“You bastard,” Lucas shouts.
Cassian smirks but ignores him. Instead, he walks across the paved path. He calls out, “Mother! I am home.”
The entire cavern lights up. “Welcome home, son.”
“Mother?” Vash whispers. “How?”
“Did you show our guests a lovely time?” he asks.
This isn’t like Cassian. He is far too chipper. When she knew him, he was ruthless. He didn’t waste time joking around.
But she remembers that it’s been years since he has been seen. He has been alone, waiting for this moment like a caged lion.
“Is the cryo room prepared?” he asks.
The motherboard responds. “There are five empty units, each connected to a different universe.”
Cassian claps his hands together. “Rae will come with me to Sankara. I have done well for myself there,” he says.
In a quick fit of enthusiastic rage, he turns and rushes Rae. Tightening his grip around her neck, he forces her to bend. He squeezes so hard she drops the tank baby.
The glass cracks and water starts to slowly leak out.
“No!” Rae screams and bucks.
He coils his ankles around hers, slamming the bone against the ground. A flash of pain paralyzes her, but she soon twists her hips and throws an elbow to his nose.
Cassian pauses as a trickle of blood drags out of one nostril. He catches some on his tongue and swallows. “You bitch,” he growls and slams his forearm against her neck.
She chokes, but the more she struggles, the more weight he forces on her.
Her vision wanes. The room turns to dark particles. She’s going to faint.
The alphas scream, but they are locked.
Oh, God…
Cassian releases his grip at the last moment. Desperate for oxygen, Rae coughs and swallows, clenching her hands around her throat.
He grabs her hair and drags her toward the cryo bunker. “If you won’t go the easy way, I’ll get you there the hard way.”
As her back scrapes across the beaten path, she catches eyes with Lucas. Weakly, she mouths the words, “Help me.”
Cas
sian gets to the ladder down, but it’s still barricaded. Irritated, he swings Rae onto her back and steps onto her stomach. “Mother, open the cryo bunker.”
The motherboard speaks. “System access denied.”
She grabs his boot and pushes as he digs his heel down further. “Mother, dammit! Open the bunker. I demand it.”
“System access denied. System access denied. System acc--”
The motherboard voice chip goes crazy. Like a spinning broken record, it repeats the same phrase until the octaves in her voice drop. It slowly dies away, and another voice replaces it.
It’s the young omega. “Rae, I’m shutting down the cryo units.”
“The girl...” Cassian hisses.