Mated to the Alpha Twins by Jane Doe
Chapter 85
Tori sounded frantic, and if her rapid knocks were any indicator—something had happened. The twin’s and I were out of bed in an instant, shoving on any article of clothing we could. Perhaps there was a downside to sleeping n@ked.
I wrenched the door open once the twins had at least put shorts on. Tori stormed in, her fiery locks an absolute mess and her eyes wild. I was still in the process of putting on my own shirt, forgoing a bra completely.
“What?” I stammered, grabbing onto Tori with gentle hands. I searched her eyes for answers but found only fear and questions. “What happened?”
Tori shook of the fear that warped her insides, much like I thought she would. She squared her shoulders, and let out a shaky breath before composing herself.
“I planned to go down a floor for some ice, figured it wouldn’t hurt because all of the guards posted and what not.” Tori let the words out in a rush, and gave Kade a glare when he scoffed at her. “I had gotten some drinks at the store when we stopped, but they were warm. Sue me for wanting a cold drink.”
“What happened next?” I pressed, flashing Kade a look that said ‘not now’.
“A guard followed me down, we couldn’t have been gone for more than five minutes.” Tori continued, her nervous eyes back on me. “When we came back up, the guards were gone. Every single one. The one that took me down to get ice escorted me back to my room and told me to stay there. Obviously, I didn’t listen. Why would I when something this creepy was going on? I waited a minute and came back out. The guard that took me to my room was gone, as in—not even on this floor.”
I swore I could hear something clatter out in the hall. Like someone had dropped something. That clatter was followed by a muffled bang, loud enough to grab the twin’s attention.
“Something’s wrong, don’t you feel it?” Tori asked, her voice lowering into a hushed whisper.
“I certainly do now.” I nodded, locking eyes with the twins to see that they also felt the same.
I walked over to the door, ready to wrench it open. Every ounce of fatigue had been wiped from me, replaced with fear and a strange sense of foreboding. Something was definitely wrong; we just hadn’t noticed it in time. Just as I opened it an inch, Alec’s shoulder slammed into the door.
“Don’t open it.” Alec snarled; his nose tilted upwards as he took deep breaths of the air around us. His eyes darted over to Kade, narrowing in both determination and feral anger. “You smell that?”
Tori lifted her nose to the air as well and inhaled. I followed suit, but ended up confused. I smelled nothing other than the usual scents of a hotel. Lotion and soap in the bathroom, cleaner and laundry detergent, and just a hint of the twin’s cologne from before we left the cabin.
“What is it?” I asked, unable to pinpoint what scent they were talking about.
“sh*t, that’s not good. Whoever’s here came prepared.” Kade snapped, his eyes darting around the room.
“Short version, it’s a gas designed for werewolves. Created by the High Table. It also has silver particles in it. The smell is subtle, but it’s sweet and metallic.” Alec grunted, looking through the peephole while Kade scanned the room for something. “Small dosages cause hallucinations, large leave you completely unconscious.”
I took a deep breath again, peeling back the layers of various scents until I reached what they were talking about. A floral kind of sweetness, somewhat like perfume. It was to mask the horrendous metallic undertone, nearly strong enough to mimic the scent of fresh blood.
“What do we do?” I hissed, knowing a hotel door wouldn’t keep the gas from us for long. All at once, my stomach dropped. “Garrett and Julian are out there, and your parents!”
I wasn’t worried about us so much as everyone else. I trusted the twins, and I knew Tori could hold her own. Plus, I wouldn’t hesitate to use my abilities if it meant getting us out of here. It was the twin’s parents I worried for. Possibly even Julian and Garrett.
“We can’t help them.” Kade replied, his voice and eyes hard. “If the gas touches our skin, it’ll burn. Then the hallucinations will start, if we aren’t knocked out from inhalation.”
“It’s everyone for themselves.” Alec nodded; his eyebrows knitted tightly together.
My gut clenched and instant tears sprung to my eyes as I felt the emotions of the twin’s. Both of them, they were so strong. They were worried, terrified actually, but kept in control to help Tori and I. We were their priority at the moment, and I knew they’d do everything possible to get us out.
