Crossed Fates by Lexi C. Foss

Alaric

“Already?”Bortex mused. “That’s a shame. I really thought it would take hours for your entire pack to fall, but maybe they need to be closer.” He walked forward to play with the machine pulling blood from both of my arms and considered it for a long moment.

The vamp stood just behind him, forgetting all about having to go check on the tapping as Makayla released another bloodcurdling scream—a sound I never wanted to hear from her ever again.

Bortex nodded in approval at whatever he saw on the monitors, or maybe at her agonized yell—I wasn’t sure.

Regardless, we had them thoroughly distracted now.

No, not just distracted… amused.

“I’m going to fucking kill you,” I seethed, not needing to try at all to feign my pain. My veins were on fucking fire from his messed-up contraption. And Jude didn’t look much better. The vamp had been torturing him with some sort of bone crusher, taking out each digit one at a time. He only had his pinky left intact.

But Jude proved to be a badass to his core, the male not once screaming. He just stared ahead, his expression mostly resolved despite the bruises blemishing his jaw.

However, now, he glanced at me, his eyes conveying some sort of unspoken message.

I think Jude knows Nathan is here, too, I told Makayla.

His dark eyes flicked to Bortex. “You owe me a suit,” he said, then spat some blood out of his mouth. The vamp had hit him a few times to warm him up.

The hybrid blinked at him. “Excuse me?”

“When this is done, I want a new suit,” Jude informed him.

Bortex huffed a laugh. “When this is done?”

“Yeah,” Jude replied, rolling his head around and cracking his neck. “This suit isn’t cheap. And your idiot torturer ruined it.” He looked down at his sleeves. “Unacceptable.”

Leave it to Jude to care more about his suit than his bodily harm. The man’s pain tolerance was admirable. It made me wonder what supernatural substances he took to bolster his reserves, because he certainly wasn’t reacting like a human. Bortex wanted details on E.V.I.E.’s technology and access to the company’s servers. Jude hadn’t so much as flinched in response. He hadn’t spoken until now either.

And yet that shock wave hadn’t taken him out earlier.

Interesting.

Ow, son of a bitch!Makayla shouted in my mind.

What? What happened?I demanded, my pulse skipping several beats faster.

Breaking thumbs, she gritted out. Fuck a duck.

Breaking… thumbs?

Cuffs, she reminded me. Figure I have them distracted… ow… with my screaming fit… She paused, her hiss of pain another sound I never wanted to hear from her again. Which consequently also allows me to mask… the agony… of… this.

Another curse followed as she broke her other thumb.

I started to ask if she was all right when Todd clocked Jude across the face. The E.V.I.E. director tongued his teeth, then spat another mouthful of blood at the vamp. “Have at it, leech.”

Yeah, Jude definitely knows Nathan’s here. I had no idea how, but it was clear in the way he challenged the vampire now with his gaze.

“I’m never giving you anything useful.” He sounded so nonchalant and carefree. “Might as well make a snack of me.”

A commotion sounded up above, causing both Bortex and the vamp to spin toward the door. “What the fuck was that?” the vamp demanded.

Jude looked at him. “Backup.”

Bortex growled, his nostrils flaring as the scent of shifters followed.

“How the hell did they get past the alarms?” the vamp asked, his haughty tone filled with disbelief.

I suspected Nathan had something to do with that. Or maybe Jude. There were things he’d clearly not told me about tonight—including whatever backup plan had been engaged. Because none of the wolves upstairs were mine.

Jude never played a game without being ten steps ahead, and he proved that now with a mere glance. He wasn’t smiling so much as waiting. Expectantly.

A disturbance sounded from the other room, followed by Makayla’s snarl in my mind.

She cursed in my mind, her pain spiking along our bond. Then she naturally pulled strength from me, leaving me wilted on the table, the pumping of my veins too much coupled with her need for energy.

My pack pushed more to me, but I closed them off, not wanting to incapacitate anyone else.

And then a series of explosions came from down the hall.

I’m almost free, Makayla panted into my head. But they know. And fuck, HJ has one hell of a punch. She sounded dizzy yet focused. I’m going to stab him. Just as soon as I can feel my damn thum—

Makayla!I shouted as something loud rattled the table beneath me.

Are you fucking kidding me?!Makayla snapped.

And then her mental voice shut off.

I shouted her name, my vision coming and going as the stench of sulfur and flames grew beside me. Bortex. Shifting. Hybrid. I tried to tell her, my reserves depleting as my wolf withered inside me. I needed more energy. More life. But my pack… I couldn’t… I couldn’t take any more from…

Alaric!Makayla’s voice flourished through my mind, slapping across my consciousness and yanking me back into the present.

Bortex had gone all beastly hybrid beside me, his head ducked at the ceiling above. I glanced at him. “Seriously. One ugly… fuck…” I thought out loud, swallowing.

He turned his beady eyes on me, flames billowing from his mouth before he charged through the door to deal with the chaos in the hallway.

Makayla blasted me with energy, her anger a snarl in my mind. Don’t be a stubborn asshole!

