Chapter 13 Fangs and Claws
Fangs and Claws
Mordecai’s plan is easier said than done. We’re barely five minutes on the street when a group of the Beta’s Path finds us. It could almost have been darkly comedic if they weren’t trying to murder us.
The beta in front still has pimples on his cheeks. He sees the four of us, and his eyes stretch wide open. His mouth gapes, but nothing comes out. He tries again and again.
The street is in shadow, and the world seems eerily quiet. Sinister. They look intimidating with their black robes and gold daggers, but if you look past, there’s nothing but young betas brainwashed into being glorified murderers.
I hate them. It could so easily have been them born into a world of fear and hate.
It’s on the third attempt that he finally manages to let out a pitiful little squeak. The noise breaks his frozen shock, and he scowls and bellows a single word.
“KERES!”
I almost roll my eyes. But he immediately pulls a sword, and the five robed assholes behind him do the same. The sound of swords being pulled has always made me cringe. I have too many memories of watching people I knew die on the end of one.
I’d be worried about this pack of betas, except they are all pledges, and none of them look over eighteen. Kids can be dangerous, and I have the scars to prove it, which is why I’m going to give them one chance to run.
“Go away if you want to live,” I say firmly.
The leader scoffs and looks back at his friends as if to make sure they are there and will back him up.
“You are charged with treason to humanity, carrying vicious and deadly viruses on your person, and are hereby sentenced to death.”
“I’ve heard all this before from betas much more dangerous than you,” I drawl in a bored tone.
He snarls, his lips curling back in disgust.
“Filthy omega.”
Cadel growls, and their eyes transfer to him but flicker back to me. I’m the prize. If they bag me, the whole Beta’s Path cult will rejoice, and they will live as kings.
I shift my weight, and when the first one comes for me. I run to meet him, diving low and kicking my leg out in a powerful move that smashes his knees sideways. He loses his balance and goes down, but judging from the screams, it’s the least of his problems.
The others charge in a mass of black robes, but when Jarek dances forward, slashing his blade, they fall back, bleeding from half a dozen cuts. The glaze of pain shows in more than one pair of eyes, but it’s the caution and fear that irritates me.
They should not be here murdering and living with what’s going to happen. They don’t know anything, but they will at the end.
Jarek smiles and bows with an old elegance that you just don’t find anymore.
“Go and find your masters, and I’ll let you live tonight.” The pure danger drips like venom from him, but they miss it. I don’t. I can’t suppress a shudder of awareness.
“You can’t do this!” One shouts. He’s got a mop of blond curls and a scar running from under his mask down to his lip. It makes him look petulant.
“You can’t stop me,” Jarek snarls and throws his blade, embedding it in the eye of the beta who was reaching for his crossbow. He falls dead, his dark brown hair like a bloody halo around him.
The others scatter, well, all except the one who can no longer run. He stares at us as if he never expected that we’d fight back.
I shake my head as Jarek retrieves the blade and wipes it on the guy’s robes. The beta with the broken leg drags himself away, his eyes wide like we are monsters in this situation.
“Showing off?” I say, lifting a brow at Jarek.
Jarek smiles at me and reaches out, brushing my hair back. “I will always show off in front of a pretty omega.”
I scoff and turn away from him, wondering why Cadel and Mordecai have been so quiet. When I find them, they are facing away from us, looking up the street where a dark figure with a wolf-like shape is partially hidden in the swirling mist.
My mouth goes dry, and my legs get weak.
“Run!” I huff, completely forgetting the betas and everything else but getting away from that creature.
Cadel takes a step towards the wolf, but I grab his shirt and pull backwards. He breaks his stare with the wolf and looks at me.
“Run, please.” My panic must show clearly in my voice because he listens almost instantly.
He shoves Mordecai’s arm and jerks his head away from the wolf. The two alphas turn and, in silence and perfect synchronization, start running. My wrist is locked in Cadel’s hold, and when I look for Jarek, I find him running on the other side of Mordecai.
The roar that slams into the night makes sweat break out on the back of my neck. It’s hideously terrifying. Like the baying scream of something full of rage and pain. A creature so full of hate that it’s mad.
We turn a corner, and I find myself slipping on cobblestones. I struggle to stay up, but the scream of a beta facing his mortality erupts into the night only to be cut short a moment later.
