Page 126 of The Alpha King's Fate

The sound of an alarm blaring didn’t surprise her. All around the base, the Hunters mobilised, preparing to go and hunt the love of her life. She sensed their eagerness, even if it was somewhat muted as if they really were robotic monsters who thought of nothing but the hunt.

Her vision sharpened. She knew without looking at her reflection in the glass that her eyes were glowing. Her face tightened, and her gums started to itch.

‘So we’re doing this?’ the beast inside her said.

It was strange. Sadness mixed with excitement and hunger for the Hunters’ flesh.

‘I’m sorry. I didn’t even get to know you,’ she answered. ‘But I think this was our purpose all along.’

‘Then we shouldn’t die in vain. Let’s show them who we are,’ the beast said.

The sound of weapons cocking behind her penetrated the fog in her head caused by the growing rage.

She took a step back from the glass and lowered her hand. Her mother fell to her knees, her tears now flowing freely.

‘Wait. Jax once asked me what your name is. I still don’t know.’

Her jaw stretched. Her nails started to lengthen, and everything tightened in her body.

‘Nia.’

It was a beautiful name.

‘Thank you. It has a better ring to it than ‘It’ or ‘Beast’.’

Despite their situation, a smile crossed her lips. And then it disappeared just as quickly when she remembered she would never get to know Nia. She should have trusted herself sooner.

‘You trust me now. That’s all that matters.’

And that was the last thing in her head before Nia completely took over. Fury silenced everything except the heartbeats of her enemies. Her claws were still lengthening when she turned and swiped the giant Hunter with both hands, leaving bloody stripes across his chest.

The scent of his blood was a trigger. Something switched off in her head, and she lurched violently into a sea of darkness. There was no gentleness, no compassion. No mercy.

The giant Hunter staggered back and reached around him for a weapon. She was on him again, slashing his arm before she flung herself onto the Hunters behind him, aiming at her. She landed on a set of broad shoulders and immediately twisted the first Hunter's head. The second Hunter fell with his neck bleeding before he could pull the trigger. The third Huntermissed, but only just. She rolled out of the way and swiped his feet from under him.

She almost bit into his throat when someone lifted her from behind and flung her across the room. Her back hit against the cage that held the abomination the Commander created before she fell hard onto the floor. The monster in the cage slammed against it, his eyes still flickering as his teeth lengthened. The fucker was shifting. How was that even possible when she only just bit him?

“Seal the room!” the big Hunter shouted.

The last time they sealed the room, they gassed all the wolves in the warehouse. That wasn’t going to happen again. She felt no pain from the impact as she followed the retreating Hunters and grabbed one by the back of his neck. She flung him out of the way, quickly closing the distance between her and the giant Hunter who’d injected her with whatever poison.

Not so giant anymore. They were a similar size. The Hunter looked back, and his eyes widened just before she speared him in his back and brought him down. Her hands were covered in fur when she straddled him and sunk her claws into his chest.

She wanted to savour the kill, to watch the light die in his eyes, but the main doors to the restricted area were sliding closed even as other Hunters made their way towards them. She was on her feet in seconds, shouldering Hunters out of her way until she reached the doors. She grabbed the heavy silver door with both hands and forced it back open. A whirring motor above it sparked and smoked, but the door still tried to close. Someone fired a shot behind her, hitting the wall instead.

She released the door and rolled out of the way to watch for the culprit. And then it occurred to her that all the guards watching her were gone. What remained were the doctors—the mad scientists who made the Commander’s plan a reality.

They were not trained to kill her.

But she would kill them.

She reached the door before it closed again and, this time, bent the useless metal out of its panel so it couldn’t close. If they wanted to gas the room, they wouldn’t contain it.

She looked back into the room and listened. Her ears easily picked up where the remaining doctors hid. And the fear...

She closed her eyes and took a lungful before she lost herself completely to the darkness. Minutes. Only minutes to end the doctors who tortured her. By the time she walked back up the room, the Hunter hounds were barking out of control and crashing against their cages in their bid to escape and rip her apart. The glass didn’t crack or give in any way.

Her mother was still on the floor when she returned to the cages at the end. And the Hunter beside her entirely shifted. His fur was an odd brown and red, and his eyes still flashed between blue and green. And he was snarling like the hounds in the other room.

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