AlecThings have gotten extremely complicated since I found out that Delaney Waters is still in the city. I’ve been having a hard time locating her; that’s a good thing and a bad one. It’s good because that means the other Alphas can’t find her either, and it’s bad because I need to make her leave the city before she gets herself in more trouble. Shit, I wish I didn’t care what happened to her. I don’t know why I feel so responsible for her. I got her arrested because at the time, I had no control and my father was in charge. I didn’t want her to die. But I’ve since corrected that mistake and got her out at the first opportunity. Whatever she chooses to do with her freedom is on her. But if she’s caught, they will kill her. There’s no way around it. As I head into the next meeting, I find everyone there, and their faces are all grave. Fear course through me, as thick as blood, as I make my way to my seat. There’s always the possibility that someone found her before me, of course,
Delaney Paola eyes me through the mirror as she dries her hair. She's just gotten out of the shower, and it's my turn next. "Ingrid told me the strangest thing, you know.""What?" I ask as I pull my clothes off and climb inside the bathtub. The shower curtain is made of plastic, and it's parted slightly. I turn the water on and sigh in relief and gratitude as it gets warm. I stand under the spray of water, and the water saturates my hair entirely before running down my body. "She told me she used to be mean to me because she had a huge crush on me," she states before giggling. "Can you imagine that?""I guess it makes sense," I comment. "I felt the same way," she claims. "I guess it was just an immature thing for her to do, but she apologized and it's over now. I didn't think I'd forgive her as quickly as I did, but it happened."I grab the bar of soap and start to scrub my body. It has a hint of vanilla scent. I breathe it in as I lather the soap between my hands, and Paola keeps
Delaney Pollux walks ahead of the two of us, and stands in front of us, almost like he’s acting like a shield between us and this predatory looking man. Behind him, Ingrid looks like she might be sick, and the look she gives us is apologetic. I don’t know what’s going on, but I don’t like how the suspense is making me feel nauseous while at the same time, making me feel like I should run far away from this place. “What’s going on?” Pollux asks, his voice thick with command. Ingrid takes a shaky breath, and says, “This is Matteo, and he’s just leaving.” “No, no, no,” Matteo says in that same deep voice that cuts through the air. A wicked smile is curving his lips, and he gives all three of us a good look. “This is what we need, like I told you. You three believe in the cause, don’t you? You’re rebels.” Nobody answers his question, and he steps closer to us in response before saying, “My name is Matteo, like Ingrid said, and I’m the head of the rebel force up here. We do th
AlecI straighten my bow tie in front of the mirror, and Carla appears behind me and wraps her arms around my waist. “You’re a sight,” she says with a soft smile. Ever since our argument yesterday, she’s been in a much better mood. I guess it’s because I lied to her about Delaney, and now, she’s more assured about our relationship and the way I feel about her. None of this is honorable. It’s merely necessary. I hate having to lie to her, but I can’t tell her the truth. The situation in itself is just downright tragic. She has always loved me—since high school, to be precise—and my mind has been on the redheaded Omega that paid for my crime since the day we found out that we were mates. My feelings haven’t changed since, not even after the rejection.The same protective feeling that overpowered me when I saw Trevor trying to kill her is still within me, forcing me to protect her from these people who want to see her dead. And I can’t tell this to anyone. It’s my cross to bear. I
DelaneySo far, the night has been calm and pretty uneventful, at least for me. I’m being kept in the sidelines; I’m here mostly to fill the shoes of someone else, so not a lot of duties are expected from me. Matteo made sure of that. We were to steer clear of the main room; Pollux has other duties that don’t involve us, and of course, he didn’t mention what they were. He’s mysterious like that, and hates to give explanations about what he’s doing. Paola and I are keeping a close eye on each other. We mostly just fill trays with canapé’s and then send them out, even though we’re in waiting uniform. The mask covers my face pretty well, but I haven’t found a way to cover my hair. The worst part is that I’m the only redhead among the servants, so that does complicate things a little bit. Even so, I try not to be nervous about it. It’s unlikely that anyone will look too closely at me. Why would they?I’m just a simply Omega. Nobody ever looks twice at us. Knowing that the bomb will e
DelaneyAlec is dragging me toward the kitchen, where the lights are flickering on and off. Dust and debris billows in thick clouds, and the ground beneath my feet continues to vibrate. I’m choking on the dust particles suspended in the air, and it’s stinging my eyes, too. We make it to the exit, where hours ago, Paola and I entered the building through. When we step outside, where the air is clean, that’s when I remember my best friend. For some reason, I completely forgot about her while the building was collapsing all around us. I’ll blame it on the panic, and also the shock of being face to face with my greatest enemy. But I have to go back inside. I have to find her. I take a few steps forward and Alec holds my arm again. I whirl around to face him angrily, and tear my arm from his grip. “What are you doing!?” he asks angrily in a low voice. “Are you trying to go back inside? Is it death you’re looking for?”“Let go of me!” I command. “If you’re not going to kill me or have
