Well, I could imagine his shock; seeing his nephew here must have been quite an unexpected sight.
My beautiful omega bit his lip and shrugged his shoulders. "Hello, Uncle Blue. Nice seeing you… Yeah. I’m here with Storm. I’m in my… heat."
Lowen didn’t answer; he adjusted his slightly skewed electronic glasses and just stared at his relative with raised eyebrows. Damien turned toward me, coughing slightly due to the ever-present dust.
"What happened? Are you hurt? I see blood on your stomach," he finally managed to ask.
"I’m fine. The bone plates under my skin absorbed the hits—it’s just surface scratches. I’ll heal in no time."
"That explosion… what was it?"
"Another assassination attempt on your uncle. But he’s alive, as you can see…" I made an awkward gesture towardLowen. "But I can’t say the same for the others. I suggest both of you stay here while I deal with what’s left of the attackers in the hallway before they bleed out. And there could be more in the building."
Lowen stood next to us, seemingly calm, almost like this was just another day at work. But I could only guess it was his defense mechanism. He's been through so many similar situations that he's probably had to work out some survival strategies.
"Yes, they need to be able to testify. Make sure at least one of them survives." His voice was quite commanding, like that of a person accustomed to exercising authority. "I think this time we’ll catch him—before he buys out another bunch of my guards."
"Him?" I asked, but he didn’t elaborate.
After a brief but heavy silence, I repeated my plea. "Please, both stay here. Hide behind the table. I’ll be back soon."
Stepping back into the hallway, I scanned my surroundings carefully. The dust had somewhat settled, giving me a clearer view down its length. Only the attackers remained. One was trying to stand, and another was sitting up. The two more severely injured required immediate medical attention—their heartbeats were slowing.
I didn’t see any other guards. Where the hell were they? Had they all really been bribed? Lured away somehow?
Whoever Mr. Lowen's enemy was, he seemed quite powerful and determined.
Well, but that wasn’t my problem right now. I grabbed the belt of one of the men and used it as a tourniquet on his leg to stop the bleeding. The other was in worse shape—his carotid artery was damaged. I pressed down on the torn area, unsure of what else I could do.
The two conscious attackers glanced at me, their expressions unreadable beneath their masks.
"You—come here!" I barked at one of them. He didn’t move.
So, I yanked him over and dragged toward his bleeding companion. "Believe me, helping him will work in your favor. Press on that wound, or he’ll bleed out."
"Where the hell did they find a purple alpha?" the man sputtered, sounding genuinely baffled.
The other attacker, in better condition, tried to hobble away. I wasn’t about to let that happen. He limped, but I had no mercy to spare. I knocked him to the ground and landed a swift punch, knocking him out cold. Only then did I notice what fell out of his ear. It was some kind of communication system.
Were there more of them?
Returning to the conference room, I passed the body of a dead security guard. Near the table lay Lowen’s lawyer, also motionless. No signs of life there, either.
However, Mr. Ragu and Jordan were farther from the explosion’s epicenter. They were under a table and still alive. Ragu appeared to be in better shape, even conscious. Jordan was lying on his side, half his face smeared with blood, but his pulse was steady.
"Storm…" Ragu croaked. "Is Mr. Lowen alive?"
I knelt beside him. "Yeah, he’s alive. He’s in the next room. Oh, and by the way, I managed to take down four attackers who came running down the hallway—"
"You left him alone?! There may be more!"
What the fuck? Mr. Ragu could really be obnoxious.
"Sorry, but I can’t be in two places at once! I wanted to check onyou!"
After a deep breath, he seemed to come to his senses. "They were shooting! Are you hurt?"
"They didn’t get through my bone plates. I’m fine. My regeneration’s pretty fast."