No use in me hiding that I’m not alone. Ga’Var will appear eventually and it’s clear these people need my help.

  “So you’ve been living in this camper with him all this time?” Jillian asks, before lowering her voice some more. “Does he have a gun?”

  “He has a…weapon…yes.”

  Jillian lets out a breath of relief and I can almost see the wheels turning in her head.

  But there’s more I need to know before I let them follow us back to the base.

  “Tell me more about trading water. Are there many clans out there? People are surviving?”

  Billy snorts. “Hardly. Just a few people we’ve come into contact with. Some over the radio.”

  “Radio?”

  He nods. “Shortwave. Jim has it in his pack.”

  “Yes. We stockpile whatever we find. Trade it to other people we can meet up with. But…it’s dangerous.” Her gaze flicks above. “Those things. Those machines. It’s like they can sense us. You have to hide, get underground, whenever you see one.” Her gaze finds me again. “I’m surprised you’ve survived this long out here in the open. Even right now it’s dangerous, us being here. One could show up at any moment.”

  They all look above again, a shiver running through them like a collective.

  “What do you trade?” I ask. “Food and water?”

  Jillian shakes her head. “Those are just the rarest things. Water especially. If you have even a cup, it’s worth a helluva lot out here. People also trade weapons.” Her gaze slips over my blanket. “Bedding. Shelter.”

  “Sex,” the dark-skinned girl says and my eyes widen a fraction.

  “Is that what…is that the situation with Bob and Jim?”

  “No.” Jillian shakes her head.

  “We aren’t trading with those pieces of shit.” Lily’s eyes flare before her gaze lowers. “It’s not trading.”

  Jillian grabs her hand and squeezes it. “We just don’t have a choice. We can’t leave. They threaten to shoot us or force us to go to bed with them. They’re just beginning to trust Billy here, to leave him in charge. We’ve been trying…trying to get them to think of him as their equal, then maybe we can find a way to get away from them.”

  A frown furrows my brow. I don’t understand. “Why don’t you just run away…like right now?”

  Deja kisses her teeth. “Those fuckers will hunt you. The last girl that did that, she’s hanging from some tree in the middle of nowhere with a bullet in her head and her body defiled.” She snarls, anger emanating from her very being as she turns her gaze in the direction Jim and Bob went. “Plus, there’s worse than them out there.”

  I’m left staring at her in the silence that ensues.

  None of the others deny what she’s just said.

  My throat feels dry as I try to say the next words. “And in the night, when it’s dark?”

  Jillian meets my gaze. “They tie us.” She glances at the boy. “Even Billy here.”

  My eyes widen at her words. I don’t know how to respond.

  “But you’re here now,” Jillian says. “I doubt you can leave without your friend. But maybe that’s for the best.”

  “Why?”

  She averts her gaze from mine, choosing to look behind me. “Because when they return, they’re going to strip any valuables from that camper, and if your friend turns up, I’m pretty sure they’re going to kill him. If he’s a soldier like you say he is…no way are they going to risk him turning against them.”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure about that…” I whisper. But I don’t get to explain because of the voices of the two males coming through the trees. They’re returning.

  Making a run for it hadn’t been an option before, not with Ga’Var gone and not with the Scrit parked somewhere in the forest out there.

  I doubt they even know it’s there.

  I have to stay put for now.

  As my gaze falls on the males as they appear through the trees, the dislike I feel burns like the ache in my jaw.

  I have to keep these idiots put until Ga’Var returns.

  We sit in silence as the two brothers do exactly what Jillian said they were going to do. They completely ransack the little camper and my heart clenches as I watch them.

  The little family’s home, left so perfectly untouched before we arrived, is now destroyed.

  The brothers work hard, ripping the leather from the sides of the camper, tearing even the walls apart.

  “What the hell are they looking for?”

  “Money. Drugs.” Jillian shrugs. “Money isn’t worth anything anymore, but that doesn’t stop them from stashing it just in case we all survive this and the world goes back to normal.”

  I glare at the brothers.

  Fuck them.

  I watch them work, a growing hatred rising within me when one of them approaches the little cupboard underneath the sink.

  He throws it open and I see the moment his shoulders stiffen.

  “Hey, Bob! Look at this!”

  “What?” His brother answers from somewhere in the back of the camper.

  “The bitch lied to us.”

  A shiver goes through me because I know exactly what he just found.

  “What the fuck do you mean?”

  “Water, Bob.”

  “What?” Shuffling that was happening in the back of the camper stops as Bob rises and hurries to the front.

  His eyes widen and he throws his head back.

  “Water!” He grabs the bottle from his brother, tipping the thing to his head as he takes several big gulps.

  Jim grabs the bottle back. “Don’t finish it, you idiot! This is like a million dollars you’re wasting!”

  “C’mon, man. I didn’t drink that much.”

  Jim glares at him as he tightens the cork on the bottle and turns my way, his gaze finding me like an arrow shooting at a target.

  A sliver of awareness goes down my spine and my leg pulses.

