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Corbin wipes her spit from his face before backhanding her. Harlow’s head whips to the side, and she laughs, her lip bleeding. I watch as her tongue darts out, sweeping over the cut.

“I can feel him, you know, feel him creeping closer.” Harlow smiles and shudders as the power of Thane’s Alpha-of-Alphas serum morphs her DNA. Morphs her. “Do you know what it feels like to die?” she asks Corbin. He grips her neck, and she cackles like a madwoman. “It feels cold. You can feel the life drain from your body. Literally feel the blood in your veins cool with your breath. Nothing is colder than death,” she says, and Corbin slaps her.

“You’re about to find out just how cold death feels. And as your heart beats frantically, trying to stop the cold, know that’s death's knock you hear. Thump, thump… thump.”

“Shut up!” Corbin screams in her face.

“You’re a dead man.”

Corbin grips her shoulders and slams her back against the headboard. I get to my feet, cursing at how long the driveway is because I know I’m going to have to intervene.

“Mark me!” he screams in her face.

“I’m gonna enjoy watching him break you. You fucked with the wrong Omega. His Omega!” she giggles. Corbin raises his hand to slap her again just as windows start shattering all over the house, causing him to stop and look up.

“Run, Corbin. Thane is coming for you,” Harlow snickers. His head whips in her direction. A few of my mates run off to fight the incursion, but I can’t leave her here. Not while she’s still tied down, and not with him.

“Oh, you’ll mark me, little Omega,” Corbin snarls. She shakes her head.

“Nope. Thane already marked you. Only, he marked you for death.” She smiles as we hear all hell break loose upstairs.

“Help me untie her!” Corbin panics, and I move to remove her restraints.

Chapter Forty-Five

Harlow

I knew the moment the needle pierced my skin that it wasn’t Corbin’s serum. My skin tingles with a familiar sensation that I only get from my mates. I can taste him on the tip of my tongue. Thane, not Corbin.

Leo moves to undo my restraints. His hands move quickly, but not quickly enough because Corbin impatiently pulls me off the bed while one of my ankles is still cuffed. Leo yells at him to stop.

Leo makes quick work of the last cuff before Corbin takes off, running for the stairs. My surroundings blur as I try to adjust my new vision. My eyes catch everything and nothing. I find it quite distracting, as if I’m on drugs.

Are Thane’s senses like this? Mine are so much more heightened than I ever imagined they could be. My eyesight from before seems almost dull as I pick up everything now, even the dust motes in the air.

Corbin pauses as he reaches the top of the stairs, peering out. “We’ll head for the tunnels. Here, take her.” Corbin turns, thrusting me at Leo before peering back out the door. It sounds like utter chaos outside. Yet I can feel them, all of them, moving closer.

Corbin darts toward the library and waves for Leo to follow him. Leo ignores him, however, placing me on my feet. He grips my arm as I wobble from vertigo. Yeah, this is a strange feeling. Almost like walking with no gravity. I have to calculate each step I take. I will never complain about being Omega again if this is what it’s always like for Alphas.

“Quick!” Corbin orders.

I step out the door and hear a growl. My head whips in Corbin’s direction. His eyes are on me, standing beside Leo instead of in his arms.

“What are you doing?” Corbin snarls while I try to sense which direction my mates are.

“It’s over, Corbin,” Leo growls threateningly. Corbin's aura rushes out, and I know he is about to command Leo. But Leo rushes him before he can, tackling him to the ground.

“Harlow, run!” Leo shouts at me just as Corbin kicks him off. Leo goes flying into the wall. I back up, stumbling slightly as Corbin gets to his feet. Instinct kicks in, and I turn, running to where all the noise is coming from, knowing that’s where I’ll find my mates.

My bare feet slap against the cold tile floors as I try to navigate through the mansion without falling on my face. Corbin is hot on my heels as I slip and slide right into a statue. My vision blurs as I try to get used to my new senses. Seeing a set of stairs that leads down, I take them. Skipping some, I trip on the runner in my haste, face planting on the floor and finding myself in some sort of kitchen area.

I push up on my hands when Corbin jumps from the landing above. I scramble to my feet just as another explosion goes off, making me duck as the windows shatter. Before I can race for one, Corbin grips my hair, jerking me backward. I land flat on my back, my head bouncing off the tiles with a sickening crack.

“I’m going to fucking kill you!” Corbin growls as my claws slip from my fingertips. They rake down his face, and I roll as he rears back, escaping from his grip. I get to my knees as Corbin clutches his face. I hear the cracking and snapping of bones, and my eyes widen. He lunges at me in wolf form, only to be tackled by another huge wolf.

My scream is loud and visceral as the two wolves clash. The other wolf must be Leo because I know it isn’t one of my mates. I run for the huge bay windows, willing to go straight through the broken, jagged glass that covers the floor. There’s only one thing on my mind, and that is to get outside.

Rushing through the kitchen, I don’t see the frying pan until it’s too late, just before it hits me square in the face and knocks me on my ass. All I see is black, and my ears ring as the thud rattles through my skull. There’s a clang of metal hitting the floor, which makes my eyes fly open to see Bree.