“Then you should know that coming here was a big mistake,” Gunner snapped, getting up from his seat and stepping towards me now. Fear coursed through my veins as he approached, but I couldn’t run because of the alpha guard grasping my arm. He closed the gap between us until he was inches away, snarling in my face and jabbing a finger towards my chest. “I should throw you in chains. You’re not even useful to me for breeding because I don’twantyour disgusting body, not even as a means forchildbirth.”
I couldn’t even think of a sarcastic remark in my mind. To be honest, I was tooscared.
“There’s something else going on here,” Gunner growled. “I don’t trust any of this.” He whipped around to Colin, who tensed visibly when Gunner’s eyes snapped to him. “First this one shows up, telling me there’s some kind ofrebellion.”
My eyes widened and my chest tightened with anger and betrayal. So Colindidbetray us. I couldn’t say I was surprised about that, but Iwasconfused about the way he was acting now. Instead of being smug, or even happy to be on Gunner’s side, he looked ashamed and embarrassed, like he knew he did somethingwrong.
Good,I thoughttersely.
“And now you’re here,” Gunner continued, pacing around angrily, never taking his eyes off me. “I’m not stupid. I know something’s going on here. Where’s the rest of your group? Why aren’ttheyhere?”
His questions became increasingly aggressive. He sounded unhinged, like he was about to lose his mind. I was scared, but also confused. I’d never seen him act like this before. Usually he was cold and confident while in command, but now he seemed insecure and nervous. What happenedtohim?
I wondered if the looming threat of a rebellion was what did this. Then I thought: what if it went back even further? Had the disappearance of his elite alphas shaken him? I followed that thread and thought about it from his point of view. On the night that David and Niko escaped, Gunner was attacked by his own men after killing one of his own in front of their eyes. Murdering Delta had been the final straw. He had sown the seed of his owndownfall.
Now his behavior made more sense. After Colin had confirmed Gunner’s suspicions that his own rogue alphas were plotting against him, he’d become increasingly paranoid. And now - when his own ex-soldier, someone he’d thought of as a dead alpha but was obviously now a very alive omega, appeared right in front of him with no rhyme or reason - Gunner was abouttosnap.
This could be an advantage, but could also go horribly wrong. I had to becareful.
“I don’t know where they are,” I said honestly. “They’re probably backatcamp.”
None of that was a lie. Truthfully, I didn’t know if anyone followed me or not. Virgil did seem pretty upset after our argument. Maybe he needed to cool off as badly asIdid.
Except he didn’t cool off by running directly into the enemy’s territory,dumbass.
“Where is your camp?” Gunner asked, narrowinghiseyes.
Despite the serious nature of the situation, I almost wantedtosigh.
“I don’t know how to explain it,” I admitted. “It’s far out into the woods, but still inside Scarlet Ridge territory. If I had to guess, I’d say its south-eastfromhere.”
Gunner paused. He seemed torn between sending out soldiers from his alpha army to check it out, and wondering if I was lying. If I was telling the truth, he could wipe out our forces easily. But if I was lying to create adistraction…
My theory appeared to be right. He stepped back and paced around the floor, silentlyfuming.
His underlings seemed at a loss. Even the alpha guard holding onto my arm had loosened his grip in theconfusion.
Suddenly, my horrible-awful-not-thought-out-plan was going better than expected. But I knew I couldn’t let my guard down. I was still in a dangerous position and with Gunner’s unstable mentality, anything could change in asecond.
The other alphas who had caught me cleared theirthroats.
“Shall we go to where he says the camp is?” one of themasked.
“No,” Gunner snapped, then paused. “Wait. Yes. Idon’tknow.”
The alpha beside me looked stunned. I completely understood why. Gunner had never been soindecisive.
If anyone’s going to come rescue me, please do it soon,I thoughtdesperately.
“What should we do with this one?” the alpha guard asked instead, squeezing mywrist.
Gunner glared at me. His mind was obviously racing with all thepossibilities.
“Keep him alive,” he muttered at last. “He’ll be useful as a goodhostage.”
At least I won’t die just yet,I thought with a mental roll ofmyeyes.
Then Gunner focused on me and leaned in before speaking in a lower tone, as if he were asking me about a big secret. “Is it true what that alpha says?” he asked, gesturing to Colin in the far corner. “About therebellion?”
