Alicia shrugged and pulled the trigger, and with a direct hit the bullet pierced his shoulder and out the other side. “You forget how good of a shot I can be.”
Tynan gave a scream as the sizzle of the silver bullet continued to burn his flesh. This got a nurse’s attention.
“Hey! What the hell is this? You two need to… Hey what are you doing?” The nurse looked from Alicia holding the gun to Tynan holding a prone and unconscious patient.
“Back away. Call the police,” Alicia said, not moving her gun’s position.
The nurse continued to look petrified.
“There will be no need for that,” Tynan said, turning and giving the nurse a front foot kick, sending her into the closest wall.
Alicia made to move, but Tynan spun quickly back to face her, raising Nicole up.
“Goddammit!” Alicia tightened her grip on the gun. She could’ve shot him in the crown of his skull. Or his nuts. But another bullet would make him drop Nicole. She couldn’t take that chance. “What do you want with her?”
“Oh, you know… I’ve always been crazy about pregnancies.”
“You know I won’t let you leave with her.”
“And you know that I always have a plan.” Tynan smirked.
Shit, that was true. As if the universe willed it, he was proven right. The elevator behind Alicia chimed and as the doors opened, she turned around to see three hulking men step out. Wolves. Tynan’s men. It took them a second to process the situation, probably wondering why their Alpha was taking so long, when they pulled their pieces from their jackets.
Alicia leapt sideways into a waiting room as bullets pierced the walls around her. The firing only let up when Tynan scurried toward the elevators. “Keep her pinned or kill her. Either one. I don’t care.”
Alicia fired blindly behind her, lowering her pistol to shoot at their feet. Too soon the doors closed and separated her from Nicole. Alicia reloaded her magazine and did another quick calculation. The ground floor was only the next floor down. Tynan would undoubtedly have a car waiting. Alicia had no hope of running the gauntlet to the elevators; she would be cut to ribbons.
She jerked her head towards the window just beside her. No point in staying here either. All the goofballs had to do was charge and she was done for. Cornered. Except for the window. One that was built for a view but not to open. With no other alternative, Alicia rose and leapt forward, crashing through the glass and landing on her feet outside. She just had time to see Tynan give her a smug look as he got into the passenger side of a London taxi cab that shifted and sped into gear and Alicia sprinted after it. She was gaining on the vehicle when she suddenly had to dodge bullets coming from both sides of the car, She leapt again with all her concentration and made it to the roof.
The vehicle took a sharp turn and Alicia had to dig her nails into the metal. Straining, holding on before a gun shot from underneath her made her roll away and off the car to the hard road.
Alicia rose to her feet slowly, panting. She may have lost the cab, but she had the scent. Wherever they were going, she would find them. She would find Nicole. She would find her son’s baby. And she would decimate anyone that stood in her way.
The time for sadness over what she had lost was gone. Now she had a battle worth fighting.
Chapter 48
The Choices We Make
Nicole’s instinct was to grasp her stomach the moment she regained consciousness. It felt the same as before. She wanted to believe her son was still in there. The last few seconds before she fell asleep were a blur. A bearded man was by her bedside. He hadn’t looked like a nurse or a doctor.
And now Nicole looked around, the room she was in did not look like any hospital room she’d ever seen before. She lay on a gurney, but the walls were covered in crimson velvet with flourishes of gold, and hung with enormous canvasses of colourful art in richly carved gilt and polished-wood frames. Above her was a chandelier of hundreds of crystal droplets, and around her on all sides were glinting assortments of silver and crystal trays and glasses. Where the heck am I? What is this place?
“Ah, you’re awake.”
Nicole turned toward the voice, and saw the same bearded man she had seen at the hospital.
“My baby—”
He held up a hand. “Your baby, is fine. Thanks to me.”
He seems very full of himself, she thought. But aloud, she said, “Who are you?”
