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Icrouchedintheshadows as I hugged the aged stone wall next to me and tried to blend into the darkness. The cold leached from the stonework into my bones and added to the chilled fingers of fear running down my spine.
The town had been spookily quiet on the outskirts, as we’d stepped out of the forest and crossed the firebreak to the first houses. Moving as stealthily as we could through the moonlight and overgrown grass, there’d been no TVs or moving vehicles to mar the stillness. Even the buzz of the streetlights was gone. I’d almost forgotten how silent the world could be without the hum of technology intruding.
The eerie vibe had increased when we’d knocked on doors and the townsfolk had answered in hushed voices. As if nobody wanted to break the spell that had slipped over the town. Or maybe they just had reasons to be afraid of strangers at their door. The Crash had brought fear and desperation to too many, along with its ominous silence.
Yet here, in the center of town. Noises rose like lost memories, piercing the silence. Music, raucous laughter, glass clinking. The decadent light spilling into the dark street seemed almost obscene.
I shouldn’t be here. It was insanity, and I knew it. I had no training and no idea how to defend myself, let alone help someone else. Especially considering the scattered scents of alphas from around the town mingled and concentrated here, at the pub. It made heavy alarms sound in my head and my senses spin. None of their individual scents were appealing or drew me in. Combined, they were overwhelming and made me want to flee. Yet my friends were here and I’d had too few of those in my life to walk away from one in danger.
Our only job tonight had been to help get the residents to safety in the museum. The experienced members of our group would then attack the pub and neutralize the threat of the rogue alphas inside. But we’d heard an owl hoot a few minutes ago, the signal to retreat and find a safe place to hide.
We’d been doing just that, Cary close by my side, when I’d spied Lexie heading in the opposite direction. Slinking through the darkness towards the pub and danger. Cary had sworn under his breath, and I knew he’d seen her too. Our eyes had met briefly, and he’d nodded, knowing I’d follow Lexie.
I’d made an art form out of going where I wasn’t supposed to, and not getting caught. I’d always followed my friend Maia, even before she’d known it. From the first day she’d arrived at the Palace, kicking and screaming, trying to claw her way back out the doors, I’d been awed and fascinated by her. She was innately kind, but she also had a fierce, uncompromising spirit.
When I’d met her friend Lexie, I’d been equally awed. She had the same fight as Maia, but she wore it proudly, like armor. Yet the loneliness that bled from her eyes made her seem achingly vulnerable.
My life, my path, had been so different from both Maia’s and Lexie’s, but their inner strength drew me to them both. I’d admired them as I watched them stand up for themselves and then fight for the people they loved. I’d fought my battles differently, learning to camouflage myself and blend in. I’d stepped unwillingly, yet intentionally, on the difficult path life had thrust upon me and I hadn’t strayed. Yet, we had something in common. We each hid in plain sight, holding fast to our secrets until they were torn from us.
I’d lived a sheltered life at the Omega Palace since my early teens. I’d sometimes wondered how I would react in the real world when confronted with a difficult situation. If, one day, pretending to be the perfect omega was no longer an option, and blending in wouldn’t save me. I’d learned a lot about myself since the Crash had turned our world upside down. It seemed I was more like Lexie and Maia than I’d thought. I’d taken to running at danger, even though my heart pounded and I shook with nerves.
Nerves were drumming a heavy beat in my veins at this very moment, but I wouldn’t let that stop me. We’d quickly lost Lexie and her mate, Pala, in the darkness between the buildings. The moon was bright tonight, but they both knew how to blend into the shadows and disappear. From the determined look on Lexie’s face, there was only one place they could have been headed. The pub, where everything was about to go down.
I knew Pala was a highly trained undercover operative. He’d keep Lexie safe, and we’d only be a hindrance to them. Yet I’d felt a draw to the pub at the center of town that I couldn’t shake, even beyond Lexie being here. A feeling of imminence, an awareness of something not here yet, that teased my senses.
I’d always had a strong sense of intuition, and I’d learned to heed it early in life. It hadn’t surprised me when I’d presented as an omega, even though it had taken those around me unawares. I’d always felt a level of instinct drawing me towards or away from people that others around me didn’t seem to feel.
Cary’s dark, determined presence appeared above me as he leaned over to peek around the corner of the alleyway at the dim street beyond. I could feel his worry, yet also his resolve. I looked up at him, his savage beauty highlighted in the waning light of the moon, washing his ebony skin in silver so that he seemed to glow from within. His sharp cheekbones and full lips caught the shadows, giving him an otherworldly beauty that was hard to look at. For me, anyway.
