Page 72 of Desperate Omega

A tightness clenches in my throat, and my heart starts to beat a little faster.

“We can’t do that,” I say. “There’s not enough time. They’ll kill Thorus before we can get back here and rescue him.”

“You don’t know that, Syra.”

“They might,” I say as tears spring to my eyes. “They’ve captured him and hurt him. He’s in pain. I can feel it.”

“That’s good,” Brik says. “Pain means he’s still alive.”

“But we have to save him!”

Brik takes me by the shoulders and gently but firmly turns my body until I am facing him.

“Syra, listen. There are two dozen Farlanders down there, and there are probably more of them inside. Plus, they’re armed with Outsider guns. The three of us would never be able to take all of them in a fight.”

“We can sneak past them,” I say.

Brik shakes his head. “No chance. We’d never get over that wall without one of them spotting us, and then we’d be dead meat. They would either kill us or take us prisoner alongside Thorus.”

“What about a distraction?” I suggest. “If one of us could draw the Farlanders away.”

“I’ve already considered that, and I don’t like it. Even if one of us could draw half the Farlanders away—and that’s being generous—it would still only leave two of us to go up against twelve Farlanders with guns. Plus, we have no idea what’s inside.”

I start to say that I could be the one to do the distraction, but I know Brik and Markus would never allow that. They also won’t let me be one of the two to storm the prison.

“If it was only you and Markus, you would try to save him,” I say.

Brik cups my face with his hands and tilts my head back to make me look at him.

“You’re wrong,” he says. “First of all, we never even would have found Thorus without you. Now that we know where he is, we need to be smart about getting him back. Sometimes, when you have a problem to solve, you have to set your feelings aside for a little while. You want to save Thorus, right?”

I nod.

“Good. So do I. Now that we’ve established that, we need to think about the best way to proceed. As much as I’d like to go rushing in there, we’d only get ourselves killed, along with Thorus. But if we go back to the Ruins to get reinforcements, there’s a chance we’ll be able to rescue Thorus before they kill him. I can’t promise it will work that way, but it’s the best chance we have for getting him back.”

As he speaks, Brik’s face is solemn and stern, but I can see the emotions churning behind his eyes. The thought of leaving Thorus here pains him as much as it pains me. Maybe even more so.

He’s right, though. If we want to get Thorus back, we need help.

And we need to hurry.

“Okay,” I say, brushing the tears out of my eyes. “Let’s go.”

CHAPTER 30: SYRA

I cast one more glance at the building where Thorus is being held captive, and I send out a silent promise that I will return for him. Then I glare at the Farlanders milling around the outside of the prison, and I think a different, darker promise.

I’ll be returning with help, but I’m not going to let the alphas kill all of these Farlander bastards. I’m going to take care of one or two of them myself. I won’t be quick about it either. They’d better hope Thorus is still alive when we return. If not, I’m really going to make them suffer. The thought of torturing the fuckers even gives me a vague thrill of excitement.

Then an image of Delphine’s face flashes through my mind. I remember the sadistic gleam in her eyes as she tortured me with the candle, and I shudder.

I don’t want to end up like that.

Brik is right. The time has come to set all feelings aside—love, fear, revenge, all of it. There will be time for feelings later, once Thorus is safe and free. Until then, I’m going to be as cold as the machines the ancestors used to make in the times before the Big Change.

Together with my two alphas, I turn away from the abandoned prison and start to walk. Markus is in front of me, and Brik is behind, keeping me protectively positioned between their two larger bodies. We stay low until we are out of sight of the prison, then we stand up a little taller, allowing ourselves to move more quickly through the tall grass.

“Syra,” Brik’s voice whispers from behind me. “We’ll be able to go faster if I carry you.”