Chapter 16
Chapter sixteen
Gage
My heart thumps throughout my veins as I search for the Omega. The same Omega who’s been on my mind ever since I first laid eyes on her.
Ever since I first captured her in my arms.
Even then, I was spellbound. She was a complete mystery, after all. A puzzle I wanted to solve.
And I’ll be damned if I’ll never get to solve the puzzle that is her.
So, that is why I speed through the woods, taking the lead as I leave my brothers behind to eat my dust.
Not even Wren can keep up with me as I track her scent through the forest. She couldn’t have gone far.
Besides, she leaves evidence of her footsteps wherever she treads. Splotches of purple paint on a leaf here and there.
Purple just like the violet of her eyes…
I will get to look inside them again.
So, I keep running, running until I hear the first yelp of pain. A male yelp of pain.
My hackles rise on end, and then I charge forward, pushing through bothersome branches and trees until I make it to her side.
“Gage, wait!”
That was Malakai just now, but I have no time for him. I don’t have time for any of them.
Lyra needs us. She needs me.
She’s in trouble.
Another strangled yelp of pain, and it was definitely male that time.
I have no doubt in my mind who the cause of that male’s pain is, so I push harder, faster, until I arrive at the scene of the crime.
She’s down on her knees, fisting an arrow in her bloodied hand. The arrowhead is dripping scarlet with Alpha blood, and not just any Alpha blood either...
But the blood of a member of the king’s guard.
There is no missing the king’s sigil on his stained uniform. The sigil of a flower and a sword.
Lyra.
Somehow, she managed to yank the arrow from his crossbow, flip him around onto his back, an Alpha twice her size, then skewer his eye.
She managed to outwit a member of the king’s guard.
I stand frozen as the Omega comes to her senses, her whole body shaking from head to toe. My brothers soon catch up with me, skidding to a halt on my left and right as they kick up a cloud of leaves.
Wren is the first to react. “Ly—!
My arm shoots out of its own accord, blocking his path. When I meet his wild, green eyes, I shake my head.
We need to discern the situation first.
Because that is not Lyra behind those violet eyes, but a murderer.
A killer.
Finally, she drops the arrow, landing on the heels of her hands as she gasps for air, eyes wide.
One second passes by. Then two.
Until her cherry scent blooms around us like a heady cloud of deadly smoke, merging with the sweet smell of rain and soil.
Then she cries out in pain.
The hair on the back of my neck stands on end. She must have used the last of her adrenaline to kill that Alpha before her heat took over.
And now she’s incapacitated.
Her Omega has taken over, as well as her insatiable need for a knot.
An Alpha’s knot.
Finally, I remove my arm from Wren, letting him move forward.
“Lyra!” he cries, dropping to her side.
The Omega assumes the fetal position, twisting up into a tight ball as another wail of pain leaves her lungs.
Malakai and I just stare at the scene in complete horror.
We were not prepared.
Before we even have a chance to come to our senses, two more guards arrive. My teeth grit in frustration.
One thing at a time, hey.
But there’s no time for complacency here.
We must fight.
We need to protect Lyra.
They will not have her. Even if we may have to commit treason, so be it.
She is ours.