No one pays any attention to me. I’m just another rushing body amid the carnage.
As I hit the front, where automatic weapons unload amid screams and cries of terror, I don’t even feel fear. By rights, I should be petrified, but it just doesn’t take hold.
Ahead, looming against the horizon between squat industrial silos in an Uncorrupted ship.
The twin ramps are down, and soldiers and personnel are fleeing into them, covered by ground troops. The lines are blurred, friendlies and the enemy. My feet are moving and I’m weaving between the pockets of battle, ducking behind overturned vehicles, and crawling over torn-up chain-link fencing that demarcated something now obliterated. Someone screams to my right—not one of ours, but their pain still pierces the armor of my frenzy.
I’m on the wrong side.
How did I get here?
I don’t know.
Nor does it matter.
The ship, the ramps, they are all I can focus on.
“Get her!”
Rough hands take me by the hair… When did I lose my helmet? My nose is bloody, and my hands have been torn to pieces. Wounds I did not even feel.
I’m shaken. It brings me back to the present and danger with an unpleasant jolt.
“Omega,” the soldier holding me purrs. His stench hits me, making me gag. The gray armor he wears confirms what he is.
An alpha.
Not one of our alphas, one of theirs.
“Take her,” someone orders. “Lock her down with the others. Quickly.”
Zeb
There are a couple of guards outside the door, not that that’s going to stop me.
I throat punch the one on the left, fast and brutal. Elbow the one on the right in the face hard enough to feel the bone give. My fists swing left, right, left again, and both men hit the ground in a heap.
They’re armed, but the Uncorrupted use bio-recognition tech, so their weapons are a no-go.
Doesn’t matter. I’m already inside. The door must be soundproof because she’s been watching something on a monitor and only now looks up.
Short-cropped hair, a standard-issue grey uniform, and cold eyes.
Jenda.
Looking at her makes my insides recoil. My line of work brings me into contact with monsters of all kinds. But looking at Jenda is to understand there are layers of darkness, and this woman is at the very bottom of the lot.
Pure fucking evil.
“Can I help you?” Her voice is clipped and barely civil. That tone says she probably can’t, and that once I’ve finished wasting her time, she’s going to flay me for the inconvenience.
I don’t answer. It takes a lot to rattle me. Her existence is a blight upon humanity. When I think of Esme being anywhere near this abomination, I get an understanding of what it must have done to Ethan and Ryker, knowing this woman had Lilly.
I hesitate a beat too long, and she reaches down.
Her military bearing, and her alpha nature despite being a doctor, have me betting she has a weapon.
I lunge across the desk, slam into her midsection, and we crash to the floor in a heap. We roll, vying for the position on top. She’s a big, powerful alpha and probably has at least ten pounds on me.