DelaneyThe silence in the tattoo parlor is almost stifling, but things get better once Pollux wakes up. The mood just lightens, and even I’m glad that the bastard is alive. He rubs his eyes and looks around the room quickly, assessing his surroundings and giving each of us a look before nodding. “Good. You’re all here, so that means that none of you are dead.”“What happened?” I can’t help but ask. Pollux shakes his head as he tries to sit up. He winces at whatever pain he feels, and continues. “That guy lied to us when he said that the bomb was only meant to scare people.”“Why wouldn’t he tell us the truth?” Paola asks. “It doesn’t make any sense.”“It does, actually,” I tell her. I’ve figured this out while Pollux was asleep, but decided to keep my thoughts to myself until now. “He wanted people to participate. For the plan to work, there had to be enough Omegas to serve them. Who would join his side if they knew there’d be the possibility that they’d die?”Pollux nods. “Exactly
AlecWhat a mess this whole event has turned out to be. Thankfully, most of the members of my pack were alive. Three men did get seriously hurt during the explosion—one lost a leg—but from my side, there weren’t many casualties. Alpha Fredrick, however, has lost quite a number of people, the most tragic one being the death of his daughter. War has been announced. I was there when it happened, and I had to sign the treaty that we would open fire against the rebellion. As one of the three Alphas, I can’t overlook what happened here. The rebellion has never taken things this far. I’m blown away by the severity of their actions. This explosion was brutal and cowardly; there were children present during the wedding reception. Innocents have gotten hurt. This can’t be overlooked. “Alpha Alec,” I hear Alpha Jason say behind me. “Could we speak for a moment?”I tear my eyes away from the rubble, and follow him to a more secluded area so we can have a word in private. We rarely have priv
AlecI wake up suddenly, in the middle of the night. It’s another one of those nightmares that make my fucking ankle burn like shit. I sit up, reaching for it in hopes that it’ll remember to stop hurting, and that’s when I realize that Delaney isn’t in bed beside me like she has been for the past seven years. “Delaney?” I say loudly. “Here,” I hear her say. She’s standing near the balcony, which I only realize now is open. The curtains are billowing in the wind, covering her from view. I get out of bed, and limp to where she’s standing. She turns to look at me, and fuck, my heart stops beating for a moment. She’s never not stolen my breath from me. Snatched it right out of my lungs. “What’s wrong, baby?” I ask her as I approach her. “Just thinking,” she says as she turns to face me. She places her hands on either side of me, and I inch closer to her and kiss her lips. “I didn’t mean to wake you,” she says. “No, it wasn’t you, it was my foot,” I explain briefly. I then pay clos
DelaneyAlec comes up behind me, his arms circling my waist. It startles me because I was so deep in my thoughts that I completely forgot that he was somewhere behind me. All I can think about is the election that will start in about twenty minutes. We’ll be late if we don’t leave the house now. “You okay?” he asks while placing a tender kiss along my jawline. I find it in me to smile at him. “Never been better.”“It’s finally happening,” he claims as he steps back. I turn around to face him, and he hops back on his one good foot to circle my waist with his arms again. “I hope that’s not sadness I see in your eyes.”“No, I’m just thinking,” I admit. The memories claw at the edges of my mind as Alec’s arms tighten around my waist. His warmth anchors me in the present, but it’s not enough to silence the ghosts of the past. Faces flash before my eyes—people we lost, friends who sacrificed everything, moments drenched in pain and blood.But here we are. The war is over. We won.It doe
Alec Delaney. No. Pain courses through me, thick and intent to kill. She shouldn’t be here. When I realized she wasn’t in the car that came speeding down the road, I was relieved. But now she’s here, with the few other rebels who came here to save me. I don’t know what is going on. “Ah,” the sick fuck next to me says. He has his eyes on Delaney. On my girl. And the gleam in his eyes is twisted. “Miss Renner. You’ve finally joined us. I thought you’d never come.”At the sound of the man’s voice, her face completely transforms. She appears fierce. Ready. A warrior. My heart swells with pride, then shrinks with fear in the same beat. “You’ll unhand him,” she says, stepping into the role of a rebel leader swiftly. Seamlessly. “Or, we’re going to rain bullets down on you. On all of you.”The man laughs, and the crowd gasps. I stare at her face, and pray to the goddess that she won’t die here, right before my eyes. That’ll kill me faster than the silver will. “How typical of rebe
