I wake to soft, furtive movements. From the moment I open my eyes, I can see him clearly, his back illuminated by the orange glow of the fire. Cadel is standing on the alpha side, staring at those symbols.
I get up and silently walk over to stand beside him.
He looks at me with so much grief that I wonder if I’ve ever cared about anything so deeply. Who is this alpha who feels so much?
“How did this happen? How did the world end up like this, and why can’t I remember it?”
“I don’t know. What’s the first thing you can remember?” I murmur, resisting the urge to reach out and soothe him with a touch.
“I was lying on the ground, and when I woke up, there were buildings but no people, and I could hear your voice. I thought you were familiar, but when I saw you, I realised I didn’t know you.” His voice is strained.
“So, Cadel?”
“Is not my name. I don’t know my name or my family. I don’t know anything. Just that I woke up in this war.”
War? War is a good word for it, though we’re losing and have been for a long time.
“What are the chances of us getting out of here alive, Omega?” His abrupt change of tone startles me.
“Slim. Almost everyone has died in Foreen. Few, if any, survive.”
Those words fall into the temple like a cry of pain. He opens and closes his mouth, fighting to find words.
“I’m not going to give up. I’m going to fight them to my last breath,” I say to him. As if that alone will give him hope.
He closes his eyes. “Yes. Okay. Let’s do that. We’ll fight until there’s nothing left.”
He lifts his hand, holding it palm out. I clasp mine to his, jolting as I get a vivid flash of something blue and white and a feeling of holding a hand in another time. I pull my hand free and turn away because it wasn’t the image; it was the feelings.
Yearning and a shattered heart. Like I’d lost something so special that it broke me apart.
I brush my hair back behind my ears and wrap my arms around my chest. Jarek and Mordecai are awake and watching silently.
“Until the end,” Jarek says and raises his flask of water.
“My last breath,” Mordecai says softly, his eyes on me.
I fumble with my shirt, wishing they hadn’t ripped it. I’m not used to wearing such a tight, revealing top.
“So, we’ll work together? We’ll try to help each other?” Jarek asks, distracting me from my self-conscious thoughts. “Are we a—”
“Don’t say pack,” Mordecai growls.
Jarek gives him a sultry and simultaneously wounded look. “Alliance.”
“Yes. I feel like we should help each other,” I say quickly. “There’s safety in numbers, in allies. Especially here.”
Jarek jumps up and spins elegantly before approaching the symbols of the gods. He walks down them and stops beside the one for fire.
“This is my god. I’m claiming him. If I ever need to pray, I’ll send my prayers to this hot fellow.”
Mordecai stands up and wanders down the line, too, stopping beside the bow and arrow. The God of the Hunt.
“Shall we send them a prayer and hope they hear?” Jarek asks. “Sounds like it couldn’t hurt?”
I get up and wander over to stand at the omegas, ignoring the others. But it doesn’t feel right, so I don’t voice the prayer in my heart. I just stare at the moon, and I wonder why my blood starts to race. I hear the laughter of a guy, and I see the world bathed in silver light.
I frown, touching my aching head and rolling my shoulders, trying to get rid of the tension.
