by Merel Pierce
The man laughed incredulously. “Mr. Petrovski has no omega, and I do not have time for silly little girls and their games.”
“Listen to me.” she hissed, knowing her tone was more aggressive than she should have used, not knowing whether the man was beta or alpha. It couldn’t be helped now. “It will take you five minutes to verify what I say with Mr. Petrovski. Five minutes. When you find out I’m telling the truth, I can personally guarantee that he will reward you greatly for helping return me. But if he finds out that you had the opportunity to do so and couldn’t be bothered to make that call, what do you suppose he’ll do to you then?” She paused, letting the implication settle in. “Do you have the number?”
“Yes.” the man seethed indignantly. “I have it.”
“Then call him.”
December hung up the phone, her lip quivering uncertainly as she stared down at the darkened screen clutched between her shaking hands. She couldn’t help but watch the minutes tick by on the digital clock, her anxiety and fear growing with each moment that passed. Five minutes went by. Then five more.
The tide of blood from her wound had slowed, the puddle growing cool and sticky against her side where it had pooled as she waited. Fifteen minutes later December had given up hope, resigning herself to whatever fate would await her once she called the police and they hauled her away. Maybe, she thought, she could request a hospital in another city.
When the phone rang and the screen lit up with a local number, she nearly dropped it, fumbling as she swiped to answer the call and drew in a sharp breath. For a moment there was silence, and she couldn’t bring herself to speak.
“December?”
There was no way she could be prepared for the tide of emotions that broke over her the instant she heard his voice, and any remaining control she had was shattered. She sobbed brokenly into the phone as relief flooded through her and the tears began anew. “I… I was afraid y-you wouldn’t call.” She whimpered as she pressed her forehead to the floor and cried like a little girl. The male’s tone changed almost instantly.
“Don’t cry December, I’m here. Tell me, are you all right?” He cooed.
She shook her head furiously, even though he couldn’t see.
“N-no. I’m not all right.”
“Where are you sweet one, can you tell me?”
“I don’t know!” She wailed pathetically. “I-it’s a warehouse. Maybe by the w-wharf?”
The male took a measured breath. “Are you safe? How did you get the phone?” She didn’t miss the suspicious edge to his tone, and it only made her more desperate.
“The d-door is locked from the outside… I’m safe for now. B-but they’ll be back soon. I stole the p-phone. Please. P-please you have to hurry! I need you.” Her broken-hearted plea didn’t fall on deaf ears, judging by the swell of warmth she heard in the gentleness of the male’s reply.
“Little wolf, I need you to be strong just a little longer. Can you do that for me?” Her response was a pitiful whine.
“Yes.”
“We need to trace your location, but it’s going to take a minute. I’ll have to put you on hold. I’ll be right back, but you need to bear with us. Can you do that?”
She desperately wanted to tell him no. “Y-Yes…”
“Good girl.”
The line went silent, and December held her breath, terrified that he’d hung up. She checked the screen of the phone, and it showed her the call was still connected. Her whimpering quieted as she clung to the device, listening desperately to the silence as the seconds ticked by, and a minute turned into an eternity.
Despite the phone’s assurance that they were still connected, dread opened up a pit in her stomach when four minutes had passed and he still hadn’t come back on the line. When a series of strange clicks sounded, she jerked the phone away from her ear. She stared in wide eyed panic at the screen, fully expecting it to tell her they’d been disconnected.
“December?”
With a great exhale of relief, she crushed the device to her head. “Yes! Yes! I’m here!”
“We’ve got it. We’re 20 minutes out. I’m coming for you.”
Chapter 17
Two weeks had passed without a single credible lead, and Nikolai was furious. They were no closer to uncovering who was responsible for the attacks then they had been the very first day.
