AlecI haven’t been able to move from my position. I’ve been sitting behind my desk, my body covered in blood, for the past two hours. The hunt has finally ended, and I’m horrified by the things I’ve seen. I was always aware that many Alpha-borns, Beta-borns, and even Gammas, hated Omegas, but I didn’t know how bad things could get until I saw the carnage first-hand. They’ve ruined the hunt for me, and it was an event that I always looked forward to. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to go to one without recalling what happened. It wasn’t just about killing them. No, Alpha Fredrick and his cronies were determined to make the Omegas suffer as much as possible, and they did this by attacking a single Omega in groups and then tearing their limbs apart before killing them. Sometimes, they’d let them bleed out. They’d cut people up and leave them to bleed. It was horrible. I killed as many as I could in the most humane way possible. It was better than letting them suffer in the hands o
DelaneyOur mission is meant to be upstairs, and so we leave through one of the many unconventional exits, and make it to Pollux’s Ford. He still hasn’t told us what the mission is about, and it’s honestly so frustrating. If he understood just how anxious this whole thing makes me, maybe he’d be more eager for share the details at a much quicker pace. I get in the backseat, and he starts the car once Paola closes the door. He then turns his body around, and says, “Here’s the thing: there was a survivor from the hunt. A guy. Matteo wants us to fetch him, but he didn’t make it known because he doesn’t want to alert anyone.”“Why not?” Paola asks. “I thought we were all meant to be trustworthy. Does that mean that he trusts us?”“Yes,” Pollux says. “He does. He trusts us way too much for first-timers.” His eyes then land on me when he says, “I guess it’s all your fault, Delaney.”I frown. “What? That he trusts us?”“Of course,” he replies. There’s something off about how he says this.
DelaneyMy ears are ringing when the car finally comes to a stop, and I'm all upside down. I look around, only vaguely aware of what's happening. Paola and Pollux are in the front seat. She appears to be passed out, and he's stirring and groaning in pain. I look around for the guy we rescued, and he's sprawled to one side, still passed out. His legs look broken, but I don't know if they were like this before he got in the car.I groan as well as I try to get out of the car. Beside me, right close to my ear, I hear footsteps, and when I turn my head slowly in its direction, I see heavy black boots. Then, the door is opened, and a loud metallic sound follows this. The sound is too much for my poor ears, that are still ringing. Then, without wanting, I'm pulled out of the car. A cry leaves my lips, and from inside the car, I hear Pollux call my name. "Delaney!"The man grabs the back of my coat and hauls me up so my knees aren't touching the ground. He's pretty strong. He's taking me
Delaney I let my head hang as exhaustion and pain overtake my body.I don’t know where pain ends and exhaustion begins. I’ve never felt this way before. This is the kind of pain that I never thought existed, and what makes it worse is how much he’s enjoying this. He steps back, and I don’t look up to see where he’s going. My blood is all over the floor. I know that most of these injuries will heal if I have the time, and they’ll do so seamlessly, but the psychological scarring is something I’ll never get rid of. If he doesn’t kill me here, I’ll never forget this until the day I die. My mouth is parched, and I taste blood in it. I don’t know how many hours have passed. One? Two? Four? I’m worried sick about Paola and Pollux, and the Omega man that survived the hunt only to be possibly killed in a car crash. I feel responsible for what happened to them. I should have covered my hair. Beta Whittle would never have recognized me under a hoodie. I hear the sounds of things being move
Alec “But she’ll be alright?” I ask the healer. For the past five minutes, she’s been telling me the extent of Delaney’s injuries, and the more sickened I become. I should’ve killed Wade a lot slower. Him and his son, for putting her through this. “Yes, she’ll recover,” she tells me. “But she’ll need three days. The burns on her legs need to be closely examined. She could develop an infection and end up losing them.”I close my eyes, then nod and thank her. The healer, Anna, returns to the room and leaves me alone in the corridor. I had to bring her to one of the safe houses reserved for me and Carla if a war ever breaks out. These were built during the times when the last Omega rebellion was happening, and they haven’t closed them down. I’m glad my father decided to keep his because it’s come in handy today. I had nowhere to take Delaney. This is the only place I could think of. Anna won’t tell anyone about this, and in any case, she doesn’t know anything about Delaney. Besides,
Delaney The woman removes the phone from my ear once he ends the call abruptly, and I stare at her face and wonder who she is, and where I am. “You’re safe,” she tells me. It’s uncanny because I feel like she just read my mind. “My name is Anna, and I’m a healer. The Alpha has asked me to watch over you during your healing process. You have extensive injuries, but I’ve already sealed most of them with salve. You’ll be fine, but you need to take it easy for three days, and you need to be completely bedridden today.”The Alpha. Alec. Yes, I vividly recall him storming into that cottage and tearing apart Beta Whittle and his son. He carried me to the car, and that’s the last thing I remember. He brought me here. He’s asked this healer to watch over me. Why does he want to know how many people were in the car with me? Not knowing is making me highly anxious. I try to move, and she puts her hands on my shoulders and keeps me down on the bed. “Please, don’t move. You have too many injur
Alec When I arrive at Wade’s house, I immediately step out, not allowing myself to hesitate for a second. I can’t waste any time. Too many lives depend on it. I walk up to the front door and then press the doorbell. I hear it ringing a few times, and then wait. I try to close myself so as to not appear nervous at all, but this house makes me remember Trevor, and whenever I do, I feel this nervousness that I can’t put my finger on. He’s been dead for seven years, yet I still feel the same way I did right before I slammed that rock over his head. I think it’s because how hard his mother cried during his funeral. The woman was inconsolable, and that was the first time that I actually felt the impact of what I’d done. Someone was suffering because of his death. I sometimes ask myself what would have happened if I’d never killed him. I could’ve perhaps tried to push him off her. I could’ve even hit him. Whenever I ask myself this, though, my wolf feels betrayed. She was my mate, an
AlecThere is no fear in their eyes as I approach the cage, and I stop right before I reach them, and give them both a good look. “Does anyone else apart from these two know you’re here?” I ask them. “Did you see anyone else on your way here, or at the crash site? Anyone that could tie you to this murder?”No answer comes from them, not for a handful of seconds. I look from the woman to the man, who eyes me like me wants to tear me apart. It’s the woman who answers me. “No, just this man. And the woman. And of course, the Beta and his son.”The man shoots her an accusatory look, but she doesn’t even look at him. I ask her, “You’re absolutely sure about this.”“Yes,” she answers. “I’m sure.”“The man lying on the ground, is he dead?”She closes her eyes, then nods. “Yes. He died before we could give him care. He was…a victim of the hunt. We were going to help him.”I frown. “Which hunt?”“The one that happened yesterday,” she claims. “The one where you killed almost half of the Omega
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.