The Alpha's Gamble - Chapter 15: Chapter 15

I puffed a breath of relief but had to hold back the laugh when the flame finally flickered and stayed in place. With a shaky hand, I held it against the bushes. Here’s something about Rosemary that I found out when the flame licked the leaves, it’s highly flammable and not the best product for arson if the plan is to make a clean getaway. Within seconds, the flames engulfed the first bush, working its way down the stems and up the crown sending scented clouds of smoke like a signal over the roof. The fire licked the leaves before coating the second bush with its dark glittering flames, leaving behind ash that blended with the soil and this continued- devouring the bushes before the flame in the lighter had died.
“What the hell is that?!” a loud voice boomed.
I flipped the cap on the lighter and ran like my life depended on it because now it most certainly did.
My clothes were almost dry and there wasn’t a single drop of water on my skin.
“She’s there!” he said from afar and in the next second he shifted, and the vicious growls rippled through the air and worked toward me in waves.
Fuck fuck fuck.
I made it to the forest and ran without aim, past the bushes, through the branches of trees slapping me in the face and I ignored the cut under my foot leaving behind a trail of blood.
My heart was beating faster than my steps and the panic grew once I noticed that they weren’t following me but I didn’t stop to look around to avoid any surprises, I had to get back to the car.
Werewolves had similar key qualities no matter what pack they belonged to, one of them being the love for the hunt and not just the kill. Especially so when it came to revenge.
My feet were aching, and burning pains shot through my heels and buckled my legs- blood trailed down my wrists from the cuts and scrapes of the trees and I was heaving as I pushed past the last clutters of densely grown trees and crossed the border. When I felt a weakened scent from the pack I could pause for a brief moment but then I rounded the border and headed down to where the guys would be waiting with the car.
I tried to sniff them out but their scents were too weak to make out, how far away were they? When I saw the road we’d driven up on I smiled and hurried to the hiding spot. A few more steps, a few more seconds, and then I could fall into the car, and we’d go home.
Just a bit longer.
Just a bit…
Just…what the hell?
It was here, it had to be, this was where they parked the car, where they would be waiting for the getaway. This was a few steps away from where we stood when they pointed me in the direction I walked and where I took the lighter from Noah.
Logan stood there, behind us, smirking as I walked away and Nate was right there, looking at me with that dripping pity and puppy dog eyes that always made my heart ache because he was too stupid and too kind for his own good. And that right there was where the car was parked, right there, where I now only saw blended dirt and tire tracks.
They weren’t here.
They were gone. And the howls and snarls were getting louder around me.
NOAH
Of all the stupid shit, this was the first one that ever felt wrong. The leather-covered wheel squealed under my grip and my knuckles were turning white but it didn’t matter how fucking hard I held on to keep myself from turning back because my wolf kept yelling, scraping his claws against the floor bank of my mind and I could see Maddie reach the meetup spot only to it deserted. Standing there, alone…afraid. Fuck.
“Guys, this doesn’t feel good,” Nate said from the back and tossed his head back.
“Relax, we’re halfway home.”
Nate scoffed and leaned on his elbow to glare at Logan.
“That’s not what I fucking meant. We just left her there with the Timber Pack on her ass!”
My nails sunk into the leather of my Chevy Impala, which didn’t have a scratch on her, and I was always careful about not hurting her but this feeling, this… fear, pushed against my better judgment and I kept lifting my foot off the gas every few seconds, ready to turn back.
It was the images that were planted in my head, visions that weren’t real of Maddie’s bloodied body on the ground, wounds and cuts, and bite marks covering her perfect skin, and the screams- her screams yelling out for help that wouldn’t come.
“Noah, turn around!” Logan turned his head with a death glare and Nate swallowed before he sat back.
Empathy wasn’t my brother’s strong suit or even a crumb that existed in his being. And he prides himself on the way he disconnected so easily with his emotions- emotions I’m not sure he even had.
But sometimes, like now, I envy the way that he cared about no one but himself; how he could leave a wolf-less girl to fend for herself against a pack of slaughter machines, thirsty for the blood of the person who desecrated their territory.
Just keep going, keep driving, and don’t think about it.
It’s not our fault that she came with us, nobody forced her hand.
“Bullshit,” Onyx growled.
But I ignored him, I ignored every voice screeching for me to turn the fucking car around and find her. Being babysitters wasn’t part of the deal.
Even when I shut my eyes I could see her, she was strong and fast but not against a pack of disciplined, adult wolves.
Her eyes when she saw me in the kitchen, standing in the dark after her meet-up with Landon, and the mascara smeared under her eyes made me choke. Even then, when her eyes pleaded in fear and she tried to remain steady and fearless, I didn’t bat an eye but I wanted to kill the fucker, tear his head off and hand it to her as a promise that she was safe.
Safe.
My claws extended and punctured the leather. Logan whipped his head to the side and watched the dents now marking my perfect girl.
It’s not our fault. It’s not my fault.
“You put the lighter in her hand. You organized this fuckery. You pointed her down the exact path she took! Everything that happens to her today is your fucking fault!” Onyx walked back, putting up a blockage and stepping into the darkness where I couldn’t reach him.
Everything that happened to her today, would be my fault. And the things that could happen were making my skin crawl thinking about them.
The tires screeched against the pavement when I turned onto the oncoming traffic. The wheel turned under my hands, and I winced when I felt the puncture marks I’d made.
“Wow- what the hell?!” Logan grabbed the door and held on as I pressed the gas into the floor.
Nate leaned back, his shoulder slumped but my brother was less relieved about my turnaround.
He could mope like a fucking child all he wanted, I had to make sure that Maddie was okay. I drove past the cars in my way, pressing on the gas and getting her up to her maximum speed, flying down the road and brushing against the trunks that couldn’t catch a hint.
The horn blasted. Why weren’t they getting the fuck out of my way?
“Great, now we’ll be dead too,” I turned my head and glared at my brother. His eyes widened and he pointed to the road.
“Eyes on the road!”
Maddie wasn’t dead; they wouldn’t kill her. They would make an example out of her.
After the longest drive of my life, a cloud of dust rose around the car as I pressed the brakes, and dirt spurred around us.
I got out, and it was quiet, too quiet. Had she made it out of here on her own? No, I could smell her and it wasn’t just her adrenalin or the sweet citrus scent she left when she entered a room. The cloud settled, exposing her body covered in blood on the dirt path where we’d left her.
Her dry lips were parted, and her chest was barely moving with her shallow breaths. I ran over and fell on my knees in the crimson puddle next to her body, the rocks were stained, and the wounds covered every inch of her skin. Blue and deep purple bruises marked her waist where her shirt had been ripped by their claws and on her thigh…I gulped. Holy fuck. A deep bitemark punctured her skin and blood was gushing out.
“Your fault.” Onyx’s voice echoed against my temples as I lifted Maddie in my arms.