Chapter 109: The Alpha Is Having Difficulties

Emberclaw red coiled around her wrists, her forearms, climbing her shoulders, wrapping her body in a cocoon that matched the one Maria had minutes ago.

But this was not Maria’s red flame. Nova knew this was Maverick’s flame.

Nova knew it the way she knew her own name, instinctively, without proof, the same way she had known Seraphina’s mate before the wolf of light confirmed it. Hundreds of miles away, an Alpha whose eyes had turned red in a six-inch hologram was protecting her like the word impossible didn’t exist.

She rounded the corner.

Alpha Thunderfang was on his knees beside Derek, both hands locked on the burning beam, pulling with everything his body had. The wood was searing his palms. She could see the skin blackening and healing and blackening again in real time, the same losing cycle Derek’s hands had been running. His jaw was locked so hard the tendons in his neck looked like cables under strain.

The beam was winning.

"GET OUT OF HERE, LANDON," Derek rasped from beneath it. His chest rose and fell in shallow stutters, each exhale producing less than the last. "I mean it. Go."

"No." Alpha Thunderfang pulled harder. The beam groaned. It shifted half an inch and settled back into the groove it had made in the stone floor. His hands were bleeding and the blood was sizzling against the wood and the sound of it was the sound of a brother refusing to do math.

Then Alpha Thunderfang looked up.

Nova was in the corridor. Glowing. Bleeding from her nose. Wrapped in red fire. Walking towards them through a hallway that was fully engulfed, and walking was a generous description for what she was doing because each step looked like she was dragging her own skeleton through wet concrete.

"RETURN TO THE STAIRS. NOW."

The Alpha command hit her like a wall. Full force. His voice carried every ounce of authority that the Alpha of Thunderfang possessed and the weight of it slammed into her chest and tried to turn her legs around.

She took another step forward.

Alpha Thunderfang looked at her like she had just slapped him. Then came confusion, followed by disbelief, surprise, and finally irritation. The usual expression he wore when Nova was near.

Understandable.

He’d probably never had someone disobey him blatantly like this, let alone break through an Alpha command, which wasn’t supposed to be possible.

And of all the people to do it, it was the slave girl. The one whom he called 7709, even though he knew her name because he had helped her that day in the arena. The one whom his future Luna had threatened with lashes a few hours ago. The one who had ruined his family dinner.

That one wasn’t even looking at him anymore because right now her brain was in puzzle-solving mode and her body was busy fighting an Alpha command.

He would survive.

If he wanted to punish her for it, he could get in line behind Celeste. Add it to the list.

"I SAID STOP."

She did not stop.

The ringing between her ears climbed an octave. Pressure built behind her left eye so fast she gasped, and then a blood vessel in the white of her eye burst. The sensation was a hot pop followed by warmth flooding across her vision, turning half the world red.

Alpha Thunderfang’s mouth opened. Closed. Something behind his eyes recalibrated.

Cute.

The amount of fucks given about that by Nova Grey was zero.

Behind her, the headless body emerged from the smoke.

It was upright. Standing on legs that should have collapsed six times over. The poker was back in its chest, the Alpha probably had stabbed him again. It had no face. It had no eyes. It was tracking her by something that lived underneath sight, something tuned to whatever frequency Nova was broadcasting, and the frequency had been screaming all night and the thing was locked onto it like a satellite dish aimed at the only signal in the sky.

Nova stopped. Turned. Looked at it.

The body wanted her. It was chasing her, ignoring the two Thunderfangs completely. It was drawn to her the way moths are drawn to light, and the light was currently glowing bright enough to illuminate the entire corridor.

The wheels turned in her mind.

Nova scanned the remaining doors lining the corridor. 409 was still intact. Still on its hinges. The wood was scorched but the frame was standing and the flush bolt mechanism was visible on the edge, the same bolt system that had locked her inside 412.

"NOVA, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Alpha Thunderfang roared from behind her.

She didn’t answer. She moved to the doorway. Stood in it. The body’s trajectory adjusted immediately. It moved towards her faster now. The tracking was locked.

Then she moved inside 409.

Five feet. Three. Two.

The body crossed the threshold of the door.

Nova grabbed the fire poker still protruding from its chest and ripped it free. Then she kicked it square in the back with her boot.

The body stumbled forward.

Nova was already moving back through the door.

Her fingers found the flush bolt.

CLICK.

The same sound that had trapped her was now trapping the thing that had done the trapping.

A thud hit the door from inside. Then another. Then a third that shook the frame. The door held. The bolt held. The same engineering that had kept Nova caged was keeping a headless corpse contained and the irony was so perfect it could have been deliberate.

She turned. Fire poker in hand. Blood running down her face. One red eye and one green eye looking down the corridor towards Derek and the beam.

Alpha Thunderfang watched her come. She didn’t see the expression on his face because she was already focused on the next puzzle, which was the beam on Derek, and whether she irritated Alpha Thunderfang or not, she was going to solve this damn problem and get all three of them out of there.