Chapter Tweleve
Nothing In My Way
Victor on the side--->
Nikolai POV
As soon as I got to Lysander’s, something felt wrong.
My wolf began to pace as I reached out to feel my mates presence. When I came back with nothing, I frowned. Something was fishy about this and I didn’t like how the atmosphere felt. I pulled out my phone and quickly dialed Nate’s number as I looked around the house.
“Yerllo?” He answered after the third ring.
“Nate, listen. I’m at Lysander’s and I can’t feel his presence. Plus, not to mention the fact that something defiantly doesn’t feel right and my wolf is freaking out. “
“Whoah, okay. Are there any unusual cars around? Like a van or something?”
I shook my head as I looked around the street. “No. There’s only a red car that’s always parked across the street and there’s a –“ I narrowed my eyes as I saw what looked like a black Escalade parked on the curb. I saw the window roll down and a man point a gun out of it. “Ah shit.” I sighed and quickly ducked as he fired the gun. I dropped my phone in the process and went to pick it up, thinking I escaped the bullet, when I felt a sharp prick in my neck.
I winced and reached up, pulling out a needle. They didn’t shoot bullets at me.
They fucking tranquillized me!
I crumbled to the ground as my ligaments stopped responding. My vision was going in and out and I could hear Nate calling out at me from my phone and footsteps. Heavy footsteps. I felt someone pick me up and throw me over their shoulder. I sighed and tried to gather my surroundings, but with the medicine kicking in, my vision was fading fast, and soon, all I saw was black.
LYSANDER POV
The simple fact that the fucker knocked me out again had me pissed, but now as I watched his lackies tie up a blind-folded Nikolai, my blood was boiling with anger. I could tell he was unconscious because if he wasn’t, he would be kicking and screaming right now. I heard a familiar voice from the doorway, and I snapped my head to it, glaring at the man walking in. He stopped and looked at me, then to Nikolai and then back to me, that same creepy smile he always had on flashing at me.
“Well, isn’t this sweet. I only told them to tie him up, never said what room.” He held his arms up and swiveled around, “And here they put him. The same room as you.”
“Cut the shit. Why are we here? What did we do?” I demanded and he just smirked and started talking to the other men in the room in hushed tones. I felt my anger flaring up again. “Answer me you piece of shit or I will cut your dick off. Non posso credere che mi hai appena ignorato! Il cazzo ti credi di essere?” I heard him laugh and turn around to me. I should have seen the kick coming, because let’s face it; this guy loved hitting me in the face.
But it’s nothing I haven’t taken before. I felt my jaw pop out of place and I was guessing he heard it too because he bent down and popped it back into place. I yelled out in pain and we all turned when Nikolai made noises, indicating he was waking up. Victor looked back at me and smiled.
“It seems your little mate isn’t telling you everything, and as much as I wish to stay and watch you two fight, I have to leave to attend my party.” He stood up and snapped his fingers. “Go get things prepared. I have a feeling none of them will be giving us the information we need easily.” He turned and walked out of the room, his men following until the door closed and it was just me and Nikolai.
I waited a couple of minutes, hearing him grunt a couple of times before he yelled and jolted awake.
“Ow! What the fuck man! Those jerks need to learn that when you kidnap someone, you do it gently.” He yelled. I held in my laughter as he jerked his head around. “Hello?” He called out. I quickly gathered myself and opened my mouth to call out to him when he snorted.
“Is this one of those Febreeze commercials? Well guess what, your product sucks cause this place still smells like shit. What is this place? Like it seriously smells like ass in here.”
“Well we are in a dungeon. A lot of people probably were locked up for long periods of time.” I answered back and his head started to move around a lot.
“Lysander? What the fuck, why are you here?”
“I was kidnapped, and I’m guessing you were too.” He snorted again and shook his head.
“Yeah. I was at your place and those fuckers shot me with a tranquilizer. Like, who even does that?” I chuckled at him. It was amazing how even though he was tied up and blindfolded, he was still so comical. I was half expecting him to freak out, but instead he was cracking jokes.
This is why I loved him so much.
“So, uh…Lysander?” He called out.
“Yes Nikolai.”
“By any chance do you know where we are and who took us here?”
“No idea of where, but I know who.”
“Who!?”
“He said his name was Victor Salavotre.” I answered and he immediately went quiet. I waited for him to say something but he didn’t. I opened my mouth to speak, but the door opened and I watched as three men walked in with various objects. Just one look at them made me cringe in disgust.
“So, listen. In all honesty, we—well I don’t want to use these on you. Now if you talk and answer ou questions, that won’t be a problem.” One of the men said, picking up one of the objects and looking at it. Nikolai looked at him and made a face of disgust.
