set the foot down, wincing.
Faust hooked his shoulder under Storri's armpit. "I'm sorry, love. We can't slow even for a second. The decoys can't go before we get there."
"I know."
I smirked at the light irritation.
"It's okay," he continued, his irritation gone. "I don't need to anyway."
Storri wanted to be tough for his alpha. All the omegas did, and I fucking hated it. From the beginning, they hadn't complained once, not when the doctor had to run her tests, nor when they practiced.
At two and a half miles away, we went silent. The last two miles passed in a blink. As the sight of the gate came into view, I searched the woods around it. If Thalasso and his men were here, we should've been able to smell it, but none of us were taking the chance. We kept the sheet draped over our bodies and shuffled soundlessly forward.
We'd never gone into a mission with so many unknowns. Usually, they listened well to Storri, but there was a chance the animals wouldn't cooperate, and Claus would always be a wild card.
The front line of guards were just ahead, always in the same place every time we'd passed over while preparing. Behind them, there were enough Portal soldiers surrounding the gate. There was no chance of us fighting through them all.
The moment we reached the first defense, the north side of the forest exploded with sound and movement. The trees came alive, the branches shaking and breaking. Thousands of birds—crows, vultures, finches, and sparrows—all squawked frantically, beating their wings, adding their noises to the wall of sound. The piercing wail of a wolf's howl was soon joined by hundreds of others. All the howls, growls, and snarls came together, making it all sound like something you'd expect to hear in hell.
The soldiers looked at one another, clearly waiting for one of them to take charge. Someone did, running up the path before stopping and putting his back toward us as he addressed his men.
"Third and fourth squad, move in!"
The soldiers turned to obey, taking the place of the squads investigating the disturbance that grew louder by the second.
We weren't able to fight through an army of Portal soldiers, but half of an army?
That we could do.
We followed the men, taking out the stragglers silently. Knox retrieved one of his daggers as the twins grabbed their swords. With a gun in each hand, Faust nodded.
More than one heart pounded beneath the sheet. I met Quinlan's gaze, letting my eyes soften despite our surroundings. I'd never known I could be soft until Quin. He brought out the very best parts of me while somehow being able to ignore all the things that sent most people running.
He smiled, reaching up slowly to cup my face.
It took all that I had not to throw him over my shoulder and run. The others would follow suit. We'd find a new way. We needed a new way—
Quinlan patted my cheek and shook his head. He knew the look in my eyes, what it meant. He dropped his hand from my face to between my legs, where he cupped my balls, winking when my shocked expression met his. I had to bite back my laugh.
Cheeky boy.
The same moment Quinlan reached back for his whip, the soldiers who'd left began screaming, one after another, joining until the majority of the voices shouted in terror. A deafening crack shook the trees, followed by rapid gunfire.
The remaining Portal soldiers shifted uneasily on their feet, peering through the trees like they could see. More than one squeezed the handle of their gun nervously. That's what we needed—frightened soldiers with guns. They should have thought about the danger before they sold their souls.
Knox yanked the sheet off our heads.
The closest soldiers hadn't noticed us before I shifted and leaped on the nearest of them, ripping out his throat.
The twins shot forward, mowing through the men like bulldozers through a forest. They twirled and spun, as though both were exempt from gravity.
Faust had already reloaded once and did again before dropping an incoming line of soldiers like figures in a carnival game.
I looked over my shoulder to the omegas. Jazz, Storri, and Sitka were in their wolf forms standing in a similar circle, facing out. Quinlan already had his whip flying, bringing down men before they could see the whip coming. I wanted to watch my boy do his thing, but neither he nor the other nephilim were helpless. We'd taken them hunting enough times