Stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
This was all my fault.
Above me, in the devil’s red, eight flicked to seven.
I had almost nothing on.
A hair tie holding up my long ponytail, a slip of a bandeau around my chest, and a pair of underwear—all of which amounted to no protection, not from attackers, nor appraising eyes.
And how many of those were there about to be?
Six…
I shivered, goosebumps rising on my bare skin. Drugs rushed through my veins—were they already doing what they’d promised?
“How fast, do you think?”the High Priest had asked as he pressed the needle into my arm.“Until you go into heat?”
Five…
A pathetic whine slipped from my chest as I tried to force my back straight. Cowering would get me nowhere.
An image popped into my mind—a news story from a short while back. It had been one of the few times I’d glimpsed a television in a clinic waiting room, since the Convent didn’t allow us anything like that. An omega had climbed into a rut-fighting cage when her alpha was in trouble. She’d shielded his body and turned on the other alphas in the cage, golden eyes glowing with a fierceness I hadn’t known we were capable of.
And they had paused.
They’d backed off.
Four…
That omega had changedeverythingfor me. That news story had been quickly shut off, but it never left me—a truth they’d never wanted me to know. And it was the beginning of the end that led me here.
But even now, I didn’t know how to bethatomega. I had no one I loved enough to be that strong for…
Three…
Instead, I was alone, with my skin and golden eyes on full display. Not that it mattered—golden eyes were about to become entirely irrelevant.
Because beyond that door was Anarchy—the place beneath the Cimmerian Vaults. It had no surveillance and no guards—only total, utter lawlessness.
Two…
Population: 1036.
1036 of the most notoriously violent, insane alphas—all of whom had chosen anarchy over a cage.
And I was about to be locked in with them.
One…
With a jarring beep and a click, the heavy doors began to open, letting in the first sliver of light from the nightmare beyond.
2
Ten days until appeal
PHANTOM
There were very few moments these days in which I could block out reality. So few, in fact, I could count them on one hand.
