4. Lyra

The scent of terror mixed with the metallic tang of blood. We had all heard that last hail of bullets. I was crouched with Elvie in one of the grey shelf-filled storerooms. We didn’t lock the door, hoping anyone searching would just casually glance and walk away. 

The shouts and sounds of those being gathered up echoed throughout the building.

“Where are they taking everyone?” Elvie whispered.

“It must be the Black Hall, that’s the only space big enough for everyone?” 

“They might be setting us free, lets go!” Elvie whispered quickly. Her long silvery hair had come out of its bun and hung around her shoulders.

“Are you insane! We’ve just survived a massacre! They’ll be setting up a firing squad next!”

“If they’ve killed Valdis, I’ll bow down and give them anything they want,” Elvie muttered, “those guys can’t possibly be worse.”

I thought of poor Mara. Valdis has almost completely broken her spirit. His Beta’s too. Ronan and the rest had made our lives hell. I don’t think about what happened last year with Beta Ronan. 

A year isn’t enough to describe that night as behind me yet. If I never think of it, it can't hurt me. He is the reason I know I must keep my guard up with everyone.

 I whisper, keeping low. “Shit Elvie, what are we going to do…”

“Could we make a run for it? Are the doors still open?” she suggested. Then we both ducked down behind the wooden crates at the sound of footsteps. “GET OFF ME! GET OFF ME NOW!” rang out, the unmistakable wail of Corina. 

“We don’t have the gear, the supplies. I saw one of the guys as I ran down the stairs. They’re insane and have huge guns!”

Elvie gasped, her green eyes wide with interest. “You did! And he didn’t hurt you?”

“No, I think he knew I was a servant…or maybe he doesn’t kill women…I have no idea. It was only for a second.” My mind replayed it like a stuttering film, all jarred and mixed up. 

Black leathers lined with grey fur, a machine gun slung across his broad chest. His eyes met mine for a few seconds and they were the deepest brown. Endlessly dark voids framed by a bearded, roughened face. He didn’t knock me out, slap me about, he let me go. 

\

A familiar scream rang out. They had found Mara. I stood up, unsure what to do when the door flew open. Suddenly all I could see was a black, matte machine gun, cocked towards me. 

The hands which held it were rough and bloodied. Dark eyes stared right at me and my stomach lurched. He was the same Rogue I had seen above ground. His bearded face was as severe as granite, not moving an inch. He was poised to kill even though we were half his size. 

“Move now. Both of you,” still looking only at me.

Elvie scuttled towards the door, I was frozen in fear. My feet remained planted despite the gun barrel facing me. 

“Move.” His voice was rough, commanding. I did not doubt he would kill me in an instant.

“I…I…”

“I won’t ask again,” and he placed his finger around the trigger. I shut my eyes. Fight, flight, any instinct just fell away. Then I caught the manly musk of his body alongside a deeper, darker scent. Something I had never come across before. 

To my shock he was stood right in front of me. His rough hand landed under my chin and tilted it upwards. Those brown eyes were charged with adrenalin. Flashes of fire in his dark iris had me fascinated. I couldn’t help staring back up at him. In a voice softening to a low rumble he murmured. “I’m not going to hurt you but you need to go.” 

Instead of letting go of my chin, his hand unfurled. I closed my eyes again as his fingertips brushed around my neck, his thumb stroking my chin, my jaw. I had braced for a slap yet found myself stunned at receiving the softest, tenderest caress instead.

Without thinking I leaned into him. Just enough to tilt my face further into his warm touch. It was unlike anything I’d ever known before. How was a man wielding a machine gun, so powerfully tall and strong making me relax instead of panic.

His fingers continued to thread through my hair until I felt a slight nudge at the back, as if he wanted to move my face closer to his. Another scream for Mara and we leapt apart. WIthout a word I sprinted away.

The Black Hall with the lights on was a peculiar sight. It was full of…things. 

Ten silk-sheeted mattresses covered the floor, ledges were lined with cushions. Shackles and twisted cords suspended from various angles. Huge speakers hung above, ready to fill the room with throbbing bass.

