But rather than my purr softening her visible distress, she turns and snaps her teeth at me, growling even louder than before.
I don't let her fury and disrespect faze me. I simply keep purring, hoping it will soften her in time. When I glance over at Olo, I see him wearing a hopeless frown and eyeing her still-flat stomach. Without him having to say a word, I know what he's thinking. Hell, it's what I'm thinking: She can't go on like this much longer without posing a significant risk to the baby, and herself.
A loud bang makes me jump to my feet, pulling Olo into my arms and reaching for Lyra with my other hand. I tuck them both behind me and against the far wall in the corner, a snarl already rumbling from my chest as I stand guard, facing the door. My female's growl is long gone, and in its place is a little whimpering moan that breaks my fucking heart.
When nothing happens for several long seconds, I nearly relax. But just when I start to stand upright from my crouch, there's another massive bang that seems to rattle the ship itself. The lights flicker, and a horrible buzzing noise immediately follows.
And then the lights dim, plunging us into darkness.
I don't waste time. I turn and yank my mates into my arms and race for the door, my eyes adjusting to the darkness quickly. The door stands wide open, and I make a beeline for it, unwilling to risk the generator kicking in and sealing us once more in this fucking cell.
The moment I'm in the hallway, I carefully put my omegas down and step in front of them, waiting for any potential threats and needing both hands for fighting. Instead of the hallway being filled with enemies, though, it's filled with my people who've been captured the same as us. The lights choose that moment to flick back on with a soft hum, and the doors to all these cells come back down a moment later, sealing away any who didn't venture out.
Most of the Straforians in the hallway are omegas and betas, though the couple of alphas these aliens managed to capture stand in front of the group. They're facing the perpendicular hallways and guarding all those behind them, choosing to be the first line of defense for the weaker dynamics. I move to the front, making sure my mates stay pressed to my back, and turn to a brown-haired male I recognize, a fellow alpha two years younger than myself.
"Bale," I say. He turns his face toward me, but keeps his eyes cast forward, and I don't understand what he's so focused on until I'm standing beside him.
The sound of blasters and screams are faint and distant, but I frown all the same. It sounds like the fighting has already started, and I have to wonder if it's an inside job, or if the people of Strafor have finally found us.
"It seems it's time to take these bastards down," I growl, a dark smile twisting my lips.
I'm ready to exact vengeance on these bastards, but I'm also not stupid. Without weapons of our own, this fight could end badly for us. Yet camping out in this hallway isn't the answer, either. If I have to fight my way out barehanded, then I will, so long as I can get my mates to safety.
For them, I'll do anything.
Chapter 18
Lyra
"Itseemsit'stimeto take these bastards down."
Wen's words echo in my head even as we race down hallway after hallway, trying to find the loading dock and our freedom. There are a bunch of us now, maybe twenty or twenty-five, and we're all so desperate to escape that I'm surprised there's no shoving and pushing. Instead we all manage to stick close together without being overly aggressive about it.
No one gets trampled, and no one gets left behind; it's all one cohesive unit looking out for one another. There's an alpha at the back—don't ask me how I know that, I just do. Maybe it’s his size, or maybe it’s the sheer dominance radiating from him. Either way, I sense him as clearly as if I’ve seen him.
He’s been ushering us along, ensuring no one falls behind. The other two alphas and Wen run at the front, doing their protective thing and essentially acting like a blockade against any incoming aliens. Olo and I are tight on our mate’s heels, and whenever one of us falters, he's there, helping us along.
It's such a frantic dash toward our potential freedom that I take in absolutely nothing, doing an overall shit job of paying attention to my surroundings, but honestly, I'm so done, so beaten down, that I can't find it in me to care. This glimpse of freedom is enough to imbue me with hope, and fuck if I'm going to let my depression fuck it all up for me. I focus on putting one foot in front of the other despite wanting to curl up into a ball.
Olo reaches out and grabs my hand so suddenly I startle, and the brief glance I spare him shows him giving me this soft, pleading look like he knew where my thoughts were just now. I wouldn't be surprised; both my mates seem to be able to read me so damn well it's eerie.
The screams have gotten so much louder, so even if Olo attempted to say something to me, I wouldn't hear it. One scream suddenly cuts off following a blaster shot, and I startle again, knowing instinctively what that means for the screamer. I want to bolt in the opposite direction, not head toward the sounds of battle.
Fucking hell, my nerves are shot.
What side is winning? Ours, I hope. And I hope the person who just died was one of those hazmat bastards, or even Clija himself. I'm assuming it's the Straforians fighting our alien captors, since we never left the planet. Gods, I hope it's the Straforians and not some other alien group wanting to steal us all away again.
We turn another corner and pull to a quick stop as the alphas in the lead freeze. I nearly slam into Wen, but he reaches behind himself to steady me and Olo, though that doesn't stop the person behind me from bumping me. With a little stumble, I right myself and peer over my mate's shoulder and gasp, though the sound is drowned out by the horrific sounds of battle.
"Get down!" Wen screams, his voice barely audible over the blasters and screams, turning and pushing me and Olo behind supply crates. The rest of the ground follows, ducking behind any nearby crate they can. Luckily they're massive, and there is a shit ton in the loading dock we can use as cover.
I flinch when a shot goes wide and hits the wall to our left, the buzzing noise from the laser like a swarm of pissed-off mosquitoes. The singe mark it leaves behind on the metal wall is nausea-inducing. It would’ve burned a hole right through our flesh.
Our mate turns and leans in close to yell, "Stay behind these crates!" He lifts his head and addresses the rest of the group scattered around us. "Those willing to fight, spread out, grab any weapon you can find, or use your fucking teeth to tear these bastards apart!"
Without warning, our alpha dives out of our hiding spot and disappears. I cry out and go to follow, but Olo drags me back with an aggressive shake of his head. Distantly I'm aware of others from our group leaving the safety of their cover, but none of it registers as I panic. I grab my belly and hunch low, tears burning a trail down my face as the vision of Wen on the ground with a hole in his chest sears itself into my brain.
Before I can release the wail that wants to escape, a body is barreling into our hiding spot so fast I can't stop my scream of terror. Someone pulls me into a hard chest, and the moment Wen's comforting scent registers, I relax. Olo presses into me from behind, and the three of us cuddle for all-too-brief a moment.