liam to do this type of stupid s**t, not you.” She sighs, falling quiet. Probably cursing me out without sounds and I definitely deserve it. We should not have gotten ourselves in this situation to begin with. “I’ll call you back later. I need to think this over.”

“I know. Sorry.” But before I can say more, she’s already disconnected the call.

I know that Julie has only been trying to help us. She’s been protecting us. She’s even offered us the help of a doctor and the Omega Association. And then we... And then we do this, mark and mate Cyra. Getting us all into even more trouble.

We’ve just been getting ourselves into more and more trouble ever since we met Cyra and I don’t even know how we’ve managed it half of the time, to be honest... It’s like it just happens or something. It’s like all of us suddenly have Liam’s bad luck.

I put the phone down and turn the heat under the pancakes back up, finishing up last of the bowl of batter.

Julie is right. Now we’ve marked Cyra, we’re in even more trouble than we were before, after we’d just been spotted sneaking away from the Night Gala. At the same time, we shouldn’t be in any trouble at all for marking our mate. She’s ours.

She’s ours.

What we did is only natural. It’s normal. But if the media or Cyra’s parents find out, we’ll get into a whole load more trouble. If anyone tells the media or Cyra’s parents that we’ve marked her, they’re going to be hunting for us. They’re going to be hunting for us and they won’t stop until they’ve killed us. We won’t get a trial, they’ll kill us on the spot, just for marking our fated mate... Because she’s supposedly promised to someone else, supposedly.

The mood during breakfast was definitely... not happy. So much has happened in the last days, from the Gala, to staying at the coast, to coming here, to marking Cyra, and that ignores whatever Cyra’s parents are trying to pull on us. It’s hard to imagine how we’re going to move on from here. We have to move forward and that means coming up with some concrete plans.

But it seems that getting everyone focused in the same direction might not be the easiest thing today. It would probably help if we could all be in the same room at the same time, but that seems to be impossible for some reason. So, while I’m trying to find information about what our options are when it comes to getting our mating validated and recognised and Liam is trying to stay on top of what’s going on in the media, Zack and Spence are off elsewhere, doing whatever they’re doing.

And Cyra... Well... Ehh... She’s not happy, as expected. She went off on her own pretty soon after breakfast. We’re out in the middle of nowhere, so we felt it was safe enough for her to walk wherever she wanted, as long as she was able to find her way back and wouldn’t get lost.

There’s a notification on Liam’s computer and he curses loudly. “Max... Could you go find the hydra and the griffin?”

“What is it?” I stand up but he waves me out of the room as he grabs his phone.

“The hydra and griffin first, and Cyra, if you can find her. I’ll explain it when you get back.”

“Liam?” I don’t like being out of the loop, but he puts his fingers to his lips, the phone to his ear. “Fine.” I sigh, and step into the hallway, trying to find out where everyone is.

Then I hear a wooshing sound outside, like the flapping of really big wings. What?

I cross the hallway and open the front door. There’s nothing at eye level, but when I look up I have to shield my eyes from the sun. A huge, winged creature is hanging in the air in front of the house. The front of an eagle, with massive claws and wings, and the back of a lion, which also has dangerous-looking claws. A f*****g griffin.

I hold my breath for a moment, my heart beating fast, impressed by the creature, my cerberus reacting to him, recognising who this is, a tugging in my chest that I try to ignore. That pulls me back to the now, back to our situation and why I’m looking for him. “Spence, you might want to shift back. We need your help.” I look around, trying to find Zack. “Where’s the hydra, or Cyra?”

Spence lets out a high screech as he turns towards the forest and soars off. Great... I have no idea if that means that he knows where they are, or that he doesn’t know.

Since I’ve got nothing better to do, I walk in the direction that Spence flew in, pretty sure that he was going in the direction of someone, and if not, at least I’ll be able to drag his ass back to the house.

It only takes a few minutes before I find Cyra. She’s sitting in a clearing, leaning against a tree, her phone in her hands, but while she’s staring at it, she doesn’t move.

