Page 57 of Dance Omega Dance

I caught the coat, the worn leather butter-soft beneath my fingertips. It held his scent, his warmth, and for a moment I was torn between the desperate urge to burrow into that familiar comfort and the need to do as he ordered. To hide. To let him protect me as he always had.

But as I watched him take a hard hit to the ribs, saw him stagger under the force of it even as he came back swinging,something shifted in my chest. The coat slipped from my numb fingers, puddling at my feet, forgotten.

I was so tired of running. Of hiding. Of being the victim, the one shattered and left trembling in the aftermath. Blake shouldn't have to bleed for me, to carry my pain, and fight my battles.

"Not this time," I said, my voice steadier than I felt.

Blake shot me a sharp look, his eyebrows climbing toward his hairline. I could feel his surprise rippling through our bond, underscored by a bright thread of concern. He knew what it cost me to make a stand, but his worry for me still took precedence.

In that moment, the last fragile pieces of the girl I had been fell away, replaced by something harder. Stronger.

Before he could order me to safety again, I curled my aching, bloodied fingers around the pipe and stepped up to his side. "I'm done being a victim," I declared, loud enough for the snarling alphas to hear.

Blake's eyes widened. Realization and respect kindled in their icy depths as he took in my resolve. I saw the moment it clicked. Pride and acceptance flickered across his face, softening the hard lines of his expression.

He gave me a small nod, the gesture weighted with understanding. With partnership. Then he turned back to the advancing threat, a rumbling growl building in his chest. The alphas paused for a split second, wary of the unified front we presented.

It didn't last. With vicious snarls, they attacked, trying to use their numbers to overwhelm us. But we were ready.

I let the rest of the world fall away, my focus narrowing to the flex of muscles beneath skin, the flash of bared teeth, the meaty thud of the pipe connecting with flesh. Adrenaline sang through my veins, dulling the incessant throb of my wounds, granting me strength and speed I didn't know I possessed.

Zach's training guided my movements, the long hours in his gym transforming my body into a weapon. A tool honed for survival. I swung my pipe in a brutal arc, and it cracked against an alpha's ribs with satisfying force, sending him staggering into Blake's waiting fists.

The cool night air filled my lungs in burning gasps, the coppery tang of blood heavy on my tongue. It coated my hands, my arms, the dented length of the pipe.

An alpha raked his claws down my arm as I pushed away from his grip, falling over. Hot blood sheeted over my skin, pain lancing through me. Blake roared, and the alpha tried to run. He was on him in a blink, grabbing him by the back of the neck and dragging him back, kicking and screaming. “Youtouchedher?” he snarled, voice low and guttural. “Youhurther?” The alpha’s head hit the wall once, twice, three times—then silence.

I gripped my arm to stop the blood. My chest heaved, broken ribs sending pain soaring through my body. All I could do was watch him, trembling as adrenaline continued to engulf me. The man who’d once touched me like I was glass tore through the monsters like he was born of the same darkness.

Despite that, he hadn’t looked away from me.

Not once.

When only one was left, the greasy-haired alpha that had tried to rape me, he tried to beg. Tried to crawl.

Blake stalked toward him slowly this time, blood dripping from his knuckles. “You think I’m going to let you beg?” he said, voice flat, dead. “You think there’s mercy left in me after what I saw?”

The alpha shrieked. Blake silenced him with a boot to the throat.

He turned to me, chest heaving, mouth tight. His eyes were wild, hands shaking with fury, and voice barely a whisper when it came.

“Did they knot you?”

I shook my head, but didn’t speak, as the tears came flooding out of me.

Blake took me in his arms and held me as I sobbed.

Chapter Twenty-five

We walked back to the warehouse, to where Blake had parked his car. His arm held me up, purring to soothe me as I continued to cry. When we reached his car, pain exploded through my skull from the bond. Blake let go of me, staggering backwards, blood streaming from a gash on his temple. The dim light of the warehouse framed his face as his eyes turned glassy and unfocused from the force of the blow. Fear clawed up my throat, threatening to choke me, but I shoved it down. I wouldn't run. Not this time. Not even as the surrounding shadows birthed more hulking shapes of alphas, their growls echoing off the concrete walls like approaching thunder.

"Summer, go!" Blake pleaded.

I couldn’t. Wouldn’t. He'd put himself between me and the onslaught, using his own body as a shield, but I could see the tremors wracking his powerful frame. He was hurt. Badly. And still he tried to fight to protect me.

Ignoring the instinct to flee, I planted my feet beside him, reaching out to grip his arm. The muscles jumped beneath my fingers, slick with sweat and blood. "I'm not leaving you," I said, my voice ringing with a conviction I hardly recognized.

Blake's eyes met mine, an emotional storm swirling beneath their icy depths: fear, pride, desperation, love. In that suspended moment, I felt our bond pulse between us, a palpable energy, the living tether of our shared pain and unbreakable devotion, warm and vibrant as a heartbeat. Then his gaze hardened as he turnedto face the advancing threat, a rumbling growl building in his chest.

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