Chapter 4 #3
Joey knelt next to me, doubles and triples of him fanning out as the room grew harder and harder to focus on. I blinked, trying to pinpoint where he actually was in the rotating hellscape my reality had turned into.
“Stimulants are kicking in, now,” he said, leaning over to smell me.
Deeply mortified by his assessment, I realized it wasn’t just sweat pouring down the back of my legs. It was slick. And he could smell it.
Which shouldn’t be possible. I wasn’t even close to being aroused.
“Better than the last one,” one of the others grumbled. “Sedation was way too strong.”
With a hard push, Joey shoved me onto my back again. My movements were so slow and lethargic I couldn’t fight him at all anymore. My glasses slipped off as I rolled, landing somewhere beside me.
Tears tracked down my face. I just wanted to leave. I wanted to hide far, far away from their cold, unfeeling gazes.
A loud crash came from down the hall, out of sync with the low beat of the bass. One of the alphas looked up, but the others didn’t seem to notice.
Joey grabbed my chin, thumb pressing into the flesh of my cheek. I tried to jerk my head away, but couldn’t.
His grin was sickening. “I wonder if he’s ever—”
Another crash, this time closer. The screams next door cut off abruptly, followed by shouting and a scuffle. All three of them looked up this time, alerted to the commotion.
Joey stood. “Go see what that is,” he ordered the other two.
Before they could, however, the doorknob shook, like someone tried to enter and found it locked.
Bang! All three of them jumped when the whole door bowed from the weight of something powerful slamming into it. Bang! Bang!
My heart raced. What the fuck was going on? Was it possible for this night to get even worse?
With one last bang, the door burst open, falling off its hinges with a crash. Splintered wood flew everywhere, leaving a gaping hole where the deadbolt used to be.
A demon stood in the open threshold.
Covered head to toe in black with a hoodie pulled over his head, all I could see in the red, pulsing light were piercing blue eyes over snarling canine teeth, stretched in a wide grin.
My ears rang. It’s him—the man from the alley. My stalker.
His chest heaved. I could just make out the large, serrated Bowie knife he held in one hand, already dripping dark blood. A body sprawled at his feet in a pool of red. Behind him, someone half-clothed darted past, fleeing for their life.
“Who the fuck are you?” Joey demanded, squaring his shoulders with the intruder. A bold move, considering the still-expanding blood stain coming somewhere from the unmoving man’s head.
Silence.
“Hey! He said, who—” one of the others began, but he didn’t get the chance to finish his sentence. In fact, he'd never finish another sentence ever again.
Faster than I could blink, the demon slammed him—Dain—to the ground. Red sprayed the wall when he slid his knife across the offending alpha’s throat. He choked, emitting an awful gurgling noise, and stilled.
Chaos erupted.
Joey and the other alpha rushed forward at once, shouting. Ducking the punch Joey threw, the demon pushed the second man back, giving him space to slash at Joey.
More blood. The man who I thought was my friend cried out, cradling his face, and fled through the busted-down door. The demon almost gave chase, but the third alpha pulled a switchblade from his pocket and charged before he could.
It became immediately apparent who was more skilled with a knife.
In one fluid motion, the demon blocked the attack and shoved his serrated knife upwards, deep into the chest cavity of the third alpha.
He jerked the knife once, at an angle, before ripping it out in a swift, practiced movement.
Blood splattered everywhere, painting a gruesome arc up the wall and onto the ceiling.
The man was dead before he hit the floor, sprawled across the other body.
I shook so hard my teeth clacked. With Joey fled, I was the only one left. I tried in vain to yell for help but couldn’t make my mouth work, and the bass continued, pounding away. Did anyone out in the main hall even know something had happened? Did they know a demon walked among them?
The monster stood, and his scent filled the room, cracking through the sweat and stench like lightning. It was copper and ozone. Blood and burning.
Pure, unadulterated rage.
He stepped toward the door, and for a second I thought he’d chase Joey, after all. Go! Please, just go!
But he didn’t. Instead, almost as if pulled by a force greater than his own will, he turned to face me.
Was it possible to actually die of fright? My heart was near bursting out of my chest. I whined and tried to crawl away from him, but couldn’t make my limbs move.
His eyes snapped to mine at the sound, like a predator honing in on its prey. My body trembled beneath the weight of that stare. Horribly, something happened that I thought was impossible by now.
The night actually got even worse when a sharp pang of arousal in my torso made me whimper, empty and aching.
Aching for him.
Alpha, my omega panted. Alpha’s here.
No. No, no, no! This was wrong. I had to be sick, my instincts twisted by the stimulants—it was the only explanation.
This man stalked me all the way here. He’d just viciously killed two people—three, it’s three, my mind supplied helpfully, remembering the body in the hallway—and probably planned to do the same to me next. There was no way I actually wanted to… to… fuck him.
Eyes flashing, the demon knelt and lazily wiped his leather-gloved hands off on the shirt of the alpha who’d drugged me. Then he cleaned the blade until it shone on the sleeve of the other.
Was he preparing it especially for me?
Wide-eyed and terrified, I watched as he straightened to his full height and slowly prowled closer to stand over me. He lifted the knife, and I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for the blow.
It never came.
Fabric rustled. Unable to help myself, I peeked just in time to see him sheath the blade at his hip rather than plunge it through my heart. He knelt next to me, and the air stilled, quiet except for my shallow, tight breaths and the echoing music.
“Hello, sweetheart.”
My breath caught. His voice was a low rumble, reaching deeper inside me than even the pumping bass that shook the whole building. I moaned at the sound, embarrassed and full of shame but unable to control myself.
And his scent. This close, it was all-consuming; the most powerful force of nature I’d ever known. Winter gales paled in comparison to the strength with which he called to me.
The fact that I couldn’t move was the only thing that kept me from rolling over and presenting for this alpha of alphas—this demon who’d established his dominance in the most savage and primal way possible.
It was disgusting. I was disgusting, and I hated myself for it.
And yet, I still wanted him to hold me down and feed me his cock until I wasn’t empty anymore. I wanted to be his; I longed for him to publicly claim me for all to see like I was some kind of sacrificial offering, so that no one else would touch me ever again.
I opened my mouth to say so, or maybe to scream, but all that came out was a pathetic whimper.
“Shh, it’s going to be alright,” he cooed. A deep, soothing calm washed over me, different from the chemically forced arousal of the heat stimulants.
Alpha pheromones, I thought dazedly. He’s trying to keep me calm.
What stalker-turned-killer worried about their prey’s feelings?
His eyes searched mine, a slight frown forming between them. “Here,” he said, picking up my glasses. Gently, so gently, he slid them back onto my face. Blood leftover on his glove smeared across my cheek, and he cursed, wiping it away with his sleeve.
The heat of his touch was intoxicating. I nuzzled my face into his forearm, curling into that electric feeling zipping between us.
We’re safe now with alpha, my omega sighed. He’ll take us somewhere and fill us up.
I whimpered again, delirious, touch-starved, desperate, and completely out of control of my own body and mind. Slick trickled out of my needy hole, and I ached to feel the weight of him deep inside.
It was so confusing and upsetting. I’d just watched him slash a man’s throat in cold blood—why did I think he’d treat me any differently? Why did my body crave him so much?
But instead of reinforcing my shame or fulfilling those fears, he spoke as if I had control over what happened next. “Would you like to sit up?” he asked quietly, brushing the sweat-damp hair off my forehead.