KNIGHT
Chapter 16
Rob was on the phone, but waved them all inside his office. Neil closed the door. Alexia had never seen the High Alpha look so dangerous before.
“Give him back, Sergei,” he growled, his gray eyes now glowing. “Absolutely not. They were trespassing in an attempt to kidnap one of our gifted Pack members, which I’m sure you’re more than aware of. They’ll stand trial for their crime, unless you want to take full blame for that as well.”
Rob paced the area in back of his desk like a restless lion. “We don’t have her, and don’t tell me you had nothing to do with Leonid’s dis-appearance. It’s a little coincidental that he turns up missing right after your twice failed kidnapping attempts with his daughter.”
His spine straightened, his lips a tight thin line. “Yeah? You threaten my Level One Alpha Enforcer, and I’ll make sure the next silver dagger thrown is at your heart!”
With a vicious dual-toned growl, he threw the cellphone across the room. It bounced off the far wall, shattering it to pieces. Then he turned a narrowed, glowing stare to Neil.
“Talanov’s threatening to bring you up to the Were High Council on charges of premeditated murder for Sasha.”
Alexia’s stomach dropped. “No, that’s not right!”
Jake cursed.
Neil gripped her arm to hold her back from advancing on Rob. “I have his dagger. It’s illegal to carry elemental weapons.”
“Yeah, it’d be self-defense, if anything,” Jake added.
“Sergei claims he knows nothing about Sasha owning silver daggers,” Rob said. “He’ll add that to your list of crimes if you produce it.”
“I’m a witness,” Alexia joined in. “I saw exactly what happened. Neil tried to talk him down, but the Talanov thug whipped out his knives and tried to kill him anyhow.”
Rob shook his head. “You’re a compromised witness at best, Alexia. First, you’re not one of our Pack members, so Neil actually didn’t have the right to collect you. Second, in an official trial, human testimony is not admissible, so anything you claimed would be disregarded.”
Alexia was about to explain her first shift last night, but Neil squeezed her fingers tightly, signaling to keep quiet. She wasn’t sure why, but she trusted that he knew what he was doing. This was all about his own innocence or guilt after all.
“What’s Sergei proposing?” Neil asked.
“The return of the two Talanov Pack members we’re holding,” Rob said, keeping his stare focused with Neil’s. “And the release of Alexia to them. Immediately.”
Jake cursed again. “No way. She belongs here.”
“Not a chance,” Neil said at the same time, instinctively stepping in front of her.
Rob arched a brow. “It’s her or Neil, Jake. If you were H.A., what would you do?”
Jake frowned, shook his head, unable to speak.
“I’ll turn myself in,” Neil said. “Leave her out of it. I’ll take my chances with the High Council.”
“I can’t give up my Level One Alpha Enforcer over a non-Pack member,” Rob said with an apologetic look to her.
In other words, he wouldn’t give up his beloved firstborn son, the child of his true life-mate, over a simple human girl, and Alexia couldn’t blame him in the least. Nor would she let him do it.
“Fine,” she said, stepping around Neil. “Tell Talanov that I’ll be willing to give myself up to them, but they have to first promise to release Erik and drop any and all charges against Neil.”
“Alexia, no,” Neil spat, and she raised a hand to stop him.
“I’m not worth one of you, much less both.” She took his hand again and smiled. “Hey, they want me badly for a reason, right? I might even be treated like royalty there instead of being just the odd little human-wolf girl.”
He cupped her cheek in his palm. “I can’t lose you. I won’t.”
I’ll be okay, she mouthed. Trust me.
When he finally lowered his gaze, Alexia turned to Rob. “Call him. See what he says. If he needs to negotiate, give him back his people. They only wanted me anyhow.”
Rob silently questioned if she was absolutely sure. Alexia breathed hard and nodded. He then turned to Jake. “Give me your phone.”
“I won’t let you do this, Alexia,” Neil ground out, taking long hard strides, the kind that she had to run to keep up for. “You’re not going to that meeting site. You’re not taking one step off the Ridge here. Now go back to the cabin and wait for me.”
He was too furious, too desperate at the thought of her in the hands of the Talanovs to reason with. “You’re as stubborn as a mule, Duran.”
“I’m telling Rob he can shove that deal he made with Talanov straight up his—!”
“Stop already, Neil!”
He rounded on her, his expression deadly. “You’re staying here, right here. End of story.”
Nothing Alexia could say would make any difference. He was not going to see reason, so she had to think of something else. Strategic thinking like he taught her.
