Chapter 15 Sydney

Chapter 15 Sydney

 

 

“He called me a spawn,” I grumbled, stomping into the lobby of my apartment building. “A spawn. That disrespectful, loathsome ass. I hate him so much.”

Even as I said the words, deep down, I knew it wasn’t true. I tried so hard to hate Cole, to no avail. Releasing a long breath, I dropped into one of the armchairs in the lobby. I just had to take a moment to work through my anger before I made the journey up the five flights of stairs to my apartment. The walk home hadn’t been long enough for me to get over my conversation with Cole.

Whenever I was alone in my apartment, I had too much time to think. Doing that always led to feeling depressed and defeated. Afraid, too. In private, I didn’t have to play the tough-girl role, and I often wallowed in terror over what I’d do if the hunters were to find me.

After what the stranger—Adam—told me, I was worried. The older man from last night had been watching me for a while. He had to be a hunter. Maybe he’d gotten orders to watch me rather than kill me. He could be waiting to take me to that man I’d escaped from in Nebraska. Dropping my head into my hands, I shook my head. This was why I hated alone time nowadays. My mind automatically went to the worst places.

I had to stop this. Sitting up, I surveyed the space. It wasn’t a posh apartment building, but it was nice and in a decent neighborhood. It was also affordable, so I jumped at the chance to get a space here. Fortunately, the owner had lowered the price by the time I was ready to rent. It was shocking, but who was I to look a gift horse in the mouth? I’d gotten to keep a nice chunk of change, which I needed.

“I should focus on the good things that have happened,” I whispered. Yeah, that was what I needed to do, or else I’d totally lose my mind worrying. “I’ve got a friend.” Macy was awesome. “I’ve got my own place.” I’d never had my own space before. “Maybe I can go back to school.” Dropping out had been a bummer. “Think about the good things. The good things,” I chanted.

“Hello, Sydney.”

Gasping, I looked up and almost fell out of the chair. It was the man from the diner. The older one, whom Adam insisted was watching me. My eyes bulged as I stared at him, paralyzed by shock.

“I didn’t mean to frighten you.” He smiled. “Sydney, that’s what you said your name is, right?”

Swallowing hard, I stood up. I wasn’t sure if I was preparing to run or scream bloody murder. He must have followed me here to take me out. My heart galloped as I glanced around the lobby. No one else was in sight.

I nodded. “And you’re Benjamin.” My voice wobbled, and so did my knees, but I was proud of myself for keeping it together.

“You look a little pale,” he said, peering at me. “Are you okay?”

Was he for real? Were we really going to make small talk before my possible murder? “I’m…What are you doing here?”

He shoved his hands into his pockets and shrugged. “I live here.”

“Really?”

“Moved in about two weeks ago.”

The exact time I moved in. Was Adam right? I was skeptical about trusting the man, who I’d learned was an Alpha like Cole. Plus, there was a possibility Adam had misinterpreted what he’d seen. Even if Benjamin stared inside the diner every night like a creep, it didn’t mean he was watching me. However, seeing the man here now had me suspicious.

“I see.” His relaxed stance told me he might not attack, so I asked, “You just moved to New Orleans?”

“Yes.”

Oh, God. He was stalking me.

“What about you? Do you live here, too?” he asked. “What a coincidence running into you here after meeting you this morning.”

I studied him closely as if I could somehow see if he was playing a game. His expression gave nothing away. “Yeah. I live here.”

“Nice. I hope we run into each other again, Sydney.”

“Er…uh, huh.”

Benjamin nodded. “See you, and get some rest. You’re still looking pallid.”

That was because I was nearly ready to keel over from sheer dread. As Benjamin walked away, I breathed easier. Maybe running into him here was just a coincidence. Maybe he wasn’t a killer stalking me.

I couldn’t continue like this. I had to get help from someone who could stand up against a hunter. Since my mother’s pack refused to even breathe in my direction, I’d have to look elsewhere for help. There just happened to be another Alpha in town. It was risky because Cole said Adam was no good, but I was desperate.

***

“I can’t believe I’m doing this.”

I stood outside an old warehouse, shrouded in darkness. It was like a scene out of a horror movie, and common sense screamed at me not to set foot in Adam’s creepy building…lair was more like it.

