Chapter 72 72
Dominique POV
The tall, skinny man had been posted outside my room all day. I could hear him pacing back and forth nonstop, his footsteps scraping against the floor. Even for me a four-year-old it was irritating.
I didn’t even know where we were. I didn’t know Mum’s phone number to call her either. How was I supposed to escape and get back to her like this? Idiots.
By early afternoon, something had clearly spooked them again, and I really, really didn’t want to be moved. This place was awful, but at least it was a tiny bit cosier than that metal hut.
Only slightly.
The short, fat werewolf came stomping upstairs, nervous and loud, muttering about the men on watch not answering their phones.
Apparently, they checked in with each other every hour. That meant they weren’t from the same pack because if they were, they wouldn’t need phones. They’d have a mind-link.
“I’m starving. Go see if there’s any food downstairs,” the fat man ordered, his stomach clearly making decisions for him.
“I’m guarding the boy. You go,” the tall thin one snapped back. “Besides, this place has been abandoned for years. You’ll be lucky if you find an old packet of peanuts.”
Grumbling, the fat man headed down the stairs, leaving the thin one alone to keep watch outside my door.
Not long after, a scream ripped through the building from downstairs.
For the first time since I’d been taken, real fear curled tight in my chest. If the fat man was screaming, then something had gone very wrong.
The tall thin man burst into my room, slamming the door behind him. His eyes darted around wildly as he searched for something anything to wedge against it.
“Move back!” he barked.
I did what he said, stepping slowly backward until my shoulders pressed against the far wall.
“Stay quiet,” he whispered sharply, lifting a finger to his lips.
He pulled out his phone and dialled a number. When no one answered, he hissed into the voicemail, voice shaking.
“Something’s wrong. Send backup”
He ended the call abruptly as a step creaked on the stairs outside.
His hands started to tremble.
He reached behind him and pulled out the gun he’d always carried at the back of his trousers. He checked the bullets quickly, then aimed it at the door.
I copied Mum without thinking dragging in a deep breath the way she did when she was overwhelmed just as the doorknob began to turn.
The door opened slowly.
At first, the light blinded me. The landing outside was bright daylight bright. Someone had ripped down the thick curtains that had always kept everything dark.
Did whoever this was know I was in here? That I didn’t have my wolf yet?
I’d been kept in shadows for days. Only moved at night. My eyes weren’t used to the light anymore.
Then my vision cleared.
A massive man stepped into the room.
He looked exactly like the werewolves from the comic books I loved huge, powerful, unreal. His body filled the doorway completely.
His hair was blonde not white like Mum’s or Delphine’s, but sandy blonde.
Like mine.
His arms were enormous. Bigger than my head. I didn’t understand how anyone could get that big.
“Don’t come any closer!” the tall thin man squeaked, his voice cracking as he aimed the gun at the newcomer.
“It’s over,” the big man growled, the sound rumbling through the floor.
“Who are you?” the thin man demanded.
“The Alpha King!”
The roar shook the room but it wasn’t the sound that scared me. It was his aura. It pressed down so hard the air felt thick.
The tall thin man panicked.
He swung the gun toward me.
“Don’t come any closer or I’ll shoot him!”
I knew they were stupid.
The Alpha King… I’d heard that name before. Miss Lambert used to tell stories about the Bloodnight pack.
As he stepped further into the room, something clicked.
I knew him.
He was the man who’d come to speak with Mum. The one with the red sports car that looked really fun to drive.
Why was he here?
“I said don’t”
It happened so fast I barely understood it.
One second the thin man was talking.
The next crack.
The Alpha King snapped his neck like it was nothing.
I stared.
I wasn’t sure if I was amazed… or just too shocked to move.
He was fast.
“You didn’t need to kill him,” I said before I could stop myself.
I didn’t mean to be rude. I just didn’t think the man would have shot me. He’d been gentler than the others.
The Alpha King snorted.
“You sound just like your mother.”
Then he stepped toward me and crouched down until we were eye level.