Page 87 of Evan and the Alpha

Yafir backs up against the wall, fear in his eyes. Rex starts wailing, and that summons Vince from the depths of the house.

“What’s going on?” he asks, slapping a hand to the doorframe.

“Don’t,” Yafir tries to warn him, just as I swing around, spear lowered and pointed at Vince’s throat.

Vince rears back, gaze glued to the tip of the spear. “If I can’t fight the humans who have left,” I snarl, “then I’ll fight the one who is here. I’ll kill him—perhaps that will get the other humans to return.”

Vince glances up from the blade and meets my gaze. There’s no fear in his eyes—only pity. That makes me angrier.

“Sobek!” Yafir cries. He’s managed to unglue himself from the wall and flings himself at me, attempting to wrestle the spear out of my grasp. The blade swings crazily, and I hear Vince gasp.

Yafir and I land in a heap, tumbling over each other, jaws snapping. The spear clatters away and the two of us wrestle, claws digging deep into each other’s scales.

A sharp pain explodes up my side, under my ribs. I wheeze out my breath, then crumple away from Yafir, curling onto my side. Yafir stands up slowly. Then he steps around me to stand beside Vince—Vince who has baby Rex curled in one arm and one of the kitchen carving knives in the other.

There’s blood on the blade. My blood.

I heave another breath. “You need to calm down,” Yafir tells me.

Vince tosses the knife aside like it’s burned him. There are tears in his eyes. “I’m sorry, man,” he says, “I didn’t mean to—”

I snarl and lunge at him, only to meet the bottom of Yafir’s foot slamming into my snout, shoving my head back. I crumple to the floor again. “This isn’t the way, Sobek,” Yafir says firmly, landing his hands on his hips.

I snarl. My hand creeps around my side, and I glance down at my fingers, coated in sticky blood. I look back up at my brother.

“Let’s get that wound tended to,” he says. “You are not well. Already, my brother, you lose strength.”

I glare at him for a moment longer, then look back down at my hand, my blood. The pain of losing my mate washes over me anew. Without Evan, I will weaken and die. Already, I am defeated by an omega and a human.

I am so weak. I could not defend Evan now. And I could not protect him in the first place. I cover my face with my bloodstained hands, trying to hide my shameful tears.

“Come,” Yafir commands, thrusting his hand down into my face. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”

***

I lie in bed, staring at the ceiling. Yafir stripped me of my war regalia, washed the paint off my scales. He sent for the healer to clean and wrap the knife wound. I have been silent since, sinking deeper in the knowledge that I have failed in an alpha’s one duty.

I could not protect my omega. Even if the humans brought Evan back to me, I am unsure if I could defend him.

I deserve to die.

Yafir keeps silent as well. His expression is severe. Perhaps it is too much for his tender heart, to lose our parents and now this as well. Perhaps he is worried about Ge-Ro, who has gone missing with Evan.

Surely, they must bring Ge-Ro back? They’ve kidnapped one of our people. Going to war with them would not be wrong, would it?

“Your anger is not wrong,” Yafir says at length, as though he’s read my thoughts. He clenches his fists; his voice trembles, just as his hands do. “They have done much wrong.”

Here, he takes a breath and squares his shoulders. “But we should consult with the elders and the stone before we rush headlong into war with the sun spirits.”

He looks at me at last, and I close my mouth and hold it shut.

He is, of course, right. The humans are sun spirits, from another realm. They are petty gods, divinity, favored by their parents, the sun gods. Is it wise to go into battle with them? To start a war against gods?

I know it’s foolish. But there is part of me that does not care. They have done much wrong, and they should pay for it. Their actions are dishonorable, unconscionable. They mustpay.

But who are we to rail against the gods? Perhaps I should accept that my love for a sun spirit was doomed to begin with. Evan and I were always destined to come to a bad end.

Yafir waits another moment, then says, slowly, “Vince stayed here because he thought this might happen today. He had hoped they would not take off without him.”