“Before you say anything to Rob, can you please give it a few hours for everyone to cool off? I think everyone just needs to take a breath. You, especially.”
Neil glared at her for a long moment before he finally relented. “Two hours, and then I’m calling Sergei myself.”
Alexia blew out a long breath. That didn’t give her much time. She had pieced together a decent plan of action, but there were still a lot of holes in it.
“Thanks. And I need to pay a visit to Deena Hudson, if you can clear it.”
Neil eyed her suspiciously. “Why?”
She shrugged. “Just mulling over what Erik and I talked about the other day. He said I should forgive her, for myself as well as for her. This will probably be my only chance before her trial.”
“She’s not allowed visitors before the trial.”
“But I know you’re able to get around these technical difficulties if you really wanted to. Please, Neil. I need to see her.”
He clenched his jaw. “I’ll try and arrange it. No promises.”
Alexia was directed to the guardhouse down the second street where Deena was being held. She was conflicted with going, afraid that Neil would take this opportunity to talk to Rob in her absence. Still, there was no helping it. She just had to trust the High Alpha to do what was best for his Pack and his son.
After a few phone checks and walking through a metal detector in the building, she was led down a hallway of locked doors with high barred outside windows on each. The duty guard checked the door number and unlocked it with instructions to either pound on the door for assistance, or wait until the allotted time was up.
Deena sat up from the cot she was laying on, dressed now in yellow scrubs. She looked stunned to see Alexia before she lowered her head and shoulders.
“Alexia, why are you here?” she murmured.
“I need to talk to you.”
She raised her eyes. “Of course, anything.”
Injury at her betrayal gripped Alexia like a vice again, but Erik’s words forced her to remember that the girl had just made a horribly bad choice. It was now time to find out if she wanted redemption.
Alexia pulled the small plastic chair in the corner towards the cot. “First, why did you steal Erik’s documents and my birth certificate? No one can hear us, and I’m not going to say anything. Strictly off the record. I need to know, for myself.”
Deena rubbed her freckled forehead until it was raw and red. “I was so broke. Steven decided it was too expensive to get married, or even be together anymore. He was going to leave me to go work for his friends back east.”
She paused, waiting for a response, backlash, but Alexia remained quiet, waiting for her continue when she was ready.
“I tried talking him out of it,” she said finally, “but I could tell every night he was getting desperate. Then this guy, a customer at the diner, told me about how I could make some extra money, a lot of it. It would be easy, he said. He heard I was a weekend housekeeper here at the community and had a master passkey to several of the office buildings.”
Deena stood up and looked out the barred window high on the brick wall. “It’s funny how we’re viewed here in this elite town. I’m a nobody, nothing. A Zeta-two who’s only the hired menial help. I’m invisible to all of the others. They never even notice me while I’m standing right there vacuuming their carpets or emptying their trash, even when they hide keys to their private cabinets or log onto their computers.”
She turned around to face Alexia with quivering lips. “I didn’t know the Talanovs would try and kidnap you. I’m so sorry. I didn’t even know you then. It was just some papers they wanted and for me to download some computer files with a special thumb drive they gave me, that’s all. When I told Steven that I was making some extra money on the side, he was so happy that he told his friend he didn’t want…”
She frowned. “You know, he doesn’t even have a clue where I am. The enforcers took me from home and arrested me when he wasn’t even there. I’m sure he thinks I just up and left him.”
Deena squeezed her eyes shut. “Maybe it’s for the best. I’m sure they’re going to execute me for treason anyhow. It’s best if he just thinks I left him.”
Alexia kept her fingers laced in her lap, kept her composure. “I need to ask you something, and I need you to be honest with me.”
“What is it?”
“How was Steven able to get through the gates since he isn’t a Pack member, or even a Wolf?” At her wide expression, Alexia continued, “They have strict enforcement. You couldn’t have just given him your ID card to scan and open the gate. They have cameras, and now guards that check everything.”
She bit her lip and paced the area. “Another one of their guys gave me a special ID card to give to Steven, and some scent spray, and then he had me insert this thumb drive into your dad’s computer. It sent out a signal to them, I guess. They told me that they typed some codes into our computer system here to register Steven’s license plate as being a resident. I told Steven that the badge was just some extra security measure the Lodge put into place, and that the spray was just cologne I bought for him. He seemed okay with it.”
Just as Alexia had figured. And hoped.
