SEQUEL: SEVENTEEN

Alina’s phone fell out of her hand when a bullet hit the dash, cracking the reinforced glass with a loud sound that startled her. The phone fell on its screen, equally cracking but she didn’t get the chance to pick it back up because a couple more rounds were fired into the windscreen, making it shatter and rain on them.
Madeline had already made a move, opening her side of the door and jumping out. “Alina! Get out!” She called to her friend, frantically brushing the glass shard out of her hair and off her body.
Alina crawled across the divider, getting cuts on her palms but not caring because she needed to get out of the line of sight of whoever was shooting at them.
Madeline helped her out and slammed the driver’s door close just as the window above them shattered, eliciting screams from the both of them as they were rained with broken glass once more.
Madeline’s mascara had begun to run from the tears trailing down, “Did you get to Roman? We’re going to fucking die! Why did we think this was such a great idea?”
“Deep breaths Maddie,” Alina said quietly, her thoughts whirling as she tried to figure out a way to get them out of this mess. She didn’t trust Roman to make any effort to help them, honestly, she didn’t think there was anything he could possibly do.
Maybe she should have called Lukas instead but now it was too late as she couldn’t get to her phone so it was up to them to save themselves. But she couldn’t tell Madeline that because her friend looked on the verge of a mental breakdown.
“Roman said he’s going to handle it, that we just need to sit tight for a bit.” She lied easily, noting that the shooting had stopped for now.
Madeline held tightly onto her arm, visibly shaking as she nodded vigorously, a small but bleeding cut on her cheek.
Alina felt bad for putting her best friend through this, she was used to situations like this because have father had always been involved with dangerous men ever since she was a little girl. If anything, it got better after he was made an Alpha King.
She studied their position and the next possible cover, they could probably escape if they made it safely into the woods. They could shift if they had to, they just had to get back to civilization and they would be alright.
Running across the interstate was one option as there was nothing but forest on the other side, however it would mean that there would be no cover until they made it to the other side. That was too risky a move to make because the moment one of them got shot, it was over.
The only other option was trying to run sideways, if there was a nearby tree, it could probably act as cover but she couldn’t really see anything from her spot so she would have to get closer to the back end of the car.
“I need to check something really quickly, you’ll be safe here so just wait for me,” Alina whispered to Madeline who seemed to have gone into shock, she hadn’t spoken for a while now, and she didn’t even bother brushing off the shards of glass sitting on her shoulders so Alina did that for her before crawling away.
The expensive car that Madeline had gotten for this trip was totaled, there was no saving it. All the windows were destroyed and there were countless bullet holes in the body.
Alina wasn’t sure what was stopping Iyla or whoever she hired to shoot them down from coming right up to them and attacking but she was grateful for it because they had no means of protecting themselves if that happened.
She got to the back of the car while remaining hidden, and noticed that there was indeed a tree within running distance from the car. It was a very risky plan but if there was no one coming to save them, it might be the only chance of escape they had.
Just as she peeked her head past the car to see if it was safe to attempt to run to the tree, a shot whizzed past her head making her pull back with a curse. This would have been a moment where having a gun would have come in really handy.
She scrambled back to Madeline’s side because her friend called for her in fear, “I’m fine, I was just checking something.”
“So when is Roman coming?” Madeline asked shakily, clutching her arm again.
Alina was about to give in and tell her friend that there was no chance of Roman saving them and that they would have to figure shit out themselves when black-tinted cars came peeling down the room, swerving to a stop right in front of them as heavily armed professional looking men jumped out and immediately released fire.
Alina was completely flabbergasted at this while Madeline was excited. “Oh my god! They’re here for us!”
Alina on the other hand was more cautious, she had no proof that these men had been sent by Roman, if anything, they could be reinforcements that Iyla had called in because she had a difficult time dealing with them.
Her fears were immediately quelled when the men in black began exchanging fire with people out of their line of sight. They clearly outnumbered who they were shooting at so they didn’t even need to find cover and the exchange was over in a few minutes.
An important-looking man walked up to them when the shooting had died down, it was evident from the fact that he was dressed in a three-piece suit while the others were in combat gear.
“Your Highness? Alpha King Roman said I’d find you here, are you hurt?” He asked formally, offering his hand to her.
