Page 32 of Pit Stop

I look at the clock on the wall and note that we’re all of two minutes past six. I guess these wolves mean business. Maybe if you actually shift, you get hungrier, and your metabolism works harder. I don’t know, but I may have to ask if I get a chance.

“Sit,” Bet says as she hands us plates full of food.

The shifters glance up at us, and one winks at me. He sniffs loudly and wets his lips. “You smell good, even through all the alpha scent. You must be the omega here to break the bond. No wonder Red is obsessed. You’re like fucking candy.”

Maverick freezes, his fingers tightening on the plate he’s holding.

I touch him gently, reassuring him, and he relaxes slightly, pulling out a chair at the end of the table for me. I lower myself into it, making sure to glare at all the alphas at the table. I won’t let them intimidate me.

I have alpha brothers. I know how to handle them.

“What do you mean?” I ask as I grab my fork and stab it into an egg.

The alpha who commented stops chewing and looks at me.

“Huh?”

“What do you mean that Red is obsessed?” I was hoping Red forgot all about the deal he wanted to make, since I never called him but we still got the invite.

The guy shrugs and stuffs two sausages in his mouth. “Dunno. Guess I meant it like I said it. We all heard about you. Didn’t know there were more of you, though.”

Forest and Sage take the seats next to us, creating a barrier between me and the shifters while my dad stands behind me.

Another alpha leers. “You’re right, Ten. They all smell good, to be honest. Even if they are alphas.”

The shifters all nod, and Forest glowers at them while Sage silently preens. Of course he does. He loves the compliments.

“Could fuck ’em. Bet they taste good too.”

“Look, just fuck off with the weird comments, okay?” Forest interjects, piercing a sausage with his fork. “Don’t wanna hear any more of it.”

“Yeah, and what you gonna do about it?” Ten growls.

Bet loudly sets a plate of pancakes on the table. “Enough of this posturing. It’s annoying. Eat up. And Jex, no fighting or fucking in my space. You wanna do that, you take it outside.”

“No one is fucking anyone,” Forest replies, and Ten winks at him.

“You may end up on your hands and knees. Better watch your back out there.”

Forest’s cheeks darken in anger, and I slide a little closer to Maverick. Maybe the alphas here fuck each other all the time. Maybe they don’t care much about hierarchy or rank like we do. I haven’t seen many omegas since we got here; maybe there aren’t enough to go around.

“Fuck off,” Forest grumbles, and Sage lets out a laugh.

“Fuck off is right. This place is wild.”

One of the quieter shifters glances at Sage and talks out of the side of his mouth.

“It is wild, especially on the end of my cock. You wanna ride it, pretty boy?”

Sage balks and tosses his hair over his shoulder.

“The only one riding anything is you on my dick.”

Bet sighs loudly at the verbal sparring, but doesn’t send anyone outside. So we just eat as quickly as possible before heading outdoors. It’s cooler up here than where we live, and I find myself shivering slightly. Maverick hands me a coat, and I shrug it on, loving how it smells of him.

But my little bubble is pierced once more when Ten appears and sniffs next to Forest.

“Find me anytime. I’ll make sure you scream.”

He laughs as he jogs away, his body shifting seamlessly as he goes, his clothes shredding onto the ground as he becomes a wolf.

Holy shit. I’ve never seen that before. I’ve heard of it, obviously, but where we live, there are no shifter packs near us. So I grew up just knowing the lore, maybe watching it on TV, but never seeing it in real life.

Forest looks stunned.

“Can’t believe he did that,” Forest says. “Like I’d ever let him , out of any of them, fuck me. Asshole.”

Maverick eyes me, and I bite back a laugh. I kind of like that Forest is being propositioned. I mean, seriously, now he knows what it’s like to be an omega. They will all learn an important lesson while we’re here.

“Atherton wants to see you now.”

“Atherton?”

“Yeah. What? Why the face?” Bet asks, folding her arms across her chest.

“Just thought it would be a three-letter word.”

“It’s eight. So fucking what?”

I shake my head as Maverick pulls me in a little closer.

“Where can we find him?” Maverick asks.

“In the red trailer at the end of this road.” Bet points to the right and then disappears back inside the rickety house, the door slamming shut behind her. No further instructions are given, so we’re left to just wander, it seems.

I turn to look at my dad and see that he and Sage are whispering as Forest stares off into the woods.

“All right, I guess there’s nothing more to be done.

Let’s get on with it,” my dad finally says, and I swallow, following them down the steps to the path, Forest trailing behind us.

As we walk, I take everything in. Everything around us is slightly worn, houses patched with mismatched pieces of wood, paint slathered on as an afterthought.

There are a few flowers in pots here and there, but for the most part, this place is run-down.

The people who live here don’t seem to care about aesthetics.

It’s more function over form.

“Why do you think they live like this?” I ask Maverick, and he shrugs.

