Alpha Instincts

Chapter 23

Everything that happened next occurred in rapid succession. My hand shot out and grabbed the knife lying across Andrew's desk. I had no idea how it got there, but I was just thankful to have a sharp object. My hand moved downwards in a slicing movement and I cut the ropes binding Lars to the chair. I yanked him off the chair as my knee came up, catching him in the stomach. While he was bent over from that, I leaned down and put my shoulder into his chest and, still holding his arm, flipped him over my back.

He landed on his back. As he landed, I straightened up and put my foot on his throat, pressing down just enough to make him struggle. My fingers were tight around his wrist, and I knew that if I pulled up and twisted in a certain way, I'd be able to break it.

"You're lying!" I yelled. "You've got my mother locked up!"

Lars was making a gurgling sound, both hands trying to lift my foot off his neck. "Your mother...isn't locked...up."

I glared at him and pressed my foot down a little bit harder, waiting for him to tell me the truth.

Finally, someone in the room must have come to their senses and I was pulled away by Cole and Oliver, while Andrew threw Lars back onto the desk chair. Lars slumped backwards and wheezed. He shot me a glare, "Crazy girl."

I struggled against Cole and Oliver, wanting to knock some sense into Lars. "Let me get to him."

"Not before I do," Monroe growled, leaping forwards and throwing a punch across Lar's face. "Don't you dare act like she's alive!"

Andrew froze. "What are you talking about, Monroe?"

Monroe obviously wasn't going to answer, so Cole spoke up. "Lucille disappeared years ago, we assumed that she was dead."

"That's not possible." Andrew's eyes rounded, and I remembered he wasn't told of Lucille's disappearance. "But I saw her a week ago."

I stood still, and in my peripheral vision I saw Monroe do the same. "What?" I asked in a high-pitched voice.

Cole ran a hand through his hair, looking at me with worry. "What? Where did you see her?"

Andrew looked me in the eyes. "She was walking on our territory...with a man." He glanced at Monroe, who was frozen still in shock and had an unreadable expression. "I assumed she was still with your pack. I was going to confront her, to ask what she was doing on our territory, but she looked like she wasn't up to any trouble."

"And the man?" I asked, my worst nightmares coming to life. "What did he look like?"

He looked at me apprehensively. "Hell, I can't remember, Sabine..."

"You have to!" I pleaded, then, in a softer tone, "Please."

Andrew sighed and scratched the back of his neck. "I don't know...black hair, stubble, dark eyes..."

My eyes rounded. "Red."

He looked at me strangely.

"How tall was he?"

"About a foot taller than your mother."

I couldn't remember my mum's height that clearly, but the man sounded about the same height as Red.