The Alpha's Fight

by Michelle Fox

  "I know. You wouldn't be standing if you weren't. Just don't be a hero. That's my job right now." He strode off toward the club entrance and waved for them to follow.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Foreboding filled Lia as they made their way to the strip club's front door. The quiet got to her. A place of business shouldn't feel so dead, but then again it was run by vampires, so maybe this was normal. And Ryder, for all that he swore up and down that he was fine, was pale and sweating. She wasn't sure how much longer he would last.

  Her memory didn't want to talk to her about shifters and silver, either. She knew it wasn't good, just from what she'd seen so far, but she had no idea how serious it could be. Was Ryder risking his life?

  "Just be okay," she said under her breath.

  "What?" Ryder looked at her, puzzled.

  The intensity of his gaze burned her cheeks. "Just be okay. I'm not ready to lose you, too."

  He shook his head. "Don't. Let it go, Lia. I'm good. Promise. Nothing is going to happen to me."

  She frowned at him. "My eyes work, you know and I have the senses of a wolf, even if I can't remember ever shifting. Don't hurt yourself for me. I couldn't bear that. Not on top of everything else." She ground her teeth, annoyed at the way her voice warbled and showed her weakness.

  "I'm not hurting myself. It's been a hell of a day, I won't lie, but so long as I'm standing, I'm at your side. You are not looking for your sister without me."

  "But—"

  He growled at her. "No buts. You and I have something. I'm not walking away. Not now, not ever. We're together 'til the end. Got it?"

  She opened her mouth to argue with him, but with a growl of exasperation, he covered her lips with his. The vibration of his growl rumbled through her, shaking her until she felt faint. Oh the moon, how she wanted him.

  "Not the time, guys," Talon said. "Or should we try this another day?"

  Ryder broke their kiss. "Keep going."

  They moved forward as a group. "Keep your eyes and ears open. We have no idea what we're walking into," Talon warned them.

  "Do you think he knows about the Pack Council breaking the ring?" Lia asked.

  "Maybe, maybe not." Talon pulled on the front door, frowning when it didn't open. "What I do know is this club is open twenty-four/seven and always has customers...except for today. Vampires are creatures of habit. They don't break their patterns unless they have to."

  "Oh, shit," Lia murmured.

  "Exactly. So we have to assume they know and either they've already run or they're waiting for us in there." Talon motioned for his men to come forward. With a snarl, they kicked the door in tandem. Nothing happened at first, but after several seconds, the door groaned and fell forward as its hinges and lock gave way. There'd been a narrow strip of glass that served as a window and it shattered with a sharp crack.

  The first wave of Talon's team stepped inside, two in front and one behind who kept an eye on the rear. There was a tense moment as they advanced into the club and everyone waited to see what happened. The air inside the club wafted out to meet them. To her surprise, it smelled better than she would've expected. Incense and floral notes mixed with the earthiness of tobacco smoke.

  "Clear." One of the men poked his head out of the entrance. "It's empty."

  "Empty, or do they just want us to think it's empty?" Talon turned back to Lia and Ryder. "Are you sure you want to go in? You can wait outside until we clear the building."

  "No. I have to go with you." She sniffed as a new scent hit her nose; lilac with a tinge of blood and sweat laced with desperation. "I smell something." Pushing past the sheriff she stepped into the club.

  Plush carpet sank under her feet as she entered what looked to be a lobby. A sleek leather couch sat across from a large wooden podium flanked by vases stuffed with red roses. The flowers were real and wilting as if no one had been there to water them. Dark wood paneling on the walls ate the light, casting shadows around the room. The interior was much more upscale than the exterior. The decor reminded her of a fancy hotel or a five-star restaurant. She inhaled deeply. Yes, she knew that lilac scent. It wasn't from the vases.

  "Lia." Ryder touched her elbow lightly.

  "I think I smell my sister. She's here, or was here."

  He sniffed. "I smell a lot of things. How do you know it's her?"

  "I don't. But my brain is telling me I know this scent, and what or who else could it be?" She shook off his arm. "I have to track it."

