HUNTER

 

Two weeks later…

 

I stood at the kitchen counter as I prepared my lunch for the day. It was nice knowing my refrigerator and food cabinet were stocked with all of the ingredients I needed.

I finished the sandwich and let out a satisfied sigh as I raised it up to my watering mouth.

“Ahh… Peanut butter and jelly…”

Just before I took a bite, there was a knock at my door. I paused for a moment before reluctantly answering it.

“Just a second,” I muttered.

I opened the door and Saxon stood there with a paper bag in his hand.

“Hey, it’s been a long time,” he said.

“I just saw you the other day,” I said, slightly confused.

“Like I said, it’s been a long time. You feel like having lunch with me?”

I’d gotten so used to his yellow tooth smile that I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Come on in,” I said.

“All right!”

Saxon stepped into my apartment and looked around.

“What’s wrong?” I said.

“Nothing. I just figured you might spruce the place up a bit now that you’ve got some gold to spare.”

“My apartment is fine. Have a seat already.”

I had more gold than I knew what to do with. I hadn’t wasted a single coin remodeling my apartment. The place was more than enough for me.

I took a seat at my dining table and Saxon sat across from me. I watched as he pulled all sorts of various goodies from his bag. I couldn’t help but notice how different he looked.

His hair was combed. His face was free from any dirt. His clothes were laundered and ironed. He was a new man. But there was still that same twinkle in his eyes. The twinkle that told me he was a hustler who lived all of his life in the slums just trying to make ends meet.

“What do we got here?” I asked.

“Burgers. Hot dogs. French fries. A couple of roast beef sandwiches. Those are my favorite.”

“You have enough to feed an entire pack here.”

“Hey, with someone expecting, I suspect this food will go to a good place.”

“Hmm… Good point.”

“How is he?”

Saxon didn’t wait as he started chowing down on his food. My peanut butter and jelly sandwich was waiting for me, so I didn’t waste another moment before taking a bite.

“York is just fine,” I said. “He’s resting. He’ll be due in a couple of weeks.”

“One-month pregnancies… Omegas really are something.”

“York is something.”

“Only an Alpha like you could tame an Omega like him.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

I raised an eyebrow at Saxon and he chuckled in response, his mouth half-full of food.

“It means you two were made for each other,” he said. “So defiant. So undaunted. It’s like you two don’t know what’s best for each other. Until you found each other, that is.”

Saxon hungrily ate his food while I contemplated what he said.

“I don’t know where I would be without him,” I said. “I don’t know where I’d be without you.”

“Me?”

“If it weren’t for you, I would be still at that construction site, swinging that sledgehammer and sweating up a storm just to make enough silver to get by.”

“I suppose you have a point. But you should give yourself some credit. Not every Alpha goes through what you did. You fought a lion and lived to talk about it.”

It was nice knowing that Saxon was still on my side. He made enough gold from betting on me that he could have just walked away and found somewhere comfortable to live by himself in Azure. But here he was, in my apartment, stuffing himself with cheap food.

“Speaking of the lion, I had an encounter with Valentine earlier.”

“What?” I exclaimed. “You talked to Valentine? What did he say? Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. Valentine could make me disappear if he wanted to. But that’s not the kind of man he is.”

“What did he want?”

“He wanted to talk about you. He wanted to know if you were interested in fighting again.”

“You know I’m not—”

“I know,” Saxon said as he put his hand up. “The appeal of a champion who fought his way up from Pandora is something Valentine just had to look into. I told him you weren’t interested and he went on his way. The arena is a machine. It’ll keep going with or without you.”

“He’s still hosting those fights then?”

“Don’t think too much about it. Let those people do what they want to do. Hey, you never know when another Alpha from the common part of Dirge like yourself will work his way up.”

I was satisfied enough knowing that Valentine would no longer be a problem for me. Saxon seemed more than happy with the way things were.

“Do you miss it?” I asked.

“Miss what?”

“Hosting the fights. It must have been nice being able to pit those Alphas up against each other and make some silver off of it.”

“Silver is nice. Gold is better. No, I don’t miss it. I’m just fine working at the shelter. I’ve got enough interesting stories to last me a  lifetime and all of those Omegas are more than willing to listen to me.”

“I’m happy for you.”

Saxon smiled as he stuffed his face with a bite of his hamburger. Seeing the Beta in such a good mood always made me laugh.

“Saxon.”

I turned around and saw York standing at the doorway. In nothing but a pair of pajama bottoms, York held his swollen stomach as he made his way toward the table.

“How are you doing?” York asked.

“I’m doing just fine, Omega. I’m doing real fine. I got you a little something for you and the little one.”

“Great. I’m starving.”

York took a seat at the table and started chomping away. The sight of a pregnant Omega eating was cute. He always ate like he hadn’t had anything in weeks even though it had only been just a few hours.

“The shelter’s doing just fine,” Saxon said. “The kids are doing great.”

“Ruby?” York asked.

“Ruby is doing real good for herself. It’s like the renovations have given her a new spark of life. She’s got a bounce in her step.”

“That’s good to hear. I’ll be back in just a few weeks. Once my pregnancy is over, I’ll be over there as soon as I can.”

“You take your time now. There’s no need to rush. I’ve got everything under control.”

York took a moment to stop eating. He turned to me with a slight concern on his face. My eyes widened in curiosity. Saxon remained eating his food like nothing was wrong.

“Are you all right?” I asked York.

“I’m fine,” York replied. “It’s just…”

He looked at both Saxon and me. He sighed a deep breath through his nose and smiled.

“Thank you,” York said. “Both of you. The shelter means everything to me. Knowing that you two will be there for those Omegas and Ruby… I’ll never be able to pay you back.”

“You don’t have to pay me back,” Saxon said. “I’ve got more than enough gold to last me a lifetime.”

“You and me both,” I said.

“That’s what I’m talkin’ about!”

The three of us shared a peaceful lunch without a care in the world. The smiles on their faces made me realize I had nothing more to worry about.