Shadow Born: Book 1 of the Shadow-Borne Chronicles (5 page)

Just as he admitted this to himself, a large heavy hand landed on his back causing him to yelp and spin in fright.
 
His eyes were large like an animal caught in headlights and his breathing was ragged.
 
His heart was pounding in his chest.
 
He heard laughter and then realized that it was No-neck that had grabbed him.

“Oh I’m sorry, did I scare you?” No-neck said in a mocking way.
 
Alec noticed that he wasn’t alone and could make out the shapes of two other guys standing behind the huge man.

“What do you want?” Alec finally forced out.

“What I want is for you to stop flirting with my girlfriend, freak,” he said poking Alec in the chest with his finger.

“I wasn’t flirting with her.
 
I was just surprised she knew who I was.”

“Yeah well, I saw it differently.
 
And if I see it differently again, me and my boys are going to make sure it never happens again.
 
Got me?” he asked shoving Alec hard.

Alec nodded mutely, the terror he had felt when No-neck had surprised him had eased off some but his heart was still pounding in his chest like something trying to escape.
 
Obviously his nod wasn’t enough for the large man because he stepped forward and grabbed Alec’s shoulder and started squeezing it with his meaty hands.
 
“I said do you understand, freak? Speak up.”
 
Alec couldn’t talk.
 
He was so scared he could barely nod.
 
This seemed to piss the man off even more and he squeezed harder causing Alec’s shoulder to protest in pain.

He opened his mouth to say something more when suddenly Marc was standing beside Alec.
 
His arm was a blur in the dark as he reached over, broke No-neck’s grip on Alec’s shoulder, and twisted his arm forcing him to his knees.

“What seems to be the problem here gentlemen?” Marc asked politely.
 

“This is none of your business, asshole,” No-neck grunted from between clenched teeth.

“Really?
 
None of my business, when I see three rather large and rather stupid looking men, ganging up on a friend of mine?”
 
When No-neck didn’t answer he said “Speak up,” and twisted his arm painfully.

Without warning, and before Alec could even say anything, one of the other large guys rushed at Marc trying to tackle him to the ground.
 
Marc effortlessly stepped out of the man’s way and put out his foot, tripping him.
 
The third man, seeing Marc preoccupied with his buddy took the opportunity to rush him from behind.
 
Without even looking, Marc ducked the swing that the man had aimed at his head and then quickly stood up and punched the guy square in the face.
 
Alec swore he saw the man’s eyes cross before he grabbed his nose and slumped slowly to the ground.

Marc still had his grip on No-neck and used it to pull him to his feet and closer to him.
 
“If I see you so much as look at Alec or me the wrong way, ever again, I will make you wish you had never met either of us.
 
You understand?” The voice that Marc used sent shivers down Alec’s spine.
 
If it had been directed at him, he was convinced he would have voided his bladder on the spot.

No-neck looked like he might do the same thing.
 
Wordlessly he nodded that he understood and Marc shoved him backwards onto the ground.
 
“That goes for your friends too.”
 
With that, all three of the huge men jumped up and ran off into the night.

Marc brushed his hands on his pants like they might be dirty and then turned to Alec.
 

“You okay?”

Alec just nodded.
 
“Yeah,” he finally said.

“Good.
 
You need a ride home?
 
I think the final bus has already ran.”

Alec looked at his watch and realized he had just missed the last one.
 
“I don’t want to be any trouble.
 
I’ll walk.
 
It’s not far.”
 
This day had not turned out the way he’d always dreamed it would.
 

Marc just smiled a cocky half smile and said, “No problem at all. If you don’t live too far away, then it won’t take long.”
 
Without waiting for an answer he started off into the dark, forcing Alec to run to catch up with him.
 

“Thanks for saving my ass back there.
 
I…” He didn’t know what to say. How could he tell this guy who had faced down three men in the dark for a stranger he didn’t even know that he was afraid that Clarissa Wight had somehow found a way to come back from the dead and finish what she had started?
 
For a moment there, he had been terrified in a way that he had only felt while he’d been tortured.
 
He had been paralyzed by fear.
 

“It’s okay.
 
After what you went through, anyone would have been freaked out.
 
That dumb ass is just lucky you didn’t accidentally snap his neck or hurt him really bad, although he would have deserved it.”

Alec didn’t think he could snap someone’s neck accidentally or otherwise but didn’t say so.
 

“Probably a good thing you didn’t snap his neck though.
 
Getting rid of a body can be difficult.
 
But, I know a guy,” he said in his best Italian gangster accent.
 
For some reason, that caused Alec to burst into laughter.
 
After all the stress and terror he had just been through, it felt good to laugh.
 
Marc just smiled at him and said, “Come on, I’ll take you home, Alec, also with a ‘C’.”

With school and work, the weeks flew by for Alec.
 
He sometimes worked five or six days a week and now he was going to night classes Monday through Thursday.
 
It was finally Friday and Alec didn’t have a class.
 
More importantly, he didn’t have to work the next day so he could sleep in.
 
He’d also made plans to hang out with Marc after work.
 
He wasn’t sure what buddies did when they just hung out, but he was excited, and nervous.
 
This was a whole new experience for him and he felt completely stupid.
 
With Jake, they’d always done school stuff together or just sat around talking about what all they wanted to do when they grew up.
 

Alec’s workday started the same as usual.
 
