Page 65 of Alpha's Redemption

“Well, Zoe locked her in the basement. So now she has no choice but to hear you out,” I tell him, and he nods his head, then turns to the driver's door.

“And Tatum?” I call, and he stops, looking at me.

“Every person she has dated walked the same day she told them. She held off with you, hoping you would stay. The only reason she didn't tell you is that she was worried about losing you.”

“I know that. But I wasn't going anywhere,” Tatum states.

“She didn't know that, though. Before you, she went on dates, and all of them walked out once they learned she couldn’t provide them an heir,” I tell him, and Tatum frowns, then nods his head before easing himself into the car. I go back to mine and climb into the driver's seat, and Ava gets in the back with Mom.

I get Ava to text Kalen on the drive home; he says he’ll be there in half an hour. We are just down the street from home when static crackles over the radio. I flip through the stations to find them all the same. Suddenly, the traffic lights go out up ahead. I peer up at the sky. Is a storm brewing? Yet the overcast day is the same; the sky hasn't darkened more. I glance at Ava, whose face is scrunched up as she peers at her phone. She’s been playing some game on it.

“I have no cell service,” she says, and I reach over and pass my phone to her; she unlocks it.

“Neither do you,” she replies, just as the tornado sirens blare. However, the sirens aren't used for tornado warnings; we never get tornadoes here. I haven't heard that noise since I was a kid—and I only ever heard it once.

My eyes widen and I peer at Tatum's car behind me when Valen's voice and my father's boom through the mind-link.

‘All warriors to the borders! Everyone else, get inside and lock your doors!’

I swallow. My mother is blissfully unaware as she speaks to herself, looking at me and smiling.

“What's that noise?” she asks. Neither of us answers her and I glance at Ava. She stares back, looking petrified when Valen mind-links me.

‘Get home and lock the doors!’he repeats.

‘How many? And where?’I ask, opening the link to Marcus, Zoe, and Tatum.

‘Get home and lock the door, Everly!’Valen orders.

‘Valen, how many?!’I snarl.

‘Hundreds!’he says.

‘The girls?!’Zoe screeches through the link.

‘I have them and Valarian. I'm behind Everly now,’Tatum chimes in as we pull into the hotel parking lot. The shutters are sealed on the lower-level windows and doors. I roll my window down, waving Tatum toward the underground car park and he gives me a thumbs up.

‘Zoe, get to the basement! I’ll get to Casey!’Marcus orders her, and she whimpers before being shoved out of the link.

‘Where are they coming in?’Tatum asks.

‘Everywhere!’Marcus and Valen say. The mind-link turns to chaos and I nearly run into a pillar before I manage to force everyone out of my head. We pull up and start yanking the kids from the cars when my mother finally comes back to her senses.

“We’re under attack,” she gasps as she shoves them toward the elevators. “That’s…?” she starts, looking at Ava, who nods to her.

Valarian hits the button, but the doors don't open. The emergency generators don't operate them, leaving only the stairs.

“Fuck!”

The roller shutters start dropping to the underground parking lot as we rush the kids to the fire exit. The bells sound as I throw the door open and we usher the kids inside the stairwell when snarling growls echo through the underground parking lot.

Tatum pivots just as a group of forsaken rush inside the parking garage. He rips his shirt off before looking at me over his shoulder.

“Get inside, Luna!”

My heart races as I stare at the forsaken stalking into the place.

“Tatum!” I call out. Tatum's eyes are on the forsaken, and he is too focused on them circling him.

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