by T. A. Grey
Either way, someone would pay dearly for this.
The car slowed, then rolled to a stop. Jo tumbled around, his tied feet sliding into the rear passenger seats. He heard footsteps crunching across gravel, then the trunk lid popped open. Dark, his vision was murky from the ski mask they’d put on him. Men grabbed him and yanked him out, his muscles were stiff from riding and hurt from whatever drugs they’d given him. He had no idea how long he’d been passed out for. Likely hours.
“Take him and lock him up,” a deep voice said.
Recognition hit instantly. Fuck. It was Xavier Carbon.
“Right, sir.”
Jo relied on his other senses, his hearing and his smell to pick up clues as to where they’d taken him. The room felt big and open, smelled metallic like steel. Lots of air whipping through. Maybe a warehouse or large storage facility. Not a house or anything like that. He could hear people milling about, but not many.
Fuck, he was angry. He’d been stupid, had made a grave mistake.
But the bigger mistake was in these lykaens stealing him.
Because they’d just signed their death wish.
Chapter TWENTY-TWO
Howling sirens pierced the ears and made it nearly impossible to hear anything else.
As far as they knew, the siren wasn’t for them. Maybe it was the preface to the executions? A signal of some sort?
Hanna cowed low trying to hide from the offensive squawking, but even covering her ears with her hands did nothing to stop the horrendous noise.
Alex did not look intimidated. He looked incensed like a mad man. He turned to Hanna, a look on his face like she’d never seen. An unwavering, violent expression, lips pulled back in a snarl, teeth bared like an animal.
She saw him mouth the words, unable to hear them. “It’s time.”
“Now?” she mouthed back at him.
A nod. “Now.”
As they’d discussed, Hanna grabbed the makeshift satchel and with the help of Alex, he tied it around her shoulder so the goods hung across her back. He’d cleverly decided to use the stained tablecloth as a wrap to hold the leftover pieces of food and supplies they were taking, which didn’t amount to much.
Alex knotted the satchel, securing it, but his eyes stayed locked on hers. Her breath caught, and a flurry of emotions raced through her. She had so much she wanted to say, to tell him, to apologize for before they attempted this. But the droning sirens seemed to drown them out.
His warm hand cupped her cheek, a tender expression on his face. Then, for a brief moment, all tension between them simply faded away. As if it never existed. She sighed and felt her body pull towards his. The siren wailed, inciting fear and panic.
Her senses tuned out so she could focus on this one moment with Alex. So she could feel the rough scrape of his palm sliding across her cheek and into her hair to cup her gently as she leaned into his embrace, arms slowly hugging him.
When he lowered his head, she knew what he was going to do. Even still she gave him the answer he sought with her eyes. A simple yes.
And he kissed her.
A kiss like no other.
Warm and gentle, a sampling taste. A hiccup in her breath as their lips parted and their eyes opened the barest of inches. He was the most handsome man she’d ever known. He was everything rough and strong that she was not. But unlike some fairy tale where you’d think they’d complement each other so well, Hanna knew the reality. She knew the truth that she and Alex were as different and peas and grapes. And the two could not be joined together.
Still, she closed her eyes, and pulled him closer. His heat took over, warming her more so than a fire ever could. He kissed her and took and she gave freely. Feeling as though she was giving a part of herself to him with that kiss. She was giving him her trust. Something she held so dear to her, something she didn’t give lightly.
When they parted, his lips were wet, a sensual sight. The hazy fog around them lifted, and once again, the sirens resumed with full force.
“Time to go.” He mouthed the words.
Hanna nodded quickly. Heart racing rapidly. Fear already at the forefront in her mind.
They had to escape or die. She was ready to do anything to get out of here. Even if, through all this, she was caught. If Alex escaped, she would die a happy woman. But she’d never be able to live with herself if Alex was executed on behalf of her crimes.
Alex headed to the door and took out a butter knife. He shoved the metal tip into the lock and started “jimmying.” He twitched the handle, did this and that, and then Hanna heard the most beautiful sound of all. The click of the lock being released.
