by Milana Jacks
I turned and braced my fists on the concrete, finding it easier to balance on one leg now than before.
In the corner of my eye, Sienna struggled, her white dress dirty and bloody. At the sight of her blood, I saw red and bit the arm of a woman coming at me. She screamed, and I didn’t care that she was a female or possibly even a mate to one of us. A threat to my mate had to be neutralized. Then I could die.
Only then could I die.
I leapt to my right. A group of twelve came in, tried to close me in a circle. I sprinted and knocked off the woman on top of Sienna. We rolled and stopped, me on top of the woman. Under me and turned on her belly, the fork she’d been trying to jab my mate with flew out of her hand. Her eyes went wide. We locked gazes, hers filled with fear that I inhaled, mine filled with mercy.
Until something pierced my thigh. A sharp snap of my head showed me another woman stabbed me. Claws flexed, I swiped. She fell. The one under me squeaked. I bit down and crushed her windpipe.
Crunch.
Dead.
I shook her, let the body go, and licked my lips. Crimson spilled down my chin. I swiped it with my hand. The twelve remaining women faced me. I’d never seen females, bitches or women, who carried more hate and desire for my blood. With their lips peeled back, the hate for me, my mate, my entire species, shone on their faces. They risked their lives to end us. Martyrs, I thought. Surely the chemicals they’d put in the balloons would kill everyone in the room, including them.
I fought the instinct to close my eyes. The powder stung and burned, making me tear up. My lungs felt like they’d collapse any minute. I backed away slowly, giving them a chance to back off. “I will hurt no one.” I coughed. “You can have me. Sienna leaves.”
I stopped when I felt Sienna’s body behind me. She tried to pry open the main entrance.
“Oh my God, oh my God, oh good God, save us. It’s locked. Open it!”
“Sienna.”
“Oh my God, oh my…”
“Sienna!” I shouted as the women approached. I must look like their worst nightmare, crouched, hairy, huge, and snarling, with blood dripping down my chin. They hesitated. As they should.
“Torrent, it’s locked,” she said.
“Cole bolted us inside.”
“No, no, he wouldn’t.”
I glanced behind me. She was shaking her head. “Yes, he did, baby. We can’t trust any of them. None of the people who give a shit about us are here. It’s me and you, Sienna, me and you. Remember that?” When she didn’t answer me, I felt the world would collapse. She’d turn right back to them, maybe even stab me from behind. But then her small hands wound around my waist. She laid her head on my back.
Even her small size put me off-balance. The knee of my good leg shook, threatening to give out. My stump, already braced on the floor, from the nerves at the ends, shot needles up my spine. I couldn’t carry Sienna and defend her at the same time. Last year, I could’ve, but not now.
“What’s the matter?” I asked Sienna. Momma Jo held up a spear she’d pried off a fallen hunter. She’d charge with it at any moment.
“I don’t feel good,” my mate said.
“Here’s what I want you to do. Are you listening?”
“Mm-hm.”
“Get down on your stomach. Put your nose in the narrow opening under the door. Breathe in and out, slowly.”
“Okay.”
“Do it now!”
“But then I won’t see them coming. They’ll get me.”
“I got your back. Trust.”
Sienna did what I said. I glanced behind me to make sure she faced the door. “Don’t turn around,” I said. “No matter what, don’t turn around.”
Momma Jo threw her spear.
I ducked and leapt, knocked her onto the ground.
I couldn’t even enjoy ripping her flesh. There were many others to finish off. I would make it fast for them and for me, because I was pretty sure this would haunt me. I’d killed many males and never blinked an eye, but females were different, softer, weaker in body than males, and I’d never hurt one. Until now.
I mauled, bit, snapped, sliced, but didn’t feast even though I was hungry, even though I wanted to. The last one twitched under me, and her blood spilled onto my tongue. I lapped it up, my tongue working over her jugular the only sound in the room.
I lifted my head and looked around.
Bodies.
Bodies covered in deflated balloons.
Blood.
A few weak cries.
They wouldn’t last long.
No survivors.
