Page 39 of Prey for Me

“A tunnel?” I say out loud, overgrown ivy and vegetation disguising the pit as something natural.

We emerge from the darkness to something that is actually worthy of the title of basecamp. Masked men are everywhere, but there’s only alphas here. Some are training, boxing sandbags that look ready to pop from one well placed punch. Others are sharpening flint into arrows and sculpting daggers. It’s a war camp, and at the center are Raphael and Leo.

To say they’re shocked to see us when they finally spot us approaching wouldn’t do it justice. If the situation wasn’t so grim, I’d laugh at Raphael’s slacked jawed awe and Nakao’s eyes popping out of his skull. He probably gets dressed on special occasions exclusively since this man seems more than comfortable having his dick swinging around in front of his men. So whatever is going on, it’s big.

“Don’t ask me why. Just know it was an emergency and I had no choice but to bring Grace along with this traitor.”

Why is Nadège here?I wonder, and fight against a surge of jealously that her pack trusts her enough to show her what is obviously a secret meant for their elite. Besides Aaron, I don’t spot another beta in the gathering crowd.

She rushes up to met, waddling a bit, smiling broadly. We hug, embrace lingering, and she pulls away after kissing my cheeks.

“It’s been too long, Grace,” she says in surprisingly fluid English.

“It has. I hear you’ve been studying,” I joke back in French and she’s cheesing.

“They keep me under constant surveillance. Wherever they go, I go,” she says, tone wistful, and I can’t tell if she hates it, lovesit, or feels indifferent. I get the sense it’s a mix of all three. And I understand on a spiritual level one omega captive to another.

“I know the feeling,” I say, and kick myself instantly. One day, I’ll learn to keep my jealously in check. Of course she’s not getting special treatment. If anything, she may be on a tighter leash than me, even if her’s is invisible, and collar non-existent.

“Attention!” a faceless voice shouts, before every alphas snaps up.

Nakoa steps off of the wooden platform, and his pack parts in a wave of deference, heads slightly bowed but none taking a knee. And it’s not lost on me that Emilio stares straight ahead. Not cocky or threatening, eyes gleaming with respect. But still, even Raphael tilts his head to Nakao, and he can bend metal. It makes me wonder what he can do to stand so tall in his presence?

The hell is going on here.

“A live apex wolf? You took him down, Leo? Took him alive?” he says and my mouth flies open.

“A-A-Apex?” I stammer, and Raphael looks down at me with a look filled with wonder.

“Yes. We haven’t caught one alive. Ever,” he says and Leo’s grin is manic.

“Not me! Our pack princess took him down for me,” Leo declares and I gulp, audibly.

He did try to bite his tongue off before Leo knocked him out

“He speaks French?” Nadège asks in English, and her second alphas, was it Marquis was it?--

“See so,” he says with confidence. It takes me a second to realize he’s trying to say ‘seems so’ in French. At least his heart’s in the right place.

I turn my attention back to this supposedly super strong apex alpha and then my gaze drifts to Nakoa, who is looking right at me. He flicks his wrist ever so slightly, and to my shock, I jerk forward. One step, two steps, three.

What the fuck!? I think, horrfied as he… pulls me towards him!

I stop just out of read, and he wipes his bloody nose. When did my alpha’s nose start bleed. Turning to the man on the ground, he says in an even tone, “Speak.”

He doesn’t move, even when Leo kicks him in the chest and Raphael kicks him in the head. I try to turn away, but again, it’s like a forceforcesme to watch. And when I look up, once again, Nakoa iswatchingme.

Telekinesis? Is that his supervillain power?It doesn’t seem that far fetched give the fact most of them have one.

“Speak!” he bellows and my knees buckle, falling into Nadège’s side at the same time she does mine, our opposing heights and weights just enough to offset each other so we don’t fall to the ground.

Oh no, it’s much worse. Pheromone poison,I think, terrified by how sour Nakoa’s pheromones smell. I’ve heard about it before, and read about it in books, apex alphas who’s peheomones are so powerful they can control other alphas. And not just the commands they can make an omega follow in the midst of their heat. They can order around completely sane alphas akin to full-fledged mind control tactics.

This level though, I thought to be a fairytale. But sure enough, Serge speaks. Most of it sounds like gibberish at first because the ex-bodyguard teeth are cluttering so hard, but then Serge’s pronunciation slowly becomes intelligible to me. I repeat what he says, and the raucous crowd gets quieter and quieter until I’m sure you can hear a pin drop in the woods.

Most of what Serge reveals doesn’t seem like it means anything, locations to boats and weapons and food and other things that aren’t here. He references locations in New York, Toronto, Ottawa, Québec Paris, Torreón,Seoul, Ho Chi Minh City, Beijing, Lagos, Cairo, and Accra. It’s a mindnumbing listof useless information. But he keeps repeating a word, a phrase really, that sets everyone on edge.

Blue Fox.

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