What?

She didn’t explain, just shoved more power into me from her own connection to the pack.

Ah, hell, I hadn’t thought of that. Makayla…

Don’t you dare,she snapped.

Smoke and fire arced down the corridor.

Chaos broke out.

Men in black armor poured through with high-tech military-grade rifles and a whole slew of toys that I would have drooled over in another reality. But right now, I could barely keep my eyes open.

My wrists were suddenly free.

The machine stopped.

And Makayla slammed me with another pulse of pack life, drawing my focus to her. Standing over me. Her blue eyes wild with fury. Then her mouth came down over mine, her lips hard and urgent, her tongue mastering mine.

My world spun, part of me wondering if I’d somehow gone to heaven. Then she bit down hard enough to draw me into the present.

Ash littered the air.

Gun powder residue, too.

I just blinked, dumbfounded and confused.

Then a roar came from the hallway. Bortex. Followed by a shock wave that had Makayla—who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere—falling onto me, incapacitated by the weapon.

Jude cursed.

But a round of bullets graced the air, followed by ferocious growls.

The momentary paralysis lifted.

I blinked at Makayla.

She slowly rolled off me, her movements pained from the residual shock of whatever the fuck that weapon was. I followed her just as slowly, as a wave of fire billowed down the corridor outside the door.

Jude snorted, a stake in his hand as he watched the inferno blaze from the doorway.

The ground shook a second later, the flames dying.

Then he whistled low and said, “Here.” He tossed the stake to someone in the hall. “Drive that through the fucker’s heart.”

Makayla and I ambled forward just in time to see a male dressed in all black shove the stake into Bortex’s chest. “That’s two kills you’ve taken from me tonight, Marc,” Makayla said, sounding supremely pissed off.

The guy on the floor glanced over his shoulder. “Try moving faster next time, then, rookie.”

She growled. “Not a rookie.”

“Totally a rookie,” another voice said, causing her head to whip down the hall.

“Asher?” she asked, her tone riddled with shock.

The man in question pulled a helmet off his head, his thick brown hair a static mess of strands as his piercing blue eyes landed on Makayla. “You didn’t think I’d let Nathan have all the fun, did you?”

Another male grunted in response as he removed his head armor. His aura and tall, muscular stature boasted power.

Alpha, my wolf immediately recognized, a low growl forming in my chest. I didn’t release it, aware that he wasn’t here to challenge me, but that didn’t stop my inner animal from pacing in annoyance at having another dominant male so close to my mate.

“You must be Nathan,” I guessed.

His silver eyes met mine, his wolf staring right at me. “And you must be Alaric.” He shook out his mane of long, blond-brown hair before shifting his focus to Jude. “I gave you that amulet for Makayla. Not for your own personal use.”

“Yeah.” Jude ran his fingers through his dark strands, then palmed the back of his neck. “I didn’t get a chance to hand it over before she was taken. Figured I’d test out the beacon—you know, make sure it worked and all that.”

“Right,” Nathan replied, the single word radiating alpha energy and aggression.

Several other men in black entered the hallway, all of them in helmets—which I guessed were what had blocked the men from succumbing to the shock wave. Although, these newcomers smelled like humans, not wolves. When they all focused on Jude, I realized they were his personnel. But not… slayers. It had me arching a brow at him.

“There are a lot of layers to E.V.I.E., Alaric. Pity you won’t be hanging around to learn about them all.” He focused on his men. “Report.”

They provided a summary of the events on the grounds, the dismantling of mines and alarms outside, and the casualty number.

Twelve dead.

All of them Bortex’s men.

That brought the total up to twenty with the eight from earlier, twenty-one if I included Paul.

Plus Bortex, the vamp, and the two who were in the cell with Makayla.

“Did any get away?” I asked, considering the facility and the need for multiple personnel to run it.

“No,” one of the men replied. “All men accounted for.”

“There’ll be more,” Makayla inserted. “This is only a branch of the operation.”

“But a main one,” Jude said, eyeing her. “Similar to the cell you took down for Sapphire.”

“Yeah, but apparently all the leadership wasn’t wiped out appropriately,” she returned, glancing pointedly at Bortex.

“Won’t happen again,” Jude assured her. “Because I’ll be handling it instead of the packs.” He gave me a look that dared me to argue.

I considered it for all of a second, then nodded. “Have at it, boss.” If I was going to trust anyone to dismantle this mess, it was Jude Reyes.

His lips parted to say something as a shimmer in the corner had us all turning toward a portal forming at the end of the wall.

Nathan, Asher, and Marc all aimed their rifles at the swirling magic.

Then Marc cursed as a blue-haired pixie of a female skipped out into the hallway. “Ah, fuck. What the hell do you want, Sapphire?” the man demanded, his tone holding a touch of exasperation.

The female blinked at him, her gaze narrowing slightly. “Hmm, I didn’t time that quite right. Your helmet should be off, not on.” She glanced at her wrist as though checking for a watch. “Well. I’m here anyway. Now, where’s the ring?”