“No!” Walker snaps.
Cadel huffs, and I realise I’m close to him, and there’s no one between us. I start moving in his direction, inch by inch.
“You’ll give me the loan of your body, or I’ll kill him,” the goddess wheedles.
Walker hesitates.
Legion smiles softly at him. There’s almost a peace and acceptance on his face.
“Don’t do it.”
Walker doesn’t say anything. He just stands tall, refusing to bend, refusing to answer. He keeps his eyes tracked on the Beta Goddess.
She holds out a hand, and they pass a knife to her. She lifts it up and runs it down Legion’s jaw. I think only I see how tense Walker is.
I’m halfway across the stage. I’m not close enough to leap for it yet. Sweat runs down my temples, and my stomach flutters wildly. There’s a countdown in my head, and I can hear time slipping by, but I don’t know when it will run out.
“You help me, I’ll help you. I’ll let you keep him.”
Walker tenses.
“I would never be happy,” Legion answers his unspoken question. “With everyone I know and love dead, trapped in the dark until the day she decides to break her promise.”
“Don’t be like that, Omega. I will give him a chamber to keep you in, all the luxuries. Anything you could possibly want.”
Legion laughs. “Anything? How about alphas and omegas not to be extinct?”
“You will be the last two in the world. The last of your kind. I’ll have you sterilized so you can’t breed.”
“Oh, how generous of you,” Legion spits. “You hear that, Walker? We can be the last alpha and omega pair in the world. Until we die.”
She stands up, finally realising that he’s not impressed. “So, you’re rejecting my offer? I could torture you.”
“There you go, showing your true colours, being who we know you are.”
I reach Cadel and reach for the chain.
It seems to take forever, but then I pull it free. It starts to uncoil, but there’s so much of it, and it’s taking me forever.
“I’ll do it,” Walker says.
“No!” Legion shouts. “Don’t you dare.”
“I won’t see you die. Even if it means we’re the last, I can’t lose you again. I can’t…don’t ask me to.”
I pull the chains faster.
“What are you doing?”
I keep yanking.
“OMEGA, STOP!”
I almost smile, one full of bitterness, because I don’t listen to anyone but my alphas.
“Stop her!”
I yank on the chains, no longer trying to be quiet. They fall off him, and he stands up.
