Slip of Fate (Werelock Evolution Book 1) (6 page)

As he breathed deeply in and out, audibly inhaling as if to suggest he could actually smell me from across the foyer, he seemed to regard me much like Alessandra first had—as if he was encountering an apparition.

Then his eyes widened further, and I could’ve sworn the most unfathomable expression of pure elation and inconceivable rapture transformed his confused, horrified features for the briefest of moments.

Strangely, it reminded me of the expression on the face of this lost little boy I’d helped once at the mall—his look upon laying eyes on his mother when they were at last reunited. It was an odd amalgamation of unmitigated joy mixed with relief juxtaposed against the profound terror of realizing one’s own supreme vulnerability for the very first time. The face of one who’d just been saved but would never be the same again for that rescue.

Only in this case, the man before me still appeared hopelessly lost. And judging from the way his expression swiftly morphed into that of unadulterated rage, I wasn’t sure he’d wanted to be found at all—much less saved.

“Fuck,” Alessandra swore under her breath at my side.

Fuck was right. I was sure if eyes could spit fire, Alex’s would have charred me alive already.

And then they did. Either I was going completely mad or his irises had turned a bright golden yellow color as they glowered wildly at me.

“Fuck, fuck,
fuck,”
Alessandra whisper-swore again as every single pair of eyes in the room seemed to fixate upon me in marked disbelief.

Alex’s lips pulled back into a snarl, and a deep, unearthly growl vibrated up from his chest and ricocheted off the walls.

“No,”
he ground out in a low, deathly grim rumble that sounded more animal than human. “
Not mine!
”

I hadn’t a clue what he’d meant by that proclamation, but I was pretty sure any small chance I’d had of surviving the night had just evaporated.

“This … can’t be happening,” Alessandra stammered cryptically. “You’re … human … you’re Raul’s sister … ”

“Fuck me sideways!” I heard Alcaeus’ voice buoyantly exclaim. “No wonder she smells so good and I feel so protective.”

My eyes darted to where Alcaeus stood just a few feet from Alex. He was grinning from ear to ear like a man who’d just won the lottery. Earlier he’d wanted to save me from Alex. And now, right as I was about to be murdered in cold blood, he looked ready to celebrate.

“Well, isn’t this just a juicy slice of poetic justice?” He chuckled heartily, slapping a thoroughly unamused Alex on the back.

“Alex, please meet Raul’s little sister and my new best friend, Milena,” Alcaeus introduced with a flourish.

“She’s injured,” he added happily to the otherwise silent, tension-saturated room. “Head trauma,” he informed the incensed-looking Alex with glee. “You might want to get right on that, in fact, because Remy and I weren’t able to get her to cooperate long enough to heal it.”

“Alcaeus, please stop?” Remy’s distressed voice implored. He was standing on the other side of the room. He didn’t seem to find the situation as funny as Alcaeus did. “This is not the time to antagonize him. Think of Milena.”

My eyes darted back and forth across the room from Remy to Alcaeus to Alex. Remy was right. Whatever Alcaeus was doing seemed to be exacerbating the situation and escalating Alex’s level of ire. His face was flushed and he’d begun growling at the mention of Remy and Alcaeus’ failed attempt to heal my head injury. But Alcaeus waved off Remy’s warning.

“I mean, sure,” Alcaeus broadcast to the room as he absorbed Alex’s every strained reaction with relish, “she enjoyed me licking her inner thighs all right, and she most definitely enjoyed Remy kissing her,” he said with a mischievous wink in Remy’s direction, “but in general she doesn’t much care for warlocks creeping around inside her head. Isn’t that right, my dear?” He looked to me for confirmation.

I shook my head in bewilderment. Alessandra was now swearing like a sailor next to me. Alex hadn’t ceased growling; his unearthly yellow eyes raked over me as he fisted his hair and his whole body shook with barely suppressed fury—the personification of a geyser ready to blow.

“Alex, please?” Remy beseeched, “I beg you, please don’t hurt her. None of this is her fault. Take your anger out on me.”

Alcaeus snorted. “He’s not going to hurt her. He might be a stubborn, bitter asshole, but he’s never been stupid.”