The chemicals had cleared out. I breathed more easily, and the air didn’t sting my eyes as much as it had immediately after the initial attack. I speculated the half-life of the chemical was short and that was why the women had acted quickly. They knew it would last only so long and serve as a distraction.
I limped over to Sienna. Good girl. She’d stayed on the floor, her nose pressed under the door to catch the fresh air from outside. I gritted my teeth, terrified to check if she was alive. I sort of stood there, frozen, unsure if I wanted to check.
“Torrent?”
I exhaled a breath.
“Torrent?”
“Yeah, uh-huh. I’m here.” I didn’t recognize my voice. Like gravel got stuck in my throat.
“Is it over yet?”
“It’s over.”
“Did Hasel make it?”
I glanced behind me. The old female’s eyes stared at the ceiling. Something in my chest squeezed my heart. “Maybe,” I lied to my mate. “We gotta get out of here.”
“The door is locked.”
“Gotta find a way out.” I banged three times with my fist. Solid wood, maybe reinforced with metal like the one in Community Three. This meant that if I were not missing a leg and had Jamie and Vice with me, we might be able to break the door. Frustrated, I banged twice more, then glanced at the east and west exits. I presumed those had been blocked off too, but the doors would be easier to break. Why hadn’t I thought of it earlier? I couldn’t think straight. My mate was here in the middle of mayhem, and my brain didn’t think right. It thought only of killing everything that threatened her.
Click.
I glanced at the door.
Sienna opened her mouth, but I put my palm over it, then pointed to the left. She nodded. We pressed our bodies against the wall. When the door swung, it would hide us.
The door swung. I put her body between me and the wall and crouched, ready.
Soft footsteps sounded, but the door blocked my view.
I widened my arms, muscles prepared for a leap, lips peeled back.
“Momma?” Cole said.
“It’s better if you stay outside,” a man answered him.
“Momma?”
“Get away from here!”
I heard fast steps hitting sand. Cole had run off, but the man stayed.
He walked farther down the sanctuary hall, and I could only see his back. He wore boots, jeans, and a black T-shirt. He looked around, then reached into his pocket and got something. I released a warning growl, and the man froze.
“Daddy?” Sienna said.
Chapter Twenty-One
Torrent
To hell with me. With that one word, Daddy, the way her heart must’ve leapt at the sight of him, the way she’d said it, I knew I’d lost her. Forever. There stood her number one. The man who cared for her, loved her unconditionally, the man who’d alleged himself to be with us, his mortal enemy, if it meant he’d keep his girl safe. I was jealous and happy for her at the same time.
The man froze, then turned his head to the side so I could see his profile. He didn’t glance back. “S…Sienna.”
“Yeah, Daddy, it’s me.”
He cleared his throat. Choked up. Cleared it again, then he spun around, a big grin splitting his face. It was out of place for this night. I didn’t think he cared about the bodies. He’d finally gotten his kid back. And she was safe and as bea
utiful as the day I saw her by the lake.
I expected her to run to him, forget about me completely, so he’d take her back home. That was all Sienna wanted. For her dad to find her so they could return home and move on with their secluded lives.
The moment he saw me, the grin disappeared from his face. Cold gray eyes locked with mine, and then he whipped out a shotgun from his waist. Steady and calm, he approached us and put the barrel between my eyes. “Torrent, is it?”
Two choices. Both shitty. One, maul him down, take a chunk out of him, kill him, and be done with the biggest threat to my mating and my life. He would never give me Sienna. I highly doubted he’d sell her or even let me within a fifty-mile radius of her. To get her, I would have to kill him. Sienna would watch me killing her father. Forgiveness? Not happening. She’d never forgive me. What was more, she’d have nightmares. Two, I could let him shoot me.
“It is you,” he confirmed when I didn’t respond. “Baby girl, go on outside. There’s a horse in the stable. Get on the horse and meet me at marker twelve. So fucking proud of you for marking. So proud.” He fisted his hand and thumped his chest. “And you,” he told me. “I got two big-ass bullets saved up just for you. Carved your name on both of them. Don’t move. You ain’t faster than my twitchy finger.” He paused, and we waited for Sienna to take her leave. I could kill him then. Maybe. Or maybe he was that fast. Still, she wouldn’t forgive me.
