NADINE. “Good to hear. By the way, Arlo called...” Jace began talking.I saw Maddox’s ears perk up, and so did Xander. I saw curiosity in Maddox, but I couldn’t read Xander’s expression, but his forehead creased.“Tell Arlo I’m okay. I will call you again as soon as I can. I hear someone coming.” I cut him off immediately before he could say something about Mindy, and all the while, I was doing my best not to sound nervous. I didn’t want Maddox to have even a slight doubt about me and endanger Chelsea. Better me than her. I dropped the call and walked toward the table, placing the phone on his desk. “Let her go,” I said in a firm voice. “Who’s Arlo?” Maddox said as his hand brushed the girl’s hair. “Isn’t he the Beta of your pack?”He knew. And if I say Arlo knew I was here, he might assume my whole pack knew as well.“He’s my boyfriend,” I said, meeting Maddox’s eyes. I didn’t want to look at Xander.“So he knows you’re here.”“No. If he knew, he wouldn’t have allowed me to come
XANDER.I didn’t expect she would spit on me. Yet she did.It wasn’t many, just spittles, and if this was not a serious and dangerous situation, I would have laughed. “The fuck!” I growled as I wiped my face with my forearm.“If it were me, I would hit her. She did it to Maddox, too, and she got away. Hit her so she wouldn’t do it again.” Carter said as our eyes met in the rearview mirror.My chest was heaving, but I was glad the car stopped. I didn’t say anything and pushed the door open before dragging her out of the car and into the building. I was grateful the quadrangle was empty, as the last thing I wanted was for any of our people to see me doing this to her. We were almost by the stairs when Ron, one of Kenzo’s men, ran down the stairs from the security floor. He looked at me and Nadine, before he opened his mouth. “We need to talk.”“Later!” I snapped at him before dragging Nadine to step on the stairs going down the basement and locking the gates so no one could follow us.
XANDER.“Maybe it means the Alpha will visit her alone tonight.” He chuckled as he gave me a salute before turning around to follow Carter.I kept my face devoid of any emotion, but his words kept ringing in my head.What if he was right? Maddox had never ordered anyone to leave Nadine alone. It was not the full moon yet, but was he planning something?I turned around and jogged up the stairs to the security office. I needed to check the security camera and see if I could connect it to my phone. I knew the camera here was different from the bunker cameras and might not allow me to do what I did for the bunker cameras. But I had to try. I knocked once before I heard the lock click. They already saw me coming up. The door opened, and there were three men inside, including Ron. “Leave us,” I ordered the two, and they went out without any questions.As soon as they were out and the door was locked, Ron pulled out a cigarette pack from the drawer and handed one to me, cocking his head to
NADINE. I didn’t have dinner. I usually never get any fully loaded meals, but Mindy has been consistent in providing me with one at every mealtime. But nothing for tonight.I had skipped meals several times and was trained without food, so this should be nothing, but without sun for many weeks and just a little amount of water, I kept getting weaker. Feeding off Xander’s blood earlier had renewed my energy. Star was recharged, too. It seemed I could survive with just sex and blood from Xander. I smiled at my own thoughts before I closed my eyes. I was lying on top of the clothes I had in this cell because the floor was colder tonight. My body coiled in a fetal position as I hugged myself. Despite the crazy things that happened today, I had many things to be grateful for: Kenzo was alive, and Xander still loved me.My smile was suddenly wiped off my face when I heard the sound of the gate being opened. My eyes snapped open, and my body jolted. I sat up abruptly and sniffed the air,
***TRIGGER WARNING: PHYSICAL ASSAULT, but I tried not to be graphic. Please skip if this will trigger you. ***NADINE."Even if your family insisted that my father killed Maxwell Trevino, he did not,” I told him.“I know.” He said casually before he grinned. “Because I know who killed Maxwell Trevino.”My eyes widened as I stared at him in disbelief. “You killed your own father.” “Maybe I did. And you are not to repeat that to anyone.” He rolled off an Alpha command before he laughed wickedly. “Why the fuck did I waste my Alpha Command on that when you won’t make it out alive here to tell anyone?”“How could you?” I asked, my mouth hanging open. “You see, it’s easy for me to kill you. And Xander, too.”“Kill him, Xander! I don’t care!” I shouted at him. “Do you think you both can play me for a fool?” He roared as his hand rose, and I turned around again, and his whip hit my back. This time, it was more painful as it hit the already-opened wound. “Aaah!” I screamed as my body shook
XANDER.I only needed the gate’s key. Ron said Maddox kept Nadine’s cell door open. But I couldn’t find any fucking keys. I knew Maddox had another set of them, but where the fuck was it? Could it be with Carter? I didn’t want to ask him.I was getting frustrated. I couldn’t ransack Maddox’s office and leave it in a mess, so I had to find them in a careful manner and make sure I returned everything to its normal place so he wouldn’t notice I went through his things. And that was taking so much time. I had searched all the unlocked drawers, and still, there was nothing. I was fighting my emotions so I could keep a straight head. Ron told me through our mindlinks that Maddox was inside her cell and that he took a whip with him. The camera on the cell had no volume, so he didn’t know what was happening inside. I asked what whip, and he said just a regular one with no spikes at the end. I had no idea whether or not I should be thankful for that. All I knew was that Maddox would defi
XANDER.“Give me the dagger!” Maddox roared, rolling off an Alpha command. Oh, fuck me now! I remained standing, torn between knocking Maddox down or pretending I was useless because I could hear someone rattling the bars. In only a matter of time, we would be overpowered. But then again, Nadine amazed me. Her body shook just a bit before she let out a laugh. “You are getting weaker, Alpha Maddox.” She emphasized the word “Alpha,” and it was full of mockery.“It seemed your wound weakened you. Or maybe because I tasted your blood, that I can defy you now…” She was smiling, but I could see veins popping up on her neck. She was having difficulty, but she was acting too well. “Drop the dagger!” Maddox rolled out another one. Nadine extended her hand, her dagger still pointing at Maddox. It looked like she was about to drop it. My eyes shifted between her and him. I knew if he made a move to hurt her, I would interfere, but for now, I let Nadine run the show. “Oops. It’s not droppi
NADINE. My body trembled as I slowly sank onto my knees and placed the dagger on the floor, making sure it wouldn’t make any noise so Maddox wouldn’t hear that I did drop it after all.My eyes were fixated on Xander, watching as he walked away.I could see in his eyes that he didn’t want to go. But what choice do we have? My only wish was for him to come back. I could really use a hug right now.My tears fell as I lay down on top of the pile of clothes and coiled my body into a fetal position, hugging my stomach. I could feel hot liquid dripping from my nose.Blood. Maddox’s Alpha command was not as strong as Alpha Zach’s, but it was still not easy to defy it. I had used all the strength that I had, and once again, Star didn’t fail me. She had given her all as well, so I could remain standing, and so my nose would not bleed in front of Maddox.I grabbed a shirt and pressed it against my nose, hoping the bleeding would subside soon.Star shut off her mind to recuperate. She didn’t wan