He had theories of course. While checking into employees both past and present, Nikolai found that the recently dismissed Riktor seemed to have all but vanished off the map. The man had lost everything over a rash decision, and while it was his own fault, Nikolai imagined the other alpha didn’t see it that way. He certainly had motive. But Riktor wasn’t smart enough to pull something like this off. Not on his own. That wasn’t to say the man was cleared of suspicion, but it was a little hard to rule him out when he couldn’t be found.
The virus the attackers had used to sabotage the security systems had been isolated, but it was another dead end. The lab technicians could tell him how it worked, but they hadn’t been able to trace it back to the point of origin. In addition, not a single connection could be established between Nikolai and any of the invaders his men had killed. Hell, they couldn’t even link the men to each other. For all intents and purposes, they all appeared to be random people off the street. All around, the investigation was going infuriatingly slowly.
Bulletins and reward fliers for information on the location of the omega had been distributed to all the hospitals, clinics, airlines, bus stations, and train stations in the city. Of course, no one knew he was the one looking for her. As far as the general public was concerned, the pretty girl on the flyers was just another missing person. Despite the sizable monetary reward, no one had come forward thus far with any usable information.
The unexpected hole left behind by the omega had grown increasingly uncomfortable as the days went by and she remained missing. His sleep was restless and troubled, feelings of discomfort and anxiety plagued him constantly. The effects of her mark were weak compared to an alpha-initiated bond, but he felt her ghost in the recesses of his mind nonetheless. His omega was desolate and miserable, and for all his strength, there was nothing he could do until she was found.
Foolish as he felt for it, he often found himself purring when he was alone. Most times he hadn’t even realized he’d been doing it until something interrupted the rhythmic cadence designed to soothe one’s mate.
Realizing that the pressure in his head seemed to lessen when he did so, Nikolai gave in to the desire and began purring so constantly in his solitude that the rumble had eventually grown hoarse and broken. Unreasonable or not. Still, he purred.
Needless to say, when a manager in one of his clubs called suddenly alleging to have spoken with the girl, he was skeptical. But the man’s description of the female’s attitude was spot on. Nikolai took a chance and dialed the number the man had given him.
The girl started crying the moment she heard his voice. Her devastated, heart-wrenching sobs had him struggling to keep control. It wouldn’t do any good to frighten her, but the wounded sound of his little female had his instincts roaring so furiously for him to take action that it became difficult to focus. So much so in fact, a member of his security team listening nearby had to remind him that they needed to trace the call since she couldn’t tell him where she was being held.
He knew it was liable to be a trap, but the moment they had an exact location it didn’t matter. He was already behind the wheel and on his way before he placed a call to his most trusted enforcer, Donovan. He was an older man who’d been a loyal brother to both Nikolai and his father before him. As it happened, the man was closer to her location than he was.
Nikolai advised the man of the potential risk of it being a setup, and while the threat was acknowledged the man willingly volunteered to try and retrieve the girl if he reached her first. If she truly had finite time before her kidnappers returned, every second counted.
The next call was ma
de to his second in command with instructions to assemble a team and descend on the location as soon as possible. If they could get the girl out before the responsible parties returned, they might have a chance of catching some of the conspirators red-handed.
Upon his arrival to the old warehouse, Nikolai was greeted by the unexpected sight of the flashing lights of an ambulance parked out front. There were three other vehicles in the lot, only one of which he recognized. He was out of the SUV in a flash, urgent strides taking him directly to the front of the structure where Donovan stood with his arms folded casually over his chest.
“Where is she?” Nikolai’s gaze swiveled towards the open doors of the ambulance where two EMTs waited nervously at the rear gate. Finding it empty, he looked back towards the building. The keypad was shot to hell, the door slightly ajar. Donovan had obviously already been inside. Without waiting for a reply, he grabbed the handle, ready to jerk the door open and see for himself what had become of his omega.
The older alpha put a hand to his chest, gently stopping his forward motion. “You need to be easy, Nik,” the older man warned. “That girl of yours… Well, it’s bad.”
“How bad?”
