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 taketwoomegas 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 knowwhatI 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.