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I detested the knowledge that he had her in his foul clutches while I fought here on this beach.

My rage gave my swordwork speed and power, and I swung my blade in a circle, killing three at once. My blows grew sloppy as I fought two enemies: the army in front of me, and the instincts inside that demanded I go after my mate and protect her.

But my wife had given me orders as binding as the vows my men had taken. I had to keep her people alive and get them free. All of her mates were sworn to that cause, though a part of me hated that she owned us so thoroughly that not one of us would disobey.

So when Alexios took advantage of a break in the fighting to drop his swords and run for the fence, vaulting over it like it was no higher than a horse’s back and slipping into the jungle, hope flared inside me.

He wasn’t her mate, though he loved her as deeply as one of us. From the way he killed without hesitation, he’d given up his vows, and his soul, for her.

He would protect her.

A feminine scream from my right drew my attention, though I never stopped slicing the Alphas attacking me. An Omega with dark tattoos on her arms fought a burly male who’d managed to sneak around on that side, and a few more Alphas took advantage of her distraction to slip past and plunge into the water.

I dispatched the three I was fighting, then pivoted and ran to help the girl. She had a stout branch in one hand and a shard of beach glass that shone oddly in the other, and was fighting far more effectively than a half-starved Omega should be able to.

When I reached her and plunged my sword into the Alpha’s back, she snarled at me. “I had him.”

“You missed a few others,” I snapped. “Cover my back.”

Her eyes widened as she saw the males in the surf, running toward the remaining three Omegas who were in deep enough water that they had to swim or float. I ran after them, catching one across the backs of his thighs, my sword slicing through tendons and driving him into the water.

I heard a cut-off scream behind me and noticed the girl had done as I’d asked. A skinny Alpha lay floating in the water, a stick bisecting his throat.

She reached into the waves, replaced her stick with his sword, and held it up. She reminded me so much of my wife when she was younger. Fierce and bloodthirsty. Filled with a need for vengeance.

Something gurgled in the water around us, and I held up my own sword, peering at the fallen Alpha I’d cut down. The ones in front of him had vanished in the split second I’d looked away. Under the water? Water that moved as if it were alive.

By the distant flickering torchlights, I could make out a mass of small fish swarming the surf. As I watched, they stripped the recently fallen Alphas down to the bone.

In seconds, every one of the enemy who was in the water had been eaten.

I turned back to the Omega behind me, who was still facing the land, though the males had stopped advancing. “Go,” I ordered. “Join the others.” She was the only Omega who was nowhere near the break in the fence and the selkies. All the children were on the raft, from what I could tell.

But she gasped, “Tally!” and stepped back toward the beach and the children’s longhouse. There, a lone young male outlined by orange flames faced six Alphas. As I watched, they surrounded him. He fell to the ground and disappeared from sight.

“We have to save him,” the girl snarled and began to wade through the bloody water back to the beach.

I caught her by the arm and just missed a slice from the shard in her hand. From what I could see, though the light was nowhere bright enough to be sure, they weren’t killing him.

“They’re taking him to the maw,” the girl half-sobbed.

“I’ll go after him,” I promised. “They’ll need you on the raft.” It was a lie; I could feel a shift in the water and knew that Lusca was approaching. He was more than able to protect the captives on their way to Menthera.

She stared at me. “You’re the Warlord. Her Warlord.”

“I am. And if you want a place in my army after this, you have it.”

“A place?”

“A job,” I confirmed. “You protected my back. You’ve earned it.”

“Any job I want?”

I squinted, unsure what she meant. I’d meant as a warrior, but maybe she had other skills. Healing or cooking, or some such. “Any job.”

“Done. I’ll take yours.” Her teeth glinted before she waded out to the others.

“Goran,” Lachlan shouted over the pounding surf. “We’re missing one… and Rada.”