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It’s a warning I’ve ignored before.
It’s a warning I’ll ignore again.
I clench my fists at my side, looking at the door. Boyd is a heartless fuck; he wouldn’t care even if I told him that I feel something for her. What I feel, I’m not sure—but I can’t just throw her to the wolves.
“Sorry,” I say.
And I step out into the rain.
The wind whips at me as the storm arrives, a break in the rain coming suddenly to the platform. We must be on the eye’s edge, because when I look up, I can see the three-quarter moon overhead, grey clouds edging in on us. They planned it this way—to increase the intensity, the rage, the adrenaline. I feel it as much as any other alpha, a partial transformation coming over me as I stride toward the milling crowd to join the fray.
There are at least three dozen alphas forming a circle around one helpless figure with a tall alpha at her side. The prime stands beside his crumpled daughter, Peaches dressed in a turquoise shift that barely covers her at all. Her red hair hides her face, crystalline water droplets clinging to her curls.
My lycan stirs, growls in warning to all the others around. They scent the warning, taking a step back from me.
I came here to deliver her to her father, but I’m going to get her out.
Even if it kills me.
CHAPTER SIX
?
PEACHES
I’m more scared than I’ve ever been.
Once again, I’m hauled out of my room in the citadel, but we don’t go to the bathroom. Instead, we turn left—back toward the front door, where I can hear rain hammering on the metal shell of the house.
“Should we go outside—” I start, but Ephraim silences me with a glare.
“Omegas are not to speak,” he says.
I take a sharp breath, then swallow it as I shut my mouth.
Okay.
He hauls me out to the platform, rain immediately drenching my clothes and hair. I’m sick of being wet—but I forgot that’s what it’s like to live on the sea, constantly covered in saltwater. I can feel the skimpy dress cling to my curves, my nipples pebbling under the fabric, which is sheer enough that anyone could see.
I finally realize what the ceremony is.
They used to do this before I left…but it wasn’t quite like this. The number of applicants for an omega was limited, and it was always done during daylight at the new moon to limit the amount of brutality. Now, Gideon has all the unmated alphas lined up to claim me, encircling me like I’m about to be devoured.
Maybe I am.
With this many alphas just after their rut…I could die tonight.
And I hate the thought, but it might be better that way.
Ephraim drags me out to the center of the circle and pushes me to my knees, my father emerging from the middle of the crowd. He’s carrying an old copy of the Bible that he’s always seemed to have on hand—battered with faded letters, the gold enamel on the black leather cover all worn out. He stands over me, holding up his Bible like he’s the most righteous man that ever was.
“You see before you thetraitor,” Gideon says. “The princess we never thought would come home. But here she is…and she needs to be taught a lesson, doesn’t she?”
The alphas roar. I keep my head down, staring hard at the decrepit, cracked concrete below me.
“Because this is what it says in the scripture, doesn’t it?” Gideon says, stalking around the circle as the alphas writhe. “‘Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.’ In our world, omegas shouldknow their fuckin’ place.”
I swallow hard. I want to curl into a ball and hide, but I’m going to have to do the opposite. I’ll have to fight to escape, to even survive—and no matter what I do, I’ll probably end up with the worst of them all.
