by Maya Daniels
“Now what?” My question is barely above a whisper, but my heart stops when the five hunters I can see turn their faces our way.
No way they heard what I said.
Everything happens at once.
Bright reflector lights blind me, disorienting me. Fenrir shouts something, but a burst of electricity blasts us from the barbed wire and sends him flying off the wall. I can hear Tenebris roaring in outrage, but I can’t see shit to save my life. And just when I think I’m about to follow the Fae off the wall and end up breaking my neck, thick energy wraps around me like a lasso, tugging me forward. My eyes scrunch expecting the wire to rip my face into ribbons, but I’m lifted in the air above its sharp, pointy spikes. My stomach drops at my feet and blinding pain from my skin catching on fire opens my mouth in a silent scream.
Everything goes black.
Chapter 16
I come to with a gasp and a feeling that I would rather be dead.
If I got hit by a truck, stomped on by a stampede of angry bulls, and tossed around by a tornado, I bet I will feel better than I do right now. Tasting acid in my mouth makes me gag, but I neither have the energy to lift my head, nor to vomit. The burning of my shoulders tells me my arms are pulled back and my wrists tied. That’s a stupid oversight for whoever did this because I’ve been in a similar situation too many times to count and I’m a pro at getting out of it, if I say so myself. That idea perks me up a little, just enough to feel like I might puke.
With great effort I lift my head, huffing and puffing to blow the hair out of my face so I can see where I am. A sterile white room is what I find. No windows, just white walls on all sides with a heavy metal door in front of me. It looks like a vault door from what I can see. My eyes move around, methodically searching each line and corner from floor to ceiling in search of cameras. Not finding anything, I take a deep breath.
The door opens with a hissing sound, as if it was sealed shut until now. My body stiffens and I’m grateful I didn’t try to free myself too soon. Then I regret it the moment Alexius walks in with a twinkle of amusement in his peepers and a smile to match. The asshole is gloating.
I grin back at him.
“Fancy seeing you here, Alex.” My cheerfulness is lost on the jerk but his smile slips. “Long time no see.”
“How did I know that you’d come here, Francesca?” Stabbing his hands in the pockets of his slacks, he walks nonchalantly up and down in front of me. “Or should I call you, Franky?” Flashing me a quick smile, he shakes his head at some joke I missed.
“How about you don’t call me anything?” Lifting both eyebrows, I keep the grin in place mocking him. “There’s an idea for you.”
“I didn’t believe Roberti when he told us if we took your mother you’d come for her.” Nodding his head, Alex decides to have a monologue so I let him. “Never pegged you as mama’s girl.”
I nod eagerly like an idiot when he looks at me, and that makes him frown.
“I must say I never expected Tenebris.” Striding fast, he stops in front of me, snatching my chin between his fingers and jerking my face up. “This is why half bloods need to be destroyed. You will bring the end of us all just by being allowed to exist.” His blunt nails dig into my skin, squeezing so tight I expect my jaw to break any second.
Tears sting my eyes, but I force them back. Hopefully the entity inside me will stay quiet for a while longer. I have plans for this jerk and I want to be myself when I get my hands on him. No additional help needed.
“It’s a good thing we got rid of him and Fenrir at the same time. The Fae always got on my nerves.” My heart jerks hitting the roof of my mouth, and Alex smiles slowly, his mouth stretching until I can see his molars. “I hoped it’ll be Zoltan.” His head cocks to the side. “Problem in paradise already?”
“Nope.” It’s hard to speak with him holding my chin, but the fact he doesn’t know Zoltan is here almost makes me laugh. “I just like to spice thing up. Different flavor each day if you may. It keeps things fresh and interesting. You should try it.” Faking a frown, I widen my eyes. “No wait, I’m sorry. How unsensitive of me. You let Roberti fuck you every which way he wants so that’s probably the only flavor you need.”
