SEQUEL: TWELVE

Finally, after what felt like endless hours of climbing, they made it to the landing where there was a rusted metal door.
Madeline wanted to wait for Roman to catch up with them and handle the door, as the Alpha King had fallen back a bit to give them space but Alina wasn’t having it. She yanked violently on the door and just stepped out without caution.
At least Madeline was wise enough to remain inside because Roman didn’t think he would have been able to save them both. He vaulted past the last few steps and snatched Alina by her waist to pull her back to safety just as gunshots rang out.
Madeline watched with her hands slapped over her mouth as Roman pulled Alina up against him and ducked to the other side to hide behind the wall. He let her go just as fast as he caught her, pulling out a second gun.
They could hear a couple of guards talking amongst each other and approaching, they had only seen Alina so they were less cautious than they should have been, and that had them full of lead in less than a minute.
Roman kicked a limp body to the side, carefully stepping outside to get a look. It looked like the guys he had just fought were the ambling security guards that had been roaming around the abandoned shopping complex when he first came.
He pushed a hand through his blond hair, tousling it as he heaved a sigh of relief. They were in the clear. He turned to Alina and her friend to gesture that they could now come out.
Roman preferred to move around himself, so although he only planned to stay a day at most in New York, he had rented a car. That was what he had driven to the shopping complex.
“How did you two get here?” He asked, not too eager to get into a confined space with Alina. It was already past 2 AM, far longer than he had planned to spend here.
“We drove,” Alina said haughtily before realizing how stupid that sounded.
Roman cocked a brow at this, it wasn’t what he had been expected to hear but it was exactly what he wanted to hear. “Good,” He murmured, striding off without another word or a backward glance.
“Wait!” Madeline stopped him, “Thank you for saving us!” She called out.
Alina scoffed and pulled Madeline away, hurrying over to their car.
“Hey! Why do you hate him so much? He was nice to come to save us,” Madeline said.
“It doesn’t matter,” Alina muttered, getting into the passenger side of the car, “Can you drive, we should get out of here.”
Madeline wanted to talk longer about this because she felt like there was an underlying secret that Alina was keeping from her but she decided not to push. “Yeah,” She agreed, getting in as well.
They both took their shoes off with heavy sighs of relief when they got comfortable, Maddie tearing out of the dead parking lot while driving barefoot.
“God, I thought my toes were going to fall off,” Alina groaned, sinking into the soft leather of the car seat.
“I thought we were going to be sold off or worse,” Madeline chimed in.
“We’ve got to get back at that bitch,” Alina grumbled as they drove back to their hotel room.
“Yeah,” Madeline said absently, her thoughts elsewhere. “Wait, did Roman have a tracker on you?”
Alina froze imperceptibly, she hadn’t really been paying attention but she had caught a glimpse of the map on his phone once or twice, and sure as hell there was a beeping that signaled her right on his phone.
She hadn’t realized it then because she was occupied by other things but that meant that her father had a tracker on her because she knew that her Dad had been the one to put Roman up to it.
“No, my Dad did but he sent Roman to get me so that must be why he had one.” She said in a much subdued voice.
Madeline’s eyes sparkled with interest, “Why would your Dad send Roman? I didn’t know they were that close.”
Alina clenched her hands into fists, remembering Roman’s response when she asked that exact same question. “I don’t know,” She shrugged, giving a vague answer.
Madeline could sense that Alina retreated under a shell whenever she questioned her about Alpha King Roman and that only made her even more curious.
In a short time, they were back at their hotel, Madeline pulling up to the silent parking lot. It was almost 3 AM, the night was almost over and the entire night had just been a series of unfortunate events.
They trudged tiredly up to their penthouse suite, the day had started great only to end up on such a shitty note because of a certain bitch.
They barely got out of their dresses up at the suite, sleepily going through the motions of cleaning up before bed, only to fall fast asleep immediately after they got on the bed.
-^-
Roman glanced at the beeping on his phone for the umpteenth time, from the looks of things, Alina had gotten back to the hotel she was staying at safely, which meant that his work here was done.
Although it was late and Roman had gotten into bed, he had a difficult time falling asleep, his thoughts loud in his head.
He had a lot of things to do, he had already wasted the whole day being unproductive. He thought back to the conference which felt like it happened weeks ago and not just the morning before.
Claire had done it, sure the road was long and precarious but she had taken the first step to cultivating an equal relationship with both species. He could perfectly see why Anton had approached him about the proposition, the Alpha King had seen into the future.
-^-
The next morning, he got up early and was already out of the hotel and on his way to the airport by the time the sun warmed.
He had done a thankless job the night before and was groggy from a very short sleep the night before, he just wanted to return to the familiarity of his mansion and after attending to the backed up work, maybe he would take a day off.
His plans were dashed to shit when he got a call, it was from none other than Anton. Roman nearly hung up on him but his curiosity won and so he picked up.