“Like hell I’m talking to you.” He snapped and the man frowned.
“I didn’t want to do this, but—“ I watched in horror as he started to walk over to me, the cluster of weapons following him. I looked over at Nikolai and saw his eyes wide, filled with worry. I gave him a reassuring smile and suddenly wished I could do the same for myself. Because right now, I was actually scared.
“Just tell us where the boss’s wife is.” The man ordered at Nikolai. He opened his mouth, and looked ready to spill everything but when his eyes met mine, I shook my head. I didn’t know much about what was going on, but I had a feeling that whatever he was trying to keep hidden needed to stay that way.
He was an Alpha after all, and if my research I did after leaving him served me any justice, an Alpha would never cave in for his enemies. No matter what.
“Like hell I’m telling you.” He snapped and I heard the man sigh as the sound of metal hitting metal filled the air.
“I honestly don’t know what to use. Boss will be upset if we kill him and since he’s human, that’ll be hard to do.”
“Use the whip. It won’t hurt him enough to kill him. And if they still don’t talk then…” I didn’t want to hear the end to that sentence. Just the mention of a whip had my blood running cold. What I wouldn’t give to be back at home right now. Maybe if I had known all of this would be happening, I would have never come here. My eyes widened just as the whip connected with my back, but it was more for the fact that I had just thought that.
If I hadn’t of come here, than Nikolai would most likely be the one dealing with this…or worse.
I bit down on my lip as they hit my back a third time and the scent of blood filled the air. I waited for another hit, but was relieved when nothing happened.
“Aright, let’s try this again. Where is Essie?” He said his voice steady. He obviously was pissed off, most likely because he was literally tearing my flesh off.
“I don’t know who you’re talking about.” Nikolai answered, his words cracking as he spoke. I locked my eyes on his as the whip connected with my back repeatedly. I refused to cry out and I refused to look away from Nikolai. I could see the tears forming in his eyes and could honestly say I wouldn’t be surprised if I broke out in tears.
“I don’t think this is enough. His back is torn to shreds and he isn’t even crying out in pain.” Oh but I was close to it. “Maybe we should use—“He was cut off by a loud smack.
“No! I refuse to be behind Victor’s wrath because you wanted to test out other weapons on the human” He emphasized human and I held back the need to roll my eyes. Even if I wasn’t human, this still wouldn’t affect me. I’ve been through much worse pain than this.
“Well maybe…” I couldn’t hear what they said as they began to whisper and then I heard a door open and close.
“Third time is a charm, so I’m asking again. Tell us where Essie is and we’ll let you go. Hell, we’ll even throw you to a doctor to fix his back. All we want is Essie location.” The man repeated. Now he just sounded tired and to be honest so was I. Having someone beat the shit out of your back really tires you out.
But just like he should, Nikolai shook his head. “I promised to keep her safe. Why would I leave her to be tortured again? That’s not right of me and I refuse to do it.” The man as silent as the door opened and closed again before he sighed.
“I really didn’t want to do this.” He whispered and suddenly a hot searing pain went through my back. This time, I didn’t hold back. I screamed, slumping forward as what I assumed was salt water slid down to the grate in the center of the room. “Come on Nikolai. Do you not see your mate in pain? This can all end if you tell us!” He yelled through the room, but when Nikolai shook his head, tears falling down his face, another round of salt water was thrown on my back. I cried out until my voice gave out on me and I was left to silently scream.
“Stop! Why are you doing this? Why do you want Essie back, huh? So you can beat her up so more?” Nikolai screamed at them.
“What? No of course not sh—wait. You don’t know do you?” He asked his tone surprisingly not sarcastic but generally confused.
“What are you talking about?” Nikolai demanded.
“We need her back because she’s—“He never got to finish his sentence as the door flew open.
“We need to leave! This place is being attacked and whoever it is, they aren’t giving up. Victor has ordered us to evacuate quickly.” The man who opened the door yelled at everyone. We all were silent, as if not believing what he was saying, but soon we could hear the shouts and screams filtering into the room.
“What about the prisoners?” One of them asked and the guy huffed.
“I don’t know. Victor will get pissed if they die so unlock their chains and leave. If they don’t make it out alive, we can say we died trying.” I narrowed my eyes at the man. Taking the cowards way out I see. I wonder how happy Victor would be if he heard this. The men took no time in unlocking the chains and then raced out the door, letting it close behind them. I slumped to floor after my chains were undone and hissed as I tried to sit up.
“Ly-Lysander?” I heard Nikolai weep as he shuffled over to me. I slowly moved my hand out and when I felt him grab it, I sighed. He was werewolf; he would get us out alive. I had faith in him.
And with that thought still in my mind, I let my eyes close and the black take me in.
