Anarchy, p.30
Anarchy, page 30
“Fuck!” Vandle’s latest attempt to pull the bars apart ended in his blistered hands slipping from the rough metal.
We were on display in the middle of a large circular room. This cage was four times as big as the one Sin and Crescent had done their show in—theirs was meant for fucking, but this one wasn’t. This was for fights to the death, and the flakes of blood on the edges of the cage floor proved it.
The rut cages were ruled by the Marshall pack. Our ex-allies, the Wakefield pack, shouldn’t have the keys, but the Marshalls liked a little chaos. It wouldn’t be out of character for them to give up a cage key for the night if they were promised fresh bodies in the morning.
At this rate, the bodies would be us.
I slammed my forearm against the steel bars, teeth grinding when pain echoed up to my shoulder.
My frustration was cut short by a door slamming open, hitting the opposing wall.
Karma. Bloodied and beaten, his lip split, but still thrashing against the two members of Holden’s pack like he was fresh out of the gate. Holden entered behind them, and my hackles rose at the sight of him.
Where were Sin and Crescent?
I heard Karma’s vicious snarls as soon as the echo of the door faded, and for a beat I worried he’d gone feral again. Not that our appeal was our greatest worry right now, but we’d never pass if he’d lost himself this close.
I reached out in the bond; there was a void where Karma usually was, but I couldn’t tell if he'd locked the bond down, or if he was vacant from it.
A couple of the Wakefields trailed in behind and came to the rut cage door, keys jingling. Vandle shifted forward, ready to shove his way out and escape this cursed metal.
With a laugh, Holden strode in before he could get a chance, knife in his hand, pointing it at my packmate. “Fucking try it.”
Karma snarled and lunged, but his attempt to get the weapon only resulted in a fresh cut on his cheek, deep enough it might scar. It only made Vandle more keen to test Holden, his grip rattling the bars of the door.
He ended up cut next, the knife slicing across his hand—and if I hadn’t pulled him back, he might have lost a fucking finger.
Of course, he didn’t thank me. He whirled on me and I shoved him away, but they used the distraction to haul open the door, shove Karma inside, and slam it shut again.
The key clicked in the lock.
We were so screwed.
The Wakefield tossed the key to Holden, who shoved it into his pocket.
“Head back out and find those fucking omegas.” Everyone scattered to obey Holden’s barked order. My firestorm of hatred grew to a thunderous smite, my blood burning at the reminder of what he’d orchestrated this whole thing for: Crescent and Sin.
Out there alone while we were stuck in here.
I threw myself against the bars, shook them, screamed curses, but Holden taunted us from safety before leaving us to breathe our fury into the damp underground air, alone.
45
SIN
I didn’t know what time it was, but the morning had to be near.
It felt like we’d been in this boiler room forever.
The cells would open soon. Our appeal would be called. The others had no way of knowing where we were, but we would have to meet them there.
Phantom, Karma, and Vandle were afraid in the bond. For a time, Vandle and Phantom had been silent, which usually meant sleep, but I guessed they’d been out cold.
They were alive. Were they hiding somewhere, too? Their fear could be from being separated from us.
Dread gripped me, though, whispering that they weren’t just hiding—that something had happened to them.
Crescent hadn’t slept. Neither of us had. We could sleep on the other side.
I held onto that like I held onto her, taking one minute at a time.
The night had been filled with the dull ambience of thumping and yells of madness, with the occasional footsteps.
Those that were hunting us.
I didn’t know who it was, but it didn’t matter. We just had to get out.
Then I felt a flood of panic and a shot of pain through the bond. It wasn’t physical pain we could feel, but the panic, the adrenaline, it was familiar enough to translate.
Crescent startled up.
Panic erupted, and I couldn’t tell which of the others it was.
“What was that?” she whispered.
Another sharp spike of that pain.
I drew her closer. “They’ll be okay.”
There was no way for me to know that.
“We’re so close.” She was looking up at me desperately. “They… they can’t leave us now.”
The next blow through our connection was so sharp—so full of panic that she flinched. I tried to settle myself.
“Vandle.” Her pretty golden eyes matched the trembling in her voice. “It’s Vandle. I can feel it.”
“He’s… strong.” My words were weak, though my conviction was not what it needed to be for her. The fury and fear from Phantom and Karma told me something, though.
They were together.
Their panic had hit moments before Vandle’s pain had, as if they’d known what was about to happen.
“We have to—”
“We can’t leave.” That I knew. We didn’t know where they were, but I had to keep her safe.
My mind felt like it was ripped in two.
I had to focus on her. Here.
But they were my alphas. My alphas.
I’d chosen them.
I’d claimed them the day they’d protected me—when they owed me nothing.
Now I needed to protect them.
Images of the recent Leo pack fight in the gym flickered into my mind. Killed, just before their appeal. The most dangerous few moments for a pack.
