Chapter 4
KARMA
The blur of movement and scents slowed around us, and my torrent of instincts settled.
The fighting was over, though my chest still heaved, senses a sparking live wire.
I felt the warm blood dripping down my neck as my gaze slid at last to Sin with the sweet addiction they’d just dropped into Anarchy.
Pure adrenaline flooded my veins again at the sight of her.
Burning, brilliant fuel.
Her hair was as pale as moonlight, shining in the harsh lighting, too bright against her pale skin. She was wearing Sin’s shirt now, covering her down to her cute little round thighs.
Startling eyes of liquid gold, still wet with tears, met mine for a moment, and my heart thundered so loudly in its cage I thought it was trying to break out.
Perfect pink lips parted in a sweet ‘o’, her gaze drinking in the sight of the blood oozing down my chest. I straightened, tilting my chin up for her to see the blood better, and a primal swell of pride stirred another rumble through my bones.
A purr this time.
She shrank against Sin’s bare chest, golden gaze dropping to the floor, and I watched as he drew her tighter against him on instinct.
Fuck me–the two of them fit well together.
“You can’t be serious with that claim. It’s not fucking fair.”
I spun at the words.
Who had spoken?
I couldn’t tell which alpha.
“Fair?” Sin asked with a laugh as the closest alpha to me flinched back, a few sets of eyes dropping to my neck and chin.
I grinned, my teeth red and white from the iron tang.
A cracked growl of warning rolled up my spine, but the nearby alphas who weren't allies were already backing up.
“Let’s go.” Phantom’s voice was tense, and he nodded his head in the direction of the exit. His usually warm, freckled skin looked sallow with worry, and I almost chuckled—as usual, poor Phantom was far too sane to be trapped in this place with the rest of us.
Sin relaxed, gun hand lowering. To my surprise, our little moonlight omega ducked under his arm, and next thing any of us knew, scrambled up onto his back, arms locking together around his neck. Then she buried her face into the crook of his shoulder, eyes squeezing tightly shut.
Sin, prideful fuck that he was, gave the gaping crowd (because I wasn’t the only one with a bug-eyed expression) a smug grin, before beginning towards the hallway.
PHANTOM
We were so boned.
Ten days. Ten fucking days we had to survive before we might have been free of this godforsaken place.
Three years after being sent down to Anarchy, an alpha got their appeal—one he could bring his pack along for. This would be attempt number two for us, since we’d missed out on our first—which was mine. That had been a month ago.
It should be simple: three calls over the intercom a few minutes apart. Once the first sounded, a pack had half an hour to get to the waiting room. It was the single elevator shaft to freedom—though enter at the wrong time, and your bodies would be sent back for disposal.
But it didn’t take half an hour to walk from one side of Anarchy to the other, so none of it should be hard—that was except for the alphas.
Unfortunately, we had enemies who’d planned for it, and getting down that hallway would have seen us slaughtered.
Since then we’d been holding onto every favour we had, in hopes it would be enough to buy us protection.
Both Karma and I had entered this place around the same time; Vandle and Sin—they’d been about a year and a half later, so it was this, or get stuck down here for another eternity.
I couldn’t do it.
Now we’d be a pile of corpses before the week was out.
Sin hoisted her more securely on his back as we made our way down the back hallways to our cell with the Emerald and Wakefield packs flanking us.
I hovered between Sin and the Wakefield’s since they were newer allies—ones we’d tried to secure after the mess that had been my appeal call.
Finnian, one of the Wakefield alphas recognizable by the spray paint stains constantly marring his arms and clothing, got on well enough with Karma—they’d brawl in the gym occasionally, and spray painted murals together.
Him and his whole pack enjoyed turning up to Sin’s ‘performances’ a little too much for my comfort, though.
It was something the whole Wakefield pack had been eager to join in on—and was the premise of our alliance.
Their pack had eight alphas, which made them useful allies, but… also more of a threat.
But at least their pack lead Sterling wasn’t here—I wasn’t a fan of him. It could be the braided necklace of torn up fabric he wore around his neck. The same one he dipped in the blood of the alphas he killed.
We were all a little off our rockers in here, but that shit was insane. And it smelled disgusting.
Right now, Finnian’s eyes were flicking between Sin and the female omega a little too intently.
I shifted my gait so he had less of a view before realizing he wasn’t alone.
There wasn’t an alpha with us who could keep their gazes averted, and the Emerald pack omega, Justin (and known brat), was openly ogling as if he might get an invite into our cell tonight.
“Name?” Sin asked, tilting his head as he walked down the hall. His voice was a welcome distraction.
“Me?” Her voice was a soft whisper. She still had her eyes closed.
“Yup.”
“Crescent.” She tried really hard to whisper it just for Sin, but both Karma and I had edged closer.
“Beautiful,” Sin murmured back to her.
I caught what was definitely the wobble of a smile on her face.
I did a double take, catching her shuffle in his grip, opening her mouth just slightly and grazing his skin with her teeth.
Then she froze, biting her lip, one golden eye sneaking open, clearly anxious that anyone had seen what she’d just done.