“My name is Tynan Ross. I am a werewolf. Alpha to House Ross, brother to Wilson Slade. I assume you know that name?”
Nicole gave a slight nod. “What do you want with me?”
Tynan sat on the edge of her bed and smiled a smile of self-satisfaction, but there was also a hint of condescension in his eyes, his tone. “I want your child to be born. There are factions within the wolves of Britain that would see to its murder. I cannot have that.”
“But…why?”
“Your son, is an eleventh generation. As far as I know, there is no older wolf currently in the world. This gives him both power and prestige. While his birthright is to House Slade, that house no longer exists. There are no more left with the Slade name.”
“None at all?” Nicole wondered about this. Were there no brothers, cousins?
“House Slade was one of the more formidable packs in recent history. I’ll give Wilson credit for that. But none gets to a place of authority or importance without making enemies. Such is the nature of the world. The stronger the house got, the vaster the enemies became. None could hope to face House Slade alone, but together? A pack of packs? That would see it destroyed. Wiped off the face of the earth. This is what Damien Creed knew. As much as I hated that man, he recognised dangers and had a keen eye for future planning. Killing Wilson, as well as any potential relatives of his, was not personal for Creed. It simply made good sense. While Wilson was in charge, the other packs were hurt financially. He would never do any business deals which weakened his own pack. There was no reason or compromise with him. The very name Slade became a foul, bitter taste to anyone outside the protection of its walls. When Creed took over, he ensured peace would remain while House Slade was dead and buried. They missed me, fortunately, but I’m older than I once was, and I don’t have the wherewithal to fight to the death and succeed. Yet there was still a chance for House Slade to be resurrected through my nephew. But that is no longer possible. Or,” Tynan gestured to Nicole’s stomach, “So I thought.”
“I don’t understand.”
“When rumour turned to verified word that you carried the last of the Slade line, you and your son became hunted. The way for House Slade to return. Your son could theoretically challenge any Alpha he desired when he was ready. Wolf packs rise and fall with the strengths of their Alphas. Challenges are accepted constantly, and outcomes are usually determined by death. There are none who could match an eleventh generation one on one, and so your son is considered by many to be too big a risk to be left alive. One in particular went to extraordinary lengths to kill him. My spies informed me your baby was due for execution tonight. Had it not been for my interference, he would be dead.”
Nicole looked down to her stomach, now so calm. So still. Who the hell would want to hurt an innocent baby?
“A thank you would be nice,” Tynan said with a smug sneer.
Nicole cleared her throat. “I need to know why you’ve helped me first. I suspect you have ulterior motives. So what’s your reason? You don’t strike me as the type to do things out of mere charity.”
Tynan chuckled. “Oh, you are a smart one. Yes indeed. Well, being Wilson’s brother always had its drawbacks. I never possessed his brute strength, though from what I’m told, Nicholas was far more powerful. In any case, I have learned to thrive with words. Negotiations have gotten me quite far. As proud of bloodshed and violence as all packs are, they appreciate money and luxury just as much. However, one does need an insurance policy. What I offer is very simple. I will protect you and your child until it is born. And that shouldn’t be too far
away now, considering the speed of most Wolf pregnancies. Perhaps a matter of days. And after he is born, you and your son may both live here with me, in as much comfort as you could want. The only…catch—if you would like to call it that—is that your son serve under me as my student and that you submit yourself to be bred.”
“Excuse me? Bred?”
“Oh, now don’t overreact,” Tynan said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Did I make it out as if you would be ravaged by the packs? Come come, I am not a monster. I have always had an interest in science. This would purely be injection based. I wanted to perform this on Alicia, Nicholas’s mother, but alas she was turned at the last minute. I missed my chance but I let it go. This is a new opportunity for me.”
“You’re trying use my son as leverage against me, and you don’t think you’re a monster?”