I saw the omega fleeing in my mind’s eye over and over. He’d been caught too easily. His pack bond shattered as a dark bond slammed into place in its wake.
And we wanted to take two omegas out of here?
Another shot of pain bled through the bond like an ink spill.
“Sin!” Crescent’s voice was high-pitched, and she tried to draw back. I pulled her closer in my arms, feeling her tears wet my shirt.
I didn’t know what to do.
I didn’t even know what I was: an anomaly with eyes that marked danger. And that seemed prophetic now as I held onto the last member of my pack still within reach.
With the next shot of pain through the bond, however, all rational thought exited my brain.
Crescent let out a gasp. Tears were streaming down her face. “No…”
Fuck.
No.
Not now.
Her chest heaved, and while her scent was masked, something shifted in the air, and between us in the bond.
I knew, instinctively, what it was.
Triggered by stress. By fear.
“Look at me, Crescent…” She… fuck. I cupped her cheek, panic finally getting to me, my own hand trembling. The scent blockers we’d taken, they weren’t built for this.
“I don’t…” Her voice shook. “I don’t know how to stop it.”
This hiding place was too small to keep us safe—not with an omega in heat.
VANDLE
My growl tore through the huge room, past the thick iron bars of the cage as my side of the bond stayed locked down.
They’d dragged me from the cage to try to make me break—too many to fight. Holden’s pack, and… it was our allies, I thought. The Wakefield pack.
They wanted Crescent.
Holden wanted Sin.
They were hiding right now, but Holden was impatient. He knew if I broke, they might come out, might try to save me.
Phantom was pressed against the bars, hurling curses at the alphas around me.
I could see Karma watching, but he was still, as if he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to respond.
It was easier to watch them.
I was keeping my side of the bond locked down.
I had to protect them this time.
Old wounds—ones that hadn’t surfaced before—were surging to the forefront. Memories of white rooms. Injections and experiments. Pack bonds my mind wanted so desperately to forget.
Poison that broke me. That turned me mad. That turned me on them.
I was weak…
I had been weak then, and they were looking for strength. They were looking for the alpha who wouldn’t break like I had. Who wouldn’t turn on his pack.
They lay around me with broken bones in a cell that was quiet at last. I stared down at my hands as they blurred in my vision. From the poison… or from the deep agony of a bond I’d just destroyed…
Them or me…
That’s what I’d thought at the time.
I’d been disposable, feral, a number in an experiment and too weak to make it to the other end.
Faintly, a knife broke skin again, but I wasn’t here.
Breathless laughter wheezed from my chest as I pinned my side of the bond down, madness that had festered for years bleeding into the now.
Holden grabbed me by the neck, pressing his fist into my open wound, and twisting it. Another growl rose in my chest, but I fought it.
I wouldn’t fail them. This time the members of my pack had names, not numbers.
This time, I loved them.
46
SIN
It was too late.
There was no stopping her heat.
We only needed to survive a few more hours, but that seemed impossible now.
The only thing that gave us a shot was that her scent blockers were holding for the moment. Close to her as I was, I could tell. Her scent of roses and cocoa wasn't seeping down the hallway like I knew it would be soon enough.
“Sin…” She was clutching me, nails digging in deep enough to cut. “I'm scared.”
“Look at me, Firefly,” I nudged her chin up to face me. “We have to get somewhere safe.”
I did an analysis of the space, mapping out where we were in Anarchy. There were resident rooms down the next hallway, and... okay. Wakefield pack's cell wasn't far.
Unease twisted my stomach at the thought of it, but the Emerald pack cell was too far, and I still had my gun. And I knew the Wakefield pack was often out during the night.
We couldn’t stay here, that I knew.
We’d both taken scent blockers, and they were still active, but heat would blitz through them quickly—and I didn’t want to be in this small space when they did. Any passing alpha would know.
Crescent's whimper cut off the thought instantly. We didn't have time. If I could get her to their cell, they could try to find the others.
I ran through the drugs we had back in the cell—none would stop her heat once it started…
This was going to be painful, but I didn't have another answer.
She was strong. Strong enough to hold out for now.
“Crescent,” I whispered. “I have a plan. I need you to hold on, okay? Anything you can do to hide it.”
I could see the fear in her eyes as she looked at me, but there was something else, too—trust. Trust I didn't know I deserved as she bit her lip and nodded.
I wanted to pick her up and carry her.
I wanted to let her sink into my arms, taken care of and sure she was safe. But I couldn’t offer her that. Instead, I squeezed her fingers in mine, letting her get her feet under her, and led her.
No one could know.
She was so strong.
I know she’d done this before—survived this pain for hours, or days. That was far more than I could say.
Her grip was deathly tight in mine, but she stayed straight as I led her down the next hallway. The shouts and bangs of Anarchy echoed around us.
It didn't take long to get to the Wakefield pack's cell. It wasn’t my first choice, but they were the only allies we had that frequently left their door open at night.
