Page 80 of Unhinged Omega

"What thefuckare you doing?" he snarls, his voice echoing off the concrete walls.

The dog is barking at a hypersonic speed now.

Lex shifts my weight on her shoulder. "That thing is gonna rip this whole place apart!" she bellows down at him. "Take half your army with it! Everything we've worked for, everything we've built—ripped to shreds!" She lets out a harsh laugh. "And for what? One little omega?"

I dig my nails into her back, but she doesn't even flinch.

"I say we give it what it wants," Lex continues, her voice hard. "Cut our losses before?—"

"Put her down." Nikolai's voice drops dangerously low. "Now."

"Boss, be reasonable?—"

The sound of a gun being cocked cuts through the air. My eyes widen as I crane my neck to see Nikolai aiming his weapon at Lex as the dog barks savagely between the two alphas, every hair on her neck standing on edge.

"Are you fucking serious?" Lex demands, her grip on me tightening. "You're gonna shoot the only person in this hellscape who's actually been loyal to you for some moonlight strange?"

"You're the strange ones!" I hiss indignantly, thrashing against her hold. "And I would sooner let the Knight fuck me than that tacky criminal!"

"Do you not know what 'strange' means?" Lex asks in a baffled tone.

"Shut up," Nikolai snaps.

I'm not sure which of us he's talking to, but just in case he dares to say that to me, my eyes narrow dangerously. "You'd better hope the Knight eats me," I spit, "because I'm going to turn your balls into earrings."

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm the one protecting your ass!" he bellows.

"Well, you're doing a bad job!"

I feel Lex's muscles tensing as we bicker and her dog barks and barks and fucking barks some more. She's actually considering defying him.

Another explosion rocks the tower—because apparently, those idiots out there can't aim even when they're shooting rocket launchers—sending more dust raining down on us from the stairwell above. Through the narrow windows, I catch glimpses of chaos. Men running, flames licking the sky, and somewhere below, the Knight's bone-chilling roar.

"Last chance," Nikolai growls, his finger tightening on the trigger. "Put. Her. Down."

The tension in the stairwell is thick enough to choke on. The only sounds are the chaos outside and Bess's constant barking lancing through my ears.

For a moment, I think Lex is about to comply, but when she moves like she's going to try to rush past him, the gun fires.

Lex crumples with a furious snarl and drops me. Luckily onto my ass, but that's going to leave one hell of a bruise. I catch a glimpse of Lex clutching her bleeding knee as Bess lets out a furious snarl and lunges, sinking her teeth into Nikolai's arm. The gun clatters to the floor and he snarls, too, grabbing the dog's scruff and trying in vain to pull her off him as she ravages him through the sleeve.

I fucking run.

Chapter

Twenty-One

RAVEN

My lungs burn as I sprint toward the tower, desperation fueling every step. The chaos around me fades to background noise—screams, explosions, the deafening roar of the monster—all of it meaningless compared to my singular goal.

Her.

Cosima.

My goddess.

"Stop firing, you fucking morons!" I yell at Nikolai's men as another rocket whistles past, far too close to the tower for comfort. "You'll bring the whole damn thing down!"

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