Page 24 of The Alpha: Part Two
“Wait a minute!” Alex yells, so I stop and turn around.
Alex stops at the filing cabinets and opens the drawer that he apparently put the grappling hook pistol inside. The guy on the other end had so much slack, I thought he’d cut the cord, but I’m not surprised in the least that Alex thought of securing the other end of the cord to a piece of furniture. “Hear me out,” he says, a grin spreading across his face. Great. He’s going to do something theatrical. This is the perfect time for theatrics. We’re not in a rush at all.
He basically skips back to where Devon’s holding their last breathing beta on his knees with his hands clasped behind his head. Then he wraps the cord around the beta’s neck a few times and ties it off. Devon pulls out a knife and cuts the end so Alex can tuck the pistol back into wherever he had it hidden in the first place.
“Trent is going to be so fucking jealous,” Nathan sighs as he watches Alex pat the beta’s cheek.
Grappling hook guy has been more concerned with taking the last few remaining steps to the elevator instead of what’s happening on the other side of his tether. He pushes the button to open the elevator door and I let him get in. I watch him push what must be the button for the ground floor, then he enters the passcode on the keypad and frantically presses the door close button; all without turning around to see me standing right on the outside of the door.
He does finally turn around just as the bell dings to signify that the door is about to close and I smile at him as his face morphs into startled dread. Then I throw out my fist, smashing it into the center of his face. He crashes against the back wall of the elevator and is in the process of hitting the floor when the doors close and elevator starts the trip down.
Nothing happens for a moment, then stumbling, dragging, thumps, and grunts fill the space as the beta attached to the other side of the cord is forcibly pulled across the ground. Nathan’s right. Trent would love this and he’s going to be horribly jealous.
The beta’s body thunks against the closed doors and he doesn’t have enough slack to even grab at his neck before he starts screaming. The lower the elevator goes the deeper the cord digs into the beta’s flesh. I take a few steps back. If this guy’s head is going to pop off, I don’t want to wear the mess.
Actually, I don’t want to see it, either. The cord is more likely to bore its way through his neck than it is to snap. Whatever happens, this guy is going to have an excruciating and painful death. I turn away from his inevitable end and join the others.
“You don’t think that was excessive?” Devon asks Alex. He can sound as disapproving as he wants but he’s losing the battle to keep the smirk off his face and we can all see it.
“Fuck off,” Alex laughs. “It was awesome. I saw something like that in a movie. I knew we were going to have to deal with a high-rise elevator and I wasn’t going to miss the opportunity.”
Nathan’s eyes are on the gruesome scene unfolding at the elevator, but his tone is contemplative and soft when he says, “that’s not what that was designed to do.”
“But it sure as shit is what it accomplished. Good job, resident genius,” Alex beams.
Chapter sixteen
Seth
The penthouse is eerily quiet after the chaos of the floor below. There’s no way in the universe nobody up here heard all the gunfire and yelling, I don’t care how nice and insulated this place is. And it is nice, that’s for certain.
We go room by room looking for Desir’ee. Every room is so fucking…sterile. I cannot imagine all of Desir’ee’s vibrance and life trapped and dulled by these white walls. There is no warmth here. Looking around at the lack of true substance in this place, I’m suddenly even more worried about how I’m going to find her than I already was.
I catch Desir’ee’s minty scent near the open staircase and follow it around the corner and through a dining room that must never be used I take one step into the kitchen and freeze, blocking the doorway. She’s there, leaning against the counter, brows pinched and eyes wide as they meet mine, while Lopez dabs at her mouth with a bloody cloth.
Almost as if in slow motion, Lopez turns, putting the cloth into Desir’ee’s hand, and deeply sighs. “Alpha Pratchett.”
She doesn’t appear to be upset or afraid, which is very, very good; but I can’t stop looking from her horribly swollen lips to the bloody cloth. Someone hurt her. The violent vibration of the fact that someone put their hands on her, harmed her, caused her pain, has me trembling with my blood thundering in my ears.
“Seth,” she says softly.
I look from the cloth, to her puffy bottom lip where I can clearly see broken skin and the blue beginnings of a bruise, then to Lopez. He hasn’t moved. He shouldn’t be anywhere near her. A slow calm starts to unfurl in my chest as I realize I’m going to kill him. I can see it all playing out in my head. I should have killed him the first time I met him.
“Seth,” Desir’ee calls again. “Seth, he isn’t a threat.”
I tilt my head to the side and move my glare to her. She cannot defend him. After everything. And even if she does, it won’t matter. I’m going to kill him.
“Seth,” she snaps. “He didn’t do this. He helped me. He isn’t a threat. I need you to hear me.”
“I hear you.” The words are barely audible through the growl my voice has become.
The floor squeaks behind me as someone shifts their weight, and Desir’ee’s eyes grow even wider as she frantically looks behind me.
That single squeak begins to echo in my mind, and I shake my head once to try to stop it; but I can’t.
Desir’ee is hurt.
Lopez was holding a bloody cloth.
