“Watch their allies,” Karma murmured to me and Sin.
I glanced around, but I couldn’t tell anyone apart.
“Not doing a thing,” Sin replied.
I found myself taking a small step forward, but Sin caught my arm. “Donotgo over there. There isnothingwe can do,” Sin muttered. “Not without getting ourselves killed.”
None of it felt natural, but I knew he was right—even if he hadn’t just given me a dark bond command. The kind that gripped me by the back of the neck and held tight, threatening pain if I tried to disobey.
I couldn’t look away, though, as the alphas fell, one by one. Throats slit, necks snapped, all with an audience.
Finally, it was only the omega left.
He tried to run, but even from here I could see the stark terror and agony on his face.
His whole pack had been eviscerated in less than a minute.
One of the attackers chased, catching him in moments, and I heard his cracked scream as he was pinned down. I flinched—theywouldn’t—my hackles rose at the omega’s wild growls, but they didn’t kill him.
Karma looked as tense as I did, but he also remained stock-still. We’d need a few more spars; none of this was good for stability.
It felt like no one moved as the pack lead pinned him face down and sank his teeth into his neck. The blackened, poisonous mark was clear even from this distance.
If I was closer I knew, through my eyes, it would be different to the way Crescent’s looked. As a seer, I was able to identify if a dark bond was accepted by an omega, or forced.
My omega’s was as clear as the dark mark of a bond like that could get.
The omega wasn’t fighting anymore, and it was chilling how the quiet settled, as if the bloodbath hadn’t happened.
No more growling or struggling. The pack lead must have given a command, because the omega didn’t fight when he was released.
I watched as they left the gym, prize in tow.
The omega turned right before they left, eyes darting to the bodies of his old pack, something dead in them.
I looked away, not wanting to witness it anymore.
Still, the gym was eerie quiet now the omega was gone, the tang of iron in the air. It wasn’t unusual in this place—I knew that no matter how feral I’d been.
The silence was broken by a crackle, and the comms above us rang through with an automated feminine voice.
“Alton Leo. Your appeal has arrived. Proceed to the waiting room with your pack.”
My heart sank as I watched the pooling blood of the Leo pack slowly drain into the gutter of the sparring field.
The comms would sound two more times before the thirty minute window closed, but this pack would never see the outside world.
Everyone was stiff, and it felt, all of a sudden, like too many eyes were on us.
OnSin.
I couldn’t help glancing at Bug and Sterling, my eyes lingering on Sterling’s awful smelling braided necklace, stained a dull brown from the blood of the alphas he’d killed. I did not, in that moment, feel protected by them.
Even Bug was strangely stiff.
Would the Emerald and Wakefield pack quit on us if it came to it?
Whatwerethe benefits of risking anything for a pack that was about to leave forever—aside honour?