I took a few steadying breaths to keep myself from completely falling apart. I’d be no help if I were a sobbing, sniffling mess. I shoved the worry and agony deep down, hopefully letting survival mode take over.
“We don’t have much time. Whoever threw that is going to come breaking down these doors.” Kade said, darting over to the window. He pressed himself against the wall, brushing the curtain away with a single finger. I realized what he was doing. He was trying to see if we were surrounded, if the windows were a viable option.
Good news, we were not surrounded. The side of the building we were on faced a thick forest. The parking lot was on the other side of the building, so getting to the sedan wouldn’t be an option.
Bad news, we were on the fourth floor. While I doubted it would K*ll us, we would certainly be worse for wear if we fell forty feet.
As I dreaded but somewhat expected, the windows were our only way to go.
Tori, Kade, and I wrenched the windows open. They were large bay windows that overlooked the forest and very distant mountain range. It was a beautiful view, but now looked daunting and sinister in the dark.
Alec had pushed one of the antique dressers in front of the door. It wouldn’t do much, but any number of seconds could be precious in a situation like this.
I could hear them now, the steady thud of feet hitting the floor. Alec stiffened at the peephole and I knew I was right. Whoever they were, they were here.
“We need to get her out, now.” Alec snarled, whipping around from the door.
He made it three feet before a blast originating from the door threw him forwards. My ears ached from the sound. I winced as splintered wood shot out in all directions, leaving a scratch and a few splinters against my cheek.
Even as abject horror flowed through me, I reacted instantly. I lunged for Alec’s crumpled form. He wasn’t dead, not by a long shot. Stunned and covered in a few burns and cuts, Alec stirred on the floor.
Kade’s arms wrapped around my waist, and an ear-splitting scream spilled from my mouth. It was agony and fury wrapped into one animalistic sound, something that wasn’t quite human.
Men dressed in dark clothing filled the room. In those little pocket moments when time seems to slow, I had enough time to a*s*sess what they were wearing. If I wasn’t a werewolf traveling with my two Alpha mate’s, I would’ve thought they were the swat team. There were no letters on their padded vests and dark helmets with face shields.
I was furious that Kade would pull me away from Alec, that he wouldn’t rush to help his brother. I understood a moment too late why Kade had ripped me away.
When the men demolished our door, they let the wispy tendrils of gas fill the room. It was hazy, a little bit like cigarette smoke as it whooshed in the bedroom. Instead of slowly blanketing the room—it spread quickly, that perfume scent strong and pungent.
The gas rushed over Alec’s form, even as he pulled himself from the floor with supernatural speed. I could see it in his eyes, when the gas took hold. They seemed to glaze over just a bit.
One second, I was staring into Alec’s eyes with both fear and courage. The next, I could taste that pungent scent on my tongue. I coughed and sputtered when my throat grew tight and raw, like I had a bad case of strep-throat.
The gas was everywhere now, on every taste bud and nerve ending in my body. I could feel it rushing through my lungs, even with the tiny breaths I was taking. My lungs ached and head throbbed, and I knew we were running on little time.
All of this happened so fast, much faster than it seems. It hadn’t even been three minutes and everything had gone horribly wrong.
As my vision blurred, Kade jumped into action. He had to be fighting the affects of the gas, but I couldn’t tell from his emotions. Everything was jumbled, a mess of color and faces, odors that made my nose burn and eyes water.
“I’m going to try and break our fall.” I heard the echo of Kade’s voice by my ear. I could barely detect the pain within the voice, as the men who stormed the room began shooting.
The next second, I was dropping through the air. My mouth was torn open, but I couldn’t bring myself to scream. The fall stopped so abruptly that I grunted, pain dancing up my torso.
“This is going to hurt.” Alec’s voice called out seconds before we continued falling, only to hit the ground.
Darkness and the deep green shade of the gr@ssand forest flashed before my eyes.
The sound was a dull thud, but every ounce of oxygen was torn from my lungs in that moment. My muscles ached—hell, even my bones ached. I hadn’t broken anything; at least, not that I could tell. If it weren’t for my werewolf side, my body would’ve been one large mottled bruise.
