Unrivaled

A New Start

"You were unsure which pain is worse- the shock of what happened or the ache for what never will."
~Unknown

Elsa

My dad did a number on Spencer, much worse than any of us realized in the beginning. Not even five minutes after leaving, his neck swelled to a dangerous size, his breathing becoming labored. I had no way of helping him because I was a far cry from a doctor, but I did know that if Spencer fell asleep, then he might not wake up.

So, I did what I did best. I talked. I babbled about anything that came to mind, anything that would engage Spencer and keep his attention from closing his eyes. Finn and Rey caught on to what I was doing and joined in. My boyfriend smiled when he realized what we doing. He tried to speak at one point, but it came out as a painful croak. Instead, he just listened.

Rey stopped at a convenience store when we were about thirty minutes out of Estes to grab some pain relievers and water. She didn't spend long in there, though, because we were all more than a little paranoid about being followed, either by our packs or- to only mine and Spencer's knowledge- the people controlling our packs. I took the medicine from her, crushing the pills up and putting them in Spencer's water bottle because his neck was too swollen for him to swallow them regularly. Thankfully, the ibuprofen seemed to speed up his supernatural healing as I watched the swelling and redness visibly decrease. It allowed him the strength to sit up and tell Rey where to go.

His Beta nodded, going as fast as she dared in the pitch-black mountains. With only the headlights of Killian's car behind us, we were all alone out here. The night rarely unnerved me, but it did right now. The shadowed mountains looming over us didn't help matters. I felt claustrophobic, trapped. The only thing keeping me from panicking was the firm grip of Spencer's hand in mine and the fact that I had a pack to take care of now.

I don't know how long it was before Rey reached the freeway, but I let out a sigh of relief when we did. Barely anyone was on it. At this time of night, most people were on their way home to their families.

We were running away from ours.

It felt weird being out here in the middle of the night on the open freeway with no idea of where I was going. I never let go of Spencer's hand the entire ride, quietly terrified of what I'd just gotten my packmates (and his) into. If Spencer and I had done this by ourselves, we would have only each other to look out for. Now we had five others under our care, and as grateful as I was to have them on our side, I also worried we wouldn't be able to take care of them. Spencer was an Alpha; he knew how to run a pack. But I was an Omega, a Beta at my highest. I only knew how to run a pack under an Alpha's orders. Now that I was Spencer's girlfriend (again) and his mate, I had the responsibility of an Alpha. The idea petrified me, but I refused to back down. I wasn't going to let them down after they'd put so much blind faith into Spencer and me.

"How are you feeling?" I whispered, pushing down my fear. I needed to focus on the next steps.

"Your dad packs a punch," my boyfriend chuckled before quickly grimacing in pain. "Right, laughing is a bad idea right now. How far away are we from the hotel?"

"We should be arriving soon," Rey said.

"We'll head to the actual place tomorrow. It'll be perfect for us."

Rey glanced briefly at the two of us in the rearview mirror. "This place we're going to, how do you know about it?"

"Dom and I discovered it when we were surveying the property for a potential hotel. I always thought it'd make a good bed and breakfast because it's smaller than our other hotels, but it still has around ten bedrooms — plenty for all of us. Dom didn't think it was a good idea because it needed some repairs, so we didn't buy it. I thought it was nice though. I bought it a few months ago."

"Why?"

"In case a situation like this happened."

"How long were you planning on running away?"

"I was never planning it outright, but I was preparing for it in case our families didn't accept mine and Elsa's relationship. Or if I realized I couldn't bring myself to go through with the wedding. Or both." Spencer shut his eyes momentarily, a wave of pain washing over him. "When we get to the hotel, we'll rest for the night, then drive up there. It's way up in Montana. Some of us will go out and get food after we get settled. I've already changed the password to my bank account, so my parents can't access it and see what I've been doing or where I've been going. I'll keep changing the password, so they don't have a chance to guess it."

"Since when did you become so smart?" Rey asked, sounding slightly amused.

"I've always been smart. I just haven't always shown it. Especially recently. I have some making up to do," Spencer told her. "To a lot of people."

With that said, he kissed me on the top of the head. I lay my head on his shoulder, reveling in the fact we were both alive. We might be broken and beaten, and we were definitely out of our minds, but we were alive and together, and that's all that mattered.