Alone in the Dark

Evelyn POV

I ran. I didn't think so. I didn't plan. I simply rushed to the parking garage where my vehicle was parked, and my heels were scratching against the cold floor. I could hardly hold my phone as my hands were trembling.

"Evelyn, wait!" The voice of Kieran was behind me and I did not turn around. I couldn't stop. Adrian was there in the dark with a man who wished to make use of him. A man who identified himself as the father of Adrian.

It flashed through my mind and I wanted to scream.

I went to my car and got into locking all the doors. I made a call on my house phone with numb fingers. It rang once. Twice. Three times. No one answered. My chest was as tight as a fist squeezer.

I tried the nanny's cell phone. "Hello?" A sleepy voice answered.

"Where is Adrian?" I didn't say hello. I did not spend time on anything that was irrelevant. "Is he safe?"

"He's--he's sleeping, Ms. Carter. What's wrong?" The nanny sounded confused.

"Wake him up. Now. And lock all the doors. Don't let anyone inside. No one. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, I--"

I hung before she could speak out. I was driving, and my vehicle was rushing on the streets towards the warehouse. The street lights went past me like a picture somebody was attempting to clean up.

Another text came through. I read it at a red light. The boy is fine. For now. You have one hour. Come alone to the warehouse. No police. No Alpha. Just you.

One hour. It was half an hour to get down to the Fifth Street warehouse. I knew where it was. A house that had been deserted for a long time. The perfect place for a trap.

My phone rang. The name of Kieran was displayed on the screen. I didn't answer. He would attempt to follow me and in case he did, Victor would murder Adrian. I must have known it without his saying. Assassins never lose their word when it comes to death.

My phone rang again. And again. And again. I tossed it on to the seat by the passenger and did not see it.

I arrived in the dark into the warehouse. No lights on. No vehicles in the area except on a vintage black vehicle parked just outside the back. My hands were ice cold now. I could feel my heart beating so fast in my throat.

I pulled up and stepped out of the car at a slow pace. "Adrian!" I called out. "Adrian, baby, it's Mommy!"

Nothing. Simply the wind in shattered windows.

Enter within, said a voice in the dark. It was Victor. Somewhere in the house, however, he was waiting to receive me like a spider to a fly in its web. Bring your hands here before my sight.

I headed in the direction of the door, my hands raised. Each of the steps was like walking on ice. Every breath hurts. I continued to fantasize over the laugh of Adrian, how he used to run to me in the mornings and leaped on my bed. I was continuing to think of his tender hair and his good heart.

I would also kill Victor himself under the condition that Victor harmed him. I was indifferent as to whether it was going to make me a monster.

It was as black as night inside the warehouse. I was forced to creep about, feel my way. My eyes were beginning to bend, I could make out shapes, stacks of old boxes, broken machines, shadows, where anything was possible.

"Victor?" I called out. "Where is my son?"

"Here." A light turned on. This was a single light, suspended on the ceiling in the centre of the large room. Victor was standing to it, and he had Adrian in front of him.

My son. My pretty boy was there, all little and frightened in his little blue pajamas. His eyes were red from crying. His lip was shaking. He perceived me and his mouth was open, and there was no sound.

"Adrian!" I made a step, but Victor embraced Adrian still closer to his heart. I stopped dead.

"Don't move," Victor said. Adrian was in the arms of his little body. One step further and I break his arm.

"Please," I said. The term sounded like a smattering object. "Please, don't hurt him. He's just a child. He never has anything to do with you or me. Please."

Victor smiled. He glanced down upon Adrian, and up at me. "You know what I want, don't you? You know why I took him."

"No," I said. "I don't know. Tell me."

"He's my blood," Victor said. His voice was cold and sure. "He's a Blackwood and a Kane. He has power. He has strength. He will become an Alpha. And he's going to be mine. Not Kieran's. Not yours. Mine."

"Adrian is my son," I said. I tried to maintain an even tone as I was shattering on the inside. "He will never be yours. He will never want to be yours."

We will, that we will, said Victor. He looked at Adrian. You see, boy, you want your mother to make a choice. You live and she can go with me. Or thou can remain and make thou die.

Adrian looked at me. Such a frightened, bewildered face he had. The thing is he did not know what was going on. He did not have a clue why a stranger had his mother or why all was dark and bad.

"I'll come with you," I said. "I'll do whatever you want. Just let him go."

"Mommy!" Adrian cried out. He made attempts to touch me, but Victor yanked him back.

"Shhh," Victor said to Adrian. Your mother should be taught how to obey. The fathers of babies should not be run away by their mothers.

The door behind me crashed open. Light and cold air came rushing in. I turned to see Kieran standing there, his face twisted with anger. Behind him were five men, all with hard faces and ready fists.

"Let the boy go," Kieran said. His voice was low and deadly.

Victor laughed. He moved fast, pulling Adrian toward a back door. "I warned you. I told you to come alone. Now the boy dies."

Victor raised a gun. It was small and black and pointing right at Adrian's head.

Time stopped. Adrian's eyes went wide. My body moved without thinking. I threw myself forward, running faster than I knew I could run.

But Kieran was faster.

He moved like lightning, his body changing, growing, becoming something more wolf than man. He roared so loud the whole warehouse shook. And he was running too, running right at Victor.

Victor's hand moved. The gun went off.

The sound was so loud it swallowed everything else in the world.