In the Darkness

by Leann Ryans

  "We need to leave the city."

  Grady's statement stopped the discussion as all eyes focused on him.

  "Are you crazy?" Charles asked.

  "What if we run into a pack of Ferals?"

  Water's question caught my attention though I kept one eye on Pine who was being suspiciously silent.

  "We do the same thing we'll have to do if we stay here, we fight them. My family used to own a place not too far outside the dead zone. If we can make it there, we could stay until she's claimed, and then come back."

  Charles spoke up again. "We aren't prepared for that kind of journey."

  "Well we aren't fucking prepared to take on the entire Slums either!" Grady yelled.

  "How far outside the dead zone, and what kind of place?"

  Pine's quiet voice seemed to carry more weight than the other’s arguments.

  "A few miles. We should be able to make it within a day, even walking. It was a small farm. A lot was left behind when they evacuated before the war reached the city, so as long as no one has scavenged it, we should be able to survive there."

  Everyone was silent as Pine appeared to think everything over.

  "It's a good idea. But if we leave, there's a chance we won’t be able to get back."

  Pine looked at each of the guys before he looked down at me. Glancing around, I realized they were all staring at me.

  “What are we really leaving behind?” Water murmured.

  "It's worth it," Cinnamon whispered.

  Preparations

  Apparently the decision was made, because the guys turned and began to make their way out of the rubble. Charles stayed close to help Pine anytime he had trouble getting over or past something while holding me.

  When we passed back through where the couch had been, my eyes went wide when I realized the entire thing was buried under a chunk of ceiling. My eyes swung to the last place the strange Alpha had been, and I was glad I couldn’t make anything out among the pile of rocks. I had no idea if his body was still there or not.

  Pine must have noticed where I was looking because he said, “Don’t worry about him. We took care of the ones that got in, but more will be coming.”

  Swallowing hard, I looked away, hoping to see my blanket, but there was no sign of it either. I don’t know what the guys had done, but it seemed they almost brought the entire house down.

  I was surprised when, instead of heading to the stairwell, the guys began to climb the rubble against one of the walls. Glancing where the stairwell used to be, I realized why.

  Pine shifted me to where my arms were around his neck so that he had an arm free to help him climb. Wrapping my legs around his waist, I clung to him as he made his way up. Grady and Water had already picked their way across what was left of the floor to the outer wall where there was a hole letting in the weak afternoon sunlight.

  Pine moved slowly with Charles close by to catch us if anything happened, but my heart was still racing and my body sweating with anxiety by the time we made it to the relative safety of the wall.

  “We aren’t going to be able to make it with no supplies, we’re going to have to collect what we can from this mess,” Pine said as he crouched down and looked out of the hole.

  There wasn’t much to see outside except a weed filled strip of yard between us and another wall.

  “Wesley, you take her. Stay here and keep an eye out while we gather what we can,” Pine said, handing me to the one that smelled like water.

  Pine was the last one that I didn’t know the real name of, but despite knowing what to call the others now, I still didn’t really know any of them.

  “Grab anything useful. And try not to fall through the fucking floor you two.”

  With that, Pine turned and disappeared into what was left of the house. Most of the damage seemed to be near the front where we were. Grady and Charles shot each other a look before splitting up and heading in different directions, both picking their way carefully across the floor.

  Wesley cradled me against his chest as he shifted into a different position. He seemed to be looking down the strip of grass, but I couldn’t see anything with the way I was being held.

  Feeling awkward with being toted around and held so much, I squirmed a little until he gave me a squeeze and let out a low growl. Freezing, I felt my cheeks flush at the trickle of slick that leaked from my core. I watched his nostrils flare before he looked down at me, immediately catching the scent of my slick.

  Ducking my head, I refused to meet his gaze. It wasn’t my fault they conditioned me this way. Just their combined scents and being so close to all of them had my body feeling flushed.

  We sat in silence for a while before the others began to return. First Grady with an arm full of water bottles and a plastic bag of what looked like food. When Charles returned with two backpacks, they began to arrange everything into them. Pine was the last to return carrying a black duffle bag.

  The men went through what they had found, separating everything into the three bags. As Grady ran back to grab more food, Pine moved closer to me. Wesley had taken a seat on the floor while we had waited, with me in his lap, and Pine motioned for me to sit up.

  Obeying, I watched him fiddle with some type of cloth in his hands before he reached out and put it over my head. It reeked of the scent of Alpha and pine trees, and once I realized it was a shirt, I put my arms through the holes, letting Pine tug it down into place. It was much too large, but it was the first time I had been allowed to have any kind of clothing since I had woken up with them.

  Reaching for my foot, he pulled socks from his pocket and slid them onto me. It wasn’t much, but at least I wouldn’t be carried from the house naked for all to see.

  Spreading my knees wide, he stared at my core for a moment before using a cloth he pulled from another pocket to wipe away the slick that coated my folds. It seemed pointless since the act of wiping it away stimulated more.

  Grady returned and stuffed whatever he had found into the three bags. None seemed full, but I had to hope they had whatever we needed to get out of the city to where we were going. As bad as things seemed with them, I didn’t want to learn how much worse it could be with Alphas I didn’t know.