Clock in, review the shipping manifests.
 
Talk to the supervisors to see who’s pulling, who’s packing and who’s running forgotten items.
 
Today, Alec got the job of runner.
 
He would go for anything anyone needed.
 
For instance, if someone forgot one of the new gadget e-readers, he would take off, grab one and complete the order.
 
He was doing just that at the moment.
 
A rush order had come in over the printer.
 
Somehow this order had gotten stuck in queue and hadn’t shipped in time and the customer was upset. So here they were, he and two of his coworkers, pulling products, wrapping them and boxing them, when they realized the e-reader was missing.
 

Alec pulled up the aisle and stock number in the computer and rushed off to grab the final piece of the order.
 
Thankfully, the computer said they had one more in stock.
   
He quickly made his way to the correct section, slid the ladder over to the compartment where the e-reader was held and climbed up.
 
Once he got there he saw…nothing.
 
It looked empty.
 
That shouldn’t be right.
 
The computer had said one more.
 
He took his flashlight out of his pocket and flipped it on.
 
He carefully stepped off the ladder and into the compartment.
 
Slowly, he ducked down and made his way to the back.
 
It wasn’t that far, but due to lack of lighting it was dark.
 
And there in the back corner was his prize.
 
Victory! He thought and grabbed the small box up.

From the other side of the compartment wall Alec could hear men talking and laughing as they unloaded goods to be taken to their proper compartments.
 
He walked to the edge of the compartment where the ladder was and looked at the small box in his hand to make sure there was no damage to it.
 
Without warning, something hit the bottom compartment on the other side.
 
Before Alec realized what was happening, the edge where he was standing bent and collapsed and there was the sound of something big smashing through a wall.

And then everything slowed down.
 
He suddenly realized that he was falling, his body hurtling towards the ground forty feet below. Without thinking, he flipped in mid-air and when he came down… he landed in a crouch, knees bent to absorb the impact, and he was still holding the e-reader, undamaged in his hand.

“What the hell?” he said looking back at the now ruined compartment.
 
How in the hell had he fallen, flipped in the air and landed on his feet without any injury?
 
It was like something out of an action movie.

Suddenly from around the corner a man in a hard hat appeared and rushed Alec asking if he was okay, had he been hit? Where had he been when the compartment came down?
 
Alec said he was fine and then he lied and said he’d just gotten off the ladder and was at the bottom when the compartment collapsed.
 
According to the man, the parking deck was on the other side of where they were standing and one of the drivers put his truck in reverse instead of drive and backed up into the compartments on the other side, smashing through one of the support beams and causing the whole thing to collapse.
 
He clapped Alec on the shoulder and told him how lucky he’d been not to be on the ladder or in the compartment when it had gone down.

Yeah, lucky
he thought to himself.

The next hour was a blur for Alec.
 
HR had heard about what had happened and had called Alec in to their office to make sure he was okay.
 
He assured them he was fine, and they told him that in lieu of what had happened and his near-death experience he could have the rest of the day off with pay.
 
They didn’t have to tell Alec twice.
 
He grabbed his stuff and headed home.

Once Alec closed the door to his apartment and locked it, he was removing his shirt, his shoes and socks and jeans.
 
He needed a quick shower to wash the sweat and grim off from working.

While he was showering he kept thinking about what happened at the warehouse.
 
Had he imagined the fall?
 
Was it just the shock of what happened that made him think he had landed without injury?
 
No.
 
He remembered everything in detail; almost as if everything had slowed down and had all the time in the world to react.

Alec dried himself and replaced the towel.
 
He stood in front of the mirror naked once more and admired himself.
 
His body was definitely changing.
 
He looked down and realized that he was developing abs.
 
He ran his hand over his stomach, feeling the hard muscle underneath.
 
And he definitely had chest hair now, as opposed to the treasure trail he’d had since fifteen.
 

Alec examined his face in the mirror.
 
He’d never been able to grow a beard or even scruff like some men did and could go days without actually having to shave.
 
But now, he would have to shave soon or trim his facial hair or he was going to have a full-on beard.

Did adrenaline and stress affect testosterone in this way?
 
Could the ordeal he went through that night have kicked his hormones into overdrive making his body change?
 
Or was it something in the blood that crazy bitch had given him?
 
He knew there was something in it.
 
Most people didn’t drink blood and then feel like their insides were being scorched by acid, and their muscles shredded.
 
And even so, that wouldn’t explain how he fell forty feet and landed with no injuries.
 
He shrugged his shoulders watching the muscles move under his skin and then turned to the dresser to find clothes.

Earlier in the week Alec had gone shopping for some new clothes.
 
He really wasn’t fashion conscious and didn’t really know what to buy, so he kept it simple and only bought a couple of things.
 
He was surprised to find that instead of the 42-inch waist he had been wearing before, he could now wear a 32-inch waist.
 
Incredible.

He rummaged around in his dresser looking for the cargo pants he had bought and found a dark blue pair.
 
He put them on, still surprised that the smaller sized pants could button without him sucking in his stomach.
 
He went to his closet and found a black V-neck shirt and put it on.
 
He examined himself in the mirror and was shocked to realize he liked the way he looked.
 
He still couldn’t get over the changes.
 
The only issue he had was the shirt was a little big on him and could have been tighter and more form fitting. He just laughed at himself and walked away.