Page 50 of Dance Omega Dance

They came closer. Recognition lit their faces, twisted and cruel. And I realized. Realized, they’d found me.

My lungs seized, frost spreading through my veins as the leader cut his gaze to mine, lip curling in a jackal smile I'd seen in countless nightmares. A single thought careened through my head, borne on my parents' dying breaths:

They'd found me.

“Well, well,” Kage sneered. He had a fresh scar on his face since I saw him last. The rest of them had greasy hair, and snarls instead of smiles. “The little Omega that got away.”

Zach tensed beside me, his scent darkening with fury.

“Back off,” he growled.

But they didn’t.

They circled like they had all the time in the world, and my skin buzzed with dread. Everything we’d had in that store, that brief moment of normal, shattered.

I looked side to side. There was no one around. No one was there to help us, and with six of them, we were outnumbered.

Zach was all instinct now, every line of his body coiled and ready. A wall of fire between me and them.

He warned them again, voice low and lethal. “Last chance. Walk away.”

But I knew better. Kage would never step down.

Kage smirked, and I knew that smirk. It lived in the darkest corners of my nightmares. “The little Omega that got away,” he said, like he owned me. Like I was still that helpless girl.

Panic surged through me, hollowing out my chest. The past collapsed onto the present with brutal force.

Then Zach moved.

Fast. Precise. A blur of motion and rage as he launched himself into them.

“Back off!” he snarled, his voice unrecognizable, something primal, something terrifying. And yet all I felt was relief. He was fighting for me.

The alphas laughed, a cold and hollow sound. My heart hammered in my chest.

Zach’s fist cracked against one’s jaw, snapping his head sideways. He landed face-down, unconscious. For a moment, I thought... maybe. Maybe we had a chance.

He moved like a storm, every strike a clean, practiced blow. They hadn’t expected him to be good. But he was better than good.

He dropped another one. Pivoted. Took the next hit and kept going.

But there were still four left.

"You think you can take us all, boy?" one sneered, stepping closer, the promise of violence in every step.

Tires squealed nearby. I tore my gaze away for a split second as a black van skidded to a stop, the side door grinding open.

In that blink, a fist drove into Zach's temple. He staggered. Shook his head like an addled bull.

"Zach!" my voice cracked. Raw. Useless.

My breath stuttered as they adjusted, regrouped. Zach was fast, but they were murderous. I wanted to scream, to help, but I was frozen. A statue made of fear and helpless rage.

Flashbacks assaulted me. Shouts, blood, my parents. I trembled as Kage spoke again, his words cutting through the years with ease. "Didn’t think we’d find you, did you?" he jeered, and I flinched as though struck.

They were closing in, all arrogance and power. But Zach didn’t flinch. He didn’t waver. He launched himself at the nearest one, a hurricane of determination.

But then they overwhelmed him.

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