Madeline’s look of relief fell away to an inscrutable expression when only Alina was addressed.
“Just scratched and bruised, nothing severe.” Alina absently replied, taking the offered hand.
“I’m Logan Wilson, it’s an honor to meet you, Your Highness.” The dapper man said with a polite nod.
Madeline rose to her feet by herself when no help was offered her, quietly brushing the remaining shards of glass off herself.
“Quite the meeting I have to say,” Alina muttered, looking to Madeline to find that she was already on her feet. She had been too distracted to help her friend out before because she had something on her mind.
“If it’s no trouble, could we find out just who was shooting at us?” She finally said what had been bothering her this entire time as Logan’s men raided the homely cottage behind them.
Logan cocked a brow at this, “You mean, you don’t know?”
“We might have a vague guess,” Alina winced, realizing that they were in quite the position in their current situation.
“Um, yeah, I could tell you that much but for now you’ll have to return to the Agency with me and I’m certain you’ll both be able to find your way from there,” He said briskly, referring to Madeline for the first time ever since he walked up. “If there’s anything you also need from me please don’t hesitate to ask. Pardon my rudeness, I didn’t ask your name miss?” He added to Madeline.
Madeline smiled through gritted teeth, she was born into unbelievable wealth but Alina was always so far ahead of her no matter the situation. “I’m Madeline Gustav, thank you for saving us, Mr. Wilson,” She forced out the most polite tone she ever had to use.
Her cold heart warmed a bit when Logan’s eyes lit up in recognition, “The Gustav?” He asked for confirmation, chuckling when she nodded in response with a smile. “Jesus, I love your father’s brand.”
Madeline’s genuine smile faded at this, of course, it would always be her father that would be mentioned not her. Alina’s father had been the one to work for their position but whenever people met her, they rarely mentioned her father.
“Thank you,” She replied robotically, already over the conversation.
They were led to the cars that had brought the private agents, getting ushered into one.
“Oh, what’s going to happen to the car?” Alina spoke up after they were comfortable in Logan’s car. “We’ll have it towed off and have it fixed no problem, I’m certain Alpha King Roman will handle the bill, no problem.” He reassured them, closing the door with a polite wave.
Madeline slowly turned to look at Alina at this, “Did you really call Roman? Or Lukas?” She asked in disbelief.
Alina was having a difficult time believing it as well, to think that Roman would go this far for her when he literally had no reason to was mindblowing. “He probably owes my dad.” She came up with an excuse to answer the loud questions in her friend's eyes.
Madeline didn’t believe this flaccid excuse but she didn’t push it, they had bigger problems to worry about after all. Like how Iyla had turned out to be a much bigger problem than they could have ever guessed.
“Fucking Iyla, that cunt.” She cursed under her breath.
“We’ve got to deal with her carefully from now on,” Alina spoke up, her quiet voice speaking volumes.
“Oh, she’s got my full attention now,” Madeline muttered spitefully. “As soon as I get a phone I’m ringing up Peyton to deal with her.”
Alina said nothing in response, sinking into the soft leather seats of the car. The adrenaline running through her previously had finally faded and the exhaustion and all of the little stings on her body from where she got caught were sinking in.
Madeline seemed to get hit by a wall of exhaustion at the same time, she exhaled long and heavily. “I’m so glad we got out of that alright.”
“Yeah, we might have been a little dumb,” Alina huffed, rolling her eyes.
Madeline glanced at her at this, her lips lifting in a smile.
Alina returned the look and soon they were both laughing together, so hard that tears came out and smeared Madeline’s mascara even further.
“Oh my god!” Madeline gasped, pushing her hair out of her face. “I can't believe we almost fucking died.”
“I nearly got shot in the head because I was stupid enough to peek out of my cover in a gun attack,” Alina supported, laughing so hard that she was hunched up clutching her sides.
“We flew out to a different settlement without telling anyone because we wanted to beat up some bitch,” Madeline added.
Alina continued her sentence, “But ended up getting played twice in a row because we’re fucking silly.”
Their laughing eventually died down and they quickly sobered up which was a good thing because the private agents with Logan in the lead were returning and they would have a very difficult time explaining why they were laughing so hard.