  “Grady, tell us how to get to the house,” Pine snapped.

  “By road, it’s down the East Highway. You exit off right past the river and follow it up. It’s set back a way though, and it’ll be faster to get there if we cut across the dead zone into the woods. The river goes through there too, so we can follow that once we reach it until we reach the back fields. There’s an old barn and a windmill beside the river once you hit our land.”

  “You heard him,” Pine said, looking around at each of the men. “If shit gets bad and we get separated, do your best to make it there.”

  Stooping down, he lifted me from Wesley’s lap and pulled me to his chest.

  “Keep close and move fast.”

  Running

  The guys moved out, slowly creeping through the hole we had been watching out of, towards the street I could now see. Wesley took the lead, peeking around the end of the house before waving us forward.

  There was a large black SUV in the driveway, and I was surprised that we passed it until I caught sight of the tires. All four had been slashed and a few of the windows were busted as well.

  As I looked over Pine’s shoulder towards the house we were leaving, I could see that the roof that had covered the front porch had fallen, and what I could see of the front of the house appeared to be burned.

  Quickly losing sight of the house as the men moved rapidly down the street, I was jostled around so much it was hard to really look at anything, so I had nothing to do besides hold on to Pine and hope we didn’t run into anyone else.

  With darkness falling as the sun sank, we passed the occasional person, and we got quite a few odd stares, but no one got in the way. It usually wasn’t a good idea to bother a group of Alphas that were focused on something, and the expressi
ons on the men’s faces was enough to scare anyone away.

  The Slums circled the city, the last barrier between it and the dead zone, but all together it was probably larger than the city center, with far more people crowded into it. Though the men began to duck down seemingly random side streets, I could tell we were approaching the edges.

  The guys seemed to continue to pick up speed, taking turns and backtracking. It took me a while to realize it was because we were being followed.

  Catching site of the group of Alphas chasing after us, my body stiffened in Pine’s arms. Casting a glance over his shoulder, he began to curse.

  “Go straight for the Break, they’re too close,” Pine yelled, causing Wesley, who was still in the lead, to swerve into a new alley.

  The guys were practically sprinting now, and I held on to Pine with all of my strength as I felt his chest heaving under me. As some Alphas in the group chasing us fell behind, others seemed to appear from every street and doorway we passed to take their place.

  Heart pounding in my chest, I was soaked in a nervous sweat. With Pine in the back of the group, I had a clear view of the hungry expressions on the faces staring back at me.

  When an Alpha jumped from a second-floor window into the middle of the group, I couldn't help the scream that escaped my throat as Pine spun to put his back to the Alpha, protecting me as Charles tackled the man.

  Going down in a heap, Grady dropped back and landed a kick to the man's head as Charles fought with him. Helping Charles to his feet when the Alpha fell limp, Grandy turned and raced past us to take his place behind Wesley again.

  Charles stayed behind us, I guess in case any of the others caught up. It wasn’t long before another Alpha attacked our group as we turned a corner. I didn’t even have time to turn and look before we were flying past the still twitching body bleeding onto the sidewalk.

  Unable to take anymore, I closed my eyes, burying my head into Pine’s neck as my body trembled. The men were tiring, having already ran a couple of miles through the maze of streets and alleys, and I didn’t know if it was worse having my eyes closed so I didn’t know what was coming, or having them open and watching the Alphas catching up.

  Pine’s arms around me never loosened, no matter how he had to dodge or jump. I could hear snarls and grunts around me, but the men seemed to be holding their own because they never stopped moving.

  When it had been quiet for a minute or two, I dared to lift my head and peek around. We had entered the beginnings of the dead zone.

  The dead zone was a ring of destruction around the city. The inner ring were old buildings, crumbling to the point that even the people of the slums wouldn’t chance living in them. Beyond the few blocks of that was the rubble. Nothing there stood taller than a man, having been flattened during the siege years ago before the war ended. It was used as a dumping ground for all kinds of refuse and was generally the last place you would ever find people.

  Beyond the rubble and trash was an area that had been wiped clean. The Break. A truly dead area where not even plants grew due to the poison the city sprayed over the ground each year. It was kept cleared so anyone approaching the city would be in clear view, and it stretched for a mile before butting up against a forest.

  The forest and the areas between the cities were said to be filled with packs of Ferals, people who had been kicked out of the city, or chose to leave for whatever reason. People who lived without laws, where all women, and especially omegas, were nothing more than possessions to be used, traded, or sold.

  And that’s where we were heading.

  If we made it out of the city anyway.

  Looking over Pine’s shoulder, I could see that the Alphas following us seemed fewer, and maybe it was a foolish hope, but they looked to be falling farther behind. There were superstitions about the dead zone that kept a great many people from entering it, and I hoped that would work in our favor.

  We were all taken by surprise when a group of Alphas seemed to spring out of nowhere in a narrow space between buildings.

  Skidding to a stop, my group drew together. There were four Alphas ahead of Wesley, and another three had come out of the last alley we passed to close us in from behind.