I didn’t know what the deuce was happening or what they were talking about. All I knew was that Alex had begun cursing a blue streak and yanking at his tie until he’d torn it to shreds in frustration from his neck. He’d just managed to shrug out of his fancy tuxedo jacket when suddenly with an angry roar he burst from his own skin before my very eyes!

Buttons went flying and expensive-looking fabric was torn to shreds as an enormous, viciously snarling black and grey wolf took the place of the enraged man faster than I could blink.

Werewolf!

Almost all the other occupants in the room parted and backed away, bowing their heads in deference to the beast and affording him greater space as with hackles raised he took his first horrifying step forward in my direction.

My mouth fell open and I instinctively took a miniscule step backward. Alessandra’s hand shot out and captured my wrist.

“No! Don’t move,” she warned.

The beast increased his growling and snarling the moment she grabbed me, prompting Alessandra to swear and release my wrist.

“Don’t make any sudden movement,” she cautioned, speaking slowly and clearly, her voice never rising above a whisper as she began to sidestep away from me.

“And no matter what, do … not … run,” she stressed. “When he comes at you, don’t panic, okay? Please,
please,
listen to me, Milena?” she appealed. “Alex won’t hurt you; just let him scent you.”

She didn’t want me to run from him?
Wouldn’t hurt me?

He’d just announced to the whole fucking room I was dead meat next!

Not only had he freely claimed credit for the murder of the only family member I had left, but I’d just witnessed him crush a man’s throat with his bare hand after heartlessly denying Felix’s dying request to spare his son’s life.

What’s more, now that the room had cleared, I noted that Felix’s compadres seemed to have suffered even worse fates, as their bodies lay lifeless on the marble floor, their chests torn open and their un-beating, bloody hearts strewn thoughtlessly beside them.

And now, when Alex was snarling at me in his true monster nature form—that of a vicious, oversized, supernatural killer dog—Alessandra expected I wouldn’t run? If she thought I was going to stick around and let some cross between
Cujo
and
Hannibal Lecter
get close enough to sniff and lick my hand, she was out of her goddamned mind.

I didn’t run. I pivoted on my heel and
flew!

CHAPTER FIVE

Ignoring the pain that stabbed through my ribs, the shouts of warning, and the cacophony of snarls echoing and bouncing off the travertine hallway walls, I ran like hell. Unthinkingly, I ran straight back in the direction of the sitting room I’d been in before—it wasn’t as if I knew the layout of this cavernous basement of horrors, so I chose the only familiar course I had available.

But I underestimated the velocity a supernatural monster was capable of.

I’d scarcely turned the corner and he was snarling and snapping at my heels. I shrieked and half-fell to the ground as I felt his fur graze my arm when he brushed past me at lightning speed.

I looked up to find him standing on four legs in all of his horror movie glory not more than two feet in front of me, blocking my path. More voices filled the hallway behind me, yelling orders at me to calm down and not run. I didn’t dare swivel my head away from the beast in front of me to pay them heed.

I stood transfixed as the enormous, unholy wolf creature prowled closer, then commenced circling me, all the while his yellow feral eyes boring through me as if they were seeing clear to the back of my head. I back-stepped in place clumsily on quivering limbs as he tightened his circle around me.

He was so huge he was almost to my eye level standing on four legs. And he was so hot; his body radiated heat like a virtual furnace encircling me. But perhaps more overwhelming than his heat, and the intensity of his golden stare, was his smell.

His scent was not one I’d anticipated. It wasn’t like that of a dog at all. It was rich and earthy, with a slight element that was spicy like cinnamon, but also sweet like vanilla … though neither of those scents seemed adequately comparable to do his justice.

There was something deeper and inherently appealing to his aroma that I couldn’t quite place. And despite my profound state of terror, I found myself inhaling distractedly again and again, trying to discern what it was about him that smelled so familiar, yet foreign.

How anomalous and ironic that the supernatural
Cujo
about to maul me to shreds should smell like a side of pure heaven?

I absorbed his essence greedily into my lungs until I stumble-tripped backwards, my rear colliding with the hard marble floor. I yelped and then hissed at the agony that pierced my ribs as he growled above me.

