“Can you do that to all of them?” Omar asks, looking at Gerald and Terrance, who have curled into balls and are crying into their knees.
“I don’t know, there’s ... a lot of them. And they’re strong.”
“We’re toast if you can’t.”
“No pressure then.”
This time I close my eyes, I open my palms, I extend my consciousness, and then—BOOM!
My eyes flick open just in time to see a fiery explosion mushrooming from the middle of the RVs.
The forgotten alphas are distracted, turning to find their homes engulfed in flames.
Another explosion erupts, sending two RVs flipping onto their sides. Then another.
Omar grabs my arm and pulls me from the stage.
“Run!”
THE BIG HOWL
Omar pulls me from the stage as the crowd of forgotten alphas scatters, running for their homes which are now on fire. We sprint across the desert as more explosions erupt at our backs.
“Is it Walter?” I shout, not sure if Omar will be able to hear me over the blasts.
I would be fully not surprised if Walter was happy to destroy these rogues even though they seem to worship him. That’s just the way he is. I almost feel sorry for them and their misplaced faith.
Despite how he’s been recruiting them, Walter hates rogues, alpha or not, just as much as he hates the Elite Pack.
“No idea,” Omar says back, releasing my arm so we can run faster.
I glance over my shoulder. Luckily, the rogues are so distracted none of them have even thought to chase us. I guess if Walter is blowing up their homes, taking me to him is no longer a viable plan.
The rocky desert floor is tricky to navigate but eventually we find our way back to the abandoned strip mall.
“Shit,” Omar says when we arrive. The vacant buildings are even more haunting in the dark, backlit by the fires raging on the horizon. I can still hear the cries of the men desperately trying to save their community. But that’s not the most frightening thing happening right now. Because the car is gone.
“Did they move it?” I ask.
“How?” Omar spins, searching as if we might have forgotten where we parked. “They don’t have the key.”
I pat myself down desperately, terrified I’ve somehow misplaced the fob, but it’s there in my back pocket.
“Hey chico,” a familiar voice says somewhere behind me. “Lost something?”
I spin around at the sound of Olivia’s voice and find her a few stores down in the middle of the cracked tarmac.
“What—what are you doing here?”
Olivia jogs over to us. Her thick hair is pulled back in a tight ponytail that bounces with each stride. She’s wearing a gray tank top, khaki pants, and combat boots. Her face is smudged with black. She looks like a werewolf Lara Croft.
“No time to talk now, boys,” she says, arriving in front of us. “We had to move your car. Don’t worry, it’s safe. I know Jasper would hate it if anything happened to it. Come on, I’ll take you to it.”
She turns to go in a hurry.
“Wait,” I say, and she turns back. “How are you—what are you doing here?”
She rolls her eyes. “Those rogue alphas are going to start looking for whoever lit up their little trailers pretty quick. You want to be here when they do?”
