Chapter 57
Alanna
It was amazing how much better she felt just having Atem and Peony back. The majority of her alien family was still in danger, but these two were safe now. Atem and Survii were going to be working together.
Things were going to be all right.
Once again, Survii ignored the French military around the entrance of the hiking path.
Atem outright snarled at them as they bundled the females into the vehicle.
And this time, Survii took the wheel from her, having studied how she drove on the way here.
She was impressed that he had learned anything from that, but she was more impressed that he was actually a decent driver.
It took him a second to get used to the controls, but with some pointers from her and Peony in the backseat, he very quickly managed to get on the road and on their way back to the airport.
And he accelerated like speed limits meant nothing to him. No cops tried to stop them, meaning they were either incredibly lucky, or someone had already warned the local authorities to leave them alone.
Which was lucky for the police. At this point, in Survii and Atem’s eyes, anyone that wasn’t part of their immediate party was a potential enemy. And they would be dealt with accordingly if they attempted to interfere.
Carlos, the family friend, was already waiting for them on the tarmac when they pulled up.
She had called ahead to have him prepare the plane to take them to London.
And that was the point when she knew someone was warning authorities and smoothing their path, because the flight plan had been approved and permission granted to cross the border without delay.
Earth’s leaders must be desperate to foster any sort of goodwill at this point.
While on the plane, Peony did her best to wash up using hot towels and bottled water. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing. Atem didn’t even bother. He and Survii remained in conversation, going over plans on how to extricate Romival and the obviously pregnant Holly.
The flight was, mercifully, short. As was the drive to Oxford.
There, the media and gawkers were out in full force.
Alanna took over driving again – since going through city streets required more skill and finesse. She guided them right through barriers that opened the moment they approached.
The path ended right at the tent where the hostage negotiators were trying to convince the bad guys to give up Romival and Holly. They were the last two still trapped in the building.
“They said that the attackers refuse to surrender,” Peony translated after they were briefed on the situation. “They want an escort out of the building and a plane out of London. Then, they’ll give up Holly. But they won’t give up Romival.”
“They’re definitely lying,” Alanna said, putting a hand over her stomach. “The guys on the island… they said they were going to shoot us all in the bellies. To kill anything that might be growing inside us. They won’t let Holly go if that’s their mission.”
The words she hadn’t told Survii yet set both males off. They snarled such deep, dark, dangerous sounds that everyone else in the tent quickly took a step back. It did nothing to help the sudden fury boiling in the room.
“Quick deaths are too good for them,” Atem snapped, turning to the tent entrance. “Come on.”
“Wait!” The lead negotiator called, reaching out a hand. “Where are you going? You can’t go in there.”
Atem ignored them as he and the others left. The negotiator followed.
“This is a very delicate situation!” He was saying desperately. “And you can’t just go in there killing everyone. Do you know how bad that will look to-”
Atem whipped around to face with him a full fanged growl. In deep, rumbling, heavily accented English, he said-
“You were warned. Their lives mine now.”
The negotiator seemed surprised to be spoken to directly. Or maybe that animalistic tone in Atem’s voice brought him up short. Either way, he was struck dumb as Atem led them around towards the back of the building.
“Climb on, Vitralai,” Survii said, lowering himself.
“What? Us, too?” Peony said, surprised, even as she got onto Atem’s back.
“We won’t leave you anywhere we don’t know you’re safe,” Survii said, standing and letting Alanna adjust herself on his back.
She clung tightly to his neck, not worried about choking him.
Domini were made for climbing with heavy things on their backs.
Choking one was almost an impossible task, even with her full body weight.
With the two of them settled, the two males looked at the ornate, beautiful, stone building. They crouched and jumped.
Alanna made a small grunting sound as Survii caught hold of a small, decorative ledge probably a full story off the ground. He pulled himself up, using the small gaps between the bricks as grips. Beside him, Atem was doing the same.
The small outcropping on the building had no windows, which was probably why they had chosen to climb here. The two males worked fast. Their strong, well-balanced bodies easily scaled the vertical wall, even with the weight of their mates on their backs.
