The first time he saw her on that screen was enough. The world, for all its glint and glamour, was stale, and the fact that the Republic used the woman they loved made him feel sick to his stomach.
Still, his tired eyes worked on their own accord. They were controlled by the urges of his heart, and he could not resist the flood of endorphins that followed when he peered into the synthetic lights that formed the shape of Rae’s eyes.
“She’s a ghost,” he murmured.
“Who knows if she’s even alive?” Lucas replied before biting down on a thin metal toothpick.
They were all devastated. The mother of their children represented true beauty. She showed them how to have a heart, but they weren’t prepared for this place.
Then, they saw it. The screen flashed and showed the image of two towers piercing high into the sky. Marble cut. They were beautiful, but they looked so far away from everything. It was as if no one truly lived there.
“An alpha needs an omega,” Killian concluded. “Cassian thought he could have it both ways, but when he lost her, he was hit with the truth. He failed by thinking he could control her, but man cannot control woman.”
“Use to, but not anymore,” Lucas said. “There was a good ten years of chaos. War. It’s hard for me to even think about those days now.”
“We must be better than the rest by adapting,” Killian said.
“My brother failed because he was a greedy sack of cow shit. Can we stop talking about him? It causes a deep depression inside of me,” Vash said.
He twisted his head to face the gloom of the tunnel. At the end of the dark walkway, a ladder led down to a door. Above it, a small CTV camera waited to catch anyone who dared open it.
Killian held his hand up, and they each slowed their steps. Vash, on the other hand, bent to pick up a rock. He lugged it at the electronic eye, and the screen smashed into seemingly infinite pieces. Running forward, he peered silently at the padlocked door.
Vash shook his head and laughed loudly. “There it is. The entrance to the Cathedral. I can’t believe it, it’s really here…”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Killian asked.
The other two alphas followed Vash’s lead and peered down into the tunnel. The door was locked, and a bright light shone through the cracks. “You’re taking us to a church?”
In silent haste, Vash climbed the ladder and dropped onto the door. He hovered his hands through the light, the golden rays cutting against the darkness. “It’s not a church. It’s where they keep her,” he said.
Killian chuckled and admired his pack brother’s tenacity for attention to detail. As soon as the explosion sent the walls of his prison crumbling, he’d hoped Vash had something to do with it. How, he had no idea.
“Here? Not so sure,” Killian said.
“Who told you about this place? It couldn’t have been here before the takeover of Dagon. We knew the inside and out of the western cities,” Lucas said.
“Coaxed the guards into giving me the key code,” Vash muttered, eyes fixed on the light below as if it were actual solid gold.
“How?” Lucas asked. “They didn’t say shit to me. They seemed to like to use their electrical prods more than their witty tongues.”
“Every man has a price, and you know damn well I’m savvy enough to get him talking,” Vash snapped back.
Lucas lowered his voice. “Translation: he sucked the guards off.”
“I’d watch your tongue if I were you,” Vash said.
Lucas made a gagging noise but quickly fell silent when Vash attempted to climb back up to thrash him. “If you must know, the blast killed most of the guards. I got the code from one of the stragglers as he was gagging on his own scrotum. Don’t fuck with me, boys. I don’t have the patience left inside me.”
Suddenly, a muffled voice over a loudspeaker could be heard from underneath the door. “Specialist Helen Kurtfield, please report to Division 1 immediately! Helen Kurtfield, doctor to Division 1.”
Killian swung down the ladder to get a better listen. “Shh… stop arguing!”
“Divisions 6-12 have been relieved. Ten minute refractory period will commence straightaway.”
“Helen? They have women specialists now?” Lucas asked. “Jesus Christ…”
Vash began punching in the code to get inside. “It’s a whole new world. Rae is the queen, remember?”