It took me four days to build the courage to outright ask him for help. He’d come into the diner every night after his confrontation with Cole. He asked me more about Benjamin, and I finally convinced him I didn’t know the man. I failed to tell Adam I discovered Benjamin lived in my apartment building. I just didn’t trust Adam yet. Not that I trusted Benjamin or wanted to protect him. I just wanted to know what was going on between them before I said a word.

Adam told me to come to this address, and now I was having second thoughts. I should have given Macy an idea about where I was heading when I requested to leave early tonight. Of course, she would have called me crazy for wanting to come to a place like this alone.

“Well, if Adam and his pack don’t kill me, the hunters will.” Anyway, I took it; it was a lose-lose situation, so why not go into the spooky building? “What has my life become?” Taking a deep breath, I advanced into the empty parking lot.

“Well, well, well. What do we have here? A little traitor, perhaps?”

I stopped in my tracks at the sound of the familiar voice. Dread made me groan out loud. Slowly turning around, I glowered at Cole’s beta. Even though I was a little afraid of him, there was no way I’d show it.

“Demon…I mean, Damian, fancy seeing you here. Are you stalking me, too?”

His expression remained impassive. He was such a cold bastard. It was hard to believe he and the warm, funny Violet were related. “Actually, I’m stalking our enemy,” he said. “And here you are, in the enemy’s territory. I wonder what that means.”

Damn it. I just kept digging my way deeper into the hole of suspicion. “I’m not your enemy,” I said, knowing full well he wouldn’t listen.

“Right. You’re in league with hunters, and now I find you running to Adam Blackwell.” He took slow steps toward me, and it took all my self-control not to turn and run like hell. “What are you doing? Playing double agent?”

“Oh, don’t be so dramatic. This isn’t a spy flick, for goodness’ sake,” I huffed, rolling my eyes.

A low chuckle echoed from a dark corner, and I whipped around, searching for the source. Alex emerged into the dim light offered by the half-moon. Another man who I didn’t remember seeing at the Moon Guardians compound also stepped out.

Damian sent Alex a warning scowl, and he shrugged. “What? A threat to us or not, you have to admit, she’s entertaining.” Alex smirked at me.

I directed my beseeching gaze at Alex because he seemed more reasonable than Damian. “I’m not a threat to your pack, I swear.”

Alex shrugged. “I don’t know, little human. The evidence is piling up against you.”

“Can you not call me little human?”

“Pardon me, little half-breed.”

I harrumphed, and his lips curled into that wicked smile again. Maybe in another life, Alex and I could be friends because he seemed like a laid-back guy with a sense of humor. Not as rigid as the Beta.

“I can explain why I’m here.” I glared at Damian, my fury and frustration rising. “That is if you’d get your head out of your ass and just listen to me. How can you be as hard-headed as your Alpha? You two must make a terrible team.”

Again, Alex laughed. Even the strange guy smiled, eliciting another lethal look from Damian. I no longer cared how scary his scowl was. I was so tired of not being heard.

“Save your explanation for the Alpha,” Damian said.

“You mean, Adam? I bet if I scream, he’ll come out. He’ll discover that you guys have been lurking around his place.”

Anger gleamed in Damian’s eyes. “Go ahead and do that, Sydney. I’ve been itching for a fight with those guys. We’ll kill them and maybe kill you after.”

“Damian,” Alex said. “She’s still Alpha Cole’s mate.”

“He rejected her.” Damian held me in a cold stare. “He won’t care if I eliminate a possible threat to our pack.”

That reminder made my bravado crumble. It was hard to even spew my usual sarcasm at Damian. I just stood there and embraced the pain caused by the emotional wound Cole had inflicted.

“If I don’t scream and get Adam’s attention, what happens instead?” My gaze was locked on Damian’s, and I think I saw surprise flicker in his eyes.

After looking me up and down as if sizing me up, something like approval gleamed in his eyes. “I take you to Cole, and you can explain to him what you’re doing here,” he said.

“All the good that will do me,” I muttered. “Fine, take me prisoner and drag me to your Alpha, so he can accuse me of things I’m not guilty of again.”

I wasn’t looking forward to another confrontation with Cole. At this rate, I’d never get any help from the hunters, and I’d be dead before my twentieth birthday.