“Omegas, raise your guns,” Lo says. His eyes gleam and his lips curl into an almost feral grin. The omegas reach behind themselves, drawing guns before pointing them at us. Like marionettes on strings, controlled by his command. They can’t stop themselves.
“Breaking new bitches has always been my favorite activity, but I think I’ll take special pleasure with this one. Having her brother watch should speed the process along nicely.”
“Don’t you fucking touch her,” I snarl, knowing that I will die before I let that happen to Sofia.
“It’s all about destroying their spirit, you see. That’s why we stick to omegas. So much easier to crush,” Lo sneers. His smile is accompanied by a snarl as he bares his teeth in a silent challenge, gaze burning with hostility. I can tell the sick and twisted monster is enjoying this by the glint in his eyes. It’s not something he got caught up in, not something he ended up doing. He takes pleasure in destroying lives.
“Does he have a fail-safe?” I ask her through the mindlink. My voice sounds frantic, even in my head. “Anything that will involve your death if he goes down?”
“Don’t do anything stupid, Luca. I have this under control. Trust me.”
Fuck, he has his filthy hands on her, and she wants me to do nothing? Just stand here while he paws at my mate.
“Omegas, shoot if any of them move or if Alpha Rivera opens his mouth. And you,” he says, breathing in Sofia’s scent and applying his alpha command. “Turn around and get on your knees, whore.”
My soul leaves my body. The rage coursing through me has hair erupting along my arms. My canines have descended, and my claws extended, but they hang uselessly from me. I’m impotent. I can’t get to my mate. I can’t stop what is about to happen. I can’t doanything.
Maybe if I cover Ryan, he can overrule the alpha command while I take the hits. I’ll be dead, but Sofia, my princess, my mate, will be okay. That’s all that matters. She is all that matters.
Sofia turns slowly, and her voice sounds out in my head through the mindlink. Two simple words, “Trust me.”
She sinks to her knees as I watch on, helpless to do anything. I glance at Ryan, sharing my plan. His eyes swim with pain, but he nods. Anything for Sofia. Anything to stop this.
And then Lo screams. The sound is raw, jagged, torn from his gut.
Sofia’s head whips around. “Nobody move a fucking muscle. Caleb, use your alpha command to get everyone to lower their weapons and step the fuck back!”
“Drop the guns and stand back,” Caleb growls, applying every ounce of his aura.
I race to Sofia with Ryan beside me. She stands over the alpha, who screams and writhes on the floor in a pool of his blood.His pants are shredded, revealing deep gashes to his crotch, and a chunk of flesh sits separate from him. Sofia sways backwards, and I wrap my arms around her as pride blooms in my chest. Warmth spreads through me, tingling in my fingertips and toes as my heart rate slows to a more comfortable pace.
My brilliant mate just sliced this fucker’s cock off.
“You want to let him die slowly, or will I finish him off?” Ryan asks.
“The omegas,” Sofia whispers. “They can decide.”
Ryan nods and sweeps a hand out to invite them over. As a collective, they look to Katie, who nods, and the omegas move closer, circling the dying alpha. Katie stands and stares down at him for a moment before swiftly kicking him in his desecrated crotch. He roars in renewed agony. Then she crouches down and picks up the remains of his flaccid dick. Another omega wrenches his mouth open, and Katie shoves the lump of flesh into his mouth.
“How do you like choking on it for a change?” she asks, her tone cold and deadly as he coughs and splutters. “How does it feel to know that you’re going to die the same way so many of us did? Violently. Painfully. This is what you deserve, you rapist piece of shit. But the real payback is still to come; we’re going to destroy everything. And there’s not a thing you can do to stop us.”
Katie steps back and gestures to the others in her group. A female I don’t know caves his face in with a gun, while others take turns kicking and punching. Katie watches them, smiling as his groans fade away and he finally stops twitching.
Ryan checks his pulse and nods.
I bury my face in Sofia’s neck, taking a hit of her spicy citrus scent before looking back through the door, towards the clearing where the battle took place. It’s a bloodbath. Wolves lay fallen everywhere. Every last one of the keepers who showed up here is now dead. As well as several of our warriors, and one of Caleb’s brothers.
Ryan walks around, checking the bodies. Making sure they’re all dead. Jackson comforts our warriors about their fallen friends. Our pack members.
Caleb and his brothers circle Landon’s wolf. He will remain in wolf form in death as that is the form he was in when he drew his last breath. They came to save a sibling and have lost one in the process.
I stand here, torn between trying to help, but being completely incapable of moving so much as a step away from Sofia. I can barely feel the cuts, scrapes, gashes, and bites that litter my skin. But I feel the sticky warmth still seeping from Sofia’s wound. Her skin is clammy, and she’s trembling.
“Princess, are you okay?” I ask, moving to stand in front of her. She sways slightly, blinking at me. A dazed and unfocused expression on her face. My heart pounds, a frantic drum against my ribs, as a chilling sweat prickles my own skin. My breath hitches in my throat, a desperate attempt to pull in enough air to counter the rising tide of panic that threatens to overwhelm me. The world seems to tilt, the edges of my vision blurring as a wave of nausea washes over me.
Something is very wrong with her.
Sofia sways once more before her eyes roll back and her body slumps. I grasp her in my arms, cradling her against my chest. “Ryan!” I bellow. “I need help, Get Doc. Now.”
