Page 25 of Blood Fist

“What do we do now?” he hissed, looking over his shoulder at the fire behind him. Most of the soldiers appeared to still be asleep.

“We can just…take him back?” Niklas offered.

“Are you insane?” Brune asked, keeping his voice hushed. “What’s it going to look like? An alpha and a beta carrying anunconscious omegabetween them? They’ll kill us on sight!”

“I obviously didn’t think that far!”

Sheathing his sword, Brune watched the prince’s chest rise and fall. He tried to settle his raging thoughts, keeping his scent from leaking out and giving away his distress.

“He’s really out.”

“I know!”

He snapped his jaw shut, unable to yell at Niklas. Because he had stopped him. He had prevented this omega from a fate far worse than death, and Brune did nothing. Swallowing past bile that tasted a lot like guilt, he crouched to grab under the omega’s arms.

“We don’t have a choice. We’ll have to get him as close to camp as possible and then…just…” he made a motion of throwing something with his hands.

“Just what? Throw him?!”

“I don’t know! You’re the one who hit him!” Brune whispered, looking over his shoulder again. “We’ll just get him close enough and they’ll think he fell asleep or something.”

In the dirt. Outside of camp.

Niklas nodded, picking up and sheathing his own sword before grabbing the prince’s legs.

Lopsided, they stumbled their way in the direction they thought the clan was in. It was difficult to navigate the darkness, and more than once they tripped and had to catch themselves before they did even more damage to the prince. He was skinny, but heavy, and Brune felt his arms shake before they even saw the first light of a fire.

Niklas was sweating, and his muted scent of wet grass was becoming obnoxious. If the wind shifted, they would be caught.

Brune was about to yell at him when he felt his legs swept out from under him. He landed with a thud. Before he could get his limbs under control, he was hit again. A fist to the jaw that had him seeing stars on a moonless night.

He heard Niklas yelp and looked up in time to see Osmond descending on him. The man slipped out of the dark just like he had before. Osmond moved to hitNiklas, but the beta was quick. He caught the hit and moved with it, spinning out of reach. The alpha didn't even pause, just continued with the onslaught.

“Wait!” Brune tried, but it was too late. Niklas managed to land a kick that knocked the wind out of the alpha. Osmond rolled out of the way, popping up in time to send an uppercut into Niklas’s shocked face. Rather than let him fall, he grabbed the beta by the shirt and went down with him, straddling him so he could cock a fist back in a punch that would surely break something.

Brune launched, hitting the alpha around the torso. He knocked him flat on his back, trying to wheeze through the elbow that dug into his ribs. He didn’t want to hurt the other alpha—not that he could. He was justso damn fast.

“It’s not what you think!” he coughed. “We were trying to bring him back?—”

Osmond growled, head butting Brune right between the eyes. Eyes watering, he fell back on the next hit, curling up in a ball to try to protect himself. A kick landed in his kidneys, and he felt his alpha screaming at him to get up to defend himself,but he couldn’t make his wobbly legs move.

“Osmond…stop…”

The kicks ceased. Brune chanced a look to see the alpha crouching beside Corric, gently cradling him as he looked him over for injuries.

“They’re telling the truth,” Corric said, his voice raspy.

“What?” Osmond asked, eyebrows furrowing and thick scent of lemon clogging Brune’s nose in a way that made his skin crawl. “Corric, what’s going on?”

“I was–” the omega swallowed, eyes focusing. “I was going to surrender.”

Osmond reeled back like he’d been hit. Brune suspected this omega had a power he didn’t, because Osmond certainly didn’t react likethatwhen he’d actually hit him.

“You what?”

Corric looked away in shame, a small whine bubbling up from between his lips. The oppressive scent of angry alpha was too much, and the omega bared his neck on instinct. Osmond sighed, shaking his head to get control of his emotions. Without saying anything more, he scooped Corric up.

“You two,” he barked at Niklas and Brune, both still flat out in the dirt. “Come with me.”