Bitter Angel (28 page)

My face is soaked. “Don’t do this.
Please.
” Never in all my careless planning and foolhardy determination today did I think I’d end up begging Alpha. For anything.

“
Lila!
”

Dear God, he’s close.

My body is wilting. “I’ll do anything.” Never thought I’d say that either.

“Oh, I know you will.”

He burns me again. I scream again. It’s a burned-out mixture of pain, tears, exhaustion, heart-stricken panic, and horror.

“
I’m coming!
”

The door bursts open, and there’s Jay. So beautiful. So not broken. So…alive. The smile forming on my face at seeing him dies on my lips. I can’t let anything happen to him. If he dies, I die.

“Get out, Jay!”

The heat is back, cooking my flesh to perfection. I howl from the blazing sting, crying from the reality of what’s happening. This can’t be real. I must be stuck in a nightmare in the hollows of my unconsciousness.

“GO!” I bellow.

Jay freezes, shocked for a split-second, then he storms toward us. “Get the fuck away from her!”

I’ve never seen such rage in his normally soft blue eyes. I’d almost swear they were red. I’m so mesmerized that I can’t look anywhere but in them.

He’s here. He didn’t abandon me. He came for me. He’s approaching me. I don’t see anything else or hear anything else, and that doesn’t strike me as odd until I can’t hear anything—except for the loud, piercing ring in my ears.

Jay goes down, clutching something. His leg.

“
Nooo!
” My gut reaction is to run to him, but Alpha’s hold hasn’t loosened. I’m fighting against him, writhing and thrashing when I see it. The hand that was only seconds ago setting fire to my back is now holding a gun.

I feel Alpha retrieving something from his pants pocket. He slices the zip tie, freeing my hands. I cast my arms out to Jay, but Alpha has me around the neck.

Trigger is making weird noises—hoarse, indecipherable, maybe words. Jay’s on the floor, gritting his teeth, trying to bear down and stand on his good leg. Alpha tosses the knife aside. It skitters across the floor as he reaches in his pocket for something else.

All of this is happening at once yet separately. Similar to when I was waking up this morning, seconds are shattering into fractions. Spreading, slowing, pausing. Giving me a breath to decide what I’ll do.

I was wrong before. This
is my now or never. If I don’t save Jay, I’ll only be never.
Jay dies, I die.

My ears are still ringing. It’s like they’ve been stuffed with cotton, and I don’t hear it. From my peripheral, just barely, I see it. Not the gun. A syringe.

Alpha turns his face enough to flash his famous smirk at me. The needle is poised near my throat. “Now that I have you all to myself, let’s take this somewhere private.” He says to Jay, “Come after us, and I’ll put this in her. It’s not just a sleeper. I had this one made special.”

“NO!” Jay shouts. “LILA!” He’s right here, but he sounds so far away.

Our gazes rest on each other. We communicate in a heartbeat. I blink and shake my head once.
I’ve got this
, my look says.
Don’t move,
my eyes tell him.

Then I’m hauled away into a bedroom through a door off to the side. It’s empty until Alpha kicks a wall and out drops a foldaway bed. It’s dingy and gross, but he’s drugged out. I’m sure he doesn’t give a shit as he backs us up to the edge of the mattress.

He goes ravenously for my neck, sniffing me first and then licking. I wish I could take pleasure in my masterpiece—his beat up face—but I’m too overcome with repulsion from his nearness.

“Mmm.” He nuzzles my neck. “This
is more like it. No dirty fucking street, nowhere for you to go, and no boyfriend to ruin the party. It’s perfect and I get to keep my promise.” He sucks on me, from jaw to shoulder. Then he bites hard, leaving a trail of teeth imprints on my skin. Tomorrow, there’ll be bruises
…if there is a tomorrow.
“Couldn’t wait until I could come down here, and ahh…” He loses all concentration as he rips the delicate lace of my bra. His lips lower to my collarbone.

