Page 25 of Marked Omega

Another howl. This time from the other side, but closer.

There’s more than one.

I pick myself up. My heart is pounding like a drum. I run as fast as my legs will carry me, going at a full sprint. My lungs burn. My thighs burn. Everything fucking burns.

There are more howls now. They are coming from every direction, and they are getting closer by the second. And I’m starting to pick up other sounds too. Snorts and yelps and huffing breath.

There’s no mistake that whatever is out there is coming straight for me.

I do the only thing my panicked brain can think of.

“Kadmon!” I scream at the top of my lungs. “Hasker! Help m—“

Something hits me from behind, tackling me and roughly flinging my body to the ground. Every ounce of breath is knocked out of my lungs, and I feel a heart-clenching dread as it feels like I can’t breathe.

My body skids on the slippery carpet of dead leaves until I slam into something sturdy. At first I think it is the trunk of a small tree. Then it kicks me, flipping me over on to my back.

It’s an Alpha.

But this monster doesn’t look like the guys who captured me earlier today. Even in the dim moonlight, I can tell that this Alpha is hideous. His nostrils are splayed like a wild beast. His brow is heavy and ridged. When he snarls at me, his lips curl back to reveal sharp fangs dripping with saliva. His red tongue lolls like a dog’s.

Sitting up, I scramble backward across the leaf strewn ground, but I immediately bump into the legs of another Alpha. Before I have a chance to scream, he kicks me over onto my belly.

Now there are more of them. At least a dozen, their heavy feet stomping and crunching through the twigs and underbrush. They are panting, and the air is thick with their overwhelming stench, like a wet dog crossed with the worst B.O. you can imagine.

The smell is so strong it makes me gag.

A clawed hand grabs my hair, jerking me upright. My scalp screams with pain as it feels like all of my hair is going to be torn out in a chunk. More nasty, bestial hands paw at me. tugging at my arms and legs. One of them sniffs the iron shackle on my wrist curiously, gnaws it briefly, then gives up.

The Alphas surround me, closing in. They are snarling. Some of them start to fight, popping their jaws threateningly. Others begin to play tug-of-war with my body. My joints ache, and I feel like I’m going to be ripped apart.

In the middle of this chaos, I make the mistake of glancing down at the Alphas’ lower bodies. They are all naked, and they are all sporting stiff erections. Their members are repulsive. Gnarled and crooked. Evil looking things.

I scream in terror, my shrill voice echoing between the dark trees.

My only hope is that these awful beasts kill me first before they do that other thing that I know they intend.

Then something happens. The hideous Alphas raise their heads and sniff the air, their ears turning to pick up some sound that has caught their attention.

A massive, dark blur charges through the crowd of Alphas sending them sprawling. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say they just got mowed down by an SUV.

The Alphas who are holding me drop my body so they can fight, and I fall limply onto the forest floor.

As I lift my head and brush back my hair tangled with leaves, I see my savior outlined in blueish moonlight. He flings one of the feral Alphas sideways into a tree trunk. Another one he fells with a savage, bone-crushing kick.

There are winks of moonlit metal at his mouth and chest, and the swirl of his long hair as he fights gives him away.

It’s Kadmon. He throws back his head and releases an incredible howl like a siren.

My heart leaps with joy. I’m saved.

But my happiness is short lived. While Kadmon is busy fighting off the horde of misshapen Alphas, a pair of gnarled hands clamp around my ankles and begin dragging me into the shadows.

“Kadmon!” I scream. “Help me!”

He whirls around, snarling with rage, his body glistening with the spilled blood of his enemies. But the other Alphas have him penned in. There are just too many of them, even for a warrior like Kadmon.

“Kadmon!” I cry out desperately as I feel myself being dragged to my doom.