"You're back!" Sunny cried, launching to her feet as I stepped into view. I flinched at the sudden pitch of her voice, seriously beginning to worry about her exuberance. She had met me only a few hours ago and she seemed happy to see me.

Blood clung to my white clothes and soaked through my shoes and socks. Each step was an obnoxious squelch. I slowed as Sunny approached me, her arms rising. My lips peeled back, a growl rasping in my throat.

"Sunny," Darren stood quickly, his tone sharp. A hand curled on his sister's shoulder, restraining her.

"Sorry," Sunny's cheeks darkened. "I'm a hugger. Mamae always said it was a bad habit to hug people who didn't want it."

Something sharp and bitter knotted in my throat. I couldn't find it in me to spit something at her, because I had been like that once. Bundled in warmth and good intentions. I could have hugged a stranger without worrying about bad intentions. I cried at a fluffy kitten and laughed at stupid jokes.

"You shouldn't be so trusting," I croaked eventually. "I'm helping you now, but don't mistake this for kindness."

Sunny rose onto her toes, seemingly restless. "We heard noises. Terrible, awful screaming and something ...roaring! A beast that doesn't sound like a Lycan."

My gaze shot to the bared windows. I wanted to lie in the snow. "I heard it to. I barely escaped with my life."

Darren cocked his head, drawing Sunny back as he examined me. My lips peeled back as my cheeks warmed. I hated – hated being watched. I spent most of my days being examined, poked and prodded by doctors. Grown men watching how I reacted when they tried to rest the limits of my pain threshold. I may have been a beast but even I felt terror and vulnerability when strapped down, unable to stop the doctors from slicing me open.

"Don't look at me," I hissed at him.

"Sorry," He averted his gaze quickly. "That's one of my bad habits. I see a conundrum and I want to fix it."

"How am I something to be solved?" I ran a finger along the dusty shelves. Some of the books were still intact – only sections of stories meshed together. I had read scraps over the years, imagining that I was anywhere else but here. There had been one intact shelf still left in the Maze and I had enjoyed reading stories of dragons and werewolves and great wars before someone else in the Maze destroyed it. That could have been years ago – time moved strangely in here.

"You're vicious and yet, you're keeping us alive." Darren mused. "Your bark is worse than your bite."

"My bite is far worse than my bark." I didn't turn back to him.

"You kept us alive because of snow." Darren risked a step closer to me. My head whipped to the side and he stopped, raising his hands. "You say you only came to our aid because the doctor gave you something you wanted, but..."

"Snow." I interrupted him. "He told me it was snowing outside."

"It's the dead of winter." Sunny was pacing the room, running her fingers through a section of shining hair that she had draped over her shoulder. Her agitated energy un-nerved me. "Darren and I were attacked during a snow-storm – just snatched as if we weren't trained Lycans. As if we were just little hu..."

I levelled my gaze at her. "Just a little human. Like me?"

Sighing, Sunny paused. "Sorry again. I'm getting nervous and I'm going to continuing babbling until all this nervousness just goes poof." She started pacing again, her tone quickening with her steps. "Just, I heard that beast and it makes me think of all the stories I've heard about what the Ravi are trying to do."

"Stories about what?" I pulled away from the bookcase, now restless because of Sunny's constant movement. I prowled the room, scenting the doors and listening for disturbances.

"Well, I've heard stories that the Ravi are trying to cook up beasts big enough to take down even our strongest Lycans. A creature created solely to kill Lycans."

"Sounds like a story to scare children into behaving." I kicked off my blood-soaked shoes before the squelching drove me to violent frustration. Sunny's words disturbed me. How many other Omegas were there? Could there be more.

I didn't particularly care for Lycans, but I loathed the Ravi. Anything they planned was bad news and I would take the lesser of two evils any day.

"Doubtful," Darren ushered his sister to sit, his eyes on me. "Our Alpha Commander knows a bedtime story from a real threat."

"There's a file on something called the Omega." Sunny said flippantly. "As in the end."

"The end," I mused. I liked that better. It made me feel catastrophic. It made me feel like I was creature that emerged from a millennia of sleeping to tear the world apart. A creature that people made bunkers to keep out.