“Cyra?” I don’t want to scare her and I have a feeling that if I speak too loudly, I’m going to spook her.

She slowly looks up, her eyes red and puffy and my heart aches. “I just spoke to Audrey, the girl I work at the cafe with. Or worked at the cafe with, I guess.” Her face falls even more.

Uh, oh. It doesn’t sound like it was a good call. “What happened?”

Cyra pulls a face, standing up. “She wanted to know what the f**k my parents were on, with the s**t they were saying about me. Until she realised that this wasn’t a joke, that it was true, that I really am an Omega...” She puts her phone away. “She understandably got upset with me for hiding that from her, even though we’ve known each other for years and work together all the time. She just thought I was asexual or demisexual. She didn’t expect me to be an Omega and for that to be the reason I was staying away from people.”

“I’m so sorry.” I step closer, but she decisively shakes her head.

“No. I was part of a community.” She looks at me, glaring, angry. “I had a normal life. I had my job, my friends, and now all of that has been taken away from me. It’s all gone.”

“Audrey didn’t want to be friends anymore?” I’m almost getting angry too, until I see Cyra’s surprise at my words.

“Hell, no. Of course not.” She looks upset that I could even consider such things. “She wanted to fight all of you, and my parents too, everyone in this crap system, for messing up my life.”

“Then why were you crying?” Because she’s obviously been crying. That sounds like Audrey has been a very good friend to her, really supportive, and it hurts knowing that Cyra had to lie to Audrey for years. But it seems that Audrey doesn’t care too much about the lie, just about the pain her friend is in, and that’s a quality I can appreciate in a person.

Cyra’s voice hitches for a moment, before she gets it back under control. “Because she was so sweet, and if it wasn’t for me, she wouldn’t have to threaten anyone with murder on my behalf. I don’t want her to have to threaten anyone, just to protect me. I hate that she feels like that...”

I turn away, towards two sets of footsteps behind me, as I try to hide my smile from her. Audrey sounds great, and I totally understand how Audrey is feeling, wanting to protect Cyra. We’ll have to find a way to get Audrey back into Cyra’s life as soon as this is all over. I would hate to break a friendship like that.

Spence and Zack saunter down the path towards us, both looking serious, their bodies a little too tense to be truly sauntering, no matter how hard they try to look relaxed. Their clothes are rumpled, like they put them on in a hurry.

“Spence said that you need us?” Zack eyes me.

“Yeah.” I nod back to the house. “Liam found something and we need to be there. Where were you...” But with how stressed Liam was looking when I left, there are more important things than trying to find out what those two were up to. “Let’s go.” I reach out to Cyra and she takes my hand, walking next to me.

Inwardly, I smile, thinking of Audrey. Cyra seems to be great at collecting very protective friends around her. People who want to protect her no matter what they have to face. Though, from what I know about Cyra, she’s the same, always protecting the people around her. It’s a great quality to have, but I suspect that it might get her, or us, in a lot of trouble in the future, more than we’re already in.

When we reach the house, Liam is standing in the doorway, looking angry and annoyed and he quickly turns around, back into the house. What?

As soon as we walk into the living room, the first thing I notice is the TV. It’s on again, on silent, but we don’t need to hear what’s being said to understand what’s happening. The whole screen is filled with shot after shot of the house we were staying in at the coast. There are people walking around the place, like they’re trying to find clues or something, combing through the shrubbery around the house, looking behind furniture, peering into the windows. From this angle alone, I spot three different camera crews filming in front of the house.

Oh, f**k. Hell, no.

So this is what Liam found out, why he was so on edge. Reporters have located the previous place we stayed at, the first house we fled to. I’m so glad that we left when we did, that we realised that we’d be found too easily there, since we’d been in such a hurry to leave the city that we couldn’t fully think through all the safety measures. But now that house is discovered... f**k.

How long until they’ll find this place too?

We can’t keep running from them all the time. It’s not... It’s not possible.