“Of course not. Consider this: to carry a child of an Alpha to term, as a human, is extraordinary in and of itself. But to give birth to an eleventh generation and survive is almost unheard of. In fact, most human women do not survive pregnancy as long as you have. There are some truly shocking cases of women perishing before or during birth of a pup, and those are from something as weak as a fourth or fifth generation only. That is one of the mysteries of our race. It is said that if a human woman can survive an entire pregnancy without being turned, her children are blessed with unique gifts and talents. Now, these could of course be just stories. But werewolves were also just stories once, were they not?” The smug smile was back again.
Nicole pressed her hands to her belly again. She had assumed that because all was still, because there was no pain, that he had somehow made her a werewolf already. “So…you haven’t turned me?”
“Oh god no. I have healed you using wolf blood. And it was touch and go for a while, but you and the baby came out fine. Still going strong. I can hear its heartbeat now. But we are so close to the birth, I would never dream of turning you when you’ve come so far. You truly do not realise how unique this is.”
Nicole didn’t care either. She wanted to get the hell out of here. “I will not be a bitch for you to breed.”
“Please reconsider. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to make this as easy as possible for you.”
“What I want, you can’t give me.”
“I severely doubt that.”
“I don’t want to be a single mother.”
“I understand. If that’s the case there are many of my men who would gladly take and protect you. Take care of your needs.”
“That’s not what I meant. I don’t want a man. I want a father for my son. I want his father. I want us to be a family. I want to see him again, watch Nick hold his son and smile…I want to hear him ask me to marry him. But as good as you say you are, you can’t bring back the dead. You have nothing I want. And as long as I live, I will make sure you never get my son.”
Nicole thought this might make Tynan angry, but he only looked amused, and that chilled her to the bone. The overconfidence, the unabashed presumption. He tapped his knees with both hands and rose. “Why don’t you think about it?”
“There is nothing to think about. I’ll find a way out of here and I’ll take my son with me. I don’t care about your pack wars. Or your science experiments. I want a peaceful life with my son. I will raise him with whatever help I can get, but it won’t be from you.”
Tynan reached into his pocket and picked up his mobile phone, checking it. “You’re young yet. You’ll learn. I always have a plan. I see more negotiation is needed.” He pressed the call button and placed the phone to his ear. “Do it.”
He walked out to the door without another sound. Nicole had no idea what that meant, but it certainly didn’t sound good. Out of the corner of her eye, a bookshelf slid sideways, revealing a large, flat screen TV, already turned on. The picture showed the front of a house that looked very familiar. Stone angels in the front garden, a garden that had two unknown men, wearing balaclavas stalking through it. The camera appeared fixed to the nearest streetlight, looking down. One of the men raised his covering and smiled directly at her, knowing she was watching, his silver eyes sparkling. Even at that distance, she could see his fangs gleaming in the light. He replaced his mask and joined the other just in front of the door.
“Oh no,” she breathed.
With a mere jolt of a leg, the door caved in and both men rushed inside. Nicole saw or heard nothing for what seemed like the longest time, her mind running through all possible scenarios. But nothing prepared her for the sight of him walking back out. The one that had smiled at her was dragging a body behind him.
Oh no no no!
The masked man shoved a struggling PJ to his knees, blood covering one side of his face. The man slowly flexed his fingers and his nails extended. He was angled to ensure the camera could see his every move.
Nicole didn’t want to watch but couldn’t look away. How had her time spent with Nick come to something as horrid as this? Surely he won’t kill PJ? This must be just a threat to get me to stay.
With a gleeful smile, the nails sliced across PJ’s throat, allowing blood to spew from the lacerations. PJ was dropped face first to the ground.
“Oh my god, no! Stop!” Nicole shouted at the TV, but of course they couldn’t hear her.
The other wolf flung Alan out the door so that he landed on his knees and elbows and rolled in the dirt. Upon seeing PJ, he scrambled over to him, but was met with a sickening kick to the face, again by the one that looked at her.
