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Their corpses are torn apart right outside the door.
Kevlar doesn't do much against an angry alpha willing to use his teeth and hands to tear you apart.
Oberon lunges at Caius behind me, and they collide as Lianna screams. Flesh against flesh, grunts and curses fill the room. It's chaos, violence--survival.
"Run, Star!" Oberon shouts between blows, his focus split yet unwavering.
I don't need to be told twice. My legs pump, propelling me towards the door. I glance back once to see Oberon throwing a fierce right hook, his lip and nose bleeding, his eye already swelling shut. He's risking everything for me.
"Thank you," I whisper to myself, knowing he can't hear.
Freedom lies ahead, through twisted corridors, down endless stairs. My mind races with every pounding step. I need to disappear into the night, become a shadow among shadows. There's no turning back now. This is my escape, my fight for a life uncontrolled by alphas, by anyone.
"Find her!"
The shouts echo behind me, but Ruby and Lark are up ahead, watching with horror. They've...they have the door open,somehow, ushering me toward it.
"Take the stairs," Ruby whispers. "Quick!"
"Come with me!" I say, grabbing her hand.
Lark pushes me through the door. "They'll kill you if they catch you--let us help you for once."
I take one agonizing second to look at them...then I'm through the door and in the stairwell. It's sixty long flights down to reach the street level, so I yank my shoes off and toss them aside, then I run.
No one follows me. The girls must have misdirected them...and they're still distracted with Oberon.Oberon, who saved my life and is probably getting killed right now.
Fuck them, fuck everything...I'll come back one day and I'll burn Dreamland to cinders.
My heart is racing by the time I get to the ground floor, my feet aching, my breath coming in sharp gasps. The door slams shut behind me, and I'm out, the cold bite of a cool and rainy Pacific City night a slap to my flushed skin and bare flesh.
It can't be this easy.
And it isn't.
"Where is she?" a guard yells somewhere in the maze I've left behind.
"Check the alleys!" Another voice, distant but hunting.
I suck in a ragged breath, my heart hammering as I peel off my shoes, the grimy asphalt unforgiving beneath my feet. Panic claws at my throat with each blind turn. I can't think about Oberon now, whether he's bloodied or beaten–or worse. He knew what he signed up for, we all did.
But me, I've got to survive.
I've been granted a gift, and I need to make sure every step counts.
"Who's there?" a drunk slurs as I emerge onto a dimly lit street. I dodge around him, my outfit too tight, too bright, too much skin in a city that devours weakness.
"Nice ass," he sneers after me.
"Shut up," I hiss back.
I race past shuttered shops and darkened bars, the neon signs flickering above me. Echoes of music and laughter spill out from behind closed doors, a stark contrast to the silence that wraps around me.
"Keep moving, Ais," I tell myself. "Don't stop."
I don't know how far I've run when the adrenaline starts to ebb, giving way to a raw, hollow feeling. The early hours gnaw at me, the darkness before dawn holding its breath. I'm alone, truly alone, with nothing but the stripper glitter on my cheeks and the beat of my own heart.
I think I've gotten away...so now it's time to figure out where I'm going.
