Page 64 of Omega's Triplets

“It doesn’t look like they’ve got anyone out there,” Jamie said in a low voice.

“No,” Harley agreed. “I think this is our best way out.”

“What do we do when we get out?” Maddy asked.

“Straight into the woods,” Harley said. “And everyone, stick with me. We don’t want to get split up. We’ll go about fifty yards in, then we’ll stop and regroup. And no shifting, all right? That’s what they’d expect us to do.”

That’s what they’d expect us to do to because it’s smart,Maddy thought.

Jamie seemed to be on the same page. “We’re going to need to run once we’re out, Harley.”

“No,” Harley said. “We don’t run. We walk. Running will catch attention. I don’t see any Death Fangs right outside, but if they’ve got a guard stationed somewhere with an eye line on this door, our only chance at not raising alarm is to act casual. So, we stay human, and we walk into the woods like a family of hikers. Got it?”

Everyone nodded.

“Okay,” Harley said. “Let’s go, then.”

He pushed the door open.

A loud, squonking alarm rent the air.

Piper clapped her hands over her ears.

“Shit!” Harley yelled, pushing Reese forward. “Go! Run!”

Reese bolted into the woods. Jamie grabbed Piper by the arm and tore after him. Maddy looked up at Harley fearfully. Did they dare try it? Should they find somewhere to hide? If the Death Fangs saw them, they wouldn’t have a prayer. Maddy couldn’t outrun them. In human form, she wasn’t too sure she could run at all.

“Let’s go,” Harley said.

“I can’t—”

“Let’sgo.” He swept her up onto his back with a strength she wouldn’t have believed if she hadn’t seen it for herself. It must have been the adrenaline of the moment, she thought. There was no way he was strong enough to simply lift her. He hadn’t even lost momentum. His run was as fast paced as it had ever been—in fact, she could see, looking over his shoulder, that he was gaining on Jamie.

She looked back the way they had come.

There was a Death Fang standing in the doorway through which they’d left.

She recognized him at once. She knew him by his red hair and by the scar on his face. He was one of the ones who had liked to torment her when she’d been their prisoner, the one who had rattled the bars of her cage and mocked her on a regular basis. He was the one who had come to get her the day she’d been cleaned up and made ready for the auction.

She still didn’t know his name. But she would never forget that face as long as she lived.

He was standing among several members of the hotel staff. They must have come running when they’d heard the siren, and the Death Fang must have followed. And now, as Maddy watched, she saw a man in a double-breasted jacket lift a finger and point at Harley’s receding back.

She saw the Death Fang follow his pointing finger—

The red-haired man locked eyes with her for an instant, and in that terrifying moment, Maddy knew it was all over.

“He sees us,” she breathed. “Harley, he sees us.”

Harley didn’t look back, but she felt him run harder.

She expected to see the Death Fang break into a sprint after them, but that didn’t happen. For a moment, she was confused. Was he letting them go? The Death Fangs were in peak physical shape. They werefast. There was no way the red-haired man was worried about their having gotten too much of a head start.

He raised a hand to his mouth.

What?

There was no time to worry about what that meant, about why this man Maddy knew hated her had apparently decided to let her flee. Suddenly, the tree line was upon them. Maddy ached to swerve, to turn directly left and run in an unpredictable pattern that would make them harder to follow. She was sure Harley had felt the same instinct. But the pack had agreed to run straight into the woods. They couldn’t allow themselves to be separated now.

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