Chapter 551

Olivia

The unmarked door gave way to a dimly lit hallway, the cracked tile floors and peeling wallpaper a far cry from the opulent grandeur of the ballroom. The sounds of the party, muffled now by the door, continued on in the background.

Thankfully, Dan hadn’t seen me. Or at least, I hoped that he hadn’t; but still, I needed to move quickly just in case he noticed his missing keyring.

I paused for a moment, my eyes closed as I opened up my other senses, allowing my wolf’s heightened instincts to take over.

At first there was nothing, just the musty scent of mildew and aging wood. But then, faint and fleeting, I caught a whiff of something earthy and familiar.

Nathan’s scent.

My heart leapt into my throat as I began rushing forward, letting his familiar scent guide me through the labyrinth of hallways and stairwells. I found myself going down several flights of stairs into a system of basement tunnels, and soon, the sounds of the party above had completely faded.

Now, there was no sound save for the clicking of my heels on the cement floor and the occasional drip of water from a pipe.

The farther I went, however, the stronger the scent became. Yes, he was here, somewhere close by. With a surge of desperation, I quickened my pace, picking up my skirt so that I could begin to run through the twisting and winding hallways.

I was so intent on following Nathan’s scent, however, that I had forgotten that I might not be alone.

Reality came crashing back when I nearly bowled over the two guards rounding the corner up ahead. I barely managed to skid to a halt, flattening myself around another corner and ducking into the shadows as they brushed past without so much as a sideways glance in my direction.

“...told you we should have just put a bullet between his eyes while we had the chance,” one of the men grumbled, his tone strikingly conversational despite the dark words he was speaking. “Now we gotta go through all this extra trouble of containment and transfer.”

“Yeah, well, you know the rules,” his companion shot back with a derisive snort. “The boss wants him kept alive. For now, at least.”

The first man chuckled wryly. “At least the dumb bastard will be digging his own grave. Save our backs the trouble.”

My breath caught in my chest, the gears in my mind whirring as the pieces began to click into place. There was no doubt about it—they had to be talking about Nathan, which meant two things.

For starters, he really was here, just as Mira had claimed.

And second… There was only so much time I had left to rescue him before something horrible happened.

The thought of Nathan at the mercy of these sadistic men, supposedly ‘digging his own grave’, made my blood boil. I bit back a sob, but at the same time, I knew that I had to be close.

Once the men passed by me and had put a little distance between us, I carefully slipped off my high heels so that I could move silently. Then, like a wraith in the night, I followed at a safe distance.

Every so often, as we traipsed along in silence for what felt like an eternity, one of the men would cough or glance over their shoulder. Whenever that happened, I could carefully duck into an alcove or behind a large pipe, my heart hammering in my chest.

At least my dress is black, I thought to myself. It helped me to blend into the shadows cast by the dim lighting.

Eventually, just when I began to worry that the men knew I was here and that they were just leading me on a wild goose chase, they rounded another corner. I held back for a moment, then peered around the corner, holding my breath. The men had stopped in front of a large double door.

One of the guards swiped his keycard, then leaned in to allow a computerized scanner to capture his biometrics before the heavy door slid open with a dull thud. I pressed myself up against the opposite wall as they disappeared inside, then bolted forward.

But it was too late. The door slam shut too quickly, the locking mechanism echoing in the hallway with a resounding metallic clang before I had a chance to slip through.

“Dammit!” I cursed under my breath, smacking the wall with my gloved hand. Cursing once more, I leaned in and inspected the lock, peeling off the white gloves to tinker. But it was no use. The door was locked with a fingerprint scanner; a fingerprint which I, of course, did not possess.

I knew what I would have to find another way around before they did anything to Nathan, but how? There was no way I could slink past that state-of-the-art security without being detected.

Gritting my teeth, I pivoted on my heel and raced back the way we had come. I needed to either find an entrance from the outside or… No, that was my only choice, wasn’t it? There was no telling how much time I had left before they whisked Nathan off to who-knows-where, since I recalled them speaking about a transfer.

I had to hurry, even if only to catch sight of a vehicle, a license plate, or a vague direction.

At last, after several frantic minutes spent twisting and turning through the endless underground tunnels, I spotted a door leading outside into what appeared to be a courtyard garden. I slipped through without hesitation, squinting as my eyes struggled to adjust to the pale moonlight.

The scent of freshly turned soil and dewy leaves enveloped me as my gaze swept over the manicured shrubbery and bubbling stone fountains. Once again, another moment that perhaps Nathan and I would have cherished in another life.

But it was the row of sleek, black SUVs parked along a small dirt road leading away from the back of the mansion that held my focus. That had to be where the guards planned to take Nathan for his… ‘transfer’.

Dropping my heels and gloves in a nearby bush, I raced over, circling around for a better vantage point. That was when I finally spotted the two men again, marching a figure between them toward one of the vehicles.

Even from this distance and with a burlap sack over his head, I could make out the familiar slope of his shoulders, his long legs and his sturdy back.

“Nathan,” I gasped out with a ragged breath. He looked battered, dragging his feet with clear exhaustion as the guards shoved him forward unceremoniously. He didn’t resist, maybe because he couldn’t; assuming the blood dripping down the front of his torn and dirty tuxedo was any indication of his current state.

But he was alive. That was something.

My momentary elation upon seeing him quickly dissipated, however, as I watched them hoist Nathan up into the back of an unmarked van before piling in after him. The engine roared to life and seconds later the transport was speeding away across the courtyard, leaving me behind in a cloud of dust and exhaust.

“No!” I hissed under my breath, slamming my fist into the nearest pillar in a burst of rage. He had been so close—if only I had been faster, maybe I could have saved him. Or maybe it was all hopeless anyway, and alone, I would have been useless anyway..

Tears of frustration stung at the corners of my eyes as I whirled around, preparing to give chase after the van on foot in a last ditch effort—only to suddenly slam into a tall and wiry, yet shockingly sturdy, figure.

A gasp escaped my lips, and as I stumbled backwards, my gaze slowly lifted to reveal the stoic, impassive features of the salt-and-pepper Alpha who had been with Dan earlier.

Looming over me, he fixed me with a cold glare that made my stomach drop. A sly, almost predatory smirk tugged at the corner of his thin lips.

“Looking to join your husband, Mrs. Ford?”