"A threat," Darren corrected. "A threat that our Commander would end if given the chance."

I ran my tongue along my teeth, grinning. "And how does the Commander intend to find the Omega."

Darren shrugged a shoulder. "There are hundreds of hidden Ravi facilities across the country and this is a big country."

A thought occurred to me. "And how do you know all of this? You're well informed for someone so young."

"We're twenty." Darren replied. "Young, but not that young."

In the far distance, a scream echoed. My head shot up, my jaw tensing. A sharp, rapid sound followed – far too loud for something in the Mad-Maze. Gun-fire?

"Are you alright?" Darren asked slowly.

Was this a new challenge? Some new way to test us? I really didn't want to get shot. Tick. Tick. My gaze dropped to the dirty floors and I focused on it. All my other senses dulled as my hearing exploded. It was a risky, vulnerable move.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Rough voices rasped to each other, too low even for my focused hearing.

"Something is ticking." I murmured. "But there are no clocks in here. Time does not exist."

A sharp click then.

All my senses rushed back as the ground began to shake. I was too slow, confused by the sudden sensations. The floor beneath me erupted up into a balloon of hot air and wooden floor-boards. It caught me like I was a kite and I was sent sailing backwards, cracking the book-shelf in half.

The air was drive from my lungs and I collapsed onto the ground, wheezing. Dust clogged my throat and I moaned, clasping the heels of my hands to my ears. Noise. Noise. So much noise. My head was ringing. I hacked out a wad of something, hands shaking as I braced them against the ground.

Sunny was sobbing somewhere.

Gun-fire sounded again.

Raising my heavy-head, I glowered at the centre of the room. A great hole had been torn through stone and wood, casting dust and debris throughout the room. Jagged pieces of wood and torn iron rods and wires twisted outwards from it and that opening only amplified the sound of fighting and screaming below.

A hand appeared in front of me. So much noise.

"Are you alright?" Darren asked.

I took his hand and he heaved me up. I was just as tall as him and swayed on bloody feet. So the Omega cannot withstand explosions perfectly? Doc-Mai was going to yank me apart and test that again and again until I could stand from a blast within seconds, or I died.

"She's never done something so bold," I listened to the gun-fire as blood leaked from my nose, over the bow of my lips. "This is new."

"No," Darren placed his hands on my shoulder and in my confusion, my growing dread, I did not snap his wrists. "I told you the pack would come."

Pack. The world rushed back and I pushed Darren's hands off, glowering at him in distrust. It was another trick – to give me the hope of freedom, only to yank it away and mess with my head. They had done that once before; soldiers pouring into my room, stating that they were here to rescue me. I had believed them and for that, Doc-Mai had laughed as she strapped me to the bed in the lightening room.

"You're lying," Even so, hope rose. Irrational, desperate hope that shouldn't belong to someone like me. It had been eight years. I was dead and gone in the eyes of everyone that knew me. I was a spectre in their memory, and all I did was conjure pain for those who thought of me.

"No!" Sunny spun around, away from the hole and her golden hair fanned out behind her. "The Pack is here! But where?"

I knelt by the hole, my head cocked. I didn't dare focus my hearing – not when there was so much uncertainty around, but I caught a general gist. A trailing scent – cloyed together. Wildness. Lycans. A lot of them. "Three floors down. They'll have to take the staircase with the broken rail."

"We don't know how to get there." Darren hedged. "Will you show us?"

"So, they can shoot me?" I wondered if he could hear the gunfire in the distance. "I'm not a Lycan and I don't have a death-wish."

"They wouldn't shoot you if you're with us." Darren assured me desperately. "Please. We don't know these halls like you do. "

As I stared at the two Lycans, I reminded myself of the doctor's kindness. It was snowing. It was winter.

Steeling myself, I stepped around them and motioned for them to follow. Gunshots echoed, chased by screaming. A cacophony of noise that twisted down the labyrinth of familiar hallways. The disturbance rippled through the Maze like a shockwave, forcing the quiet and weak to flee from their hiding places. Some whispered of freedom.

Fools.

