At my side, Sin got to his feet.
“What are you doing?” My hiss slid over to him, meant for us alone.
“I want her,” he said simply.
I stifled my groan. “Because she’s cute, or because she’s destined for Holden?”
Sin’s grin broadened. “Both?”
Any chance to fuck Holden over, and Sin pounced. I didn’t blame him, but this—thiswas declaring an all out war.
“We can’tclaimher,” I snarled.
“Why ever not?” Sin asked, cocking his head as he stepped over the bench.
“You know full well why fucking not!” I launched to my feet, almost crashing into the table after him.
It wasn’t just Holden.Nopack would accept our claim on her. I squared Sin up, blocking his way. I was a big alpha, but only topped Sin by an inch. He tilted his head, eyes narrowed at the challenge.
I glanced at Karma, but even as I did, Sin side-stepped me, tugging his shirt off to reveal lean muscle. He had the tail of his hand wrap between his teeth, tugging it tight, as he began into the fray.
Arrogant asshole.
I tried to grab him as he stalked away. “Don’t?—!”
“You gonna let him get pulverized?” Karma cut me off.
Fuck.
He’d be snapped in two without us.
Plus, leaving still felt off. Something within me was shivering with an undercurrent of urgency like I’d never felt before. I wasn’t just following Sin because he was a fool. That omega would be dark bonded or dead by nightfall, and there was a nagging part of my brain screaming at me that it would be… wrong.
Itcouldn’thappen.
“Even if we make it, we’ll be gutted by morning,” I warned.
Karma nodded his head in a so-so motion, tugging a strand of auburn hair loose from his braid. I could see the indecision on his own face as if he could feel it, too—a soul-deep resistance to leaving her behind.
There was a growl, and a horrible sound of bones snapping from the ongoing fight. Echoing it was a faint, feminine whimper.
Her fear seized me like a vise, and Karma flinched too.
Behind us, I saw Sterling, the Wakefield pack lead, and half of the Emerald pack get to their feet, eyes tracing Sin as he sauntered into the fray toward her, a perfect picture of aura-less, idiotic confidence. Him and his fucking alliances—I don’t know how he did it, butifour allies were in, we might actually make it out alive.
I tilted my head, cracking my neck with a snort, letting the old ache of insanity rush to the forefront of my mind, blitzing away all those pesky, rational thoughts that had slowly crept back over the last few years.
Sweet, sweet release flooded my mind as my aura split the air.
3
CRESCENT
My hand, which was pressed to the grimy wall, was the only thing keeping me standing.
An alpha leaped for me, but never made it as another collided with him. Both crashed into the wall to my side.
I’d been dropped into a huge prison cafeteria by the smell of food in the air, but around me was chaos. It was a massive room, and my weak long-distance vision meant any alphas further away were a sea of humanoid blurs, but I could tell there weresomany.