The alphas who’d attacked us were from Holden’s pack, and I knew they’d still be on the hunt, so I didn’t have time to figure out other options.
To my relief, the door was hanging half open.
I banged on it, trying to see inside.
“Sin?” I spun at the sound of a familiar voice. Sterling, the Wakefield pack lead, was walking down the hall towards us, a frown on his face.
“What’s going on?” His eyes jumped between us as he neared, and I caught the faint trace of that stale iron scent from the braided, blood-stained cord he wore around his neck. “Are you in trouble? Not used to seeing you without your alphas.”
Crescent hung back, still clutching me. Both our scents were hidden, but he knew we were omegas, and I had a feeling he knew exactly what was happening.
“Why did you leave it unlocked?” I knew it wasn’t unusual for them, but suspicion was warring with desperation, alarm bells ringing in my head. And it didn’t seem like any of their alphas were inside.
He shrugged. “You know Ben gets up early—likes to work out in peace. Not like we have anything of value in there.”
My jaw clenched as I glanced into the room, mind trying to work out if that sounded right. “Calling in a favour.”
Lucian and Finnian—Sterling’s packmates—came around the corner, catching up to him.
“I thought you said it was Ben that works out in the morning, not you guys?” I asked, glancing between them, eyes snagging on the familiar paint stains always marring Finnian’s arms as if I was searching for something suspicious. My instincts were on edge.
Alphas prowling by for hours…
All night, their footsteps passed us by. So close…
“Yeah. Not long until the cells open,” Sterling said, raising an eyebrow. “Don’t like a busy breakfast.”
I had to stop being so paranoid. We were out of options.
“I need a safe place to wait, and I need you to find my pack.”
“Why don’t you come with us, then we can protect you while—”
“We’re staying here.”
Sterling snorted. “That’s not a good—”
“We’re staying.” I was tense, alarm bells still going off.
Sterling’s eyes flicked down to where my hand lingered, as if he knew I had my gun in my waistband. He looked calculating for a moment, then shrugged. “Alright.” He glanced between us again, then nodded. “Is this what I think it is?”
“No questions.”
“Alright.” He snorted, stepping back, nodding to the room. I followed him, pulling Crescent in with me. Lucian's eyes were fixed on us, and I had to catch a growl on the way up my throat as they lingered on her.
I looked around, rational considerations of alliances flickering out for a depraved, feral fear that was rattling loose in my chest.
“Finnian will wait outside—”
“No. You all go.”
It was a gamble, but there was no reason for anyone else to come in here, right?
“How long ‘til the doors unlock for the day?” I asked.
Sterling shrugged one shoulder. “Couple minutes.”
Not long enough. But maybe just long enough to keep Crescent safe.
The alphas left, and I made sure the lock clicked into place behind them, but we were in a room filled with scents that didn’t belong to us.
I sat on the one bed with the least scent of others—possibly the bed of the alpha who’d died in a bad rut brawl a few months back. I didn’t remember his name.
“Do you think they knew?” Crescent whispered.
I opened my mouth to lie but halted. Even without her scent, the context was clear. “You did so well hiding it,” I told her instead, cupping her cheek. That was the truth. She’d held herself perfectly. “If they knew, I don’t think they knew which of us it was.”
She frowned, and liquid gold irises held mine, as if she was unsure why that mattered.
It did, though.
I realized I hadn’t even understood why until I focused on it like I did now.
If they didn’t know which of us it was, it gave me another chance at protecting her.
Charred and insane instincts were sinking their claws in, dragging my mind into chaos. I was becoming something else—more desperate than I’d ever even heard an alpha describe in the face of their omega in heat.
My mind flickered back to the last look Sterling had given me before the door closed.
I was being paranoid.
I took a breath, holding her closer, cycling through the nagging feeling and trying to puzzle it out.
Her breathing was picking up, and I heard her bite down a whine. She was fighting an agony I knew, and she was doing it with more strength than I’d have.
How could I not be paranoid?
She was the most precious thing in the world, shivering in my arms as she waited so patiently.
She trusted me perfectly—her imperfect mate.
The one about to let her down...
I wouldn’t let it happen.
“They’ll find them, right?” Crescent whispered, voice weak.
“They will.”
They had to.
“There’s only three of them. What if they get in trouble?”
“It’s going to be okay.”
But there it was. The thing that was nagging at me.
Sterling hadn’t hesitated—hadn’t wanted to know what kind of danger the others might be in. They hadn’t even asked if we knew where they might be…
I frowned, analyzing the whole conversation. They said they’d been coming from breakfast? But the cafeteria… it was in the opposite direction from where they’d been walking.
I got to my feet all of a sudden, lifting her with me.
“Sin?” she asked.
“Come with me.” I stepped toward the Wakefield pack’s rut box.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“I think your blockers are fading,” I told her. It wasn’t true, though I was sure it wasn’t far off, but I needed her not to question this. “They’ll be contained in here. I don’t want anyone passing by outside realizing.”