Delaney I drive around in circles, and nothing springs to mind. I don't find Alec, nor do I figure out what to do. I even drive all the way to our pack, and nothing. I think it's ridiculous for me to assume that I'd find information on him so quickly. Who would tell me? How would I just know? I guess what made me run so fast was the need to get away from Pollux. The fact that he'd hated on me for so long simply because I hadn't recognized him as my mate means a lot. He was always toxic and problematic, but at least I didn't fall for his schemes. I have this distinct feeling that tonight, everything is about to change. Thinking about Alec makes me cry. If it weren't for Pollux, he would've been safe. He doesn't deserve whatever will happen to him. He's a good person and all he ever tried to do was help us. I feel so responsible. Now, I don't know where to find the others or why they even left the camp to begin with, and I have no clue where to find Alec.I've never felt so lost
Alec When I open my eyes, I realize that I’m in a very bright room. That’s the first thing. The second thing is that there’s someone standing right next to me. On my right, to be precise. I look up and see the man from earlier. He’s peering down at me with disdain written all over his face. When he sees that I’m awake, he smiles a little and asks me, “Ready for what’s to come?”I look down at my body and realize that I’m still in wolf form. Pain immediately shoots down my paw when I try to move, and a growl leaves my lips. I’m chained to a metal table, and I have to way of moving without feeling a crippling kind of pain. “Yes, I think you are,” he claims. Before I know it, the table starts to move and I’m being wheeled out. The sharp screech of metal grates in my ears as the table wheels over the polished floor. Because all my senses are sharper in this form, I see and hear a lot better, so these little sounds while I’m disoriented are too loud and obnoxious in my ear. But not
Delaney “How!?” I yell as I continue punching his chest. “How could you have done such a thing!? HOW!?”Pollux takes the punches and doesn’t say anything. I grow angrier with his sudden silence, and punch him even harder. After a while, my arms start to hurt and my throat grows hoarse from all the screaming. I step back, and let my arms drop to my sides. By the goddess. What the hell is happeningHow did things take such a terrible turn in a matter of hours?I realize that I’m screaming in the streets while people are driving and walking by, and that somehow, I lost my beanie. My hair is out, red and wild, but I could’ve give a shit less about that. Alec has been captured. Everything has gone to shit. Shit, shit, shit.A strangled sound leaves my throat as I try not to cry. I can’t cry now. I have to use this anger to focus on what the hell I’m going to do. I bite my knuckles and think deeply. Where could they have taken Alec? “Delaney,” Pollux has the audacity to say. “You’re not
Delaney Upon reaching the bar, I find it empty. The doors are barricaded and it looks like there hasn’t been anyone in here for a while. The windows are broken, and when I peer inside, everything is covered in dust. What’s worse is that I don’t even see footprints, so I know that nobody was in here. They aren’t here. I’ve wasted my time coming all the way here. Bile rises up my throat, and I have to throw up on the side of the road, right next to Cade’s car. I don’t feel better afterward. Instead, this has made me more nauseous. I don’t have much left inside of me, though, just breakfast from earlier. I get in the car, and shut the door. I run my fingers through my hair as wave after wave of despair crash into me. I pull my knees up to my chest and rest my forehead against the steering wheel as despair takes hold of me. This wasn’t supposed to happen. They were supposed to be here. I hoped they’d be. I’d imagined walking through those doors and finding them—safe, together, alive.
Alec It doesn’t take me long to find out that there will be a raid in a newly discovered rogue camp not too far from the city. They were hidden in the middle of nowhere, but someone leaked the information and now, everyone will be headed there when the sun sets. I have a feeling deep inside of me that Delaney is in that camp, and I now regret telling her not to tell me the address of where she was staying. That way, I’d be sure.Fuck. That doesn’t mean I can’t call her though. I tell myself that as soon as I can, I’ll give her a call and ask for her exact location. Right now, I’m just waiting for this meeting to end. I notice that the hall is uncommonly empty, which makes me wonder where the hell everyone else is. Where have they gone? I’m not in the state of mind to ask, though. Carla’s burial was meant to be today, but I’ve asked for them to cremate her instead. I’ll keep the ashes at home and…I don’t know. I don’t know what I’ll do with them. So much is going on. I don’t have
DelaneySaying goodbye to Alec is always a bittersweet moment. This time, it’s more bitter than it is sweet. He drops me off near the car, and after saying goodbye to each other for the hundredth time, I start making my way back to the rebel camp. At least now I know that we have Alec’s support. What happens next can’t be predicted by anyone, we’ll just have to wait and see. And keep fighting, of course. I hope I won’t find the group as demoralized as they were last night. I come bearing good news, I hope. I hope it’ll cheer them up. We’ll see.The drive back feels longer than it should. Maybe it’s the silence in the car. The rebels don’t exactly have state-of-the-art vehicles, and the rumbling engine is loud enough to drown out my thoughts if I let it. But my brain insists on working overtime, replaying Alec’s words over and over again.I clench the steering wheel tighter, his words curling like smoke in my mind. I’ve never felt this desperate, not even when I was in the prison.