“Don’t shoot him, Daddy. He saved my life.”
He glanced at her. I stayed crouched, didn’t use her distraction to take him down. I put my fate in her hands. Whatever she wanted to do with me, I accepted. I accepted it when she tried to kill me, and I’d accept it now. I loved her with my whole heart. If she didn’t want me, I ought to die anyway.
“Get on that horse. Marker twelve. That’s where I’ll meet you. We’re going home.”
“Don’t shoot him. Promise you won’t shoot him.”
“Don’t you worry about him.” To me, he said, “You got my baby girl all worked up for you. You fucked with her head, ha? Took advantage of her? Oh, I’m gonna love this, been fantasizing about it ever since you took her. You went back to Big Bear. Then you went looking for her down at the community. I saw you. We don’t do communities, ’cause assholes like you would wanna come in and buy my kid. No fucking way. It’s me, my girl, and our cat. That’s all we need. You fucked that up, and now, you will pay.”
“I can’t leave him,” Sienna said.
What?
The man glanced outside, then back at me, but he spoke with her. “I got two minutes. It’s now, Sienna, or never. I gotta end him, ’cause he’ll never stop chasing after you. They call it mating. They can’t stop. Gotta shoot the motherfucker, kill him dead.”
Why only two minutes? “You got backup coming?” Was it Men of Earth? I presumed Momma Jo had somehow made contact with Men of Earth. Hell, she could’ve snuck out one of the girls, set her out on a mission to go wherever those men dwelled, told them about the community with only three beasts guarding it. Easy prey.
Sienna stayed.
Her dad didn’t move, though he sweated over his brow and wiped it with the back of his hand.
Above us, dull engine noise sounded. It could only be one thing. One of our pods.
A thud came next. The pod landed hard. Someone jumped off, his feet hard-hitting the sand, then he walked and entered the sanctuary.
More feet followed. I believed a team of beasts surrounded the community.
Whoever it was, his appearance didn’t alarm her dad, and the beast wasn’t in a hurry.
There. A kilted beast came from behind the door and paused, shoulder to shoulder with Sienna’s dad. His blond hair was braided, the end reaching the small of his back. Mayhem.
“You’re late,” Sienna’s dad said. “As am I.”
Mayhem scanned the bodies, his head turning from left to right until he spotted Hasel. A painful, quiet whine sounded from his chest. He stepped over the bodies to reach her then he picked her up and kissed her forehead. Behind me, Sienna cried.
Mayhem walked outside.
A pain-filled cry ripped through the community. Lore was here too.
I answered his cry with my own.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Sienna
The beasts howled all around us, but my dad and I stared at each other. I didn’t know if I cried for Hasel or if I cried happy tears that Daddy had found me. I rushed to him, hugged him tight, and inhaled. Daddy smelled like cheap tobacco and gunpowder. I grabbed a fistful of his T-shirt and cried harder.
He rubbed my back. “It’s okay. Everything’s gonna be fine. We’re going home.”
“I can’t believe you’re here. I hoped I’d see you again, but…” I choked on my tears.
Big brave men didn’t cry, so he kept clearing his throat. He stepped back, moving me with him. Behind me, something thumped. I startled and spun around. Torrent had collapsed. I crouched next to him and grabbed him by one shoulder. I lifted. Nothing. I couldn’t flip him. Gosh, he weighed a ton. When he was thin and underfed, I’d barely dragged him to the community, and now, after he’d regained some of his weight, I couldn’t move him. I tucked my hands under his armpits and pulled. Nothing. Okay, so it wasn’t happening.
“Hey,” I said and moved a stray hair from his bloody face. I didn’t care if it was bloody. I didn’t care that he’d killed everyone in this place. I didn’t care, because if he and Hasel weren’t here, I’d have joined those women in their sick cause and ended up a breeding bunny for Cole as soon as he understood how to work his manhood. “You are my woman,” he kept telling me, but I hadn’t listened. Not really. I felt sorry for him, kept thinking it was a child crush on an older girl, but now I thought Momma Jo must’ve promised him I’d be his woman.
