My Alphas' Dark Desires-Chapter 65: Chased

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Chapter 65

~Valerie’s POV~

I clenched my jaw, ready to move when the first one lunged. Dristan intercepted mid-air, blade out, the clash of steel ringing through the trees.

And then the fight exploded.

Xade vanished in a blur of wind magic and momentum, cutting off two attackers who tried to flank.

Xander surged forward, knocking a masked figure off balance with a pulse of glowing force from his palm. The man slammed into a tree and didn’t rise again.

I glanced around, keeping my attention sharp on the next target. I couldn’t afford to be caught unaware in this situation, as any hit was deadly.

There’d be no room for mistakes. I ducked, rolled, and met my attacker halfway. He lifted his hand instantly, wanting to strike first.

His strike came from above—predictable.

I blocked it with the flat of my blade, twisted under, and drove my elbow into his ribs. He grunted, stumbling, and I swept his leg.

"Not bad for a target," I hissed, kicking his weapon away.

He didn’t respond. Instead, he took something from his back pocket and just dropped a smoke pellet at his feet.

"Cover!" Xade shouted, his voice almost drowned out by the sudden boom of smoke flooding the forest.

Visibility dropped instantly.

"Valerie!" Xander called out.

"I’m here!" I coughed, shielding my eyes and face from the sudden burst of smoke. "Xade? Dristan?"

I called fully, hoping to get a response, but I did not. "Dris..." A hand gripped mine again—firm, warm, familiar.

"Dristan?" I asked.

He did not answer me either, but his grip tightened on my wrist and he yanked me forward.

The smoke cleared just enough for me to make out the sharp curve of his jaw and those glowing eyes.

"Stay with me," he instructed.

My heart jumped. "Since when do you—"

"Later," he cut me off. "We need to move."

We took off in a sprint, ducking and weaving through the underbrush as footsteps thundered behind us.

"Where’s Xade?" I asked, panting.

"He’ll find us. He knows the route," Dristan explained without breaking a sweat or breathing.

I didn’t know why, but in that moment, I believed him.

Something about the way he moved through the forest like it was his second skin, the way he shielded me without hesitation, told me that no matter what words had passed between us, he would never let harm touch me if he could stop it.

We ran, but then another question that had been bothering me crossed my mind. Just as soon as I was sure we had given our attackers a reasonable gap, I asked, "How did you find me, Dristan?"

He hesitated a second before answering. "Xade already told you the story."

"I do not believe it."

"Suit yourself but..." I halted mid-race, which made Dritsan frown. He tried to pull me with him, but I stood my ground. "Valerie, not now."

I did not speak or move.

"Valerie," Dristan called through gritted teeth. "They could be on to us."

"Then I suggest you start talking." He glanced around a bit frantically. This was something I hadn’t seen when he arrived.

Dristan Alexander was worried.

"I do not buy that mana bullshit and I sure as hell know Xander didn’t either. Spill or I go back and take my chances with those killers."

"You wouldn’t dare." My gaze said it all.

Of course I would, after all, I was no damsel in distress. I notice Dristan clench and unclench his fist as the veins at the side of his head become more visible.

But the softness in his eyes told a different tale.

However, his concern was the least of my worries as his next sentence made my heart skip a beat and anger surge through me.

"I... I tracked your necklace."

"What?" My hand instinctively reached up to my neck to feel the necklace.

"I put a tracker in your necklace."

Anger coursed through me as my eyes glinted. "Valerie, I..."

"There they are," one of the attackers called out.

"Fuck!" Dristan cursed and immediately reached for my hand, pulling me with him. This time I did not hesitate and immediately followed Dristan, running through the bush.

"Shit!" He muttered some other curse words before we broke into a clearing, and there, thank the gods, was the back entrance of the club.

Dim lights flickered against the concrete wall, just ahead of a service door. I turned back to see Xander burst from the other side of the trees, slightly winded but whole. "Found it!"

"Go!" Dristan ordered.

We all bolted, slamming into the door just as it opened from the inside.

"What the... she..." A voice gawked.

"No time!" Xander barked. "Lock this door," he ordered sternly. "And no one follows."

The man hesitated for one second too long, but Dristan’s glare fixed that real quick.

The door slammed behind us instantly, and we waited in silence. I leaned against the wall, my chest heaving, eyes wide.

"Who the hell were they?" I asked no one in particular.

Xade stepped out of the shadows behind a crate. "They weren’t just anyone."

"You knew?" Dristan asked, turning to him.

"Didn’t know. But suspected."

He held up a shred of one of their mask ties. A faint symbol was burned into the edge.

A half-moon over an eye.

I didn’t recognise it. But something inside me—a part of me buried deep—did. My blood chilled.

"That’s not a student faction," Xander said slowly.

"No," I said, voice hoarse. "That’s an assassin mark."

Everyone turned.

Dristan’s eyes narrowed. "You’re sure?"

I nodded once. "My family trained me on the signs. That mark belongs to a group that doesn’t miss."

"So why are you still breathing?" Xade asked.

That was the question, wasn’t it? And I didn’t have the answer yet, but I would.

I pushed off the wall and wiped the sweat from my face. I glanced at the man by the door, then at Dristan.

"Get me a comm. I need to call someone," I said.

"No. I cannot trust anything at this point," he refuted my request, then turned his attention to the man. "I need a car and two bikes, and four guys."

"What for?" Xander inquired.

"The car and the people are the impersonators. We ride the bike after they are gone."

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~Author’s POV~

The forest stood still again, as if nothing had happened. As if blood hadn’t stained its roots and magic hadn’t ripped through its lungs. The birds didn’t sing. Even the wind had tucked itself away in silence.

But a shadow moved.

One of the masked figures staggered through the trees, favouring his left side where a blade had torn through muscle. His arm was slick with blood, dark against the black and crimson of his gear.

Breathing hard, he reached a moss-covered rock and dropped to his knees.

Gloved fingers dug into a hidden pouch at his side. From it, he pulled a small comm crystal—oval, black, almost indistinguishable from stone except for the faint thrum of magic pulsing beneath its surface.

He pressed it to his mouth.

"Target escaped," he whispered, voice low and rasping from the pain. "Initiating Phase Two."

There was silence on the other end for a heartbeat, then a reply came—sharper, colder.

"No. Do not advance. You have been compromised." The masked man stiffened. "Abort mission. I repeat, abort the mission now."

"Damn it. Grow some balls," the man growled as the call ended.