Page 166 of Lost
We’re coming, baby. Fight for me,Tyde whispers through the bond.
Swallowing back a panicked sob, I force myself to find any kind of zen. Instead, I find myself grasping at a tidal wave of anger coming from Caleb and Lars through the bond as I am dragged along.
My fingers wrap around the hilt of the blade. The sheath was left behind on the ground of the van. I’ll be lucky if my pack lets me leave the car lot with anything other than something that’s bulletproof.
I don’t think I’d whisper even a peep in outrage. The world is just too dangerous.
“What if I was an alpha? Would you treat me the same then?” I ask, trying to yank my arm away to no avail. “Yes,” Pack a Day says. “They make great fuck toys or soldiers, chickie. Stop with the questions and fucking walk before I have to damage the merchandise.”
“Oye, what are you doing? Leave her be!” a voice yells out.
The beta dragging me along lifts his gun, and that’s when I pounce. I refuse to let some Good Samaritan get hurt for me, even if I’m wondering why the fuck he’s out here at this hour.
Pack a Day beta is a little shorter than me, though he’s built broad enough that he can easily drag me. Shoving the knife into his underarm, I drop my weight down to help me do the work when he turns the gun on me.
When in doubt, use gravity. His skin bursts open with the seams of his coat, and I have a wildly inappropriate thought about how terribly made it is. The knife gets stuck in his side on its journey down, and my ass hits the ground as I scramble away enough that he can’t grab me.
“You bitch!” he roars.
“No…that’s you,” I rasp. My breaths are coming faster, but I can’t pass out yet. Kicking my foot up, I manage to get his weapon away from him as he falls to his knees in pain.
Hopefully he’ll lose consciousness from the blood loss soon.
The gun somehow falls into my hands, and I watch as the other beta opens fire on whoever is coming down the road and myself.
Point and shoot, Little Warrior. Even if you miss by a mile. It’ll hopefully make him leave,Lars says. If he’s speaking to me through the bond, then that means they’re getting closer. Brushing away tears, I wrap my hands around the gun and lift it in the direction of the beta currently firing.
My finger pulls the trigger, surprising Ugly Lip. Pack a Day tries to grab me, and I scream, accidentally shooting him as my arms swing back in his direction. Ugly Lip makes a run for it, while I finish pumping Pack a Day full of bullets.
“I think he’s dead,” says an accented voice.
I’m incredibly jumpy, but I drop the gun rather than brandish it at him, scooting away from the man speaking to me on my ass.
I recognize the voice finally as I gaze up at him, and he hisses at me in worry.
“What happened, Nova?” Christian asks me. “Why are you out so late?”
“Adira went into labor,” I explain, allowing him to help me up. “When I drove down Winston, there was a road block that wouldn’t allow me past. I think these assholes put it up so they could pick up unsuspecting people.”
“They’re getting bolder every day,” he says distastefully, spitting on the man I killed.
I’m not allowing myself to think about that right now. It’s going into a little box for later.
A vehicle comes roaring down the road along with some more people on foot. I suppose that Christian really did run here when he heard the gunshots.
“Nova!” Jed yells, jumping out of the car to jog over here. “Are you hurt?”
“N…no,” I stutter, beginning to shiver with shock. My eyes look down to my hands, and I see that they’re covered in blood from the man on the ground.
“Hey, hey. Absolutely not. Look at me,” he says, snapping in my face to force me to look up at him. “You did what you had to, and your job is to stay alive when you drive home. Speaking of, we shouldn’t have let you drive home. Is that a nail rack in the goddamn road?”
I’m getting whiplash from the changes in conversation, but I nod at the last question.
“They ambushed me,” I explain. “They didn’t seem to care what my designation was and they were definitely not from Minneapolis.”
“Dammit,” Jed sighs, turning as my pack comes roaring around the corner. “The auctions have long been involved in selling alphas for a variety of reasons. Military experiments are one of them.”
The other people patrolling with Christian join him, and he waves at me before continuing on to patrol other areas.
