34.

Madeleine's heartbeat pounded into her chest as if trying to break free, her hand shooting out to take a hold of his arm and try coaxing him into lowering his weapon before she turned around in his hold, her eyes meeting those beautiful purple galaxy ones.



"Please don't shoot her, she's my friend!" She pleaded, watching him peer at her for a moment before rather hesitantly lowering his gun, his other hand sliding to rest over the small of her back.



Heat pinched at her cheeks as she could not help but feel so aware of it, her palms lightly pressing against his firm abdomen as she kept gazing into those violet galaxies.



"What are you doing here?"



"I'm escaping and I am taking you with me," He replied with blatant determination.



"But h-how..." She lightly shook her head, quickly deciding to rather leave it be and not bother asking him how he managed to escape since there wasn't really the time nor place for such questions.



"Did he hurt you?" Emerick hurried to ask her before she could say or do anything else, his gaze roaming all over her face into a thoroughly inspecting manner.



"No, I-I'm fine, I-" Her breath hitched as she felt his fingers trailing over the side of her neck, tucking those wild brown locks away before his galaxy eyes fell on those two punctured holes in her delicate neck.



A dark look crossed his beautiful face, managing to startle her a little.



"I admire your courage, but you will not succeed," She suddenly heard Meoni say with a weak and rather sorrowful voice from behind.



"I will surrender my life trying," He swiftly responded, his gaze never leaving Madeleine's and peering at her with such passion and intensity, making her squirm and grow a little hot under his unyelding stare.



"*So you might be indeed his halfling after all*,"



Madeleine heard Meoni mutter unintelligibly under her breath, watching Emerick's attention finally shift past her head to give Meoni a curious look, even tilting his head to the side as he peered at her for a moment.



Madeleine's brows furrowed, wondering what it was that she told him to gain such a reaction from him.



"*I could never share DNA with that tyrant. It is not possible*," He answered back in that same odd language Meoni had used, his tone sounding a little bit too harsh for Madeleine to ignore it.



*What was going on? What were they arguing over?*



She peered up at Emerick, vainly trying to decipher his emotions as he shoved that gun into the holster attached to his thigh, her lips parting to let out a light and surprised squeal as his hands went under her thighs and swiftly hoisted her up in his embrace. Her arms quickly wrapped around his neck for support whilst her widened eyes found his, her poor heart pounding a little harder again as she could not help but feel the way his hand went under her bum to hold her in place as her bare legs held on so tight around his waist.



"You are far too weakened. Did you not receive nourishment at all?" He questioned after another scrutinising look over her flustered features.



She remained silent, her gaze timidly lowering to his equally bare and bronzed chest.



What could she say? That she purposely starved herself in protest against the Alpha's tyrannical acts?

It simply sounded so stupid and senseless now in her mind.



"No matter. I will find something for you,"

Her eyes trailed back upwards to meet his again as she felt his body moving forward so swiftly and fast.



"Wait! Don't leave me here! Wait I'm coming with you!" She heard Meoni say from somewhere close, her gaze meeting Meoni's as she peered past Emerick's shoulder and watched her run after them whilst holding onto her impractical dress.



"Are you sure you can keep up, illyrian?"



Her brows shot up as she listened to Emerick's rather cocky tone, risking a curious glance up at his flawless face.



*Since when did he become so...expressive?*



She wondered as she remembered the state he was in the last time she saw him.



"Are you challenging me, laxian?" Meoni pushed back as she fell in step with him, showing off an equally bold smirk.



"Wait, what am I missing here? Do you guys actually know each other or something?" Madeleine suddenly butted in whilst suspiciously looking between the two.



"I have never-" Emerick's voice abruptly died out, his lips pressed together whilst his jaw ticked, those galaxy eyes glazing over before refocusing on Madeleine's face again.



"What..." She didn't get to utter another word as she suddenly found herself pressed against a wall, her breath audibly hitching as she could feel his hard body pressing into hers whilst his gloved hand covered her mouth.



She harshly breathed through her nose, her entirely confused gaze raising to notice that deep frown etched over his face as he kept looking somewhere to his left, her crazily drumming heart overpowering the strong yet steady beat of his as they were now so close.



She remained unmoving and waited for whatever unseen danger he must've sensed to pass, thickly swallowing as she couldn't help but notice that certain feel of every single part of him pushing up against her in such a hot and bothering way, unintentional or not.



What was he doing to her? When did she become so acutely responsive to the merest touch of his?



"All clear. I admire your senses, BloodHound,"



She barely heard Meoni speak in that odd language of theirs as she continued to stare up at him, their gazes locking whilst his hand lowered from her mouth to her bare thigh, wrapping around it as he pulled her up higher and better secured her in his embrace.



"I apologize for smashing into you like that. Are you feeling any pain?" He worriedly looked between her large blue eyes.



"Uhm n-no, I'm fine," She nervously answered, tucking a rebel strand behind her ear whilst her eyes lowered back to his muscled chest.



"What the hell was that anyway? I didn't see or hear anyone,"



"Believe me, it's better that you didn't," Meoni commented as she slowly walked by Emerick's side, together finally stepping out into a bigger corridor as the latter carried the fragile little human wrapped around him.



"Can I please walk on my own now?" Madeleine quietly pleaded as she shifted uncomfortably in the BloodHound's hot embrace, receiving a worried look from him.



