Page 12 of Beginnings

Owen waited outside of the door, more to get his orders once I was done than to protect either Miss X or me. I nodded my thanks at my friend and closed the door.

An empty chair sat opposite Miss X. I folded my big body down into it and rested my hands on the large table that separated us. A tight smile stretched those ruby lips as she tapped on her earpiece.

All the way through this process, communication with her boss wasn’t something I was party to. Even with my acute hearing the frequency was too low. Irritation simmered in my chest, but I kept my face utterly blank.

“Yes, sir, I understand,” she said a moment later.

The hair on the back of my neck tickled. Her words were flat. Something was off. She’d always sounded crisp and coldly professional, but never so...unemotional.

“The Overseer would like to offer you the job.”

I nodded, throwing out my wolf senses to listen for anything unusual. Nothing grabbed my attention. Except she gulped, and there was a slight sheen of sweat on her upper lip. My eyes narrowed on her throat. My wolf growled and intensified my senses. “So what happens now?” I asked in a measured voice, watching her and the door closely. Something was wrong, but I couldn’t pinpoint what.

A pulse of energy, followed by a shockwave of air hit me from behind. To stop myself pitching forward onto my chest, I grabbed the table top. My chair was pushed right up against the table which was slowly being driven across the floor. Slamming my weight backwards against the force of the pulsation, I forced my body to straighten and tried to turn my head to see what the fuck was behind me. I felt a sudden sting in the side of my neck. As an alpha wolf shifter, and potentialPrime, my reactions and strength were beyond most shifters, let alone any human, but it didn’t matter. Whatever I’d been hit with rendered me instantly immobile. I could move my eyes, but not my body. Hell, I couldn’t even blink.

Hard, powerful fingers grabbed my head and turned me back to face Miss X. I watched her stand and walk around the table, her heels clicking on the tiled floor. I sat, helpless inside the frozen biomechanical suit of my human body with my wolf thrashing to get out. She reached down and pulled my weapon from the holster on my hip.

“What happens now, Mr Maxwell is this…” she murmured in my ear, her lips brushing my skin.

My heart thrashed against my ribs while I watched her pluck my grip from the table, lift my arm, curl my hand around the weapon and place my finger on the trigger.

The cameras! Surely someone would see what was happening in here. Then I remembered and my stomach dropped. The lights were red. On the request of Miss X and her boss, the cameras had been switched off all week during these interviews. Whoever this Overseer was, they had a shit load of power.

I growled and yanked on my wolf. He snarled and fought to break free, tearing at me from the inside. It was impossible for him to pull free with my body poisoned and totally out of my control.

Miss X strode back to her original position and stared at me before she looked at whoever was behind me. I had no idea how they had got in this room, but this entire situation was beyond comprehension. My palms were slick with sweat, my heart pounding. I hated being out of control like this! Just like my flashback earlier came on its own, the dark, early memories of my childhood were coming through, where I’d been out of control, until I’d run. That’s right, son. Take the pain. It will make you into a real man; a leader… like me…. I shoved that dreaded voice back behind the wall in the deepest, darkest part of my mind, and fought the drug in my system.

A black gloved hand reached forward and curled around mine. It aimed the weapon. I bellowed and thrashed in the prison of my body. Breath rapidly hissed in and out of my nostrils.

Miss X stared at me with cold eyes. Her whole body went lax and her shoulders curled inwards. She lifted her chin and nodded at the person behind me.

And the person holding my hand pulled the trigger.

Miss X’s head shot back, a hole appearing in her forehead, the back of her skull exploding out across the wall behind her.

“You’ll get your orders soon,” whispered a voice in my ear.

Another needle stung my neck and a moment later my limbs released. “No!” I bellowed. Her body hit the ground, but I was already moving, spinning and training that weapon on whoever was behind me. Nothing! There was no one there.

The door burst open and Owen lunged through, his weapon trained on my chest.

His gaze flicked to the remains of Miss X. “What the fuck, Captain!?”

Jesus. It was a mess. Bone and brain matter painted the wall. I had no idea what had just happened. She’d just offered me a fucking job for chistsakes! Now she was dead and I had killed her?!

“Captain, drop your weapon! Down on your knees. Right now.” Owen’s order was calm, but firm. I did what he said and dropped to my knees. His eyes narrowed on me. I locked my hands behind my head. Owen was my friend, but first and foremost, he was an agent. He was a trained killer, and he would pull the trigger without a moment’s hesitation.

Keeping his weapon trained on me, he circled behind, clicked a handcuff around one wrist and yanked my hand down behind my back.

I hissed at the burn from the silver.

“Both hands. You know the procedure.”

I complied and brought my other hand down. There was no point fighting. Even if I overpowered Owen, the building would be on lock down. If I ran, I’d be shot on sight or ripped to pieces by an army of shifters.

“What the hell happened in here, Connor? Jesus, man, I hope it was fucking worth it.” He cuffed both of my hands behind my back.

“I have no fucking idea what just happened, man.” And that was the truth. There was no explanation. In a state of shock, I waited for the inevitable rush of agents as Owen stood at my back, his weapon trained at my head. Miss X’s glassy dead eyes stared at me. I swallowed. Blood and gore was nothing new, but that bullet hole in her forehead appeared obscene on her otherwise flawless face with its perfectly painted ruby red lips. I didn’t want to look at her brain matter splattered over the wall, so I closed my eyes, centering on my wolf. My mind delved into his spirit and took solace in his strength. He couldn’t rise to the fore, the silver stopped him, instead he centered his anger and memorised everything that had just happened. So much for being prepared for this final interview. Not in a million life times could I have anticipated what had just occurred.

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