Page 57 of The Blind Hordesman

Chapter 22

Seer

Kiki left the protective dome. Kiki fucking left the dome. Serpent’s balls, I can’t move! I strain against my body, the confines of it making me so angry, I think I’ll blow a brain cell from trying so hard.

My nose twitches.

Oh, hey, I can move my face projectile.

Great. Now the legs. I try to bend one at the knee, but can’t.

“Kiki,” I scream inside my head.

It’s okay,I tell myself. My dad, my uncles, and my brother, the Collector Alpha, would rather die than let something happen to my Omega. This discomfits me even more. Why would she leave the dome?

My body feels like it weighs a few tons. The cramps in my muscles won’t let up. It’s pain unlike any other, and my arms might positively fall off. Especially my fists and wrists. They hurt as if something’s trying to grow out of them. I swear something cracked and extended while the Swarm males crawled all over the dome, and I screamed and screamed for my Omega. Inwardly, of course, because I’m as quiet as the Serpent Queen sneaking up on her prey.

Might as well be dead. Kill me now and get this shit done with, because if I come out of here and find out someone hurt my Omega, I will leave no stone unturned on this planet or the next.

Outside, my brother shouts, seeming upset but not mourning anyone, so that’s a plus. Ayo wails and wails, and as I try to tell him to shut up, my ear twitches. Great, all my head projectiles can move. I extend my senses as far as I can stretch them, and instead of hearing battle sounds and males’ armor hitting the ground, the Swarm males’ gnawing animal sounds, the rattles of males as they battle, the Telean pods buzzing, the imposter’s lasers trying to cut through the dome Dreikx erected around me, I hear Dad’s labored breaths and Arkin shouting, but he’s not saying anything. He’s screaming and rattling as if…as if…

No. No, it couldn’t be. My brother would not let anyone hurt her or take her from him. He’s Omega obsessed. He wouldn’t.

I listen.

Many footsteps approach, and as they near, I recognize the males by their steps and breathing patterns.

Dad enters the housing, breathing labored, steps heavy, and he reeks of blood. He says nothing and plops onto the floor. My uncles follow him, also plopping onto the floor. They sound defeated but not dead. Why are they not dead and defeated? There’s no honor in defeat besides one afforded to us by dying.

Finally, Arkin enters, and I inhale something I associate with my enemy. Fear and desperation. Much like the rest of my family, he says nothing, and I can’t speak to ask what’s wrong. Though I try moving my tongue and throat muscles, even roll my useless eyes to the back of my head, hoping it will lift the eyelid muscles I’ve had to remember to exercise all my life.

My foot twitches. The cramp in my calf lets up, and I flex it, hoping the rest will follow.

Dreikx walks inside and stops near the door. “What happened here?”

Silence.

“Where is the Omega?”

I’m all ears. I cease breathing.

Dad clears his throat. “Arkin, boy, it is better to tell him now when he’s down, because frankly, I am unsure if we’ll survive when he gets up from transition. Now he’ll have time to calm down. Tell him.”

“The Omega left with them, Seer,” my brother says. “I called after her, I fought my way into the water, but there were too many, and nobody was dragging her. She…she left on her own.”

She wouldn’t leave me.

She wouldn’t.

Lies!

There’s ringing in my ears and pain in my head and my gums. My jaw unlocks and drops, opening my mouth. Inwardly, I scream, because I feel like I’ll pass out from the pain. My entire body tightens, compressing my lungs and spine. I might break in half. Bones hurt. Skin feels like it’s in flames. At the back of my neck, something snaps, and my lungs wheeze out a sound I don’t recognize. I try to breathe and can’t.

“He stopped breathing,” Dreikx says. “Is this normal?”

Dad approaches and kneels on my right, pressing his ear to my chest. “Boy, quit playing.” He taps my cheek. “Come on. I’m too old for this shit.”

My lungs burn as they use up the air I inhaled.

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