LI

The amount of security protocols that had been overwritten during the omegas' escape was extraordinary. All the surveillance footage had been wiped, many of the mechanized doors manipulated to trap his soldiers still malfunctioning. Gehenna's grounds had been turned into a maze that took Kieran's most skilled Followers over an hour to penetrate, only to find there was not even one omega inside.

The females had vanished as if teleported by the smoke.

Seven Followers dead, twenty-four trapped, and one man barely breathing. Lyla's plan had been either extremely well-coordinated, or she was gifted with sheer dumb luck.

Deceitfully complacent, Kieran turned to his second-in-command. "Explain to me, Nikol, how an omega female who paints pictures for children's stories accomplished this feat with only four days to plan?"

"I can't. Not yet, sir." The beta stood at attention, unsmiling and severe. "We tracked the omegas to the sewer access and know they went north, but the scent…"