I couldn’t tell the black spots dancing in my eyes from the darkness of night. My body gr0@ned, demanding a moment to lay here in agony.
“Get up and run! We can’t stay here!” Kade snarled, and a hand wrapped around my upper arm, pulling me to my feet.
My legs felt like jelly, but I managed to stay upright when Kade pulled me forward. My torso was already aching and throbbing, but I couldn’t tell if it were from the fall or our run.
Everything raced by me in a blur, distorted from the gas I had inhaled. It was worse than being drunk. Not only did I have poor control over my own body, but the world around me was warped, and I was pretty sure I could see something huge darting through the forest up ahead. Hallucinations were bad enough, but I also felt like I had inhaled liquid fire. My throat felt raw, and it ached to take oxygen into my lungs.
Run, run, run, run, run.
The word was a song, a mantra I told myself over and over again. Until the pain was no more than a dull burn.
We ran into the forest, all without looking behind us. Branches whipped against my skin, leaving little kisses of stinging pain behind. It was a feat not to trip over everything, especially as we ran.
“We need to shift.” Tori’s voice sounded from somewhere to my left. “Our wolves can fight it off faster.”
“We need to shift now, sweetheart.” Kade murmured, “It’s going to hurt, but you need to give into the pain.”
It was near-impossible to call Thalia’s forward, and I reminded myself to ask why the gas affected her differently. She was still in my mind, in the same amount of pain as I.
Kade was right, I thought as splinters of sharp pain danced up my back and shoulders. I could feel every shift of my bones, every tug and twist of my muscle as I turned human to wolf.
Thalia did not have time to sit and fight the pain that encompassed her. She stood to four legs and darted off into the forest. I could feel myself slipping, losing consciousness as Thalia propelled us through the forest. The last thing I remember, was hearing Alec’s smooth voice coax me into the darkness.
I woke with a start, feeling as though I had the worst hangover known to man. My head was a symphony of ragged pain, and my mouth was horribly dry. I spat out something that looked suspiciously like dirt and tried not to gag.
As I looked at my surroundings, I understood why I was n@ked and covered in dirt. We were still deep in the forest, but the tree’s looked completely different here. They were larger and much shorter than the forest at the hotel.
My n@ked body was coated in dirt, mud, and scr@pes. It looked like Thalia had fell down a hill, and shifted mid fall. My body was tangled in Kade’s, and part of me was resting on his chest. We were at the bottom of a large hill, laying partially in a ravine of some sort. The water was wonderfully cold against the sweat that coated my body.
Kade came-to around the same time as I. I knelt by the ravine and drank deeply, wincing as my sore throat ached.
“Alec?” I called out. I wasn’t yelling, but I did raise my voice just a bit. It ached, speaking that loud, but it was worth the twinge of pain. “Tori?”
“Quiet, sweetheart.” Kade hushed me, standing from the stream to take me in his arms.
His hands were gentle as they pulled twigs and leaves from my tangled hair, and brushed some dirt from my face. His eyes were heavy, and one peek at his emotions had my heart shriveling in my chest.
He was frightened, worried—completely frazzled and thrown off his feet. Kade was not one to feel those things. He’s unwaveringly strong and horrifically stubborn. I knew where those emotions were stemming from, and my eyes darted around frantically, my heart on the verge of a panic attack.
“Where are they?” I hissed, my voice raspy and broken.
I had heard them with us, I know I had. They had been right beside me. I couldn’t see them because of the gas, because everything had been distorted—there had to be a mistake. Their voices were real, they had to be.
“Neither one of us knew—we didn’t know they never made it out.” Kade’s voice was low but stern. He wasn’t hardening himself, but letting the emotions wash over him, filling him with grim determination. His sorrow quickly turned to fury, and his fury alone chased away the tears that leaked from my eyes. “We were all hit with the gas. It’s likely we could’ve hallucinated most of what happened last night. We’ll get them back, Aurora. We’ll K*ll each and every one of them.”