“Let’s stop here for a second,” Alicia announced. They couldn’t stay here long, but Alicia realised, as Nicole put her head in shaking hands, she needed a moment.
“This is ridiculous…” Nicole sighed to herself.
“It’s not. It’s ok. It’s understandable.”
“No, it isn’t,” Nicole replied, eyes closed, face lowered.
“What do you mean?” Alicia asked, lowering herself to Nicole. “Sweety look at me, talk to me.”
“It’s fine.” Nicole tried to move her face and hold Alicia’s hand at bay, but Alicia caught it. Her cheeks were flushed. Her lower lip was slightly bruised with teeth marks. Her own teeth.
“Oh…” Alicia said, the situation clicking, brushing Nicole’s cheek. “Honey…you’re horny, aren’t you?”
Nicole looked up, shocked. But Alicia knew it was surprising that she knew the truth. “It’s ok.”
“How is it ok? I don’t understand! I gave birth yesterday!” Nicole scrunched her eyes and pressed the bottom of her palm against her forehead. “I just…I keep seeing Nick in my head. I’ve tried so hard not to think about him but he just keeps pounding into me-”
Nicole opened her eyes, looking slightly horrified. “I…I didn’t mean-”
Alicia gave a small smile, closed her eyes and shook her head. She knew what Nicole meant. “Go on.”
“I…I see him…the things he did to me…” Nicole let out a slow sigh. “This is just…driving me insane. This is so stupid.”
“No, it’s natural. For us.”
“What?”
“It’s…” Alicia struggled for a moment to find the words. “An Alpha thing. About three hours after giving birth to Nick, I had a shower and dragged Wilson in with me. It happens all the time. All that pain is released. You’ve given the Alpha an heir. You’ve continued the pack. The bloodline. The hormones are raging, you’re more fertile after giving birth. It’s just overwhelming. Don’t think of it like you want sex. You want your Alpha.”
“But he’s not my Alpha. He’s dead and it’s sex I want! I don’t care what this is. It’s not fair. Why do I have to think about him when it’s the last thing I want to do. I miss him so much. I have to move on. But I can’t if I keep seeing him…his eyes. His hands. His lips. His dick…oh shut up! Shut up!”
Nicole cringed and lightly slapped her forehead with a fist.
Alicia reached and grabbed her hand. “This will pass,” she offered gently. “I honestly didn’t think it would happen to you because of that reason. Your Alpha isn’t here. He’s gone. You shouldn’t be feeling it this strong. But it will pass. I promise. We can run you a hot shower. There’s smelling salts too.”
Nicole sniffed and wiped her eyes. “Help me. Please.”
Alicia brought her in for a hug and rubbed her back. Truthfully, she was as shocked as Nicole was. This shouldn’t have ever happened to her. Dead Alphas never left a presence like this over their mates.
Chapter Ten
The Uninvited
Nick hopped over the balcony and onto the landing. Finally at Alex’s. He tried to use the intercom, but no one answered. After scaling the wall to the top floor, his suspicions that no one were home were confirmed. He slid the balcony door open and walked inside. He remembered Alex never locked it. Why would she? Top floor and all. The place was dark and cold, but it felt so good to be back.
He showered and walked to his room, a towel around his waist. He had to do a double take. Where’s my clothes? They were nowhere. Not in his closet, not in drawers. Nick had been hoping to use some time to get his bearings back. Talk to Alex about what exactly had been going on and how long was he out for starters. Then he could figure out how to contact Nicole. It was so strange, he thought he heard her voice calling for him as he woke up. Had she gone to England with Dr Sarsky? Was she still here? He couldn’t find his phone, either. The one thing that held her number was nowhere to be seen.
What would he say? How would she react? Did she still feel about him the way he did for her? He didn’t know. But to just hear her voice again…
His thought process was interrupted. He was no longer alone. But, he smelled nothing. He hadn’t heard the door open. He walked straight out of the corridor and into the living room. He set his shoulders. There, on the balcony facing him, was the vampire he had met not an hour ago.