“I need you to give me Steven’s cell number,” she said quickly. “Then I want to tell you that I forgive you, Deena, and I’m going to do my level best to get you out of here.”
Alexia wished it could have gone down another way. She wished Neil would have accepted the straightforward deal with Talanov. Then they could have at least spent the last hour together and officially say goodbye. Instead she was forced to go behind his back, deceive him, in order to save his life.
It was well worth the cost though. His need for legal absolution was far above her desire to be with him now. Like Erik said, sometimes that’s all we can do for the ones we loved.
Not chancing that she would run into Neil back at the cabin, she did the next best thing and left a last note to him along with her cellphone and wrist tracker in her room at the Great Lodge.
The red digital alarm clock read two-twenty. Neil’s promised time for silence was almost up.
Steven said he would park out front in five minutes and wait for her.
Nothing like cutting it down to the wire.
Ready, Alexia took the stairs, practically jumping down each step, then raced across the lobby and out the front door. Steven with his beater sedan was waiting, engine rumbling loudly, and she jumped into the passenger’s seat.
“Drive,” she instructed. “Not fast. Don’t draw attention.”
He nodded. “You’ll really help Deena?”
“I’ll really try. But I won’t be able to do anything if we don’t get past the front gate. Got your ID?”
He held it up. “You have one too?”
“Not exactly. But I’m hoping for a little luck.”
They drove in silence the rest of the way until rolling to a stop at the gate. The guard walked over to check the rear license plate on the vehicle with his iPad. He then pounded on the trunk, and Steven popped the lever to open it. It was thoroughly examined before the guard slammed it shut again and meandered over to Steven as he rolled his window down.
“ID,” the guard instructed.
Steven held his out, and the guard electronically scanned it, nodding his acceptance.
“You too,” the guard called to me.
This was it.
Alexia leaned over and smiled sweetly. “Hi, remember me? I’m Level One Alpha Enforcer Duran’s fiancée? Haven’t got my ID yet, they’re still working out the kinks. He had to vouch for me last time if you remember. Anyhow, I’m staying at the Great Lodge, so they’ll probably have me listed there as a guest if you want to check.”
The guard looked skeptical, but he typed something onto the pad. “Name?”
“Alexia Raine.”
“Rank?”
“Don’t have one.”
His stare shot up at that. “No rank?”
“Not yet. I’m a new member. My father’s an Alpha though. So is my fiancé. I’m sure they’ll rank me soon. Anyhow, just check your records. I’m sure you’ll find everything aboveboard.”
He looked skeptical, then made the check. Then he pulled out a cellphone and muttered something so quiet even Alexia’s unpracticed new Wolf ears couldn’t pick up. If he was calling Neil, she was dead meat, and her plan to sneak out of this fortress was finished. As was Neil himself.
Five minutes passed, and the guard hung up, then walked over to the electric wall panel and punched in some codes. Seconds later the gates electronically opened.
“Try and return before sundown,” he instructed Steven. “We tighten security after six p.m.”
“Understood, and thanks,” Steven returned, shifting into gear.
Alexia gave the guard a little wave, but she didn’t let go of her held breath until they were long past the fence and well down the road out of sight.
“Think we fooled him?” Steven asked, raking his hair from his eyes with fingers.
“Pretty sure. At least long enough for us to make it to the highway before I’m discovered missing.”
The rural road gave way to a lighter forested, but still secluded highway, the one that would take them towards Seattle and the agreed upon meeting site near the airport with the Talanovs.
Steven sudden shot her a panicked look. “You don’t have anything they can track you with? I saw on t.v. where they can even use your cellphone to locate a person.”
Alexia shook her head. “No tracker, no cellphone. We should be okay to make it to the site by two, as long as we don’t stop. After we do the hand-off, you need to get Erik back here at Timber Ridge immediately. I’ll have him instruct Rob to grant a pardon for Deena. He’ll do anything for Erik, and Erik will do anything for me.”
“Are you sure?” Steven asked nervously.
“Yes, I’m absolutely sure Rob Bryant will let Deena go if—”
“No, about the tracker.”
“Yes, of course. Don’t worry, they won’t catch up to us—”
“Great,” Steven said, then pulled over to the side of the forested road.
“What are you doing? We’re wasting time!”
Steven turned in his seat to face her. “Sorry about this, Alexia.”
Before she could respond, Alexia felt a sharp pinch in her side, then icy fluid flowing into her as Steven pushed down the plunger of the syringe he had hidden inside his jacket.