“What?” He dryly said into the phone, mostly uninterested in whatever the European King had to say.
“I’ve got a favor to ask,” Anton confidently began.
Roman chuckled, “Not this shit again.”
“Alina needs your help,” Anton went right on.
This time he full on laughed, remembering how she had treated him when he showed up to rescue her, “I’d appreciate it if you don’t take me for a fool, Anton.”
“Fine,” The older Alpha King caved in, starting to get antsy. “I’m the one who needs your help, I need you to…”
“I have no intentions of being your pawn over a proposition you offered yourself, not to mention, Alina would prefer it if you were the one to show up.” He said curtly, hanging up.
He could have been crueler than that but he couldn’t help but feel like Anton had started to lose his edge, rapidly. He had only ever asked for favors when it involved Alina, and each time he sounded more like an exhausted father running away from his responsibilities than an all powerful Alpha King.
It was none of Roman’s business though, he wasn’t interested in getting entangled in whatever family drama he had going on, it was why he would going to drive straight to the airport and take the first flight back to his territory…
Was what he really wanted to do but instead, he found himself following the blinking dot on his phone that indicated where Alina currently was. He would definitely regret it later but although he wasn’t on friendly terms with Alpha Costin, he respected him so he would do him one more favor, just for that fact.
He pulled up to the hotel and stepped out, heading in and going straight for the elevator without bothering to ask what room because he already knew where she was.
Roman was aware that he had no idea what Alina needed because he had hung up on her father but he would show up anyway. He didn’t like to see Alpha Costin sound so beaten down.
He made his way over to the doors of the suite and knocked, waiting for a response.
Inside the penthouse suite, Alina and Madeline shared a look, shock expressive on their faces.
“Could that be-” Madeline shot to her feet.
Alina seemed to lose her ability to breathe, “Could you please check the door for me?” She asked in a small voice, seeming unable to do it herself.
She had tried calling her father when she woke up that morning but it had gone straight to voicemail but then she texted him, asking if he was still in New York because she needed to see him, and less than half an hour later, there was a knock at her front door, it could only be one person.
Alina had to control her breathing so that she didn’t hyperventilate, her father was really coming for her when she called him, she thought it would never happen. It hurt a bit that it was only untill when she was in grave danger did he show concern but she would take whatever she could get.
She had actually only wanted to ask him to help her get information on Iyla but this was a far better outcome than she could have ever hoped for.
Madeline opened the door and gingerly peeked out, expecting to come face to face with Alpha King Costin only for her mouth to drop open at the person that had shown up instead. “A-Alpha Roman?” She stuttered, cursing herself for doing it twice in a row.
However, her suspicions only flared higher at this, Alpha King Roman had come for Alina twice in a row now, the second time for a call that had been sent specifically to Alina’s father. It only meant that Alpha King Costin himself was the one relaying the messages to Alpha King Roman and making him come.
But why? What was the possible connection between the two of them? Roman wasn’t particularly close to Alpha Costin, if it were Alpha King Lukas, she might have understood why.
“Going to invite me in?” Roman asked when Alina’s friend just stared at him like she had seen a ghost.
“She’s not going to be happy to see you,” Madeline winced, stepping back slightly.
“I’d be more concerned if she was.” He muttered coldly, stepping in when Madeline invited him.
He ducked on reflex when he came within sight of Alina because she had chucked her glass at him, the glass shattered against the wall behind him, the drink staining the wall.
“Alina!” Madeline scolded her friend, stepping protectively in front of Roman who didn’t really need it.
“Get out!” Alina yelled at him, pointing at the door.
“Alina! Stop that right now!” Madeline said in return, “You need to calm down.”
Alina just glared at Roman with tears of hatred brimming in her eyes, she knew she was overreacting but how dare Roman show up? Why did he even come?
She whirled around and stormed out of the living area, slamming the door to the connecting corridor when she did.
Madeline heaved a big sigh and turned to face Roman with soft eyes, “I’m really sorry about that, she must still be stressed out from the night we had.”
Roman’s bored expression didn’t change, in his personal opinion he felt that she needed to check in with a therapist, or two. He also wasn’t too eager to leave without accomplishing something at the very least.
“It’s fine, do you know what she needed?” He asked, craving a cigarette and maybe the solitude of a quiet plane ride that didn’t involve Alpha King Costin or his crazy daughter.
“Well yeah,” Madeline replied, coyly pushing a stray lock of her hair behind her ear. “Do you want to sit down? I could get you something to drink…”
Roman cocked a brow at her offer, “I’m just fine, I want to be out of here as soon as possible.” He said politely although his words were far from that.
“Right,” Madeline chuckled nervously. “Um, we needed some information on a particular person.”
“Name?”
“Iyla, Iyla Cutler, it could be a fake name though.” She quickly supplied.
“Sure,” Roman murmured, going over to a corner to make a call to his personal assistant who was skilled with situations like this.