The Alpha's Desire 4 (3 page)

Chapter Four

Shortly after the blur of Nira disappeared up the steps, her body moving beyond the stairwell to the second floor to be hidden from our view, I heard a thud, like bodies colliding. A growl followed shortly after, the hiss of air between teeth so loud it traveled to us, tickling up a chill along my spine. Alex instantly nudged me with his muzzle, proceeded by a toss of his head toward the stairs, letting me know I needed to follow him. We moved quickly, me literally following his tail, as in that I held the fur of it in my grasp so as not to lose him.

When we got to another machine, him again, pushing me with his body until he had me between him and the machine, and I came to an abrupt, albeit forced halt. Now on the opposite side of the room, I followed where he looked, stretching my neck out to see around the machine even with him blocking me in.  Even from this new angle, not having his night vision, all I could see were two shadows moving about at the top of the stairs.

In seconds, though, the two shadows moved quickly out of our line of vision again, the one in human shape, Nira, being drug away by the one in wolf form. My breath caught and held as I listened for what would come next. I remembered the agreement Nira and Alex had made. No matter what, if one of them was taken or hurt, the other would stay with me rather than come to the rescue. I couldn’t even tell him to go, to break his sworn promise, or someone would hear us. I mean, obviously, they knew we were there, but what was the point? He wouldn’t go anyway.

At this point, it wasn’t about me. I had to ignore my instincts for the greater good, to save others. I’d been reminding myself of that need all night. Me going off half-cocked on my own instincts, my own needs, would only serve to endanger us all. I had made a pact with myself that I would only follow, only obey their orders. They had the experience, knew far better than I. Still, I trembled against the cool metal, my shiver having nothing to do with temperature, as the massive fur ball on my other side felt a hundred degrees or more. I took a deep breath, his scent bringing me a miniscule amount of comfort.

From upstairs came a hiss and then a growl. This at least told me that both of them were still alive, more specifically Nira. These sounds continued, almost as if in a rhythm, making me think the fight to be at least evenly matched. A small squeal-ish groan escaped me, but no one seemed to notice, though the sound gave me a jolt. I wondered where the back-up crew of ours was. At first sign of trouble, they were supposed to come. That had been the deal. Did they not see this as trouble? Of course, they would know Nira’s skills better than I. Maybe they thought her fairly matched and would come when they deemed her in trouble. 

I tried to assure myself that the thumps on the floor above us had to be worse than they sounded down here underneath them. This building being older, the wear and tear of time on the thin floors, all the explanations came. It took me a minute to grasp onto the fact that their combined beyond-human strength would go a long way to explaining the thumps and bumps that continued to unsettle me, making me even jumpier. I had two fistfuls of fur, as if holding on was all that was holding me up.

“Shit,” came with a female grunt, followed by the most intense hiss so far. “You fucking bastard.”

In answer to this, all I heard was a growl, which was mimicked by a faint but similar sound from Alex. I was sure it was taking everything in him not to help. I could feel his tension against me in the way his muscles bunched more and more. I understood the need to want to help – it was choking me – but it had to be worse for a being that knew he actually could. All I could do was probably blow them both across the room. There was no aim with these hands yet.

Suddenly, the profound stupidity of my insistence to be here hit me. I was already holding them back, preventing this wolf from saving the woman who had saved me. Beyond that, as the hisses and growls along with expletives continued on, it hit me that in that instance, I’d have been killed in an instant. I was no match for any of them. Yes, I had my magic, and I could probably push them back, maybe even stun or daze them like I had the guy in the black suit, but had I been on my own, could I have really managed to outrun him, to continue to use this power to hold an attacker back? Did it run out at some point? Those were all unknowns.

Thankfully, the vampires in the other groups outside heard the ruckus, deemed it dangerous, or decided Nora needed help, and went by us in a blur to the stairs. Next thing that we heard was a crack, like that of bones, followed by a yelp that came out high-pitched, but soon died off. As Nira, followed by two other vampires, walked down the stairs this time, I couldn’t shake off the wave of sickness that the sound of an injured wolf conjured up in me. I had to get past it quickly, though. I let the hot, fiery anger move back in, turning to thoughts of my Lex, and the fact that that wolf had probably played a part in hurting him.

