Defy The Alpha(s) 2: Rebel Beast

Those beasts were fucking hunting her!

Charlotte screamed when she looked behind her and saw the horde of Aetheris beasts chasing after her, their footsteps thundering through the corridor as more students joined the pursuit. Her heart nearly jumped out of her chest.

What the hell was she going to do?

For one desperate second, Charlotte contemplated running back to her room and locking herself inside, but common sense immediately told her how stupid that would be.

She would only trap herself. That door wouldn’t hold against an entire crowd of angry beasts, especially when some of them could probably tear through the solid wood without breaking a sweat.

Not that she could reach her room anyway.

Somehow, the commotion had drawn even more Aetheris students into the chase. Word must have spread that a human had struck a dragon because some of the beasts who hadn’t even been in the common room in the first place were joining in now.

Several had already moved ahead and blocked the way leading toward the humans’ quarters, clearly assuming Charlotte would make a desperate run for the safety of her room.

Charlotte, in question, skidded to a stop before she could reach the blocked corridor, nearly slipping on the floor as she spun around and bolted in the opposite direction toward the main entrance.

She had to get out. It would be easier to call for help outside than to remain stuck in here with these barbaric creatures.

Unfortunately, Charlotte hadn’t made it two steps before she realized they had already blocked the entrance as well. There was no getting out. She was stuck here.

"Shit!"

Charlotte changed direction so abruptly that pain shot through her ankle. There was nowhere else to go except the staircase, so she threw herself toward it and grabbed the railing as she began taking the steps two at a time.

"Catch her!"

"Don’t let her escape!"

The commands echoed behind her.

"Where do you want me to fucking go?!" Charlotte screamed desperately over her shoulder. "You’ve blocked every fucking exit!"

But no one cared. If anything, the pounding behind her only grew louder.

Charlotte ran with everything she had. Her lungs were already burning, each breath she took tearing painfully through her chest as she forced herself higher. Her legs weren’t doing much better. The muscles in her thighs screamed, and her knees still hurt from being forced onto the floor earlier.

Why didn’t this fucking place have an elevator?!

The answer occurred to her almost immediately. Because the bastards could fly.

Charlotte looked upward and nearly lost all hope. The staircase wound around the open center in an elegant spiral that suddenly seemed specifically designed to kill humans.

She wasn’t going to make it.

Worse, she didn’t even know where she was going. The higher she went, the greater her chances of getting trapped. She couldn’t fly either.

"Get her!"

That command was all it took for Charlotte to keep heading toward her inevitable death. She had no choice. Unlike earlier, she began taking the stairs three steps at a time, not caring about the pain shooting through her ankles.

She could hear the twisted laughter behind her. They must be enjoying chasing her like this was some sick survival game. And then came the sound of flapping wings.

Charlotte’s stomach dropped. No. She knew that sound. She slowly looked over her shoulder, and several ravens were flying toward her.

"Oh, come on! Why is it always the ravens?" She didn’t know whether to weep or laugh.

The black birds swept through the open space, their wings beating powerfully as they gained altitude.

"Help me! Somebody! Prince Rhydian!" Charlotte screamed, hoping that by some stroke of luck, he’d appear and save her.

But there was no such luck.

Charlotte practically dragged herself around the bend using the railing. Her hair had come loose around her face, sweat gathered along her forehead, and her breathing came out in desperate gasps.

A shadow passed over her, and she looked up. One of the ravens flew directly above her before diving straight at her.

Charlotte screamed and ducked just as its talons swept through the space where her head had been. She nearly lost her footing, caught herself against the railing, then continued running before the others could gain much ground.

But she couldn’t outrun the birds. They soon overtook her.

Instead of attacking her as Charlotte had expected, the ravens swept past her. She flinched anyway, throwing an arm over her head as several sets of wings beat through the air above her. But no claws sank into her scalp, nor did they tear at her skin. The birds simply flew ahead.

Charlotte should have been relieved, but she wasn’t. Something was wrong.