“I’m not going to invite you in.”
“I can wait forever…”
“Get out.”
“Or what?”
Nick looked down at his clawed fingers and then back at her. “I’ll make you.”
She licked her lips and smiled in response. “I’ve never fed off a wolf before.” She lowered her chin and flared her fangs, silently daring him to come for her. Nick still dripped from the shower but picked the towel from his waist and dropped it to the floor, advancing forward. With every step he felt his body heat rise. The points of his fangs expanding past his lips, a growl he didn’t even control cooing out of his throat. A tightness in his eyes indicated they had turned to silver. The prospect of battle fuelling the Alpha inside.
The vampire gazed at him, running her eyes over his naked, wet body and even in her own obvious anticipation of a fight, she lingered between his legs.
“Oh, I’m going to enjoy draining you…”
Nick jabbed into her throat with his hand, lifting her into the air. She thrashed away and flailed at him with her legs. Smacking his jaw, wrapping her legs around his head. She was no match for him, but he couldn’t fight her here. It was too enclosed. He didn’t have the room to get a clean shot. He slammed the vampire’s spine down on to the brick wall.
She screamed for a second before Nick clapped his hand over her mouth. It was the dead of a cool night, and he didn’t want to wake anyone. He pressed down on her chin, bending her backwards while gripping her mouth tightly closed. He used his legs to keep her lower half still as he heard the bones of her spine splinter and crack. With every wriggle, the damage became worse. She screamed but it was barely audible. Blood seeped from her nose and mouth, wetting Nick’s hand, but he didn’t stop until the back of her head hit the front of the balcony: finally still. It was then he saw three more people on street level, looking up at him. They had witnessed the fight and were now stalking forward, fangs out. He couldn’t risk them being left there. There could still be people around. He would have to protect them and end this quickly.
He tipped the vampire over the edge and it plummeted towards the pavement, crunched upon impact and did not move. Nick leapt over and followed it to the ground. His landing was much more gracious. He rose to his full height, not letting his nudity stop him. He flexed his fingers, staring at the trio approaching him. “I’d think about this if I were you.”
Suddenly Nick doubled over. A tension in his stomach causing him to be violently sick, bringing him to his knees. What the hell? In his head, yet again, he heard what sounded like screeching.
*
Talia was snapped awake. Her mouth was sore and as her vision cleared from her slumber she saw someone remove their forearm from just in front of her face. Had she been forced to bite someone? The bite of an Alpha could turn someone. And just as she made out a shape cradling their arm and vanishing through a doorway, her vision cleared and her head pounded. The cries of a baby were responsible. She looked around to find herself still caged, surrounded by her mother who replaced the mask over her mouth, and Tynan, holding the wailing baby aloft. His expression was puzzling. The baby was howling with misery, crying so hard its little fists were shaking with the effort. Heaving a tiny breath before unleashing another cry. Tynan though, smiled in wonder, glancing at Talia.
“Just look at him. The cell structure. The muscle density. Oh, you wonderful specimen.”
Tynan held the baby, checking him over. Either Tynan didn’t know or didn’t care that the walls of the room were shaking. Talia could tell, for the ground underneath the stretcher was rattling the cage.
“Leave t
he kid alone!” Talia coughed through the mask, still feeding her the dreaded wolfbane.
“I’m not going to hurt him,” Tynan replied pleasantly, placing the child on a makeshift changing table. He held the baby still while with his other hand he reached into a drawer and pulled out a syringe. He glanced back at Talia. “Not for too long anyway.”
