Lucy's hands slapped over her mouth. Before I could process what was happening, she started running full tilt. Her silver hair disappeared from view moments later when she barreled through the tent flaps. I blinked in surprise, then raced after her.
Bursting out into sunlight, I blinked rapidly and searched.Tent three… where the fuck was tent three!A flash of platinum caught my attention, and I looked just in time to see Lucy rounding the corner of a talent trailer.
"Lucy!" I shouted after her, but she was already out of range.
Lucy was running—not away from danger, but toward it. And not for just anyone. For Nitro. Fucking Nitro, who'd used her for target practice. Who'd backed her against a wall with a knife to her throat. Who'd been nothing but cruel since the moment she'd arrived.
"Nitro better be fucking hurt," I muttered, then started covering ground at high speed.
Shouts and the metallic groan of buckling infrastructure grew louder with each step I took toward the chaos.Lucy better not do anything stupid, I mentally growled.
Collapsing big top came into view, and I spotted her about fifty yards away, darting between clusters of performers and technicians. The Phantom tent—an obsidian and white monstrosity boasting about a million black lights inside—was already halfway collapsed. Its peak was inverted, the canvas sagging inward. From this vantage, it looked like two of the king poles had snapped. Metal continued to scream and twist, bending in unnatural ways. Cirque staff strained against thick ropes tethered to stakes, fighting a losing battle against gravity and tons of fabric.
People crawled from beneath the tent's heavy skirt, emerging wherever they could find an opening. Some limped, others dragged equipment. A group of stagehands formed a human chain, passing smaller props out through a narrow gap. The one policy that made me debate adding the Cirque to my arson wish list was this one—that saving the props was worth putting employees in peril.
As I grew closer, the distinct cadence of Lucy’s voice carried over the din. “Has Nitro come out?” she asked one man, who shook his head. She ran to a woman, voice pitching with fear now. “Have you seen Nitro?” Another disappointing answer sent Lucy running several feet to one of the Cirque performers who’d crawled out of danger. “Please tell me you’ve seen Nitro.”
This answer made Lucy turn towards the tent. Slowing my advance, I watched as she looked left, then right, and then finally down at the bottom of the failing structure.
I knew what she was going to do, but I didn’t walk faster, because I had to be wrong. She wouldn’t be that reckless. She wasn’t one of us—DemonX Alphas, always placing the high of danger above the finality of death.
Lucy took a step forward.
Now, my pace quickened as a sickening realization dawned.She wouldn't. She fucking wouldn't.
But she did.
My Omega ducked down and pushed her body beneath the folds of the collapsing tent. The heavy vinyl swallowed her whole, leaving no trace of her silver hair or pale skin. She was gone, vanished into the unstable structure that continued to groan and shift.
"Lucy, come back!" I bellowed, pushing myself faster. “Goddammit, Lucy!”
My feet pounded across the dirt as I erased the distance between me and the tent. My mind cycled through increasingly horrific outcomes.What was she thinking? Why would she risk herself for Nitro? For any of us?We'd been nothing but monsters to her. It made no fucking sense!
I skidded to a stop, gulping for air.Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!What should I do? Should I go after her?
Frantically, I looked around. Where were my brothers? Had they heard that Nitro was trapped?
“Fuck!” I yelled, a guttural sound that sent more than one head swiveling in my direction.
“What crawled up your ass?” A familiar voice broke through my frustration and anger.
I spun around to find Nitro—several scrapes across his face and covered in dirt but otherwise looking perfectly fine—standing right behind me. He hacked out a cough while slapping dust from his clothes, his eyes drifting over my shoulder to watch the tent continue its catastrophic implosion.
“You’re already fucking out,” I breathed in disbelief. Then I turned quickly again, head spinning, as I realized Lucy had just risked her life for nothing.
“Want me to crawl back inside, brother?” Nitro asked sarcastically. “You seem disappointed.”
"Lucy went in to fucking find you," I snarled. "She's in there. She went in therefor you."
The color drained from Nitro's face, his expression morphing from confusion to horror. "What? Why would she?—"
His words cut off as we both turned toward the tent, attention drawn by a sustained, terrifying groan of metal. The structure emitted a deafening crack, like a gunshot amplified a hundredfold. The remaining support beams gave way simultaneously, and the massive canopy plummeted downward.
The crowd around us fell silent for one horrible second as the tent collapsed completely, the heavy material crashing with a sickening thud that vibrated the ground. Dust and debris exploded outward in a cloud that temporarily obscured the destruction.
"Lucy!" I screamed, lunging forward, chest constricted with fear.
Nitro grabbed my arm, yanking me back. "We need to be smart about this!" he shouted. "If we just rush in?—"
