Chapter Twenty-four
T he night clawed at my skin, sharp, breathless, endless. I staggered back, spine colliding with jagged metal. The remains of a barbed wire serrated the shredded fabric of my shirt, biting into raw flesh. I hissed through clenched teeth, then headed down the hill toward the train tracks to hide under the bridge.
I believed in my alphas, my pack. They’ll find me. Blake marked me. He’d sense me. I just needed to wait. Hide and wait. They’ll be here soon.
Shuddering, I wrapped my arms around myself. The cold didn’t just seep in; it devoured me, gnawing at every inch, engulfing me in the night's darkness, pressing down like a weight, thick and suffocating. Every shadow felt alive, watching. Waiting.
Somewhere in the distance, a train rumbled. The vibration of wheels on steel was relentless, rhythmic. I pressed myself harder against the track, nails biting into my arms. Not from fear. Not anymore. It was the fury that held me there. Fury, and the bitter taste of survival.
Movement stirred at the edge of the dark, subtle at first, like the shifting of shadows. Then they stepped into view, crawling from beneath the bridge like demons born from Hell. There were six of them now. Their silhouettes broke the gloom, faces carved from menace, eyes catching what little light there was and throwing it back like sparks from a dying fire.
They moved like predators scenting blood: slow, sure, and deliberate. Every step was laced with the promise of violence, their bodies taut with purpose. No words. They didn’t need them. Their intentions oozed from every breath, every crack of their knuckles.
But it was the youngest alpha who made my stomach turn.
Gaunt and twitchy, with the sharp features of a rodent and darting eyes, he licked his lips like he could already taste me. His teeth gleamed in the dark, the tip of his tongue dragging slowly across them like he was savoring a feast still on the table.
My breath stuttered.
"Well, well, well," he drawled, voice dripping with sleazy anticipation. "Look what we have here, boys. A lost little Omega, ripe for the taking."
Fear clawed up my throat, threatening to choke me, as they closed in. The larger alpha grabbed a fistful of my hair, wrenching my head back until tears stung my eyes. His breath wafted over me, reeking of tobacco and cheap liquor, as he pressed his face into the crook of my neck and inhaled.
"She smells fucking delicious," he growled, his other hand pawing roughly at my breast through the thin fabric. "I can't wait to taste her."
Bile seared the back of my tongue as the others laughed; a vulgar, mocking sound. The second alpha circled behind me, his fingers hooking into the waistband of my pants. With a sharp jerk, he ripped them down my legs, taking my underwear with them. The cold air kissed my bare flesh, making me shudder. Making me feel more exposed than ever.
"Don't," I whispered, hating how my voice trembled. How weak I sounded even to my own ears. "Please."
But my pleas only seemed to excite them more. The greasy-haired alpha behind me grabbed my hips, grinding his hardness against my ass as he rutted against me like an animal. Revulsion shuddered through me at the feel of him, at the vivid proof of his arousal. Of what he intended to do to me.
The young alpha stepped closer, his gaze raking over my trembling body with undisguised hunger. He reached out, tracing a finger down my sternum, between my breasts. Lower. Tears burned my eyes when it dipped into my navel as he followed the trail of dark hair leading to my most intimate place.
"Such a pretty little cunt," he mused, his touch making my skin crawl. "I bet it's nice and tight. Bet you'll feel real good wrapped around my cock."
The rumbling of the train grew louder, the ground shuddering beneath my feet. Through the mist of my terror, a thought penetrated, sharp and clear. If I didn't act now, it would be too late. They would take what they wanted, then slit my throat.
Adrenaline surged through my veins, bringing with it a defiant surge of rage. Of determination. I would not go down without a fight. I refused to be their victim.
As the young alpha leaned in, his stale breath washing over my face, I saw my chance. Bracing myself, I reared back, then slammed my forehead into his nose with every ounce of my strength. Cartilage crunched under the impact, fresh blood spraying my face as he howled in pain and outrage.
