Chapter 28 #2
Hannah jumped up from her chair, and we all swung around to stare at the doors. Just beyond, we could hear the muffled grunts and groans of a fight. A particularly vicious one by the sound of it.
But from this side of the doorway, it was impossible to tell which side might be winning. But with our lives on the line, I wasn’t about to take any chances.
“Come on,” I shouted to Hannah and Sophia. “Help me bar the door.”
Rushing over, we reached for the wood beam meant to slide into the two U-shaped brackets. It was so heavy that even the three of us combined struggled to move it. But after nearly a full minute of straining and sweating, we managed to lift it into place.
Just in time for another slam to hit on the other side…then another…and another.
After that, there was a gurgling groan. A wet rattle. One last sputter of breath.
Goosebumps spread over my arms as all three of us stepped back from the doors, silent and clutching our own arms in fear.
“Look!” Sophia whispered, pointing at the floor.
A puddle of thick, crimson blood had started seeping in through the narrow crack beneath the door.
Hannah’s hand shot up to cover her mouth. “Oh, my God.”
“Who’s blood that is?” Sophia asked.
“There’s no way of knowing,” I told her truthfully. “Which is why we’re not letting anyone in here until we know for certain our alphas are standing out there.”
Sophia and Hannah both nodded, still silently slipping back from the only entrance into the Hall.
We made it halfway back to the fireplace before there was another slam. Just one this time, and far softer than before—almost as if someone was pulling on the latch.
We all froze at the sound, but jumped again when, a second later, the doors began to rattle violently.
Someone out there was desperately trying to get inside.
But who?
Then, as suddenly as it started, the rattling stopped. There was a silent pause that stretched for a few tense seconds, followed by a gentle knock.
“Kirre?” a rough voice broke through the gap. “Are you all right in there?”
I raised my finger to my lips, pleading with Sophia and Hannah to stay quiet. If it was Nelissa’s men out there, they no doubt knew we were inside the Hall. They’d probably heard our whispers during the fight. But that didn’t mean we needed to make their lives any easier by communicating with them.
The less they knew about what was going on inside the Hall, the better.
“Attackers made it inside the house, but we fought them off,” the unknown voice called out.
Then again…maybe it wasn’t completely unknown. There was something vaguely familiar about the alpha’s timbre and tone.
“The threat has been eliminated,” he continued. “You can unlock the door now. You’re safe.”
The cold shiver creeping up my spine told me otherwise.
And the disturbing feeling only grew when the doors were tested again.
But this time the rattling didn’t stop. The sound grew louder and louder with every shake.
Hinges groaned, their bolts showering stone dust down to the floor as they struggled to hold. Sharp cracks and pops echoed off the walls as wood splintered beneath the force.
“Open the door, bitch! I know you’re in there.”
Play time was over. All friendly pretense fell away, and his true venom poured into the room.
Now it was easy to remember where I’d heard it before.
Garron.
The alpha in Nelissa’s tent. The one who’d helped her plan the attack on the outpost.
Clearly, he’d concocted this one as well.
There were other voices as well, ones I didn’t know.
Three in total.
Three angry alphas to fight off.
One for each of us.
“What the hell are we going to do?” Sophia asked.
“We need to get word to the alphas at the gate,” Hannah said.
“How?” I asked. “There’s only one way in and out of this room.”
Hannah shook her head, her face turning pale as the seriousness of our situation started to sink in. “But we can’t just stand here,” she insisted. “We have to do something.”
She was right.
The creaks and groans of splintering wood were only growing louder with every pound. There was no way to know how much longer the doors would stand the onslaught. Or how long it would be before Calindra sent someone back to check in on us.
It was up to us to send out the signal that we were in trouble.
I spun around in a circle, looking for anything that might be useful. But there wasn’t much.
Just the fire.
Thank God!
The fireplace—that was our way to raise the alarm.
“Pull the tapestries off the wall,” I told Sophia. “Hannah, get the rugs. They’ll burn black if we throw them into the fire. If someone sees a massive amount of nasty smoke pouring out of the Hall, they might realize something is wrong.”
The other women didn’t argue.
We snatched everything we could that looked like it would burn and tossed it into the flame. Sure enough, soon a thick plume of stinky black smoke was shooting up the fireplace.
But it might have been too little too late.
Just as the fire started to catch, one of the doors started breaking away from the wall.
“They’re coming through,” Sophia warned.
Shit. We needed a new plan.
“Everybody grab one of those daggers or swords off the walls,” I shouted. “It looks like we’re going to have to fight.”
But Hannah just shook her head.
“Knives won’t work,” she warned. “I’ve fought an alpha with one before. I wasn’t strong enough to break the skin.”
“Hell, I couldn’t even bring one down with a revolver straight to the chest,” Sophia reminded me.
Even so, giving up wasn’t an option. It had never been in my nature to roll over and die. Not in LA. Not out in the Wilds. And sure as hell not here with the man I loved just yards away.
We’d find a way.