I tried not to hope like they did, but that terrible weed had curled inside of me. There was still space for it under the scars and the poison the Ravi had pumped into my blood. Darren and Sunny stumbled on behind me as I cut through short-cuts, avoiding clustering herds of starving inmates who would not be cowed from a meal, even with the threat of a bullet.

Then, wolves began to howl.

A sob caught in my throat, so quick and sudden that I couldn't stop it. The Pack was here. Darren and Sunny picked up the pace and they followed me and that haunting melody. I felt the coldness before I heard the footsteps.

"Halt!"

Light blinded us. I hissed, raising a hand to my eyes. The scent of Lycan sat heavy in the air, overpowering the scent of gunpowder and blood. "Hands up!" A rough voice snarled.

I didn't want to get shot. I really didn't. The Ravi had pumped me full of lead before, riddling my torso with enough holes to classify me as swiss cheese. It didn't kill me – my body had just popped them back out again, but Lordie, it had been agony.

"Blav?" Sunny choked. "Is that you?"

The light dropped and I blinked, a snarl curling my lip. A man stood before us, dressed in dark clothes. A gash had been torn into his forehead and blood coated his dark skin. His eyes flashed – Lycan. He was flanked by similarly dressed Lycans.

"Sunny." His dark eyes shifted to the side. "Darren!"

Darren let out a sigh beside me. "You found us."

"Of course," The one they called Blav lowered his gun. "We can talk later, alright. We're on a tight schedule. I'll send Kinoba and Flora with you."

Two Lycans broke the formation. Two tall, toned Lycan females who surveyed the three of us critically.

"Why can't you come?" Sunny asked Blav.

"The Alpha Commander wants this place gutted and the Omega exterminated. We're sure it's here."

Years of keeping face in front of Doc-Mai kept me from reacting to that but panic fogged my brain and I barely listened to what Blav said before he turned to address me. "What's your name?"

I blinked at him, distrustful and wary. Seven Lycan soldiers – I could take on seven if pushed, but I didn't like the way they looked at me. "I don't have a name."

Blav frowned. "I'm pretty sure that's not allowed – legally speaking."

"Blav, don't be so rude!" Darren admonished.

The brawny Lycan just laughed. Laughed – in a place with so much death and suffering. I warmed to him slightly: like lighting a fire in the middle of the arctic. Around us the walls shook as a distant boom echoed. I tucked a hand over my head, trying to keep my body from morphing from the threat.

Blav left us then in the care of the female Lycan's, citing Alpha's orders. I followed behind the rest of them, tensed to run back into the darkness I hated at the slightest provocation.

One of the soldiers, a dark-skinned lady, spoke. "We already tried getting some of these people out, but they attacked us instead. Vicious little things,"

The other woman, pale-skinned with sable hair cropped short to the nape of her neck, just tutted. "Flora, don't be so judgmental."

Flora just scoffed and Sunny spoke up then, her tone hesitant. "I hope we didn't cut your honeymoon short. I know you were looking forward to it."

"You know us too well, Sun," Kinoba's voice was kind. I didn't trust it. "We couldn't sit around and sip cocktails while you two were missing. The Alpha asked and we answered."

One patient appeared, crouched over spluttering body. Sunny gasped, reeling back when the patient turned his head and his eyes gleamed yellow. Flaps of skin hung from his mouth.

He rocketed to his feet, his bony chest heaving. Blackened teeth were bared. A quick bullet ended him and Flora approached as his body dropped, kneeling to press her fingers to the victim's throat. "Shit. I think they can make it."

She heaved the body over her shoulder wordlessly and we continued on. The victim left a trail of blood. I swallowed a bunch of nerves and continued on behind them, strung tight enough to snap.

Then, I felt it.

Cold, bitter air. An air that carried the scent of nature- one that cleared the halls of the scent of death and blood. The hairs along the back of my neck rose. Please. I didn't believe in anything really- but if there was something out there, I begged it.

Natural light flooded the halls. We rounded a corner and all I saw was sunlight. A hole had been torn through the walls – through metal and wood. It was a light so bright that it seemed to burn my vision and I teetered to stop, breathing rapidly. Flurries of snow danced inwards – I was enthralled.