My head spun from the sudden change in equilibrium, and my entire body began shaking with stress and trepidation as he encroached upon me and commenced scenting me right back. Enormous front paws padded down onto either side of me, trapping me beneath him as his snout grazed over my crown, ghosted down the side of my head, and then pressed into the juncture of my neck.

My heart was beating so fast I was sure if it kept its pace I’d at least be lucky enough to die from coronary failure before he got to bite my head from my shoulders.

I gasped and recoiled as he began snuffling audibly against my neck, his cool snout nudging its way beneath the curtain of brown hair covering my shoulder. I continued to lower myself farther down to the ground in an attempt to get away from him until I was propped up on my elbows.

He followed me down, crouching over me onto his bent forelegs until he was close enough that the fur of his underbelly brushed up against and warmed my bare legs and arms. My facial features had tensed and scrunched up in anticipation of an imminent attack. I peeked surreptitiously through squinted eyes as his huge muzzle came to loom over my face.

Intelligent yellow eyes regarded me.
Holy shit, his jaw was mammoth!

It was all too much. I could feel my adrenaline deserting me as it felt like all the blood drained from my face. Spots formed in my vision, and my head suddenly felt too heavy to hold up. I knew I was going down.

Rather than meet with hard marble floor, though, as my elbows gave out beneath me, my head dropped like a dead weight into a sturdy, awaiting open palm. Another warm palm joined to frame the side of my face.

My eyes fluttered open and darted around in alarm. Through my slightly obscured vision and weakening senses I was able to discern a very human-looking,
very naked
, Alex, hovering above me.

He was propped up on his elbows, his big body stretched out over mine, the palm of his left hand cradling the back of my head with ease. The fingertips of his right hand brushed tentatively against my cheek before sliding to the pulse point on my neck.

It was so hard to keep my eyelids open, much less maintain any focus to my vision, but it looked like he was scowling at me. And his still-feral yellow eyes appeared to be darting back and forth between mine, as if comparing the eyeballs.

“Kai!” Alex’s rich, booming bass startled me, and I flinched reflexively. “Shh—you’ll be okay soon,” he said, frowning down at me. “No more movement until then.”

I’d no idea what he’d meant by that, but it sounded as if he was reprimanding me for flinching. Footsteps from down the hallway had followed his call for Kai, and soon another male figure was leaning over me.

“It seems I’ve found the source of my headache,” Alex informed the newcomer, his narrowed eyes still regarding me with what seemed to be obvious irritation. “Let’s get this over with as fast as possible.”

Kai replied in another language, and Alex responded in kind. I was pretty sure it was Portuguese. I was starting to pick up on some familiar words and nuances now.

As I was trying to guess what the words meant, I felt my left arm being drawn straight out and away from my body, palm up, and then a rubber band-like tourniquet being tied around my bicep. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Kai preparing a large, syringe-type apparatus attached to a long needle.

I’d never liked needles. And I’d no idea what sort of lethal injection they might be preparing for me. I tried to pull my arm back. Only it wouldn’t budge. With horrified fascination I realized neither Kai nor Alex was holding it either. I tried to turn my head to see better and realized I couldn’t turn my head!

I knew I was weak, but this was something different altogether. I could feel everything, and yet I was somehow paralyzed! I made a panicked, gurgling noise in my throat as I struggled for the words to voice my fear aloud.

“You’re not paralyzed,” Alex answered my unspoken question. “You’ll move again when I decide you can.” His tone was arrogant—rife with pure disdain—as if he deemed me a supreme moron for failing to grasp these facts already. “Stay quiet or I’ll immobilize your vocal chords next.”

“Alex, please don’t be like this with her,” Alessandra’s voice petitioned on my behalf from somewhere behind me. “She didn’t ask for this any more than you did. Don’t take out your anger for Raul and Mateus on her. She doesn’t even know anything about us. She—”

“You’re dismissed, Alessandra!”

I heard Alessandra’s heels clicking away just as a needle pierced the large vein at the midpoint of my left arm, and I started crying despite my better intentions.

Why was this happening to me?
Who were these freaks, and why did the one freak who had seemed to give a whit what happened to me have to be sent away now? Why was she taking orders from her evil little brother in the first place?