Born To Be Your Apocalypse

Their Sacrificial Lamb

Sabrina’s POV

The moment we stepped into the hall, every eye locked onto me.

Displeasure. Hate. Scrutiny. Judgment. Scorn…every single look of disapproval and contempt.

The weight of it pressed down until I felt small, but I refused to shrink. If they could look at me like that, I would give it right back.

And just like that, I met every stare with the coldest, most disgusted glare I could summon. They didn’t scare me. Not one of them.

Zane pulled me deeper into the space. It looked more like a courtroom than a meeting hall…long tables arranged in a wide circle so that he and I stood dead center, surrounded by the seated elders and noblemen of the pack. And at the head of it all sat the one face I would never forget.

Theo Grayson.

Zane’s father.

I remembered the exact expression he wore the day my family was dragged out to die. I remembered my father…his own beta…on his knees, begging, fists locked around Theo’s leg. I remembered the spray of my father’s blood across that man’s face when the claw slashed him and my knuckles whitened.

“Easy there, tiger,” Zane whispered, voice low and almost playful. “You could hurt your knuckles from all the clenching.”

I turned my head just enough to spit the words at him in the same whisper. “How about I use my knuckles to redesign your disgusting face? Oh wait…can I start with your father? I need his blood on my fist so badly.”

He chuckled, tugged the cuff, and dragged me closer until his breath brushed my ear.

“I’d rather you use something else to decorate my face… say, like your ass? But hey, I’m not picky. However, if you insist on your fist, darling, I’m sure we can find a way to make it work.”

Rage detonated in my chest with how casual he sounded. I snapped my knee upward, aiming straight for his groin. He caught it mid-motion…fucking wolf instincts…and pinned my leg against his without effort.

“I can let you have it, you know,” he murmured.

“Have what?” I snarled, already hating that I answered him.

“My c**k. You can pound on it with your hands all you want. I won’t mind at all.”

The look on my face must have been pure murder, because the teasing smile vanished. Something like pain flickered across his features before he masked it again.

Theo Grayson cleared his throat right at that moment and I rolled my eyes.

What next?

“Zane,” the old alpha said, voice dripping with distaste, “why are you cuffed to that… that girl?”

“She’s a flight risk,” Zane answered smoothly, as if he’d anticipated the question and rehearsed the response. “I can’t risk her escaping.”

A different voice rose from the circle. “You can’t risk her escaping? Can’t you just break her legs? Must you stand that close to a murderer’s child? No wonder my daughter has been crying all afternoon because of you.”

His daughter? Lyria? I laughed once, sharp and loud. “Are you guys f*****g stupid, or have you all lost your minds?” I demanded.

Shocked silence slammed through the hall as their eyes widened in pure horror.

“Sab… don’t,” Zane gritted out.

“Don’t what? I thought you dragged me back here to save all y’all’s demented behinds. Why is that old fart talking about breaking my legs?”

The silence shattered the next second and all hell broke loose. Voices exploded…outraged, insulted, furious.

I didn’t care. I turned fully toward Theo Grayson even as Zane yanked on the cuff and hissed for me to stop.

“Asking why your son is cuffed to me?” I called over the noise. “What do you think? That I’ll seduce him and turn him against this shitty pack? Please. I would rather seduce a sea urchin than ever bat an eye at your hippo of a son.”

Somewhere under the waist beads I wore, the tiny customized GPS chip Diego had given me last summer stayed warm against my skin. I activated it earlier in the bathroom. Help was already on the way. I only had to survive long enough for it to arrive.

“Stop talking, Sabrina!” Zane growled, cursing under his breath.

A single, deliberate clap cut through the chaos right at that moment pulling my attention.

Theo Grayson rose from his chair and looked around the hall with lazy authority.

“Well,” he said, “it seems this meeting has already come to an end. We will proceed with the sacrifice when the auspicious time the sorceress spoke of arrives.”

Sacrifice?

Zane’s entire body went rigid beside me like he was caught off guard. “Father…what are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about the reason she was brought back.”

“And what does that have to do with a sacrifice?”

I let out a mocking little giggle and stepped half a pace forward, chain clinking.

“Let me guess… I’m the sacrificial lamb? You all want to use me to fix whatever problem this cursed realm is having?”

Theo clapped his hands together again, almost pleased.

“Excellent! At least you’re not dumb. Yes. This will be your penance. Your way of making up for what your family did. See it as a path to forgiveness and perhaps… just perhaps… I will even allow the sorceress to perform the rites of passage so your family’s souls may reincarnate.”

Before I could spit another word, Zane yanked me behind him for some weird reason, shielding me with his body.

“Father, this was not the plan. You said it was only her blood.”

“And it is only her blood,” Theo replied, sinking back into his chair like the conversation bored him. “We are not uncivilized, son. We don’t offer human sacrifices anymore.”

“Then why are you talking about sacrifice? Piercing her thumb for a drop…that was what I was told!”

Why is he genuinely sounding surprised? Isn’t this part of their grand scheme?

“Change of plans, son. The sorceress requires heart blood for the cleansing ritual. We cannot obtain that by pricking a mere finger. We will have to open her chest to extract it. If she manages to live after that…well, good for her I guess,” he replied without a flicker of sympathy or hesitation.

I stared at him for one stunned second, then I threw my head back and laughed.

“So I’m supposed to die for a land that has given me nothing but pain and grief? Have you all lost your f*****g minds? Heart blood? What is this…some medieval bullshit? I am not dying for this cursed realm. You are all lunatics for even thinking about it!”

“Sab—” Zane started.

I slapped him across the face with my free hand hard enough to turn his head.

“Don’t you dare call my name. I was living peacefully before you barged in with this madness. I didn’t ask to be dragged here so I could die so the rest of you can have your happily-ever-after!”

“I didn’t know about this!” he said urgently, but I wasn’t listening. “You have to believe me!”

“I want to go back. Now. Take me back where you found me!”

“Enough!” Theo’s voice cracked like a whip. He flicked two fingers toward the doors. “Take her to the prepared room and lock her up until the sorceress is ready for her.”

The guards moved instantly on command, but Zane’s growl shook the air. “Let me see who dares come closer!”

Theo’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. The old alpha command rolled out of him, heavy and absolute like he was challenging his son. “I said lock her up.”

The guards hesitated only a second before advancing again. One came within inches and that was his mistake.

Zane’s hand blurred within a twinkle of an eye. Claws tore open the man’s stomach in a single vicious s***h. Intestines spilled onto the polished floor in a wet, steaming heap.

The guard staggered, then collapsed, already dead with his eyes wide open.

The entire hall erupted in shouts and scraped chairs.

Zane’s voice rose above every sound, raw and lethal.

“I said who would dare?!”

He straightened to his full height, still holding my cuffed wrist, blood dripping from his fingers.

“I am the Alpha now, father. Not you,” he declared, “and I invoke the right of the Alpha’s absolute claim!”

Theo’s face twisted with betrayed disappointment as a low growl rumbled from his throat.

“You don’t dare.”

Zane’s eyes never left his father’s as he responded with an equal challenging growl.

“Try me, Father.”