Page 108 of The Alpha's Fallen Spell
I move closer, keeping to the shadows.
“—had enough time,” a man’s voice is saying. “Months to get close to her, months to gather intelligence. What do you have to show for it?”
“She’s not what you think she is.” Alex’s voice, strained and defensive. “She’s good. She cares about people. She gave me a home when I had nothing.”
My blood goes cold. Intelligence? Months to get close to…me?
“Sentimental,” the man scoffs. “That’s exactly what makes you unreliable. You were supposed to collect information, not develop feelings.”
“I won’t let you take her,” Alex says, and there’s steel in his young voice. “I don’t care what the organization wants. She doesn’t deserve this.”
The sound of flesh hitting flesh echoes through the alley. Alex cries out, and I hear him stumble.
“You’ll do as you’re told,” the man snarls. “Or you’ll be replaced. Permanently.”
Rage floods through me, hot and immediate. Alex—the boy I’ve sheltered, fed, cared for—has been spying on me. But he’s also trying to protect me now, and he’s taking a beating for it.
I don’t think. I just move.
The man has his back to me. He’s standing over Alex, who is clutching his jaw. I grab the nearest weapon—a loose brick from the crumbling wall—and bring it down on the back of the man’s skull.
He drops like a stone.
“Alex!” I’m beside the boy in an instant, helping him to his feet. His lip is split, already swelling, and there’s a bruise forming on his cheek.
“Fiona,” he gasps, shock and shame warring in his eyes. “I can explain—”
“Later,” I say firmly, hauling him toward the café’s back entrance. “We need to get inside and lock down.”
The man on the ground is groaning, starting to stir. We don’t have much time.
I usher Alex inside and immediately throw the deadbolt on the back door. Then, I rush to check the front entrance. A quick glance around the café confirms that all our customers have left. My hands are shaking as I turn the lock and flip the sign to “Closed.”
“Olivia!” I call out. “You and Dylan need to get in the office. Now!”
“Dylan already left, remember?” she says, looking up from the register with concern. “What’s wrong? What happened to Alex?”
“There’s someone outside who means us harm,” I say quickly, moving to the windows to pull down the blinds. “We need to get somewhere safe and call the police.”
But even as I say it, I know the police won’t be able to help. This has to be the organization Erik warned me about, the one that wants to use me as leverage.
“Come on,” I say to both of them. “My office has a reinforced door and no windows. We can barricade ourselves in there.”
Alex moves immediately, understanding the urgency. But Olivia remains by the register, perfectly calm.
Too calm.
“Olivia,” I say slowly, dread creeping up my spine like ice water. “Come on. We need to move.”
She looks at me for a long moment, and I see something in her eyes I’ve never noticed before. Something cold and calculating that makes my stomach drop.
“I’m sorry, Fiona,” she says quietly. Then, she walks to the front door and unlocks it.
The man from the alley enters, now conscious and furious. Blood trickles down the side of his neck from the back of his head where I hit him.
“No,” I breathe, backing away from both of them. “Olivia, what are you doing?”
“What I was paid to do,” she says, not meeting my eyes. “What I’ve been doing for months.”
