The man stepped away from the door, pulling it open behind him. A burst of sounds and smells and color filled the room. He raised his voice and said, “You guys good?”
“Yeah,” a male voice called from somewhere above us. “But I’d hurry up if I were you, bird neck. We’re getting antsy up here. Carter’s shadow is trying to hump his leg—”
“He is not!” another voice cried. “Rico, for fuck’s sake, would you keep your goddamn mouth shut?”
Mark’s lips twitched. “They’re ready.” He closed the door again and stepped forward until he was behind Gordo, putting a hand on his shoulder.
&nbs
p; Gordo took a deep breath and closed his eyes. The tattoos on his arms burst brightly, and the room filled with the ozone smell of magic. I hissed at it, and him, but he ignored me.
Mark’s eyes began to glow.
Violet.
And I was distracted by it, distracted by what it meant, what was happening to me here, in this place. The raven on his throat fluttered its wings, and then—
Gordo kicked his leg out, foot scraping through the line of silver, breaking the barrier. “Ox, now.”
The big Alpha was moving even as the silver parted.
He was on me before I could react.
He wrapped his hand around my throat, pushing me back. I fell to the ground as he landed on top of me. I tried to knock him off me, but he was too heavy. His face was inches from mine. I whimpered as his eyes filled with a swirling mixture of red and violet. They were endless pools of Alpha and Omega, and I couldn’t look away.
And then he roared as loud as I’d ever heard.
The call of an Alpha.
I seized underneath him, an electrical shock rolling through me. My head snapped to the right and I was
(in a clearing the moon bright and full and and and)
screaming at the force of it, screaming though no sound came out, and I couldn’t fight it, couldn’t fight the
(stars all those stars like ice like bright ice)
strength of the Alpha above me, and he was tearing me apart, shredding me into tiny pieces and there was
(a door there was a door a door a door a)
I stood in the clearing under a brilliant night sky.
I wasn’t alone.
Behind me was a door, an old metal thing that didn’t cast a shadow.
In front of me was a group of people. The Alpha called Ox. The Alpha called Joe. Gordo. Mark. Elizabeth. Jessie. Four men I didn’t recognize, though one looked like a bigger version of Joe and and and—
Kelly.
Kelly.
Kelly.
I screamed for him as my back arched off the ground, but the Alpha on top of me held me down, his hand tightening around my throat, and he roared at me again, and in my head, I heard thunderous voices, and they said BrotherSonLoveFriend hear us hear us because we are pack and pack and PACK—
The door behind me groaned in the clearing as I turned toward it.