Fate Decides

Chapter Eighteen

"I cold, Tate," Elliot says from behind me. We have been walking for two days, Liam's scent getting stronger and stronger with every mile we cover. The thick underbrush of the old growth forest is making our trek a long and tedious one, but we march on determined to find our mate.

"I know, peanut, I know," Tatum says.

Turning around, I see Tatum take off the scarf he is wearing and wrap it around Elliot's much smaller neck. We managed to find some thick jackets in a thrift shop next to the convenience store where we found Tatum and Elliot. All of us have on black jackets and wool hats, but there had only been one scarf left. Seeing as it was too big for Elliot, we had given it to Tatum, figuring that he would need it more. Elliot does not seem to mind the bulkiness of the scarf, though. Probably because he had tucked the scarf into Elliot's jacket, making him look like a black marshmallow.

"I think we're almost there," Erik says. He is behind all of us, making sure nothing can sneak up and catch us unaware.

The sounds of the infected cut through the air. I turn my head in the direction of their moans. It sounds like a small hoard of maybe five or six, small enough for us to survive if they attacked our group, but big enough to challenge us.

Erik and Tatum hear them too. We start to walk away from their sounds, not wanting to have to fend them off if we do not have to, when the sound of someone struggling can be heard over their moans.

"Get away from me, you freaks," someone says. We take off in the direction of the sounds, all of us silently agreeing to help this person. There, standing with their back against a tree, is a teenager, around the same age as us.

"Stay here," I say to Tatum, not wanting him to have to leave his brother unprotected. Erik and I are each holding a metal bat, and we smash in the rotting heads of the nearest infected.

These infected are slower than the others we have encountered, making them easy to pick off. In a matter of minutes, the corpses of the infected are laying on the ground. Blood paints the ground and the surrounding trees. Luckily, none of it got onto our faces.

Huffing, I turn towards the teenager and catch his scent. He is a wolf, and a rare one at that, considering he is an Omega. But that is not what surprises me the most. Liam's scent coats him as if he has been near him recently. I walk up to him, grabbing his arms and scenting his neck.

"Hey! Get off of me," he says, trying to wiggle out of my grip, but it is no use. My hands tighten once I confirm that it really is Liam's scent that I smell on this other Omega.

"Why do you smell like my mate?" I growl, shaking him a little bit out of anger and frustration. His eyes squint as he takes me in. He seems satisfied by what he sees and smiles at me, and then looks over my shoulder at my brother.

"So you're Liam's mates," he says, a small smile on his face. "We've been waiting for you guys for a while, which is a risky maneuver seeing as we had to leave Liam's scent unmasked."

"You know were he is?" Erik says, coming up to stand behind me. The Omega nods his head and once again tries to wiggle out of my grasp. This time I let him go. Rubbing his arms, he takes the both of us in.

The sound of someone moving through the brush causes Erik and me to pick up our baseball bats, ready to kill anything that is dangerous. The rustling gets louder until Tatum comes into sight, Elliot in his arms. We drop the bats and I motion him over.

"So, which one of you is Erik and which one is Ethan?" The Omega asks, picking up a backpack I had not noticed was leaning against the tree. "And who are they?" He points at Tatum and Elliot once they make their way over to us.