Chapter 47
Ash
I could feel her.
She was so scared.
She was fucking terrified.
I’m coming! I won’t leave you!
Someone stepped in my way. I barely saw them. My body moved without thought.
I didn’t even enjoy it.
They were just in the way.
My power blasted out, knocking one guard down and another to the wall. My hands, almost claw-like ripped down the face of another and broke an arm with a resounding crack.
And I still couldn’t find her.
Where is she?
Many of the rooms were empty, already evacuated. Some were bolted shut – big, heavy doors.
I could hear the freaks in Chaos Ward crying and screaming.
One was laughing.
Funny fucker.
I knew the path to the testing chamber well. He wouldn’t have taken her far.
Would he?
We all knew there were secrets in this shit hole. Places Marr liked to hide his pet projects.
But where?
Why isn’t she in here?
The wind still whipped around my ears.
She’s near…
I headed to the back room, down the end of a long hall. It was empty. Footsteps raced up behind me.
More guards.
I almost sighed. My arms and legs moved like the wind, cutting through the guards.
A growl sounded.
Ferals.
Not far either.
Fuck.
But then, another sound.
Like a clattering.
I turned, my focus on a wall at the back of the room. From first glance, it looked plain and white, unmarred.
But then, another clatter.
I raced to it, eyeing the invisible seam on instinct.
A door.
Hands grabbed my shoulders, pulling me back. I spun, facing three guards with tasers and blades raised.
I cracked my neck and waited, my body bouncing on the spot. One lunged, but I caught the hand, pulling the taser back until he struck himself. Another tried to punch me, so I snapped his arm.
More guards.
One got me on the ground. Solid boots kicked me hard in the side.
The clatter grew louder, like something on the other side of that door wanted out.
I flicked my hand out, throwing everything around me at my attackers like bullets. The distraction was enough to free me, but I was outnumbered.
Until I heard a roar.
Deathly. Violent. Heavy with old menace.
The animal in me went still.
My alpha had arrived.
Sy tore through my attackers in a single, brutal sweep. Talons burst from his hands — razor-sharp, already slick with blood.
My eyes burned.
Now that was motherfucking power.
I slammed into the door, throwing my weight against it again and again. Pain flared through my shoulders — but it didn’t give.
Sy stepped past me.
He hooked one claw into the seam and ripped.
The wall screamed as the door tore free, revealing a yawning abyss beyond.
A pen flew out of the darkness.
It struck me square in the forehead.
Hard.
Not random.
Angry.
I heard it in the impact.
“Echo.”
Behind us, guttural moans rose — wet, furious, close.
The ferals were breaking into the ward.
And beneath that — deeper, heavier — gunfire. Rotors.
More of them than before.
Sy didn’t look back.
“Go,” he ordered.
I didn’t need to be told twice. I charged into the darkness, uncaring what was hiding in the depths.
As I ran down the stairs, I heard the frantic feet of running guards and medical staff, trying to evacuate and secure areas of the ward below.
Ahead of me, as I reached the bottom, I saw a guy in a lab coat trying to force the doors to lock shut.
I met his eyes through the glass and watched him blanch.
Hey, I know that guy. And he knows me.
I used my power to blast my way into the door, shoving my boot in the closing frame. The tech drew a taser and I just cracked my neck.
Fucking tasers.
I lunged at him, knocking him to the floor.
“Where is she Eugene, you motherfucker? Where is Seph?”
I hit him too hard and a couple of teeth went flying.
Oops.
Blood ran from his mouth, dribbling down his chin as he shook his head, eyes glassy and wild.
“You—you don’t understand—”
I hit the wall beside his head hard enough to crack tile. Plaster rained down.
“I understand perfectly,” I said. “You took her. You hurt her. And you’re standing between me and Seph.”
His laugh came out wrong. High. Broken.
“If I tell you, he’ll kill me.”
I just tilted my neck.
“That’s what you’re worried about? Marr!”
“He has more power than you could ever imagine I – “
I hit him again. He stared at me with wide eyes.
“What? You were hysterical. Now you have five seconds.”
“No. please.”
“Four.”
His breath hitched. His eyes darted wildly down the corridor, like he expected Marr to materialise out of the walls.
“Three.”
“He’ll peel me,” Eugene sobbed. “You don’t know what he—”
“Two.”
I leaned in close enough that my forehead brushed his. My voice dropped, calm as a held blade.
“You’re already dead, Eugene. The only choice you have left is how much of you stays attached when it happens.”
“One.”
Something broke in him.
“It’s not on this level!” he blurted. “It’s below—below the old foundation. Sublevel C. Past the incinerator shafts. There’s a secondary lift—coded access only—”
My hand closed around his throat again, lifting him just enough that his feet scraped.
“Where,” I snarled, “is she?”
His mouth trembled.
“The basement. He has a special room,” he whispered.
I slammed him back against the wall and released him. He collapsed in a coughing heap, retching blood onto the tiles.
“Code,” I said.
He looked up at me, eyes unfocused. “What?”
“The lift code.”
His lips shook.
“Say it,” I warned.
“7—3—1—9,” he gasped.
I hit him one last time, knocking him out cold. I sprinted towards the door at the back.
Another couple of techs stepped out in front of me.
I growled, frustrated.
For fucks sake.
One of them pulled a baton. The other pulled a gun.
Finally, a goddamn challenge.
I lunged.