35.

Madeleine's lips parted, watching with wild fascination and terror as Emerick fought the group of guards with such ease and agility, almost missing some of his strikes and dodges as he moved so insanely fast.



His thick muscles stretched and coiled with every movement of his body, each step and kick or punch looking so precise and calculated as if he were an android and not a flesh and bone-made being.



And within the span of only few minutes he managed to swiftly disarm each one of them, mercilessly shooting them one by one afterwards until the last remained, all shaking like a leaf and barely breathing as Emerick stared him down with nothing but pure and unbridled rage.



"*She. belongs. to no one!*" He growled out between gritted teeth in that weird language of theirs, proceeding to empty a full barrel into the guard's skull as Madeleine startled and blinked a few times in fright, visibly shocked by Emerick's brutal actions.



Emerick breathed fast and hard, coldly looking upon the guard's entirely destroyed face for a moment before turning to face the girls.



He immediately noticed that distressed look marring Madeleine's delicate face and the way her heart pumped a bit faster, his demeanor quickly softening.



He walked back towards them, stopping right in front of the little earthling.



"I apologise for frightening you. It was not my intention," He spoke whilst looking into her wide blue eyes.



"I-It's okay," Madeleine quickly nodded with a tiny smile as she peered up at him.



"Okay, you can continue with your mating ritual after we manage to escape this place," Meoni said from right next to them as she watched the exchange, making Madeleine blush a little at the sound of her words.



"Wait, you are actually coming with us?" Madeleine suddenly questioned with a look of surprise plastered all over her face as she glanced at the princess.



"Yes I am," Meoni answered as Emerick went to retrieve his previously discarded weapons, both following him as they conversed.



"I am so curious to discover how far we can go until the Alpha catches us, especially now that I have witnessed your BloodHound's-err, Emerick's exceptional skills in combat," She explained with shrug and a look in Emerick's direction, receiving a weird look from Madeleine.



"He will not catch us," Emerick sharply retorted with conviction whilst tucking one of his guns back into the holster attached to his left thigh.



"We will see," She grimly replied as she continued to watch him, all the while Madeleine just glanced between them, completely clueless.



She looked at Emerick as he reached out and gingerly took her hand in his, coaxing her to move closer before he scooped her up in his embrace, walking through that sticky mess of dead bodies until he reached the other side where the floor was still clean and placed her down before going to help the princess as well as they were both barefoot.



They then resumed to their stealthy trekking towards freedom, managing to cover but a few meters more before finally reaching a humongous ovally shaped atrium, the said chamber completely bare, save a few small statues lining the walls.



Madeleine's curious gaze wandered around, intending to just step out into the open when Emerick's gloved hand shot forward and took a firm hold of her wrist, quickly shoving her behind his back.



She curiously looked up at the back of his head, right before hearing him talk in that odd and vocal language of theirs,



"*This is your chance to return where you belong, illyrian. You are free to choose. Either stay and fight by our side or return to your Alpha*,"



Alpha?



Did she just hear right? Why were they talking about the Alpha?



Madeleine's gaze shifted to Meoni, just in time to watch how her beautiful features contorted to display a forlorn expression, seemingly recalling something painful before quickly hardening as she prepared her gun.



"Stay close to me, Madeleine,"



The girl peered up at him with confusion, evidently failing to perceive what was about to happen when the spacious atrium suddenly started filling with guards and soldiers -much to her utter dismay- the sharp sounds of their guns clicking loudly echoing through the bare room.



*Fuck.*



With her hands visibly shaking and her head already spinning, she took a few deep yet raggedy breaths as she stared at her bare feet.



They were going to die. This was their end, right here and now. They were going to die and there was nothing they could do about it.



Angry tears started falling down her cheeks, her heart pumping faster and faster as her trembling hands reached for the two heavy guns attached to that belt around her waist that she'd previously stolen from a dead BloodHound.



If she was about to go down then she was going down with a bang, not like a coward hiding behind Emerick's back.



*Fuck this.*



Emerick's muscles stiffened, feeling something akin to anguish as he watched the little earthling quickly manouver herself around his body and take one knee against the floor as she pointed both her guns forward, towards some of the guards.



His life-sustaining organ started to pound wildly, his focus mildly faltering and his hands giving out the mildest tremble as they held those guns pointed at each side of his, left and right.



He couldn't breathe properly.



Couldn't focus anymore as endless scenarios resulting with the same outcome kept poking at his mind, tormenting him in the most violent ways.



Her. The little earthling lying there, over the glossy floor with a bullet lodged into her head as that pool of dark red around her kept getting bigger and bigger...



*No...*



His breath remained stuck in his throat, his lips almost failing to contain that anguished sound threatening to escape him whilst his violet galaxy eyes remained wide, watching the Alpha suddenly emerge from in between the bodies of the guards.



Madeleine's heart jumped at the sight of him, suddenly receiving a pump of adrenaline. And before she could even try and stop herself her muscles reacted, spasming around the gun in her right hand and sending a bullet straight in the Alpha's direction.



Elias' head tilted to the side, the bullet darting right past his ear and lodging into a guard's forehead instead, sending him down in less than a second.



"Nice aim," The Alpha smirked, his dark blue galaxies sizing Madeleine up and down from head to toe as he found her stance so strongly...

provocative.



*Fit for a true illyrian.*



"I missed," Madeleine hissed between gritted teeth, refusing to move even though those angry tears kept falling.



"I retract my words, BloodHound," Meoni whispered from Emerick's left, eyes still wide after that unexpected display of the earthling's shooting skills.



"It seems there is some illyrian spirit left in you after all," The Alpha commented with another one of those wicked smirks of his as his gaze shifted to Meoni, making the princess' hand shake around that gun and a lone tear slip over the side of her face yet she did not falter.

Instead she kept that gun pointed in his direction.



"So, I pray do tell, what is the reason behind this unforeseen gathering?" He questioned, a hint of mirth lacing his tone as his poweful gaze shifted between the three.



"Like you wouldn't know," Madeleine scoffed.



"Humor me," The Alpha’s evilly glinting gaze found Madeleine’s, still keeping that subtle smirk attached to his thin lips as if he knew something they didn’t.



*Motherfucker.*



"This," She paused to wave around with the gun in her left hand,



"Will turn into a disaster. You know it, I know it, even these idiots surrounding us are aware of it," She pointed out.



"So, either you let Emerick live and do whatever he pleases as a free man..."



She paused for another moment to take a deep and trembling breath, mentally preparing herself for what she was about to do as that plan had already taken form inside her mind, convincing herself that there was only one way they could possibly get out of this alive.



And with a shaky hand she raised one of the guns and firmly pressed it against the side of her head, ignoring any protesting sounds coming from behind her or that wave of nausea threatening to take over again as she calmly spoke,



"Or I will blow my own brains out right here and now, and let him do the rest for me,"