His men froth at the mouth. Their weapons are crude, but their eyes hold a deep ferocity. They look like they have lived through five detonations.
“Vash...” Killian growls.
Vash prepares the stitch kit. Hands shaking, he holds the needle above the small flap of skin in between her arms and chest. “Hold them off, dammit,” he shouts. “Dear God, hold them off.”
If there’s one thing he didn’t expect, it was to die out here. If coming here is to his detriment, then the entire world is fucked. The rumors he’s been hearing make him wonder how far his brother came with his team of scientists. He believes in an extinction gene, a crafted bomb that uses matter and energy to harness the power of the universe.
Cassian wanted the world to burn. Maybe he got his wish.
The needle pops right through Ruby’s flesh. Weaving the stitch across, he repeats the same tough movements, without pausing for her to gather her pain.
He looks up, sees the alphas coming closer.
The rain beats against their bodies. Ruby’s lips turn a light shade of purple.
No time. No time, at all.
Killian takes a step forward, against the three alphas. “There’s three of us and three of you. We don’t want a fight,” he says.
The head alpha wears an eyepatch. Pockmarks and scarring cover his face. The front of his skull is slightly misshapen. He wears a necklace of omega teeth.
Saliva hangs off his lips as he opens his mouth to laugh. “One of you is injured,” he grunts, pointing at Ruby.
To the best of Vash’s ability, he stitches another row. It’s harder than it looks, and he wonders if he’s not just making it worse. “The bleeding won’t stop,” he shouts.
He applies pressure.
The leader alpha tests them. He takes another step forward as Killian points his rifle and holds his ground. “Not another step,” Killian says.
Hurried, Vash makes the last stitch. And when he does, Ruby takes a shallow breath and whispers. “Give them hell.”
The fight starts so fast that Vash doesn’t even expect the first move. He just hears the hammer crack, releasing the fire pin into the cartridge. He smells the propellant as a bullet flies from someone’s gun.
Vash looks up and sees Killian on the ground. He’s hit on his shoulder, but he has rolled to lower ground.
Vash has the fucker in his scope in less than two seconds. He takes the shot and blows the alpha’s brains across the snow.
With their leader out of the way, Killian ducks up and charges the alpha on his left. With an undeniable fury, he tackles the alpha to the ground and drives the butt of his rifle against his nose.
The alpha grabs the rifle, using it as leverage to push them into a roll. Together, they tumble down a tall dune. Their grunts echo and evaporate.
As Vash watches this unfold, something primal in him unlocks. It’s a feeling he hasn’t felt in years, since they first found Rae in the breeding facility.
The feeling is blood thirst. It’s a quest for vengeance. These assholes thought they could sneak up on an injured party, but they didn’t expect one thing. Vash and Killian need a scapegoat; someone to blame for losing their mate.
They are perfect candidates.
They’ll bury them for this. Any alpha that wants to stand in their way, they’ll break and own. They built an army once. They are still warriors.
Scorn flows through Vash’s veins. The alpha on
his right is ten times the size of him. He throttles two automatic rifles.
One grin before he pulls the trigger and lets out a hundred bullets per second.
Vash dives behind the plane, bullets cutting through the metal. Lying low, he takes a deep breath and brings the revolver to his chest.
Ruby coughs out blood. “I’m… keeping… my eyes… open...” she stutters.