In the Dark

Asher’s POV

“No… no… don’t do this,” I begged. My voice came out broken and wet.

“Shut your fucking mouth!” Kael roared.

Steel hissed as he dragged the broadsword from the scabbard at his hip. The cold flat of the blade slammed hard against the side of my neck and forced my head sideways into the icy mud. The iron bit into my skin at the same time the terror clawed up my throat.

I couldn’t breathe. Blood and spit bubbled on my cracked lips and stained the snow under my cheek. Through a blur of tears I looked up at them… my own blood, the five sons of Alpha Akoon, standing over me like scavengers waiting to tear a body apart.

“Please… Kael… I’m your brother…”

“You’re not my fucking brother!” He leaned his weight onto the blade until the edge cut a thin, stinging line across my neck. “You’re a stain. A wolfless, pathetic mistake. You’ve been leeching off our father’s soft heart since the day you were born!”

Torin stepped forward and put the sole of his boot on my left hand. He ground my fingers into the frozen gravel until the bones cracked. The scream that tore out of me was raw and high and echoed off the canvas walls of the tent.

“Look at him,” Torin laughed, pure disgust in his voice. “Squealing like a pig before we even cut his throat. You really think Akoon’s blood runs in this cunt’s veins?”

Jax reached down, yanked a filthy grease-stained rag from a supply crate, and wadded it in his fist. “I’m sick of hearing his pathetic voice.” Before I could pull away he slammed his knee onto my chest, driving the air out of my lungs, and shoved the rag deep into my mouth.

I gagged. The taste of stale grease, mud, and ash filled my throat. I tried to scream, tried to call for help, but all that came out was a muffled sound against the cloth.

“Do it already, Kael,” Jax growled. His eyes glowed with the amber light of his wolf pushing close to the surface. “End this cunt. Slice his throat and toss him in the ravine before the night guard makes their rounds.”

The air in the tent turned heavy and sour with hostile Alpha scent. Their wolves were fully awake now, snarling under their skin, hungry for blood.

Kael raised the sword high. His knuckles were white around the hilt. Torchlight flickered off the sharp double edge.

I stopped thrashing. My body went cold and numb under the certainty of what was coming. I closed my eyes. This was it. This was how it ended, in the slush outside a war tent, cut down by the people who shared my name, while my father was miles away and completely unaware. I waited for the cold steel to tear through my throat.

“Wait. Hold the fuck up.”

Brant’s voice cut through the silence. The blade hovered inches above my neck. Kael glared over his shoulder, breath coming in white plumes.

“What the fuck do you want, Brant? Don’t go soft on me now.”

“I’m not going soft, you idiot.” Brant stepped into the torchlight with a dark grin. He tossed a small leather pouch into the air and caught it with a soft clink of metal. “Why give him an easy death? A body leaves blood. Blood leaves a trail. And a trail brings Akoon’s wrath straight to our door. You think the old man won’t tear the whole camp apart if his precious little pet turns up dead in a ditch?”

Jax growled and rested a hand on his hunting knife. “Then what the hell do you suggest we do with him?”

Brant walked over and nudged my ribs hard with the toe of his boot. “We sell him.”

Kael lowered the sword a fraction. “Sell him? To who? He’s a wolfless piece of trash. Who the fuck would buy an Omega that can’t even shift?”

“The Zarithians.” Brant’s voice dropped. “They’re camped right on the edge of the eastern border tonight. Scavengers don’t give a shit if he has a wolf or not. Look at him, Kael. Look at his skin. Look at those silver eyes. He’s pretty. They’ll pay a fortune for a boy who looks like an untouched court maiden.”

Torin’s eyes lit with sudden greed. “The Zarithians trade in gold. How much do you think we can get?”

“For a pure skinned Omega from Alpha bloodlines?” Vane spoke from the shadows near the entrance. “At least fifty gold pieces. Maybe sixty if we tell them he’s a virgin.”

“Sixty pieces?” Jax let out a low whistle. “That’s more than our military stipend for the entire winter campaign.”

Kael looked down at me. His lip curled. He slid the sword back into its scabbard with a sharp metallic snap. The weight of his cold gaze felt worse than the blade against my neck.

“Fifty pieces of gold,” he said. “And the condition that the Zarithians take him past the western border tonight. If he ever sets foot back in the Eastern Pack, they slit his throat themselves.”

Through the dirty rag in my mouth I let out a desperate, muffled sob. Tears ran hot down my freezing cheeks. No. Please. Not the scavengers. Everyone knew what the Zarithians did to their captives. They broke them. They chained them like animals and sold them in the pits of Athdal Haven.

I thrashed hard, trying to kick free, trying to crawl toward the back of the tent.

“Shut him up,” Kael said coldly.

Vane stepped forward and brought his iron studded gauntlet down hard against the side of my skull.

CRACK.

Pain exploded behind my eyes. The world spun out of focus. The torchlight blurred into streaks of gold and blood-red. My body went limp in the freezing mud. My limbs turned to lead.

As the darkness closed in, the last thing I heard was Brant’s low, mocking chuckle above me.

“Pleasure doing business with you, little brother.”