Chapter Twenty-two
I opened the fridge and stared into the wasteland of near-expired condiments and a single sad lemon. "Do all men live like this, or is it just you?" I called over my shoulder, grinning as I shut the door.
Zach appeared in the doorway, rubbing the back of his neck like he’d been caught committing a crime. “I was going to get groceries. Eventually.”
“Eventually doesn’t help me figure out dinner,” I said, leaning against the counter. “Unless you’re into ketchup and... mystery pickles?”
He chuckled. “Come on. I’ll take you to the store. You can educate me on what actual humans eat.”
We dodged grocery carts like secret agents, darting between displays with overly dramatic urgency. Zach grabbed my hand and spun me into the bread aisle like we were dancing, laughing as if he were a full-time comedian. I laughed in a way I didn’t recognize, a sound that came from somewhere deep, somewhere free. The sound startled me. It felt unburdened, real. Like it came from a part of me I thought was long gone.
His cedarwood scent wrapped around me, warm and steady, and for a moment, I let myself get pulled into the illusion. Just us. Just two normal people.
"Crunchy or smooth?" he asked, holding up two jars of peanut butter like they were weapons in a duel.
"Does it matter?" I said, trying not to laugh at his frown.
"It always matters." He tossed me one, eyes sparkling, and I caught it with a roll of my eyes just before he lobbed another. His laughter rang out, deep and infectious, pulling another smile from me.
We moved through the store with ease, filling the cart with everything from cereal to cleaning supplies. With him beside me, the mundane felt almost magical. His presence softened the sharp edges inside me. For once, I wasn’t thinking about the past or the weight I always carried.
"Race you to the checkout," he teased, taking off before I could respond. I chased after him, laughing under my breath, the thrill of it settling warm in my chest.
We bagged the groceries and loaded them into the car, the easy rhythm between us lingering like sunlight after dusk. I didn’t want to lose it. I let myself relax, my guard slipping just a little more.
“You know, you’re not so bad at this whole grocery shopping thing,” he said, handing me a bag.
“And here I thought you were the domestic one,” I teased.
We headed toward the car, and I let myself feel something close to peace.
And then I saw them.
Six hulking alphas, stalking toward us with deliberate strides. My blood iced over. Every muscle in my body locked tight. No. Not here! Zach followed my gaze, his entire demeanor shifting in an instant. The warmth vanished. He stepped closer, instinctively putting himself between me and the threat.
I stopped dead. My slender fingers were white-knuckled against the handle of the shopping trolley. The air felt thick, their rotting scents forcing bile up my throat. I knew it was them before they reached us. My scent spiked with fear. I knew it did, but I couldn’t stop it. I couldn’t stop any of it.
Terror crystalized in my bones as I drank in their profiles, their scents. The cruel twist of their smirks flashed me back to black hoods and hissed threats in the dark. "Where's the girl?" A gunshot. A scream cut short.
Zach stiffened at my strangled gasp. A low growl built in his chest as his cedarwood pheromones sharpened into a warning.
They came closer. Recognition lit their faces, twisted and cruel. And I realized. Realized, they’d found me.
My lungs seized, frost spreading through my veins as the leader cut his gaze to mine, lip curling in a jackal smile I'd seen in countless nightmares. A single thought careened through my head, borne on my parents' dying breaths:
They'd found me.
“Well, well,” Kage sneered. He had a fresh scar on his face since I saw him last. The rest of them had greasy hair, and snarls instead of smiles. “The little Omega that got away.”
Zach tensed beside me, his scent darkening with fury.
“Back off,” he growled.
But they didn’t.
They circled like they had all the time in the world, and my skin buzzed with dread. Everything we’d had in that store, that brief moment of normal, shattered.
I looked side to side. There was no one around. No one was there to help us, and with six of them, we were outnumbered.
Zach was all instinct now, every line of his body coiled and ready. A wall of fire between me and them.
He warned them again, voice low and lethal. “Last chance. Walk away.”
But I knew better. Kage would never step down.
Kage smirked, and I knew that smirk. It lived in the darkest corners of my nightmares. “The little Omega that got away,” he said, like he owned me. Like I was still that helpless girl.
Panic surged through me, hollowing out my chest. The past collapsed onto the present with brutal force.
Then Zach moved.
Fast. Precise. A blur of motion and rage as he launched himself into them.
“Back off!” he snarled, his voice unrecognizable, something primal, something terrifying. And yet all I felt was relief. He was fighting for me.
The alphas laughed, a cold and hollow sound. My heart hammered in my chest.
Zach’s fist cracked against one’s jaw, snapping his head sideways. He landed face-down, unconscious. For a moment, I thought... maybe. Maybe we had a chance.
He moved like a storm, every strike a clean, practiced blow. They hadn’t expected him to be good. But he was better than good.