When Nira got closer, I could see the claw marks across her face, open with skin hanging. They were deep, to the bone, making me gag, though I tried to swallow over it, not to let them know how horrible her face looked. Yet, even as I blinked against the darkness in a pathetic attempt to see better, the slices in her skin began to heal. A few more Royal werewolves had come into the space after the vampires, so I stood outside the group, but still pushed against the machine. A half a dozen paranormal warriors had gathered here, who were all thankfully on my side of this fight.

With only looks at each other, as if wolves and vamps spoke some secret language, they moved to the stairs as one unit. Although I didn’t need to be told, Alex looked back at me to make sure I was following. So, without a word, like the last battle, the first of the evening, had never happened, the group forged ahead. Me, shaking in my boots, literally and figuratively, followed behind with the realization that this was the first time I’d probably knowingly walked into danger. Such a moment can’t be described, and I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy; instead, I walked toward them waiting to see what else they had to dish out. Bizarre. There’s a word.

Chapter Five

Not a big fan of heights, moving slowly up the see-through stairs was a real blast, fraying my last nerve. As if it wasn’t bad enough that through the thin strips of metal I could see straight down to the hard floor, where I could fall to my death, the steps creaked and moaned with each step, from the group of us using them all at once. I kept waiting for the next attack of a true werewolf, given the noise we couldn’t help but make.

In my stressed out mind, I saw a large amount of fur leap at us, throwing me over the rail I held onto with all of my might. The size of Alex, who walked behind me, his fur being pushed into him by the rails, only served to remind me what little effort it would take one of these wolves to take me out. All I had on my side was the fact that they wanted to use me, so they wouldn’t intend to hurt me. Yet, given a scuffle with me sandwiched in the middle of my crew, accidents could happen.

The size of Alex also made me wonder how much weight these little pieces of metal had been built to hold. I waited for the sounds of nails or something popping before we started to swing and fall. Sadly, each thought I had as I climbed ended in my body hitting that ground below, every bone in my body shattered.

I glanced at my hand. Even in the dark, the light of the moon coming through the dirty windows illuminating my pale skin, I could see the glow of my white knuckled grip. Okay, maybe that was my imagination on overdrive, but as confirmation, my fingers ached from holding on so tightly. I had to wonder if the power boiling under the surface of my skin could be any help to me if fell. Could I push out the power to cushion the blow of my body against the ground, now many, many feet below me?

Hitting the second floor, getting to stand on a solid surface I couldn’t see through for a minute, I braced for another attack. They’d thought it better to revise the plan, I guessed, the vampires not going ahead this time. Guessed we were showing as a wall to get through. I hadn’t been able to hear the vampire whispers as they’d come back for us. All I could do was follow. Nira still stood in front of me, along with two other vampires. Alex behind me, as I’d said, was flanked by two other werewolves. This time, an attack would have to take on a group, with me in the middle.

I could see by the way they all carried themselves that they were braced for another attack. I could only compare our plight to Dante walking through the circles of hell. Yet, I expected monsters on every floor. As we inched further into the space, we were met with nothing but silence. Up here, the large room, the entire floor open, was basically empty save for some broken up work areas along the walls. Paper debris again littered the floor, more a powdery dust than full or even partial sheets. With the moonlight and absence of heavy machinery to cast shadows, it was easier to see here. The glow from the partial moon, even through the sooty windows, helped. Thank goodness it was a clear night. I couldn’t imagine doing this in, say, a thunderstorm with nothing but the occasional lightning to guide us.

What had been left behind on these floors, a combination of trash covered in paper dust or just regular old dust, looked like snow under the dim moonlight in some spots where it shined through a completely broken-out window. Empty shelves added to the vacant, lifeless, abandoned ambiance of the place. I’d always enjoyed the photographs of old abandoned buildings that people shared on the internet, but standing in such a place didn’t have the same appeal. Could have been the bounty on my head, or on the heads of the many I was with, but still, in this light, it just looked pathetic, broken, and worst, forgotten, left to wither away.

I kept my eyes away from the wolf body that laid in a heap. He’d turned back to his human form now. His neck had to be broken, judging by the odd angle his head rested at, fully tilted to his shoulder. Nira or one of the other vampires had done that. At least I knew they could hold their own against one of them. Thing was, he had friends. His pack was somewhere else in this building lying in wait for us, probably watching our every move right this very moment.