  "Wait, let Talon and his team go first." This time he grabbed her elbow and pulled her back.

  She bit her lip, her feet shuffling restlessly as her instincts urged her forward. The push to run off and hunt down that smell made her antsy, but she knew Ryder was right. Would she even know how to defend herself against a vampire? A few hours ago she didn't even know they existed, she couldn't picture dealing with one who might want to do her harm.

  Talon stepped past them, waving his team forward. "You know the lay out here. Fan out two-by-two and find out if we're alone or not. If we're clear, use your radios to call it." His crew nodded in unison and did as the sheriff asked. The smooth way they deployed gave Lia the impression they'd done this before. She had no idea how much thought she'd given or not given to strays before her memory left town, but watching them now, she could appreciate how dangerous their work was.

  They waited for the 'all clear' so long, Lia almost lost it. That lilac scent taunted her with increasing urgency. When the radio on Talon's belt crackled to life with a static filled 'all clear' she tore out of Ryder's arms, following her nose. She darted out of the lobby and into the main room of the club, a large rectangle with the same carpet and wood paneling. A stage ran along one end with catwalks that extended out into the dining area. She followed the lilac to a door just to the right of the main stage. It was locked, so she backed up and prepared to kick it in.

  "I've got it." Ryder strode past her and used his shoulder to break the lock and bust the hinges. He ran his hand up the wall and flicked the light switch.

  Lia followed so close, she bumped into Ryder when he stopped moving. Side-stepping him, she craned her neck to see inside. There were stairs and, despite the light, they faded into darkness down below. She looked for more lights, but didn't see any.

  "Anyone have a flashlight?" she called out behind her. Down below she heard a whisper of sound in response. The barest of sighs. Someone or something had heard her.

  "Here. I've got one." He showed her a small Maglite. "Let me go first."

  She nodded and moved so he could take the lead. They went down the steps at a steady, slow pace. Lia strained her ears to hear more of who or what was down there, but there was nothing. The lilac scent had grown stronger though and her brain struggled to tell her why it was so important. She kept getting little flashes of memory. A laugh of someone she knew. A glimpse of a little girl's dress with a sweet rosebud print. They were so real, she lost track of the stairs and stumbled.

  Ryder caught her, his grip strong and sure. "You okay?"

  "Yeah, sorry." She tapped her temple with one finger. "My brain is just going nuts trying to remember something."

  They reached the bottom of the stairs where there was another locked door. Talon grabbed his radio, "We're under the stage. I need back up."

  "Copy that," sputtered his radio.

  Then handing the flashlight to Lia, the sheriff shoved the door open using the same technique Ryder had with the one above.

  "Why bother to lock it?" Lia asked as they continued deeper into the basement.

  Talon shrugged. "Locks are pointless. Any shifter who wants in is going to get in, but sometimes you lock doors because not everyone is a shifter."

  "Or you don't want someone getting out," Ryder said, his voice grim. "This is creepy. Where are the lights?"

  "Vamps don't need 'em," Talon said. "They see better than us at night. Just give your eyes a second, they'll adjust."

  Lia blinked to sharpen her vision.
Eventually she could make out that they stood in a hallway with cement block walls that stretched the length of the building. Black shadows appeared at regular intervals, suggesting more doors or other hallways. A cool breeze shivered over her skin. She rubbed her arms.

  "Wait. There's a light switch here," said Ryder. A second later, red light poured into the basement from sconces mounted on the wall.

  "What's with the red lights?" Lia asked. The red hue cast more shadows than anything else. She could see, but not far.

  "Don't ask me. I think it's weird, too." Talon motioned her forward. "You led us down here. Where are we going?"

  She inhaled and pointed right. "That way." The lilac danced in the air, unaware it was a spring scent trapped in darkness.

  Lia sucked in air every few seconds testing for the lilac. As it grew stronger, so did other things; blood and along with the sweat of desperation she picked up sour fear. The blood now overwhelmed the more delicate lilac and she switched to tracking it instead. It worried her, just how thick the blood tainted the air.

  "Do you smell that?" Ryder asked her.

