Page 181 of Their Lethal Pet

I need to focus on the Viscount and his voice.

He’s talking about having to start over now, his irritation palpable.

“If the Alphas have found this dimension, it’s no longer ideal,” he’s saying. “But it’s going to take time to find a more appropriate place to begin anew. Not to mention thework involved in gathering all the souls hidden throughout this dimension.”

I shift a little to the side, my night vision almost completely in focus now.

The Viscount doesn’t appear to be in this room at all, his voice coming from all over.A speaker system, perhaps?

Regardless ofwhere, Sera and I can’t just stand here in the center of the room.

We need to go outside,I think, eyeing the windows.Into the woods.

Because we’re likely in the Viscount Manor, which is high in the mountains, several miles from the village. But Sera and I grew up in that forest. If we get outside, we can run.

I take a tentative step, my breath holding in my lungs. When the floor doesn’t make a sound, I exhale a little and move again.

Sera creeps along beside me, clearly following my lead.

It reminds me of how I used to lead Sage through the village to meet with the Protector to bargain for medicine. She used to mimic my movements, too, striving for quiet. Then mimicked my confidence when we bartered with the man.

“I’ll be killing you last,” the Viscount informs me flatly. “That way, you’re reincarnated last. It’s not that I want to punish you, darling, but I need to ensure your bond is broken. Like the others. It’s the only way for us to hide.”

Hearing the Viscount call medarlinghas me cringing. But the rest of his words make me frown.Hide? Hide from what?

“Has your Alpha told you our history?” he asks conversationally. “How the Alphas tried to enslave our kind to meet their baser needs? To force us to procreate against our will?”

My steps slow, my eyes blinking.The Alphas enslaved Omegas?

Don’t listen to her,Orcus tells me.Demeter is full of lies.

What’s she talking about?I ask him.Why would she say these things?

Because she hates the Alpha-Omega dynamic.

“There were more Alphas than Omegas. So their solution was to manufacture a system. One where Alphas created circles—orpacks—and each pack was assigned a single Omega slave.”

She’s lying,Orcus insists.You know me, Alina. You can hear my mind. See my memories. Use me to poke holes in her manipulation.

“The purpose was to breed the Omegas in the hope of making more. But Alphas are far more common, so really, they just produced more monsters.” The Viscount hisses over that last word, his voice full of distaste.

Sera and I have reached the windows now, but I don’t see one we can slip through.

I’m also… listening.

I canfeelOrcus’s vow that Demeter is lying, and I believe him.

But the Viscount—Demeter—seems to believe this truth, too.

Almost like… it happened.

Orcus…

Hide, Alina,he demands.I know she’s convincing. I… I just need you to hide, little one. Please. We’re coming.

It seems strange to me that he’s not already here.

He can portal at will.