"But you're too-"



"I'm fine, I promise," She vowed with conviction, throwing him a hopeful look.



"I'm just tired of being carried around like a baby,"



She also felt a little bit too affected by the feel of his hot body in between her arms and legs, but she couldn't tell him that. She felt way too embarrassed to do so.



Emerick only hesitated for another moment as his galaxy eyes roamed over her features, reluctantly helping her descend and stand on her own two feet.



Madeleine's muscles immediately numbed in protest, feeling a threatening wave of dizziness poke at her brain. Yet she mustered up every ounce of power left in her and pushed it away, taking in a vigorous breath of air as she clutched onto the sides of her dress and raised them a little bit higher, lastly noticing the way both Meoni and Emerick were now looking at her.



"What?"



They didn't utter another word and continued to weirdly stare at her as she took her first steps on her own, fighting off her feebleness.



"Told you. You will not succeed," Meoni mumbled in laxian as she looked after Madeleine's back, receiving a glower from Emerick.



"We will see,"









They all three stalked through the halls with increased caution, relying on Emerick's incredibly sharp senses and skills as he so easily avoided crossing paths with multiple members of the palace's staff, moving like a discreet shadow, despite his height and build.



"Why was there no one before?" Madeleine whispered close to Meoni as she could not help but notice the evident change.



Where had all these people come from? Why didn't she see them before?



"The Alpha moved everybody else into a different wing and ordered them to stay away from you, regardless of their tasks," Meoni explained whilst stealthily peeking into another hallway, entirely failing to notice that weirded-out look crossing Madeleine's features.



*Why would he do that?*



"Damned be the seventh world. Looks like our secret journey ends here," She suddenly heard Meoni hiss under her breath, her brows furrowing as she threw her a confused look.



She opened her mouth to say something, but instead of spewing a single word a loud and shrieking scream escaped her lips as out of nowhere Emerick suddenly threw himself into the larger hallway, laying over his stomach as he started firing bullets from the both guns he had attached to his thighs.



One by one the four BloodHounds rapidly fell like dead flies as he expertly shot each of them to death without breaking a sweat or even gaining a single scratch.



Silence immediately blanketed the hallway as soon as the last BloodHound had fallen, Madeleine's wide eyes remaining trained on Emerick as she breathed hard and fast.



"Are you okay?"



Both the girls nodded unconsciously as they approached him whilst taking cautious glances at the four dead BloodHounds.



"I should be the one asking you that," Madeleine told him as she incredulously watched him quickly get up to his feet in one swift move.



"I am uninjured," He assured her with a single nod and a timid smile, that last action however managing to momentarily render her so utterly entranced as she did not fail to also notice those two tiny dimples she hadn't observed before.



*Holy universe.*



"Yeah, o-okay," She awkwardly shook her head and hurried to turn around, making a bee-line straight towards the four sprawled bodies of the BloodHounds.



And with a mild push with her foot against the first BloodHound and a quick glance over them she randomly made sure none of them were moving anymore before proceeding to search and confiscate any useful weapon she could find.



She firstly put her hands on the first gun she'd noticed, unconsciously moving so fast and flawless as her muscle memory did not fail her, quickly remembering all those times she'd done such thing with Tate.



*Scavenging.*



She swiftly caught the small glock-type gun mid-air after throwing it with her other hand, fastly checking it for rounds and shoving the magazine back in, all under the surprised stares of both Emerick and Meoni.



"What?" She asked as soon as she'd turned around and noticed those weird looks on their faces, receiving nothing but silence.



They quickly approached the scene as well and started taking whatever they could get their hands on, moving fast and as quiet as possible before continuing with their attempt of escaping.



They stalked through another hallway in the maze-like palace, having but a few moments longer of deafening silence until another unit of palace guards showed up from right around the corner.



"Shit," Madeleine mumbled under her breath as the guards silently stared at them for a moment, actually staring at her as she could not help but notice those odd looks they kept throwing at her, as if she were some sort of alien.



They hesitated for a few seconds longer, remaining rooted to their spots as their attention eventually averted towards Emerick.



"*Surrender, BloodHound. You have breached the protocol. Step away from the Alpha's property*,"



Madeleine listened to them bark out in their unusual language, taking note of that same sound Meoni had used as well.



*What did it mean?*



She wondered, risking a glance at Emerick, only to notice how his nostrils flared, his jaw ticking as he cast her a glance as well. And with his features turning so determined and ready, he took several steps forward, stubbornly keeping his arms at his sides as a sign of disobedience.



"*Discard your weapons, BloodHound*,"



One of the guards barked out again, Madeleine's gaze turning wide as she watched Emerick reach for his guns and cast them all aside.



"What the hell is he doing?" She hissed under her breath right next to Meoni, however receiving zero response as the princess watched the scene with utmost focus, trying to read the BloodHound's body language.



"*Now walk forward*," Another said, preparing a strange-looking device whilst one of them stepped forward with a tiny pen-looking thing in his hand.



However, Emerick remained unresponsive.



"*I said walkforward, BloodHound!*" The guard insisted in their odd language, even managing to startle Madeleine a little as she jolted in her spot and blinked a few times.



Emerick's violet gaze rapidly shifted between them, his trained mind thoroughly analyzing every tiny little detail, from each one's weight and height to their muscle movement and reaction speed.



And within the next earthian second he darted straight towards them faster than the wind, engaging with them in full-combat mode.