Alex looked back at her, that ferocious expression back in place. He was in beast mode. Ready to strike and kill. Or be killed.
“I’m ready,” she said.
He turned the door handle and peered out into the hallway.
Hanna knew the plan. They kept it rough, because, as he’d said, a detailed plan could get too complex and narrow their options. In the heat of the moment, that kind of linear thinking could get you killed. In cases like this, it was best to run with the flow, so to speak.
Their vague plan went as follows:
First, unlock the door.
Check.
Second, sneak to the butler’s office to steal the key ring which had the keys to the snowmobiles in the barn outside.
Third, get to barn. Then, ideally, they’d flee using said snowmobiles. So went the gist of the plan.
Alex’s hand curled around hers, tagging her. Hanna found herself resisting when he tried to pull her into the hallway.
He looked back at her, confused.
“Wait, I have to say something.”
“What?” he mouthed.
“I just wanted to tell you I’m sorry. So sorry, about all of this. About everything. I didn’t mean for anything of this to happen. You shouldn’t even be here.”
Alex pressed a finger to her lips, silencing her. He gave a brief shake of his head. And that was all he said.
Hand in hand, her satchel in place, Hanna and Alex escaped the tiny prison cell she’d spent so many days in for the first time without a guarded escort.
* * * * *
Alex’s heart pounded with adrenaline. He was more afraid than he’d ever admit. Not scared for himself, but for the woman he cared about whose life hung in his hands. She depended on him right now to make this escape a real thing. He couldn’t fail. If he did.... They both knew what awaited them from the Gerioux pack.
In his mind, he already had a vague plan mapped out. Grabbing Hanna by the hand, Alex slipped into the hallway and sprinted down the hall. He took the opposite direction of their normal route, slipping into a shadowy doorway when a guard appeared at the other end of the hall, racing downstairs.
Just what in the world was going on here?
For a few precious seconds, Alex waited at the end of the hall, watching from where they came. But no guards stormed their cell. In fact, no guards were in sight. Had they all been called elsewhere for some other emergency?
The sirens were not about them. Good news, perhaps. Just what was it for though? This could prove an entirely different problem if they had to deal with it.
“Let’s go,” Hanna whispered.
He squeezed her hand to signal he’d heard her. She was right.
Back through the shadowy stairways, Alex hung against the wall, peering around every corner, while Hanna took up the rear, watching their asses.
He figured this would be the most difficult part of the plan. Simply getting to the butler’s office, which was right off the kitchen and main hallway--some of the busiest areas of the castle.
Waaaaaaa--ooooooo.
The cry of the sirens continued to wail.
He didn’t know why, he only knew he was thankful for the distraction.
They slipped down the stairs to the main floor. And came face to face with a guard.
The guard’s eyes widened in alarm. Before he co
uld shout and raise hell--which would be difficult enough with the racket going on--Alex released Hanna’s hand and grabbed the man in a chokehold. He grappled with him, slammed him against the stairway wall and watched the man’s eyes flutter upward. Unconscious, he dropped the body. Hanna easily stepped over him.
They raced across a wide-open space. Dangerous as fuck. His adrenaline pumped at a million miles per hour. He felt jacked as fuck. And it felt damn good. Like he could tackle a skyscraper and knock it over with just his shoulder.
Halfway across the open living space, Alex thought they’d make it.
But Hanna tugged hard on his hand, pulling him to a stop. A guard came up behind her, ripping her backward by the hair. Hanna shouted--the sound drowned out by the sires--and before Alex could throw a single punch, she slammed her elbow back into the guard’s gut. He toppled forward and she reversed her fist, crushing the man’s nose with it.
Impressive. Alex shoved the guard away and gave him a final jab to the nose that sent him to his knees. Quickly, he ripped the radio communications device out of the man’s ear and tore the cords in two. Now he couldn’t alert the others.
