Raider's Treasure (Alpha Barbarians Book 1)

8

Lyric realized that she must have drifted off when the horse stopped moving and jolted her awake. Raider had her cradled against his chest with one arm while the other hand still held the reins.

"We are stopping a while for a break," he told her as he released his hold on her body and dismounted.

Grabbing her waist, he waited for her to swing her leg over before pulling her down, catching her as her legs tried to buckle. Stomping feeling back into them, she straightened up and looked up into his eyes.

"Do not try anything foolish," Raider warned.

Flattening her lips together, Lyric replied, "You do not have to keep reminding me. I have no where to go and you will send your pets after me. I have gotten the message."

Snorting, he wrapped a large hand around her wrist and pulled her along behind him. When he realized she was stumbling from his fast pace, Raider slowed a bit so that her shorter legs could keep up with him. Letting out another shrill whistle, Lyric watched the Nicaavet take off away from the wagons at his command.

The wagons had stopped in a line so that they would be able to move out easily once their break was over, and Raider checked on each one as well as speaking with a majority of the men he passed. Many had tied their horses to the wagons or nearby trees and were walking around while they drank from their canteens or munched on whatever they had.

Feeling her own stomach rumble, Lyric pressed a hand to it and hoped Raider would have something for them. It had been a long time since breakfast. Seeming to read her mind, he pulled her over to a large tree that had a bed of thick needles below it cushioning the ground and motioned for her to sit as he pulled the strap to his canteen over his head. Passing it to her, he dug into his pouch and pulled out a handful of dried meat.

Accepting the water and a strip of meat, she drank thirstily before biting into the jerky. It was tough and she had to saw at it to get a bite off to chew, but her stomach thanked her when she was finally able to swallow it down. Finishing the strip, she drank more before passing the canteen back to the alpha who continued to stand over her, watching the area.

"More?" he grunted at her, holding out another piece of meat.

Trying to shake her head, Raider pushed it at her until she finally accepted it. Watching the men wander around, Lyric noticed there seemed to be two different groups. Though they were all dressed similarly, she could see a few differences in their clothing, and they seemed to stick with others that had the same markings on them. One group was slightly larger than the other, but they all seemed to answer to Raider, so she wasn't sure what the difference could mean.

Looking around, she began to squirm as Raider continued to stand over her.

"Umm..."

"Yes?" he said, turning those dark eyes down on her.

"I need to... you know... uh, relieve myself," she finally managed, ducking her head and focusing on the ground.

Grunting, he motioned for her to stand when she looked up again. Taking her wrist once more, Raider pulled her farther into the trees until the noise of the other men faded. Stopping next to a fallen tree, he pointed and then crossed his arms over his chest, watching her.

"You expect me to go while you watch?" Lyric squeaked out.

"Well I don't trust you not to try to run, so yes," he answered looking down at her like that should have been obvious and she shouldn't be objecting.

Mouth hanging open, she stood there, debating on if he was seriously going to watch her and if she really needed to go that bad. A shout from the direction of the wagons caused Raider to jerk his head in that direction, so she hopped to the other side of the fallen trunk before squatting. He was glaring between her and where the other men were when she glanced back up towards him. Lyric shrugged her shoulders, giving him a wide-eyed look before climbing over the tree again. He immediately grabbed her wrist and took off back the way they had come, causing her to have to jog to keep up with him. All of the jostling was causing her shoulder to ache again, whatever he had given her that morning having worn off.

When they could see the wagons again it was clear to see where the yelling was coming from. Stopping at the last tree before the clearing where everyone was, Raider let go of her wrist.

"Stay here. If you move beyond the branches of this tree, you will be punished," he growled, glaring down at her before turning to go deal with whatever was going on with the men.

She could see a group of them close to the side of the wagon where the other omegas were being kept, but they were too close together for her to tell what exactly was going on. Raider waded right into the men as she watched, grabbing them by coats and arms, or whatever he could reach, to haul them out of his way. He disappeared behind the wall of men he left behind him except for the top of his head, which she could see stopping next to the wagon. The men had stilled and mostly quieted when they became aware of his presence, and she could clearly hear him arguing with two other males, though she still had no idea what they were saying.

Raider's voice rose above the others before silence descended and the men began to head back to their horses. There were a few whispers here and there, but it was clear he had called an end to whatever was going on and ordered everyone to start moving out again. When he walked away towards the back of the train with the two alphas that had been in the middle of the circle with him, she couldn't resist the impulse to go check on the other omegas.

After being sure he was out of sight, she sprinted over to the wagon, wrapping her hands around the wooden slats.

"Hey, are all of you okay?" she whispered into the cage.

She could see now that there were five women buried in the pile of furs and she wondered what had happened to the other omegas from her village. There weren't many more, and if she remembered right, the others were all mated.

The one in the back corner hesitantly nodded her head. "They haven't touched us since they stripped us and put us in here."

"What are they going to do with us?" another girl asked. She looked like the youngest of the group and everyone turned pitying eyes to her.

"I don't know," she whispered in response, avoiding the girl's watery eyes.

She was suddenly yanked back by a hand on her good shoulder, turning her to face dark angry eyes.

"You disobeyed me," Raider thundered.