“Go away if you want to live,” I say firmly.
The leader scoffs and looks back at his friends as if to make sure they are there and will back him up.
“You are charged with treason to humanity, carrying vicious and deadly viruses on your person, and are hereby sentenced to death.”
“I’ve heard all this before from betas much more dangerous than you,” I drawl in a bored tone.
He snarls, his lips curling back in disgust.
“Filthy omega.”
Cadel growls, and their eyes transfer to him but flicker back to me. I’m the prize. If they bag me, the whole Beta’s Path cult will rejoice, and they will live as kings.
I shift my weight, and when the first one comes for me. I run to meet him, diving low and kicking my leg out in a powerful move that smashes his knees sideways. He loses his balance and goes down, but judging from the screams, it’s the least of his problems.
The others charge in a mass of black robes, but when Jarek dances forward, slashing his blade, they fall back, bleeding from half a dozen cuts. The glaze of pain shows in more than one pair of eyes, but it’s the caution and fear that irritates me.
They should not be here murdering and living with what’s going to happen. They don’t know anything, but they will at the end.
Jarek smiles and bows with an old elegance that you just don’t find anymore.
“Go and find your masters, and I’ll let you live tonight.” The pure danger drips like venom from him, but they miss it. I don’t. I can’t suppress a shudder of awareness.
“You can’t do this!” One shouts. He’s got a mop of blond curls and a scar running from under his mask down to his lip. It makes him look petulant.
“You can’t stop me,” Jarek snarls and throws his blade, embedding it in the eye of the beta who was reaching for his crossbow. He falls dead, his dark brown hair like a bloody halo around him.
The others scatter, well, all except the one who can no longer run. He stares at us as if he never expected that we’d fight back.
I shake my head as Jarek retrieves the blade and wipes it on the guy’s robes. The beta with the broken leg drags himself away, his eyes wide like we are monsters in this situation.
“Showing off?” I say, lifting a brow at Jarek.
Jarek smiles at me and reaches out, brushing my hair back. “I will always show off in front of a pretty omega.”
I scoff and turn away from him, wondering why Cadel and Mordecai have been so quiet. When I find them, they are facing away from us, looking up the street where a dark figure with a wolf-like shape is partially hidden in the swirling mist.
My mouth goes dry, and my legs get weak.
“Run!” I huff, completely forgetting the betas and everything else but getting away from that creature.
Cadel takes a step towards the wolf, but I grab his shirt and pull backwards. He breaks his stare with the wolf and looks at me.
“Run, please.” My panic must show clearly in my voice because he listens almost instantly.
He shoves Mordecai’s arm and jerks his head away from the wolf. The two alphas turn and, in silence and perfect synchronization, start running. My wrist is locked in Cadel’s hold, and when I look for Jarek, I find him running on the other side of Mordecai.
The roar that slams into the night makes sweat break out on the back of my neck. It’s hideously terrifying. Like the baying scream of something full of rage and pain. A creature so full of hate that it’s mad.
We turn a corner, and I find myself slipping on cobblestones. I struggle to stay up, but the scream of a beta facing his mortality erupts into the night only to be cut short a moment later.
“Guess leaving him alive wasn’t the kinder option,” Jarek says grimly.
I spot something and pull back.
“Stop. In here.”
I shove some sheets of rusted tin away and slide into the dark hole. I fall about six feet and land lightly, squinting into the dark.
