Chapter 163: Err On the Side Of Caution
I had three options: fight, flight, or freeze.
I couldn’t fight my way out of a paper bag right now... not like I ever could....
My mind was screaming flight. It wanted
to get off Rip and bolt out the door and away from everyone and everything. I wanted to find a hole in the ground and bury myself in there until I could think. No matter how many decades that might take
But instead, my body chose to freeze, and I was stuck on Rip, completely unable to move as fear completely took over.
I expected Alpha to be like Mike Myers or Fredy Kruger and appear when I least expected it, ready to kill . I could practically feel him watching
from the shadows, waiting patiently until I let my guard down long enough for him to slit my throat.
The sensation was so strong I shivered in terror and curled even more into Rip, my head in his chest. I would have to rember that... I could never let my guard down.
I had no doubt that he would kill
the second I did.
"The Camp is gone. There are no Reavers left, let alone soone strong enough to call the hunt," murmured Rip as he tightened his hold around . It was borderline painful, but not so much that it actually hurt. Instead, it helped settle my body and stopped my thoughts from swirling out of control.
"Between you and Alpha, who would win?" I asked, desperately needing to know the answer. I an, I understood that Rip was more powerful than Alpha, but it was never sothing that anyone talked about, let alone confird.
And sotis, hearing was just as important as knowing.
"Does it matter?" he asked, and I could feel him trying to shift
so that he could see my face, but I refused to move.
"It wouldn’t be a contest, honestly. Alpha had no power over
at all. Period. He was not my Alpha. In a fight, I would have destroyed him, and he knew that."
This ti, he managed to get a finger under my chin and gently raised my face so I could look into his eyes. "Alpha is dead. You are free," he said slowly and gently as if he was trying to drive the words into my head. But I just couldn’t...
"Then where is his head?" I asked, staring back at him. When the days got really bad, and I didn’t think I was going to live another day, Rip had promised
that he would give
Alpha’s head on a silver platter.
We both knew I wouldn’t ask for it, but he offered it. He assured
that when he killed Alpha, I would have his head.
Rip’s eyes went wide, and a look of panic flashed over his face for an instant before he cald himself down... but it was enough. "He burned to death. I watched it happen," he said, dropping my head and wrapping both arms around .
Normally, I would feel safe and secure in his arms, but those feelings didn’t co this ti. Instead, it was like a bucket of ice water hit
in the face, making
cold down to my bones.
There was no proof that Alpha was dead other than Rip’s word that he was burned to death, but how do we know it was actually Alpha?
"Trust , Little Bird, Alpha is dead. Li Dai Lu and her n took care of him."
"How would they know what he looked like?" I asked. Part of
knew that I was being paranoid. I was a victim who had been just set free; it was expected that I was jumping at shadows. Freedom took a while to get used to.
But there was a voice in the back of my mind that knew if they were wrong, and Alpha was still alive, then he was coming for .
I let out a long sigh, not knowing what voice to listen to.
Just because you aren’t paranoid doesn’t an that soone wasn’t out to get you.
I used to laugh at that statent, but now I could see the truth in it, and that made
sad.
"Did you talk to him before he was killed?" I asked, looking back up at Rip. Maybe if I just understood what was going on, I would feel better.
"No, Li Dai Lu’s man destroyed his tongue," said Rip slowly, his eyes flashing for a second before he looked back down at .
Great, now, instead of feeling better, I was just spreading my paranoia.
We both knew that Alpha was a slippery bastard, and it wouldn’t co as a surprise if he had more than one foxhole to hide in until things blew over.
I wanted to ask if the body that was burned at least looked like Alpha, but he could have found soone to be his body double... it wouldn’t be that hard.
There were hundreds of Reavers in the Camp that most people never saw; to say that there was one that could pass for Alpha was not that big of a stretch.
Not to ntion the changes he had undergone in the last little while. New clothes, new haircut, new glasses... new temperant.
I shook my head, trying to get the thoughts out of my head. No. Rip told
that Alpha was dead. Burned to death.
He was right.
There was no way that soone who had only seen him once could mistake him for anyone else.
They killed the right guy.
I was free. I needed to move on.
----
Rip’s head was spinning, and he was spiraling out of control. He wanted to storm out of this room and Rip Li Dai Lu’s n apart, but he knew he couldn’t. He would need to bite his tongue and clear his thoughts.
One of them was a spirit user, and the last thing Rip needed was soone going through his head.
Or at least soone who was not his Little Bird.
But her words made sense.
Sure, she could be making mountains out of molehills, but in this case, he couldn’t say with even 80% certainty that she was wrong.
He had no way to confirm that the one killed was the Alpha of Camp Hell. And until he could, it was better to err on the side of caution.
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