“Guess leaving him alive wasn’t the kinder option,” Jarek says grimly.
I spot something and pull back.
“Stop. In here.”
I shove some sheets of rusted tin away and slide into the dark hole. I fall about six feet and land lightly, squinting into the dark.
There’s enough light for me to see there’s nothing in here but huge pylons and a couple of less rusted cars.
“Safe,” I whisper.
I pause, inhaling, and catch a faint breeze and that foul scent.
This must be an underground car park. I’ve seen them in books and pictures, though this looks different.
In all those books, there were other exits.
I jog towards the other end and find a wall of collapsed rocks, but right at the top is a hole.
Jarek struggles up and easily squeezes through the hole.
He reaches down a hand and pulls me up. I crouch, peering in the dark.
We’re deep in the shadows of a massive building.
It’s leaning sideways on the building across from it, but they are holding each other up, almost like they are creating a whole new ecosystem.
A scream comes from up ahead. The wolf is behind us, heading in this direction.
I break into a cold sweat. Cadel edges forward, inching in the dark.
The omega bursts onto the road, stumbling and tripping over herself.
She’s got bloody knees, and she’s naked.
Her white flesh seems luminous, but the way she’s moving shows that there is something broken inside her.
I hear someone laugh, and my eyes zero in on the shadows as the Beta’s Claw steps out. He’s a tall and handsome beta with a reputation that has so much blood on it I’m always amazed he’s human.
He’s the executioner for the Beta’s Path and one of the most terrifying people I’ve ever met. Luckily, he’s never been interested in me, but then he’d have to compete with the Warden and the Beta’s Fang, and the latter is as crazy as he is obsessed with me.
As I watch, he steps out into the light, his back ramrod straight, his black robes swirling around his ankles.
He’s the only person in the Path who wears a mask that isn’t gold or black.
It’s a blood red muzzle that covers his lower jaw and mouth.
With a hood pulled up, he’s the picture of nightmares.
I’ve heard many a young beta fawn over the sexy picture he makes.
Apparently danger, blood, and a soul covered in death is romantic.
A murderous elegance, a soft voice and charm that go with a fascination and obsession with stealing life all wrapped up in a position of power make him one of the Beta’s Path’s most terrifying weapons.
He holds out one hand, and a black-robed pledge drops a knife into it. He stands there watching her run and then, with a move quicker than I could have thought possible, he throws it.
His accuracy is incredible.
It embeds itself in her spine. She’s not dead, but she’s incapable of movement.
I clench my fingers around Cadel’s hand. There is nothing we can do. Not a single thing.
This human monster turns slowly and raises a hand, and I get a look at the beta who has haunted my nightmares for the last five years.
The Beta’s Fang is rough around the edges, the kind of man with a meanness inside him that would have had him spending his life locked up somewhere.
He’s got no charisma, no charm. The only thing he has is his madness.
Everyone fears him. He’s a rabid dog on a rusted chain.
Always pushing the boundaries and finding new ways to express his depravity.
My soft intake of air must clue off the alphas with me because they draw me back and away.
“That was mine, Remus,” the Fang says possessively.
There’s a stillness in the air that gets deadly. These two might be on the same side, but they are both far too monstrous to be friends.
“Fine,” he draws it out. “Fang”
Where one is an executioner, the other is the man who does the dirty jobs, torture, beating people up, sorting out a gang.
An enforcer of unparalleled violence. He’s relentlessly skilled at keeping people alive even when their bodies give out.
If I had to pick between the two, I’d go with the executioner every time.
But the Beta’s Fang has been obsessed with recapturing me since I escaped his benevolent captivity five years ago.
I slide backwards, but the alphas with me have stopped. With a sinking feeling, I look past them and find the way blocked by a shadowy shape that is making its way towards us.
I look around desperately, but I can’t see a way out. We’re trapped.
For long seconds, I weigh up which would be the better death.
The night erupts with fire. Balls of it land on the road in front of us and explode. It happens so quickly I can only gasp in surprise as the fire rolls like liquid spreading around us.
“Come on!” A voice shouts.
I jump up onto the road, running towards the person on the other side. He grins wildly and whips around, waist-length black hair flowing in silken locks. Why is this crazy person smiling?
“Come on, old man!”
