el
lance blind spots. The forest was denser than I'd expected - old oaks and twisted undergrowth that created natural corrid
obbing, barely audible o
its. Behind a weathered storage shed, half-consumed by ivy, a young Omega girl was huddled on the ground. Her thin shoulders shook
sneered. "Can't even carry
at off the floor li
hands. A piece of stale bread tumbled out and rol
out of the
than I'd anticipated, which was useful. The Betas turned to me with wide, fearful
. My focus narrowed to
kitchen corridors, a frequent and easy target for anyone looking to offload their frustrations. In the h
ing to disappear into the wood itself. Her eyes, red-rimmed and swollen, held no hope - only the dull, animal terror of someone who had learne
as a thin, frayed threa
s trembling so badly I could feel it through her sleeve, a fine vibration like a
ot I'd prepared for myself that morning, and pressed it into her cold, di
ervants. I didn't raise my v
ame voice I'd once used to deliver mission parameters.
on water. Their eyes were saucers. One of them muttered somethin
eps. Behind me, I heard no whispered thanks, no patter of following feet - only the stun
atitude. I needed eyes, ears, a
onso
d - a memory shared by Silas through the
s move
. It wasn't the wild, desperate flailing of a cornered animal, nor the ritualized posturing of pack combat. It was a dissection -
ice tight with the particular unease of a man delivering news he didn't understand. "Human martial art
something chilled and absolute. The confidence in her violence, a bone-deep certainty that she would win because she alw
aid the words that had been clawing at the edge of my own thoughts for
tory, a power reserved for the Moon Goddess herself in the oldest of the sacred
a splinter I couldn't dig out, because as impossible as it wa
erent, holding knowled
ned warriors like a master clea
n who'd lived in that cottage for years had been hollowed
Dire Wolves on her rotation. Silas is good, but I want my best. I want to know when s
y reaching for the b
ina Kow
o whoever will listen. Don't let anyone near that cottage a
re. I was dealing with a question I couldn't stop
ther report cam
ached like a servant seeking her mistress. She hadn't knocked. She had knelt in the cold
nd and Silas's keen ears, trembled with an emotion deeper th
not responded. Not
didn't
arkened territory toward the distant cottage.
An Omega no one had bothere
gh titles or threats, but through action - swift, decisive,
ctly, was
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