Chapter 7

Hope

I had so many questions when I slipped out before dawn the next morning. Luckily I had stripped off that god awful dress and was back in my actual clothes. The dress might have been pretty… if you were a hooker but it wasn’t me. And I was glad to be back in my rags.

The city, decimated and ruined from war and centuries of unrest rose up on either side of me. All twisted silent metal.

No one was around. Not even the vendors but that’s how I wanted it.  I needed a few minutes alone. Out of the shack I now called home, away from people. So I could just think.

I thought I had acclimatised to this new reality but last night had proved to me that I had so much more to learn. Especially about the elite.

What had they called themselves? Alphas.

Running my hand across a crumbling wall , I looked out over the sludge brown of the river and lifted my face to the stale breeze. The river had always been one of my favourite places to go back in my old life. I preferred the ocean but work and school made going down there regularly almost impossible and the river was the next best thing.

Gingerly I made my way down the worn crumbled steps. Keeping my hand tight against the stones so I didn’t slip. It was like a different world down here and if I closed my eyes and thought hard enough I could almost hear the bustle and sounds of the busy river in my ear. I could almost smell the scent of coffee and exhaust fumes. Even though there was none of that now.

I missed it all. Every mundane thing I had taken for granted.

There was something down here I could look at though. Graffiti. Somehow preserved on the wall. Some hooligans tag had survived even when priceless paintings hadn’t.

And under it. My own marks. Line after tiny line dotted the wall. Hundreds of them. Each mark one day I had spent here.

Sighing I ran my hand over the spray painted figure of a

Man smoking a joint and felt tears sting my eyes. Angrily I scrubbed at my face.

Tears wouldn’t do any good here. The weak were killed and only the strongest would survive. I was strong. At least I had always thought I was. Right up until last night.

The man, Jenkins had been abnormally strong. His skin too cold and hard like marble and the way he spoke about me made my skin itch.

He had been about to rape me. Right there on the rug surrounded by people and antiques that were old even in my time. He had been about to take me against my will and I had a horrible feeling that no one would have stepped in and helped me if Lincoln hadn’t.

They would have watched.

It was a sobering thought and it made me feel sick.

“It’s beautiful isn’t it?”

I whirled around, wrapping my arms around myself to find Lincoln staring at me with eyes that had narrowed against the early morning sunlight. There was a black mask wrapped around his lower face. It matched perfectly the rest of his black clothes.

Recognition tightened my chest. He had been the one who had taken the paints. One of the commanders , the rest of her feared.

Only I didn’t fear him. Not really. Straightening my shoulders I pulled myself up to my full height. Which wasn’t very tall compared to him at all

“What are you doing here?”

His chuckle brushed against my skin. “I could ask you the same question. This is my city. What are you doing down here Hope?” His eyes roved over the wall. “You came to see the -“ he motioned with his hand to the scrawl of once bright colours.

“Yes.” There was no point lying to him. What would be the point?

“The city is full of these.” Moving forward, he leant around me. Almost trapping me with his arm and ran his fingers over the painting. “I don’t understand them and what history we know doesn’t mention them. Why do you like looking at them so much?”

He was so close his breath moved across my skin and I had to fight back the urge to moan. Heat crackled through me. “They are called graffiti.” I said quietly. “Each one is a tag,” I caught his confused expression. “It’s like a name. The name an artist uses- I mean used. This is the only one I’ve seen so far but you said there are others.” Hopefully I lifted my eyes to him only to find him staring straight back down at me. A line pinching his eyebrows together.

“A few yes but how do you know so much about them?”

My mouth swung open and I closed it again with a snap. I couldn’t answer that. Not without telling him everything and I didn’t want to do that. I couldn’t tell anyone because they would think I was a complete and utter nut job.

“I like art.” I managed weakly.

“Ahhh.” He sighed like that explained everything. “It’s strange for someone like you to take an interest in such things.”

My eyebrows shot up. “A girl like me? What does that mean?”

“An omega.” Reaching out he pushed my hair back off my cheek and for a second his knuckles grazed my skin. “It’s not safe for you to wander around and your family should keep better tabs on you. Any Alpha could just -“ he moved so fast that I didn’t even know what was happening until I was pressed up against the rough  stones. “Take you.”

My breath hitched in my throat. “Is that what you plan on doing? Taking me?”

His eyes flashed. “No.” Stepping away he shook his head. “But talking about your family. Why haven’t they trained you? Seems to me that your time would be better spent learning about what is expected of you instead of looking at relics of the past. However vibrant.”

“I-“ looking away over the water which once upon a time would have been bustling with boats and people. “What is it I should know?”

“What do you know about - everything?” Reaching out a hand he let it hover in the air between us. “About what will happen if you are chosen? The things you will be expected to do?”

“As companion-“ I began to recite what I did know and he silenced me.

“Then you know nothing. That needs to change Hope. The examinations will be carried out in two days. And after that you will either be chosen to be a companion or you will enter one of the omega houses.”

“Omega houses?”

“The place where -“

I paled under the blush that heated my cheeks. “A whore house? Really? What kind of backwards society-“

He silenced me with a growl. “The society we live in. Here.” He thrust something vaguely book shaped and wrapped in black cloth into my hands. “Can you read?”

I rolled my eyes. “Of course I can read.”

“Do not do that in my presence again, Hope. I am not a

Monster like Jenkins but I am an Alpha. You roll your eyes and I will punish you. Now go home and read that. Learn our history and don’t go anywhere but home.”

“I need to get food-“

“Straight home.” He ordered. “And tell your worthless father to gather his own food from now on. It’s not safe for you on the streets now.”

“What do you mean?”

Lincoln shook his head. “Read the book Hope and do not leave you home without an escort again. I won’t always be around to save you.”