“Can’t say for sure, she wouldn’t let me anywhere near her. Kept threatening to shoot me.” The older man’s lip twitched up at the corner. “From the number of bodies on the floor in there, I think she meant it, so I left her be. Fierce little thing, that one.”
“She’s upright, then?”
The older man nodded, “For now, but she needs to be taken to the hospital. That’s why I called them. You best plan on riding with her, ‘cause that girl isn’t likely to let anything with a dick anywhere near her, EMT or otherwise. You’ll be lucky if she lets you near her. Just be careful.”
Nikolai snarled at the warning, and the enforcer dropped his hand and stepped aside. Bearing in mind what the man said, he forced himself to open the door normally instead of throwing it back in a rush.
His senses were immediately assaulted by the overwhelming stench of misery and horror. The awful cacophony of scents told the story just as well as the scene that unfolded before his eyes. Horrible things had happened here. Not far from the door a body lay sprawled on its back in a pool of blood, several feet further in another lay face down with a crimson pool spread beneath it as well. In the recesses of the room, he could see the outline of another body, its face so mangled it was unrecognizable.
At the center of the space a small table with several chairs stood, on the floor in front of it was a filthy mattress. The whole place stunk of testosterone, cum, piss, fear, blood, and most keenly feminine rage and terror.
He took a cautious step inward, his eyes sliding slowly to the right. More blood stained the floor next to a discarded phone, red smears leading to the far wall where the tiny frame of a nude and gore-covered female was propped up against the brick. Her thighs were pressed to her belly, her legs drawn up and her arms wrapped around them tight. The girl’s forehead was resting on her knees and a gun hung limply from one hand. At the sound of the door closing, the female startled, her chin lifting as she pointed the gun in his general direction. Nikolai went still, watching the frightened creature in silence.
The gun shook with the tremor of her hand, her matted lashes blinking furiously as she stared up at him uncertainly. Nikolai put both hands up, palms out. A gesture of surrender. “It’s all right little one. You’re safe now.” He took a measured step towards her, focused closely on her body language for any warning signs that the little creature was readying to act. “I told you I would come, didn’t I?”
Her lower lip trembled as she gave a little nod, the weapon lowering only a fraction. Inwardly, Nikolai’s gut churned. His friend hadn’t been exaggerating.
The sweet girl’s beautiful hair was no longer silver, but dull brown and clotted with filth and dried blood. Her gorgeous skin was dirty and stained with every imaginable bodily fluid. A number of blood-soaked bandages covered several swatches of skin, the dark tinge of bruises too numerous to count scattered over the rest of her bare body. Her lip was split, and the fading purple of an older black eye only furthered the morbid story her body told.
He took another slow step forward. “You need help, December.” He murmured softly. “Will you let me help you?” The omega didn’t answer. Her eyes were wide, her look almost feral. Nikolai knew all too well, feral meant unpredictable. Even still, when the girl didn’t protest, he closed more ground between them. His movements were slow, his hands still raised as he approached. When he’d come close enough that she was forced to tilt her head back to look up at him and her grip on the gun tightened nervously, Nikolai paused. “I understand you’re scared. But I’m not going to hurt you.”
Cautiously, Nikolai lowered himself down until he was crouching before her. It was obvious that the girl needed immediate medical attention. They didn’t have time for him to coax her into surrendering of her own free will, so he shamefully played on her fear. “Sweet one, there isn’t much time. We need to get you out of here before they come back. It isn’t safe,” he warned, feeling a modicum of guilt when the girl went rigid with terror at the very idea. His cruelty served its purpose. Carefully, he extended one hand towards her, palm up. “Give me the gun, December. It’s all right now. You don’t need it anymore.”
She looked doubtful, her eyes flickering warily towards his outstretched hand before darting back to his face. He nodded silent encouragement, his fingers flexing suggestively. She was timid when she finally relinquished the weapon, depositing it in his upturned hand with shaking fingers. Nikolai smiled gently before reaching behind himself to tuck the gun in his waistband.
