Page 38 of Stalked By the Alphas

37

HAZEL

I force myself to keep my eyes shut. I don’t want to witness anything that happens to my body from this moment on. That’s all it is. My body. My mind and soul have left the building, and all that’s left is this piece of flesh, tied down and unwilling.

Suddenly, a loud crash echoes through the building, making me jump.

David and Ayden freeze.

“What the fuck was that?” Ayden hisses.

“Go check,” David orders Ayden.

As Ayden hurriedly pulls on his pants and leaves the room, a tiny spark of hope flares in my chest. Could it be Carter here to rescue me? No, I can’t let myself hope. It will only make the disappointment more crushing when it turns out to be nothing.

David grips my face roughly. “Not a sound,” he growls. “Or I’ll slit your pretty little throat.” He releases me and hastily gets dressed, and I can only thank God that whatever it was has delayed this, even if it’s only for a few minutes.

There is a shout from upstairs, a scuffle, and then Ayden comes crashing down the steps, landing in a painful heap on the ground.

I whimper as the thud-thud of heavy footsteps descends the stairs, one by one slowly.

A godawful scraping sound sets my teeth on edge. An alpha appears with a black mask on that appears to have purple lights shot through it. He is enormous in the small space of the staircase; his shirt is hanging open, ripped in places and soaked with blood. In his hand is a metal pipe that he scrapes down the wall until he reaches the bottom of the stairs. He twirls it in his hand. I can see blood glistening on the end. Ayden’s?

I gulp. Who is this? Is he here to hurt me as well?

I choke back the sob as the masked man takes in this underground room and then his gaze lands on me. The scent of cedarwood hits my senses so hard I choke on it. The rage is so deep, so white-hot, I gulp. My stomach churns, and then I cry out as David presses the cold steel of his knife to my throat and digs in, making me bleed. Carter?

“Stay back, or she dies,” he growls.

I cower, terrified and tied to the bed, as I smell my own blood and feel it dripping down my neck. “Carter...?”

My mutter is cut off by David digging the knife in even harder. He is growling deep in his throat, trying to force Carter to bow to him, to submit. He is powerful, but Carter won’t let him overpower him.

Will he?