I press closer to the window, unable to tear my eyes away from the carnage below as rms from thest st that hit the tower re through the room. The Knight is methodically dismantling the tank like he’s unwrapping a particrly stubborn gift, his metal ws tearing through armor ting as if it’s paper. The sound of screeching metal carries even through the thick ss.
A sh of gold catches my eye as two figures tumble out of the tank. The pretty blond one and a much bigger alpha with shaggy dark hair.
The elevator’s mechanical hum makes me jump. Someone else seeking shelter up here, no doubt. The barks echoing through the shaft, gradually getting closer as the car ascends, give me a hint as to who that someone is.
As if this tower is going to provide much protection if another st hits it. What kind of absolute barbarian fires at a building with an omega inside anyway?
These people have no ss.
When the doors slide open to reveal Lex, her faithful hellhound at her side as always, I can’t help but curl my lip. Speaking of no ss…
‘Sorry, Princess,’ she drawls, striding toward me with purpose as her dog darts around the room, sniffing everything she can find. Her dog pauses at a pair of Niki’s fancy leather boots in the corner and sniffs like she’s thinking about pissing on them. ‘You’reing with me.’
I dart away from her reaching hands, snatching a gaudymp from a nearby table. ‘Don’t touch me,’ I snarl, swinging it at her head.
Themp connects with a satisfying crack, but Lex barely flinches. Before I can retreat, she lunges forward and grabs me, easily subduing my attempts to fight back. In one fluid motion, she hoists me over her shoulder like a sack of grain.
‘Put me down, you mongrel!’ I screech in Vrissian, my nails raking across any part of her I can reach. ‘I’ll tear your ears off!’
Bess barks excitedly alongside us, tail wagging furiously like this is just a game of Capture the Omega.
Lex grunts but doesn’t loosen her grip as she carries me to the elevator. She jabs the button repeatedly, muttering curses under her breath.
Nothing happens.
‘Shit,’ she growls, shifting my weight on her shoulder. ‘Gonna have to take the stairs.’
I freeze mid-struggle. ‘There have been stairs this whole time?’
She moves toward what I’d assumed was a broom closet, fishing out a key ring with her free hand. ‘Where did you think we’d go if the elevator broke down?’
‘I thought this was your boss’s idea of a clever prison!’ I snap, renewing my efforts to break free. ‘Let me go!’
‘You want me to fling you over the rail, keep squirmin’,’ Lex barks as she adjusts me on her shoulder. If her hand gets any closer to my ass, I’m going to chop it off. ‘Just ’cause the boss told us to y gentle with you doesn’t mean I’m gonna get ripped apart by that thing if I can help it.’
Those words set off rm bells in my head, other than the actual rms that have been going off incessantly ever since the tank sted this ce.
I start thrashing and struggling with renewed earnest as a distant explosion rocks the tower, making us stumble. Lex’s grip tightens on me as she steadies herself against the wall and Lex’s dog resumes barking her hollow head off.
‘Your men have shitty aim,’ Iment dryly.
Lex scowls, picking up the pace.
Another st, closer this time, sends tremors through the building. Dust rains down from above, and I can hear the ominous sound of ss shattering somewhere above us.
‘Wonderful,’ I mutter. ‘So instead of being eaten by the monster I’ve been having nightmares about for years, I get to be crushed to death in a stairwell with a woman who smells like motor oil and wet dog.’
‘You’re wee,’ Lex says, her voice dripping with sarcasm. ‘Now shut up and let me concentrate on getting us both out of here alive.’
I open my mouth to deliver another scathing retort, but the words die in my throat as an inhuman roar echoes from outside. It sounds closer than before.
Much closer.
And this asshole is delivering me right to him.
The sound of boots thundering up the stairwell makes my heart leap into my throat, but the steps are too light to be the Knight’s iron-d stomping. And I doubt he could even fit through it. Not that this is much of a relief, considering I’m still being manhandled and there’s a damn warzone outside.
When Niki bursts through the door below us, I catch a glimpse of his face straining to look over my shoulder. I’ve never seen him look so enraged. Not even when I broke his nose. His slightly mismatched eyes lock onto us, and his entire body goes rigid.
‘What the fuck are you doing?’ he snarls, his voice echoing off the concrete walls.
The dog is barking at a hypersonic speed now.
Lex shifts my weight on her shoulder. ‘That thing is gonna rip this whole ce apart!’ she bellows down at him. ‘Take half your army with it! Everything we’ve worked for, everything we’ve built—ripped to shreds!’ She lets out a harshugh. ‘And for what? One little omega?’
I dig my nails into her back, but she doesn’t even flinch.
‘I say we give it what it wants,’ Lex continues, her voice hard. ‘Cut our losses before?—’
‘Put her down.’ Niki’s voice drops dangerously low. ‘Now.’
‘Boss, be reasonable?—’
The sound of a gun being cocked cuts through the air. My eyes widen as I crane my neck to see Niki aiming his weapon at Lex as the dog barks savagely between the two alphas, every hair on her neck standing on edge.
‘Are you fucking serious?’ Lex demands, her grip on me tightening. ‘You’re gonna shoot the only person in this hellscape who’s actually been loyal to you for some moonlight strange?’
‘You’re the strange ones!’ I hiss indignantly, thrashing against her hold. ‘And I would sooner let the Knight fuck me than that tacky criminal!’
‘Do you not know what ‘strange’ means?’ Lex asks in a baffled tone.
‘Shut up,’ Niki snaps.
I’m not sure which of us he’s talking to, but just in case he dares to say that to me, my eyes narrow dangerously. ‘You’d better hope the Knight eats me,’ I spit, ‘because I’m going to turn your balls into earrings.’
‘In case you haven’t noticed, I’m the one protecting your ass!’ he bellows.
‘Well, you’re doing a bad job!’
I feel Lex’s muscles tensing as we bicker and her dog barks and barks and fucking barks some more. She’s actually considering defying him.
Another explosion rocks the tower—because apparently, those idiots out there can’t aim even when they’re shooting rocketunchers—sending more dust raining down on us from the stairwell above. Through the narrow windows, I catch glimpses of chaos. Men running, mes licking the sky, and somewhere below, the Knight’s bone-chilling roar.
‘Last chance,’ Niki growls, his finger tightening on the trigger. ‘Put. Her. Down.’
The tension in the stairwell is thick enough to choke on. The only sounds are the chaos outside and Bess’s constant barkingncing through my ears.
For a moment, I think Lex is about toply, but when she moves like she’s going to try to rush past him, the gun fires.
Lex crumples with a furious snarl and drops me. Luckily onto my ass, but that’s going to leave one hell of a bruise. I catch a glimpse of Lex clutching her bleeding knee as Bess lets out a furious snarl and lunges, sinking her teeth into Niki’s arm. The gun tters to the floor and he snarls, too, grabbing the dog’s scruff and trying in vain to pull her off him as she ravages him through the sleeve.
I fucking run.