The New King: An Alien War Romance (Galactic Order Book 5)

by Erin Raegan

  “Hello?” I called hesitantly. If they didn’t answer, I was shutting myself back in my room. No way was I going to witness one of their very, very rare physical interactions. Gross. Rick was like fifty, and Mom, yeah, I had seen enough of her growing up. She never cared to protect her daughter from seeing that kind of thing, no matter how old I was. They may hate each other, but that didn’t mean they didn’t still tumble into bed together after a little too much wine.

  A muffled scream answered me, but it wasn’t from inside our swanky apartment. It was outside the door. I tip-toed over and peeked out of the peephole. I blinked and backed away, furrowing my brows. I shook my head and looked again. Yup, there was a weirdo in the hall. He was in raggedy clothes and sniffed the wall while wailing as loud as he could. I watched him a moment as he sniffed along our neighbor’s door. Our apartment was in a nice building with a doorman and everything, but everywhere in the city had their crazies. Still, it was strange to see one wandering around in the daytime.

  I jumped when he turned and looked right at our door. He shuffled over and slammed into it, and I jumped again. His wails picked up in volume, and he began to beat against the door. I started to shake and looked back at my mom and Rick’s door. I winced. I really didn’t want to interrupt them, but I didn’t want to just call the cops. My mom got pissed over the littlest of scenes now that she was living it up and trying to impress all the local socialites.

  I sighed and trudged over to their door reluctantly. I bit my lip and listened. I could hear something inside, but it wasn’t any of the headboard banging I was used to hearing. I knocked. The noises stopped, and one of them moaned something. “Guys? I’m sorry, but some weirdo’s at the door. I’m afraid he’s going to bust it in if we don’t call the cops.” Nothing. “Did you hear me? Hello?” I knocked harder. Someone snarled, and I sighed. Mom was probably having another one of her tantrums, but it was unlike Rick to not come and say something so I could avoid her.

  The guy at the door was really going at it, and the little table by the door was starting to shake. The vase of flowers was going to topple off. My stomach started to pinch, fear creeping in. “Hey, seriously, he’s going to break in.” I twisted the knob and pushed it open a crack. Foul sucking sounds met my ears, and I made a face. “Hey, take a break for a second. Some guy is out here―”

  A snarl of pure rage came from inside, and something thumped to the floor. A dark and forbidding feeling cast an ominous shadow over me, but I ignored it and lightly pushed the door open the rest of the way.

  I would always regret not listening to that warning.

  The door creaked on its hinges and hit the wall. I gaped at the scene in front of me, my face draining of color and the hairs on my arms prickling.

  Rick stood there; his eyes were bloodshot and burning into mine. His face was dripping a dark red liquid, and his suit was covered in the same dark red, from the collar of his shirt to the front of his black slacks.

  I looked down at his feet and gagged. Pure shock froze me as I looked at the tangled, bloodied mess of my mother’s blond hair, no longer the same golden color as mine but now tinged pink and deep red. Her perfectly manicured nails pointed toward me on the carpet, and I followed the path of her hand, up her arm, to the bloodied stump where it used to be attached to her mangled body.

  “W- what did y- you d- do?” I stuttered to Rick. He snarled and growled, taking one uneven step toward me.

  I backed away on numb feet, tripping over the shredded hem of my jeans. “Mom?” I asked in a small voice I barely recognized as my own. But she was gone, her lifeless eyes staring at the ceiling. “Why?” I breathed through tears and terror. Rick snarled a low inhuman sound, and the man in the hallway howled. I fell back as Rick lunged at me. Spinning on my feet, I let instinct and adrenaline take over as I threw myself in my room and slammed the door shut.

  His large body slammed into the wood, and I bounced away briefly before throwing myself back into the door. I dug my bare toes into the cream carpet and pushed with every bit of strength I had, terror filling my bones. The door clicked, and I threw the lock, backing away with my hands in my hair. He hammered against the door, warping it inwards. I frantically looked around and gripped the edge of my bookshelf, knocking it over and across my door. Knickknacks and books flew in every direction, raining down on me.

  I trembled as I glanced around my room, searching for my phone. Frantically climbing over my bed, I yanked it from the floor on the other side and backed against the window, ripping the headphones out of it. I unlocked it, and it took me three tries to get the dial app open and another three tries before I successfully dialed 911.

  I raised it to my ear and listened hard for the ring as Rick snarled and growled, hammering into the door with his body. I got a busy signal. I looked down at the phone in disbelief. I hit call again, my heart hammering so powerfully it felt like it was going to come flying right out of my chest. Busy signal. I choked on a hysterical sob and shouted in fear as the house phone rang from my nightstand. I dropped my cell and lunged for the cordless phone, hitting the answer button without glancing at the caller ID, fully believing an emergency operator would be on the other end. But it wasn’t.

  “H-help,” I gasped.

  “Willow?” Jason growled. I sobbed, unable to get a word out. “Low? Where are you?”

  Rick snarled, and another howl screamed through the apartment, followed by a loud bang.

  “Willow,” Jason snarled. “Are you alone? Where are you?”

  “H-h-h-h-home,” I sobbed and screamed as my bedroom door splintered. I dove for my connected bathroom and slammed the door, locking it.