Instead of dark and anonymous everyone was painfully visible. Bloodied and busted Beta’s including Ronan were gathered to one side. Several were nursing bullet wounds. Guarded by the scowling, black-leather wearing Rogues and their guns, Beta Ronan looked rabid. Bloody foam sputtered from his jaws as he scanned the room for an opportunity. The black and blue swirling tattoos across his cheek and forehead made me feel nauseous so I quickly looked away.

I found Mara on a mattress, pale and shaken. “They dragged me…I thought…I thought it was going to happen again,” she whimpered, squinting through her good eye. Cradling her blonde head, wincing at the lumps I could feel, I sat on the mattress with her. Elvie stood, twitching like a meerkat, surveying every movement with interest.

A dozen of us servant girls in purple were huddled to the left side of the room, a sobbing, hysterical Corina on her own in the centre. Her long black curls dishevelled, as ordinary as the rest of us. Someone had thrown her a blue bedsheet to cover her modesty.  The male servants and beaten Beta’s were huddled to the right. 

Even Corina’s wailing stopped the instant we heard boots on the concrete steps. The other rogues all stiffened and stood taller. The leader was arriving.

The dark-eyed man strode in and once again his dark eyes found me. My wolf, normally so quiet and timid, quivered. Quiet for long, as miserable as myself feeling her stir gave me a tingle from head to toe. 

I could still smell that dark, mysterious scent that made the fear melt away too. What would have happened had Mara not screamed? Where would that gentle caress of his have ended?

His announcement boomed angrily around the concrete walls. “This is a one time offer. Valdis is dead. For those that want to leave, to start a new life outside of this compound you may take furs, supplies and start your trek. If you accept quickly you may still beat the Freeze.”

Everyone breathed in sharply. The anger in his voice snaps me out of whatever spell I had been under. Sharply, I tell myself, don’t go mistaking him for a hero. He will only hurt you given half the chance. He’s no different to any other man.

“Me and my men will be occupying this space. Come spring it will be handed to an Alpha finally capable of running this important territory properly.”

“You’re just fucking Rogues!” With a roar the blooded Beta Warren lunged forward with a metal shackle. Without a beat the brown-eyed leader's arm shot out to the side, a pistol clenched in his fist and fired a shot clean through his face. 

We all gasped as he fell backwards onto his fellow Beta's, coating them in fresh red gore. 

“As I said. This is a one-time offer. As this idiot has just made clear, we are not afraid to fucking kill if you cause trouble. The aim is to get MY men through the Freeze alive. As far as I’m concerned you’re all tainted through association with Valdis.”

The idea of being tainted stung. I was his daughter and I that exact shame every day. I was as vile as Corina, we shared the blood of the vile Alpha. 

“There isn’t enough time and you fucking know it,” Beta Ronan grunted bitterly, spitting onto the floor. Clad in brown leather, his tattooed face eyed the Rogue leader with utter contempt. “You’re sending us out to die.”

“I didn’t say it was easy. I said you have a chance. It is more than Valdis would have given you,” ensuring his gun was aimed squarely at Ronan the whole time.

Elvie turned to look at me with desperation in her pale green eyes. My heart twisted. Of course I want to get out, but in my arms Mara lay whimpering and dazed. “I can’t” I mouthed, nodding down towards her crumpled blonde body.

“Go…go…” Mara whispered faintly but I squeezed her closer. “Not now, we go together, three of us together,” and I winced as Elvie’s face hardened before she spun back around to face the Rogue speaker with a flick of her hair.

“I will go,” announced one of the Beta’s. Several others put their hands up, but not Ronan. 

“What of those of us who stay?” he announced instead.

“You will work. There will be no weapons apart from myself, Reu,” gesturing at a white haired man covered in scars along his neck, “and Howen” pointing at a hugely bearded redhead.

Elvie’s voice rang out clear as a bell. “Lyra and I will go,” and I felt Mara’s trembling grip on my arm tighten. What is she doing!