There’s enough light for me to see there’s nothing in here but huge pylons and a couple of less rusted cars.
“Safe,” I whisper.
I pause, inhaling, and catch a faint breeze and that foul scent. This must be an underground car park. I’ve seen them in books and pictures, though this looks different. In all those books, there were other exits. I jog towards the other end and find a wall of collapsed rocks, but right at the top is a hole.
Jarek struggles up and easily squeezes through the hole. He reaches down a hand and pulls me up. I crouch, peering in the dark. We’re deep in the shadows of a massive building. It’s leaning sideways on the building across from it, but they are holding each other up, almost like they are creating a whole new ecosystem.
A scream comes from up ahead. The wolf is behind us, heading in this direction. I break into a cold sweat. Cadel edges forward, inching in the dark. The omega bursts onto the road, stumbling and tripping over herself. She’s got bloody knees, and she’s naked. Her white flesh seems luminous, but the way she’s moving shows that there is something broken inside her.
I hear someone laugh, and my eyes zero in on the shadows as the Beta’s Claw steps out. He’s a tall and handsome beta with a reputation that has so much blood on it I’m always amazed he’s human.
He’s the executioner for the Beta’s Path and one of the most terrifying people I’ve ever met. Luckily, he’s never been interested in me, but then he’d have to compete with the Warden and the Beta’s Fang, and the latter is as crazy as he is obsessed with me.
As I watch, he steps out into the light, his back ramrod straight, his black robes swirling around his ankles. He’s the only person in the Path who wears a mask that isn’t gold or black. It’s a blood red muzzle that covers his lower jaw and mouth. With a hood pulled up, he’s the picture of nightmares. I’ve heard many a young beta fawn over the sexy picture he makes. Apparently danger, blood, and a soul covered in death is romantic.
A murderous elegance, a soft voice and charm that go with a fascination and obsession with stealing life all wrapped up in a position of power make him one of the Beta’s Path’s most terrifying weapons.
He holds out one hand, and a black-robed pledge drops a knife into it. He stands there watching her run and then, with a move quicker than I could have thought possible, he throws it.
His accuracy is incredible.
It embeds itself in her spine. She’s not dead, but she’s incapable of movement.
I clench my fingers around Cadel’s hand. There is nothing we can do. Not a single thing.
This human monster turns slowly and raises a hand, and I get a look at the beta who has haunted my nightmares for the last five years.
The Beta’s Fang is rough around the edges, the kind of man with a meanness inside him that would have had him spending his life locked up somewhere. He’s got no charisma, no charm. The only thing he has is his madness. Everyone fears him. He’s a rabid dog on a rusted chain. Always pushing the boundaries and finding new ways to express his depravity.
My soft intake of air must clue off the alphas with me because they draw me back and away.
“That was mine, Remus,” the Fang says possessively.
There’s a stillness in the air that gets deadly. These two might be on the same side, but they are both far too monstrous to be friends.
“Fine,” he draws it out. “Fang”
Where one is an executioner, the other is the man who does the dirty jobs, torture, beating people up, sorting out a gang. An enforcer of unparalleled violence. He’s relentlessly skilled at keeping people alive even when their bodies give out. If I had to pick between the two, I’d go with the executioner every time.
But the Beta’s Fang has been obsessed with recapturing me since I escaped his benevolent captivity five years ago.
I slide backwards, but the alphas with me have stopped. With a sinking feeling, I look past them and find the way blocked by a shadowy shape that is making its way towards us.
I look around desperately, but I can’t see a way out. We’re trapped.
For long seconds, I weigh up which would be the better death.
The night erupts with fire. Balls of it land on the road in front of us and explode. It happens so quickly I can only gasp in surprise as the fire rolls like liquid spreading around us.
“Come on!” A voice shouts.
I jump up onto the road, running towards the person on the other side. He grins wildly and whips around, waist-length black hair flowing in silken locks. Why is this crazy person smiling?
“Come on, old man!”
“Shut your face,” Mordecai snaps.
The two grab each other’s forearms and bump into each other’s chests.
