Chapter 224
HANNAH
I sprinted down the corridor, thanking the goddess that the intruders hadn't all gotten to this part of the Estate yet.
I turned a corner, almost slipping on something dark that looked like blood. Willa's room was open ahead now.
But as I raced up, someone suddenly slammed into me from behind. The impact pushed me forward. My arms pinwheeled madly for balance for a moment and then I went down. My teeth bit right through my bottom lip. I tasted blood.
I twisted, turned and shoved the person off. Quick as lightning, he sprang to his feet, and then stomped on my ankle.
The pain was maddening, excruciating. My mouth opened in a silent scream. When he saw I couldn't move, he straightened and nodded.
I forgot the pain when I really looked at him. There was something very familiar about that figure, about those eyes gleaming at me from behind that mask.
He slipped a finger between his chin and mask and then pulled it off.
There was a horrible moment when I felt the scream building up in my throat because I was sure I was seeing Asher's bashed-in face and his dead glazed eyes. The illusion passed.
It was Asher, alright. But he wasn't a zombie. He was thin, almost bony. An ugly puckered scar ran from his left eye down to his jaw. The scar gave his eye a drooping look.
He saw me staring and smiled, showing teeth that made him scarier. "I look different, right? Yeah, of course I do. I see that look on your face; that's exactly the same one all these fucking assholes have on when they see what I've become now."
"I thought you were dead." I said, trying to bait him into a conversation. I needed to distract him if I was going to make it out alive.
"Dead?" he chuckled. "I cannot die. No matter what anyone does."
"You look dead already," I muttered. "You should take a look in the mirror and see you're walking dead."
"And you know who did this to me?" He tilted his head. "You!" he suddenly shouted. "You, your stupid mates and family. You hunted me down until you took every fucking thing away from me!"
He stopped but his screams still vibrated in the air. Lydia and the others were right. Asher was crazy. If he wasn't all the way there yet, he was close. Very close.
In a quiet voice, he said, "Now I've come to take it all back."
I crawled slowly backwards, steeling myself to stand on my injured leg and run.
"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Asher said.
He bent over, grabbed my injured leg and pulled me forward.
I felt my heart stop. I had a sudden vision of myself being dragged into that black hole that had haunted my dreams for many nights.
I shook my head. I wouldn't go down without a fight. I kick Asher with my good leg. He grunted in pain but his hold on my foot only tightened.
I screamed at the sudden flare of pain that shot up my leg.
"Do shit like that again and I'll twist your leg right off," he threatened.
He squatted beside me and now I could smell him; a horrible mixture of dirt, sweat and blood. I recoiled from the stench.
Asher's lips curved into that horrible smile.
"Scared yet?" he taunted. "Or am I not as good-looking as those fuckers you call your mates?"
He wiped the corner of his injured eye. It kept watering, like a faucet someone had forgotten to turn off.
"Let me go," I said, hating the way my voice shook at the last word. "Get out of here with your people while you still have the chance. You can't win this."
He barked out a laugh. "That's one thing about you, Hannah, always bluffing even when you know the cards against you. Listen-"
From the stairs I had just passed came the sound of a scuffle, a prolonged yell, and a body falling down the stairs. Then silence. I shuddered.
"Hear that?" Asher continued. "Those are the sounds of your people getting fucked. You all thought I was gone, didn't you?" His fingers squeezed my foot. I bit my lip to keep from crying out. "You all thought I was finished after you killed my father. You relaxed, and then I made my move. Want to know what I did?"
"Screw you," I said.
He laughed again, a sound like rustling paper.
"Of course you do," he said. "Most of my father's guards remained loyal to us. Guess they didn't like the idea of another Alpha telling them what to do. I recruited them, and then I found others. The thieves, the rogues, all of the men that don't give a shit who they're fighting as long as they're fighting someone rich and powerful preferably. I laid low and waited for my time. When you fools relaxed, thinking I was harmless after all, I made my move."
He leaned forward until I got a nose full of his rancid breath.
"And now," he said. "I'm going to kill you all."
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