AllFreeNovel
Share Us
We dive into the crowd. There’s a commotion behind us. People are shouting, and I hear the snarl and bark of the wolves.
“These guys are persistent,” Kalistratos grunts. “They’re just after our coin?”
Suddenly, the crowd parts and disperses, leaving us standing in the middle of the plaza with the wolves staring us down on the other end. They break into a dash, streaking across the cobblestones at us.
“This way!” Airos shouts. “Down the alley!” We sprint towards the side of the plaza, leaping over a group of men having a cross-legged discussion. I glance back and see the wolves barrel into them, scattering them like bowling pins.
Kalistratos is in front of me now, with his hand wrapped tightly around mine. His tunic billows out as we duck beneath a pole strung up with dried fish. Alyx clings onto Kalistratos’s shoulder and snags one of the fishes in his mouth, stealing it off the pole. The shopkeeper’s angry voice buzzes my ear like a passing siren.
Airos is right behind me. He enters the alleyway and whirls on one foot, catching his staff as it drops out ofnothingness. A band of light flashes around his forehead and his eyes gleam with red flame as a deep vibration pounds me in the middle of my chest and knocks a shower of dust from the surrounding walls. The cobblestones, mortar and earth at the entrance to the alleyway burst upward, sealing the way behind a solid wall. There’s a dull thud and a loud yelp from the other side.
We hurry across the alley, up a set of stairs, and then turn down another narrow passage between two buildings. Kalistratos climbs up the wall to an overhanging balcony and offers me his hand. I try to make it on my own, but my belly is quick to shoot down that idea. A surprised lioness watering her flowers hisses and shrieks at us as we hop from balcony to balcony, then down to a trellised canopy of grapes.
We’re now in a quiet district that seems to be mostly two-story apartment-style residences. Alyx drops to the ground, still carrying his catch, and the rest of us put up our hoods. The smell of the sea hangs strongly in the air from the racks of drying fish and octopi. Here, places of work don’t seem to be far separated from where people live. Houses butt up against workshops with smoking pottery ovens and smelly bubbling cauldrons of fabric dye, and the streets go from paved to cobblestone to bare earth. Unlike cities back home, there is no conquering of the landscape. Everything is built into and around the land’s natural features. It’s beautiful and dizzying. There’s so much to take in.
We walk quickly, but not too fast to draw attention. Kalistratos’s hand hovers close to mine, ready to grab me atthe first sign of danger. My heart is pounding, and I strain my ears for any signs of the wolves. I want to take his hand. Maybe we’d blend in more if I did, just another pregnant omega with his alpha.
“Wait here,” Airos says before hurrying to a building across the way.
We’re next to a fountain cut into the side of a natural wall of rock. Water flows into a stone trough from several brass spigots sticking out beneath a tiled fresco of various sea creatures floating along on blue waves. Alyx eats his fish.
“Want any?” he asks, and I shake my head.
Kalistratos washes his face in the fountain and refills his waterskin. He’s on edge, his eyes narrowed and tracking the passersby. I wash my hands and splash some water on my face. I feel grimy. My clothes beneath the tunic are already filthy and cling uncomfortably to my sweaty body.
Not far from the fountain is a small shop spread out on a carpet on the ground beneath a sagging canopy. The shopkeeper, a lionman, puffs on a long pipe as he shakes out tunics and hangs them up for display.
I hold my hand out to Kalistratos. “Where’s my cut?” I ask.
“Huh?”
“My cut. From the treasury. I think some of those coins belong to me, right?”
His expression changes from a confused frown to a wry grin. “I thought you weren’t a thief?”
“You’rethe thief. I’m a reluctant participant. Come on, there’s something I want to buy and there isn’t much time.”
“Buy?” Alyx says as he munches on his snack. “Why buy? We’ll take whatever you need.”
Kalistratos laughs. “Because Tyler is a good boy.” He reaches into his satchel and tosses me a jingling pouch.
“Thanks,” I say. “I’ll be right back.”
I walk to the nearby stall. The lionman gives me a friendly nod and continues to smoke his pipe as I look through the different tunics. There are dozens, some hung on display and many more piled into neat stacks. As I pick through them, I realize I have no idea what I’m looking for.
The lionman taps his pipe against a terracotta tray filled with ashes. “How far along are you?” he asks in a pleasantly growly voice.
“Uhh…” I touch my belly. Shit. I have no idea how to answer that question.
I find myself looking back over my shoulder to the fountain, but Kalistratos is talking to Alyx. What am I expecting? For him to tell me when he got me pregnant?
What the hell?
I don’t know why I’m making that association. Maybe it’s some kind of weird coping mechanism. My brain needs some explanation for my condition because every pregnancyhasto have a father. And because Kalistratos was the first alpha I met here…
Seriously, what the hell am I thinking? That I imprinted on him like some kind of baby bird?
“That’s alright,” the shopkeeper says, brushing his graying mane out of his eyes. “It’s been a long time since my mate was pregnant, but if my memory serves me correctly then I’d say you’re about six months.”