The Lycans did not stop. The soldiers vanished through the gap and I heard their boots thudding off softness as they landed. Sunny was helped down by one and vanished, but only Darren paused. "Aren't you coming?"

I hated the way fear locked me tight. My voice was quiet. Weak enough that I normally would have killed Darren for even hearing it. "Is this a trick?"

His face softened. In the sunlight, his face was beautifully kind. "No. No. This is freedom. Take it."

He vanished from view. It took me a second to muster my courage, but then I lurched forward, clambering up into the torn hole. The ground stretched below me – just a floor to drop.

I jumped down into the field of snow below. Instantly, the cold burned my bare feet but I only raised my head sharply, my breathing ragged. The bitter cold ravaged my lungs. Snow danced around me and I let it fall onto my open palms, frozen in wonderment.

The sky – Lordie – the sky. I had forgotten how vast it was. A beautiful, tumultuous grey above that brough snow and a cleansing wind. I stared up silently, snow clinging to my lashes and my breath unfurling before me like a dragon's breath.

Alive. I closed my eyes, feeling as if I was going to cry. I could have died right now and I would have been at peace.

"Come on!"

Sunny's shout stirred me, snapping my peace. I jolted forward, sprinting across the snowy field. A long and tall fence loomed, topped with mesh and wicked spikes. It had been torn down in one section and several black vans stood ready at the side of a thin, icy road. Beyond that, a great forest of evergreen trees stood defiant and green against the snow.

Lycans swamped us once we cleared the fence, accosting us with heavy blankets and too many questions. The injured patient drenched in blood vanished from view.

"Are you injured?" A woman asked briskly.

"No – no." I blinked, my thoughts scattered. I was out. I was out. I was out.

This wasn't a trick.

"Is that your blood?" The doctor shone a light in my eyes, her brows pinching.

I blinked at her, but she was unperturbed. She motioned to my lower face. "Is that your blood? Have you been injured?"

"No. It's not mine." Not all of it anyway.

She moved on, brisk and quick in her assessment. I didn't like to think about how strange it was for a doctor to be warm or that usually, when a doctor was this close, I was heavily restrained. My gums prickled and I forced myself to look away from her exposed throat. I had butchered countless doctors that Doc-Mai had employed.

Countless torn throats and decapitated heads. I had to hurt them before they hurt me, because they always hurt me. In ingenious and inventive ways. If it wasn't me strapped down as their plaything, I might have been impressed by how they could morph a body.

Instead, I just kept staring at the massive building in the distance – a stain of grey concrete amongst a forest of dead trees. It was all hidden between the interlocking of rugged hills. The two Lycan soldiers, Flora and Kinoba had trekked back into the great black shell that served as the Tube.

That's what the Lycans around me whispered. They called the building The Tube – an old, abandoned psychiatric unit in the wilds of nowhere. A place forgotten and unloved, just like all the patients the Ravi stuffed into it.

Warm drinks were scrounged up and I sat on the side of car seat, my legs hanging out the open door. The mood was sober and the only thing that broke the silence was the distant crackle of gunfire and the voices carrying over the radio, repeating over and over again that they had not found the Omega.

"What will you do now?" Darren moved to stand beside me.

"I don't know." Where could I go? Was there a place for a manufactured monster outside the walls of her creation? I had dreamed of many things in those cells; dreams and memories that the Ravi could not take from me. I could sleep under the night sky and dress in all the colours of the rainbow. I could go home.

"You could come with us," Darren suggested lightly. "You would be welcome as a marked mate into our community."

My gaze cut to his. "I am not any Lycan's little mate."

His mouth tightened. "You're marked. That automatically qualifies you as being legally recognised by Lycan authorities. If your mate recorded the marking, then you're registered on our systems. Somewhere."

"My ..." I didn't want to say the word, "That Lycan and I never got acquainted."

Sunny leaned forward, clearly listening in. "You could. I mean – if you wanted."

I stared at the two of them, expressionless. They were Lycans – they didn't understand. There wasn't a choice when it came to being a Lycan's moon-bound. There was never a choice. There hadn't been one when I was just a school-girl, terrified out of my mind.