Chapter 57

I stepped back into the hallway and was quickly met by a strong leading hand from Lorenzo. His expression was streaked with alarm and insistent that we needed to move on.

My brows drew together in question. “What’s going on?” I asked quietly.

The quiet, peaceful ambiance of the building somehow became filled with an overbearing, unbreathable feeling of eerie apprehension. Lorenzo didn’t need to say a word. I could tell from the strained look on his face that something was, in fact, wrong.

‘We're not the only ones here anymore,’ my wolf snarled in the back of my mind.

I wanted to argue against the thought. Why would anyone go out of their way to break into a coroner’s office? It was way past business hours and not even the reporters saw the need to try and stick around.

The uncomfortable sensation in my chest grew stronger.

“We need to go. Now.”

Lorenzo grabbed my hand and kept the report tucked under his arm as the two of us maneuvered down the hallways toward the back door. The muffled sound of footsteps echoed in our direction, causing my heartbeat to grow frantic.

Someone was following us!

I struggled to keep my near-uncontrollable sense of panic as repressed as possible. When we finally made it to the door, Lorenzo stopped me by tugging me back to his side.

“I’m not sure how many there are out there,” he said tightly. “Here’s what you’re going to do. When you step out, you’re going to head straight for the car, understand? Don’t stop to look around—nothing. The car is no more than twenty feet away, alright?”

I briskly nodded my head and braced myself to rush into the night and potentially face whatever threat was currently surrounding us. The sounds of trampling footsteps were now accompanied by vicious, animalistic growls and grunts.

Lorenzo opened the door and I took off like a bat out of hell. I followed my instructions and reached the car in less than a minute before throwing myself into the vehicle and slamming the door closed.

I had fully anticipated Lorenzo to have followed right after me. But he didn’t.

Instead, he took his sweet time walking back to the car. My heart practically slammed inside of my ribcage, I was certain some of my ribs would end up breaking.

“Lorenzo, what the hell are you doing?” I hissed under my breath.

I kept my eyes locked on him from the window and watched as he forced several deep and loud snarls from the pit of his chest. Lorenzo’s eyes were glowing in the same predatory manner I once saw back at the festival during the hunt.

“He’s announcing his presence as an alpha, Miss Eleanor,” the driver said evenly. “Because there are others lurking around, he’s asserting his dominance. Anyone who dares to make the poor attempt to challenge him now is surely going to meet an unpleasant end.”

I had to admit. Although I was fairly certain that Lorenz’s actions were foolish and ill-timed, he was exceedingly threatening when he wanted to be.

It sent a sharp pang of pride shooting through me. My wolf purred and growled in satisfaction, knowing that we had such a strong and capable alpha of our own.

By the time he finally reached the car, most of my anxiety had thankfully tampered down. However, I knew better than to assume we were totally in the clear.

Lorenzo slid into the seat next to me. “They're still roaming around,” he informed us. “Take us back to the house. Stick to the main road until I say otherwise...This may get a little hair-raising.”

The driver immediately hit the gas and took the road. Lorenzo curled his arm around my lower back and pulled me close to his side.

“Try and stay down as much as you can,” he told me.

We all heard the screeching sound of tires scraping across the pavement behind us. Numerous sets of bright, blinding lights flashed all around. We were still being followed.

“What do they want?”

“My guess, is they’re after the forensic report. Clearly, there’s something in it that these people don’t want us to discover,” Lorenzo informed.

“They’re rogues, aren’t they?” I questioned.

He nodded his head before glancing over his shoulder to see the other vehicles behind us gaining. He told the driver to turn off on the next corner and begin heading down the backroads.

For a brief moment, everything around us seemed normal...The surrounding area was quiet and without another potential car sighted for at least a mile.

I thought we were in the clear, however the sudden brunt force of something hitting the back tail of the car sent my entire body flying forward. The large vehicle behind us bumped us again, this time nearly sending our car straight off the road.

“Ahh!” I screamed.

Lorenzo let out a troubled snarl. “We need to lose them!”

“I’m on it. Alpha, make sure Miss Eleanor is well secured back there,” the driver said calmly.

He switched off all the interior and external lights on the car and pressed his foot further down on the gas pedal. We’d blended completely into the darkness and became virtually invisible thanks to the surrounding tree coverage.

We made it home. My nervous system felt like it was on the verge of unraveling. Lorenzo thanked his driver for his quick thinking and skillful driving before ushering me back into the house. “It’s alright, Eleanor,” he hushed. “It’s over.”

I knew the danger had passed. But I couldn’t keep myself from shaking.

“Please bring some tea and have a fire going in the main bedroom,” he said to his staff.

My voice came out weak and trembling. “L-Lorenzo.”

“Shh, love. You are my Luna. As your Alpha, I need to ensure that you are safe and mentally sound.”

I wasn’t sure how I was going to sleep that night. I hadn’t felt that sort of fear since the festival. All those terrible growls and glowing red eyes were surely racing back to haunt me.

‘Hey, at least they didn’t get their hands on that report,’ my wolf pointed out.