Using his distraction, I ripped myself free from the other alphas' loosened grips. Before they could react, I shoved the still-screaming alpha with all my might, right into the path of the oncoming train.
His eyes widened in sudden, horrified realization a split second before the train slammed into him, catapulting his broken body into the darkness. I didn't even have time to process the sight before a glint of metal caught my eye, a length of pipe half-buried in the shadows of the concrete wall.
I lunged for it just as the roar of pounding boots closed in. My fingers found cold steel an instant before the first body crashed into mine, slamming me down hard enough to drive the breath from my lungs. Gravel tore at my back as we rolled, his weight crushing, his hands finding my throat and squeezing .
Black spots burst like fireworks behind my eyes. My legs kicked, scrabbling for leverage. The world narrowed to the pulse in my ears and the pipe in my hand.
With every ounce of strength I had left, I swung.
The pipe connected with a sickening crack , the sound sharp and final. His body jerked once, then slumped over me, dead weight pinning me to the ground. I heaved him off, my chest heaving, air sawing painfully in and out as I staggered upright.
No time to breathe.
Another alpha lunged, his face a mask of fury. Jaw clenched so tight the muscles jumped beneath his skin, nostrils flared like a charging bull. His eyes burned, not with heat but with cold, merciless wrath, fixed on me like I was prey already bleeding out. A snarl peeled back his lips, exposing teeth as he surged forward.
Before I could raise the pipe, his fist slammed into my ribs.
Pain detonated inside me, white-hot and blinding. I folded inward with a strangled gasp, the world tilting sideways. My knees buckled, but despite that, I didn’t let go. The pipe stayed locked in my grasp like it was part of me now. Like it was the only thing tethering me to this world.
The alpha’s grip crushed down on my arm, his nails digging through torn skin, dragging me back into the nightmare. I thrashed, but his snarl drowned everything, until another sound sliced through the chaos like a blade.
A growl.
Low. Vicious. Familiar.
It rolled over the roar of the attackers. It was a sound that didn’t belong to a monster, but to something far more dangerous.
My heart seized.
Above us, where the moonlight barely reached, a figure appeared at the top of the embankment. Blake. My Blake.
He had come. He had found me.
Relief crashed through me with staggering intensity, so acute it bordered on painful. A broken sound that was half sob, half laugh burst from my raw throat as I stared up at him, hardly daring to believe my own eyes. But it was him. My Alpha. My savior.
His shoulders were hunched, every line of his body taut with violence. Darkness clung to him like armor, but his eyes, those furious, gleaming eyes, cut through the dark and found mine. For a heartbeat, the world fell away. No attackers. No blood. Just a searing pull between us.
Rage twisted across his face, raw and unfiltered. His upper lip curled back in a silent snarl, exposing teeth clenched so tight his jaw ticked. Nostrils flared, chest heaving, and then I felt it, like a pulse in my spine, the bond flaring to life. His fury was mine. His hunger to destroy every hand that had touched me became the beat in my chest.
The alpha holding me faltered.
Because Blake wasn’t coming to fight.
He was coming to kill .
The alpha’s hand on me trembled. Just for a second, but it was enough.
Blake moved.
"Mine," he snarled, the single word a declaration of war. A promise of retribution.
Not a charge. Not a shout. Just sudden, merciless velocity as he tore down the slope like a force of nature. Gravel and dirt sprayed under his boots. His eyes never left mine, even as two snarling alphas lunged to intercept him.
Big mistake.
Blake met them mid-stride with a brutal, bone-snapping collision. The crack of impact echoed louder than his screams. He didn’t slow. He didn’t stop. His fist drove into the alpha’s throat with precision and fury, collapsing the bastard with a wet gurgle.
Another one lunged from the side. Blake caught him midair.
His roar split the night as he slammed the alpha into the concrete so hard the ground shuddered. There was nothing clean about it. This wasn’t strategic it was slaughter. Blake moved like a storm made flesh, his hands became soaked in blood within seconds, his face twisted into something almost unrecognizable, feral, enraged, protective.