As we scooted as a unit, a jagged piece of wood that hung off the front of one of the cabinets got awful close to my hip. No one had noticed it, I’m sure, but it served to threaten me with impalement. I only breathed a silent sigh of relief when Nira looked back at us and gave the all clear look that said we were moving on to see what possible torments the next floor might hold.

Back to those dreaded stairs, at this new height, I had to look ahead, basically at vampire legs moving up ahead of me. I feared that, if I looked down, I would stop and curl into a fetal position, clutching at the steps for dear life. I already grew dizzy just thinking about how high we were now. I couldn’t imagine working here when the factory was in full swing, having to navigate these stairs with other co-workers on a daily basis.

I used that thought, though, to sooth myself. The steps had been here all this time. They had held then and would continue to now. By the time my ravaged mind hit upon the idea that being unused, weathered, could have damaged them in the meantime, we had made it to the third floor. The crunch of broken glass under the vampires in the lead’s feet made us all stop short.

Most of the windows were broken out here, like someone had done it on purpose. Nothing save a broken and toppled desk remained, it along with a few chairs. The destruction was from more than just time. I found it odd they would choose the third floor and not the others. By the looks of the walls, all spray painted with colorful words, meanings, and actual hues, it appeared some gang had used this floor as a meeting place at one point.

I guessed all the broken glass accounted for why the homeless chose not to sleep up here. A slight wind howled through the few pieces of jagged edged glass left in the windows, creating more of a ghostly moan than anything. My shivering got worse. Nira turned and motioned her hand in a wave toward herself, for us to get into a huddle. She put her arm around me, drawing me in close to her again. All the others stepped aside to let Alex move in against my other side. Good thing I wasn’t claustrophobic, too.

Actually, their consistent proximity, born of concern, touched me, brought me whatever slivers of comfort I had keeping me sane, the closer we got to Lex and whatever danger was protecting him. I looked to Nira, returning the tight, forced smile she offered. There was barely a mark left on her face from her battle with the wolf.

“So, three floors and only one wolf so far,” Nira whispered. “That means probably the rest of their dozen are somewhere on the top floor, standing between Lex and us. I’m sure the one that wears the black suits, that rarely changes form, is up there, as well. We are going to need to move in fast and just take them out. I don’t see any other option at this point. They’ve heard us. They’ve chosen to wait and ambush us there. We have to walk into the trap and just take them on. It gives them a bit of an upper hand, but at least we go in knowing what to be prepared for.”

“Dare I mention that there are no humans with guns here?” the vampire guy beside Nira added. “I fear that means they’ve gotten cocky, feeling they need no one other than their pack to win. I’m sure their sorcerer has something to do with their newfound confidence. We don’t really know what we are walking into this time, actually. The magic they have at their disposal creates a huge amount of unknowns. All bets of what we once knew are off. Hate to be a downer, but it is true.”

“It is true. And, truth can save. We just barrel in and fight. What else do we have? Maybe they will be too cocky to use magic in the actual fights, too. Regardless, protection of Christina comes first,” Nira said with a nod, acknowledging all the other vamp had said as she moved on. “We promised to get her to the Royals, and we will. We can’t let her fall into their hands, whatever the cost. If there is only one of us left standing, you better hightail your ass out of the building with her and flee to safety. Got it?”

Fear skittered down my back at her words as vampires agreed and wolfs snorted to acknowledge the same. The grim reality of horrible possibilities played out in my mind. As I tried to calm, and empty my mind of needless worry, as soon enough we’d be in the thick of it, I sensed Lex. This time was different, though. Rather than just seeing him in my mind, I swore I could feel him under my skin. His energy, what there was of it as weak as he was, mixed with my own, fluttered like a tickle under my skin. My nerve endings on full alert, his pain raced through me, scratching over that tickle, making it hard to catch my breath as I looked down, expecting to see blood somehow.

I quaked, from head to toe, like a small seizure, making everyone in our circle look my way. My hand to my chest, I attempted to hold it together as my heart thumped. Feeling him that way, I so desperately needed to see him. I knew I needed to follow this group of warriors into this battle to do whatever they said, as my best chance of ever seeing him again. My own desperate brain could not be trusted. He was too important.

“I’m going to fall back, stay with Christina,” Nira announced, getting her nods of agreement from the other two vampires before she looked me up and down, gave me another squeeze, and turned me in the direction of those hellish stairs again.