I did what I usually did. I glanced away before I became hypnotized by the spell he wove over me every time I looked at him. Instead, I forced myself to watch the street again, feeling something was coming. We were on the precipice of something, as if the world was holding its breath. I could feel it. My heart trembled with it.
We’d arrived in time to see Lexie and Pala duck into the back door of the pub. Two unconscious, or maybe dead, alphas lay slumped beside it. Cary and I weren’t stealthy enough to sneak in that way. So we’d ducked around the side of the old building and inched our way to the front corner on the far side. The street appeared empty, but it sounded like they were having a party in there. Every other building was dark. A few appeared to be boarded up.
I knew more of our team had to be out there, though. Haunting the shadows, the same as Lexie and Pala had been. We were part of the Honey Badgers crew for the rescue mission tonight, made up of volunteers. Our job was to evacuate the town’s residents to the safety of the museum, before the trained team took down the alphas commandeering the pub. Yet something had gone wrong if the retreat signal had already sounded. We hadn’t been out here for long enough to have gotten all the residents to safety.
A bright red light in the sky to the north of the town pulled my attention away from the street. That was bad news. It meant something had definitely gone wrong, and the pub needed to be taken now. An answering green flare shot up from across the street, a few buildings down. My breath froze in my chest. That was the go signal, and we weren’t where we were supposed to be. We should be tucked in somewhere safe, away from the action.
I could almost feel the tension radiating from Cary as he huddled down over me protectively. Moments later, our team emerged from the darkness, running towards the front of the pub on swift, silent feet. I knew more would come in through the rear and the fire exit on the other side.
A sudden, piercing bang from inside the pub made me flinch. Bright flashes followed it, reflecting out the front window. I stuck my hand into my jeans pocket to dig out the flashbang that Lexie had given me to use as a last resort. I’d forgotten about it until now. My heart sank as I realized Lexie had set hers off inside the pub. Was she in trouble, or was it a distraction?
I had no way of knowing. All I knew was that the streets behind us were quieter than we were expecting tonight, but the owners of all those alpha scents had to be somewhere. A loud roar and exploding glass had my head snapping to the front of the pub again. I looked just in time to see Sam, Lexie’s mate, vault over the shattered frame, followed by the rest of his team.
Please be okay, please be okay.I wasn’t sure who I was begging, but if anyone was listening, I’d take any help we could get. Lexie was feisty and fearless. She also knew how to handle herself. I’d heard she’d dropped Sam to the ground when he was being an ass, and he was one of the most dominant alphas I’d ever met. Yet, she was a newly presented omega which made her vulnerable with so many alphas around. She’d only just had her first heat and her scent was still potent, probably because she’d suppressed it for so long.
The music cut off abruptly and everything went quiet inside the pub. Before I could breathe a sigh of relief, movement up the street caught my eye. The door to one of the boarded-up stores burst open, wood splintering into the street in a spray of violent confetti. A stream of enemy alphas came barreling out, headed for the pub. My breathing sped up as everything else seemed to slow down. My friend was in there, and the alphas on the street were not on our side. If they caught her in there, they’d snatch her for sure. I couldn’t stand the thought of Lexie being taken to the Palace and suffering the same treatment as Maia before she’d escaped.
Was this what I’d been sensing? A trap?No way in hell was I leaving my friends undefended. If I could buy them even a little time to regroup, I’d do it.
I was moving before I’d even made a conscious decision. I sensed Cary grab for me, but I was too quick and I think I’d taken us both by surprise. My feet carried me around the corner and directly into the path of the alphas, as I screamed desperately over my shoulder, “Take cover!”
My arm seemed to work of its own accord as I launched the flashbang directly at the alphas headed for us. I threw myself back into a crouch and covered my head as the bang reverberated along the street. I could feel it vibrate through my bones as white flashes appeared behind my closed eyes.
I looked up as soon as it was over to see the alphas shaking their heads briefly before focusing in on me. They’d skidded to a stop and were now glaring at me menacingly. Not the reaction I’d hoped for. I knew the flashbang would have a limited effect on alphas, but I was hoping for a little more than a headshake. I felt Cary appear at my side, and I forced myself not to reach for him as I straightened up.
We had nowhere to go. I’d run right out into the street. We were closer to the incoming alphas than we were to our friends in the pub. There was no way they could get to us in time.
