56|Security Room

56|Security Room
~Serena~

“Do you need a reminder?” Declan murmured when I just kept staring at him like a deranged woman.

“No!” I choked and pushed him away, composing myself. “This is not the time for your games, Declan.” I reminded him, “and we didn’t have a deal!” before he could produce a retort, I spun on my heels and rushed towards the apartment.

Declan was hot on my heels, chasing me as I sneaked inside our target building. The apartment lobby was empty, so I headed towards the staircase. He caught up, grabbed my wrist, and trapped me on the wall with his arms on each side of me.

“What-” Everything happened so fast. One moment, I was staring into his eyes, ready to belch out my annoyance, and the next moment, he was kissing me hotly.

His lips were softer than it was in his oblivion. Back there, it was our astral being that shared that kiss, and I was right. In the real world, his kisses were a thousand times stronger.

I melted in his touch like butter tossed under the sun. Declan was ready to gather all the melted parts of me, securing a hand on the back of my head as he rammed me against the wall, pressing his solid body into mine.

My feet staggered on the uneven staircase. I would have fallen down if not for Declan keeping me upright. His lips were insistent, and his body was solid and warm.

I moaned into his mouth. It made him happy. He groaned, biting on my lower one as he pulled away, resting his forehead on mine.

“You remember now?” he breathed, his eyes glazed over, which I’m sure mirrors mine.

I bit my lower lip to hide my smile and said. “No.”

Declan chuckled. Then he claimed my lips again. This time, his kisses were slow, lazy strokes, as if he were savoring each second that our lips and bodies were aligned, igniting the flames of desire inside me, setting my entire body on flames.

It didn’t take long for me to surrender to his kisses. This kiss would hunt me in my sleep, but fuck it, I had been fighting and surviving alone in this life since I left Embercrest, and this was the first taste of happiness that I had felt.

‘Just this once,’ I swayed myself as I threw my arms around his neck, clinging to him like a Quala on a tree.

Declan hummed, circling a hand around my waist and pulling me away from the wall towards his body. I didn’t fight it. I let my body do what it had desired since I found out we were mates. It was a flurry of nipping and moaning, and for the first time, I felt the melody of our bond soothing my weary heart and mind. It was a messy kiss, but my heart and wolf were at peace.

‘I’m in position,’ Spade’s voice rang through the mind link. It brought me back to the mission at hand and to the fact that I still did not want to be marked by Declan.

My response to his lips’ insistence slowed. Declan sensed I was drawing back, and he released me with a sigh. His hold on me tightened. He wasn’t ready to release. I moved back, and Declan let me go unwillingly. 

“Don’t,” I murmured. 

“How long are you going to fight this? We only have less than a week to the next full moon, Serena,” he laid out the facts before me. “You shouldn’t have pulled me out from the oblivion if you didn’t intend to complete the bond,” he murmured those words out of concern and not out of anger.

“You should have been free already to be marked by another shifter,” he added.

That silenced me. What was I thinking? My hatred for Declan was still here, but I don’t want to lose him just yet.

Stupid mate bond was messing with my head.

“I… I need more reason…” I whispered.

“Reason to what?” he pleaded. “To hate me? To be with me.”

I pinched my eyes shut. His questions were making my head hurt. “I don’t know, Declan. Can we just finish the mission first? I need time to think.”

He sighed. “Here or in the oblivion, my decision stays firm. I would give up my life for you.”

His sincerity spiralled through our connection. I nodded at him just to get this conversation over with, but in all honesty, his words were strumming my heartstrings, making me soft for him.

We continued with the plan and managed to get inside Dream Plaza undetected. I instantly knew there was something wrong with this building when I saw no CCTV camera installed in the hallways.

I relayed this information to Spade as Declan, and I kept walking down the top floor, investigating.

“What are we looking for?” Declan asked.

“Something out of the ordinary,” I said. “If this were really Alister Kaine, he would know how to disguise his work as if it were something ordinary.”

“Does that count as out of the ordinary?” In the rows of rooms on the top floor, there was one door in the middle of the hallway with the label Security Room in bold capital letters. “Security rooms should be on the ground floor along with all the offices, right?”

I nodded at Declan. “Stay alert. They know we are shifters.”

His eyes narrowed to slits as he nodded. He let me take the lead. I twisted the door open. It’s locked, but I used a sliver of my strength and pulled the doorknob, shrugging my shoulder at Declan. I was ready for anyone to come at us the moment this door was opened, but no one came for us.

Maybe we got into the wrong room, but once we were inside, I was pulled back into the lab five years ago.

There were five shelves inside the room housing clear mason jars with animals and human body parts. I’ve seen a lot of cruel things in this world, but that doesn’t make this easy. This was Alister’s signature, and when we walked further inside the room, I saw blood bags inside the fridge with a crystal door; The blood bags' labels were the dead girls' names.