*
Nick’s warning wasn’t listened to, but that didn’t surprise him. He had hoped the sight of a wolf would worry the vampires. But they approached him as he heaved on his haunches, his head pounding, the world spinning. His hands, flat against the ground, were going in and out of focus, and his nails had reduced to normal. With a shaking hand, he put his fingers to his mouth, feeling straight, flat teeth. That same hand barely had enough time to block a furious kick to his jaw. He stood up quickly, trying to regain the advantage, or any advantage, but tripped and stumbled back down. He swung blindly with a fist, hitting nothing, and the vampires gave a collective chuckle as they all closed in. He felt the fangs of one pierce his hip and bite down. Two punches from the others cracked both sides of his head. Nick rolled backwards and stumbled to his feet. One launched itself at him and Nick caught it, throwing it as hard as he could into a nearby car. But it wasn’t enough, not nearly. The vampire got up with a mere shake of the head. Nick walked backwards as quickly as he could, hot sticky blood seeping down his forehead. Without his wolf strength, he needed an advantage. He pushed the ringing in his head aside and ran towards the nearest fence just behind him. He had no hope of running past three vampires to get to the safety inside the apartment complex. He had to go up. Get leverage. High ground. Anything.
He leapt and climbed the fence as fast as he could, the vampires hungrily chasing after him, until one ripped the rails out from the ground, causing the rather stringy metal to collapse from under Nick. He dropped to the ground and hadn’t even hit the dirt before all three mouths were on him. Biting him hard. Unloading with their fists. Feeding from him. Draining him fast.
*
Tynan pulled the syringe from the screaming child and dabbed the wound with a cotton ball. A man Talia had never seen before entered the still shaking room and applied a band aid as the stretcher rattled so hard the wheels slipped from under it and it crashed to the ground. The impact popped the mask off Talia’s mouth and snapped the breathing cord from its socket. The wolfbane had stopped being released. Talia took some deep breaths as quietly as she could. She had maybe a few seconds before Tynan realised what had happened to the cord and fixed it. Luckily, the room was in just as bad of shape as the stretcher, keeping him preoccupied. The light above Talia dropped about a foot as the howls of the baby continued to literally break the room apart.
“Get him out!” She heard Tynan shout. “Put it to sleep! Use the chloroform.”
“My Alpha, won’t chloroform kill the kid?”
“Not one this strong. Take the blood sample to the labs. They know what to do with it. Go!”
Talia heard the assistant leave and Tynan make his way over to the stretcher. Talia tightened the fist she had made with her right hand and pulled. She had no idea what the wolfbane had done to her strength or how long it would take to get back. But the stretcher was rattling violently and she needed any advantage she could get.
“Sorry about that my dear…”
Talia felt his hands grip the cage and lift it haphazardly, being gentle was not his goal. The cuff of her left hand came loose as a surge of strength coursed through her. As the stretcher straightened she flung her limbs outwards with all her might. The restraints broke and the cage exploded. Tynan stumbled back and hit the wall. Talia leapt on top of him and pressed her nails into his face.
“Where’s the kid…?”
“Why should I tell you?” Tynan smiled.
“Why?” Talia dug down into his flesh. “One guess, arsehole.”
“Go on. Kill me. You’ll never find him. Even if you did, how do you expect to leave here with a newborn slowing you down…and thirty thousand men chasing you?”
“Thirty thousand…”
“There’s more. Many more. The weapons you saw? How many men do you think are needed to power them? You have no idea who you’re dealing with.”
Talia flicked her eyes around as various clicks sounded behind her. She turned and found the points of rifles, pointed through the horizontal gaps in the wall. Automatic defences? Or someone watching them with a finger on the trigger mechanism? “I think I do. A nice wide shield.”
Talia grabbed Tynan and flung him towards the guns as they opened fire. She bolted towards the doors and burst through them, stumbling slightly but she maintained her feet enough to keep going. She had no idea in which area of the castle she was, but found herself running down what looked like a bunker tunnel, towards a long flight of stairs heading up and to the right.
She stopped as two men sprinted down them, armed with assault rifles. Talia roared and launched herself at both of them, sending them both to the ground. Her fist sank into the first man’s face, killing him instantly. With her other hand, she freed his rifle and riddled the second man’s skull with bullets.
She rose up the stairs and came upon an open air, covered bridge connected to a guard tower. Talia saw the bridge had been built on top of a cliff face, and when she looked down she could see straight to the ocean. Maybe there was a better way to get out. A less dangerous one. But Talia had no idea how long she had until she was found. Without wasting another second, she took a leap over the edge and plummeted to the freezing depths.