By the flood of glee down the bond from Sin, he’d felt her nip.
I averted my gaze, clearing my throat. But when I caught Karma’s eye, he looked delighted.
She was, uh… attached.
Already.
But it was Sin, so of course she fucking was.
“I’m Sin. This is Phantom and Karma.” Sin nodded in our direction as we turned down the hallway to the wing that held our cell.
I tried to stay on alert as Sin introduced the members of the Emerald and Wakefield pack that were with us. Between those present, they gave us about a dozen extra alphas for protection.
Word spread like wildfire, here. Everyone would know, by now, that a female omega had just been dropped in. We didn’t even know the ramifications it might have. There had never been a target like this in Anarchy as far as I could remember.
Even without that, you had to be tough to survive here, and the strange little creature clinging to Sin’s back looked far from tough.
She didn’t belong in a place like this, where every breath was a deluge of alpha scents and hormones that leached madness, always mixing with the forever trace of dampness, a memory of rain on stone.
I saw her tilt her head, stealing glimpses of our surroundings. Of the worn, graffitied stone walls, lights that began flickering at the faintest hint of a storm outside, and corners full of dust-laden spiderwebs.
What was she thinking right now?
What had she done to buy herself a ticket to a place like this?
They had long faded to the background, but I saw her flinch with each faint howl of a feral alpha that endlessly sounded from every corner of this prison.
Fuck.
We were definitely boned.
Absolutely, without a doubt, dead men walking.
Karma was already smitten. He was a storm of feeling in the bond, hovering behind the two of them and shooting death glares at any alpha who was staring too long.
I wasn’t alone in my jealousy, then.
With Sin’s shirt covering her up or not, there was still a lot of smooth skin showing. Now I was closer to her, it was hard to keep my thoughts straight. I’d never, in my life, realized how intensely biteable a thigh was capable of appearing.
A hiss snapped me from my trance, and then Karma was flying at him.
Ah—shit.
“Eyes off our—!” Karma cut off with a curse as Rick and Bug grabbed him before he could get us into more trouble by ripping the throat from a curious alpha.
The alpha ducked away, a sneer on his face as he eyed the group.
He was a dweller—a permanent resident of over a decade, which is why he would be bold enough to walk about alone.
He had too many connections, and we didn’t need to make more enemies right now.
We couldn’t have reached the damp, dingy end of our home wing quickly enough.
I needed her bundled into our cell as soon as possible. We lived at the end of the hall, and it was the best place for defence.
Sin was setting her down, leaning against the doorframe with the door gaping open. She peered past him to the bunks within, and looked like she wanted to dive inside.
“This is us, doll,” Sin said.
She nodded, glancing up at him quickly before dropping her gaze and edging closer to him again.
“I’ll warn you, we don’t allow misbehaved omegas inside,” Sin said.
I sighed, pinching my nose, hearing Justin chuckle behind us—his pack were meandering around their cell door, which was opposite ours, as they watched curiously. Bug cuffed him on the cheek before he could put his foot in it, though, shoving him into their room.
“Um…” She swallowed, anxiously glancing at the floor. “Yes, Alpha.”
I rolled my eyes, feeling Sin almost explode with smugness in the bond. “Get her inside, you great prick,” I grunted, stepping past him and nudging her into the room. My nerves were fraying, demanding we get her out of eyeshot now. “And stop lying.”
I almost stumbled on the last word as my outstretched hand brushed her arm.
It was a shot of static and euphoria, and her eyes snapped to mine.
Oh. My. God.
She was… I had to blink away the haze of heat that tried to boil me alive. She was still, and both of us were staring at each other. She shrank, once more, against Sin.
My heart thundered in my chest, mind careening out of control. Demanding I grab her. Protect her.
Bite her.
Claim her.
Don’t wait.
I could barely breathe, the need was so vicious. Unlike anyone else in my pack, I carried a decent amount of memories from before.
Echo rut syndrome was a nightmare affliction that would have always wound me up here. But afflicted or not, I’d been a young alpha living in New Oxford, so I’d been around a fair amount of omegas.
Never, in my life, had I felt an omega as touch starved as she was.
I forced myself to take another step, forced myself to listen to what Sin was saying.
“Bug—after we settle her, can we split to go get her some clothes from the Redgraves? They should have something.”
I heard Bug’s grunt of assent.
Good. Right. Yes.
The Redgrave pack would have something we could trade for. Crescent would have to stay in here, at least for now. I wouldn’t leave her unless we had backup. It wasn’t as simple as locking the cell up to keep other alphas out. We couldn’t do that ourselves—all the cell doors were automatic.
After eleven, once a cell door was closed, it locked until seven in the morning. Until then, we were vulnerable, even in our own wing.
But I also wasn’t going to let Sin go wandering off on his own, so we’d have to split up.
The Emerald pack had Justin, and being stabilized by their own omega (and the fact they were our longest standing allies) was why I trusted them more than the others.
But Holden would be out for blood, and we might be headed toward an all-out fucking war.