Page 1 of Beta Lies and Cursed Lives

Miranda

“They’ve found us. We have to go!”

Dad shakes me as his voice pierces my sleep-addled brain. I try to process his words.

They’ve found us.

No…

My legs swing over the side of the bed, body on autopilot as I stuff my feet into my sneakers, grab the packed bag from the floor, and sling it over my shoulder. I’m already fully dressed—every inch of my body covered in clothing save for my face—and I head for the fire escape in the dark, looking over my shoulder for my father.

“Go!”he hisses. “I’ll hold them off.”

“No!” I shout, against everything he’d taught me in the last decade. “I’m not leaving you behind.”

My vision adjusts to the darkness enough that I can see his frown. “They’re—”

He doesn’t finish what he’s about to say before the door bursts open, blinding light pouring in from the hall and the flashlight beams that dart all around the room.

“Run!” my father screams, and I don’t hesitate this time.

A sob catches in my throat as I spin around to the window and yank it open. The moment my foot touches the top rung of the metal ladder, the building begins to tremble; the ground rumbles and quakes.

My father growls, low and menacing, before letting out a bark that would bring the strongest alpha to their knees.

But I know it’s no use.

“Dad…” My voice is an airy whisper, a pitiful plea in desperation.

Don’t do this. Not for me.

Please, don’t give up your life.

“He’s one of them!” a man shouts.

I don’t need to see him to know that he’s a GBE soldier. They’re who we’ve been running from all these years. Ever since I found out I was one of the Cursed.

Ever since I’d killed my mother.

I continue my downward climb as tiles fall from the roof, narrowly missing my head. The shaking grows so intense that the ladder whines as its anchors snap and fly past my head, and then it starts to bend away from the building, taking me with it.

My jaw clenched, I jump to the ground from two stories up, trying so hard to remain quiet and unseen, my knees bending when I land.

The soles of my sneakers hit the pavement the moment another, nearer voice shouts, “She’s here!”

Fuck.

I know this alleyway like the back of my hand. Multiple daily drills conducted by my father and me ensured I knew exactly how to escape if necessary.

After slipping through the Global Beta Enforcement’s fingers for ten years, I never thought this day would finally come.

I pivot on the ball of my foot and dash toward the chain-link fence to the north, reaching it and jumping as high as I can, grasping the links with both gloved hands and using all my strength to vault over the top in one fluid motion. I don’t stop when my feet touch ground on the other side, running out of the alley and onto the street, heading east.

Multiple bodies crash into the fence behind me, the rattle audible over the pounding of my feet.

I cross the street, the blare of a car horn making my heart jump as a vehicle screeches to a halt barely a foot from me. But I don’t stop.

I have to reach the subway.