Paradise City | Lydia Martin

Chapter 04 | Magic Bullet

„Derek! I brought groceries!" yelled Adrian across the foyer as he kicked the door shut with his foot.

He set them on the ground, taking off his jacket as he glanced to the side, shaking his head at the hole that was left there by the two werewolves. He sighed and rubbed his face, feeling the exhaustion seep into his muscles. His nightmares have been getting increasingly worse as if being an omen of something terrible.

„Leave them on the counter," his cousin marched down the stairs, already in his leather jacket, „We have to get going. Come on."

„Where's the fire?" Adrian ran out of the house after Derek, who was already on his way into the woods.

„I found the Alpha," the simple reply made his eyes widen as he shifted into the black hound, soon sprinting side by side toward the city.

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They had been following the Alpha's trail for hours now, only to always come up empty-handed. By now, they we dragged toward the industrial area near the city. It was practically abandoned if you don't count the squatters that call it their home. Still, there was no sign of their target.

Throughout the whole chase, Adrian kept sending Derek disapproving glares and grumbling, which in his hound form came out more like croaked growls rather than words. Apparently, his cousin grew tired of his attitude because he bit back.

„I swear I had him. How could I know that he would get away so easily?" when not getting any response from the younger Hale, he huffed, „Oh, so now you'll shut up? That's great."

The dog only gave him a side glance and exhaled a cloud of steam in annoyance. When Adrian took a breath in, an unpleasant scent went with it, making his snout twitch. Blood, soil and was that disinfection?

Without as much as a warning, he launched after it, ignoring Derek's confused calls. It led him into the heart of the factory, where he only found a lone woman standing by the parked car. She was wielding a shotgun as she turned around, looking for something to shoot. He was sure he knew her from somewhere but he couldn't quite place her face.

„Come on!" she screamed, shooting once into the air in challenge, „Come on!"

He glided back into the shadows, crouching down to wait and observe. Soon, Derek finally caught up with him, mirroring his position. The older man turned to him and was about to say something if not for the booming roar that echoed against the buildings. They found him!

With an enraged growl, Adrian propelled forward onto the nearest roof, crumbling the metal underneath him with his weight. In his hurry, he didn't notice the woman pulling out a rifle from her boot and loading it with two bullets.

The two cousins stopped on the road to the garages, the older Hale going to inspect some drops of blood on the ground. He was interrupted by Adrian's bark as he caught movement on one of the roofs out of the corner of his canine eye. They gave chase, Derek using windows and ledges to gain some higher ground while Adrian, with his much larger frame, chose the containers instead.

They were getting close, the blond could almost taste it as his heart beat erratically, his four legs pumping to get him closer to the Alpha. Just as they were about to jump onto the same roof the Alpha was on, two gunshots rang out, echoing across the silent night.

Adrian fell down onto the hard concrete, his bones re-shaping into their original form as a burning pain spread through his abdomen, where the bullet lodged itself. He groaned, crawling toward writhing Derek, only to find him clutching his arm with a similar wound. His vision was growing blurry and it was getting increasingly harder to stay awake. The only thing he could remember before he passed out was someone standing over him, brushing his sweaty hair off his face.