  I haven’t even gotten the chance to look at my leg since they’ve arrived. Even without consciously thinking about it, I realize I’ve kept it hidden underneath my blanket.

  “You,” he says, taking a step forward till his feet hit the ground.

  He sets the bottle of water down and drapes his gun by the strap across his back as he closes the distance between us.

  As he stoops so he can meet my gaze, his arm stretches out to grasp my chin. I turn my head away and he grips my chin anyway, forcing me to face him, his fingers digging into my skin so hard it feels like he cuts me with the roughness of his grasp.

  “Next time, you tell us if you find food or water.” He jerks my chin in his tight grasp, making it hurt even more, but my gaze doesn’t falter from his. There is nothing I want more than to raise my leg and kick him in the balls right now.

  At the thought, the bit of Ga’Var’s suit on my leg pulses as if agreeing, and I almost do it.

  “You hear me, bitch?” Jim jerks my chin again. “From now on, you tell me when you find something.” He glares at me. “From now on, you are mine.”

  The thought is such a horrid one, I’m unable to stop myself before the words tumble from between my clenched teeth.

  “In your wildest dreams, motherfucker.”

  For a moment, surprise alights in his eyes before his hand suddenly slips down, grasping my throat.

  He pulls me upright as he stands, his other hand fumbling with the button holding his jeans up.

  “Maybe I have to teach you a lesson after all.”

  I grip the hand holding my neck as I kick at him. My foot connects with his jeans and something jingles.

  “Ah yes,” Jim says, reaching into his pocket.

  My eyes widen in horror as I see the dog collar.

  I’m struggling now, my teeth grit as I try to free myself when the bastard raises his leg. In the corner of my eye, I see his knee coming toward me, but I can’t do a thing before it connects with my midsection.

  The pain makes me choke, my spine curving as I pull my stomach inward to stop the pain.

  I don’t even have time to recover before I am suddenly being thrown backward as the bastard brings me to the ground.

  “That’ll teach you,” he all but snarls.

  Pain echoes from within me, spreading through my being as I feel the cold metal of the collar close around my neck.

  “No!”

  I don’t know how I fight through the pain, but I put all the energy I have left in my legs, kicking as hard as I can to prevent him from collaring me.

  It’s too late though. The collar snaps in place just as one of my kicks land right in Jim’s groin.

  I recoil as I feel the hardness there, like the imprint of a snake underneath my foot. Bile rises in my throat as horror floods through me.

  The fact that he is getting turned on by this makes me dry-heave.

  A breath hisses in his throat as he lets me go, the pain of the contact of my foot causing him to release me.

  He falls back, his hands covering his groin as a pained groan leaves his lips.

  My throat burns from the friction that was there, but I’m on all fours, scrambling toward him anyway.

  The gun.

  I have to get the gun.

  But in the corner of my eye, Bob hops out of the camper, his weapon already in his hands. Only, he’s not pointing it at me.

  It’s pointed at someone behind me and I can only glance that way for a second to see it’s Billy and Deja.

  They are frozen midway between coming toward me and the gun pointed at their chests.

  “Don’t you fucking dare move, you pieces of shit. This ain’t no normal rifle. This here is a shotgun. One pull of this trigger and I’ll blow holes straight through both of ya.”

  Billy and Deja freeze, as do I.

  “You’ve seen me do it too,” Bob continues, and the horror of his words takes effect. “Don’t make me have to do it again.”

  He glances at his brother. “You all right, Jim?”

  His brother is still on the ground, writhing, but he’s feeling well enough to shoot a glare in my direction.

  With one hand, he eases himself upright, while the other hand releases his pelvis and he tugs on the long chain now leading from my neck.

  The force brings me forward.

  “Little bitch,” he growls. “You’re going to pay for that.”

  He stands above me, his trousers becoming undone, and I see his cock bob, unrestrained, in front of me.

  No.

  Still on all fours, I move backward, trying to get away from him.

  No.

  But the leery grin on his face is one that I can’t escape.

  He’s focused on me as he takes a step forward. One hand pulling the chain taut, the other massaging his curved dick.

  It looks like everything I don’t want near me and I choke at the thought, struggling against the pull of the chain as I continue to move backward.

  Jim grins. “Yesss, bitch, choke.” He grips himself. “Let’s see you choke on this.”

  But his smile doesn’t last long.

  One moment, all I can see is his horrible, leery grin.

  The next, all I can see is black.

  My heart thumps.

  Time stills.

  …

  My darkness has come…

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  GA’VAR

  I smell the stench of the males even before I reach Sa’am’s location.

  I scent them…the forest reeks with their stink…and a fire ignites in my being.

  Sa’am…is in danger.

  I had not been mistaken. The male I had scented. He is nearby, and he is not alone.

  I’m moving through the trees, heading in Sa’am’s direction, when I hear her scream.

  Undoubtedly, it is her.

  I’ve spent the last few cycles listening to that voice. Learning it.

  Etching it into my mind.

  Sa’am is screaming in terror, pain…fear.

  I push myself even harder and the surroundings become a blur.