“No no no no no!” Nicole was screaming now, fists clenched and beating on her thighs. “Stop! Make it stop!”
Alan lay on the ground, unmoving. But that didn’t stop the bastard werewolf from landing a crunching stomp to his cranium. And again.
Nicole couldn’t watch anymore. Face buried in her hands, choking back sobs of shock and fury. Her mentor, her friends, those two beautiful souls, gone. And the same could happen to her son. “I’ll do it. I’ll do whatever you want.”
Chapter 49
Two Against Many
Talia lit the crumpled newspaper in the cold fireplace and waited to see if the kindling would catch. The flickering flames made strange shadows on her bedroom walls. She stared, blinking away the sting of smoke, until the kindling was alight. Readjusting her robe to block out the chill air, she glanced at the clock. One more minute and he would be officially late.
Her mother had been behaving disgustingly, but something about what she said had stayed with her. Talia had never had a man. She had been curious for years; since puberty hit. There were times while bathing that proved quite interesting. But since she’d lived in the middle of nowhere, she had never really seen a boy her age. She was as much of a virgin as virgins could be, until her guest had become known to her.
A knock stopped her thoughts. She prepared herself and walked over. She had ordered the wolfpack version of a prostitute. Just an online program with which Alphas could purchase some company. Typically, no names were used—not even introductions really—unless you kept requesting the same one over and over again. Grant was his name. Her first. Her only. He was gentle with her and eased her fears. He made her feel special, sexy even. Though she didn’t allow herself to be fooled—making her feel special was what he was paid for.
Talia opened the door and hurried him in. He carried a bottle of wine and two glasses, placing them on the mantel piece above the fire. Talia locked the door and approached him from behind, gripping his chest and running her teeth and tongue over his shoulder.
“Someone has missed me,” he said, remaining still, letting her continue for a moment. Soon, he spun around and parted her robe, kissing her neck and sliding his mouth down to her chest, running his hands over the skin of her naked body. She gasped and moved his hand between her legs. With her other hand she guided his head up to her lips, kissing him, parting his lips for her tongue.
It was then she stopped, half pushing him away.
“What’s wrong?” He
tried again to kiss her, but she held him off easily.
“When were you here last?” she asked, cringing at the taste on his mouth.
“With you, two night ago. What’s the problem?”
“You’re lying.” She looked away from him, into the fire. “I can taste my mother on your lips.”
Grant stiffened at these words. “All right, look. After I left here, your mother saw me. I didn’t tell her anything about us. She took me to her room and I left in the morning.”
“Oh my god...”
“Look it’s not a big deal.”
“No, it’s a huge deal.”
“It happens more than you think. Don’t worry, it doesn’t feel like work with you.”
Talia curled her fingers into Grant’s jaw. “That’s what you say to me? That you fucked us both, but the younger one was better? Is that supposed to comfort me?”
Talia went to the door and opened it. “Out! And never show yourself to me again.” She could not believe it. This is what Alphas do? Just share people? And that’s ok? Fuck that. They could have that life. Should she say something to Radha? No. Just leave it alone. Take it in stride.
Another knock stopped her thoughts. In a rage, she rushed to the door but the scent on the other side stopped her from knocking it down. It wasn’t Grant on the other side. Talia opened it and ushered Alicia inside.
“What are you doing here?” Talia was surprised to see Alicia, but something inside her was also extremely happy to see her.
“I haven’t got long and I need your help,” Alicia whispered.
“Of course, what?”
Alicia told Talia of the events that night, and why she was here. She needed to get into Tynan’s estate. Tonight.
“Alicia, I’ve never been there.”
“I have. I just need backup. And muscle. There is an underwater entrance. The swim isn’t far or even dangerous. I just need your help with the grate to get in. I can find Nicole once I’m within his compound. But he’s gotta be expecting me after tonight and she’ll be guarded.”
Shadow Chaser (Undeadly Secrets Book 3) Page 27