The Omegas in front of us grinned and ran their claws over the heads of the humans at their feet. Osmond watched us warily, eyes flickering violet.
“It’s quiet?” Richard asked.
Osmond nodded. “Only him.”
“Good,” Richard said. “It’s a start.” Then, “Thank you, Ox. I knew I could count on you.”
“Fuck you.”
“Such kindness. Now for your next trick, I need you to drop the crowbar. You won’t be needing it.”
I didn’t move.
“Ox,” he said, voice filled with regret. “I can do this as easy or as hard as you make me. Really, the power is in your hands as to how this can go. Don’t you want this to be easy?”
He lied, I knew. Words filled with promise that died in my ears. Nothing about this would be easy.
“Ox. Drop. The. Crowbar.”
I was an Alpha. I was a goddamn Alpha—
I didn’t have time to move or even react when he dropped the arm around my chest, his hand snapping to my wrist. He twisted it brutally, the bones grinding, then breaking. A wave of pain shot up through me, glassy and sharp. My stomach rolled as the crowbar fell to the ground. It kicked u
p a plume of dust as I gritted my teeth together, trying to swallow back the cry that wanted to fall from my mouth.
“That was… unfortunate,” Richard said, and he shoved me down into the dirt.
I tasted dirt in my mouth.
And, for the first time, panic.
It started in my chest, a slow roll that crawled through me, little pinpricks that turned into something so much stronger than I’d ever felt before. It wasn’t just panic. Or, at least, not just my own.
It was the panic of the pack.
The bonds had reopened.
No, no, no, no.
Thomas whispered, The Alpha’s greatest gift to his pack is sacrifice. Because he must protect them above all others, at all costs. Even if it means his own life.
They would come.
As soon as they recovered from the anger, the rage, the pain, they would come.
I tried to push the threads down, but they were bright and electric, like live wires. I couldn’t push them away because they were aware.
They were coming.
And Richard didn’t know it.
I couldn’t take the chance.
I couldn’t let any of them get hurt.
It would take time for them to find me. They thought I was at the garage.
Maybe there’d be enough time to—