As we move through the labyrinthine basement, the odor of rot and decay becomes almost unbearable. We all cover our mouths and noses, but it’s no use. The stench permeates no matter what we do. Auryn gags, and I pat her back. “Keep going. We can’t stop now.”
“I’m not planning on stopping,” she hisses through gritted teeth. “I’m planning on puking the second this is over.”
Fair enough.
Two turns later, we come across a gruesome sight, and I silently commend Auryn for holding her stomach contents through it all.
In a large, crude chamber filled with exam tables and filthy equipment, Sneed’s pack of knotless alphas lie strewn about, stripped naked, their bullet-ridden bodies lying face-down on the ground.
What the hell? Was there a shootout? I don’t see any guns on the bodies, but I can’t fathom that Sneed would annihilate his own men. It doesn’t make sense.
Then again, nothing about this mission is making sense.
“Dios!” Diego crosses himself and steps into the room, kneeling next to the closest body and looking it over. “They’ve been dead for a while. Possibly since we left last time, but I can’t be sure without Olly here to test them.”
“He killed his own pack …” Auryn’s voice is hushed. She knows Sneed better than any of us, but she seems as surprised as the rest of us at the carnage here.
“That’s not the worst of it,” Diego says as he rolls the body over. “He mutilated them. Looks to be postmortem.”
I’m not a squeamish man. I’ve seen some shit in my day, but the mangled crotch of the Orion alpha is almost gruesome enough to make me vomit. Whatever Sneed used to sever the man’s genitals, it wasn’t sharp.
“Jesus!” Emmett gags, but he manages to hold his stomach contents. “That’s even worse than what he had done to me.”
“But why?” Auryn asks.
A voice echoes from the far chamber, and a figure emerges from the darkness.
“Because, dear five-seven-six, they were a threat to my plans. I can’t have rival alphas running around impregnatingmyomegas. This ismypack,myhouse.Iam the top alpha here, and now, thanks to your success and my own augmentations, we can finally start rebuilding the Orion pack to its former glory.”
Sneed Orion remains half in the shadows, but from what I can see, he’s as naked as the men lying dead around us. His chest bleeds from a savage tear, like he ripped something from his own skin.
“You’re not rebuilding anything with Auryn,” I say, taking a stance in front of her to shield her with my own body if necessary. “And you’re not going to have much luck with your other omegas, seeing as how we’ve liberated them all. It’s time to admit that you’ve lost, Sneed.”
“Have I, though?” He steps fully into the light, and I have to grab Emmett’s arm to keep him from bum-rushing the other alpha.
It’s bruised and swollen, oozing pus, but there’s no question.
Sneed’s wearing Em’s severed ring like it’s a Goddamned piece of dick jewelry.
Chapter 42
Sneed
The look on Gage’s alpha underling’s face is everything. Now he knows that not only is he half a man, but I have his knot–and therefore his ability to breed.
“You see, Gage, I am perfectly capable of breeding little five-seven-six now. And I thank you for finally returning her, as per our contract. If you could just hand her over, I’ll arrange the funds transfer.”
“The contract’s null and void,” he growls, bristling.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. We had a deal, Gage. One omega returned to my possession in exchange for quite a large sum of money.”
The handsome Mexican alpha steps forward, raising his gun threateningly. “She’s not your possession,hijo de puta, and we don’t need your money.”
These silly mercenaries. They seem to think that five-seven-six loves them. That she’s even capable of love after the … improvements I made to her. Don’t they realize that she’s nothing more than an incubator now, a breeding machine for carrying my offspring?
“Perhaps you don’t understand. My father, Cain Orion, thought he'd fix us. He thought that the natural order was wrong, that alphas and omegas were due for an evolutionary shift–so he gave us a push.” I kick one of the bodies with my toe. “Cain believed that male alphas were faulty. Too aggressive. Before I was even born, he mucked with our family’s DNA to alter our chemistry, our very nature.
“I was supposed to be an alpha! Instead, I was born knotless and stunted, as was every other wretched male in this generation. Cain ruined us, destroyed us, nearly wiped us out. If not for my genius, the Orions would have ended with me. Can you imagine? A whole pack where alphas’ and omegas’ roles are reversed. It’s monstrous.”
