––––––––
“He’s here.” All ofmy nightmares and all of my fears had led up to this very moment. I think somewhere, deep down, I knew that he was going to find me eventually. There was going to be no easy end to this—it was plain to see now that Cobb and Theo had been sent on some kind of wild goose chase so that Jamie could isolate us from our strongest protectors.
I gripped Aria’s hand tight, sure that the growing fear inside of my body would make my legs buckle any moment as I faced down the idea that we were in danger, but despite the fear that was clogging my throat, my legs remained strong. I refused to go down like this. Not when I’d finally found a family to call my own.
“We need to find Matteo.” I rasped to Aria but she didn’t answer me. “Aria.” I tugged on her arm, but the alpha stood frozen staring at the smoke that had begun to fill the room.
Stepping in front of her, I reached up and put my hands on either side of her face, similar to what she did for me when I was having my moments. “Aria.” I said firmly, forcing her to look at me.
“We need to find Matteo and everything will be okay.” I assured her and tugged her with me into the hallway. The smoke was thicker in the hallway, and I coughed, pulling my shirt up over my nose and turned to make sure that Aria did the same.
“Matteo!” I shouted into the hazy house. His bedroom was next to both Agent Keilar and Agent Smart’s rooms, so I headed down the hallway, my eyes burning from the smoke. The end of the hallway was less hazy, telling me that the majority of the fire was probably somewhere downstairs.
We found Matteo sprawled face down on the floor with Agent Smart crouched over him.
Oh god,I thought desperately,please don’t let him be dead. I begged the universe to keep him alive as we hurried over to them, “What happened?” I asked Agent Smart who seemed surprised to see me.
“I don’t know,” Smart said. “I just found him like this.”
Aria and I turned the alpha over and he groaned, “Matteo, baby, wake up.” I gave his face a few slaps and his eyes cracked open and he squinted up at me.
He mumbled something, and I leaned in closer to hear what he had to say: “Don’t trust Smart.” Before he fell unconscious again and went completely limp.
I sat frozen, my ear still close to his mouth. Agent Smart hovered nearby, and I wasn’t sure if I could school my expression enough so as not to set the beta off.
“Is he breathing, Tibby?” Smart asked and I forced myself to nod, finally looking up and making eye contact with the agent and I knew, just by the change in his expression, that I had failed to keep my expression neutral.If we get out of this mess, I swear I’m going to take an acting class. I vowed silently as I took a deep breath to gather my courage for what was about to happen next.
“Smart...where is Agent Keilar?” I asked, putting myself between Matteo and the agent. Aria looked at me, her eyes asking wordlessly what I was doing.
“I don’t know. I haven’t seen him since Theo and Collins left.” That was a lie and we both knew it. The man and I stared at each other for a minute before he finally sighed and his faux-concern melted and all that was left was a chilling grin. “Oh, fuck it. I’m never going to win an Oscar for this performance so we might as well get this over with.”
With that he lunged for me, and I prepared myself for an impact that never came. Aria had launched herself from where she’d been crouching next to Matteo’s head, barrelling into the agent and they went tumbling to the floor. Aria had both of the man’s wrists in her hands, and she gripped him tightly so that he couldn’t swing at her.
“Tibby, take Matteo and get out of here!” She shouted over her shoulder as she lost control of one of Smart’s fists which connected with one of her cheeks and made her grunt.
“I’m not leaving you!” I protested, besides it wasn’t like I could carry Matteo’s dead weight on my own anyways. I got to my feet just as Agent Smart twisted his body, throwing Aria off of him. The alpha smacked into a nearby wall, her head connecting with the plaster and stunning her for a moment.
“Aria!” I moved to go to her, but Smart cut me off. I glared at him, “What the fuck is your problem? Why are you helping a murderer? You are supposed to be one of the good guys.” Wood cracked somewhere in the lodge, and I knew that our time to get out before the fire spread too far was quickly closing.
Before I could reach Aria, Smart blocked my view of her, holding his hands out like a baseball player guarding a base.
“Why am I doing this? Why does anyone do anything in this world? Money.”
Disgust filled me at his words, “money isn’t everything. It sure isn’t a reason to kill four people.”
Smart snorted derisively, “that is exactly what someone with money would say.”
With that he reached for me and I brought my arms up like I could protect myself from him, squeezing my eyes shut, as the sound of a gunshot rang through the hallway. I opened my eyes at the sound and watched as blood sprouted from the beta’s chest. Smart looked confused as he touched a hand to the blood, looking up at me again before crumpling to the ground in a heap.
“Tibby!” Theo roared as he rushed out of the smoke, his gun drawn. Cobb was right behind him, and I had never been so glad to see them in my entire life. Theo picked me up off of my feet and squeezed me to his chest. “Come on, let’s get you out of here.”
I pulled my hand out of his, “you’re probably going to need to help Matteo and Aria walk out of here.” I nodded to where Matteo was still passed out on the floor, and Aria looked nauseous as she waved Cobb off.
“I can walk.” Aria protested and began to stand, but Theo swept a hand under her legs and lifted her into the air.
“Guppy, grab Matteo.” Theo ordered and I helped Cobb get Matteo on his feet, slinging his arm around the beta’s shoulders and we began to make our way back to the front of the lodge.
Now that we were approaching the main landing, I could see that the red hot flames had climbed up the walls and were spreading to the ceiling which was steadily popping and crackling. Despite the fact that this lodge was beautiful, it was also like a giant tinderbox.
