Page 64 of Her Cruel Alpha

“Katie, take a deep breath in. In through your nose and out through your mouth.”

“I..”

“Katie, do what I say.” I moved towards the front door and grabbed my keys. “Breathe slowly. Calm down and tell me what’s wrong. Where are you even? I didn’t even realize you weren’t home.”

“I I…I went to the lab.”

I scowled. She was supposed to stay home and relax, so why did she go to the lab?

“Okay, what’s going on? Did something happen?”

“I came to the lab, and no one was around. I thought it was odd…”

That was concerning, considering how many labs they had in the basement, and she told me they always had at least a pair of people down there in case of an emergency. The hair on my body rose, and I opened the door and stepped outside.

“There is no one there?”

“No, I found them….the darkness got out. It…it got free from the container I had it in.”

I froze. Hadn’t she said that wasn’t possible? Didn’t she say that wasn’t going to happen? “How is that possible?”

“I don’t know. I..I just…I went into my lab, and it came at me.”

My eyes widened, and the word settled deep in my gut. “Are you hurt!? Did it hurt you?”

“No, I’m fine. I’m not hurt. But I found a few people down here, and they were all unconscious. I had to call the police and the Council because the darkness is on the loose.”

We knew that. She only had a small part of it in her lab, while the rest came and went wherever it seemed to want to go. We knew that it was controlled by a person, so it could be anywhere. So many questions formed.

She started to cry again. “I thought they were all dead. I came down here and I thought everyone had died. I thought I killed them all.”

“Breathe, Katie.” I tried to soften my words imagining she was freaking out. I’m sure she was terrified and had no one around her to lean on. I would have panicked, too if I ran across a bunch of people unconscious.

“I’ll be there in a few minutes,” I said, hurrying down the steps. “Just breathe until I get there. I’m sure everything is going to be okay.”

“No! That’s why I’m calling! I think it’s coming for you. You need to stay inside and keep an eye out.”

I paused as she said those words. I didn’t understand why she would think that. It didn’t make any sense. But then again, hardly any of this made sense to me.

“I don’t think so,” I said.

“Henrik, I mean it. I think that it’s coming for you. You need to stay inside. Please. I don’t want you getting hurt again. You’re just starting to get back on your feet.”

“I’m not going to hide,” I grumbled as I unlocked my car. I turned the key, but suddenly everything disappeared.

“Katie?” I said her name, but heard nothing in response. I panicked and realized I wasn’t near my car. I was surrounded by darkness. There was nothing around me.

“Katie!” I screamed her name, but the words didn’t come out. It was like I was locked somewhere far away from my body.

I did a circle, looking around, finding nothing but darkness. Not a hint of light to run towards. I swallowed, feeling panic starting to set in. I could feel my heart racing, and I waved my hands around trying to feel for something that wasn’t even there.

And then I felt anger surrounding me. Anger and hatred. I felt it grab at my skin, pulling at my clothes. It was like someone was sinking their claws into my skin, and pure pain erupted around my entire body.

“They had this coming.”

“They did this.”

“All this suffering.”

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