Ithasto be Dominion.
Black smudges smear around half their eyes. Dreadlocks and braids have threaded chains or metal decorations in some.
At the center walks their warlord. A giant, hulking alpha with a buzz cut and the slightest shadow for facial hair makes him militant compared to the rest, only amplified with the cotton collar, like he leads a fleet. The gun in his fist hangs low, finger away from the trigger now. “Feed him to the dogs,” he states. His entourage swarms, tearing at the man. “New Bunker!” he continues. “Now seems like a prime opportunity to introduce Dominion. Shooting anyone that belongs to us, or is doing business onourbehalf, means you have a choice to end yourself before we get to you.” He surveys the environment, now dead quiet.
If my brain is worth anything, then I know who that is.
Judge.
It’s actually Judge.
There’s something bizarre about seeing him and Dominion in person, like hearing of a devil and witnessing his form in the flesh.
We are toofucking close.
I’ve never seen this much of a gang in person before. A few enforcers, maybe, or those who are wounded. Butbeingamong them makes my insides feel like they’re about to slide right out of my asshole.
Judge sweeps his gaze across the street and then flashes it towardus. I duck fast, pulse slamming against my throat, my feet sliding on the dirt-covered floor to press myself against the wall as much as possible, the fire still crackling like nothing is wrong. My lungs empty as if it will make me smaller.
My eyes cinch shut when someone bellows out a war cry. Oh, shit. This is real. This isreal. If that’s true, then I can’t sithere like an idiot and not know what’s happening, which forces me to twist around to look back over—someone is attacking Judge from behind. Dominion members ascend on Judge as he moves with a swiftness that makes me damn near gulp. He throws the man over his shoulder and slams him into the ground as cold dust flies in the air, and then stomps his leather boot on the man’s shoulder, the sound of breaking bones making my ass cheeks clench.
Judge leans over, elbow on a knee. “The fuck was that for?”
“This is…myhome. Not yours,” the man sputters out, and I know that labored sound for breath. His clavicle is probably shattered.
“Not anymore.” Judge removes his boots as more men wearing similar leathers surround the man. Judge steps back into view, his arms at his side in a way that makes it seem like there’s too much muscle to hang flush, the jacket just adding to his massive appearance. “Hang him, but make sure he can still stand for support. Once he collapses, let him swing as a reminder to the rest...” That gaze roams the area once more, and he seems hardly phased. “And for those of you dreaming of putting a bullet in me, even if I can’t see you,” he says, the two of us ducking again as his gaze nears us. “Killing me is only cutting off the head of a hydra. If you don’t know what that is because you live in a shithole, it’s an animal that not only regrows its head once chopped off, it growsmore. Dominion is a hydra, andIam the head that ensures it doesn’t kill all of you.”
“Stupid, big fucker,” Selene mumbles, her voice shaky, lips peeled back to reveal her teeth.
I snort a little, but it’s weak.
Another damn crack of a gun, and we both spring up in alarm—a man on a balcony falls over with a weapon landing next to him. Judge doesn’t even look his way or seem interested, lazily lifting his hand to motion to some beams in the open airway. “Hang his corpse, too. The next one to shoot at me,” hecries out, his deep voice carrying with ease as he adds, yelling, “we’ll not only kill, but we’ll kill the man on either side of him, too.”
Many immediately step away from each other, and as wild as this shit is… these people seem to respond to it, a few yelling at each other to stand down.Myattention is on the alpha controlling this crowd, because I’m terrified of what he will do if he learns what I am. A smugness spreads on his face when his words clearly work, but he doesn’t smile.
“Let’s get out of here,” I mumble, almost as involuntarily as a sneeze.
Selene doesn’t hesitate to nod, and we both silently roam the shop until we find another door. For a moment, I think about looting the place and searching for more pills, but the way my hair fully raises at the back of my neck, I know it’s not worth it. Hozier would likely screech that there are people searching for suppressants if she saw that…
Selene turns an old handle as quietly as possible, spilling us out into an alley with many paths to follow, from taking someone deeper into the bunker, or leading us back to where we came. Silence binds everyone together, a few fleeing very much like how I want to.
I won’t get caught here. I justwon’t.
I nearly bolt like a deer when more of Dominion slowly move through like the sentries. I’m so close I can see the symbol of a skull with black wings on either side on the back of their jackets. They share the same tattoo right at the base of their throat, but I don’t take in enough details to see what it is.
There are women already approaching them, smiling in a ritual of offering flesh for safety.
A pretty brunette is being led around a corner where I’m pretty sure she’ll get railed, maybe by more than one at a time. If they like her, she’ll become a road doll. People who sign up to basically be used freely by Dominion, with many hoping they’llget a spot as an Iron Lady one day. At the very least, she won’t be killed, and her family will eat that night. Sometimes the roles are reversed, and it’s one of the women who takes on an Iron Spouse, but I don’t hear about it often. I mostly know this because we’ve treated plenty of gang members, just hardly anyone actually fromDominion.
They usually don’t encroach this close to the mountains.
They’re spreading.
Judge sits opposite this whole mess, like some throne’s been pulled from the rubble just for him to oversee the aftermath. He watches the hangings like a man enjoying evening entertainment, calm and immovable, utterly in control, just like how an alpha prefers it.
Selene and I move slower, trying to adopt the flow of foot traffic, and it’s driving me mad to not at least be jogging?—
A woman’s pleading pierces the tension, and we both look to our right, where a woman is begging in the shadows. “Please, I need them.”
