It’s a snapshot in time of a world left decimated, broken, and ruined. I wonder what the people who died here would all think of the way it turned out. Were they as bloodthirsty as the human hunters we run from?
We travel for hours before I call a stop.
The omega stumbles to a wall and leans against it. She brushes her sweat-damp hair back from her face. She’s breathing hard. It occurs to me she looks exhausted, with black circles under her eyes, and she’s too thin. Her wrists look like I could snap them. I reach into my pocket and pull out the last of my food.
I can’t tear my gaze away from her as I approach and hold it out to her. I glance at the alphas guiltily, but they watch her eat with the same obsessive fire I do.
“Who are you?” Mordecai asks, not rudely.
I’m tired of fighting, tired of the distrust, so I open my mouth and just let my story pour out.
“Jarek Listborn. I lived in a tent city with my parents until they were snatched when I was twelve. I lived with kids after that, and we stole to survive. Until, one by one, they got snatched up or joined the Path. And then I was on my own, travelling and trying to stay one step ahead of those bastards. Sadly, I was caught when the person I helped ratted me out. Apparently, gratitude is dead these days.”
Keres turns her shadowed gaze from me to Mordecai. “And you? How were youcaught?”
Mordecai sighs and rolls his shoulders. “I am Mordecai Haspian. I lived in a little village that didn’t see any of the Beta’s Path until I was fifteen. They took a third of our people and raped and murdered another third. Those of us who survived did so only because we ran. I had a little sister, but she didn’t make it. She was only just starting to show her scent.”
My mouth tastes like ash. I try to imagine what he went through and have to force myself to stop.
“After that, I joined the Resistance and accidentally got picked up while I was trying to rendezvous with our leader,” Mordecai says simply. He hasn’t looked away from her, but I don’t think he’s telling the full truth either.
“Cadel?” I ask, fascinated with the mostly silent and aggressive alpha.
“I can’t remember.” His confused and defensive growl comes out, and I shrug.
“Keres, tell me your story,” I say in a singsong.
“Everyone knows my story.”
“I highly doubt that.”
She purses her lips and folds her arms over her chest. “Fine. I’m Kaida Keres. I have been on the run from the Beta’s Path for years. As far as I know, I am the only person to escape the citadel. And there’s nothing else exciting about me.”
I step towards her, stopping when she tenses. We’re going to work on that.
“Now, baby, I find that so incredibly hard to believe.”
She tosses her hair but can’t meet my gaze, though her scent has sweetened the air. I grin at her where she can’t see it.
“I’m sorry,” she whispers, lifting her eyes to meet mine.
I frown. “For what?”
“For meeting you here, now, before we die.”
I’m already shaking my head, ignoring Cadel’s deep growl and Mordecai’s wordless protest.
“I’m not planning on dying, and I’m not planning on letting you die either,” I say confidently. “Don’t you worry; you and your alphas stick with me, and I will get you out of here.”
Her eyes are pools of the softest silver. I could stare into them forever.
“They are going to come after me; I’d be a prize.”
“So. What.”
Her eyes lift and lock with mine, and I let her see my confident smile. I let her see my attraction, my intent, and the dangerous alpha that I am. I lean in, cupping my mouth.
“There’s an exit,” I whisper.
