Page 32 of Mating Mia (The Alphas’ Perfect Prey #2)

nineteen

. . .

Mia

M y breath freezes mid-exhale.

I can’t move, can’t even blink as Orion drags the knife tighter across my mother’s throat, his mouth twisted in a predator’s smile.

The circle of wolves behind him fan out, gliding through the darkness with silent purpose. In the coppery lamplight, they look more shadow than man, but my focus narrows and blurs until all I see is my mom’s face. Her jaw is clenched, eyes blazing, refusing to show even a flicker of fear.

The blood beads along the edge of the blade, a crimson line slicing into her neck.

Orion inhales deeply, nostrils flaring, and I know he can smell every ounce of my family’s terror. I want to scream, to run at him, but my feet are glued to the damp grass.

My father stands just a few yards away, fists clenched, the veins in his neck bulging as he bares his teeth. “Let her go, Orion. This isn’t between you and her. You want revenge? You take it out on me.”

“Oh, I intend to,” Orion says, voice syrupy-sweet. “After all, you stole from me. And now you’ve bred a new generation of criminals.” His eyes flick to me, and my stomach drops like a stone.

A tremor runs through the three men at my back.

Kane’s arm snaps around my waist, pulling me flush against his bare skin. Finn and Jace close ranks, flanking me, their bodies vibrating with the low, seismic rumble that means they’re fighting the urge to shift right here, right now.

But no one moves—no one except my mother.

She doesn’t whimper or beg. She spits into Orion’s face. “Go fuck yourself, you piece of shit.”

Orion doesn’t flinch. He just presses the blade deeper, and blood flows freely now, painting my mother’s collarbone.

“Still feisty,” he purrs. “It’s what I always liked about you, Sarah. Even when you were chained to my bed.”

“Let her go!” My father’s voice cracks the night in two.

Orion’s gaze is pure evil. “You were always so sentimental, Liam. Pathetic, really, for an alpha. You’re lucky I let you live as long as I did. That ends tonight, though.”

Kane leans down, lips by my ear, voice so low I barely catch it over the sound of the waterfall. “When I tell you to run, you go to Ash and don’t look back. You understand me, little omega?”

I nod, or maybe I just shake. My entire body is vibrating with terror, but Kane’s grip around my waist is steel. His other hand is on my hip, and I realize it’s the only thing keeping me upright.

Orion addresses the pack behind him, his voice carrying through the woods.

“Liam is a thief and a murderer. He stole my omega. Tonight, we restore the order of things.” He raises the knife and licks my mother’s blood off the blade, slow and deliberate.

“Sarah comes with me. The rest of you can die together.”

A dozen growls echo from the trees. Kane’s chest presses into my back as his growl rips from his throat, vibrating my bones.

Then, in one fluid motion, Kane, Finn, and Jace are gone—human forms dissolving into fur and muscle and teeth. The change is so fast, so violent, it leaves their tuxedo remnants drifting like smoke in the lamplight. Bones stretch, joints snap, claws erupt from fingers.

Orion’s pack transforms as one, their bodies writhing and shifting until the clearing is a mass of fur and bloodlust.

I have never seen a pack war. The brutality of it is beyond anything I can imagine.

Orion uses the chaos to drag my mother backwards, knife still pressed to her throat as he retreats toward the trees. My father doesn’t hesitate. He shifts, tearing through his skin with an agonized howl, and is instantly on Orion’s heels, a massive gray wolf streaking through the brush.

Finn barrels into me, knocking me sideways and out of the circle of carnage.

The wolves collide in a blur of motion, teeth sinking into flesh, claws raking, bodies slamming together with sickening, bone-breaking force.

My heart races as I watch Kane launch himself at a giant russet wolf, jaws clamping down on its spine and snapping it in two. Blood sprays across the grass. Jace circles, darting in and out with surgical precision, hamstringing his opponents before moving on.

The air is thick with the metallic stench of blood and the reek of aggression. Screams echo into the night. I can no longer tell if the screams are human or animal.

My heart stutters. I can’t breathe. My lungs won’t work. My baby.

I need to get to my son .

A huge wolf, slate-gray, with scars crisscrossing its snout, breaks from the brawl and charges straight for me.

I backpedal, slipping in the dew-slick grass, but before I can even scream, Finn intercepts it, slamming his entire body into the beast and sending it tumbling. The two wolves roll, jaws locked on each other’s throats, until Finn rips out the other’s jugular with a wet, sucking sound.