Through it all, Blake remained a force of nature. He absorbed blows that would have felled a lesser man. Blood speckled his face, his knuckles, but he never slowed. Never faltered. He put himself between me and danger again and again, his big body shielding me, his unleashed savagery keeping the worst of the violence at bay.
In a brief lull, he shrugged off his coat and flung it toward me without ever taking his eyes off our attackers. "Hide!" he commanded, his voice raw and gravelly with exertion and emotion. "Stay back!"
I caught the coat, the worn leather butter-soft beneath my fingertips. It held his scent, his warmth, and for a moment I was torn between the desperate urge to burrow into that familiar comfort and the need to do as he ordered. To hide. To let him protect me as he always had.
But as I watched him take a hard hit to the ribs, saw him stagger under the force of it even as he came back swinging, something shifted in my chest. The coat slipped from my numb fingers, puddling at my feet, forgotten.
I was so tired of running. Of hiding. Of being the victim, the one shattered and left trembling in the aftermath. Blake shouldn't have to bleed for me, to carry my pain, and fight my battles.
"Not this time," I said, my voice steadier than I felt.
Blake shot me a sharp look, his eyebrows climbing toward his hairline. I could feel his surprise rippling through our bond, underscored by a bright thread of concern. He knew what it cost me to make a stand, but his worry for me still took precedence.
In that moment, the last fragile pieces of the girl I had been fell away, replaced by something harder. Stronger.
Before he could order me to safety again, I curled my aching, bloodied fingers around the pipe and stepped up to his side. "I'm done being a victim," I declared, loud enough for the snarling alphas to hear.
Blake's eyes widened. Realization and respect kindled in their icy depths as he took in my resolve. I saw the moment it clicked. Pride and acceptance flickered across his face, softening the hard lines of his expression.
He gave me a small nod, the gesture weighted with understanding. With partnership. Then he turned back to the advancing threat, a rumbling growl building in his chest. The alphas paused for a split second, wary of the unified front we presented.
It didn't last. With vicious snarls, they attacked, trying to use their numbers to overwhelm us. But we were ready.
I let the rest of the world fall away, my focus narrowing to the flex of muscles beneath skin, the flash of bared teeth, the meaty thud of the pipe connecting with flesh. Adrenaline sang through my veins, dulling the incessant throb of my wounds, granting me strength and speed I didn't know I possessed.
Zach's training guided my movements, the long hours in his gym transforming my body into a weapon. A tool honed for survival. I swung my pipe in a brutal arc, and it cracked against an alpha's ribs with satisfying force, sending him staggering into Blake's waiting fists.
The cool night air filled my lungs in burning gasps, the coppery tang of blood heavy on my tongue. It coated my hands, my arms, the dented length of the pipe.
An alpha raked his claws down my arm as I pushed away from his grip, falling over. Hot blood sheeted over my skin, pain lancing through me. Blake roared, and the alpha tried to run. He was on him in a blink, grabbing him by the back of the neck and dragging him back, kicking and screaming. “You touched her?” he snarled, voice low and guttural. “You hurt her?” The alpha’s head hit the wall once, twice, three times—then silence.
I gripped my arm to stop the blood. My chest heaved, broken ribs sending pain soaring through my body. All I could do was watch him, trembling as adrenaline continued to engulf me. The man who’d once touched me like I was glass tore through the monsters like he was born of the same darkness.
Despite that, he hadn’t looked away from me.
Not once.
When only one was left, the greasy-haired alpha that had tried to rape me, he tried to beg. Tried to crawl.
Blake stalked toward him slowly this time, blood dripping from his knuckles. “You think I’m going to let you beg?” he said, voice flat, dead. “You think there’s mercy left in me after what I saw ? ”
The alpha shrieked. Blake silenced him with a boot to the throat.
He turned to me, chest heaving, mouth tight. His eyes were wild, hands shaking with fury, and voice barely a whisper when it came.
“Did they knot you?”
I shook my head, but didn’t speak, as the tears came flooding out of me.
Blake took me in his arms and held me as I sobbed.