  Whimpering, I clung tighter to Pine, but he grabbed my arms and peeled them from his neck, using enough strength to leave bruises on my arms. I fought to keep ahold of him, but he managed to get my arms behind my back, pinning them in one hand as the other moved to my ankle.

  Loosening my grip on his waist, I felt myself begin to slip, and the whole time he kept his eyes on the Alphas circling us.

  Gasping for breath, he finally forced me to the ground. With a snarl, he told me to “Stay” as he stepped around me. Huddled on the ground between my four Alphas’ legs, I couldn’t hold back the sobs.

  “Give us the omega, and you can go.”

  A growl rose from my entire group, Pine yelling, “Come and take her.”

  As one of the others lunged, Pine yelled, “Charles,” and I felt hands wrap around my ribs. Screaming and flailing, it took a moment to realize Charles was the one holding me to his chest now, barreling through the tiny gap Wesley and Pine had managed to open between the Alphas blocking our path out of the city.

  Grunting, Charles jostled me around when his shoulder connected with one of them, but he kept going. I watched as Wesley slashed the throat of the Alpha he was struggling with before racing after us. Pine snapped the neck of his opponent before turning to help Grady with the two he was holding back.

  I could hear Pine yelling at Grady to run, and he finally obeyed when one of the two dropped, leaving Pine to finish the one in front of him. Since they had caught us in a narrow spot, the other three had been trapped behind the fighting bodies until Pine rammed his blade into the man’s throat.

  Turning to look towards us, his beautiful hazel eyes met mine. The anger that always seemed to be on his face was gone, replaced with calm. He gave me a smirk as my mouth opened in a scream, arm raising to point at the men behind him.

  Turning back, he sliced at two of them, burying his blade in the eye socket of one as the other slammed a knife into his side. Gasping in shock, I saw him pull the other’s knife out of his side, turning to slice across the Alpha’s throat as he tried to pass him.

  The third ignored Pine as he crumpled, hand clutching his side. Jumping over his fallen comrades, he thought he made it before I saw Pine pull a blade from one of the men on the ground and throw it.

  Landing in the back of the Alpha’s thigh as he ran towards us, he tripped and fell, screaming in rage as my Alphas raced away. My last view of Pine was him laying sprawled on top of the other bodies, arms spread wide as if he was relaxing on a bed.

  I still didn’t know his name.

  Thanks

  I’d like to thank you for reading this short story. The beginning was something that popped in my head one night that I decided to write just for a bit of smutty fun. People asked me to give them more, so I did, and this story happened.

  Book 2 of the Duet, In the Light, will be coming shortly, I won’t keep y’all hanging too long! I’ll announce on Facebook once its release is scheduled, but hopefully sometime in October.

  If you would like to keep up with what I am working on and participate in votes for what I work on next, names, as well as other fun stuff, come join my Facebook reader group, Leann’s Omega Den.

  My other works are longer and tend to be slow-burn, but the scenes are just as hot! If you’re interested, the links are below

  Continue for a sneak peek at Raider’s Bounty, my Historical Barbarian Omegaverse story.

  If you enjoy sci-fi, action adventure stories, check out my series,

  The Legion Omegas beginning with

  Book 1: The Omega Prize

  https://www.amazon.com/Omega-Prize-Legion-Omegas-Book-ebook/dp/B07NTTCZPH/ref=pd_ybh_a_8?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=95ABHNCVYQSSE0VXQ9YT

  All three are available on Kindle Unlimited,

  O
r get all three books in The Legion Omegas Omnibus, available in eBook and paperback.

  https://www.amazon.com/Legion-Omegas-Omnibus-Books-1-3-ebook/dp/B07S42YNR7/ref=pd_ybh_a_9?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=XTPD9CG8BKQZJSPEJJEE

  I have both a page and a group on Facebook, as well as a profile on Wattpad where I post a sample of all of my stories as well as occasional exclusive short stories.

  https://www.facebook.com/groups/341170566751158/?ref=bookmarks

  https://www.facebook.com/authorleannryans/

  Raider’s Bounty

  Lyric

  It was colder than she expected as Lyric ran across the open field, the frozen grass crunching under her feet. The trees had blocked some of the wind, but now she was exposed and thinking twice about the wisdom of her decision to run. Maybe if she had simply submitted, they would have spared her, and she wouldn’t have found herself gasping the freezing air into burning lungs.

  Lyric had never expected to have to leave the village she had always called home. Her father was the First Alpha, and the alpha that she was promised to as mate was someone she knew and respected. Though he wasn’t someone that she would have chosen for herself since he was so much older, she was content with him becoming her mate knowing that her father could have picked someone far worse. He was doing what was best for her.

  She had actually been looking forward to their mating in the spring once her first estrous hit, but the raiders had changed all of that now. The pleasant, unexciting life she had envisioned was gone. Watching her father’s throat slit before her, and then finding her intended already dead when she tried to turn to him for help, Lyric had no other choice but to run and hope none of the raiders tracked her.

  That’s why she had left the cover of the trees to cross the field. There was a river ahead of her that she hoped to use to break her trail, but with how cold she already was, she wasn’t sure she could force herself to step into the water. Dying of hypothermia was not the way she wanted to go.