Nearly puking, I’m crawling now, my knees and palms stained with blood and mud. The waterfall is a white roar in my ears. I can’t see my parents, nor can I see Orion, but I can hear the shrieks of pain and rage coming from somewhere deeper in the trees.

I lurch to my feet and bolt for the cave entrance behind the falls, my legs rubbery, every step a struggle against gravity and dread. I glance back once. Jace is limping, blood streaming from a gash above his eye, but he’s still fighting.

I’m worrying now.

My alphas are getting hurt, and there’s nothing I can do about it.

A flash of movement draws my gaze up. Kane has his jaws locked around the head of a massive white wolf, possibly Orion, shaking it with such force that the neck finally gives way and the head tears free from the body.

The black wolf spits it to the ground, then howls, the sound vibrating through my chest.

The fighting doesn’t stop. It just gets uglier. Fur and flesh fly in clumps, bones snap, the grass is painted red.

I keep running. I have to.

My vision is blurry, my body numb. I follow the path by instinct, hands trailing the damp walls as I slip and stagger deeper into the system.

All I can think about is Ash. My baby. The only thing that matters.

I reach the sleeping chamber, and there he is, curled in a nest of blankets, thumb in his mouth, oblivious to the carnage outside. His chest rises and falls in soft little breaths.

Relief drops me to my knees. I scramble over to him and scoop him into my arms, clutching him so tight he wakes up with a startled squeak.

“Shh, shh, it’s okay, baby,” I whisper, kissing his soft hair, rocking him back and forth. My hands are shaking so badly that I almost drop him. I sink to the cave floor, cradling him, and that’s when an intense cramp hits my belly.

Heat .

I know it’s my heat. The fear and the adrenaline brought it out.

“No, no, not now,” I whimper, but it’s too late. The first contraction rips through me, doubling me over, my nails scraping the rock as I try not to scream.

I quickly set Ash gently on the blankets, then crawl away, my knees leaving streaks of clear fluid on the stone floor.

My pussy is flooding, my entire body throbbing with the need to be filled, to be knotted, to be claimed. But all I can think about is the fighting outside—the blood, the death, the possibility that my mates won’t come back at all.

The horror of it fuses with the agony of my heat, makes me shake with silent sobs.

I shove my fist into my mouth to muffle the cries, biting down so hard I taste iron. The cramps get worse, doubling and tripling until I’m curled on the ground, my dress bunched up around my hips, my thighs slick with a constant gush of honey-scented fluid.

My body is betraying me at the worst possible moment.

Another contraction. Another gush. I can’t breathe. I can’t think. I want my alphas, I want them so bad I ache. I don’t want to die. I don’t want anyone to die. This nightmare has to stop.

Another contraction tears through me, and I arch my back, mouth open in a soundless scream. The slick flows out of me in waves, pooling beneath my hips, the scent so thick and sweet it almost chokes me.

I claw at the rock, nails splitting, and press my cheek to the cold stone.

“Oh no,” I whimper, closing my eyes as tears roll down my face. “Please, please, please.”

Behind me, Ash begins to cry, sensing my pain, his thin wail slicing through the cave like a knife. I want to crawl to him, to hold him and tell him it’s okay, but my body is locked in place, hips spasming, my center clenching around nothing.

Suddenly, I hear a rustling sound behind me as I groan in pain.

The footsteps are light, almost dainty. A sickening dread pools in my stomach alongside the heat, souring the desperate arousal with fear.

“Who’s there?” I call, my voice cracking. I try to stand, but another contraction of need hits me, doubling me over.

The footsteps pause, then resume, more deliberate now. Confident. A silhouette appears at the entrance to our sleeping chamber, backlit by the dim glow of lanterns from the main cavern.

Female. Slender.

As she steps into the light, I can finally see her.

It’s the omega who helped kidnap me for Orion. She’s wearing a dress that seems to be made of black feathers, the material rustling with each step she takes. Her lips are painted a vibrant red, the color of fresh blood against her pale skin.

“Well, well,” she purrs. “What do we have here? The famous little omega and her precious cub.”

My heart slams against my ribs, adrenaline temporarily cutting through the fog of my heat. This is a disaster.

She glides further into the chamber, her red nails catching the light as she walks toward my baby. I shuffle forward, crawling to Ash before she could get to him and shield him with my body.

The omega’s nose wrinkles, her perfect features twisting with disgust. “Ugh. You’re in heat. How inconvenient.” Her eyes rake over me, taking in my disheveled appearance, the damp patch spreading between my legs. “Or perhaps convenient, depending on how you look at it.”

She stalks closer towards my baby, unconcerned about me trying to protect him.