Chapter 20
VANDLE
It was a shame we had to bring Crescent out eventually.
These bastards didn’t deserve to look at her—my golden-eyed princess—and I was glad they weren’t going to be catching her scent. We had a limited amount of scent blockers, and we’d used some up for her.
After she’d showered off the aftereffects of her orgasm, of course. I’d showered too, just to be safe, but I could still taste her on my tongue. I hoped it would last until the next time she needed my help, but the whole pack was going to be fighting over the privilege now.
Phantom was especially pouty about it.
Probably because he’d missed the whole damn thing while he was in the shower, only coming out to catch the tail end of her orgasm.
After Karma and Sin returned, we had to wait a bit for the Emerald pack to get ready. Karma cuddled up with her in her nest, and I saw them hunched over what looked like a few of his sketches.
Whatever they were doing, he was becoming brighter in the bond. More stable? I thought so, as I watched them together. That was good.
When we left at last, our group was nine strong, flanking the delicate female omega at our centre, protecting her on all sides from anyone who would want to take her.
Even with all of that, it felt dangerous. There were feral alphas lurking all over, but more than that, too many packs who might turn on us.
I now knew enough of Anarchy’s politics to be sure a large enough group of allies could take out nine alphas with ease if they wanted to. The cell was safer, since it was at the end of a hallway, with the Emerald pack nearby.
That’s why Sin was working on a deal with the Redgraves, and the others were confident it would offer better protection than twenty bodyguards.
He better make it happen.
“How big is this place?” she asked in a small voice.
Anarchy was all dead end hallways and various wings housing alphas, with a couple of general gathering places. The cafeteria and the square were the only ones she would be seeing—no way could she go anywhere near the fucking rut cages. That was about all I knew of the layout.
I looked at my packmates to answer her.
“Big,” Sin said. “Mostly one level, though some parts are taller than others.”
“It’s on a slope,” Phantom clarified. “Up where the contraband room is, there are windows and everything. It’s above ground. But go the other way and it takes you down into the bowels.”
She fell into a hush when we set foot in the cafeteria.
Heads swung to look at us, and I put my hand possessively on the small of her back as the rest of my pack crowded closer.
Sin kept his chin held high, daring anyone to call him out for committing the faux pas of claiming this omega when she wasn’t meant for us.
Little did they all know, she was.
She was meant to be ours. We were linked together now, scent matched and bonded.
“Let’s get you some food,” I said to Crescent.
She gave a shaky nod, completely incapable of giving off the aura of confidence the rest of us had. Those wide golden eyes were like a deer in the headlights as she stared around, shying closer to my side.
Only yesterday, she’d offered herself up to these alphas as perfect omega bait, and yet she was terrified. Fuck me, she really believed that she would corrupt us if she stayed close, and to save us she faced her fear all alone.
We were only here right now because I caught her in time, before another alpha’s dark bond graced her pretty throat.
Reaching up as we walked, I held the side of her neck and caressed the bonding mark I left on her skin. Eyes caught the movement from around the room, and I heard a murmur going up from those seeing the feral claiming for the first time.
“What do you like to eat?” I asked as we approached the long counter.
“I don’t know,” she whispered. “Pick for me?”
She was so damn cute. Leaning down, I kissed the side of her head. It was hard to ignore the tension all around us, but I did my best for her. If we all acted uptight, she was going to panic.
“Any allergies?” I asked.
She shook her head, and I stepped up to the counter. I pointed out a few dishes for her, letting the alpha behind the counter plate them. He kept glancing up, sneaking peeks at her, and I made a point of baring my teeth at him.
From then on, he kept his attention on the food.
It felt, as we meandered down the food line, that we had the whole prison up in arms, walking on a tightrope as they waited to see who would make the first move.
Because someone was going to try and steal Crescent back from us.
I hoped she ate fast so we could end this attempt at a show of force.
She was much safer back in the room, coming all over my tongue.
My cock tried to wake up at that thought, but I didn’t let the urges take over.
I’d been feral enough for a fucking lifetime, and I was sure I would be again, but now wasn’t the time.
I could save it for when we really needed it.
Plate of food in one hand and the other still touching Crescent, I ushered her through the room with everyone else behind.
Some of the others had grabbed food, sitting at surrounding tables, but were only half focused on it with the tension in the air.
I intended to eat from her plate, and Karma and Sin had gone to claim our table, eating with feigned nonchalance.
Phantom didn’t even bother to grab a plate—too on edge, I bet.
But she seemed pleased to have her walk and her snack. It would be worth a little tension.
We had eight days until the appeal.
Keeping her trapped in the cell the whole time was just unrealistic.
“Try this first,” I commanded once I had her seated at our usual table.
Her eyelashes fluttered as she looked up at me, but she obediently picked up her fork and stabbed it through one of the pieces of broccoli I’d pointed at.
