Mine to Protect Chapter 92: FAILING

*Hazel*

Luckily Hazel still has her shield in place, destroying any bullets that try to reach us, and I can’t help thinking that her presence is a blessing, I wouldn’t have been able to protect all my warriors from this. It makes me also rethink our arguments; in a way I was wrong, she is capable and brave, more than most of my warriors, but I always try to shield her from any danger, to get her away from the action, when she is really born to be in it.

I marvel at her growth; in just a few weeks she has changed from an easily scared young woman to a full out warrior. I still remember the night she discovered she was a wolf, when we were walking down the dim lit street, she was scared of assassins jumping out of the darkest corners and wouldn’t dare walk a step farther; if it were this new Hazel walking down that street that day, she would have faced the threat head on and scared off all her enemies.

I force myself to focus back on the present; we have made our way through their security, and we are now inside, swiftly running down the steps, me and Hazel at the lead.

I have this feeling in my gut that everything is being too easy, that we are falling right into their trap; I just hope it is just me overthinking things.

We run at top speed down the stairs; I can feel Derek’s restlessness through the bond, and I can’t help feeling a little worried too, everything is going too smoothly, are we missing something?

We reach the fourth floor underground, which is the office floor, the one I have been snooping around at the other day.

According to our plan, Derek and I are going to split here, he is going to raid the office with half of the warriors, while Alice, me and the other half of the warriors are going down to the B6 floor to rescue Cindy, hoping that she is in her room.

Derek stops on the landing, his eyes gazing intensely in mine, full of thousand emotions, which are swirling through the bond too, like an avalanche. He then bends down, cupping my face with one hand and kisses me passionately, conveying all his love and desperation for leaving me alone, all in one sparkling kiss.

When he ends the kiss, he gazes at me again, this time desperation is definitely winning among his other emotions.

I don’t even need to think about it, it comes naturally, I hook my arms around his neck and kiss him with even more fervor, letting all my love and hope spread to him through our bond, giving him the strength he needs to do what he needs to do, and let me do what I need to do.

When I ended the kiss, our warriors have already burst through the office door and attacked the office staff, creating chaos and panic.

“Go, handsome, I’ll see you later,” I tell him with a wink, and without giving him the time to reply, I dart down the stairs followed by Alice and the warriors.

“Be careful, kitten,” Derek says through the link.

“I will!”

We encounter a couple of guards on our way down, but we take them down easily, although when we get to the sixth floor, at least 30 guards are waiting for us in the corridor, ready to shoot us.

I put my shield in place, and we ran through the corridor pretty fast, slashing our way through their ranks, completely unharmed.

We run until we reach the thirteenth door, and I get that feeling again; why is everything being so easy? They should have known I was coming.

I think about blasting the door down, but I am afraid of hurting the women inside, so I decide to use a guard instead, their digital imprint should be able to unlock the door.

“Alice, the doors can be unlocked with the guards digital imprint, help me carry one of them to the door,” I say, while lifting the dead guard by his arms.

“If you just need his hand, you don’t need to bring the whole,” Alice says matter-of-factly.

I am going to ask how she is planning on cutting his hand off, as we haven’t brought any weapons with us, when she lowers herself near the guard’s arm, shifts her mouth to wolf, and gets ready to bite his hand off.

“No! That’s just too gross! I can’t let you do that. You will have his blood splattered in your mouth and all over yourself.”

Alice raises and eyebrow at me.

“Do you understand that we are werewolves, right? Getting splattered with blood is kind of a daily routine.”

“Well, I’d rather try something else instead.”

An idea popped into my mind when I was thinking about how great it would have been if we had brought a knife; suddenly I remembered the movies of Star Wars, 'I am a nerd I know, accept it and move on' they used laser swords to fight, and lasers are made of light!

I try to concentrate my powers in my hand, and luckily enough, a white laser beam appears in my hand. I don’t waste any time and bring it down on the guard’s wrist, severing his hand off in one go. I got all splashed in blood anyway, but at least I did not get it into my mouth.

I stand up and throw the hand at Alice, who catches it in her hands, looking at it in utter disgust.

“Yuk! The blade was cool, but you still got all bloody anyway. Different techniques, same result,” Alice grumbles.

“I suppose you are right. I need to perfectionate my technique.”

“How many hands are you still planning to cut off?” Alice asks amused.

“Hopefully, that’s my first and last.”

Alice swipes the hand on the lockscreen, and the door unlocks with a loud beep, automatically sliding open for us.

Alice gives me a signal to wait, while she enters first into the silent and dark room. I place my shield back on everyone, scared that someone or something is waiting for us in the dark room, but a few seconds go by, and nothing happens.

“Alice, everything alright?” I ask through the link.

“Yes, but there is no one in here.”

Curious, I enter into the room, and notice that it is exactly how I have seen it in my vision, with the high bunk beds, the squalor, only there are no women inside. Where have they gone?

I put my shield down for a second, distracted by the situation and by my thoughts.

“They must have taken them somewhere else, we should…” I start saying, but I am interrupted by something hitting me on my right arm, I look down and I find a dart embedded in my skin, it smells of wolfsbane. Fuck! It was a trap!

I put my shield back in place, but a moment too late, another number of darts managed to get through and hit us both. I feel a little weakened, but thankfully white wolves are more resistant to the substance, while Alice is already unconscious on the floor. I need to get both of us out of here.

Suddenly, the door automatically shuts close, and we are left in complete darkness, an eerie silence reigning supreme. My eyes adjust to the darkness, and I run to Alice’s side, when the stench of wolfsbane hits my nose strongly; wolfsbane gas, crap!

Fool me once, fool me twice, this time I won’t let you play me again with this sick trick!

I run to the door, still keeping the shield in place, in case they decide to start shooting us again. One hand covering my mouth, and the other branding my laser beam, I try to cut the door down, but it is sturdy and thick, apparently cutting metal is not as easy as cutting soft meat. I manage to get in a few cuts, but it is not enough, I need more. In the meantime, the gas has spread inside the room, making breathing nearly impossible.

I need to use more power; I need to blast this door down. I summon as much power as I can, but the wolfsbane and the lack of oxygen are weakening me greatly, still I manage to create a bigger laser, and blast half of the door down, making some of the gas flow out of the hole, and making the air inside more breathable.

I can’t take my shield up any longer, I trudge back to where Alice is lying and start pulling her with her arms towards the exit.

We are nearly out, hold up Alice! I will get you out.

We are nearly to the door when something falls on us from above, burning my skin at the contact; silver, it’s a silver net. They planned it out really good, Derek was right, I have been too naïve, I shouldn’t have let them know I have been here the first time, shouldn’t have given them the time to prepare.

The poisonous effect of the silver, combined with the wolfsbane already running in my system weakens me to the point I can’t stay conscious anymore. I am sorry, Alice, I couldn’t get you out; I am terrified to imagine what they’ll do to her.

With one last bust of energy I link Derek, hoping that he is still free and unharmed,

“Derek, help!”

And then it is nothingness.