He dropped another one. Pivoted. Took the next hit and kept going.
But there were still four left.
"You think you can take us all, boy?" one sneered, stepping closer, the promise of violence in every step.
Tires squealed nearby. I tore my gaze away for a split second as a black van skidded to a stop, the side door grinding open.
In that blink, a fist drove into Zach's temple. He staggered. Shook his head like an addled bull.
"Zach!" my voice cracked. Raw. Useless.
My breath stuttered as they adjusted, regrouped. Zach was fast, but they were murderous. I wanted to scream, to help, but I was frozen. A statue made of fear and helpless rage.
Flashbacks assaulted me. Shouts, blood, my parents. I trembled as Kage spoke again, his words cutting through the years with ease. "Didn’t think we’d find you, did you?" he jeered, and I flinched as though struck.
They were closing in, all arrogance and power. But Zach didn’t flinch. He didn’t waver. He launched himself at the nearest one, a hurricane of determination.
But then they overwhelmed him.
Another hit landed hard. Zach staggered, slamming into the side of the car. He didn’t go down right away. Not until the second blow hit, vicious and cheap. He hit the car with a sickening thud and dropped.
“Zach!” I screamed, the sound shattering the air, like it was made of glass and blood.
He was trying to rise, still fighting. But they swarmed him.
I saw his face, bloodied, bruised, and it burned itself into me. Two of them held him down while he thrashed against their grip, and I wanted to rip the world apart just to get to him.
“Zach!” I screamed, my voice raw, already breaking.
No. No, no, no.
I could only watch as they beat him, his blood marking the pavement, his gaze locked on mine.
He was still trying to protect me.
But I couldn’t move.
Kage smirked, catching my eye as I stood helpless, and I knew there was nothing I could do. "Looks like we have an Omega to collect," he said, and my world collapsed into terror.
Then they were on me.
Hands like iron clamped around my arms, yanking me backward. I fought, screamed, kicked, bit, but it didn’t matter. I was nothing to them. Just a prize they thought was theirs.
“Let me go!” I howled, jerking violently. But Kage was already in front of me, his hand slamming over my mouth.
His palm smelled like sweat and cruelty.
Zach’s voice reached me through the chaos. “Summer!” It was hoarse. Desperate.
They dragged me, feet scraping asphalt, toward the van that waited with its doors open like a coffin.
Zach didn’t stop fighting. I could see him through the blur of panic... his body straining, twisting against their hold. They hit him again. His eyes rolled, jaw going slack.
The next punch struck with a sickening crack. He folded at the waist and dropped, slowly, endlessly, crashing to the oil-stained asphalt in a puppet-string heap.
Crimson pooled around his face, garish under the sallow lights, and my heart shattered.
A howl built behind my breastbone.
The men turned toward me with feral smiles stretching their split lips. As one, they stepped over Zach's prone form, closing in with all the inexorable dread of wolves to a lamb.
And I knew I was next.
I bit down on my captor’s hand. Hard. He cursed, pulled back and punched me in the face. Stars and darkness faded over my vision. Damn it! Stay awake! Fight! Scream! Kick!
But they kept pulling, dragging me backwards towards their black van idling behind, its rear doors yawning open like a hungry mouth.
I dug in my heels and arched against the hands restraining me, writhing and bucking with every ounce of desperate strength in my body. Someone punched me hard in the stomach and I doubled over, wheezing, spots dancing before my eyes. They used my momentary weakness to yank me closer to the van.
“No!” I fought harder, writhing like a wild thing, but their grip never loosened.
"Zach! Help me!" I screamed. I could still see him through my blurred, tearing vision, a bloody heap on the ground. Two alphas had his arms wrenched up behind him at an excruciating angle. His face was a mask of agony, but his eyes... his eyes locked onto mine with searing intensity. An apology. A promise. He stretched one trembling hand towards me, fingers brushing his fallen cell phone.
Zach called out, pleading. “Summer!”
And I saw it.
His eyes.
Through blood and fury and pain, he never looked away from me. Not even when they struck him again. Not even when his legs gave out, and he dropped to his knees.
They shoved me toward the van, and my hands clawed at the doorframe, trying to stop what was coming.
"Stay down boy," one of them growled, slamming Zach’s head against the ground.
And still he reached for me.
One last time.
Then he took another hit. A brutal blow that shook his frame. His body wavered, but he was still fighting, still focused on reaching me. My body slackened in despair as I was thrown into the van.
"Summer!"
The doors slammed shut. My heart fractured, splintered by terror and loss.
I kicked. Screamed. Beating at the metal like I could tear it open with sheer will. But the engine roared, and the van sped away.
All I could see was his body crumpled in the parking lot.
All I could hear was the sound of his voice, broken and dying, shouting my name.
“Summer!”
And then—
Silence.