Their kiss is soft and slow. The agony of their combined scents, full of heartbreak and yearning, fills the air. My chest hurts, and I find myself looking for my alphas.
Jarek is struggling, shouting in an increasingly uneasy crowd. Mordecai stares at me still, my strength in an alpha who has been our rock. When I look at Cadel, his forehead is pressed to the platform.
I struggle against the arms holding me, but it’s impossible. I can’t break free.
And then, from deep in the crowd, I hear one word louder than any other.
“Resist.”
It’s repeated over and over from all around the gathered black-robed betas. Until the hidden Resistance are chanting as one.
“RESIST.”
And then all hell breaks loose.
Chapter 66
So be it
I find my gaze drawn to my alphas again, needing to make sure they are fine, alive, still where I last saw them. My thoughts are scattered, frantic, fluttering like birds. In an ocean of black robes, they stand out, but it doesn’t calm me the way I hope it will. They’re too far away; the enemy army stands between us.
“Mordecai,” I whine.
Mordecai looks at me, his eyes shuttered, his lips twisted in what looks like pain. He raises his hand to his chest and bows. My heart thumps in my chest. This isn’t the plan. No! This is not the plan.
“What are you doing?” I whisper. He can’t hear me, no one can.
But he mouths something that takes me a moment to understand. “I remember what I have to do.”
I glance towards Jarek and see him moving through the betas. Shoving them aside, slowly getting closer.
Mordecai swings a massive fist and kills a beta. The sudden display of aggression triggers a panic. A wave of alarm goes through them, and they turn, surging towards him, leaving Jarek.
“What is this?” the goddess shouts. “How dare you!”
The beta behind me shoves me to my knees and pulls his sword, holding it ready to attack me and the people coming towards the stage.
They surge back and forth as the fight spreads.
Mordecai moves through the crowd, ignoring the betas who shove him back. Jarek’s moving like a blur, getting closer and closer to the stage. But the black robes are thick around Mordecai.
“RESIST!” Mordecai bellows, joining the chant, his voice roaring as he glares at the Beta Goddess, almost daring her to do something.
I gasp, staring at him as he seems to grow bigger, he oozes power and aggression. He’s magnificent and captivating. The god I remember meeting. They can’t take away what we are, not in our souls. It doesn’t matter how many human lives we’ve lived.
“RESIST!” he roars.
“RESIST!” they echo back at him.
A roar goes up from all around us. Someone throws Mordecai a sword, which he snatches out of the air and attacks with a skill I haven’t seen him use.
He’s incredible.
Deadly.
Even exhausted, this alpha is so much more than he thinks. He makes me want to drop to my knees. How is he mine?
The fights that had broken out get deadly. There are so many more of the Resistance than I ever dreamed. I don’t know who will win, but it looks like Bear decided this is all or nothing.