I haven’t finished talking when the back of his hand connects with my face in a loud smack. If my face wasn’t messed up earlier, I bet my life it is now because I feel my cheekbone crack from the force of his hit. Blood fills my mouth when I bite hard on my tongue. That will teach me to run my mouth while being slapped around, won’t it. Having Alexius being so open, though, is something I plan to take full advantage of.
“Smart of you to hold my mother here, I’ll give you that.” Wiping the corner of my mouth on my shoulder, I relish the sharp pain when my tied wrists shift. “But she is meek, so you didn’t need to go through all the trouble.” I have a lisp when I talk from nearly biting off my tongue.
“Meek?” There is no way he fakes that incredulity. I grin internally. “You must be talking about someone else.” Anger laces his words.
“Umm, I know my mother. She is afraid of her own shadow, unless you snatched the wrong person?” Tilting my head to the side, I give him a wary look. “I can’t go to Sienna so I’m not sure it’s her that you have here. Roberti would know, so where is he?”
I am waiting for uncertainty to enter his gaze. On one side, it’s good to have him doubt himself, but on the other, it means the jerk Roberti is not here. You can’t win it all, I guess. Keeping the wariness plastered over my face, I let him mule it over. He better hurry because it won’t be long before the others blast their way in. All my acting skills will go to waste if I’m still tied up here like a Christmas present.
“I was certain …” Alex trails off, giving me a sharp look.
Spinning on his heel, he rushes out of the room muttering under his breath. I sit still and call out his name a couple of times before I press my lips closed. Don’t lay it on too thick, Franky. Telling myself that, I snicker quietly when the door sucks in air to seal itself shut. Opening it might be a problem, but Alexius will have to come back eventually. I’ll be ready to give him the same facial he gave me when that happens.
I stiffen my shoulders before dislocating my thumb. It smarts to hell and back, but I bite my lips so I don’t cry out. With a deep breath I fill my lungs, holding it in as I do the same to my other thumb. My arms are numb from pain all the way to my elbows, but I wiggle out of the ties holding me stuck to the chair. With a sigh of relief, I roll my shoulders to loosen my arms before pushing my thumbs in. My whole body hurts, and my cheekbone is throbbing, but I smile despite all that. I’ll have to send a gift basket to a wild pack of wolves in Sienna when I get back. The little shits managed to tie me up quite a few times before I locked their asses up. Thanks to them, I’m free now and ready for Alex to return if I can’t open the door.
I don’t have to wait long. I’ve barely stood next to it with my back plastered to the wall for five minutes when the now familiar hiss alerts me someone is coming in. Bracing to fight my way out of here the second a head peeks in, I grab whoever it is by the neck, twisting my body and yanking them inside and over my shoulder. The air is pushed out of his lungs with a whoosh and I flip around, jumping on his chest with my arm cocked to pulverize his face. I have a second to see Leo’s wide, startled eyes moving my hand slightly to the right and smashing into the floor with a resounding crunch. There go my fucking knuckles. They just joined my fractured cheekbone. My eyes cross from the pain and a buzzing starts in my ears.
“Damn it, Drake, you’ll give a male a heart attack.” Growling, he bucks me off him while I’m still seeing stars.
“I almost gave you a new face, dumbass, so stop bitching and say thank you.” Voice strained, I roll to my feet while cradling my hand to my chest. “Fenrir? Tenebris?” I hold my breath, watching Leo’s face intently to see if he is telling the truth.
“Dazed and sore, but good.” Rushing to the door, he pokes his head out before pulling it
almost closed. “That is some strong shit they are packing on those walls. Lucky Daren was already messing with the wards, otherwise both of them would be gone.”
“They are alive.” I breathe the words while swaying on my feet. I wasn’t aware how much I was freaking out inside thinking they were dead.
“Their pride is hurt but they are alive.” Throwing a quick smirk, he sobers up instantly. “Tenebris is fucking furious, killing everything that crosses his path. I’m not sure he can tell a friend from a foe so stay out of his way.”
“Like he wasn’t an asshole before this happened.” I’m so happy they are okay that I’ll let the stupid cat bite my hand off just to see him alive with my own eyes.
