He would make it back to the Kincaids, and he would kill every single one of them.
As soon as his hands were free, he took off into the woods, always aware of the clock ticking down. He breathed out the seconds as he fled into the darkness, trying to figure out what to do about Puppy. Feral alphas were as dangerous as they were fragile, hopped up on adrenaline that might send them into heart failure at any moment. How long had they had her? Since she went missing?
He could kill her, he knew that, but she didn’t deserve to die just because of them.
Something crashed through the underbrush in the distance, a sharp howl cutting through the air and sending a flock of birds sailing up into the dark sky, wings fluttering.
His five minutes were up. Roman swore and started sprinting, trying not to run faster than his eyes could make out the surrounding details. A snapped ankle would get him killed.
He didn’t know the woods as well as he wished he did; everything looked the same to him, and all he could do was aim straight forward as he listened to the sounds that spilled through the air behind him. Puppy was trailing him, but he couldn’t tell how fast or how well she knew the terrain. Better than he did, he presumed, but was her feral mind keeping track of the details for her, or did she just break through everything in her path to get to her targets?
Was there anything left of her in there, or was she nothing more than a beast?
They have Kitten’s sister. The Mambas have the wrong address. There has to be a leak.There was nothing Roman could do about it, but just the same, he made himself remember the details.They have Sidian. They have his daughter. They have another omega. There are eight of them.
And they had Puppy, someone that Roman didn’t have a plan for at all.
He could try to force the muzzle onto her, but he was certain it was too big for her face, and he might lose a couple of fingers in the meantime. There had to be a way to stop her without hurting her, a way to get her under control if only so he could try to see ifshewas still there. If she wasn’t, then he would kill her, but it was a last resort. If he could avoid it, he would.
The forest fell silent, and Roman glanced over his shoulder, his steps slowing as he tried to make sense of the lack of sound. Not even the frantic footsteps or snapping branches filled the air.
Had she stopped running? Why would she have stopped running?
She might be scenting the air,he thought, letting his back rest up against a trunk as he sucked in a lungful of air. It was cold out, but the exertion had him sweating as he dragged his forearm across his face above the muzzle.Might be looking for me, and my scent isn’t natural enough to fade into the forest like hers is. But I need to know where she is. I need to keep track of her.
If she got the jump on him, he wasn’t sure they would both survive it.
She was smaller than he was. He was stronger than she was. But she might not beherselfanymore.
His eyes scanned the shadows as he waited for the sound of her approach, knowing she had to be somewhere out there in the darkness. Maybe she needed to take a break. Even feral, she was still human, and she had limits on her body whether or not sheliked it. Or maybe the exertion on her heart had caught up to her, and on the way back to the house, he would find her body.
He didn’t want that. He didn’t want to take Kitten her sister’s corpse, on top of confirming for the Mambas that they had problems that would be difficult to fix. If they had someone leaking informationandgiving them false information, then they needed to clean house.
Roman didn’t know where he was. If he walked straight back, he would reach the house, but he needed a plan before he didthat,too. Would Pack Kincaid wait, or would they go back inside for the night? It would be better if they were inside. He could case the house from the outside, and then—
And then what?He didn’t know. Pack Kincaid had eight alphas at their disposal who were not stronger than him, not better fighters than him, unless they were and their entire profiles could be discarded. Maybe it would be best to do that considering the fact that some of the information was wrong; all of it might be useless to him. So, start from the ground up. They were strong, but they had nothing to fight for, and Roman would do anything to save Sidian and Amethyst. Goddess,Amethyst.
Sidian had a daughter, and Roman still didn’t know how to process that information.
No, it was unimportant. She needed to be rescued, as did Pack Kincaid’s omega in the likeliest scenario. He could process who she was and why she was important later.
Get back to the house. Infiltrate. Kill them. It didn’t matter how or what it took; it didn’t even matter if Roman died. Sidian would be fine without him. As long as he had his daughter, as long as the two of them were reunited,thatwas all Sidian needed. Roman would uphold his promise to ensure his mate would be safe even if it cost him everything. There was no price too high to pay.
But first, he needed to figure out where the fuck Puppy was.
A twig snapped to his right, and Roman’s head whipped to the side just in time to catch the pair of luminous crimson eyes that watched him from mere feet away.
Puppy had gotten the jump on him after all.
With a delighted, snarling cry, she pounced, and Roman’s arms swung up to catch her.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Jett gripped Sidian by the nape of the neck and dragged him into the house like a misbehaving dog.
In another lifetime, he would have liked to live in a house as nice as Pack Kincaid’s. Lavish, expensive furniture decorated every room, with all the color palettes matching in deep, dark colors. It was too minimalist—not enough pillows or blankets for an omega’s comfort—but Sidian knew the pack didn’t care about omegas. All they cared about was exerting their power and dominance over those they considered being weak and inferior, and in that regard, Sidian had been one of their favorite targets.
Jett dragged him upstairs with no regard for his feet slipping and sliding on the hardwood steps, throwing him down on the landing like he was trash. Before Sidian could get his hands and knees beneath him, the alpha’s foot came to rest in the small of his back, the slightest exertion of pressure more than enough to keep Sidian still.My baby, my baby, please don’t hurt my baby.
