The Omega's Reflex novel · Chapter 4 of 6

Chapter 4: The Ice Road

The Greens' debt payment went out on the ice road every winter.

My family cut timber on the northern slope.

The pack bought it, and part of the payment came back as the debt.

Nobody had to touch money.

I found out it was dead two days later.

A steward's ledger sat open on a table in the hall.

The Greens' name was struck through.

Not canceled.

Struck through.

I found Bram in the guardroom.

"Who strikes a name off the timber ledger?"

"Nobody. It's a purchase."

"Somebody did."

He came and looked.

His face changed.

"That's a hold. Nobody's paid them."

"When was it put on?"

He turned the page back.

"Eight days ago."

The wedding was nine days ago.

I closed the book and said nothing.

I walked out into the courtyard and stood in the cold until my ears hurt.

Eight days ago was the morning Rodrick called me a liar in front of two hundred people.

I went back inside and didn't tell Raven.

Three days later, the gate guard sent word up that a girl was asking for the omega.

I got to the courtyard at a run.

She stood at the inner gate with her hood down.

Nineteen years old.

Snow in her hair, lips blue.

"Marcus."

"What are you doing here?"

"I walked."

"From where?"

"The northern road."

Two days on foot in deep snow.

I got her inside and sat her by the guardroom fire.

She was shaking too hard to hold the cup they brought her.

"Tell me."

"The payment didn't come."

"I know."

"The men we hired went home. Then the men who brought the saw blades came back for them."

"They took the blades and the horses."

Sable looked into the fire.

"Mom went to the factor to ask for a delay."

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