I keep careful watch as the needle tilts. I wait for him to lose himself in me. When he does, I can reach, just a simple reach. Stretch out my hand and—

A sudden and violent slap sends me sprawling to the bed. I scream from the agony of my back sliding against it. Pain slices up my vertebrae, spiderwebbing into my nerve endings.

Alpha’s smirk shifts to a sneer. “What? You thought it’d be that easy? Knock the thing out of my hand and you’d be free?” He shakes his head slowly. “Uh-uh. I’ve been waiting all night to fuck you. I even waited until the boyfriend showed, so he’d be out of the way. I
own
you.” He chuckles at that. “And don’t worry, with the shit I’m on, it’ll last all night. You’ll be begging me, just like I promised.”

I close my eyes briefly, tightening my face to block out the mental picture.

How did he know Jay was coming?

Opening my eyes again, he yanks his T-shirt over his head and flings it aside. Shirtless, he approaches me, needle still in hand, and I remember how I tried the same thing when he was bathing me. I thought I could get the knife out of his hand, and it resulted in a slice to my cheek, which left me bleeding on the bathroom floor.

But just like in the alley, I’ll never
stop fighting him. It doesn’t matter how many times he thinks he’s bested me. This is me. I’m a fighter. Despite those half-conscious moments on the mattress, me wavering, what felt like giving up. Now that Alpha’s here, I know this as certainly as I know my love for Jay. I’ll never stop loving Jay. And I’ll
never
stop fighting Alpha. It’s inside of me to win this, even if it costs me my dignity, my honor, my body, my life.

With that decision made, I mentally prep myself. Whenever I make my move, it has to be timed just right. I’ve had enough carelessness for one day.

I wait while he lowers on all fours down on top of me. I wait while he resumes sucking the blood to the surface of my skin, breaking the fragile blood vessels in my neck and chest. I wait while he claws my shoulder, scraping out spaces for thin trails of blood to stream down my arms. I wait while he scratches other parts of me, gropes me, paws me.

I let all of this happen while I lie very still. Light panting breaths are the only sound I make. Beneath it all, I’m plotting, counting. He’s got a death grip on the needle, but he’s losing himself in my body again.

Maybe if I kiss him back…

I tilt my head and put my lips to his shoulder, biting slightly. He jerks back, scanning my face for the plan he knows is there, but I’ve erased all signs. My features are awash of anything but complete and utter supplication.

“Like I said,” I whisper, stroking his ego and clearing away his suspicions, “anything you want. Just let Jay go.”

His hunger is palpable, like a lion positioned for the kill. “Alright. Bite me. Bring back the alley cat. Those claws were fucking sexy,” he growls.

I clench my teeth. My lip curls. He wants a struggle.

You want a fight, prick? Here it comes.

I lean forward and bite his shoulder, hard enough to draw blood. He howls a menacing laugh and slaps me again, only hard enough this time to thrust my face away.

His eyes are wild, the deadliest version yet. “This was definitely
worth waiting for.”

He doesn’t ask for anything else because I lose it. I go rabid on his ass, and he eats it up. I’m screaming and flailing. Now I’m the lion, and he’s the lion tamer.
Or what was it he called me? The alley cat?
What he doesn’t know is there’s nothing uncontrolled about me. I know exactly what I’m doing and exactly what I’m waiting for, down to the quarter inch of movement.

Here comes my opportunity.

He has one of my hands pinned down with his free one while my other is incapacitated by the weight of his chest. I’m going nuts, struggling to free myself from him for the third time in twenty-four hours. I see the needle drifting farther from my neck. I hoist a leg up and kick his back with my heel, shifting his concentration to my left side instead of my right.

He hasn’t even gone for my panties yet. He’s enjoying the foreplay too much. His fingers that are clasped around my wrist momentarily lose their grip, and my hand goes free. I take one giant swipe across his face, and—

“I said get the fuck off her!” Jay yells from the doorway.

“Jay,
no!
”
I had this!
Why didn’t he listen?

In the instant it takes Alpha to swivel around to deal with Jay, I ditch my plan and see the brilliant beauty that’s been laid in my lap. Without even a flash of hesitation, I steal the opening. My right arm is still pinned under him, but my left hand, the injured wrist, is free. I cross myself and fasten my fingers around his, jamming the needle into his own neck.

