Page 20

Chapter 6

"Ridiculous,"Josef muttered to himself as he stroked his cock above Bryan's upturned face. "How long can a test take to complete? It's been nearly a week. Open your mouth."

Bryan opened just as Josef came, his bitter semen spurting onto his tongue. He swallowed the disgusting fluid and cleaned Josef's dick with his lips, milking out the rest of his come using his fingers. He just wanted the old man to finish and go to sleep so that he could sneak out.

"I shouldn't be wasting this on your mouth," Josef said, waddling naked to the bathroom. "But I've just about given up on putting it in your belly. I've started looking, by the way."

"What do you mean?" Bryan asked.

Josef smirked and splashed his face with water from the sink. "A new mate, obviously. I've had Dan Whitetail send me prospectives from New Lykia. There's an Omega coming of age next year, as luck would have it." He shrugged. "What's another year of waiting? Honestly, I'm looking forward to ending this contract. I'm getting quite bored of your lack of enthusiasm, Bryan."

Bryan was silent. He couldn't bring himself to beg, not when he already knew it would be fruitless. Healer Fielding could only delay for so long and eventually the results of that test would be in Josef’s hands. And that would be the end of it.

At this point, Bryan was only appeasing the man to stretch his time out as long as he possibly could. Even though he knew Josef would not give him charity, he still held on to a vague hope that something could be done for his family.

He wanted to return to the forest and the three Alphas who waited there. That dark and once-frightening place now felt more like home than New Pixia did. He felt safe there, away from the Josef’s abuse and the stained memories of the town that lingered in his mind. This place was tainted, and it made him sick to be there.

"I'd like to be excused," Bryan said. "I'm tired."

"You don't get make requests," Josef said. "I tell you when you're tired. I tell you when you go to sleep. Useless Omega." He stormed back into the room, tying a bathrobe around his potbellied frame. He grabbed Bryan's wrist and pushed him hard onto the bed. Despite his age and physical condition, Josef still had an Alpha's strength. He pinned Bryan down by the shoulders and glared down at him, studying him with angry, suspicious eyes. Bryan stared back, his expression blank. He wouldn't provide Josef the satisfaction of knowing his fear. "Get out," Josef grunted after seconds of ringing silence, and let him go.

Without speaking a word, Bryan rose and returned to his room, shutting the door behind him. He sat on the edge of his bed and stared at the wall, his thoughts racing. He was caught, a prisoner to the circumstances of his life with no way out. His entire being was drawn to the forest, constantly aching to return to the presence of the Alphas. His body was tied to them, like it was dependent on their touch, and each day he'd gone back to be with them had only made his attachment stronger. What could he do? Continue sneaking away to the forest in the middle of the night?

He'd asked Gan this question before, and the answer didn't bring him much reprieve. "Choose us. Leave it all and join us. Follow your destiny."

But he couldn't. He couldn't just run away and leave his brother behind.

If only the Uridimm did take prisoners. This life was the one holding him hostage.

He waited an hour until he heard Josef's snores, and quietly made his exit through the bedroom window, climbing down the side of the house to the ground floor. Soon he was back in the thick of the forest, passing between the two giant trees that marked the edge of the Uridimm village. He made his way towards the Alpha's den, moving silently through the sleeping town, when he spotted Munok sitting in his wolf form outside one of the huts. Bryan approached him slowly—he'd never been around him alone. Even though Munok participated in taking him alongside Gan and Nugai, he was still quite distant with him. Bryan sensed the distaste the Alpha had for Xyletians, and he couldn't blame him.

"What are you doing out here?" Bryan asked.

Munok looked at him, the blue stone necklace showing through his shaggy fur. He stayed in his wolf form even as Bryan came up to him. "A man is sick. I must channel Uri's attentions to him."

"Will he be alright?"

"I don't know," Munok grumbled, irritated. "I will need to be here until morning. Nugai is inside with Gan performing the ritual. If he survives, then we know Uri blessed him."

"I should leave," Bryan said. "I don't want to disturb you. I'll head back home for tonight."

"No," Munok said. "Your presence will be helpful."

"How?"

"Does that need explanation? Why does everything need to be explained to you?"

"I'm sorry to inconvenience you. I know, I'm just a Xyletian, I don't know things. I think I will head back." If Nugai and Gan were occupied, he wasn't going to sit around and be berated by Munok—even though hewascraving him...

"Because it'll be soothing to me," Munok barked. "Sit. Please."

Bryan eyed him, surprised, and then sat down on the ground next to him. He was about a head shorter than Munok's wolf form, coming up to his shoulder. The Alpha looked down at him, sighed, and then shifted to human form. The two of them sat cross-legged, side by side on the dirt. Nugai's muffled chanting emanated from within the hut.

"I thought you didn't like me. Or at least, I know you'd prefer not to interact with me," Bryan said. "I completely understand the feeling of being bonded to someone you dislike, and I'm sorry about that. This whole thing—it sort of feels like none of us have had any choice in it."

"We haven't. This path was set, we're merely walking it."

Bryan hugged his knees. "I hate to think I have no control of anything, but that's certainly been my life."