She wanted to ask why he needed to do this, that she was going to Talanov willingly this time. They were on our way to meet him.
But everything faded to black.
Her head felt like it was about to split into two, her brain foggy with the last remnants of the tranquilizer buzzing through her system.
Alexia tried to raise up, but couldn’t move, then made out that her ankles were bound with zip ties. So were her wrists resting in her lap. She was also gagged with gauze and duct tape.
She tried to blink the fuzziness from her vision to regain her bearings. She was laying on her side in the back of some kind of work van.
“…should get promotions for this,” she heard Steven say. He was sitting upfront with the driver of this shaking, rattling vehicle. “Really done with this assignment. I couldn’t stay with that whiny cow one more night, I swear. Anderson better not assign me to sleep with another stinking were-thing again, or I’m out.”
“Hey, it produced results,” the driver said. “Stop complaining.”
Steven snorted his disgust, then checked behind him. Alexia closed her eyes, pretending to still be out. “I should probably dose her again. She’ll be waking up anytime.”
“Too risky,” the driver said. “The Hack Man said we’re to deliver this female in one healthy piece if we want full credit. This one’s a prize, he says.”
“She is, too,” Steven said. “Deena told me she’s the only lycan-human hybrid alive. He should have a lot of fun with this one. Man, it was hard to get her out though. Can you believe it was even her idea? What a stupid moron.”
She seethed at the insult, but the thought of what this Hack Man had in store kept her playing possum. She would learn a lot more this way.
“Maybe we should dose her with the anti-shifting stuff the Man developed from the last male,” the driver said. “Don’t want her going all teeth and claws on us.”
“Naw, this one can’t change. She’s just a carrier or something. But he said to watch out that she can make you do things you don’t wanna do.”
“Arcan Hunters being tricked by these freaks? Never happen.”
“Yeah, well. Just saying what he said.”
Arcan Hunters!
And Steven was one of them.
Did Deena know?
No, it didn’t sound like it from Steven’s crack just now.
This Hack Man was no doubt the serial werewolf killer who took out the last three Pack members too.
Which meant Steven kidnapped them right off the compound. Knocked them out, stashed them in his trunk while pretending to be the helpful boyfriend taking Deena to and from work. Car checks hadn’t been instituted until after the fourth body had surfaced.
Alexia tried to pull against her bindings, but the nylon zip ties held fast. She now wished Neil had taken time to show her how to get out of this type of predicament.
That bloomed another idea though. If Neil were to use this in one of his practice sessions, how would he instruct her to get free?
Alexia laid there imaging him going through the paces. After first humbling her with a demonstration of her weakness.
“You can’t pull out of the zip ties,” he would say. “That’s why the police use them. They’re cheap and very effective.”
But not indestructible, Alexia reasoned.
With her back still to them, she looked around the work van. There were plenty of tools crated on the various metal shelves bolted to the sides, but it was difficult to make out anything in the darkened van.
If only I had my Wolf vision.
Right! She needed to shift somehow, at least her eyes.
Neil said she might be an instinctive shifter. That meant if she focused hard enough now that she wasn’t wearing her grandmother’s silver locket that blocked her efforts, she might be able to accomplish it.
It was torture to pretend she was still unconscious while trying to figure out a way to force a shift. Then Alexia realized she was going about it all wrong. She needed to be angry, furious to ignite the fire in her ocular nerves.
That part wasn’t going to be hard at all. She had two very good, revolting reasons sitting a few feet away from for kindling.
Seconds later she began to feel the familiar prickling, heating sensation. She focused all of her hatred to the two Arcan Hunters into her eyes.
Then all the color dulled, and her vision sharpened like a knife.
Alexia looked at every box, every tool, able now to make everything out in minute, although colorless detail. At last she spotted exactly what she needed, a box cutter not three feet away. Now she just needed to get to it.
Once she got rid of the vermin sitting upfront.
You need to stop the van. Something’s wrong. You smell gas and smoke.
The driver cleared his gravely throat. “Hey, I think we’d better pull over. Something’s not right with the van. I’m smelling something.”
“Really? I don’t smell nothing,” Steven said.
It’s gas! You smell gas! You too, Steven. You smell gas too!
“But if you think we should pull over, man, do it.”
The van is about to explode! You need to stop it and get out now! Pull over now!
The van slid to a hard stop. “Get out! I smell gas! It’s gonna blow!”
Run! Run out into the field before you get blown to bits!
“Let’s go, come on!”
“What about her?”
“Leave her!”