Sure enough, Charlotte rounded the next bend and nearly crashed straight into a wall of black feathers. She came to a startled stop.

The ravens had landed across the passage ahead, some in their human forms while others remained shifted, their dark bodies packed together so tightly there wasn’t even enough space for Charlotte to squeeze through.

Charlotte stared at them in disbelief. Behind her, the rest of the beasts were still coming. Her breath caught.

Immediately, she started backing away from the ravens, moving along the third-floor gallery. Unfortunately, this section opened onto an unprotected balcony with no railing.

Charlotte swallowed. She was now caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. It dawned on her that they weren’t trying to catch her anymore. They were herding her.

She tried to move sideways, but another group of birds descended in front of her. Ravens, falcons, hawks, pigeons, and species Charlotte couldn’t even name joined the growing mass until everywhere she looked, there was nothing but feathers.

"Please, stop." Charlotte retreated, but they kept coming.

"I’m serious. Stop!"

Charlotte took another step backward, her foot coming dangerously close to the open edge. She froze. Her stomach dropped so violently she almost felt sick.

She wouldn’t survive if she fell from this floor.

The birds stopped goading her backward, but they continued beating their wings close enough to her face that Charlotte had to shield her eyes.

The sound was overwhelming. Hundreds of wings seemed to be moving at once, creating an incessant rush of air and feathers that whipped her hair across her face and left her dizzy and disoriented.

She had never hated birds more in her entire life.

For what felt like forever, Charlotte remained trapped at the edge, barely able to see through the shifting wall of feathers. Then, one after another, the birds parted down the center.

Charlotte felt her soul leave her body as Quest stepped through.

He walked toward her slowly, without the slightest urgency, and the fiendish delight in his ice-blue eyes frightened Charlotte more than the entire flock surrounding her.

"Finally," Quest said when he stopped several feet away. "You’re exactly where you belong."

Charlotte instinctively stumbled backward, and her foot landed on nothing. A startled scream escaped her as her arms shot out for balance and she lurched forward again, barely stopping herself from toppling over the edge.

Fuck! She really didn’t want to die!

"If you lay a hand on me, Rhydian isn’t going to forgive you for this," Charlotte warned him, hoping the psychopath wouldn’t risk his prince’s wrath over one stupid argument.

Instead, Quest laughed. "Who said I’m going to lay a hand on you?"

Charlotte frowned. "What?"

For a moment, she genuinely didn’t understand. Then her eyes slowly moved toward the open drop behind her before returning to the birds surrounding her.

Cold realization washed through her. "No."

Quest smiled while Charlotte shook her head.

"Please." She hated how frightened she sounded now, but pride had become the least of her concerns. "Don’t. Please."

Her plea seemed to delight Quest even more.

"We were only playing around," he said casually. "Unfortunately, the human became frightened. She ran upstairs, got a little too close to the edge..."

Quest clicked his tongue. "And fell."

Charlotte stared at him in horror.

"Such an unfortunate accident."

"You’re insane."

"Perhaps. But you’ll serve as an example to the others."

"Rhydian will know what you did."

"Will he?" Quest asked. "There are dozens of witnesses here who saw you running around like a madwoman. Perhaps you slipped. Perhaps you got too close to the edge yourself. Humans are terribly fragile creatures, after all."

Charlotte looked around desperately, but not one beast spoke or stepped forward to protect her.

Quest’s smirk turned devilish. "I suppose even Maverick Nightshade will have difficulty finding someone to punish when there isn’t a culprit."

Charlotte’s blood ran cold. Then the birds began to move, and her head snapped toward them.

"No, wait—!"

But the flock broke into motion, and the birds that had formed a living wall around her launched themselves into the air at once. Dozens of wings beat furiously, and the sudden gust slammed into her from one direction.

"No!"

Charlotte pitched backward, her arms flailing wildly as she desperately tried to throw her weight forward.

She failed.

Charlotte screamed as she fell three floors down.

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