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“That’s none of your business, Omega. You will aid us or I will feed you to my two men.” His head juts up before I can respond. “Jae, if you want us to take you back to Narah, you will shut the fuck up.”
Unease curls in my chest, and I twist to look at Jae, at how white her face has turned. Her shoulders curl forward, like she’s trying to make herself smaller, to vanish, but her gaze never leaves mine. Behind her eyes, there’s a battle between forsaking me to reach her family, or give that up to assist me.
“You give your word you will not hurt my friend? Narah, hired you to find and keep me safe, but I ask you to do the same with Meira,” she finally says.
These men have been contracted by Jae’s sister? Hired to find her? Who exactly is her sister to have goods to trade or power to hire such powerful Alphas?
Nikos thumps a fist to his chest fiercely. “My word is yours. We will not harm the woman if she helps us.”
Jae nods, and Nikos turns to pull me back into his fast walk, but I yank against him. “Wait. So you want me to get you inside the settlement? Is that all?” My skin crawls at the way he stares at me, but I can’t hate Jae for not begging them to release me. We all do anything we can for survival, for our family. I’ve spent enough time with Jae to know she’s true of heart in her intentions, wanting nothing more than to get home and feel safe. We all deserve that, so any anger I feel is for these men who, like the rest, take what they want for greedy reasons.
“Yes,” Jae whispers in response instead as she looks away.
Nikos drags me back into our rushed pace. My head swims back and forth to make sense of everything. What did the Ash Wolves take from these Alphas?
In truth, I don’t know enough about the wolf packs around Shadowlands Sector, even whom Dušan has dealings with. For all I know, these are disgruntled Alphas coming for retribution against him while they are in the vicinity, and they want me to open the front door for them.
Still, even that theory doesn’t sit right with me. Eradicating the top leader of any pack is not an easy feat. Is it a job for just three men? Maybe. Well, I sure as hell will not be handing over my mate to these monsters.
We move faster now, the ground rushing under my feet. Nikos keeps holding my arm, carrying some of my weight so I keep up with his long strides.
Much to my disappointment, there are no Shadow Monsters on our path.
“If you tell me what you’re looking for, it will be easier,” I break the silence. “I’ll know where to sneak you in from. I mean, I assume you want to be snuck in, or why else drag me there like a madman?”
He doesn’t make a sound or even glance my way, but we rush over terrain covered in dead leaves and twigs. Our approach is easily heard by anyone nearby, though it doesn’t seem to faze him.
Behind me, Jae and the other two men remain close. Any attempt to escape won’t get me far. I can tell this by the size of these men alone. Three against one, basically.
“Meira.” He snarls, somehow making my name sound dirty. He leans in closely. “Listen carefully. These men have been starved of a good rut for weeks since our departure.” He grabs me by the chin, hurting me. “Keep pushing me, and I’ll gladly watch them take their turn with you. After that, you will still help me collect what’s mine. The decision is yours.”
I freeze as my panic flares. But I don’t flinch or dare show him how furious he makes me. In my mind, I want to make him suffer, to hurt, to cry with pain. Jerks like him get off on seeing the terrified impact they have on others.
“Please, Meira, just do as they say,” Jae pleads, and I hear the quiver in her voice. Despite these Alphas coming to collect her, they still scare her. That much is obvious.
But I hold Nikos’ stare. He’s trying to get under my skin. “Fine, we’ll do this your way,” I finally say.
He lets me go and snatches my arm. “We always do.”
We’re off again.
I exhale hard. I’m seething on the inside, shaking, but I shouldn’t expect anything different. My whole life I steered away from males for this reason. Most Alphas rarely relent and never see Omegas as anything but their slaves.
His threat haunts me with every step. I lift my head and we move swiftly through the woods, while the whole time, I keep wishing the undead would find us. Then, when they eat these assholes, I’ll not feel a morsel of guilt.
My legs ache from the pace we maintain and how we’ve been moving nonstop for what feels like forever.
The firs and the hills in the distance are starting to look familiar. We’re nearing the compound, and nerves bunch up under my skin, as I have no idea what to expect. I’m stuck between a mountain and a hard place with two adversaries after me.
Please let Bardhyl and Lucien at least be somewhere safe.
We stop abruptly and even before I can make sense of what’s going on, I smell Ash Wolves on the cold breeze, but not my men. Shadows rise ahead of us alongside the trees. A dozen of them approach in animal form, snarling.
A shiver worms down my spine. “We need to leave,” I whisper to Nikos. “Before it’s too late.”
“I never run!” he bellows, his gaze jerking toward the encroaching danger.
He leans in and whispers, “Answer everything I ask you truthfully and I promise to release you.” He steps forward, hauling me alongside him by my arm.