The liquid drains, but I only have time to get half in before he lurches away, stunned. He wrenches out the syringe and hurls it across the room.

“You conniving…” His words trail off, and he can’t get out the
bitch
that I know was coming. He’s far from unconscious though.

I don’t know what
was in that thing. I’m sure whatever’s in him will slow him down at least, but it certainly won’t stop him from going for his gun.

And it doesn’t. His movements are jerky, but his fingers inch for his pocket. I lunge for Jay, grab his hand, and we run. Well, I
run. Jay limps hurriedly. Alpha shouts after us incoherently. The drug must be obstructing his speech.

“What about—” Jay starts.

“Move!” I command him.

We’re out the front door of the apartment. I know he’s talking about Trigger, and I’m ashamed that we’re leaving him behind, but Jay’s safety is my number one priority.

I hear Alpha’s lagging voice again. We’re halfway down the hall.

Jay looks like he’s about to collapse. “Stop slowing down for me!”

“I’m not leaving you behind!”

Jay is in front of me. I’m covering his back. We’re almost to the stairwell when I hear a metallic
click.

I hadn’t noticed the ringing in my ears was gone. The sound is soft, yet I hear it as if it were right in front of me, like the gun is pointed at my forehead. It might as well be. I glance behind me. Alpha’s not pointing it at me. The barrel is fixed directly on Jay’s back. I don’t know how good his aim is, but I’m not risking it.

In one swift move, I throw my arms out and knock Jay to the ground as the shot rings out. At this angle, if Alpha’s aim is pure, the bullet should hit my heart. Seems appropriate.

I wait expectantly for my body to absorb the blast, but I feel nothing. Not even a whoosh of air as the bullet passes.

I look down. Still whole.

I turn back again, and there’s Trigger, wrestling a half-lucid Alpha for control of the gun. Beaten up and jumbled Trigger.

How did he get his hands free? We were leaving him behind, and now he’s risking his life to save ours?
I can’t leave him!

“No, Lila!” Jay shouts as I reverse my course and dash toward Alpha and Trigger.

Behind Jay’s voice, I hear a layer of racket coming up the stairs. It sounds like an organized uproar, if that makes any sense.

Trigger is behind Alpha, his arms clenched around Alpha’s waist, and both of his hands are around Alpha’s hand—the hand with the gun. Trigger sees me coming and tries to avert the gun’s direction at the wall. It’s like something straight out of a movie. Good Guy battling Bad Guy in the last few seconds of the climax. Then Good Guy turns the gun into Bad Guy’s chest. It goes off. Bad Guy falls to the ground and bleeds out. Good Guy wins.

But this isn’t a movie, and Trigger’s not your typical Good Guy. He’s too weak to do what he’s trying to do, and when I’m a few feet away, Alpha wrenches free of him, sending Trigger flailing into the apartment. Then Alpha dives for me, his greedy hands going for my throat as a cacophony of deep voices explodes behind me.

“
Lila, duck
!”

“Get on the ground!”

“Lower your weapon!”

“Put down the gun!”

They all overlap and overwhelm me. My reaction is too slow.

Police. But how did they…?

Alpha spins me and thrusts an arm deep into my rib cage. The raw skin at my back rubs against his cotton T-shirt. I’m already in so much pain and on sensory overload that it’s only a blip on my radar.

“Stay away! I’ll put a fucking bullet in her brain!” Alpha’s words come out slow and cumbersome. He’s making a tremendous effort to sound clear.

The police—at least five, wearing black with guns outstretched near their faces—do not lower their weapons. They continue to holler orders for Alpha to stand down.

He won’t.

He’s shaking so much, the butt of the gun rattles against my skull. I keep eye contact with Jay. Is there any life in my eyes, or have I given into this fate?
I don’t know. I feel so numb at this point, but I’m joyous in a way. This will all end now. That means Jay is okay, and he’ll stay that way.