NIKOLAI POV
I felt Lysander’s hand go limp in mine and my heart stopped.
Please God no. No no no no no…
I brought a shaking hand to his nose and when I felt the hot air blowing out of it, I sighed in relief. It wasn’t long though as I looked at his back and my heart clenched. The flesh was mingled and it definitely was going to need stitches. I heard a large boom sound off and then the whole room shook. I needed to get us out of here, and fast.
I stood up slowly and reached down, grabbing my mates arm and carefully pulling him up so it looked like I was giving him a piggy back ride. The tranquilizer was still in effect, so carrying him was difficult. I shuffled towards the door when it flew open and I froze prepared to fight when I saw Nate lowering a gun.
“Holy shit.” He breathed as he saw me and then his eyes fell on Lysander. “Oh my god.”
“He needs a doctor. His back needs stitches and this place is being attacked.” I told him as I made my way over to him. I set his gun down and held his arm out. I looked at him confused and then realized he was gesturing for me to give him Lysander. I gently set Lysander on Nate’s back and then took his gun.
“You won’t need that.” He told me as we started walking. I stopped and gave him a deadpan stare.
“Did you not hear me? People are attacking this place.” I repeated to him and he rolled his eyes. Oh hell nah, he did not just roll his eyes at me. I may be weak from this medicine but I will open a can of whoop-ass on him.
“We’re the people attacking. When you called me and then left, Hazel said we needed to go. Apparently she was getting a bad feeling and turns out, it was just you getting kidnapped. So, she tracked them down and we came in here guns blazing. I left to go find you because of the bomb set to—“
“BOMB? WHAT DO YOU MEAN BOMB?” I yelled at him as I stopped walking again.
“There is a bomb set to explode in,” He paused and looked at his wristwatch, “Two minutes. So, we have two minutes to get out and back to the car before it explodes. Can you run?” I hesitated for a second and realized no was not going to be a good answer. I nodded my head and Nate stared at me for a second and then nodded his head back. We took off running, and let me tell you. I felt like I was a fat kid running a marathon. Not even thirty seconds in and I was panting.
If I ever saw someone coming at me with a needle filled with a suspicious substance, I just might accidently break their hand.
“We’re almost there.” Nate called out as we approached a large set of doors. I was hoping that was the exit, because the last two double doors we encountered led to stairs. I hated stairs. I felt relief wash over me though as the doors opened to the outside. It was nighttime and I could hear cicadas chirping along with the crickets. It would have been peaceful to listen to if I wasn’t, oh I dunno, running for my life.
“How much further Nate? Cause I think my hearts gonna burst.” I gasped as we jogged farther away from the house. It wasn’t until after my question that I looked up to see Nate way ahead of me. I cursed under my breath and tried to pick up the pace, but the sudden explosion behind me knocked me off my feet and made me fall flat on my face.
I gasped for air as what little I had left, rushed out of my lungs on impact with the ground. Yeah, now I hated bombs too.
“Kolya? You alright?” Nate panted as we jogged to me. I groaned and lifted myself up, nodding my head.
“Yeah, yeah. Let’s just keep going.” I demanded and that’s just what we did. When we made it to the van, Hazel opened the door and frowned when she saw Lysander.
“We need to go to a hospital.” I told her as I climbed in and her frown grew deeper.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Excuse me? He has deep gashes on his back. He needs stitches. Take us to the hospital.” I snapped. I was shocked at myself for being so demanding, but I was almost positive it was my Alpha instincts kicking in.
Yeah and those same instincts are what got our mate into this condition.
I frowned at my wolf’s voice. He was right and it hurt because I knew he was. If I had just told them what they wanted, Lysander would be okay.
But then he would be mad because you didn’t listen to him. You did the right thing. You did what an Alpha would do, but no one ever said the job would be easy.
And that is why I was so afraid of accepting it. If I went back home and took over the position, I would be forced to make these kinds of decisions, and I couldn’t handle it. People would use my family and friends against me and I honestly didn’t want to think of what I would do if they were put in danger.
“I can stitch him up. Nate, drive to a convince store so I can get some things. Then we need to head to the airport fast.” Hazel ordered, moving Lysander so he was lying on his stomach. He was still out, and I reached down and smiled as I felt the air blowing from his nose. I sighed and rested my head back on the side of the van. I felt someone’s hand on my shoulder and looked over to see Essie.
She smiled at me. “Thank you for protecting me. Even though Lysander got hurt, you kept a promise most wouldn’t. You are going to make a great Alpha.” I smiled at her words because honestly, they did warm my heart a little. But I couldn’t get past the nagging voice in my head saying the opposite.
If it came down to it and I had to choose between the life of my mate and the life of my friends and family, would I make the right decision?
If I thought I was scared before, it just got worse.