Chapter 41
KARMA
Keep. Her. Safe.
Protect. Her.
The words rushed in my ears, repeating like a mantra.
Once we were back in the cell, it would be easy. But out here, where any number of feral alphas could be roaming? I glanced down every hallway, searching for danger.
Crescent had drawn ahead, her heavy, panting breaths louder to my ears as I fixated on her, and her safety. We were almost back to the cell with one more corner to turn, when an echoing clang pierced the air.
The door of a cell swung open, hitting the wall.
Four alphas streamed out in front of me, blocking my path to follow Crescent. Thankfully, she didn’t stop running.
They’d been waiting for us—and I barely recognized them but for the fact they were allies of Holden’s.
My vision bled red at the edges, fists tightening at my sides. The ancient, feral fog had settled over my mind, smothering me completely as one backed up, then went after Crescent.
I snapped.
My omega.
CRESCENT
Karma told me to run, so I ran.
I couldn’t look back, not without tripping, and my heartbeat was pounding so hard in my ears that I couldn’t hear.
There was only the hard stone in front of me as I fled.
All I had to do was get to the room.
I’d slip inside with Karma, and he’d watch the hall. If anyone came down who wasn’t the rest of the pack, he’d slam it closed. My only job was to run until I got there.
You can do that. Easy.
There was a loud bang as I ran, but I didn’t stop. They’d told me, before all this started—don’t stop until you get to the cell. Keep running.
But when I careened to a stop in front of our door and tried to push it open, it didn’t budge.
It was… closed.
I whined and tugged at the handle until my fingers ached. The metal barely wiggled.
Locked.
We were locked out until morning.
And I…
I finally spun back around, and stared down the now still hallway.
Where was Karma?
All I could see were the stone walls in the dim night lighting, and a hallway that stretched into a dark blur in my poor eyesight. But there was no figure moving in it, no flash of rich, auburn hair, and deep umber skin that contrasted the light greyish-white outfits we all wore in here.
Instead I was left with what Anarchy called silence. Screams and shouts, distant and near, faint shudders as an aura flared in the distance. Air, cool upon my skin after being trapped beneath this stone for so long.
I shrank back, hand still pressed onto the door.
He was supposed to be following me. How did he fall behind when he was so much stronger and faster than me?
I was completely alone.
I glanced over at the Emerald pack door, but it was shut. We’d told them we were turning in early, not wanting anyone else to know our plans.
Beside me, on the wall, was the mural Karma had painted. The crescent moon that had been defaced with a cage and the words: ‘She’s never getting out’.
I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself.
The silence was suddenly oppressive, broken only by my frantic breathing and the ever-present grunts and screams of feral alphas.
I was getting out.
We were getting out.
To see the forest, and find out second chances, and build a whole life together. And I could find out what life might be like outside of the Convent…
I shoved my hand in my pocket, grasping for my keys, but the familiar weight wasn’t there. There was no bite of metal into my palm, no nest.
Vandle still had my keyring.
Whimpering, I glanced up and down the hall. The other doors were closed. No one was in sight.
But an uneasy tingle ran up my spine.
I couldn’t stay here.
It was too exposed.
And that door hadn’t closed on its own.
Was someone nearby?
My hands balled into fists and I turned away from the door. My first few steps back the way I came were tentative, and then a shout echoed from inside one of the cells and I jumped, bursting into action.
Again, I ran, internally pleading with my pack to find me before someone else did.
PHANTOM
Vandle’s loud snarl was the only warning I had about what awaited when I careened around the corner.
A wall of alphas.
Ten or more.
Auras out.
My aura flared in response, hands clenching into fists to ready myself for a fight. I would kill for a weapon, like the batons and knives I could see the opposing alphas had, but I only had my fists.
As my eyes narrowed on the hallway full of alphas, they came into clearer focus.
“Lucian?” I hissed, shock spearing my system as I recognized one of the alphas we were facing.
One of the Wakefield pack alphas.
The smarmy bastard’s lips slid into a smirk.
So much for allies. I spotted a few other members of the Wakefield pack too—waiting to ambush us.
Finnian was watching us with cold eyes, those familiar stains of paint still marring a hand that was now holding a knife.
I had to hold Vandle back when he tried to lunge for the nearest alpha. His presence in the bond was a storm, more like what I recognized from before Crescent. Feral energy, rage, turmoil. He was going to crack, but feral or not he wouldn’t get through this many guys.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I asked.
“What do you think?” Finnian asked.
Shit.
Ah… Shit. They’d been the one to give us the tip off.
Were we out here in the middle of the night, stealing from the Redgraves, when we could have just traded the key for the contacts?
My vision tinged red, but I tried to stay rational. Were they trying to get Crescent? Or was it as simple as wanting access to the contraband room?
“Contraband room is open,” I said. “You can grab what you want from it.”
Sin better have found those contacts already and gotten the hell out of there.
Lucian grinned. “Not the prize we’re after.”
My grip tightened on Vandle before releasing entirely. Every muscle in my body rippled, a reminder of what it used to be like for me all the time.
Constant ruts, one after another, itching beneath my skin as I struggled to function through them.
I wasn’t that alpha anymore, but I might have to be to survive this.
To protect her.
Because I knew there was only one thing these alphas wanted from us.
Our omegas.
Vandle leapt first, but I wasn’t far behind.
My rational mind was fading until there was only a blurry, feral rage.
I’d ended up in a lot of scraps since I’d landed in Anarchy, but it had been a long time since I’d released my aura like this.
The first fist caught my cheek, but I tanked it the best I could, sending one right back, trying not to get flanked. Vandle had already lost it, deep amidst the fray like an alpha possessed.
I backed up, getting my balance, then threw myself at the approaching alpha, grateful this one didn’t have a knife. Pain shot through my side at a blow from another. There was a fist in my hair but my elbow shot out, catching someone with a grunt.
The world was getting hazy, ferality taking over.
Karma was with Crescent—I held onto that. He would feel our fear, and know the danger—he would take care of her.
I got another blow in, I was sure, then there was another explosion of pain in my skull, and the world went black.