  “Listen to me, Princess. Where in the apartment?” A loud engine roar boomed through the speaker but was cut off as something banged into my bathroom door. I screamed again. “Answer me!” he thundered.

  “My bathroom!” I shouted while I threw my body against the bathroom door as it started to bow inward.

  “Okay, look up. What do you see?” Jason gunned his engine again, and I gasped as I was bounced away from the door, Rick beating it from the other side. “Do it now, Low.”

  “C-ceiling. What am I looking for?”

  “Is there a vent?”

  I looked around and spotted a square vent about a foot wide and foot and half long. “Y-yeah.”

  “Can you reach it?”

  I looked around and shook my head. There were a shower and a sink.

  “Can you climb on something?”

  “The s-sink,” I gasped and blinked away huge droplets of tears from my eyes.

  “Okay, climb up and tear the vent out. Do it quick. Use everything you’ve got.” His tires squealed as I hopped on the sink, screaming as the door cracked. “Come on, Princess, quickly.”

  I dropped the phone on the counter and stood on my toes, wedging my fingers into the vent, scraping the skin from the tips. I pulled and pulled, but it wouldn’t budge. Jason shouted on his end of the phone, but I couldn’t hear him over the inhuman howls outside the door.

  I pulled hard, ripping my fingers open, and lifted my knees to my chest, hanging from it. It creaked and came crashing down. I fell and hit my side on the corner of the counter, and my elbow banged off the floor. The door cracked again, and I jumped, climbing back up onto the counter.

  “WILLOW!”

  I picked up the phone.

  “ANSWER ME!”

  “I got it!” I shouted.

  “Good girl,” he breathed hoarsely. “Now get that ass up there.”

  I nodded and tossed my phone into the vent. I pulled up with my arms, but I wasn’t strong enough. I wedged my toes against the bathroom mirror and pushed up, hopping into the vent. My hands slid, but I wiggled, swinging my legs side to side until my chest was inside and my legs were hanging out. The door crashed open, smacking my feet, and I screamed again. My fingers gripped a metal plate, and I pulled with everything I had. I got into the vent up to my knees when hands grabbed my feet, clawing at t
hem. A strangled, terrified sound left my throat, and I kicked wildly, pulling myself farther inside, my hands squealing off the metal.

  I crawled farther into the vent and fell down, sobbing.

  “Willow. Low, baby, pick up the phone,” Jason begged. I sobbed and waved my hands above me until I found the phone.

  I pulled it to my ear and sobbed. “Jay,” I moaned, bawling, my chest pounding and my body aching from the effort it took it to pull myself up.

  “I need you to listen to me, Princess. Calm down and listen to me,” he crooned over and over. I gasped and shuddered. My body bucked from trying to control the emotion. “You need to crawl, Willow. Get away from that opening.” I nodded and pushed up, sliding farther into the vent. I kept going until I couldn’t see the light from the vent anymore and collapsed onto my back.

  “Are you hurt?” he growled. I shook my head back and forth and moaned. “Check yourself. Are you hurt anywhere?”

  “M-my back,” I croaked. It stung from hitting the corner of the sink. “M-my hands.” They were bloody and stinging. I couldn’t take my eyes away from the opening in the vent. I heard them down there, banging and growling. I wasn’t safe here. Rick could just climb into the vent to get to me.

  “Lower your voice, Low. Whisper to me. Don’t make another sound unless I ask you a question.”

  I nodded and bit my lip to hold back another sob.

  “What happened to your back?” His voice was tightly leashed.

  “I fell,” I whispered.

  “Your fingers?” he growled.

  “The vent.”

  “That’s good, Princess, that’s real good,” he mumbled, relieved. He heaved a breath through the phone. “Who’s there with you?”

  I looked back down the vent and shook my head. I couldn’t tell him. How could I tell him about his uncle? “They’re not right. S-something’s wrong with them.”

  “Willow, who?” he growled.

  “Some guy from the hallway and–” I bit my lip and wiped at the tears on my face, “R-rick.”

  Silence. Then a loud, vicious curse. “Listen to me, Low. I’m going to hang up the phone―”

  “No,” I moaned, terrified. “Don’t leave me.” I wasn’t safe here. But the longer I watched the vent, the more confused I got. I could still hear them, but no one had chased me up here.

  “I’m not leaving you. My phone is gonna die. I need to make sure you can call me, okay? I need you to be brave and stay quiet. Can you do that, Princess?”

  I sniffled and nodded.

  “Answer me.”

  “Yes,” I wheezed.

  “Good girl, you did so good. I’m coming for you, Low. I’m coming right now. Don’t move, and don’t make a sound. You hear me? No matter what you hear, don’t make a fuckin’ sound,” he snarled.

  “Okay,” I gasped and bit my arm to stifle another sob.

  “What did I say, Low? Tell me.”

  “You’re coming. Don’t make a sound, no matter what I hear,” I cried as quietly as I could.

  “That’s right, no matter what you hear–not a sound. I’m coming for you, Low. I promise. You hear me? I’m gonna get you out of there.”

  I nodded and screamed silently as he clicked off. I rolled over and wrapped my hands around my head to drown out the echoing snarls and curled my knees up to my chest.

  Jason was coming, I chanted into my head again. He was coming. He was.