Nobody was born corrupt or evil; they were taught by circumstance or by others in charge of them. Momma Jo put Cole with the beasts to spy on them, and he’d done a damn good job. I snorted, remembering hiding out and listening in on Mayhem and Reagan arguing about Cole. Mayhem had wanted to eliminate him, and Reagan wouldn’t hear of it. I agreed with her. Now? Well, not so much. This was survival of the fittest, where the mercy and kindness Hasel had shown toward the humans from this community got her killed.
“Leave him,” my dad said. “Their med unit came.” Dad whistled. “Over here!”
Seconds later, a beast dressed in a light blue one-piece outfit knelt next to Torrent. He flipped him onto his back with one hand. With the other, he pulled out a beeping device and stuck it into Torrent’s neck. The device kept beeping, lights scattering over the screen.
“Is he gonna be okay?” I asked.
The beast didn’t lift his eyes from the device. “Mm-hm. Who are you?”
“My kid,” dad said.
The beast glanced at Dad. “John, you missed our last appointment. Your enhancements need a software upgrade.”
Huh?
“Check my girl first, and then I’m all yours.”
A picture of Torrent and a bunch of writing I didn’t recognize came up on the screen. The beast doctor, I presumed, stared at the device. “Priest?”
“It’s him,” I said. “He’s alive.”
“Priest is no more. Hear!” he barked and stared pointedly at me.
I think he wanted me to say something. “I heard you.”
The doctor grunted and pulled out another device from his man purse. He laid it on the ground, then put his palm on it. A thin film coated his hands. He picked up Torrent by his wrists and started dragging him outside. “Follow me.”
Outside the sanctuary, he dropped Torrent on the ground and lined me up against the wall while Hunters of Mayhem went inside.
“John,” he said to my dad. “Bring two water buckets. We need to wash the sulfur stuck on their skin.” To me, he said, “Undress your mate, then undress yourself.”
I got to it, aware Dad hadn’t followed Doc’s orders. Not right away, anyhow. He lingered and watched m
e strip Torrent’s clothes off. Once done, I removed my ruined dress.
“This particular mixture of chemicals,” Doc said, “makes me believe the combination of sulfur and other elements is delayed. So, John, you have forty seconds before your kid is burned and sports the same scars as those on your arm. Take a break, would you? A cigarette. Beer?”
Dad sprinted away.
Doc smiled. “Now, where were we? How are you feeling?”
“Fine.”
“I treat Rey of Alpha Beast. Fine is equivalent to I feel like shit, but I’ll make it. So, how are you feeling?”
“That’s a loaded question.”
Daddy rounded the corner and threw a bucket of water at me.
I screeched and hugged my body. Goose bumps rose all over my skin, and I shivered.
He threw one over Torrent too. I thought he’d wake due to the sheer freeze, but he didn’t. The doctor pointed the beeping device and scanned our naked bodies. He declared us safe for contact when his device must’ve told him Dad had already come in contact with me. A few minutes later, after Dad was cleared and beasts on sky bikes dropped from the sky, a big black pod landed. The doors slid open. Vice jumped off and approached us, red eyes watchful. “What the hell happened here?” A glance at Torrent on the ground made him pause. He blinked. “Is it…him?”
“Torrent lives,” Doc said.
“Hurray,” my dad pitched in.
Doc updated Vice while Dad and I dressed in dry clothes and stayed out of people’s way. Hunters brought out their dead. Lore knelt over his mother’s body while two people wearing the same clothes as Doc hustled around them. Daddy excused himself for a second. He spoke with Mayhem, insisted they dig holes and bury the human bodies, not burn them. Mayhem agreed and said he would chop them into pieces, then bury the parts at random. Doc intervened, suggesting they incinerate the entire place so that whatever chemical they’d used would burn. They didn’t know what it was but wrapped then loaded up Momma Jo’s body in the back of one of the pods. I looked up. The beast fleet covered the sky like stars in the night.