“Ah, a whole genetic line of ignorance. You truly are blessed. All hail the Beta Goddess and the brainless idiots she has conscripted to do her dirty work.”
He snarls, but I have no fear left. Not of him.
The further we walk, the more of these black-robed men join us. Where are the women? Do they sit at home waiting to serve them dinner whenthey come back from killing? How do they justify having them in their beds? Their blood-stained hands on their bodies?
My bitter thoughts continue as I really look at them. Young. Old. Thin, fat, of all colours and races, united in their hatred for alphas and omegas. I wonder if anyone else knew how easy it would be to bring the world together.
“You’re going to die today, Omega,” a black-robed guy says. His mask doesn’t fit him properly and keeps slipping.
I almost ignore him, but there’s something about him that makes me do a double take. His robes are too short, not enough that you’d notice, but the robes are specifically tailored to fit perfectly. The Beta Goddess is a stickler for details.
His hands are dirty, too, and tanned.
I look into the mask and into eyes that seem too familiar, but I can’t place them. His smile quirks at the corner. Am I imagining it? No, I can’t be.
“They have said that a lot, but I’m still here.”
He flashes a smile, but do I see frustration in his eyes? He moves closer to me, sneering and looking me up and done.
“You look like shit, Keres.”
My head jerks up. I lick my lips and stare at him as he moves off, whistling. Is that…Kendric?
Mordecai’s head lifts, and he turns slightly, scanning the robed figures, but my heart’s pounding.
The Resistance is here.
The whistling fades away as more and more betas join us. A few more prisoners are pushed into the middle, and I find myself staring at a manwho has a broken arm. He was there at the camp. He looks like he hasn’t eaten in days.
He looks like he’s given up.
We march through the city, and I expect us to go to the fallen wall, but no, we’re taken to the massive gate we raced through on our first day, where they’ve set up a stage. Upon it stand two figures. The High King wearing his golden mask and a crown and the Beta’s voice, in a new body, this time a blond with hair that falls to her ass.
There are no splits in her skin yet.
I look at Jarek, and he looks at me. This is where we met. I can see him thinking it, too. A shiver races up my spine, and a beta walks between us, and I can’t see him anymore.
Why do I want to cry?
The entire area is in shadow from the deep dark clouds, leaving it feeling almost like night. Ominous and threatening.
As we approach, the betas spread out, leaving the path in front of us clear. I stare up at her; she makes an amazing and powerful picture. She’s beautiful and clean, otherworldly and immortal.
We are dirty, bruised, and scarred inside and out.
I catch sight of Cadel, but then he disappears as people push between us.
A hand lands on my shoulder; the grip is painful.
“Don’t move,” he hisses.
I freeze, my mind ticking over.
“Do you know who I am?” he growls.
Did I? Yes, of course. “Bear.”
His grip loosens.
