Page 1 of Going Down Smooth: Part One

PROLOGUE

MERCY

FIVE YEARS AGO

“Mercy!”

“Mercy!”

“Merce, let’s talk about this!”

The rain soaks through my white ceremonial dress, making it cling to my skin, revealing my bra and panties underneath. I try to make myself as small as I can; the coffee trees in the forest behind my father’s church won’t give much cover due to their age.

Lightning strikes in the distance, followed by a loud boom of thunder, making the earth tremble. The weather feels like a reflection of my own turbulent emotions. The rain is the tears I want to cry but refuse to, the thunder and lightning are my fury and sorrow for what’s happening to me and for what I’m about to do.

Resolved to what I must do, I wipe away the water from my eyes, trying to figure out what direction I need to run. If I can get back home, there is a graduation present in the form of a car waiting for me. I can do this. I have my trust fund, solely in my name. I have the means to survive on my own. As I quickly list the things I will need, I block out their calls for me in the distance.

Lightning repeatedly flashes across the sky. The clouds are so dark it feels like night has fallen, yet I know it’s only midday. When the thunder follows, the sound erupts in a deafening boom, just loud enough to cover the noise I will make when I take off through the trees once more.

I run.

I run until my heart beats erratically in my chest and my lungs burn.

I run until the world around me is a blur, until the familiarity of the trees makes me slow down on shaky legs. These trees I know like the back of my own hand. Sucking in a sharp inhalation of breath, my chest heaves as the stitch in my side begins to ease; I start to plan the quickest route. I run hard and fast, trying to put some distance between me and them. I can only hope it’s enough to allow myself a chance to catch my breath. My heart is like a jackhammer, beating hard and fast, not from just exertion but from fear.

Not now, Mercy. Not. Now.I don’t have time to fall apart. I have to keep going.

I hear Knight, Trey, Lox, and Nate calling for me again, their mournful shouts making this decision hurt worse than I thought it would but not enough to stop me. Not enough for them to catch me and convince me to come back. My decision to reject my pack, to reject them, is final. There is no coming back from this. I can’t chain myself to a fate I never wanted. No, not like this.

“Mercy. Please!” Lox yells. Panic grips me as I hear them getting closer.

I massage my side, silently cursing myself for not exercising more often. How can I outrun them? I’m already exhausted. When I ran from the mating ceremony, I hadn’t thought about the logistics of getting back home at the time. All I had thought about in that moment as my four Alphas stood proudly before me, gazing at me with hopeful eyes, was that this was not how it was supposed to be. Yes, we had already chosen each other, had already formed our pack.

I was supposed to be their equal, an Alpha just like them. I felt betrayed. My body turned against me, but that didn’t mean I had to roll over on to my back and expose my neck in submission. I amnobody’ssubmissive. I push myself off the tree trunk, bend down and gather my sodden dress hem in my arms, exposing my leg so I don’t trip up. Then I run some more.

Two weeks ago, I had prospects. A life without limits. A female Alpha, or at least that is what the doctors finally concluded. By the age of sixteen most teenagers have already presented as either Alpha, Beta, or Omega. Betas are common, Alphas are rare but not uncommon, hence why they form packs to eventually claim the rarest prize of all: an Omega. To my family’s surprise, at the age of eighteen, I still had no designation. A late bloomer, that was what my parents told me reassuringly. The doctors insisted I would present as an Alpha due to my personality; they were sure of it.

Well, they were wrong. All of them,wrong. I was convinced, I felt it in my heart. I wasn’t meek or submissive like my sisters. What were the chances that my mother and fathers produced not one but three Omegas? The rarest of the rare, and my parents had managed it three times to my dismay. It hadn’t even crossed my mind. If anything, I would have welcomed being a Beta. I could have still had them, my best friends, my pack. We’d planned so many things. We were going to attend the same college together, we had a summer road trip in the works; freedom, and the world was mine and open to every possibility.

Well, it never happened. Two weeks ago, right after graduation, my body changed overnight, and I became a prisoner in my own home. My father snatched me away from my friends; my dreams shattered to pieces the day I became an Omega.

“Merce!” The sound of Nate’s voice cuts through my thoughts as I maneuver carefully through the trees until I finally see the sight of my family home up ahead. I can hear their feet splashing in the mud. I know I won’t get far but I have to try.

I know my parents and sisters are still back at the church. I am sure my fathers thought it was for the best that my Alphas bring me back kicking and screaming instead of themselves. As one of my fathers had put it the other day, “You need a strong hand to see you through this unexpected shift in your life.” I had stared at him in shock at the implications.

Well, I knew Knight, Nate, Trey, and Lox would never hurt me, but the idea, the idea of them physically or verbally abusing me grated on my nerves, making me want to crack my teeth indignantly.They would never, Mercy.The thought of living a life where I was subjected to constant sexual assault made me physically sick. Not all Omegas were doomed to live this type of life. I knew that, but for so many, it was their reality. I would rather die than endure such horror.

I’m so caught up in reliving the past few days that I don’t see the shadow in front of me. I cry out in alarm as I collide with a hard body and am sent flying into the mud, hitting the ground with a mushy splat. The cold, soggy earth seeps through my dress, burrowing into my skin, instantly making my teeth chatter.

“Mercy.” I glance up at the sound of my name and stare into the eyes of a very angry, very hurt Knight. His black suit coat is gone, possibly left at the church. Water runs down his face. There’s no sign of his signature lady killer dimples that I teased him relentlessly about in the past. His white dress shirt clings to his muscular frame. He towers over me. Clearly unhappy about being out in this weather. But, hey, he’s not the one flat on his ass in the icy cold mud.

Knight doesn’t say anything as his eyes shift from me to the sound of the others approaching. I am sure he’s saving his words for when they finally arrive. I swallow past the lump in my throat. I don’t want to talk. I’d rather run and never have to explain why I left. But I guess this conversation is inevitable.

Nate makes it to us first. He’s soaked to the bone, just like his brother. Instead of anger all I see is acceptance, his shoulders are slumped as he gazes at the ground and not at me. I don’t like it but there is nothing I can do about it. I am the cause of his pain.

“Why is she in the mud?” Trey asks in exasperation as he and Lox appear next. Lox passes me without even a cursory glance my way as he joins the others in the line they are forming in front of me.

“Really, so not one of you are going to help her up? What the fuck!?” Trey growls and my stomach does a summersault in response.

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