She chewed it as unassociated alphas stared like watching her eat was the most entertaining thing in the world, and maybe it was. I crowded closer on the bench seat, my thigh pressing against hers.
Sin straddled the seat on the other side, blocking her in, and Karma sat his ass on the tabletop, holding his own plate afloat in his hand, so everyone’s view of her was as obscured as it could possibly be.
Phantom was on high alert, his tension clear through the bond, and I knew he’d be scanning the surroundings for anyone daring to make a move.
It wasn’t long until something shifted in the air.
I wasn’t caught up to the politics of it, but Sin went still, and I felt a flash of fury from him down the bond.
I turned my head to see a pack entering.
The alpha at the front, a clear pack lead, caught my eye, as if my instincts knew he was a threat.
His huge form and shaggy dark hair were always instantly recognizable as one of the alphas watching us too closely in the square yesterday.
We’d left soon after he’d shown his face.
He was fixated on us, and I wasn’t sure if he was focused on Sin, or if he was trying to get sight of Crescent. I shot a sideways glance at the others.
“Holden,” Phantom muttered. “New dweller pack. Crescent was…” He scowled. “She was supposed to be theirs.”
My hackles rose as I glanced back at them.
Holden bared his teeth at us, something cocky in his expression.
He was meandering toward us, and I scanned the crowd. There was what looked like a large pack at his back, but more were loitering nearby.
I took the whole crowd in; if every alpha who was drifting closer were allies…
Shit.
I got to my feet, and Sin followed. Karma was at my side in an instant and I clocked, in my periphery, Crescent shrinking into Phantom’s arms.
Good. She had to stay safe.
I noticed a stirring of alphas by our side. We had allies, too. I recognized them by scent, if not name.
Would it be enough?
Holden looked like he was out for blood. Closing in until he was eyeing our pack up like there was definitely a brawl about to happen.
How many could I take?
For my mate? My aura would be worth four of any other prick in this place.
I wasn’t getting shoved into dark bonding an omega—something I never deserved—only to fail my scent match now.
Holden didn’t hesitate to come closer—too close—and I drew up, but Sin beat me to confront him. With a snarl in his chest, he pushed forward until he was barely a foot away from the large alpha.
He was going to try and take him. Instincts raged at me to pull him back, take his place face to face with the asshole, but I knew Sin would fucking kill me.
Until someone made a move, I’d stay back. Fight down my instincts.
They shouldn’t even be making any moves. Sin and Phantom had made a deal for protection, so where the fuck was—
“Sin.” Dominic Redgrave’s smooth voice dragged me from the swamp of tension. “Come chat for a moment.”
The politics of this place had bled in from feral day to feral day, but no one here could miss that voice.
My packmate didn’t break eye contact with Holden, still standing face to face. The alpha’s aura raged, but Sin… He barely reacted. I noticed his hand had drifted to his hip.
I wanted to let him keep up the standoff, see who flinched first, but even I knew he couldn’t ignore a request from Dominic.
And I wasn’t at all well-versed on Anarchy politics.
I placed a hand on his shoulder and grinned when he snarled at me. “You’ve got other things to do, Sin. This weakling couldn’t win anyway.”
Holden’s gaze flashed to meet mine. “I won’t lose to some omega slut.”
I was pretty sure him breaking eye contact meant Sin had already won whatever dominance contest they were holding.
Loser.
“I’m waiting,” Dominic said.
The crowd parted, revealing the Redgrave pack lead standing near the entrance to the cafeteria, his expression frosty.
CRESCENT
“Breathe.”
Phantom’s command gripped me like a vise, forcing my lungs to intake air. The first few inhales were shaky, thready with panic as I stared at Sin and Holden.
He couldn’t beat him.
Holden was an alpha, and Sin was an omega.
Even with all the alphas in my pack and the ones waiting in the wings… How many would die?
Sin had saved me once, but he didn’t have the same kind of aura that made alphas stronger, faster. Indomitable. Why did he have to put himself in danger? Why was he doing it for me?
Phantom held me back when I tried to dart forward and wrap myself around Sin. I whined low, and the alpha auras making the air thick with tension became stronger.
I couldn’t be so… omega.
Not right now; it would only make things worse.
The weight in the air lightened when a voice rose over everyone else’s.
That alpha—he wanted to talk to Sin.
He looked important—everyone here seemed to respect him; I remembered Sin and Phantom had gone over to talk to him right after Vandle bonded me.
Was he going to protect us, so this didn’t devolve into chaos like when I first stumbled through those doors?
At first I thought Sin wouldn’t go, but Vandle convinced him, and then it was just us. My three alphas and me, with the Emerald pack alphas behind us, facing off against a group of growling alphas twenty strong.
Phantom’s lips brushed my ear. “It’s going to be okay, Princess. We’ll keep you safe, I promise.”