Blame it on Rogues

Blame it on Rogues
LINCOLN

It was almost comical how easily I was able to run up on Reuben Thorn’s retreating back as he skidded around the bend and ripped toward the eastern exit—the very same exit that poured out into the communal hallway, leading toward the dining hall, the kitchens, and the open courtyard. The fact that I could hear Thorn’s breathing better than I could hear his feet told me all I needed to know about what kind of shape he was in. Sure, this morning he may have bested a few of my father’s Gammas—as in Gammas that my father trained—but he was an Alpha by blood, from a line even longer than my own, and an Alpha already possesses the unfair advantage of superior senses and strength, so those little matches he won this morning only served to rouse the crowd. Those assholes were Gammas for a reason and if they didn’t show some improvement soon they might not even be that. Reuben’s ability to drop a few bodies on the mat while standing face to face with his opponent said absolutely nothing about how he might handle himself during a battle.
Or in this case, while being chased.
I remain eclipsed in his shadow while we pound toward the bright of the archway, my booted feet nearly as silent as the patter of a gentle rain as I eat up the last few inches of space between my chest and his back. Once we’ve crossed the threshold, I shoot past him almost too quickly for his eyes to see and then stop dead in my tracks, throwing one arm up, elbow out, to absorb his speed and blast it back at him with little more than a standard block. The common room is mainly empty when he goes crashing into the opposite wall, but the impact was loud enough to wake Ginger on the third floor and my grandmother in her grave, so I’m hardly surprised when a small crowd of Omegas pile in from the kitchen to watch the show. 
Deciding to waste no time, I use the weight of my body and ram straight into his core, slamming him again, this time to watch his head bounce off the wall. Crumpling like a discarded marionette, his eyes lose focus and he’s forced to take a moment before standing. However, he does manage to do so…for now.
As Giselle comes careening around the corner, her tears forgotten at the sight of the head shaped dent in the wall, Thorn lifted his chin, glaring up at me in challenge and he said, “Attacking me while I’m a guest in your territory is a punishable offense, Alpha Lincoln. One I will gladly report you for should you touch me again. I-”
Snatching Reuben by his weak little throat, I silenced him, cutting off his air supply before raising him up along the wall and pinning him as far as my arm could reach. He was choking, his face purpling, but it truly didn’t matter. At least, not to me, but I could hear Giselle whimpering in fear for him and I sent her a dark look, one that promised she could be next. 
I meant what I said to him this morning when I warned him about trying to take Ginger from me. He must not have realized how serious I was, but he would now because I fully intended to fulfill my promise and end his useless little life. 
Cocking my head at him when he began to struggle against my grip and his legs began to kick madly only a foot or so off the floor, I addressed the watchers at my back and Giselle on my right, “Out! Every one of you. Get the fuck out. Don’t worry though, I’ll make sure you get to attend his funeral.”
Heavy footsteps sounded just as the last of the Omegas retreated back toward the kitchens and I smiled when I realized that Ghost must have seen me chase after Thorn on his way up to my suite and wanted in on the action. Unfortunately for him, I wouldn’t be sharing this kill. This one was personal. 
“Well, what do we have here?” he asked, flashing his fangs as came to stand beside me.
Reuben gurgled and I sighed, replying with, “A coward that once stood by and watched his girlfriend whip and beat Ginger without lifting so much as an eyebrow to help her, and now thinks he can throw his name in her hat of possible mates. Despite that I specifically told him that she’s already taken.”
Ghost snickered, “She’ll be pissed if she finds out it was you that killed him after you dosed her, you know she will. You can’t do this here. Wait until you can make it look like an accident, or blame it on rogues.”
Two days ago I would have done it anyway, and damn the consequences, but since then I’ve learned a few things about my Strawberry. What makes her purr and what makes her snarl, what pushes her away and what draws her in, what she will reward you for and what she will punish you for… Thorn is important to her because she says that he is the only one that didn’t see her any differently when she was branded an Omega. The only one who treated her like she was still worth something, but I know differently. I see differently. I see clearly.
Still, she has to realize the truth of why he values her on her own before she will be able to hear anything I say on the matter. Ghost is right, unless Reuben Thorn viciously attacks me with intent to kill and I am gravely injured, or as vulnerable as a four fingered gorilla out at sea, she will not forgive me for harming him. She will see it as a selfish act that had nothing to do with her and everything to do with me and then she will probably disappear with her uncle, fucking off to that beachtown down south that marks the beginning of her family’s territory and it will be months before I even get to see her again.
“Goddessdamnit,” I grumbled.