Betray Me: Alpha

Chapter 15: Stranger where I stand

FILLERRRRR *Tears*

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Trust, is a fragile thing, completely different to love in fact. Love is thick, blind and lingering. And no matter what happens or the amount of time that passes, that feeling would always be there, dwelling in the mind, soul and body:

Saturday morning. It was four days since the...unusual attack, no one had a clue what that thing was, which struck fear and uneasiness in a few pack members and shifts were doubled to patrol the territory. All regular or weaker members had been transferred into the pack house for safety measures. Anita was still healing from her wound, turns out she took a harder hit than I thought. Max didn't leave her side.

Our new objective was to keep all intruders out and cut all contact with other packs, from what Tenar had ordered. People followed her words, doing everything to the letter.

"Right" Reece, all the Lake pack warriors, and everyone from my group were sat in the dining room, both Tenar and Reece giving us our brief. "The pack's isolation will continue for another two weeks, again, no one is to enter or exit the territory, Cole is still searching for leads and any information that will help us understand what is going on" Tenar gestured to the map of the Lake pack's territory as she spoke.

I frowned. I couldn't help find it a little strange that we were supposed to isolate the territory. What would happen if we were to be attacked again or worse? It just didn't make sense "why cut of communication? We may need help-" my question was cut off as Tenar left out a frustrated sigh.

"We need to focus on what's important. Which is our job: to protect the pack. Not to go running off playing hero"

"I agree our job isn't to play hero, but how can we do that if we don't know what that thing was, how many of them there are or what they can-" A loud bang echoed through the room and I couldn't help but notice how everyone stayed silent, startled expressions on a few of their faces.

"Enough! I am in charge of this operation not you. So shut the fuck up and listen." 

"Don't ever talk to her like that again" Reece growled in a low, menacing voice.

 Tenar's hand gripped the edge of the table, where a large crack in the wood had travelled out from under her hand, and nodded in submission towards him. I sat back in my seat, biting the inside of my cheek to prevent any sarcastic remarks eager to leave my mouth. And waited for the end of this ridiculous meeting.

The sounds of my footsteps were heavy and echoed through the narrow hallway of the basement. It was like an underground maze, all these turns and identical rusting, metal doors. I made a map in my mind of every passage and exit. And to think Lemnen new this place from the back of his hand...it was him after all who asked me to meet him here. I'm surprised he never got lost. I came to a halt, my hand against the wall. At the end of this passage was the last door, opened wide enough to see a crack of light, illuminating the hallway and creating shadows along the cracked, stone walls.

This was it.

I pulled on the metal handle and stepped through. The room was dimly lit; there was a desk with stacks of papers and shelves along the right side of the room. A transparent plastic curtain hung opposite to the desk, which blurred my view of the surgery equipment behind it. Lemnen wasn't there. What is this place? I took my time inspecting the room, analysing everything.
I scanned over the files on the desk. It was all research, diagrams, graphs and words written in different languages. How long had this been here? Was this what Lemnen wanted to show me?

My hand skimmed over the papers of writing, but paused on a brown envelop, sealed on all sides. I reached for it, but hesitantly pulled back. I stared down at the envelop, whatever this thing was, it felt important.

Heavy footsteps interrupted my trail of thoughts. It wasn't Lemnen. They were getting louder, which meant whoever it was, was coming closer, and they were about to discover me snooping around where I'm not supposed to. Adrenaline began to pump through my veins. Even if that person was someone I knew, they couldn't be trusted. I glanced around the room for somewhere- anywhere to hide. There was nowhere.

I began to panic, think Ciel think! I thought to myself. The voices became louder, as if demanding my attention. What is it! I seethed; I couldn't let that person see me! The sound of their steps got louder and louder, closer and closer, time was running out. Then it clicked. Turn a blind eye. I snatched the envelope of the table and hid behind the door, praying whomever it was, would ignore the most obvious hiding place in the room. All the while, the footsteps now stopped outside the door. I steadied my breathing. I could hear my blood pumping, and could feel my erratic heart rate, as it slammed against my rib cage in a speedy rhythm.

The door was opened wider, as the person probably scanned the room. I could hear the rustling of a jacket and click of their tongue. From what I could tell, it was a man, but I could've been wrong. He walked over to where I had been standing moments ago and sniffed the air, oh no. "Damn it!"  I could hear the dialling of a phone "Boss, that bitch got here before me. She's got the file" I was lucky enough to inherit werewolf hearing and now was the time to put it to good use. I closed my eyes, focusing on the voice on the other end of the phone as they spoke, I couldn't understand what the person was saying, but I most definitely recognised the voice. I'd recognise it from anywhere. My breathing had stopped completely. No, this couldn't be happening. I pressed myself harder against the wall and grit my teeth, to not give myself away.

He hung up and walked back out the door, his footsteps fading as he went, until silence had returned to the room. Still, I waited for another minute or so before I allowed myself to breath. I had to get out of here and fast. I ran down the hallways, going back the way I came and kept my footsteps light encase that man was nearby. As soon as I climbed back out the basement, remembering to re-lock the door. As soon as I got upstairs, I made a beeline for Anita's room.

As I burst through the door, her head turned so fast I'm surprised she didn't get whiplash "what's up?"

I walked to where she lay on the bed and dropped the thick brown envelope onto it "I need you to check this out" she nodded in response, catching the urgency in my voice. I stopped before I walked back out the door "tell no one"