Alex grabbed Hanna’s hand and off they went again. He checked in the study, peering into the door to find the room empty. He went inside, closed the door behind him, and rushed out the opposite door which led closer to the kitchens. He froze as he checked out into the hallway.
Dozens of people were rushing about. Chaos. Guards were rushing down into the basement--it seemed like something had happened down there. He didn’t care what, just so that it helped them out.
Wait a minute. He had a grand idea. Fuck. It was almost so clever, he couldn’t believe he’d thought it up himself!
Alex raced backwards. Hanna dragging her feet. “Why are you going back?”
“We need disguises.” The guard curled up on the floor in the study squirmed in pain at his broken nose. Alex gave him another quick jab, knocking him completely out. Then he started pulling his clothes off. The Gerioux guard all wore the same maroon uniform.
Hanna’s eyes lit up when she saw what he was doing. She ran and pulled on the other guard’s jacket and pants. They bagged heavily on her and Alex’s garb was a bit too tight for his body.
“We’re going to blend in,” he told her. She nodded with a grim look on her face. Good girl. She was a helluva of a fighter.
The sirens shut off.
So suddenly, the ringing echoes almost fooled you into thinking the sirens were still going on. But they’d stopped. In a blink of the eye.
“Why did it stop?” Hanna whispered, searching around as if to find a solution.
Fuck. He had no idea. But he didn’t like it. The sirens helped to act as cover for them. Now, they had nothing.
“Let’s go.”
Alex opened the study door and once more glanced out into the hall. Fewer people, but still many rushing about. They had to walk straight into where these guards were, and slip off to the right to the butler’s office. If the butler was in there...well, he’d take care of that too.
“Keep your head up.” His last words of advice.
Then he shouldered out of the study with all the confidence of Queen Lysette herself. Head held high, shoulder’s straight and his steps quick, matching pace with everyone else. Amazingly, no one noticed him. He tensed the first few times someone looked at him. And with all the commotion going on, no one seemed to notice his ill-fitted garb, or recognize his face.
Even those who looked him straight in the face didn’t say anything.
He veered right at the kitchens and checked to ensure Hanna stayed behind him. She did.
Please be unlocked.
Alex tested the butler’s door, and cursed. Of course not. He lifted his handmade utility tool out and went to work jimmying the door. It could only move the inner lock piece a smidgen, not nearly enough to open the door. Checking down the hall, he made sure nobody saw him before he slammed his shoulder into the door. It budged open in a crash. They entered and shut the door quietly behind them.
“Ok, where’s the keys?” Hanna asked. She tried to lock the door to secure them inside. “Alex, this lock doesn’t work anymore.’
“Yeah, I broke it,” he said, searching every nook and cranny. “Got em!” First desk drawer on the left.
A knock at the door. Hanna sucked in an audible breath and rushed to his side. They both ducked behind the desk as the door opened a moment later.
“Monsieur Philippe?” Alex recognized the voice of Margaret, the supervisor with the big glasses. Footsteps came their way and paused. “Hm.” The door closed a moment later.
Hanna breathed a sigh of relief.
Alex peeked over the desk to ensure safety, before heading to the window. He unlocked it and pulled it up. It squeaked loudly--too loudly for his liking. They had to hurry. Leaving out this exit would put them closest to the barn where they needed to be.
He had Hanna halfway out the window, dangling legs first, when the door opened.
“Monsieur Philippe, I knew you must be in here. I heard a strange noi-- ” Margaret had returned.
Too late. Margaret’s eyes widened with recognition. In the next moment she pointed at them and screamed from the tops of her lungs, “It’s them! Zee criminals! ‘Zey are trying to escape! Help! Heeeelp!” She ran from the room as if Satan himself chased her.
Curse their bad luck.
“Time to hurry.” Was all Alex said.
He promptly dropped Hanna to the snowy ground.
“Get to the barn!”
He followed a moment later. Grabbing her hand, he took off for the barn. Inside the castle, once again, sires began blaring. This time he had a feeling he knew why.
