“In a heartbeat, you and I, we can do that later, when we survive.”
My mind blanks, and I find myself gaping at him, unable to stop the burn that suffuses my face and neck.
“That confident, are you?” I bark.
“The connection between us is something much more and much stronger than I first thought.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” I say dismissively.
“There is nothing between Taryn and me but a common goal to undo the evil that has befallen the world. But what is between you and I…that’s a sure thing that’s going to be explored, leisurely and with great attention to detail,” he promises.
I stare at him with wide eyes, fighting to get my brain back online and put this alpha back at arms’ length away from me. “She’s your savior?” I ask mockingly.
“Kaida,” he chides.
“You’re in trouble if she is. She’s terrified of her shadow.”
He gives me a look, an exasperated look that is so familiar it shoots an arrow of pain straight into my chest. He’s never looked at me like that before, but I know I’ve seen it.
“Have we met?” My lungs freeze, and my body locks. “I feel like we’ve met before.” I don’t even know what I’m saying.
His eyes widen slightly. “I don’t think we have.”
There’s a crushing disappointment, but he reaches out and runs the back of one finger down my cheek. Flashes of memory hit me, and my eyes close as I fall into the feeling. When I open my eyes, he’s inhaling my scent and looks like he’s lost in the same memories.
“I do think I know you, though I’ve never met you,” he whispers.
The air catches fire as we stand there, connected by our confused gazes and the small touch of his finger on my cheek.
I remember where we are, a chill crashing through this tenuous feeling. We were so distracted that I almost forgot where I was. For a moment, I forgot!
Too dangerous.
I step back, breaking the spell completely and step around him. He catches up and walks by my side. I avoid lookingat him completely because, seriously, what is the point? Finding a person like him out here, in a time like this?
Ridiculous.
Why get involved? I’ll just end up doing something that ends his life faster.
We’re walking past a massive white building when I hear a sound that shouldn’t be here.
I turn my head and watch the darkness. It happens again, but this time, I recognise it. It’s a moan, the kind of sound someone makes that is guttural and raw. A sound someone makes when they are in so much pain words are beyond them.
“There’s something in there,” I say.
Mordecai weighs the situation before he nods, agreeing to my unspoken request.
“Let’s check it out.”
Survival is one option; it always is, but it’s not always the right option,I think as I follow him, and I have never been able to walk away from an omega in trouble.
Mordecai inches forward, pulling out a crossbow and loading it. We sneak up against the walls, and I press myself to the cold surface as more and more sounds inside become clear.
Slipping inside the building and into the dark is like stepping into another world. The sounds of people get loud, a soft sobbing and haggard gasps. Someone walking around, heels clicking on the hard ground.
We’re standing on a higher level, with a circular floor that opens onto a view of the level below it. The floor was marble, I can see in some spots, and there’s a stage with rotted seats arranged around it.
On that stage is a sight that makes me want to throw up. Three women are hanging by their wrists, but they are bloody, half dead, mutilated corpses. As I watch, I realise the one that looks strange has a dislocated hip and is missing her arm from the elbow down. She’s not breathing.