“You ready?” Leo leans in closer to the door listening for something. I can’t hear a thing over the pounding in my ears. “We need to go before all hell breaks loose.”
A loud crash like half of the building is collapsing comes right when he stops speaking. A scream follows. “Too late for that.” I debate only a second before yanking Leo deeper into the room and closing the door.
“Are you insane?” Snarling at me, he jerks his arm out of my grasp.
“Alex was here not long ago.” I twirl a finger around my throbbing cheekbone. “This is the first place he will run to.”
“Or he will wait wherever he has your mother for you to go to him.” He grumbles but follows suit, flattening himself on the other side of the door.
“Or that.”
Changing my mind, I run back to the chair, plopping on it and hitting my tailbone in the process. Pulling my arms back like they are still tied, I shake my head to mess my hair around my face. The Alpha is watching me with morbid curiosity, and I chuckle when he opens and closes his mouth with a snap. Leo stiffens a second before the door opens and Alexius storms in.
I blink at him innocently.
“You fucking bitch.” Rage twisting his features, he rushes me.
Leo doesn’t have time to push away from the wall. Alex is in front of me so fast I almost receive another blow to the head for being surprised by it. Ducking my head, I push hard off the chair, my shoulder hitting his solar plexus as I tackle him to the ground. He is so shocked that I’m free that I have time to roll us around and straddle his chest, trapping both his arms between my thighs. I allow myself one grin at his stupefied expression before pummeling his face with my fists. The knuckles on my right hand make me see stars from hitting the floor earlier but the satisfaction of cracking Alexius’s skull is much stronger.
With a roar, he jerks his arms wide to the side then up, pitching me forward over his head. I am so focused on hitting him I forget to make sure he is well pinned under me. Tucking my head to my chest at the last second, I barely avoid face planting on the floor, rolling away from him and ending up in a crouch a couple of feet away. Face bloodied and nose flattened, Alex snarls at me, his fangs sticking out from his split lips. There is a piece of his upper lip hanging by skin on the right side of his face, exposing the top of his gums. I’ve never seen a more beautiful sight. His entire body should look like that. Behind him, Leo is gaping at us frozen in place.
“I’ve been called worse,” I tell Alexius before pouncing on him again.
We meet halfway, both of us jumping at each other at the same time. He flings his elbow in front of him just as I reach him, connecting with my neck. I can feel my esophagus flattening but it still works, so I blink away the tears and turn my head to the rip into Alexius’s throat. My fangs sink in deep and I shake like a feral dog, pulling chunks of his muscle with me. Blood gushes from the mauled nick but he is too far gone to notice. His own fangs get stuck in my shoulder, almost taking a chunk of my collarbone when he pulls back. Seeing his wounds close as soon as he takes my blood send a sharp zing of panic through me.
“Oh no you don’t.” With a furious snarl, I take his head in my hands and twist around with everything I got.
My shoulder takes the brunt of my fall, and I roll for a few feet, taking Alexius with me as I clutch his head for dear life. As soon as I stop, I’m on my knees, fangs bared to rip into him all over again. Blinking stupidly, I look at Alex’s wide eyes. His unseeing eyes because I’m clutching his head in my hands without the body that goes with it. Very slowly, I uncramp my fingers and release it on the floor with a wet squelchy sound. Wiping my hands off my blood-soaked pants, I pull my gaze away from the head to lock on Leo.
“Remind me to never piss you off again, Drake.” The Alpha gulps, his hand wrapped around his neck.
Hysterical laughter bubbles out of me.
Chapter 17
“This way.” Leo steers me in the opposite direction from where I bolted down a long hallway.
Moving as fast as I can without making too much noise, I strain my ears in hopes to hear where the others are. A soul-crushing screech comes from somewhere behind us, and I jerk to a stop with the Alpha plows into my back. I try to sidestep him, but he grabs my upper arm, tugging me along.
“That’s probably Tenebris.” Reaching a corner, he sticks his head out fast before doing it a second time slowly, making sure no one is going to jump us. “We don’t want to be where he is right now.”
