10. CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 10
Weston prayed with every fiber of his being that Leandro would see the truth of his words. Omega or Alpha, Weston truly hadn’t cared. He just wanted to keep Leandro safe. It was all that mattered to him. Nor had he thought that being an Omega or an Alpha necessarily gave Leandro an advantage.
He tried not to physically wince at that thought. It pained him to admit, but even he damn well knew that wasn’t entirely true. Not because one was weaker or stronger than the other, but because their society treated each one differently. As an Omega, the Alphas would have felt it their right to do as they pleased to Leandro. It wasn’t right, but it was still how things worked.
As far as Weston knew, other than Sanctuary, nowhere else on earth gave a damn that it was wrong to treat anyone as if they didn’t matter. It had been one of the main reasons he’d joined Sanctuary. Weston had preferred to live in a place where everyone was treated equally.
“We need to head out if we hope to catch up to Kelce,” Oxley called out softly enough to be heard by them but not so loud that if one of their attackers was nearby would hear. “He could be in trouble.”
As much as Weston wished to continue his conversation with Leandro, Oxley was right. They owed Kelce for drawing the enemy away from them. It had allowed them to regroup and come up with a plan. It wasn’t exactly a great one, but with some amount of luck, they hopefully could defeat whoever had been chasing Kelce and head into town to collect what supplies they could.
If they were really lucky, they’d also be able to free those Omegas that were still being held. That might be a bit trickier, since they were behind a steel door, but they would do what they could to help them.
Weston held out his hand to Leandro. “Ready?”
Butterflies flapped around madly in his stomach when the Omega placed his hand in Weston’s, smiled, and said, “Ready.”
They piled into the trucks with Oxley on horseback and headed back down the mountain. This time, they’d taken a much more difficult route, which jolted their bodies with every dip and crevice they were forced to go over.
It wasn’t helpful that they had to weave amongst the trees, but eventually, they’d made it more than halfway to Kelce’s last known location. Well, if he had gone straight west and hadn’t veered north or south.
Fairly quickly, they could collect enough pine boughs to cover each truck. Oxley was going to continue on horseback while the rest of them walked. They spread out and searched for any trace of Kelce or his pursuers.
Ten minutes later, Basel found hoof prints, and they knew they had found the direction Kelce and the others had taken. Not wasting any time, they followed.
“I told you we’d corner him,” a malicious voice chuckled twenty minutes later. “He has nowhere else to run.”
“About damn time,” another sinister voice said. “Those other Omegas barely put up a fight any longer. Maybe this one will give us a challenge when we fuck him.”
Weston wanted to punch the assholes already. He seriously hated how guys like that gave the rest of Alphas a bad name. But before he could even curl his fingers into a fist, two knives flew through the air. By the time they’d stuck into the back of the Alphas’ necks, severing their spinal cords, Oxley had already pulled out three more and sent them flying to the nearest Alphas, killing them instantly.
“Holy…” Leandro muttered. “If I hadn’t seen that with my own eyes, I’m not sure I would have believed anyone could kill five people in less than thirty seconds with no one having a clue.”
Out of the ten that were surrounding the rocky outcropping, which they assumed was where Kelce was hiding out—five had dropped to the ground without the others having any clue it had happened. The others most likely would have been dead as well, but Oxley must have run out of knives since he was holding his gun.
Not about to let him give away their position, or allow those in town to know what was happening by shooting that gun, Weston threw two of his knives. He couldn’t help the satisfaction he felt when they’d found their mark, dropping two of the other five.
Briggs downed another, with Basel dropping one not even a second later. It was then that the last Alpha realized all his buddies were dead. “Wait,” he yelled. “I didn’t want to be part of this. “I was forced.”
The thing about trying to lie, especially west of the Mississippi River, the odds weren’t good. Those that lived there could spot a lie without even trying and that guy wasn’t even trying. It was as if he thought just saying the words was enough to save his life. He was wrong.
Leandro strode right up to the man, who was sneering at the fact that Leandro was an Omega and stabbed him in the heart without saying a word. If there hadn’t been four guns pointed at him, the Alpha most likely would have put up a fight.
“Kelce,” Leandro called out.
Weston and Briggs chuckled when Kelce climbed down a tree a hundred feet north of where they were. Those Alphas hadn’t stood a chance. Then again, Weston had learned months ago that Kelce wasn’t about to let anyone, especially Alphas, get the best of him.
“Come on,” Leandro said as he started returning to where they’d stashed the trucks. “We have supplies to pick up and Omegas to free.”
Weston wasn’t entirely certain they’d manage that last part, but they would do everything they could to make it happen. As for the supplies, that would still be tricky, but he and the others were determined to bring them back to Sanctuary.
“Are we sure this is the best plan?” Weston wasn’t entirely certain their plan would work. It all depended on how many cameras the enemy had and where they were located.
He held Leandro’s hand as they watched the first veterinarian clinic near the edge of town. None of them had seen any cameras, but that didn’t mean there weren’t any.
“Hey,” Leandro squeezed his hand a little tighter to get his full attention. “There are no guarantees, but Sanctuary depends on us to bring them supplies. We’ve already been gone far too long. As much as it pains me to admit, we all know, eventually, another attack will be coming. We need to get back there before that happens.”
Weston knew that. But it hadn’t made what they were about to do any more straightforward. The other unit had reported an hour earlier that they had found and loaded building supplies and some things Ford had asked for to help with shoring up their solar energy and their hydroelectric plant.
They would still need more, but their vehicles were loaded down. Another trip would be in their future, but what they’d found would go a long way to helping the expanding needs of the town. The only thing they hadn’t seen were medical supplies.
Something Weston’s team had discovered, assuming they could get it loaded onto their trucks. And that right there was the problem. To do that, they had to risk being discovered and possibly attacked.
“You found three on this side of town, and Kelce discovered two on the west side.” It was something they’d discussed several times in the last twelve hours. They had to do everything in their power to load it all into their trucks. It would have been better if they’d had at least one more vehicle because five offices filled with medical equipment would be tricky to fit into only two trucks.
Plus, having more eyes on potential threats would have been nice.
“What about the Omegas?” he murmured in case those Alphas in the safe room were listening.
Even if they loaded everything up, there would be no way they could also transport any Omegas still in that safe room back to Sanctuary. There were some horses they’d found thanks to an Alpha they’d interrogated before killing him. But if any of those Omegas were hurt, there would be no way for them to ride easily.
Light blue eyes stared right at Weston. “All we can do is try. There’re no guarantees. If we free them but we can’t get them far, then we’ll find them somewhere safe to hole up until we can come back. Got it?”
Weston nodded before leaning in for a quick kiss. “I love you, kitten. No matter what happens, know that.”
Leandro gave him a ghost of a smile, as if he knew their odds weren’t great to make it out alive. “I love you too.”
The walkie-talkie in their truck squawked briefly, telling them it was time. Weston, Leandro, and Basel moved as a unit to the first clinic under the cover of darkness. The risk was huge, but they had to do it if they hoped to help their friends in Sanctuary.