“Not a fucking clue. I guess this is what they like.”

“Are all shifter clans like this?”

“No idea. Never been to one before.”

After several minutes of walking in silence, we finally turn a corner and see a bright red trailer sitting in the distance.

Odd little trinkets hang in the trees, and my heart thumps a little harder in my chest as we get closer.

It looks like runes made of bones, some doll heads and…

is that a beer can dangling from a string?

Shit.

“Yo!” a man howls, barreling out of the trailer. He’s wearing a backward baseball cap, no shirt, and a pair of boxers. A large wolf tattoo sits across his right pec, and a moon over the other. “You must be the couple who wants to split. Bet said you were coming. He hitting you?”

The guy who I assume is Atherton eyes me, and I stare back. “What? No. That’s not it at all.”

“Shit, my bad. Just assumed. Living with all these alphas. They’re assholes, you know?”

“I know,” I reply, and he grins at me. He has a boyish charm that’s not lost on me. But fuck, does he know enough to actually be a shaman? He looks more like a dude-bro.

“Name’s Atherton, but you can call me Attie. You must be Skylar.”

“It’s Skye.” Damn Red, not even knowing my name. It’s offensive.

“Ah, yeah, Red is shit at names. And you are?” He looks at Maverick, who only holds me tighter.

“Mav.”

“Skye and Mav. Cute couple. Too bad it has to end.”

Attie turns around and tosses a beer can onto the ground, and then bends over, rustling through a cooler.

“You think he knows what he’s doing?” Mav asks quietly.

“I have no idea,” I whisper back. “But he looks drunk.”

“I’m not,” Attie says, standing up and holding two vials in his hand.

Bright blue, smoke wafting from the tops.

“Shamans can’t get drunk, sadly. Makes for very boring parties.

But I can get high with certain plants. Have them harvested out back if you want a hit later. Might help with the pain of the split.”

He waggles his eyebrows at us and then shoves the vials into our hands. I hold onto it and feel something like despair flood me.

“Drink those now. You’ll need it. The splitting process is gonna make you sick. This’ll help. That and the drugs, if you want ’em.”

He burps and rubs at his chest.

“Seriously, dudes. Drink it. Now . In twenty-four hours, I can start the process of ripping the bond from you. But you need that in you, pronto, or else you’ll die from the pain.”

I stare down at it and swallow, feeling something akin to sadness swirl around me.

But this needs to happen. Maverick doesn’t want to follow me to the city and live with me while I go to school. He wouldn’t like that. It would slowly kill him.

“How do we know you’re not going to poison us?”

He rolls his eyes and laughs. “Trust me. I could kill you in a much funner way.”

“How?” Sage asks, and Attie turns his gaze to look at him.

“I can show you later, if you want.”

Something swirls from his fingers, and Sage gasps, stepping back. Well, I’m slightly impressed. He can actually do magic.

“Drink it or I won’t help you,” he says, and I uncork the bottle, pressing it to my lips and swallowing it in one gulp. I gag and sputter as it burns its way down my throat, making something pulse through me.

Maverick stiffens beside me and then does the same. He’s far less dramatic about it, but I can tell he doesn’t like the taste.

Or what this means.

The beginning of the end.

He takes the vial from my hand and gives them back to Attie.

“Done.”

“Awesome. Now enjoy yourselves. Run through the woods. Get fucked. Howl at the moon. I need to jerk off in preparation for this ceremony. Always makes me horny.”

And with that, he turns around and disappears back into his trailer, the rickety door slamming shut behind him.

We all stare at it in silence until my dad finally speaks.

“This is fucking weird.”

“You’re telling me,” Sage replies and then looks around. “Shit. Where’s Forest?”

“He was right here,” I explain, and my dad eyes the woods surrounding us.

“Aw, man,” Sage murmurs and then lets out a small laugh. “You don’t think?—”

“I don’t wanna know,” my dad grumbles. “Let him do his thing. If he doesn’t show up in a few hours, we’ll go looking for him. Let’s just head back and spend some time together.”

I glance at my dad and raise my eyebrows.

“You’re cool with it?”

He rolls his lips between his teeth. “What he does is none of my business. He’s my son, but he’s an adult.”

And with that, he turns and walks away, leaving me to follow next to Maverick and Sage, my eyes scanning the woods, wondering where my brother went and what trouble he’s getting into.

“Do you think he really went in there to meet Ten?” I ask, and Maverick shakes his head.

“Never saw him take an interest in that before. Probably just went in there because Ten pissed him off. Probably wants to try and beat him up or something.”

“Is he going to die?”

“No, Forest is tough. Once beat up a few guys who were being assholes to me.”

“Really?”

“Mhm. He can take care of himself. Even against an alpha. Don’t worry. He’ll be fine.”

I lean further into him and inhale. One more day with my mate. I’ll miss this when the bond is severed.

Suddenly, twenty-four hours doesn’t seem like nearly enough.