  She nodded. "There's a lot of blood down here somewhere."

  "The closer we get, the worse it'll smell," Talon said.

  Lia rubbed her nose, trying to clear it. "Why is that?"

  "Blood's heavy. It doesn't go as far as other scents," the sheriff explained.

  That must be why the lilac had hit her first. Flowers had evolved to perfume the air to attract insects and their scent was easy for the air to lift and carry. She just hoped the two scents weren't related. The idea of smelling her own sister's death made her stomach queasy.

  "What happened down here?" she asked.

  "I'm afraid we're going to find out, " Talon said as they reached the last door in the hallway. "This must be it, or do you smell a secret door or something?"

  "This is it." She ducked her head and covered her mouth with one hand as the scent thickened to the point where it felt like she was eating it. The lilac tickled her sinuses while the blood made her gut clench.

  Ryder brushed past her and busted the door open with a quick shove of his shoulder. He took one look, and then immediately closed it as a rush of foul air raced out of the room. Lia covered her mouth and nose with a second hand, but even that wasn't enough. Talon scowled and turned his head away.

  "What the hell?" She murmured the question from behind her hands.

  "It's death," Ryder said, grim.

  "No." She moved closer to the door, but Ryder put an arm across it, blocking her.

  "I don't think you should go in there."

  "I'll go first." Talon dug into his pocket and pulled out a small face mask. Slipping it over his face, he said, "You two stay here and wait for back up."

  Lia nodded. "Is that mint I smell?" She studied the mask, wishing she had one.

  "Yeah. I keep one handy for moments like this." Talon motioned for Ryder to move away from the door. "Keep your ears open." With that, he disappeared into whatever horror lay behind the door.

  Lia moved so she could see into the room. Even though she kept her face covered, the worst of the scents in the air came through. Panic fluttered through her. What had the vampires done? And had her sister survived?

  "There has to be a light here somewhere." Ryder reached into the room and felt around for a light switch. "Ah. Here it is."

  There was a soft snap as the switch flipped, triggering a dull yellow glow that emanated from a single light in the ceiling. No fancy sconces here, just a lone bulb barely stronger than a nightlight. It was enough to see the horror that had been hidden in the room, though. Bodies lay all over the floor, sprawled in a random pattern. Dark blood pooled under them, running across the floor in small, slow rivers.

  Lia gasped and held her stomach, fighting a wave of nausea that threatened to turn her inside out. She wanted to believe it wasn't real. That she was trapped in a bad dream, but her nose told her she wasn't sleeping. The scent of blood and rot clogged her sinuses until she gagged on it.

  Ryder turned the light off.

  "No. Turn it back on." Lia didn't want to look again, but she had to be sure her sister wasn't in there.

  "Yeah, turn it on," came Talon's voice, heavy with weary as if he'd seen such horror too many times before.

  A quiet sob came to her ears. High-pitched and feminine.

  "They're not all dead." As the light flickered back on, she ran into the room, jumping over blood and bodies. Finding a clear spot, she paused and cocked her head. Pointing to the corner at the back, she said, "There."

  Talon and Ryder moved toward the corner with the sheriff reaching it first. Bodies lay on top of each other in a wet, dripping red heap. Talon pulled a wad of latex gloves from his back pocket. Tossing a pair to Ryder, he put on his and went through the bodies, checking for signs of life as he did so. He shook his head at Lia. "They're all gone. I'm sorry."

  "But my sister isn't in here." She stared hard at the corner. The noise had come from this part of the room, she was sure of it.

  "I'll check the others and see if anyone looks like her," Ryder said, fumbling with his gloves.

  "What do you think happened here?" Lia asked turning in a slow circle. The gore in the room overwhelmed her senses. These people had been slaughtered with a brutality she couldn't comprehend. Throats had been ripped out and slick intestines looped through punctured stomachs.

  "My guess is these are the shifters Mason has been selling to the vampires," Talon said as he rolled over another body and looked at it. "They killed them before they cut and run."