* * * * *
Get to the barn.
Alex’s command haunted Hanna as she raced across the snowy landscape. Feet dipping into heavily packed snow, making her legs pump to push to get through it. Her muscles burned with use, a fiery sensation that shot through her legs like of electricity. Her lungs felt scorched in the wintry air as she sucked in heaving breaths of frigid air. Alex plunged on, following her every step of the way.
The barn doors were pulled open a gap. She spotted shadows moving inside. What would they do?
Alex gave her a signal to wait and then flew in to the barn, charging bodily into the first person he saw. They crashed against a horse’s stall. The horse inside whinnied at the intrusion. Hanna came up short behind the fight just as a stable boy charged out of a stall with a pitchfork aimed straight at her. Hanna ducked being speared and dropped low, swinging out her leg. She caught the boy’s ankle, tripping him and sending the weapon across the floor.
Alex apologized to the boy, then swiftly hit him across the face, knocking him out.
“Ok, snowmobiles,” he panted.
One side of the barn housed stables with horses, the opposite had five-snow mobiles parked, wet from use where snow had melted. Alex pulled out the keys he’d stolen from the butler’s room and started the tedious process of “which key is it?”
He was squatting over one of the vehicles, on key ten out of twenty-something, when a small door neither one of them had noticed, suddenly opened. Hanna ducked behind a stall and her eyes nearly bulged out of her head when she realized Alex still stood there right out in the open. What was he doing?! He was going to get killed!
But Hanna realized, of all people to enter the barn, it was the queen.
What the...
Queen Lysette Gerioux held her pale hands up in the air to signal she was unarmed. She wore a thick wintery gown and heavy snow boots beneath all the pomp and circumstance. From the corner of her eye, Hanna saw Alex palming the a knife against his side, hidden and dangerous.
“It is you, isn’t it?” the queen called. “Alex and Hanna? Don’t worry. I have not told anyone that you’re here...yet.” The warning hung there.
“What do you want?” Alex asked. Hanna rose and went to Alex’s side. They stood together in this.
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“I want many things, Mr. Thompson. I want my Remi back. I want my dead sister back. I want Xavier to quit riding my ass. So many things. Do you know he plans to take my throne from me? It’s the last thing I have.” She spoke with cold finality. A woman who’d made concluding thoughts in her mind to the events about to unfold. “I won’t let him do it.” She hissed the words.
“We can help,” Alex said.
“Oui, you can, Alex. I want you both to escape. Otherwise, Xavier will have you killed immediately. I have decided that even though you’ve killed my nephew, it is not worth losing my throne over too. Gavin MacKellen suddenly has something I do indeed want. And I’ll need you alive for that. I will not lose my crown to that vile bastard Xavier Carbon. My husband wouldn’t have wanted that. I don’t want that. My people don’t want that. This pack means everything to me. It’s more important than even Remi was. So it seems I must do everything in my power to keep Xavier from stealing my life from me. Do you understand? So I will allow you to escape my pack, right now, without alarming my people. On one condition.”
Hanna held her breath. Alex tensed.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“I need help in removing Xavier from my premises and from my life.”
“Why did you agree to sign over our lives then?” Hanna asked.
“Xavier explained, in no certain terms, that if I did not execute the two ruthless murderers of our dear sweet prince, then he’d play to the pack’s public eye and ruin me. He said he’d have every pack member believe I let two killers get away with killing our prince. What nonsense, I loved my nephew very, very much. You have no idea. And then, he’d let the pack dethrone me, and he’d be the big hero, ready to save the day. See, he wants the Gerioux kingdom, to be king of all my people. I will not let him take what is mine. I’ve lost enough already.” The queen paused. “You couldn’t have chosen a better time to escape. This only works out in my favor, as now I can get you two out of my pack and out of my problems. And I have the leverage to get what I want. You will go. And you will go to your Alpha, Gavin MacKellen, and you will tell him that by sparing your lives, I want Xavier Carbon dead. Do you hear me? Dead.”