LOGINEDALThe room stayed cold. The bloody sheets were gone, replaced by clean, coarse wool blankets that smelled faintly of lye and the damp lower laundry tiers, but the scent of the slaughter never truly left the walls.I didn't move. I lay on my side, my knees tucked up toward my chest, staring at a single crack in the mortar of the stone wall. The yellow light under the door shifted from bright to dark, signaling the passing of days I wasn’t counting."Edal."Korr’s voice was a low, heavy rasp from the doorway. He walked into the room slow, his heavy combat boots making a dull, scraping sound on the concrete floor. He was wearing a fresh gray uniform shirt, but his right hand was completely bound in thick white medical tape, the splints holding his broken fingers rigid against his palm.He stopped by the edge of the cot. On the small wooden table, the metal tray sat exactly where it had been since yesterday morning—the ration bowl of gray nutrient broth covered in a thin, cold skin."Y
EDALThe heavy, metallic scent of fresh blood completely swamped the small perimeter of the residential cabin, drowning out the familiar smells of old gun oil and damp stone. I was flat on my back on the mattress, my legs tangled in sheets that were turning a dark, terrible crimson.My fingers locked into the front of Rylan’s thick tactical jacket. I pulled him down until his face was inches from mine."Make it stop," I choked out, a raw, wet sob tearing through my chest. "Rylan, please... it's tearing me apart... make it stop!""I've got you, sweetheart. I've got you," Rylan muttered. His voice wasn't smooth or mocking anymore. It was completely broken, scraping like gravel in his throat. His massive Alpha arms wrapped tightly around my torso, pulling my upper body off the bloody mattress and crushing me against his bare chest. He was shaking so violently his teeth were clicking together. "Don't look down, Edal. Just look at me. Look at my eyes. Focus on my voice, okay?""It hurts!"
EDALThe atmosphere upstairs in the main residential sectors had completely shifted over the last two months. For the first time since Marcus’s mountain vault had become our cage, the heavy, stale air of the fortress felt lighter. The Nullifiers down in the lower bays were holding the western ridge with absolute iron discipline, Vance’s men keeping Vex’s forward scouts totally pushed back into the ash plains. And inside our own private wing, the dark, bloody tension between the Alphas had quieted down into a strange, watchful truce.Everyone could see the change now. My belly was rounding out, pushing tight against the fabric of my gray tactical shirts.To the soldiers and the circle, that growing shape was the first real piece of hope they had touched since the old world burned down to the ground. A new life. A child born inside the stone walls where the nuclear winter couldn’t reach.But under my heavy blankets in the dark, the happiness didn't reach my gut.I sat on the edge of the
EZRA The red lights were spinning fast against the white lab walls, painting the green jars of fluid in a dark, bloody color. The alarms were completely screaming, a loud, heavy horn that made my hybrid ears ring with pure agony.Thorne was still standing by the silver desk, his clean face twisting with sudden, sharp anger as the distant sound of explosions shook the concrete floor under our feet."What is that?" Thorne barked, turning his head toward the heavy white doors. "The outer gate perimeter is totally locked. Who is breaching the facility?"The iron door at the end of the long glass corridor suddenly bent inward with a massive, deafening *CRASH*.The metal panel tore completely off its bolts, flying through the air and smashing into one of the green tanks. Green fluid and broken glass exploded across the floor, the malformed clone body sliding out into the mess. Through the smoke, Tyson stepped straight into the lab. The massive Nullifier was holding his heavy breaching shie
KORRThe residential wing was dead silent, but my brain was tracking every tiny vibration in the walls. I stood by the tech console, my fingers tightening around the grip of my rifle until my knuckles turned white."The kid isn't in his bunk," Rylan said, stepping out of the shadow of the doorway. His voice was still totally rough and scraping from where Ezra had squeezed his windpipe earlier, and his dark eyes were completely serious. "His gear is gone, Korr. The hybrid scouted out. He went past the western gate hours ago.""Dammit," I growled, my face hardening into a deadpan stone mask. "He went after Thorne’s perimeter alone. The stupid kid thinks he has to prove his layout to the circle.""He’s going to get himself slaughtered," Rylan spat, his jaw clenching tight. "Or worse. If Thorne realizes what his genetic footprint is, he’ll lock him in a cage and milk him for data.""We are tracking him right now," I said, my voice dropping into a dark, flat register. I turned to look at t
EZRAI stayed on my knees, panting, the taste of sour bile burning the back of my throat. I stared at the mess on the clean white floor, my whole body shaking bad. The image of those twisted, dead faces in the green jars was stuck right in my brain.Thorne didn't even move his feet away from the vomit. He didn't look mad or disgusted at all. He just looked down at me with that same heavy, patient kindness. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a silk handkerchief, and wiped the side of his boot slow. His movements were totally calm."Get up, Ezra," Thorne said, his voice dropping into that smooth, quiet register. "The past is just data. You are the success. There is no need to cry over the draft versions.""You're a monster," I choked out, pushing myself up using the cold glass of the tank behind me. My hybrid claws scraped loud against the surface, right next to the floating face of a clone that had my exact nose. "You made me in a tube. You killed all of them. I'm going to rip your
RYLANThe mountain trail was total hell. The convoy crawled through the jagged teeth of the Red Ridge, the heavy transport trucks spinning their tires in the loose shale and gray mud. Up here, the air was thin and bit like a knife.At the back of the convoy, Edal was asleep against my chest, wrappe
EDALThe scout shack was cold, but the air between Rylan and me was thick and hot."They aren't coming back for you tonight, baby," Rylan said, his voice a low, gravelly rasp. He set the rifle down and looked straight at me. "Those shots from the lower tunnels? Korr just killed Marcus. It’s over."
EDALThe iron door slammed against the stone wall, I stood in the doorway, shivering violently, my hands clutching the crumpled, water-stained sector maps and the cold, stolen bypass keycard against my chest. My shirt was plastered to my skin by the downpour, completely exposing the dark, ugly b
EDAL"Yeah, you like that shit, don't you?" he panted, his hands sliding down to grip my backside, his fingers digging into the soft flesh, spreading my cheeks wider, exposing my tight hole to the cold rain. He lifted me completely off the ground, my boots dangling, my weight resting on his cock bu