*
Nick tried to move, tried to rise, but was beaten back down. Any movement he made caused the beasts to suck harder. He managed an elbow to one on his left, but with a hungry groan the vampire took the hit and latched on to Nick’s shoulder. With his last ounce of strength, Nick heaved himself up and let his whole body smack back down. His body was collectively ripped from their teeth. Nick could barely move as he tried to crawl away with shaking arms.
He turned over just as he heard one vampire drop to the ground. The top part of their skull had been removed. With a foul cry, the other two rushed away from Nick and towards two figures he had only just noticed. One illuminated by the entrance light, a red headed man, waiting for the vampires with a bowie knife and a slim figure in the dark, throwing what looked like, but surely couldn’t be, a boomerang. It flew from his hand and circled around the vampires, both crumbled as the weapon severed the front of their throats. The figure caught the boomerang as it returned to him, and the other, with a short spin, used their knife to cleave their heads from their bodies as clean as anything. Nick reached a hand out in the darkness but had no energy to speak. A warm hand grasped his, one of reassurance.
“You’re alright bud. I got ya…”
Nick could not reply. The blood taken from him was too much, and he fell back, unconscious.
*
Alex headed into her classroom to get her desk set up and was startled by the fact she wasn’t alone. A woman she had never seen before sat at her desk, looking up as Alex entered. They both offered a polite greeting.
“Hi, I’m Alex. Are you taking…erm…my class today?”
“Well, yeah.” She smiled. “I have been for a few days.”
“Oh…jeez I’m sorry. I have been under the weather. I called last night and left a message that I would be coming in.”
The woman looked slightly relieved. “Oh…truth be told that’s great. I’ve got to take my mum to a doctor’s appointment. This saves me having to take off early. I’ll just tell Peggy you’re here and I’ll go home.”
They both smiled at the farewell and Alex sat down to prepare for her day. Michelle had advised her not to come in, to take some more time. Alex though missed her job and her students. What could be achieved by staying at home?
Alex set out her things and proceeded to wipe the blackboard clean.
“What the hell are you doing here?” a familiar voice called from the doorway. Alex looked up and
saw Peggy Deltone glaring at her from just outside the classroom.
“Didn’t you get my text message I left you last night? I told you I’d be in.”
“As if I’d answer a call from you. Or read any bloody message.”
“Sorry?” Alex called.
“Do you think this is some kind of joke?”
“Peggy, what are you talking about?” Alex rose and made to walk towards her.
“Don’t you dare!” she screeched, taking a step back. Her face a mask of fear and loathing.
Alex stopped and furred her eyebrows. “Peggy, what is wrong?”
“Did you think you could just walk back in here? After what you did to me?”
“What I…? Peggy, I know I missed a few classes, I’m sorry. But I was in the hospital…”
“Lying bitch,” Peggy seethed.
Alex felt the blood almost drain from her face. “Excuse me?”
Peggy didn’t answer. Two uniformed Police officers had appeared behind her and one had spoken instead. “Can you come with us please, ma’am?”
Alex looked at all three faces opposite her, one by one. “What is this…”
“They’ll drag you out if they have to,” Peggy snapped.
Alex felt numb. This had to be a mistake. A sick joke. But the faces told her this was real. Alex felt a wave of pressure, as if her legs were weighted down. Peggy gave a loud scoff and marched into the room, deliberately keeping to the side of the room and out of arm’s reach of Alex. Peggy made her way over to the desk, picked up Alex’s purse and threw it to her feet.
“Why are you doing this?” Alex croaked.
“I gave you every chance, yet you squandered them all and then you attacked me, and you ask why?”
“Attacked you?”
“Get her out of here!” Peggy screamed.
Alex felt the presence of the two officers behind her. “Come with us please, ma’am.”
Pack Master (Undeadly Secrets Book 4) Page 6