“You cover your scent. You learn to hide in a crowd, you disappear. And you get out of this city and run.” I push all the urgency into my voice, trying to get her to believe me.
The boys bristle, gathering around her, their expressions dark and fierce. Protective. The thrum of strength newly born hums in the air. Alphas, she’s found a pack. If they don’t protect each other, they will be dead before they can live.
“Take your alphas with you. Before the Beta’s Path finds you and sends you to the Culling Grounds.”
She gasps. Her face draining of blood and going deathly pale, even in the low light. She looks like a walking corpse. “I’m not.”
“I can smell you, little omega. You are as sweet and pure as any scent has ever been. So, heed me. Run now while you can.”
“But—”
I don’t wait to hear what she has to say, just talk over the top of her.
“Don’t trust anyone, not your family, not your friends. The only ones you can trust now are your alphas and yourself. Head deep into the wilds, aim for the mountains. If you make it that far, people will help you. That place belongs to the Resistance.”
“Callie, come. We have to go. She’s right. I can smell it. I told you we could smell it. We need to leave,” one of the alphas says urgently.
“We can’t just leave; where would we go? How would we survive?” the omega protests.
I reach into my pocket and pull out my purse and all the coin I have left in the world and toss it to the tallest boy.
“Take her and go. They’re hunting tonight. Looking for people to take with them, to sacrifice to their heathen gods,” I spit bitterly.
“Why are you helping us?” he snaps and looks around warily as if this is some trap he can’t fathom.
“Because I am like you. I am an omega, and I am hunted.”
“Why are you here, then?” he demands, refusing to believe me. Good protective instincts.
“I’m looking for my family. There’s no one left for me to save,” I say and look down the street. I can hear the ringing of voices coming this way, smell the cigar smoke in the wind, coming for us. “Run. We’re out of time. Cover your scent and get out of Beta City before you’re all sent to Foreen.”
They all shudder, their eyes widening. The terror that one word invokes is something we’ve all grown up with, all understand. Foreen is where the alphas and omegas are sent to die, but not just die…they are sent to suffer, to bleed for their daring to be born and to quench the Beta Goddess’ need for blood.
The girl takes a step back, pauses, and looks up at me. “What’s your name? I would pray to the omega goddesses for you, you know, in case you need it.” Her expression is wistful, pained.
It’s not safe for us to gather together. Our own kind, separated by a history of bloodshed.
It’s on the tip of my tongue to lie, but I don’t think I’m going to live many more days, and I’ll need all the prayers I can get. I stand up and move into the light so they can see me clearly.
Their gasps tell me all I need to know. My name is still infamous; too many people know me. The world is no longer a place I can hide in.
“Kaida Keres, but everyone knows me as Keres.”
Her eyes widen. I’m the infamous omega who got away, the one the Path has been hunting for years. The omega that gives hope just with a whisper of my name. If Kaida Keres can escape…there’s a chance.
“Callie Myles.”
For one moment, we are caught smiling at each other, bound by our fates and the hatred and fear the world has for us. We’ve committed no crimes, we’ve done no wrongs, yet still, we’ll be hunted until the day our lungs cease to rise. It’s a bond between the few omegas left in this world, and there aren’t many of us left now.
We’re an endangered designation.
“Until the omegas bless us, and we meet again.” I hold up my hand and sweep it towards my chest, my index finger and thumb forming an O over the left side of my chest, and bow to the young omega.
She repeats the gestures, and with a whisper of her clothes, she’s gone, the young alphas with her.
I look back towards the light that is now flickering at the end of the street. I can’t let them go after her. She’s not yet ruined. There are no demons in her eyes. The thick warmth of my cowl hides me again, and I take off, running towards the light, hoping to intercept them.
I get to the road just as they do, but I’ve miscalculated again. The horse rears up, huge and black and completely unexpected. His eyes are like pits into a devilish nightmare I don’t want to descend into. The horse is terrifying, but it’s the rider I fear. He’s wearing an all-black jacket, with no sign of gold on him. He never wears a mask, but he’s almost impossible to hide anyway with that white hair that so closely resembles mine.