  "Someone must have tipped them off then," Ryder said, picking through the bodies and checking their faces carefully. "Everything's been happening too fast for there not to be someone on the inside."

  "You think one of the Pack Council people told them?" Lia closed her eyes for a second, shutting out the horror around her.

  "Maybe, maybe not," said Talon. "Vamps are sneaky fucks. If you look for the obvious, you'll miss what they're really up to."

  Lia opened her eyes and watched as Talon slammed the wall with his palm. From the way the cinderblock crumbled, he must've used a good amount of force. "Damned if I haven't been bringing him strays."

  "What?" Ryder asked, his voice gruff.

  "It's how the Pack Council deals with strays who can't be trusted to live on their own. The vamps mesmerize them and keep them under wraps. I used to bring strays to this club and hand them over." Talon waved at the bodies in the room. "But they're not supposed to kill them. That's not part of the deal."

  "Oh, wow," Lia said. "That's messed up." She shuddered, realizing how close she'd come to meeting the fate of those around her.

  "Yeah, it is. What Mason did was wrong and illegal, but just because the Pack Council says I can do the same thing doesn't make it right. It never felt right to me. I hated coming here." He gazed at the bodies, sadness shining in his eyes. "Now I know why. You can't trust vamps. The Pack Council should know better than that."

  "I don't think your sister is here," Ryder said. He'd continued to work his way around the room, checking everyone's faces.

  "But I heard something. We all did. Someone is down here." Lia tilted her head back to stretch her neck, and froze as a thought struck her. "What about that?"

  "What?" Ryder asked.

  "The ceiling. Look. That's duct work, right?" She turned to look at both men. "Someone could hide in there, couldn't they?"

  "They'd have to be pretty small," Talon said, his expression doubtful.

  She touched her shoulders, measuring their width. Showing Talon, she said, "I bet I would fit and that means my sister would too."

  "Maybe." Talon moved to stand under the vent. "How would she get up there?"

  "I remember something," Lia said. "We ran up trees as kids and tried to catch branches. We fell a lot but we also could go high enough to reach that. It's a low ceiling." To demonstrate, she jumped up and tagged the ceiling with her finger tips.

&nb
sp; "That's some feat, even for a shifter." Talon remained unconvinced. "She'd have to not only run up the wall, but get off the duct cover, crawl inside, and replace the cover."

  "I know. Just give me a boost so I can check, though."

  "Look." Ryder pointed.

  A drop of blood had formed on the edge of the vent while they'd been talking. It hung suspended for a long moment before dropping to the floor.

  Talon's eyes widened. "Well, damn. You were right."

  "I just hope we're not too late." Lia wrenched the duct cover off and tossed it to the floor. Ryder stripped off his gloves and handed them over to the sheriff. Then he came over to lift her higher so she could look inside, but, even with the flashlight, it was too dark to see anything. Patting the bottom of the duct, she tried to find whoever was hiding up there by feel. "Hello? It's safe. You can come out now."

  No one answered and her hand only found more wet blood.

  Ducking her head out of the duct, she said, "Can I borrow your flashlight? I can't see anything."

  "Yeah, just let me get these gloves off." He dropped Ryder's gloves, which he'd been holding, to the floor. Tucking his flashlight under his arm, he peeled off his gloves and threw them on top of Ryder's. He then passed Lia his flashlight and she went back into the duct, checking both directions. Other than smeared, wet blood, she didn't see anyone, but the duct extended beyond the room, making a sharp left in the distance. "Okay. I'm done up here."

  Ryder gently set her down. "Anything?"

  "Just blood. I think they're still up there though. There's a trail."

  Talon motioned her out of the way. "Let me see." Ryder hoisted the sheriff up and Lia passed him the flashlight. Peering into the duct, he said, "I think there must be another room behind the back wall."

  Lia narrowed her eyes at the wall in question. "But there's no door."

  "It might be part of a different room down here." Talon jumped down. "We passed all those doors, remember? They have to go somewhere."

  "Holy shit," said Talon's men as they spilled into the room. They stopped short as one when they saw the bodies, their eyes going wide as more than one clapped a hand over their mouths.