Page 11 of Alpha Fate
“We gotta move. Now! Wake up, dammit!” I stoop to haul her up, preparing to swing her over my shoulder, when footsteps ring out.
“What’s taking you assholes so long?” It’s the alpha from before, probably calling out to the party I just wiped out. The footsteps pause, but another pair joins in. And then another. There’s a group coming down.
Fuck, fuck, fuck!
Eyes darting around the small area, my worst fears are confirmed. There seems to be no other way out than the hall they’re coming down. I’d suspected it from the start but hoped that I’d be able to power my way out, taking her with me. Having her unconscious is not going to help things.
“Hey!” The word is curt, alarmed. “I smell blood,” the alpha barks.
The female is sagging against me, her knees buckling as I try to hold her up while I look for a way to tear the collar from her throat. The only way I’m going to get out of here is to fight a path through them. And for that, I need my wolf.
“Jesus,” I mutter, staring into her face. She’s so beautiful. And so damned helpless. Jagger is going to have my balls if I leave her behind. But I’m going to be less than useless if they kill me down here. “I’m so sorry,” I murmur, carefully lowering her to the floor. I crouch beside her, settling her onto her side the way she’d been sleeping when I reached her. “I’ll save you, sunshine,” I whisper. “Don’t give up hope. I swear I’ll get you away from here.”
Backing away from her, I shut the door to her cell, lock it, and drop to all fours as I face the hallway. When the big alpha and his males burst through the doorway, they’re facing me in my most powerful form. His eyes flicker as he takes me in, weighing me up. I know what he’s seeing: a blizzard-white pelt on a beast the size of a pony; I’m bigger than most shifters. But my greatest advantage isn’t my size. It’s my sheer aggression. And I know how to use it.
My lips curl away from my fangs, slavering as I snarl at them. The sound rattles through the air. Nobody gets much time to hear it. My muscles coil and tense as I launch myself down the narrow hallway, a lethal blur of fur and gaping jaws.
The rogues scatter before me, but not fast enough. I slam into the biggest male first, barreling into his chest and bowling him over. We go down in a snarling tangle of limbs, his teeth snapping inches from my muzzle as I tear into him with unrestrained fury. He’s trying to find his wolf and almost succeeding, half-shifted but still vulnerable.
Blood sprays, splattering the concrete walls in a gruesome display of violence. The rogue thrashes beneath me, desperately trying to throw me off, but I cling on with vice-like jaws clamped around his throat. With a savage wrench of my head, I rip out a chunk of flesh and artery. Hot blood gushes into my mouth as the wolfman gasps, chokes, and goes limp.
I leap off the body, spinning to face the remaining males. Hackles raised, and lips peeled back from dripping fangs, I let loose a bone-chilling snarl. The shifters back away warily; their eyes are wide with uncertainty.
One of them makes the mistake of glancing down the hall. I seize the opportunity and lunge again, this time catching the male by the arm. He howls in agony as I clamp down and shred muscle and sinew. I release him only to snap at the next one, grazing his ribs and spraying more blood across the walls.
The rogues turn tail and run, their retreat punctuated by shouts and curses. “Fuck this! Let’s get out of here!”
I give chase but quickly realize I won’t catch them in these twisting corridors. The most important thing is getting back to Jagger. Sierra’s life depends on it. If only I could take her with me now, but there’s just no way. I’m going to have to fight my way out of this damn place. Even if I could carry her somehow, she’d be in too much danger in her condition.
With a frustrated huff, I lope down the hall and then find my way through the corridors until I reach a heavy metal door leading outside. A lone male stands guard, gaping as I approach, drenched in blood. He fumbles for his radio.
“Shit, he’s out this side. We got a situa—”
He doesn’t get to finish the sentence before I barrel into him, slamming him into the wall with bone-crushing force. The guard crumples to the floor, out cold. I bound over him and smash the door open, flooding the corridor with sunlight.
I’ve made it outside, but I’m not free yet. Hurtling across the surrounding factory grounds I’d scoped out when I first got into Leadmills, I scan around for the best route through the perimeter fence. The entire area is encircled by chain link and barbed wire.
A warning shot pings off the ground near me. I glance back to see shifters swarming from the buildings, shouting and taking aim. No time to be choosy about my exit. Instinctively, I turn in the direction of an exit gate I’d seen when I did my first reconnaissance of the compound. I’m halfway there when I’m stopped by a towering male.
We eye each other for a second. My muscles bunch, preparing to launch at him to fend off an attack. It doesn’t come. There’s a flicker in narrowed eyes as he locks them with mine. A snarl rattles up my throat, but there’s no fear from him. I sense…something else. When he steps aside and gestures toward a narrow alley, confusion rises in me.
“That way, wolf.” His voice rumbles. “They won’t look for you there. I’ll divert them.”
What? What the actual fuck?
I hesitate, not ready to trust him. It has to be a trap. But there are shouts from behind me and more coming from the gate I’d been heading to, so my options are limited. Spinning on my heel, I bolt down the path the big male had indicated. There’s silence behind me as I shoot down the darkened alley. I see a stretch of scalable fenceline beyond the end of it.
I make a beeline for the closest section of the fence and hurdle it in one smooth leap. I keep waiting for an attack, but it seems that my unexpected ally has held them off as promised. Not for long, though. More bullets pepper the ground as I tear into the trees beyond the perimeter. I weave through them, then to the rocky outcrops beyond them. The shouts behind me grow distant and then fade to nothing, allowing me to breathe a little easier again. I’m not free and clear yet.
The scenery begins to change again, rocks making way for wasteland transected by the occasional motorway. My feet pound the earth as I race through the barren landscape, retracing the steps that had brought me here not long ago. I’m remembering how brazenly I volunteered for the damn solo mission.
Won’t make that mistake again. Next time, I’ll bring backup. And we’ll raze that place to the ground.
The rogue presence is becoming a real problem. Ever since Greyson started losing the plot, they’ve grown bolder in their defiance and their territory grabs. Jagger is still settling into leadership; they’ll likely see him as weak.
They’ll learn differently soon enough. Once Jagger knows they have his mate locked up as a prisoner, he’ll rain hellfire down on them. And I’ll be at the head of the charge.
Hours pass, but I continue my ground-covering lope until the landscape grows increasingly familiar. I’m nearing home. Picking up speed, I make for the old steel mill that serves as our headquarters and barracks for our pack.