“Right.” Adrenaline is still pumping through my veins and I haven’t accepted the fact that Alexius is dead. Not really. Although his head in my hands is playing behind my eyelids on repeat every time I blink.
Leo opens each door we pass but all of them are empty. That’s until he finds a locked one that he does his best to break through with no luck. It takes me a moment to see that this room actually has a window next to it. Well, not a window, but a glass part of the wall allowing you to see inside it. Leaving the Alpha to continue banging up his shoulder on the door—because why not, right—I move in front of the glass and stare inside the room.
“She’s not there,” I tell Leo, but I can’t look away.
“How do you know?” He grunts, then slams his body in the door again, making the glass rattle and the walls groan.
“I see that she’s not there.” That gets his attention and he glares at me, rubbing his shoulder.
“You could’ve said something sooner.” The mutt is cute when he pouts but I don’t dare tell him that right now.
“Whoever is in there, it’s a male.” I point with a jerk of my chin and Leo comes to stand next to me.
It’s another sterile room but this one has a few machines and a metal bed inside it. A male is laid out on it, but I can only see his feet and his chest because the rest of his body is covered with a sheet. All the machines are connected to him and blinking. I assume they are beeping, too, since no sound can be heard through the glass.
“We should get him out,” Leo mumbles next to me, but something inside me flipflops at the idea for some reason.
“Later.” Since I can’t figure out if the feeling is good or bad, I’d rather get my mother out first before attempting another rescue.
“Very well.” He follows after me, but I can see from the corner of my eye that he is watching me warily.
“Your skin and hair changed, you know,” he pipes in conversationally before I can ask him what’s wrong.
“What?” My feet slow down but Leo doesn’t have time to answer.
A hunter barrels towards us from another hallway, a second one right on his heels. The Alpha and I split apart, him moving a foot or so ahead to give us both room. I wince when the first hunter smacks right into him and both of them hit the wall, plaster raining over their heads. The second hunter jumps a couple feet in the air, lifting his knee at chest level before he sails at me. Reaching up, I grab him by the raised leg and one hip, twisting to throw him down the hallway. Agile like a cat, he lands on his feet and bounces right back at me. I repeat the same thing again, throwing him on the other side with the same result. At least it seems they don’t have any weapons.
“Stop playing with him, Drake,” Leo snarls, his fingernails lengthening as he opens up the hunter’s chest like a can of soup. Dark
red, almost black, paints the hunter’s clothing, spreading like an oil spill down his body.
The second hunter bounces at me, taking us both down. My head hits the tiled floor with a crack that rattles my brain enough to snap me out of whatever is clouding it. Throwing an elbow in his gut, I flip around, taking hold of his head and twisting. The head pops out like a cherry, blood spraying from his neck and messing up the ground. Alexius’s face flashes before my eyes and I throw the head away like it burned me as I jump to my feet.
“I see a pattern.” Leo snickers, kicking at the dead hunter sprawled at his feet.
“Yeah, me too.” Not looking at him, I move down the hallway.
The shock is wearing off and I’m starting to get dizzy. Internally, I’m freaking that I ripped someone’s head off without blinking an eye, but you’d never know from looking at me. My movements are so fluid and calm you’d think I’m out for a stroll. I hear the banging before I reach the door. I don’t need to hear it to know it’s my mother. Steeling my spine, I wrench the door handle with all I’ve got until it pops open with a hiss. Leo whistles low slinking closer to peek over my shoulder.
I push the door open, stepping inside.
“Francesca Drake.” My mother’s voice grinds on all my nerve endings. “I knew you were an insolent child, but I never knew you were this stupid.”
“Good to see you too, Mother. I’m happy to see that you are unharmed.” Leo walks in warily behind me. “Leo, meet my mother, Sophia. Mother, this is Leo, my friend.”
Huffing incredulously, she gives the Alpha a once over, making him shuffle on his feet. “Friend,” she says it like it’s a curse.
“Can we please get out of here?” With a quick glance around the room, I see that she isn’t hurt. Well, she isn’t bleeding at least.