Page 60 of The Rabbit's Foot
The protectiveness comforted Alp, as Mal rubbed his face along Alp’s fur. When he seemed satisfied that Alp was okay, only then did he put him back down. Throughout the corridors, the screams, the gunshots, and the horrific sounds of people being slaughtered continued, but Mal ignored it, instead directing his attention to Alp.
Alp’s nose twitched as a familiar scent washed over him. Blood, urine, death. After six years of terror, Alp knew it as well as he knew his own. Hyde was nearby. Alp reeled. In truth, he’d thought he’d never have to face Hyde. Someone, somewhere should have already come across him and taken him out. But Hyde knew the complex inside and out, and probably had a dozen scenarios if trouble should ever arise. As much as he hated it, Alp had to admit, Hyde wasn’t stupid.
“Alp?”
Mal’s voice pulled Alp away from the thoughts dragging him down. Now he worried about Mal, because his death was coming closer.
Alp shifted and grabbed Mal. “You have to run. Go back to Lydia, or leave this place,” he begged, not caring how it sounded.
“What? No, I’m not leaving. What’s going—?” His head twisted and Mal glared down the corridor. His features blurred. He was nearing a shift. “He’s here, isn’t he?” The voice came out low, guttural, dangerous.
“Yes. Please, just go. Let someone else—”
Mal turned back, his face an icy mask of anger and pain in equal parts. “Listen to me. We’ll find someone who can take you back to safety while I—”
“No!” Alp cried out, then winced. Too loud. Much too loud.Be a quiet bunny, Alp. Don’t fuss and it won’t hurt so badly. Just let us do what we need to, and everything will be okay.
That voice in his head drowned out everything else. All Alp could remember now was the saw. The pain. His hand as Hyde lifted, so gentle and so careful, before he put it into the specimen container.
“You’ve done a great service, Alp. Your sacrifice will help so many humans. And when it grows back, it’ll help even more.”
“It won’t grow back,” Alp screamed.
“It will,” Hyde said, sounding utterly certain. “My research tells me—”
It came out of Alp then. A keening wail that had the others in the room covering their ears. Then the jab in his arm, and the world slowly squeezed down into a pinprick of light. Now the world was floating, and Alp was being taken along for the ride. It wasn’t so bad, he decided. This feeling, this euphoria. It was all kinda nice.
Rough hands grabbed Alp by the scruff of his neck and shoved him back inside the fetid cage before the door was slammed and locked. Alp lay there, on the damp cloths, and licked his wounded leg, doing something he’d never done before. Praying for death.
“Alp!”
Mal’s voice. No, it couldn’t be. Mal was dead. Alp had seen it. Hyde killed Mal. So much blood, and it was all Alp’s fault, because he’d brought Mal to this place.Maker, please don’t let Mal hate me.
“Alpin Dawkins!”
His mother shook him, but she sounded like Mal. She was another person who had to hate him. He’d disappeared and made her and the family worry for six years, all because Alp couldn’t sit still. Couldn’t be happy with the life he had. Why did he have to alienate everyone? All his siblings were over-the-moon thrilled to be home with their growing families. The warren was full to bursting with love, but Alp had never wanted it. Never felt it like they did. Was he broken because he wanted something else?
Strong hands wrestled Alp from where he was. The scents were growing stronger. Hyde was coming for Alp! He shifted, hoping to run, but he was pushed into a room and the door was almost closed, giving Alp the chance to look out. Instead, he backed into the corner, then lay there, panting hard, knowing that if anyone heard him, he’d die.
Mal would die. Alone. So much blood. So much fear. Too much. Gotta get away. Have to run. To hide.
Mal would die.
Alone.
Mal would die.
And it would be Alp’s fault.
Chapter 20
Even in the storage closet, Mal could taste Alp’s fear. Why the fuck had Mal agreed to bring him? Alp’s heart was hammering so hard, Mal was afraid his mate was about to have a heart attack. He should have forced him to stay behind. He was the fucking First—it was his duty to protect his mate, even when said mate didn’t want to be coddled and kept safe.
The acrid scent was drawing closer, and Mal could understand why Alp was finding it so hard to be near it. Even under the layers of soap, the reek of death and decay was obvious, and no amount of soap or showers could hide that fact from a shifter. How many murders had this man committed? How many shifter lives were lost in the name of his perverted science? Even without knowing what he’d done to Alp, Mal couldn’t doubt that this man was a monster.
Mal saw him then, scurrying down the hall. In his mind, Mal had built Hyde up to be a threat unlike any other. A creature of monstrous proportions who would fight tooth and nail, leaving the outcome of their battle in doubt. The truth was something far different.
He was a nondescript little man with a rounded belly hidden beneath a crisp white lab coat, thinning gray hair, and a set of glasses he had to keep pushing up on his somewhat bulbous nose. Then Mal noticed it. Despite all the sounds, the scents of the dead, the sheer terror in the air, Hyde seemed mostly unaffected. Yes, there was anxiety, but not the overwhelming dread most of the other humans seemed to be experiencing.