The building had three stories. They didn’t even need a full minute to reach the top and lift themselves over the decorative ledge at the top.
“Now what?” Alanna asked as they were set down. Above them, she could see a helicopter floating in the air. No doubt getting 4K footage of the aliens in full alien mode.
“There was a map in the tent,” Survii said. “Prints of the building plans. It was marked up. Romival was in one room on the top floor. Holly was in the opposite. We go in together. We get them separately. Kill anyone in our way.”
Peony whimpered and Alanna flinched in sympathy.
“They separated Holly from Romival? For how long?” Alanna asked.
“Too long,” Atem snarled.
Being pregnant with a domini baby meant inheriting some of the instincts that a domini female would normally have while pregnant.
And one of them was separation anxiety. An inability to be away from your mate for more than a couple hours.
Without his scent, Holly would begin feeling anxious, then panicked, in very short order.
And Holly was already an anxious individual.
The males marked out where the two would be under the ceiling. Atem would be going after Holly since the pregnant woman would need greater protection. They walked to opposite different corners, looked across at each other, then nodded.
Both of them grabbed the edge of the roof and flung themselves over, swinging up and around. Feet hit the glass windows underneath and shattered.
Alanna ran to the edge and looked over as far as she could. Wind smacked at her face as, from within, she heard multiple grunts, pained cries, brief gunshots, and, through it all, two growls. She could easily pick Survii’s apart from Romival’s.
And it was Romival’s that stopped first. He let out a cry of disgust that was followed by a series of spitting sounds.
“What the… Their blood is vile!”
Survii chuckled. “I know, right? Learned that lesson quick enough myself.”
“Holly-”
“Atem is getting her. This way.”
Footsteps faded as the two ran into the building. She heard more gunshots, but couldn’t track the guys anymore, so she stepped back, turning to find that Peony had run to the other end of the roof to check on Atem.
Alanna jogged over to join her. She was just arriving when a pale hand appeared around the ledge. She and Peony both dived forward, grabbing Holly’s arms. From below, Atem was pushing her up. They pulled as Holly grunted, trying to carefully maneuver her belly over the side.
“Holly!” Peony threw her arms around her.
Alanna did the same. Holly grabbed hold of them but couldn’t speak. She was sobbing, shaking and pale. She kept muttering something that might have been Romival’s name, but she couldn’t fully form the sounds.
More gunshots erupted from below, prompting them to pull her away from the edge.
Rather pointlessly, since, a couple seconds later, Romival was hefting himself up and over and, the second she caught sight of him, Holly let out a wail and ran back.
Romival met her halfway, gathering her into his arms, pushing her face into his neck.
Letting her breathe his scent. It was the only thing that would calm her separation anxiety.
She kept blubbering nonsense as he whispered reassurances into her ear.
The other guys didn’t follow, but the sounds of fighting – human yelling and domini snarling – still came from inside. Romival left them behind. Returning to his pregnant mate was more important than dispatching their enemies below.
And though they had the two of them safe, there was no doubt in Alanna’s mind that Atem and Survii weren’t leaving any of their enemies alive.
“They’re storming the building,” Peony said, pointing to the officers that had surrounded the area when the hostage siege began.
A pointless exercise. The guys were climbing onto the roof long before they would have reached the third floor.
All three aliens were covered in bright red, human blood.
It dripped from their claws and stained Romival’s mouth.
Apparently, Atem was already aware that human males tasted bad and, like Survii, hadn’t ripped out any throats with his fangs.
“Let’s get out of here,” Atem said, pulling Peony onto his back.
Survii did the same to Alanna and, after a bit, they managed to convince Holly to climb onto Romival’s back as well. She immediately hid her face in his long hair, no doubt still breathing in his scent. At least she had gotten her sobs under control.
The males didn’t even bother to go back inside. Fully confident in their climbing abilities, they went down the same way they got up – dropping to the ground from the top of the last floor.