Then I caught sight of a woman jogging. Why the fuck she was out so early, with dawn still a couple hours away, was anyone’s guess.
Damn, she had a body though.
My breath hitched for a moment—tight leggings hugging her curves and a sports bra that did little to support her breasts. She looked healthy, like she could keep up with a bunch of bastards like us.
That thought sent me down the rabbit hole, falling towards the useless Omega arriving later today.
She wouldn’t be like this woman, full of vitality, out in the dark, running toward some unknown destination.
Weak things didn’t belong with my pack.
Weak things didn’t belong, period.
She wouldn’t last long.
I envisioned her back pressed against one of my targets. Blade after blade flying through the air, missing her flesh by mere centimeters. I’d surround her with knives, outlining herbody.Maybe I’d accidentally graze her. Maybe I’d make her bleed.
Maybe I’d lose this fucking race if I didn’t get my head in the game.
FALLON.
While the other racers pressed forward feverishly, hunched over their bikes with singular focus, I trailed behind. The vibration of the engine between my thighs, once electrifying, brought me no joy. I’d lost my hunger for riding, for the bite of wind against my body, for the thrill of winning. And I’d quit craving the slick heat of bodies tangled in sheets, the euphoria of intense release. Hell, I’d stopped caring if I kept breathing.
An empty vessel. Hollowed out. Ready for discard. I felt nothing, indifferent to the outcome. The finish line could be in another dimension for all I cared.
Even while the others plotted and planned how to drive the Omega away, I couldn’t bring myself to join. And I was the strategist, the mathematician, the one ensuring our wildest stunts were survivable.
I felt unsettling indifference to the woman we were supposed to mate with, the woman who was supposed to cure our spiral into madness. Her scent, whatever it might be, couldn’t possibly penetrate the layer of dust coating my senses.
Maybe I felt nothing, because I knew she wasn’t forever, not by a long shot. She would come into our world, only to leave again.
Leave, because we didn’t want her. Leave, because she was the last thing we needed. Leave, because we were five broken men beyond repair.
There was zero point expending energy on a nothing that would lead nowhere.
If my pack brothers wanted to drive her away, we didn’t need some complicated, twisty plan. We could just shove her into the replica Iron Maiden stored with our show props. It was, against our old manager’s wishes, functional.
Sharp, iron spikes.
Not long enough to kill, but long enough to maim.
She’d last seconds in there, fragile body shaking in fear. A spark of amusement lit inside me. Though it fizzled quickly, it was proof I wasn’t completely numb yet.
I chuckled softly, my gaze flickering to the chaos unfolding ahead. The other riders strained against their machines. I watched as Asher fell behind and Nitro rocketed forward. I frowned when Nitro took a sharp left out of sight, a rule breaker through and through.
As I rode, going fast enough to keep the others in sight, a little voice in the back of my head whispered?—
What if we can’t scare her away?
What if she’s different than we imagine?
What if her arrival changes everything?
KANE.
The noise around me was ear-splitting. I didn’t know how wehadn’t brought the cops down on us already. Fuckers were probably all taking mid-shift naps in their squad cars. Didn’t blame them. Only idiots were up at this hour, raising hell.
The cold slapped my face with blistering force, and I wondered if I’d get frostbite. I should have worn the full helmet.
