Page 31 of Terror

“Maybe. I don’t know.” He stops chopping and turns around. “All those Omegas.” He swallows. “What are you gonna do?”

“What I should’ve done a long time ago.” I sprint out of the house, across Tabby’s lawn, down the sidewalk, and through the gates next door, where my Collector units greet me. Sensing my urgency, the males follow me inside the mayor’s mansion. I climb the steps three at a time, then turn. Males in red capes fill the foyer. Outside, the guards leave the posts and approach the entrance to hear me. “I’ll be right back.” Upstairs, I dress in leather pants, a long-sleeve black T-shirt, new boots, and a red cape I fasten around my neck. I grab my gloves.

Back at the top of the stairs, the males’ rattles make my blood colder, and their erected armor makes me smile.

I fix a glove over my left hand. “Guardians?”

They step forward.

“Secure every safe house within the perimeter.”

“Yes, Alpha.”

“How many Horde members are present?”

They sound out their tune and step forward. I count only twenty-four. It is what it is. The prince took the Horde with him on a mission, and I’ll work with the Alphas I have. “Each of you will take a unit of three Collectors.”

A couple scratch their heads.

I continue. “What’s the one thing our dear king has taught us?”

“Omegas are distractions,” everyone says in unison.

“And what’s the single thing we never checked?”

Nobody answers.

“The Omega homes.”

Grumbling, more head scratching.

“We marked them,” I say and slip on my other glove. “We marked them, but we never raided them. The moment the Horde spots an Omega inside a home, they call the Collectors. It is the way it’s been done for eons, but this is new territory. This enemy is different. We must change our ways or die.”

Eyes widen, and I see the moment my males put together the message. I show them my teeth. “In our effort to protect and serve, to make Omegas and their families feel more secure, more comfortable with Alpha males, we forgot the very thing that our king has done for our Omegas in the past. The way he was able to protect them and serve his country best. What’s the one thing he did that made all the difference during Domins’s rule?”

Silence. Nobody is breathing.

“He collected! All of them. He collected them all.” I stride down the steps and raise a hand, showing three fingers. “Collectors! Units of three will follow one Horde member. You collect and deliver. The Horde male raids. Every neighborhood, house by house, all the Omega homes. Upturn them, leave nothing untouched, not the sheds, doghouses, tree houses, or whatever the fuck you find on the properties.” The Horde erect their armor and emit their raiding call. It’s a beautiful sound and chills my blood even more than it already is.

I raise my armor. “This mission is simple. Collect and secure every last Omega within the perimeter. Family resistance will not be tolerated. Make sure they understand this. I want every Omega house raided, I want all the pills brought to me by nightfall, I want absolute Silence, no tech, no phone lines, nothing. On the streets, the only thing I want to smell is my enemy’s fear!”

Fear the Horde, roar spreads through the house, making the windows shake. In a few human minutes, the foyer empties of Alphas, leaving two Collectors and one Horde member with me. A Guardian stands at the door. It’s Gaio, Sotay’s second-in-command.

“You lost your Alpha?” I ask.

“How did you know?”

“He’s sniffing around Leah Jenkins’s house. Make sure he knows I issued orders. I expect him to secure the Stronghold for the Omegas.”

Gaio nods and proceeds to leave.

“One more thing,” I say, and he turns back around. “This house can be used to safeguard Omegas as well. All the rooms, including the vast bedroom. I won’t be using it.”

“Where—”

“Dismissed.” I turn to Kerod, the Horde in my unit.

He whistles. “Omega, Omega. Come tokori.”

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