Page 63 of Her Cruel Alpha

“Do you still want to have dinner tonight at the new restaurant?” I asked, glancing at him for a moment. Henrik’s lips pressed together, and I felt my heart sink even further.

“I think it’s best we stay home tonight. The doctor said you should rest. I need to head out for a little bit and then I’ll be back.” He offered me a tight smile. “We can always go to the restaurant another night. Maybe when you’re feeling a little better.”

I couldn’t look at him because I felt that he was pulling away from me. I fought back tears as he pulled up in the house. I headed inside and to my bedroom as he left. But as I crawled into bed, I knew laying around wasn’t going to help. My mind would be a mess, and I needed to do something.

I changed into something warmer and headed to the lab. I decided maybe a little work would help calm my mind, or at least enough, so I didn’t have a hundred questions going overand over in my head. It always helped me in the past, so I didn’t see why it wouldn’t help me now.

I headed to the lab and noticed no one was in the basement. The area was utterly quiet, which was strange because there was usually at least one person around. Actually, there were always several people. I had never come to work down here without finding some guys lounging around.

“Hello?” I looked around, not finding anyone, as I headed down to my lab. The other labs were quiet, and even the hallways were silent. I scanned my badge, and the door to my lab opened. The lights flicked on, and my body came to a halt.

The glass was shattered all over the floor. My lab table was flipped over, and my eyes flew to the secured glass where I kept the darkness contained. The area sat empty, with glass shattered in front of it.

“Oh no…” My stomach dipped down low as I quickly scanned the lab, and my eyes found it waiting. It stood just across the lab in a large, dark cloud, and I stepped back. I needed to alert someone, but there was no one around. Had it already traveled and hurt the others? But why did it wait rather than just leave?

Before I could even think, the darkness slammed into me, I screamed, but the air was quickly yanked right out of my lungs, and I felt so dizzy. I stumbled backward, slamming into the wall. My hands reached for the wall, trying to hold onto anything to hold me up, but I found nothing.

I gasped for air, reaching for the alarm button, but couldn’t. But as quickly as it all hit me, the darkness disappeared, breaking free from my lab, and it went into the hall. I could breathe, but the dizziness stayed.

I saw everything in twos, and I laid down flat on my back. I felt like the world was spinning, and I closed my eyes trying to breathe slowly. I thought of Henrik’s words. Breathe in slowly. Slowly take a breath in and let it out.

I didn’t know how long I lay there, but I knew this was an emergency. The darkness had gotten free. I had to let everyone know that it had escaped.

But it hadn’t hurt me. I had expected to be injured, but I wasn’t, besides the dizziness that hit me. I could breathe while it hurt, but it was like someone had pushed me down and taken my breath away, rather than someone actually hurting me. This was nothing compared to what happened to Henrik. Henrik took days to heal.

But why? Why had it only knocked me down and winded me, yet it almost killed Henrik? Did it kill several other people?

I rolled over and turned on my stomach. I slowly sat up and stared outside my area into the hallway. There was still no one around and it didn’t sit right with me. Something was going on.

I pushed myself up slowly and leaned onto the wall. I looked around my lab, trying to piece it together. The darkness never had a problem with me. It always just went erratic when I was near, but that was it. It only ever hurt people who were around me.

I stepped out of the lab and into the hallway. “Is anyone here?” I yelled, my voice echoing.

I moved, walking over to the lab that was across from mine. I leaned against the door and peered into the room. It was dark, but I could see someone lying on the ground. My eyes widened, and I started to pound on the door. But I didn’t have access to this room.

I turned, “Is anyone down here!?”

I hurried back to my lab, taking in the pieces. I needed to piece this together. I needed to understand. I tried to rake my head around what was happening and what the darkness wanted.

My eyes widened as I realized it wasn’t me it had a problem with. It was everyone else, including Henrik.

Chapter 22 - Henrik

I was setting up the flowers in the vase, trying to make sure they looked right. I glanced at the beautiful dinner I had brought in instead of us going out. As much as I wanted to take her out for a fancy dinner, Katie needed rest more than anything. I wanted her to still have a nice dinner even if she didn’t have the stomach to keep much of it down.

I wanted tonight to be special, and I wanted to tell Katie how I felt. That I loved her and that I didn’t want to live without her. I wanted this to all be real, and I wanted us to be a happy family now that she was pregnant. That, even if the start was messy, I wanted all of it.

We had come a long way, and I wanted Katie to know I was on her side. This pregnancy changed a lot, but it didn’t change how I felt about her.

I had set up flowers and put the food out. I had the candles lit and had some soft music to play while we had dinner. I was just about to get her to the bedroom when my phone vibrated. I glanced at it, seeing that it was Katie. I frowned, confused. Why was she calling me when she was lying down in the bedroom? Was she not in her room?

I answered the phone. “Katie? Where are you? I didn’t realize you weren’t even home.”

Noise filled the phone as if someone was gasping and unable to form words. I pulled my phone back and stared at it for a second before I pulled the phone back to my ear.

“Katie?”

“I…I..I…” I could hear that she was hyperventilating and unable to form a word, and every part of my body locked up. I knew she was in danger or something had happened.

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