“Good girl. Once more his hands went out to her, arms open and his expression imploring. It wasn’t until Nikolai began to purr that the omega was finally moved. Her expression twisted with relief at the sound, but confusion and guilt were hot on its tail and the girl began to cry. Like a child, she reached for him, her body unfurling in a clumsy rush of motion as she fell against his chest.
Delicate fingers knotted in the fabric of his shirt as she sobbed, crying harder still when his arms closed around her, and he drew the girl up from the floor in the cradle of his arms. She buried her head against him, hiding behind a tangled veil of hair as Nikolai carried her from the building.
Donovan edged away as he emerged with his precious bundle, purposely refusing to acknowledge the little female in his boss’ arms. A wise choice, considering how the air thickened with aggression as Nikolai took stock of the two beta EMTs and the alpha enforcer. The silent snarl aimed at the beta males made it clear enough. Anyone who made a wrong move was likely to get ripped to pieces.
“Go ahead, Nik,” the older man suggested. “I’ve got this. Just see to your girl.”
He resisted the urge to growl at the other alpha, the hair on the back of his neck bristling at the idea that he could be told what to do when he was the one in charge. But the enforcer was right. He needed to take care of her.
“Move!” He demanded curtly as he approached the ambulance, watching with satisfaction as the two men clamored to obey. By the time he was lowering December onto the gurney inside the ambulance, one beta was in the driver seat and the other was shutting the rear doors behind them.
The EMT rushed to unfold a blanket as the vehicle’s engine rumbled to life, spreading it over the girl as Nikolai tried to pry her arms loose from around his neck. She yelped in surprise when the fabric touched her skin, prompting the alpha to shoot the smaller man a dangerous look.
Though he was obviously nervous, the beta didn’t back down. “I know you’re worried, Mr. Petrovski. But it’s going to be really hard to assess her condition or treat her if I can’t get near her,” the man said daringly. “She’s going to protest, but I need you to remember that I’m just trying to help. Can you please just, sit down at the head of the gurney and try to keep her calm?” He muttered with a frustrated sweep of his hand.
Still glowering
, Nikolai did as the man asked. The stretcher was resting low in the base of the ambulance, its legs never having been raised since the men hadn’t needed to get it out. It was an easy enough thing to lower himself to his knees at its end, shifting the still sobbing female so that she was partially reclined on her back with her shoulders propped up against his chest.
He eased his forearm around her front, allowing it to rest in the nearly flat expanse beneath her collar bone above her breasts. She scrabbled as he stroked her hair and purred, clutching his arm tightly as if she were afraid he might leave her. “Shhh… It’s all right,” he cooed. “I’m here with you, I won’t leave.”
“Don’t let him touch me!” She pleaded as she tried to twist away from where the beta now stood at her side. “Please!” The man shot him an imploring look, and Nikolai’s jaw tensed unhappily as he tightened his grip on the girl. The suggestion was plain enough, he needed to get her under control.
“Stop it!” He demanded with a growl, the command hot against her ear. The girl stilled, her body going rigid as her chest continued to rise and fall at a panicked pace. “He is trying to help you, and you will let him, or I will hold you down. Understand? Behave!” She whimpered softly in result, biting her lip as she tried to smother the fearful sobs that were obviously beyond her power to control.
He nodded for the EMT to proceed, watching in vigilant silence while the man set to work as the vehicle lurched into motion. He continued to purr and pet his little female, as the beta kindly explained to her what needed to be done.
When the man got out his stethoscope, she tensed again, and Nikolai murmured soft encouragement in her ear as he extended the hand not barring her chest and took the round end of the instrument from the smaller male. This he showed to her, reminding her how harmless it was before he carefully slid it beneath the blanket covering her breasts. At the beta’s direction, he shifted the cool metal disk until it was in the proper position to listen to her heart.