“Two years,” Vash muttered. “Seven hundred and thirty-eight days. We were supposed to be free, together. We were supposed to have everything.”
“Is this about what happened? Cassian… he was—”
“Cassian was a piece of shit,” Vash hissed. “But I can only blame myself for the world’s ills. It’s my family who caused this. I am as much of a parasite as him.”
“You are not your brother,” she muttered.
“I am my own alpha. But I don’t know what that means anymore,” he said.
“No one knows who they are anymore. But we can’t give up. We can find a way out of this,” Rae said. It was the one thing she had to be sure of.
Vash chuckled angrily and sat back down. “What is the point of continuing? Remember when the war ended? Another one began. A silent war. Even if we killed everyone in those towers, darkness always finds a way to smother.”
Killian marched forward and smacked his pack leader. He knelt and snatched Vash’s chin, squeezing. “This is rich, you playing the victim. Coming from you, I’d say that’s a first.”
Vash stole his hand away and struggled back to his feet, only for Killian to swipe his ankles out from under him. “Don’t you try and stand. You’re a victim, right? You belong near the worms, on the soil and ready to die.”
“Both of you, stop it!” Rae snapped.
Despite their disagreement, the alphas stopped their bickering and waited for Rae to speak her peace. She held her chin upright and walked right up to Vash, placing her hand against his chest. Vash nearly sank at her touch. It was so warm and inviting, precious and innocent. His eyes watered with noticeable joy. He held himself back from revealing every pleased emotion he carried, but Rae was more perceptive than most knew.
“It’s been hard on all of us, Vash. Please, you don’t need to be scared. I will protect you.” Then, she turned and bowed her head. “I will protect all of you.”
“Yo
u are just an omega,” Vash said. “You can’t protect us.”
Rae sighed and ignored the veiled insult. “I know you don’t mean harm from your words, but they’re just not true. I have killed my sister, the prime minister. The last I saw of her, her head was bloody from my hairbrush. I rolled her in the carpet and placed her underneath my bed.” She felt proud as she painted the elaborate and brutal picture.
Vash clenched his fist and shook his head slowly in defeat. “Great. Then, you really have damned us all.”
Rae stood on tiptoe and kissed above Vash’s forehead. She’d thought they won the battle. The truth was that they weren’t even close. “Don’t you trust me?”
The wind rustled and carried hushed and animated voices from the towers to the barn. Killian ran to the side and peered toward the grounds. Guards could be seen running through the lit hallways. A woman’s cry rang out across the grounds. The three others followed his eyes and frantically searched for an escape.
“There is no time for discussions on trust. They’re coming,” Killian said.
A voice closer to them than expected said, “Yes, and they’re right on time, too.”
The old man who led them to the barn was back and wielding four rifles. Tossing them onto the ground near their feet, he started moving some bales of hay. “You have really made a mess out of this. I thought you’d be gone by now,” he grumbled.
When the alphas didn’t help him, he paused and groaned. “What are you doing? Take the weapons. We have places to go!”
“Explain yourself, old man,” Vash said.
Pushing the last bay of hale aside, he revealed a set of bolt cutters as well as a narrow tunnel. He chuckled and wiped his hands clean. Exhaling, he jumped onto a ladder leading down. “Follow me or don’t. It is of no consequence to me.”
“I’m going,” Rae said.
The four of them looked warily at the old man, but before they could argue any more about it, Rae climbed into the dark depths. The others followed her into the dark, rocky tunnel.
The old man covered the opening with the hay and dusty plank. “We’ll wait here for a while until the coast is clear,” he said.
As they all cowered in the darkness, the old man lit five small candles. He doled them out, one by one, until all of them could finally see the path forward.
Killian wiped his hair from his eyes and leaned back against the cold cement wall. Above, pounded the heavy footsteps of the soldiers. They heard their frantic calls and the hysterical breathing of the search dogs. Every nook and cranny was searched, but the old man assured them that this was his spot. No one but him knew about it, and he was a faithful servant.
“You still haven’t told us who you are,” Killian said.