Both men jumped out and ran into the left open field yelling like their tails were on fire.
Alexia inched up to a sitting position, then reached her bound hands up until she finally grabbed the crate with the box cutter and knocked it over, spilling its contents. Sliding the cutter’s blade open with her thumb, she awkwardly sawed until the binding finally snapped in two. Freed, she yanked off her gag, then sawed off her ankle bindings.
“Who’s the stupid moron now, moron,” she muttered, scrambling to her feet.
She clamored into the front seat and turned the ignition. The two men still loped across the open field, and she turned the van around and raced down the deserted paved road. Her last check in the rearview mirror showed Steven and his friend recovered and now chasing her unsuccessfully as they grew smaller in the distance.
Alexia kept driving, further and further, this deserted highway looking to go nowhere. The sun was setting fast behind the distant hillside to her left, so she calculated that she must be going north. Or was it south?
Wait, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, so that meant…
She grunted, frustrated with her bad sense of direction. If she were home in San Diego, she would know exactly where she was, knowing everyplace there like the back of her hand. Up here in rural Washington, she was at a complete loss.
Still driving, she leaned over far to open the glovebox, but there was no map inside. Those idiots didn’t carry cellphones either, or at least they didn’t leave them in the van.
“Dang it!”
Where was she?
The gas gauge was already in the red zone, making her stomach grip. She had to find some kind of town or house…
Yes, at least at someone’s house she could call Neil.
“Perfect. I don’t even know his phone number,” she murmured, his cellphone she sed had its numbers already programmed in it.
She could call her Uncle Paul!
And tell him what? How would he contact any of them at Timber Ridge, even if she could make him believe her wild story? She couldn’t have him call the police and rescue her from werewolf hunters. They would lock her up in the loony bin.
Alexia switched on the headlights to make her way down the darkening lonely highway. It seemed like she was going nowhere.
The engine sputtered, the van jolted a few times. She pumped the gas pedal, pushing the rickety van as far as it would go until it finally rolled to a complete stop.
Growling, she jumped out and kicked the tires, then looked up and down the endless rural highway. She still looked to be miles away from anywhere. Wherever those men were taking her, it was as secluded as a place could get.
She had no choice but to walk from there. Eventually she would run across some kind of house or town where she could call for help.
Of course, if she shifted to Wolf form, maybe she could run faster and farther.
Alexia shook off that idea as soon as it came her, however. She had only changed once, and that was with Neil’s help. She wasn’t sure she could do it again, or change back to human to actually ask for help when she finally came across it.
She crossed her arms against the cold, then set out to hike down the highway. Dark shadows were creeping up now that the sun was lowering behind the hills. She looked up at the thick, roiling clouds gathering overhead, dreading the frigid downpour that she could feel coming any second.
Ten minutes down the road, her breath caught when she spotted dim headlights in the far distance heading towards her. Alexia stood to the side of the road, not wanting to be missed, but not wanting to be hit by the oncoming vehicle either should the driver not see her in time.
She jumped and waved the closer it came, afraid the driver wouldn’t spot her and race away, her one chance at rescue gone.
Gratefully the large farm truck pulled over and rolled to a stop, the old man smoking a stogie rolled down his window. “You stuck out here by yourself, missy?”
“Yeah,” she said gratefully. “I sure would appreciate a ride into town. My car ran out of gas back there.”
He frowned bushy white brows. “Shouldn’t be out this late all alone. Not safe.”
“Yes, I’m sure I’ll get an earful from my husband when he hears of this. Can you spare a ride into town? I’ll pay for your gas.”
“No bother about that. Hop in. Mobart’s just a couple miles back. Probably coulda made it there on foot, but it’s not safe to be out alone out here.”
“Thank you so much, really,” she said, climbing up into the cab passenger seat.
“Buckle up, there. Gotta be safe these days.”
Alexia pulled the safety restraints across her chest and clicked it down as instructed. “Thanks again for this. You really are a lifesaver.”
“No bother,” the man said. “Good to go now?”
Alexia beamed at him, nodding, and he slowly pulled out and drove forward onto the road. When he didn’t turn the truck around her stomach began to roil nervously.
“Uh, didn’t you say Mobart was back there a couple miles?” she asked.
“I did. We’re not going to town.” He turned to her with a wide grin, his stogie in between his lips. “Got some friends up ahead who called to say you was out here by yourself. Like I said, not safe to be alone out here at night.”
He then raised a filled syringe and injected it into her neck.