“Shut your face,” Mordecai snaps.
The two grab each other’s forearms and bump into each other’s chests.
I scowl at the pair of them. “The worst of the Beta’s Path is right there. Can you two catch up after we’ve actually gotten away from them?”
The guy turns, amused green eyes on me, and bows slightly. “Kaida Keres, when Bear said you were here and made you my top most priority, I couldn’t believe my ears.”
“That’s nice. Let’s go,” I growl, frustrated beyond belief.
He throws his head back and laughs, and I think with good reason that the Resistance sent a fucking madman to rescue us.
He finally gestures to two people I didn’t even notice.
“Follow us, then.”
I sprint after the two guys, catching the muted scents of alphas. Despite my attempts to decipher him, I didn’t catch the guy’s scent, so he could be either, but he feels like an omega. I don’t know how I know, but I would bet my next meal on it.
The two guys lead us up and down streets and through buildings easily. Too easily.
They have this route mapped out well enough to know it by heart.
How?
The omega jogs beside me, but Jarek scowls at him, and the newcomer lifts his hands in surrender and jogs ahead.
The light of the day is turning the world grey when we finally stop running. This is my second morning in Foreen.
“Sorry, we need to make sure no one was following. The last thing we want is the Beta’s executioner and her enforcer finding out where we’re holding up.”
“What makes you think you’ve managed to keep it secret?” I snap absently.
“Well, they aren’t here, are they?”
I scoff. “They wouldn’t come right away; they’d make you stew and sweat and get you when you least expect it.”
“You are a lot more aggressive than I was told you were,” the guy says with a smile. “I’m Legion.”
“I’m Keres, but you already knew that,” I growl. Now that I’m safe, going with the Resistance suddenly doesn’t seem like a great idea.
“Yes, we’ve been so looking forward to having you.” He turns to the others. “And you are?”
“Jarek.”
Legion waits, but nothing else is forthcoming from the suddenly hostile alpha. The omega turns to Cadel. His eyes widen, and then he clutches his head, stumbling back a little. I step forward, my eyes narrowed, ready to intervene and protect Cadel. Does he recognise my alpha?
My? No, none of that.
“Sorry. Um, welcome.”
He glances back at Cadel with wide eyes.
“This is Cadel.”
“Cadel,” Legion repeats, his face white. “Um, I don’t think you are supposed to be here.”
Cadel glowers, and I can feel everything in him focusing his merciless energy on Legion.
“I’m here, so get over it.”
“Cadel has no memory of before,” I explain.
“No memory?” Legion asks and looks at him with wide eyes.
“None.”
“Oh, well, that’s good, then.” Legion turns away reluctantly and gestures for us to follow him. He brings us to a massively overgrown shrub that blocks out the entire view.
I dubiously look at the plant that stands ten feet high. “Just how crazy are you?”
Legion smirks and parts the shrubs, revealing a dark interior. He steps into it, holding the leaves back, revealing a cut in the fence bars that are behind it.
“I’m mad. Totally and completely.”
I step through and stop just past Legion, staring up at a massive, old school. I don’t know what the school was like, but judging by the size of it, a good number of students came here.
I walk through the tall grass, Jarek and Cadel by my side. Mordecai is deep in talks with Legion behind us, and the two alphas have gone back out into the city.
The building looks old, really old, but sturdy. I want to go and touch the bricks and wonder how many people have been here before. I don’t feel worthy of being here.
I push the massive door open and step inside, allowing my eyes to adjust. The sounds inside mute instantly, and I freeze in place when I see the amount of people that are sitting inside the building, now staring back at me.
“That’s Keres.”
“The omega who escaped the Beta’s Path.”
“The one that is prophesied to destroy the Warden and bring the Path down.”
“Kaida.”
“Kaida Keres.”
I turn around, but Jarek catches my upper arms.
“We can leave. I absolutely will help you run away from these idiots, but I think we should grab some food and weapons before we head out into this deranged city.”
His thumbs stroke my arms.
“I will not let anyone here hurt you, Keres.”
I lift my eyes to his and see the truth there, the promise. He’ll do it, he’ll be on my side against them. Even if I’m wrong, even if I’m selfish. He will help me.
“Okay.”
He smiles, and it feels like the sun that I’ve never seen has just brightened the sky.