Page 3 of Worth Fighting For

But with ten guards always there with their guns strapped to them, it wasn’t exactly like he’d been able to take them all out. If he’d been lucky, he might have gotten to two or three, but that still would have left the others to shoot him. Something, until that moment, he hadn’t been willing to accept.

But he honestly couldn’t continue as he had been. It had been eating at his soul until he was no longer certain who he was any longer.

The barrel of the gun was shoved against his chest. Rage poured from Bujar as he demanded, “Get rid of that child now or pay the consequences and it will be removed, anyway.”

He glanced down at the Omega who was looking up at him as if he were some kind of savior. But he wasn’t. Far from it, in fact. He just prayed this Omega knew he would be beaten until he lost the child and then killed to get Renzo to capitulate.

Reaching out to take the Omega’s hand, he said, “Fen, you know what will happen. Are you certain?”

Fen squeezed his hand reassuringly. “I’m more than ready, doc.”

That was what he’d been afraid of. Not for himself, although having to witness the brutality of what Fennec was to go through would tear him apart for being part of the cause, but he also wasn’t about to go against another of his patient’s wishes.

He closed his eyes and sent up a small prayer that somehow they would be saved before Bujar got his hands on Fennec. He might have known that wouldn’t happen, but it couldn’t hurt to ask the universe for a little bit of help.

Standing up to his full height, Renzo squared his shoulders and faced Bujar. Eyes meeting the cruel darkness of those muddy brown eyes, he took a steadying breath. “I won’t do it. Nor will I help any of you so much as put a band-aid on another Omega. If you don’t like it, kill me and find someone else to do your dirty work.”

The rage in Bujar’s eyes made them glow eerily, like he was actually excited at the prospect of beating Fennec to death and something inside of Renzo snapped. Just as Bujar reached down to yank Fennec off the cot he was currently on, Renzo’s arm snapped out to the small rolling table he used for treating his patients. His fingers wrapped around the scalpel that was always there and before he even realized what he was doing, he thrust it into the side of Bujar’s neck, severing the carotid arteries with the precision his training had given him.

Blood sprayed out in a large arc as Bujar lifted his hand to the wound, but it was already too late. Already he had dropped to his knees, his body practically sagging as the life drained out of him.

Rushing over before the man did something stupid like pull the trigger of his rifle, Renzo snatched it away from his body, pushing him to the ground so when he completely toppled over, he wouldn’t make a sound. Not even waiting for him to die, he went back to the cot and helped Fennec to his feet.

Thankfully, the Omega wasn’t hurt, just pregnant. “We have to save the others,” Fennec insisted.

Renzo already knew that, but he doubted they’d get very far. At least this time, he had a gun. “Do you know how to shoot this?” he asked Fennec.

The Omega’s eyes widened in surprise for a moment before determination seeped into their hazel depths. “Yes.”

Even though he hadn’t elaborated, Renzo took him at his word as he shoved it into his hands. “When possible, try not to use this. If you’ll distract the Alphas, I can hopefully strike, taking them down without making a sound.” He held up the scalpel he still had in his hand.

Fennec nodded, and they quickly made their way out the door and stayed close to the building, hoping to not draw too much attention to themselves. When they got to the corner, they ran the short distance to the building with the cells for the Omegas.

He breathed a sigh of relief when they made it to the door without incident. Placing a finger over his lips, he slowly, and as quietly as possible, opened the door just enough to slip inside. He should have known it wouldn’t be necessary as the guard had one of the Omegas, Arwel, pinned to his bed, brutally raping him.

The good news, the cage door was wide open, the guard’s gun was propped up against the wall by the door, and he was making enough noise to drown out Renzo as he strode over the pair and plunged his knife into the asshole’s carotid. Just like with Bujar, it was over before he could do anything to stop the bleeding.

Fennec already had the keys that had been left in the cell's lock door and was opening the others. No one made a single peep as they made their way out of their cells to the door. This was where it would become tricky. There were too many of them–ten Omegas and Renzo–to easily stay hidden as they made their escape. That meant they had to take out the other guards, preferably without alerting anyone as they did so.

Picking up the gun that was still against the wall, he held it out. “Who is a really good shot?”

Kelce stepped forward and took the weapon. “My Alpha father and brother taught me in order to help defend our home and hunt for meat.” His eyes shuttered for a moment as if he were reliving a memory. “They died trying to save me and my Omega dad.” Steel infused his entire body as he said, “I won’t let that happen again.”

That was good enough for Renzo. “Even though we have two guns, if we can, we need to not use them unless absolutely necessary, as it will cause the others to come running.” He held up his very bloody knife and hand. “When possible, I will sneak up and kill them, but I may need some help with distraction from all of you.”

More than half looked leery of his plan, but Renzo gestured to Kelso and Fennec. “They will keep you safe. If I can’t get to the guard in time, they will shoot him.”

All of them nodded, even if some still seemed uncertain any of this was going to work. Who was he kidding? Renzo doubted they had a shot in hell, but they’d gotten this far. No point in turning back.

Now, all they needed was a miracle.

CHAPTER 3

The tension of traveling along the Missouri was high the further west they got. There would be no one but themselves to keep them safe and after seeing more than one group of armed Alphas, there was no feeling of security. Coleson feared it was only a matter of time before they were attacked.

Yes, they had an arsenal on the ship that they had all trained to use, although Coleson had only had a week to do so. But Lowen was basically an expect shot as he’d lived west of the Mississippi his whole life and had no choice but to use guns to protect his cattle from predators.

As for Gulliver, he’d claimed even though his Alpha father and brothers had treated him like a nuisance, they’d still taught him how to kill animals for food as they’d also lived west of the Mississippi and needed the meat to trade for other supplies.

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