  The trees become streaks of brown and green, and I focus on the scents, allowing them to guide me until they are almost too much to bear.

  Three males.

  Three females.

  And then I see them.

  Sa’am…on the ground but surrounded by her kind…

  Her fear scent spiked so high I can taste it on my tongue.

  Rage fills me as my gaze finds the source of her terror.

  The male in front of her.

  The sight of his bareness makes the air split around me.

  I do not breathe.

  I do not feel.

  The world becomes a haze around me.

  I move through the space as if nothing hinders me.

  I can almost feel the molecules in the air react to my presence.

  Charged, they crack.

  One minute, I am cutting through the trees.

  The next, I am upon the male who dares to threaten my Sa’am.

  A roar tears from my throat as I take him through the air with me, carried by the momentum going through my being, my bones.

  A scream echoes behind me. I’m not sure if it is Sa’am or one of the others as I slam the male’s body into the shelter.

  There’s a sickening crack as the bones in his spine give way, but I am not done with him yet.

  I know my ba’clan are extended, my hackles have risen all around me.

  “What the fuck?!”

  The other male to my left rises some sort of crude weapon and fires.

  It feels like pebbles hit my head and I turn slightly to glare at him.

  “Wait…your turn.”

  Eyes still on him, I extend the blade in my forearm and bury it in the skull of his comrade.

  It goes right through as I drive him back, piercing the metal of the shelter behind him. Again I hear a scream. It echoes as the male in front of me sags, his eyes unfocused as his lifeblood drips down my blade.

  It all happens in a split second, but the male to my left goes pale, his fingers shaking as he lifts his weapon and fires one more time.

  He’s backing away even as I remove my blade from his comrade’s skull.

  The body is limp as it falls to the ground. A dull thump as I hear another scream.

  If it is Sa’am that screams…I am sorry.

  She has seen my hackles rise before…but never like this.

  But these vermin have touched what is mine.

  I have never felt rage like this in all my moons.

  I want to make them suffer for touching my Sa’am, but there is no time.

  The Gryken are heading this way.

  They will arrive here soon.

  I have to—

  The male now in front of me is backing away and falls.

  He’s scrambling on his haunches and elbows now, his hands no longer holding his crude weapon.

  Terror widens his eyes into big white saucers as he looks up at me.

  Small.

  Puny.

  Weak.

  And they dare touch my Sa’am?!

  The snarl that leaves my throat as I approach him only makes him tremble more.

  I can see my reflection in his eyes.

  See what I look like.

  Not human.

  Not like him.

  I am darkness…and I will be his death.

  Somehow, he staggers upright and runs.

  I almost take off after him, but my ba’clan pull the other way, pulsing against me.

  Sa’am.

  They want me to find my mate.

  I turn to her and for a moment, I forget the rage that is writhing within me.

  The look on her face is indescribable.

  Shock.

  Triumph.

  And…fear.

  Fear of me.

  But even with the retreating male, the sight of the crude restraint around my Sa’am’s neck…

  I forget the other humans around us. I can almost taste lifeblood in my mouth.

  The urge to kill…

  Rage makes my ba’clan rise even higher and Sa’am’s eyes widen.

  My nostrils flare and the scent of another male brings my senses back.

  The scent is familiar, the one I scented first before I left Sa’am alone.

  My lips pull back some more, my teeth bared as I turn my gaze toward the scent.

  A cowering, thin male.

  He trembles as my gaze lands on him and I roar.

  He led them here.

  I move in his direction, my blade extended as I launch myself into the air, aiming to plunge my blade deep into his skull.

  “No!” A scream…

  Sa’am.

  There is but a moment of pause as I move through the air, a sliver of confusion making its way through the rage that fills me.

  A light streak of pink skin wrapped in the covering Sa’am wears appears in front of me. But it is too late to stop. My blade sinks into it, pinning it into the earth below.

  There is a split second where my vision clears…and everything dies within me.

  My world cracks and splits as reality shifts into a nightmare I never imagined.

  My blade pierces Sa’am’s covering.

  How did she…?

  She was behind me.

  Horror fills me as my ba’clan flatten, all my blades disappearing back against me except for the one still piercing the fabric.

  Because…this cannot be.

  Sa’am should not be at the edge of my blade.

  My Sa’am…

  My life organ constricts as my pupils widen, disbelieving, and I can’t move.

  No.

  Sa’am.

  “Fuck!”

  Her voice reaches my ears and my reality splits again.

  By the gods.

  I didn’t…

  I didn’t kill her.

  The fabric rustles as she lifts her head from it, her gaze meeting mine.

  Her chest heaves as she lifts herself a little more, and then I see the male beneath her.

  Rage fills me again and my ba’clan begin to rise once more.

  A soft touch on my arm is the singular thing I feel.

  Sa’am’s hand.

  “Don’t hurt him.” Her hand moves up to cup my cheek as her gaze pleads with mine.

  Below her, the young male is frozen, his eyes wide as he stares at me.

  My lips pull back as I regard him, and he flinches as I snarl at him.

 

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